Cool toys and Gadgets

Section: Apple, Audio

“Operation Humble Kanye” is sort of a success.  If you don’t know, Stephen Colbert attempted to have the top album on iTunes by telling everyone to buy his Christmas album on December 3rd at 5PM Eastern.  Last night, the album was #15.  This morning, “A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All” is the #3 album on iTunes.

Now, while Colbert was trying to get the top spot, he was also trying to have his album overtake Kanye West’s “808s & Heartbreak.“  West’s album is now #4, looking up at Colbert’s #3 album.  Does this mean you can game iTunes by having a lot of people buy your album just within a couple of minutes?  Perhaps.  Maybe record companies are already doing that to move things like Britney Spears’ “Circus” to the top spot. 

Full Story » | Written by Iyaz Akhtar for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Apple, Audio

Stephen Colbert is trying to push his Christmas album to the top of the iTunes album charts.  How?  He’s organizing “Operation Humble Kanye” to game iTunes.  Kanye West’s album was #1 when Colbert started this plan (currently, Britney Spears is in the top spot). 

His plan is to get everyone to buy “A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All” today, December 3rd, at 5PM Eastern time. 

Can this actually work?  Will a concentrated surge of purchases propel the album to the top of the charts?  I guess we’ll find out later today.

Full Story » | Written by Iyaz Akhtar for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Audio

Since it became an official standard in 1991, Moving Picture Experts Group -1 Audio Layer 3 (or MP3) has proven popular due to the fact that it is easily transferable, good quality and cheaper than hard copies.  So far it has been unpopular with record companies as a result of the close links it has to piracy, but recently Atlantic Records said that over 50% of their revenue was coming from digital sales.

This is the first instance where a publisher has made more profit from this type of sale than from CDs of DVDs, so this is definitely a landmark for the music industry.  The figure actually stands at 51% (of profit coming from digital sales) which may not sound much, is still a big achievement, and will give other companies confidence to go down this path.

As I said there is a great reluctance to encourage digital media because of the way that it can be easily copied, but this has caused a massive overhaul in the music industry.  Whilst many have embraced it by offering their music free over the Internet, others are suffering as people choose to listen/download the music free online rather than pay for a CD.  Craig Kallman, Chief Executive of Atlantic Records, explains how the Internet has affected their business:

“It was really important to educate artists about how we had to change the thinking on the release cycle and the type of products we were releasing.  Some fans only want to buy the physical disc, some only want to buy a ringtone and a T-shirt, others just want a concert ticket, others want to buy a digital album.  Everybody wants something different now ... we need to offer them whatever they want, whenever they want.“

Source [Guardian]

Full Story » | Written by Christian Milsom for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Turn your photo collections into 3D realistic page-flipping albums.

Minos Album Free Version allows you to organize your photos into a 3D realistic page-flipping web album. (more…)

Photography by Sam Alvar

Bob Dylan was born in his hometown, but Duluth TankPodDrum's shell is a hollow, 6"-diameter, performance artist Tim Kaiser has a different musical 14"-tall stainless steel vessel that Kaiser scored for hero: Harry Partch (1901-1974), an underappreciated 70 cents at a salvage yard. In his home studio, he composer who invented new microtonal scales for used stove bolts to add a right angle fitting from a instruments he built himself. hot water heater, brass bells from a rotary phone, a

"He was a curmudgeon and a brilliant musician comb of rods from a toy piano, music box tines, bits who couldn't stand convention and created his of chrome, and rack handles. When Kaiser bangs on own," says Kaiser, who also coaxes foreign sounds the attachments with a mallet, the drum acts as a from far-fetched equipment made by hand. resonator. A pickup epoxied to the barrel's interior As a teenage musician, Kaiser discovered a new connects to an amp or, if Kaiser is playing, a modu-auditory universe at the University of Minnesota lation delay that echoes and fades not only the pitch and began assembling avant-garde noisemakers but also the frequency. to suit his sonic tastes. His technique? Scrap parts After Partch died, the American Composers Forum and a junior high school electronics class. inherited the rights to his work and released more Some 20 years later, Kaiser has made more than than 100 of his recordings on the Innova record label.

