Staff Writer - page 20

By Andy Patrizio

One of the first industries to adopt the iPad was the airline industry, because pilots were able to trade their 50 pounds of flight manuals for one iPad that held everything and was rapidly searchable. Musicians are following on that notion, trading in paper sheet music for a 9.7” iPad screen.

Chromatik introduced its eponymous iPad sheet music app that doesn’t just display music, it lets you highlight it, annotate it, make changes and record your own changes. Everything is stored in the cloud, so it can sync with a number of other devices.

By Andy Patrizio

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Guitarists have long had the option of a wallet-sized amp with a headphone plug, so they can plug in their guitar and no one else hears them play. But what if you are stuck on a six-hour plane ride? You can’t take a nail clipper on the plane these days, let alone a guitar.

Well, if the TSA doesn’t confiscate your iPad, yo uczn use MoForte’s Power Chord, an app that turns your tablet into a guitar. All you need to do is strum the screen. You can strum or pick strings, adjust the effects and even shake your iPad like using a whammy bar to channel your inner Hendrix. You can even do string scraping, where you simulate the effect of running a guitar pick down the string for that descending screech sound.

By Andy Patrizio

ANAHEIM, Calif. – If it’s late January in Anaheim, that means one thing: the North American Music Merchant’s (NAMM) convention turning the area around Disneyland into an even bigger madhouse. NAMM is for musicians what CES is for consumer electronics junkies; just a lot more hair and tattoos. More than 90,000 people will descend on this modestly-sized convention center best suited to hold about 10,000 max.

NAMM has run continuously since 1901, making it one of the oldest trade shows in the country. For the last 35 years it has come to Anaheim and has clearly outgrown the modest convention center, but NAMM is reluctant to leave.

This post is brought to you by SquidMelon, creator of Live Wallpaper.

Live Wallpaper is the quickest, easiest way to liven up your desktop. With twenty-three official themes and an ever-expanding assortment of custom themes, Live Wallpaper offers an array of high-res images and animations to liven up your Mac screen, or across multiple screens if you use more than one monitor.

This post is brought to you by Gazelle.

Have you recently gotten a new iPhone, iPad or MacBook? Before you get a new one or if you already have it, make sure you sell your used phone or gadget to Gazelle for cash! Don’t bury last year’s gadget in a drawer — find out what it’s worth on Gazelle.com.

Gazelle takes the risk and effort out of selling electronic gadgets online with benefits such as free shipping and packaging and comprehensive identity and data removal. To date, Gazelle has accepted more than one million trade-ins, helping consumers upgrade to the latest technology and earn quick cash.

This post was brought to you by Time Space System, creator of TS Translator.

Don’t find yourself lost for words while in the Far East on business, taking a tour or visiting relatives — just download TS Translator app onto your iPhone or iPad, select a phrase and allow your tablet to do your talking for you. It’s as quick and easy as instant noodles!

Sefirah is an epic story based on a fantasy world with a thousand years of history. Demons have invaded the ancient Yggdrasil empire, and only Aron and Benjamin can form an army of mercenary rebels to defeat the darkness. This role-playing game for iPhone / iPod touch is an engaging portal to a legendary struggle….

The iPhone and iPad are the perpetual accessories of today’s office warrior, yet even so, the pickings are slim for the professional who wants an app suite capable of reading and writing Microsoft Office documents on the go.

Luckily, that’s all changed. Polaris Office is here, and it’s not just Microsoft Office on your iPhone or iPad: it’s better.

Leading game developer Big Fish Games is giving away free codes to the paid version of Fairway Solitaire for iPhone / iPod touch! Get a free code for the full version of the game by going here.

Fairway Solitaire is a fun mix of the classic card game, Solitaire, and golf. While teeing shots, putting balls and clearing courses, a pesky gopher pops up occasionally to laugh at the ineptitude of the card-turning, 8-iron swinging player. The antagonistic gopher, McDivot, is a sworn enemy of all golfers. The game is rated 5/5 stars on iTunes.

Game Your Video ($0.99 on the App Store till Nov 4th) by Global Delight Technologies is a clever and fun video editing and effects app for iPhone. Add screams, slowmotion, even uncanny backwards motion. It’s as easy as mashing the buttons on a virtual game controller.

