Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco freelance writer who heads up Cult of Mac Magazine, our weekly publication available on iTunes. You can find her on Twitter and Google+. If you're doing something new, cool and Apple-related, email her.
A little bit old school, a little bit new school: the Record 001 app lets you work the image of a vinyl record with your fingers in a shout out to turntable days.
Digital DJs can backspin, pause and scratch like they would on a real record on an iPhone or iPod touch screen.
Record 001 has mixed reviews so far — the first release comes with just two oddball tracks “World Peace” and “The Fashion Song” — calling it a quirky demo app but not regretting the $1.99 price tag.
See if you don’t get a smile out of the video, though.
In a nod to Apple, the world’s first MP3 recording guitar is a sleek, all-white number called iDea.
You can record riffs as you play, along with vocals on a built-in condenser microphone or use the built-in MP3 player to add backing tracks. It holds up to 100 minutes of music.
A USB port lets you transfer your music to a Mac or PC. The iDea comes with pre-loaded tracks, plus six lessons and an amp. The whole shebang is controlled from the top side of the guitar, no word on whether there’s a left-handed version, too.
Tech-strummers Ovation created the guitar, it comes with a $600 price tag.
If you love the idea but are more of a Mac-loving DIYer, you may want to check out this hack Brian Green made by adding two iPod Touch devices to his guitar, calling it the iTouch guitar.
Rapper Lil’ Wayne recently launched an iPhone, iPod touch app designed to give fans a taste of what it’s like to be him.
Well, what it means to look a little like 25-year-old Dwayne Carter, or to paraphrase the old cosmetics slogan: “You, only blinger.”
The app developed by Lil’ Wayne and his record company Universal Music, comes from epictilt, the makers of iPhone app ESPN Cameraman.
The Lil’ Wayne app adds gold jewelry, his trademark teardrop tats and oversized hats to your pics. If you’re unsure you want to pop $0.99 for it on iTunes, you can check out a photo gallery here. The app allows fans to check out other Wayne-ified photos and buy his music.
One guarantee: you get to look fierce but avoid Lil Wayne’s real-life arrests with corresponding mug shots.
We recently wrote about iBreviary, an iPhone and iPod Touch app that gives the morning prayer, evening prayer and night prayer or complines for the day.
The Italian priest who had the brainwave for the app, Don Paolo Padrini, informed us that the 1.2 version of the prayer app, which he says has the blessing of the Vatican, is now available in Spanish, French, English and Latin (for those, like the Pope, who want a return to pre-Second Vatican Council days) and a version that follows the Ambrosian Rite, for the five million Catholics or so in the Milan area.
iBreviary costs $0.99 on iTunes and now also comes with a how-to page to help those unfamiliar with daily prayer rituals. The original Italian-language version was gratis, Father Padrini says the price of the app is a contribution for the developers.
Don Padrini also says an app is in the works for Facebook called that “Praybook” that will let groups use the Breviary via social network.
Singer Katy Perry made her fame with pop try-bianism, but her heart is in a long-distance love with a boy. Perry is a Mac user who credits iChat with keeping up the relationship:
“Her current love is Travis McCoy, singer for the indie hip-hop band Gym Class Heroes, whom she met two years ago when they were recording in the same studio complex in New York, although he remained on the East Coast while she went back to L.A.
This summer they were together for 10 weeks during traveling music festival the Warped Tour,but “I [last] saw him three, four weeks ago,” says Katy wistfully. “It’s definitely difficult. I was really lonely for a couple of weeks, but that’s the name of the game. To me, iChat is the most beautiful technology invented, ever!”
Wonder if she iChatted a girl, just to try it, would the experience be as beautiful?
Fans don’t listen to our albums, said Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, because
iTunes favors the single and the shuffle mentality.
In a Q&A with the Chicago Tribune, Corgan said the tepid reception of last year’s comeback album “Zeitgeist,” makes it the last effort the band will produce in album format.
Chicago Trib: So “Zeitgeist” was the last album?