150 instruments, including a stenography key- "I've always dreamed of being on Innova," Kaiser says. board wired with the guts of a mini teaching piano, Dreams apparently come true. In June 2007, a green effect box with beehive lenses that loops Kaiser's latest solo album, Analog, was released on a 2-second delay, and an old espresso bin called -- you guessed it -- Innova.

TankPodDrum, fitted with all things pluckable and tappable. Kaiser takes commissions, but saves his favorites for his own live shows.

Watch and listen to Tim Kaiser: timkaiser.org

makezine.com/go/eriksub

From the column Made on Earth - MAKE 12, page 15 - Megan Mansell Williams.

Even the Xbox Live Marketplace is getting in on the post-Thanksgiving sale madness. In fact, they’ve just posted up some great price reductions on some pretty cool arcade games and add-ons for some of your favorite current games.

Beginning on Friday and ending on Sunday, you can get discounts on all sorts of titles from the Live Marketplace. Everything from Rez HD to Brain Challenge have gotten price drops, each only costing 500 Microsoft Points. They were formerly priced at 800 points.

Additional downloadable content is also on sale for Guitar Hero 3, Rock Band and Forza. Themes are included as well, such as those for Sonic Unleashed and Gears of War 2. Check out the full list of on-sale items below:

Xbox Live Arcade Games
Rez HD - 500 Microsoft Points
Arkadian Warriors - 500 Microsoft Points
Assault Heroes - 400 Microsoft Points
Catan - 500 Microsoft Points
Brain Challenge - 500 Microsoft Points
Boogie Bunnies - 500 Microsoft Points
Golf: Tee It Up! - 500 Microsoft Points

Paid DLC
GH3 Metallica “Death Magnetic” Full Album - 1000 Microsoft Points
Forza – March Car Pack - 400 Microsoft Points
Crackdown – Getting Busy Bonus Pack - 500 Microsoft Points
Rock Band All That Remains Pack 01 - 290 Microsoft Points
Lips – The Remedy (Jason Mraz) - 100 Microsoft Points

Themes
Gears of War 2 – Last Day - 180 Microsoft Points
Sonic Unleashed - 180 Microsoft Points
Castle Crashers Premium - 180 Microsoft Points

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Casemodders have implanted the brains of the Atari 2600 into all sorts of strange host bodies over the years, but this is the first time I’ve seen this particular permutation.

Modder Chris Koopa (with a name like that, I’m shocked he hasn’t done any Nintendo mods) melded the shell of old SEGA Game Gear portable with the guts of an Atari 2600 to create this Frankenstein’s Monster of a gaming system, dubbed the Atari Gear 2600. The handheld has a 2.5″ backlit LCD display, and can run for an impressive 7-8 hours on a set of AA batteries.

By using the lightweight innards of an Atari Flashback 2, Chris was able to cram in a system loaded with 40 built-in Atari 2600 games. And thanks to a clever 2600 cart slot mod, the system can play original cartridges from the 2600 too.

Pitfall portable, here I come!

[via Ben Heck Forums]

Section: Audio, Computers, Desktops, Reviews, Originals, Web, Downloads, Websites, Online Music/Video, Features

I first wrote about HDtracks originally in October and I thought it was a pretty cool service.  At that time, I wasn’t able to test out their HD music. 

Recently, Gibson partnered up with HDtracks to offer their own special album in HD and I quickly jumped on the opportunity to listen to the music in HD.  Before I start talking about the quality of the music, I want to briefly go over the download and installation process.  This way if you want to purchase something off HDtracks, you will know how it works ahead of time.

Installation

Basically, you first have to make an account and then decide what music/album you are going to buy.  After that, you have to download a program, which is connected with your online account.  In addition, it makes a new folder on the desktop called My HDtracks Music and all downloaded music automatically goes there.  On your own time, you are able to download and pause the music you have opted in purchasing.  For some odd reason, once I opened the program on my desktop to begin the downloading process, it didn’t work right away and I had to close the program and then open it.  Once I did that, it worked fine.