Simply import your home videos on your device and they are ready to edit and spice up with a range of in-app visual and sound effects — on the go. Game Your Video is just perfect for making scary and fun home movies for the Halloween season… and you could win a $50 iTunes Gift Card.

Sick of opening all your files in different apps? The new iFile app is a multifunctional text, image, music, document, and video reader. You can edit, browse, watch and listen to almost any kind of file that your iOS device can read, all from a single app.

You can also share files with friends, run a portable web server on your iPhone, sync files to Dropbox, and more…

MacTech Conference 2012 in Los Angeles doesn’t start till October 17th 2012, but pre-registration is ending pretty soon — and with it your chance to save $300. If you’re interested in learning about all things Mac in some world-class sessions by some phenomenally brilliant Apple fans than you need to hurry and register.

MacTech 2012 will features special sessions with people like former Apple evangelist Matt Drance, and a special NASA Jet Propulsion Lan on “Interplanetary Networking, Curiosity Style.” You’ll even get to go over to Walt Disney Animation Studios and get a behind-the-scenes look at the advanced technology Disney uses to make their films.

There are so many thousands of apps out there — over half a million on Apple’s App Store — that it is virtually impossible to keep track of good bargains going for a song on the App Store. And developers are constantly putting apps on sale, allowing bargains galore the minute they become available — if only you knew they were. AppZapp for iPad / iPhone watches the App Store for you and keeps you informed of hundreds of price drops every day. With targeted apps in sorted lists, AppZapp knows what you like and keeps you informed of all the latest bargains in the App Store.

This post is brought to you by Chase — innovator of the Tech Warehouse program. The program was designed to leverage the benefits of sustainable management of resources at their end of life in order to make a positive impact on the world. Learn more here.

Computers that were once employed for business purposes at JPMorgan Chase and have reached their end of usefulness are not going to waste anymore, thanks to the the Tech Warehouse program.

Through Tech Warehouse, JPMorgan Chase and Good360 are providing non-profit organizations and schools with refurbished computers that are equipped with basic peripherals and OS software, allowing them to enhance their tech capabilities…. and their local communities.

This post is brought to you by Chase — a strong supporter of TRANS4M Boyle Heights, a program that provides multiple social services that address Boyle Heights’ particular needs. Learn more here.

While some kids are at goofing off at camp or watching re-runs this summer, a group of teens in Los Angeles are reinventing their neighborhood with the help of iPads.

They’re taking part in a new Digital Storytelling class and the first assignment – run as a contest – is to see who comes up with the best ideas for transforming Boyle Heights. This East Los Angeles neighborhood, described by singer will.i.am who grew up there as a “wasteland” is also home to one of the youngest populations in the city.

This post is brought to you by Alex&Rovich, publisher of the RealPinocchio app.

Although everyone knows Pinocchio, to most people in the English-speaking world at least, he is the doe-eyed cartoon puppet who’s “got no strings” in the animated Disney movie made in 1940. Since then, there has not been a faithful rendition of Carlo Collodi‘s world-famous wooden creation, who first appeared in an Italian newspaper serial in 1881 and then a children’s novel two years later. This is something of a travesty for Pinocchio, who in his original appearances was a free-spirited and willful marionette, a “truant and a vagabond.”

RealPinocchio is a new app that restores the original story of the genuine Pinocchio. And the famous book is now finally interactive.

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This post is brought to you by Chase — a strong supporter of TRANS4M Boyle Heights, a program that provides multiple social services that address Boyle Heights’ particular needs. Learn more here.

Summer school has never been this cool: kids in a Los Angeles neighborhood will spend four weeks using iPads and MacBook Airs in a digital storytelling class.

The class is part of a three-subject curriculum — they’ll be boning up on English and math skills, too — to boost the chances of 65 ninth graders to get into college.

It’s the first offering of the Trans4m Boyle Heights Initiative, backed by a $7 million, three-year commitment from Chase and lead by will.i.am, who grew up in the neighborhood. His charity,  i.am angel foundation, and College Track, co-founded by Laurene Powell Jobs, are teaming up for the project.

May is Mobile Management Month at Cult of Mac, where we will be profiling a different mobile management company every weekday. You can find all previous entries here  and read our Mobile Management manifesto here.

This post is brought to you by SolarWinds, an IT software management company with more than 93,000 customers worldwide – from Fortune 500 enterprises to small businesses. Click here to download a free 30-Day Trial of Mobile Admin from SolarWinds. Author: Denny LeCompte Coauthor: Stephanie Mitchell.