Corgan: “We’re done with that. There is no point. People don’t even listen to it all. They put it on their iPod, they drag over the two singles and skip over the rest,” said Corgan.
“The listening patterns have changed, so why are we killing ourselves to do albums, to create balance and do the arty track to set up the single? It’s done.”
With “Zeitgeist,” the Smashing Pumpkins did try to adapt to new musical habits, releasing a pre-sale version with bonus tracks and covers especially on iTunes — to the outrage of some fans who felt obliged to buy more than one copy of the album to get the title track.
Much like Metallica’s rage against the iPod, this probably won’t win the Smashing Pumpkins any new fans.
They’ll be put to good use: the German-born, Melbourne based artist has an ongoing iPaint myMac project, in the works since 2006, which now counts 50 Macs embellished with stencils and paint.
If you don’t have anything to donate, you can always follow the project on his website or Flickr stream .
His current wish list:
* iMac (the one with the half-sphered foot)
* eMac
* Cube (yes, iKnow, they are hard to come by, but hey, there might be the odd chance.. and if it’s just an empty case …)
* Macintosh Portable (they claim this was the first portable Mac, but it was so heavy, no way anyone took it anywhere)
* anything made after 2000 (there aren’t many dead ones to collect around yet)
* Classic, SE & Plus (I already have a few dozen of them, but I need more …)
* any type of Apple //, the legendary Lisa … ok, I’m dreaming now
* anything odd with an Apple logo on it (instruction VHS tapes, old PR material, shop displays, … you name it).
As part of the collection process, he also runs a “Mac surgery convention,” because most of the donated machines don’t work anymore, but there are enough bits to cobble one working machine out of two or three dead ones.
Last time he invited Mac savvy geek friends to bring their screw drivers around for an evening of pizza and computers, there were 10 running old Macs as a result.
This playful polka dot chair comes wired for sound with an audio jack for your iPod, two built-in 10-watt speakers and a 15-watt subwoofer.
The cotton canvas chair slightly rocks (to keep up with your head bobbing) and comes in brown and white dots or light blue and white dots.
Aimed at the teen market (unsurprisingly, the pink version was a sell-out) if it came in a more grown-up print or solids it’d be a great piece for the den.
Topping at least one luxe list of trendy items for Christmas are these customized iPhones from Continental Mobile.
The iPhone rimmed in 24k gold costs about $1,800 (£1,199), if that doesn’t wind you up there are ruby and diamond versions, about $4,600 (£3,099) and other serious stones like sapphires and emeralds. iPod Touch versions are also available.
If you decide to put this much sparkle under your tree, make it fast. Each item is “hand crafted in England” and takes seven to 10 days for delivery.
More Apple-inspired handiwork from the same Japanese fan who ripened Apple logos on to the fruit.
Though not the first Apple nail decals (iPress on or glitter glam version, anyone?) these simple white Apple logo and iPod decals win for elegance, hands down.
Hmmm. Wonder if Apple logos that Mac enthusiasts can suntan on skin might be next? Sure, the execution would be more complicated (how long would you have to wear the sticker to brand your flesh?) but the surprise effect a sure winner.
Geek rapper GOSHone shot a video for his song “Newteknowledge” on an iPhone 3g.
He says it’s the first music vid shot entirely on an iPhone, but whether someone else has done it or not, the song is catchy as hell (though we do wish he’d given “props up to my fellow nerds” on CoM instead of CNET) and the video where he looks like the overtaxed nerd next cubicle over is clever.
He filmed the clip with Cycorder (the app “rocks,” he says but only works on jailbroken phones) and edited with After Effects, because Final Cut had issues with Cycorder resolution and frame rate.
The song is part of GOSHone‘s album “ctrl_alt_ego” which can be downloaded gratis from his website. A three-year labor of love, it includes tracks like “Laptop Muzik,” “Big Brains” and “Data Flow.”
Just like your iPod earbuds, but supersized 500 times.
These 500XL giant earbud portable speakers have a built-in amp, run on three AAA batteries and come with a USB cord.