HD Music - is it really worth it?

Music, just like videos, come in different quality standards.  Some are specially encoded to take up less space on your hard drive, meaning that such music won’t be as of high quality as music that is fully uncompressed which would take up a lot of space.  Now, when I downloaded the Gibson album, I went with MP3 format encoded in 320kbps, I figured that most people would download it this way as well.  However, you can also download it in AIFF and FLAC formats.  Once the music started playing, I could definitely hear the difference between this and my normal music.  The song seemed to have much more “life,“ if you will, as well as a lot more clarity.  It was possible to hear the individual notes and instruments during the song.

Final opinions

I love music, but all I really need are normal songs, it doesn’t have to be high quality or HD.  For me, I would spend my $2.49 on a single song or $15.98 for an album somewhere else.  That being said, if I really cared about my music and wanted the absolute best quality, I might be inclined to purchase my music from HDtracks.  If they lower their prices a bit, I could see them becoming pretty popular.

Download the Album [HDtracks]

Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Audio, Communications, Computers, Gadgets / Other, Originals, Columns, Who's On Crack, Features

This is where we call out the tech moves that seem odd, out of touch or just plain straight up smokin’ crack.  This week sees posturing, positioning and flat out insanity. 

This close to the holidays, everyone is hoping what is bolted down to the table withstands the storm.  (No, not that Storm).  Here is what caught my eye this week:

AT&T Marketing text messages

What are these guys thinking?  Texts are the “hey baby” of the new era, the “come hither,“ the “I am at 34th and 8th freezing my A$$ off, where r u?“  AT&T, this isn’t your playground to send me marketing messages like:

“AT&T Free Msg: Need ideas for a great holiday gift?  AT&T can help.  Add a line to your already discounted plan.  Visit an AT&T store or call 800-423-2851.  Reply stop to end mktg msg.“

This is offensive; one, because you made me drop everything for that lame advert?  And two, because you think putting AT&T Free Msg in front makes it ok?  Save the spam for email. 

Oh, and thanks for the idea of putting “AT&T Free Msg:“ into all my text messages to give your store employees hell with when I refuse to pay.  But it says free, just like the others…  Crack heads.

Akon and Sandisk. 

Still going with this despite my admonishment back in September?  Fine, freaks.  They just announced you can buy Akon’s new masterpiece digitally, on CD or on an Slotmusic card.  The Slotmusic card will feature images, music video and a documentary on the man’s life.  But Akon thinks it is more than just that:

“To me, slotMusic is the return of the album in all its glory, but updated for today’s mobile world.“ - Akon

Is that so?  The return of the album?  Hmmm, let’s see: forcing me to buy stuff I don’t need, like track #4 where you thought it was a good idea to just let the drum machine go for a bit…  yeah, you are right, that sounds a lot like the return of the album.  It too will fail.  (note: I’ve not actually listened to Akon’s new album track #4, but I still think this is a safe bet)

BlackBerry Storm

RIM, assuming you were not duplicitous in the leaks, I am going to let you off the hook.  I don’t think the storm around the Storm is really your fault.  You built a neat phone.  You built a phone some will love.  Unfortunately, thanks to leaks, the expectations of this phone were so high.  Almost all the reviewers gave it an “OK, but I’d rather have something else” review.  Isn’t that the “its not you, its me” excuse?  “I just need some space with my iPhone to figure things out.“ 

You want to create a real storm?  Drop the Flip price another $50.

Apple hate touch owners

Apple, really?  This is the love you show us?  I spend the inordinate about of time updating my OS to 2.2 this morning only to find 2 major issues for me: no frickin’ street view and still un-iPhone-optimized search results by using the search box in Sarari?  Come on!

Street view ought to be an easy thing.  GPS isn’t required for this function so what is the deal?  Touch owners want this function and not including us in the fun just seems mean.