Which smartphone or tablet are you bringing to work?

With the constant stream of news emerging in the Apple versus Android battle, we think it’s time to look at which devices the IT pros are choosing, and how recent trends are affecting what devices are brought into work.

This post is brought to you by Chase — a strong supporter of TRANS4M Boyle Heights, a program that provides multiple social services that address Boyle Heights’ particular needs. Learn more here.

Singer will.i.am describes the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights where he grew up as a “wasteland.” He hopes that thanks to science education and tech it can become a place that fosters the next wave of entrepreneurs with the TRANS4M Boyle Heights Initiative.

Backed by $7 million, three-year commitment from Chase, the initiative will help build a center where local teens can learn employable skills in the arts and digital media and explore careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

This post is brought to you by FakhrApps, publisher of the My English Translator app.

Language translation software can easily make you appear to be saying something downright preposterous. It can also get you a slap in the face when smiles and hand gestures would have done a better job of getting your intentions properly understood by your non-English-speaking foreign acquaintance.

But here comes a dependable mobile translator: the just-released $0.99 My English Translator, which aims to put an end to English incomprehension everywhere you go with a new app for iPhone / iPad.

The app can translate any text or idiomatic expression in fifty-nine different languages including Arabic, Chinese, Filipino, Portuguese, Hindi, Russian, Yiddish, Norwegian… even Latin. My English Translator works in real-time as you type for instant translations, and its voice feature speaks the results in the correct pronunciation.

Just a heads up: we’re running low on sizes of Cult of Mac’s vintage Apple-inspired In Love With Lisa graphic tee, and once we sell out, we’ll likely be out forever — so stop dilly dallying!

Our new is tee made in the beautiful USA, is crafted from 100% super-soft cotton, and ships worldwide. Tees come in men’s and women’s sizes too, so grab one for yourself or for your GF Lisa before we sell out over at MightTees.com.

Thanks to the good folks at Digiarty, we’ve been able to bring you some great video software that will rip your DVDs and stream video anywhere. Both the MacX DVD Ripper Pro Streamer Edition and the MacX Video Converter Pro have been free to all Cult of Mac readers over the last 7 days, but the window to grab these awesome freebie is closing tomorrow, May 2nd.

By using the MacX DVD Ripper Pro Streamer Edition package that includes Air Playit, and MacX Video Converter Pro, we’ve shown you how to rip your entire DVD collection to your Mac, stream video files to your iPhone or iPad, and convert any video file to play on your iOS devices. Unfortunately, after May 2nd the MacX DVD Ripper Pro Streamer Edition will go back to its full price. If you want some truly phenomenal and easy-to-use software that will change the way you use video on your iPad or iPhone you better hurry and get your free copy now before it’s too late.

Here’s how to get your copy right now:

Last week we brought you some amazing software tools to change the way you watch video on your iPad, iPhone, and Mac. Digiarty’s MacX DVD Ripper Pro Streamer Edition software is being given away free to all Cult of Mac readers until May 2nd. Not only can this easy-to-use software package rip your DVD collection and put the movies on your Mac, but it can also stream the files to your iPad or iPhone.

But wait, it gets better. Digiarty has also decided to throw in their MacX Video Converter Pro software as well,  so you can convert any video file into something that will play on your iPad or iPhone. MacX Video Converter Pro will convert MKC, M2TS, AVCHD, AVI, WMV, and YouTube FLV videos files into to MP4 & h264 files that are friendly with the iPad and iPhone.

Another sweet feature of MacX Video Converter Pro is that it can download website video from YouTube, Vimeo, MySpace, Metacafe, etc. Now your favorite viral Internet videos can be saved on your computer for you to use whenever you want. Remix your favorite cat videos. Create new Rebecca Black and Madonna GIFs. Or just do something crazy amazing like mashing up the Lion King with The Dark Knight Rises. What you do is up to you, but you have to enter the giveaway to get your free copy.

Here’s how to get your copy:

We’re excited to announce new promotional opportunities on The CultCast, Cult of Mac’s new technology podcast.

Since our launch on February 24th, The CultCast has been consistently positioned as a top-five technology podcast on iTunes, and has had multiple appearances as iTunes’ #1 most popular tech podcast. We’re off to an amazing start!