No specs on how much they pump though the makers assure you’ll be able to annoy your co-workers, which is important.
Even credit-crunch era consumers will break out the plastic to buy an iPod in a new color.
USA today devoted an article on how shoppers aren’t color blind — especially when it comes to Apple mp3 players:
Nearly five years ago, Sally Trammer of Indianapolis, a senior systems analyst at Eli Lilly bought herself an iPod Mini specifically because it came in the color she craved: lime green.
Trammer was fully aware that this model stored far fewer songs than a full-size white or black iPod.
“I didn’t care, I just wanted to have that color,” she says. She recalls overpaying, too about $300. Then she purchased a fancy, lime-green leather case, to boot. “Regardless of what it cost, I knew I had to have it.”
Such consumer color devotion is a key element in iPod sales. Apple officials declined to comment, but retail expert Marshal Cohen of NPD says he’s spoken with plenty of adult iPod owners who bought new iPods specifically to get a new color. “This boggles the mind,” he says.
Color me a little astonished by the trend, too. A silver iPod nano is as far as I’ve strayed from classic white.
Fess up in the comments: have you bought a new iPod for the color, for yourself or for someone else?
In the title sequence for 1960s spy-spoof turned film “Get Smart,” main character Maxwell Smart interprets intelligence chatter on his iPod.
He’s first shown without the original earbuds, but shortly afterwards on his way to Control with white headphones plugged in, having traded the intelligence chatter for mood-boosting Abba’s “Take a Chance on Me.”
Arguably the best gadget in what should’ve been a gadget film (anyone hanker for a molar transmitter? Though the Cone of Silence might be nice ), to boost product placement in the movie Apple teamed up with Warner Bros to promote the film by giving away iPod Touch devices to journalists with pre-loaded film clips and having cast members make Apple store appearances.
iCan Drive may help Europeans navigate driving tests.
Back in 2006, the EU approved plans for a single drivers license to replace the over 100 different driver’s license standards on the Old Continent.
Countries have until until 2033 to phase it in, but there’s a good chance if you have to renew, your pan-european driver’s license test is going to have a few new things on it.
This iPhone, iPod touch iCan drive app carries quizzes for all official 664 tests for the EU driver’s license. It covers both A class (small scooter) and B class (standard car) licenses.
Developed by Italian Daniele Perilli, the quiz gives results immediately, totals errors and gives all acceptable answer for every question.
There are some 6,891 road-ready questions available in Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic.
Mac fans Tuan Nguyen and Ken Thomas got busy with corrugated cardboard and regular white glue to make this iPhone table. The straightforward design comes with handy removable icons to use as coasters.
It doesn’t quite reach the chic of the iPod table, but it’s cute and hey, if you decide for a radical home makeover, you wouldn’t feel too bad about breaking it up for the recycling bin. Details about price, availability to follow.
No more back-breaking anatomy textbooks for medical students at Ohio State University: these would-be scrubs will have all the info they need thanks to iPods provided by the school.
The program, said to be the first of its kind in a medical school, will be rolled out over the next two years. It is the brainchild of third-year student Justin Harper who, presumably, was tired of lugging around textbooks and getting paper cuts.
The iPods are loaded with specific medical software programs planned by OSU. The hand-held technology will give students quick access to high-res images of each organ and nerve in the body, plus allow them access to videos of medical treatments or surgical procedures and lists of potential drug interactions.
In more traditional school fare, they’ll also be able to give themselves pop quizzes, review all lectures in podcast form and have the entire curricula at their fingertips.
“The iPod touch has the potential to positively impact both medical education and the care provided to patients at the bedside,” said Dr. Catherine Lucey, vice dean for education on the school website. “The personal digital assistant puts a wealth of information at the fingertips of our students. They can study when they want and where they want. If they are seeing a patient and a question arises, they can find the answer instantly, to share with them.”
The Amazon Mobile app could get you out of a few Christmas-present dilemmas. The app gives iPhone and iPod Touch users access to wish lists, shopping carts, one-click shopping, plus all the customer reviews and ratings that may make last-minute buys less of a shot in the dark.