The search results thing seems like an easy one, but I am no programmer.  I can tell you, as a user, I love the Google search results optimized for the iPhone screen.  No scrolling around, the time-saving suggestions as you type, I love it all.  What I don’t love is hitting my google.com bookmark every time I want to head there.  Having the search bar not take advantage of this just seems lazy.  Or maybe I am the one who’s lazy.  Whomever it is, it ought to be fixed. 

Touch on a laptop

What do you get when you take two Gadgetell guys and two demos of HPs new tablet/PC?  Mixed results.  Our editor Iyaz was at HP’s launch earlier this week and was wowed.  Last night, I got a demo of the new unit and everything went wrong.  Tough to get it in touch mode, tough to select things, back to a stylus.  While I can give out huge kudos to HP for realizing that touch can’t just be an alternative input method, it has to be functional UI changes like they did on the big awesome-looking all-in-one desktop/tuner, I can’t help feel that they missed the mark.

I ended up leaving the demo feeling that HP had realized we (you and I) really don’t know what we want from a touchscreen on a laptop.  Do we really want to multi-touch photos?  Do we really want to just rotate them in 90 degree intervals?  Is it only for pictures?  HP’s software chops are impressive, very impressive.  But, this new laptop just seems crack-o-licious.  I can almost hear someone hollering, “I don’t care if consumers don’t want it or use it, just build it.“

I expect Iyaz to tell me how wrong I am on this and that’s cool.  He really like the option to close windows just by touching the screen vs. using a trackpad to finally get to the upper right corner.  That just seems like a lame use for it, like buying a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California to keep in a garage.  Just saying.

And I haven’t even touched on Black Friday shenanigans.  What did you see this week?  Let us know what I missed in the comments.

A special word of thanks to Exec. editors Adam and Doug for sharing their personal peeves with me this week.

Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Whenever there’s an iPhone update, the second question after “does it do copy & paste?” is inevitably “what about MMS?”  Apple have consistently shied away from multimedia messaging on their handset, strange given what a cash-cow it is to the mobile operators.  Now, developer Mobispine claims to be offering a whitelabel MMS app for iPhone operators all over the world.

The app, which would be customized to each carrier, will allow users to send and receive MMS including photo messages.  Although a separate app from the existing threaded SMS program preloaded onto the iPhone, the Mobispine software would integrate with the address book, camera and photo browser, adding a “send by MMS option” to each.

Mobispine would distribute the software via the iPhone AppStore, which suggests that Apple would have to give it their blessing before its release.  Whether or not they do depends on their own internal timescale for adding MMS functionality; it seems unlikely that they’re not working on an official MMS upgrade, and as such they might consider Mobispine’s software as a potential conflict.

Press Release:

Mobispine Delivers First Ever True MMS for iPhone

Mobispine AB (MOBS) the market leader in delivering mobile solutions to operators announced the availability of the world’s first true Multimedia Messaging (MMS) for iPhone. Mobispine is now offering a “white label” MMS service for iPhone to global operators. This new and innovative service will increase revenue per user (ARPU) and generate profits for operators.

“Mobispine continues its strong track record of innovation and is proud to unveil the first true MMS service for iPhones. We are confident that global operators will find Mobispine’s MMS service for iPhone easy-to-use and profitable,” said Dusyant Patel, CEO, Mobispine. “This new offering will help operators generate revenue and differentiate their offerings in a highly competitive market.”

The ability to send, receive and forward MMS from any iPhone offers operators the opportunity to drive sales, increase messaging usage and improve subscriber retention. Additionally, by providing a value-added service that end-users find useful, operators can increase customer loyalty and recognition as the brand is displayed on the user’s phone. The application will be branded for each operator and distributed via the Apple Appstore.

For the end-user, MMS on iPhone enables easy, convenient and cost-effective communication with colleagues, friends and family. Users can easily create a new MMS and attach a picture from an album on the phone or simply take a new snapshot with the camera. The application is integrated with the iPhone’s contacts for easy access. Some of the key features for end-users include the ability to easily send and receive messages from iPhone to any phone with a native and intuitive user interface. The application also offers the ability to capture a picture via the iPhone camera or the option to select from existing photos.  

[via SlashPhone]

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