It also includes a nice feature called “Amazon Remembers” which lets you save snapshots as visual post-its if you see something you want to buy later. The app saves the photo and searches for similar items, too.
Released a few days ago, it’s had some good reviews, including a five-star rating from “ericthewhat” who says: “Great. I can definitely see my drunk-texting problem becoming a drunk-shopping problem.”
In the first release, one of the useful things you can’t buy or download from Amazon are MP3s.
From the mobile app you can put MP3s on your wish list and then buy from your computer, but it’s a bit of a buzzkill for what otherwise seems a useful app.
She was tapped by UK department store Selfridges to fill their famous holiday hampers with goods.
Her credit-crunch defying “Ultimate Girl’s Hamper” (price tag: £1,000 or a staggering $1,475), includes some of the usual fare: Ruinart Champagne, 40 bottles of nail polish, Marshmallow Fluff and a “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” DVD.
You’ll notice from the image that just above the Fluff, however, is an iPod nano.
How did electronics creep into a holiday gift hamper?
Says Hindmarch: “I have always been fascinated by hampers, their history and Britishness. But am always disappointed by yet another basket whose contents I don’t actually want to keep.”
We hear you. The nail polish and Fluff will always run out, but the iPod will remain.
Back in May, CoM published a phone cam shot of a table that looked like an iPod found in a Milan hotel.
We tracked down the guy who made it, Mirko Ginepro, an industrial designer, graphic artist and photographer.
His iTable is made from Corian (frequently the stuff of kitchen and bathroom counter tops), the “screen” is glass and the necessary add-on to make the original design furniture-worthy, the legs, are steel.
Ginepro built three iTables for an installation at Milan’s design week this year, then sold one to the hotel and another to an art gallery.
“I like to take inspiration from everyday objects and as Mac user, those designs are the ones I see all the time,” Ginepro told Cult of Mac. “The idea was to take an object that didn’t start out as furniture and turn it in into something useful.”
The iTable is about 47 inches long by 29 inches wide (original measurements: 120 x 75 centimeters) and about 13 inches high.
It comes in classic white, black or sunny yellow. Each table is a one-of-a kind, made-to-order piece of art (read: workaround to wrangling a licensing agreement with you-know-who for mass production). More info on availability, cost etc. through his website.
This prototype tactile iPhone case called Invisual allows sight-impaired users to get the most out of the smart phone. It would work in conjunction with special accessibility functions, such as text-to-speech features and moon type tactile alphabet keyboard.
Portugal-based designer Bruno Fosi crafted the silicon case with modified bas-relief buttons that correspond to the iPhone home screen. Fosi says that the iPhone thus covered keeps all its functions intact, including multi-touch and finger flick scrolling.
A video blog entry by Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am shows just how much fun you can have in a recording studio with an iPhone at hand.
At about 1:40 seconds, the club-ready tune on youtube (or under “video blog” on his site) is catchy enough to have some fans wondering whether it’ll be part of his next album. It might not win over new converts to his Blackberry social network or much love at Nokia where he was a featured guest for the Remix party…
Disney animation movie “Bolt,” where John Travolta lends his voice to the dog-hero in the title, has a brief, fleeting moment of Apple product placement.
Pixar blogger and CoM reader Guido Rogall explains: in Bolt “there’s a chase scene on a train. For a few seconds you see a young woman with a laptop, either a MacBook or iBook, but what is funny about it is that the Apple logo is not lit.”
As another one of our sharp-eyed readers pointed out, this Apple turn-off scenario happens every so often in movies.
Wonder if it’s a mistake or makes it product placement more memorable to clued-in viewers…
This Lego-look speaker will pump some sound for the iPod Classic, iPod Nano, iPod Touch and iPod Mini. The USB-charged speaker blocks come in red, blue, green, white, black yellow and pink.
No details on how powerful it is, but probably enough to annoy someone in the next cubicle over.
At around $20, it’s an idea for the random people on your list.
