The hottest new feature in the latest iTunes update is definitely Ping, a new music based social networking tool designed to help you explore new music by seeing what your friends and favorite artists are listening to. Find tour dates, see photos and videos…it’s a whole new way to search for favorites, and over one million people used Ping in the first 48 hours of its release. Apple TV a la carte television options made the transition to iTunes as well, so you can choose from thousands of shows in HD and commercial free for 99 cents a pop and take up to 30 days to watch what you’ve bought, as well as 48 hours to finish the episode after you’ve started it. Apple’s also figured out a way to break into the home entertainment market with AirPlay—this new wireless technology will be arriving shortly inside speakers, AV receivers and iPod accessories to make it possible for you to stream your entire iTunes collection anywhere in the house. Wireless is great, we know, but we love organization even more, and iTunes 10 makes it easier than ever to sync your purchases to your device with a capacity bar that tells you how much space you’ve got left in real time, and once you organize your apps in iTunes they’re put in order across your personal Apple lineup. Arrange and rearrange to your heart’s content!
iTunes 10
Before we get to all the incredible features in the new iTunes, we want to first congratulate Apple & Apple on finally bringing The Beatles to iTunes after years of negotiation. The fab four sound even more fabulous in the digital age.
Price: Free Download www.apple.com/itunes/
GarageBand
Everyone’s favorite intro to home music recording isn’t just an intro any more! Besides doing the obvious recording and editing, GarageBand can teach you how to play an instrument, write music, and serve as a sounding board and practice space for your musical inclinations. Flex Time and Groove Matching are incredible tools to help you sync up the different tracks of your recordings and fixing the timing on a note is as simple as a mouse click. Notably added are seven new guitar amps and five new stompbox effects, bring your total amps to twelve and foot pedal effects to fifteen—not too shabby! These additions are the perfect way to find and create your own signature sound. While you’re working on finding the perfect blend there, GarageBand continues to challenge you by offering a feature to measure your chops—really. Play along with any lesson and GarageBand can record you in real time and show you where you’re playing well…and where you need to improve. Add that to the twenty-two new genre-based lessons (for a total of 40!) for piano and guitar and you can honestly use this program to teach yourself any style of music from blues to classical to pop.
Price: $49 www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/
Rock Band 3
After our coverage of The Beatles: Rock Band last year we’ve been keeping our ears to the ground for the next release from Harmonix for the Mac, and now Rock Band 3 is here! The second version of the game was fantastic, with rockin’ tracks and great graphics but the screenshots from this game are even better: characters are more realistic and the guys have kept some of the best features from their previous titles like the three part harmony from The Beatles version.
Support for all 1,500 existing Rock Band tracks is only the beginning, though a keyboard peripheral has been added along with a "pro" option that lets you learn how to play the actual versions of the game instruments: it’s very much in keeping with Harmonix’s mission of giving everyone the tools to make music. A new party mode, improved search functions and a feature that will recommend tracks for you to play add to the fun, but the game wouldn’t be anything special if the songs weren’t awesome…Harmonix has only released a handful of track names but with “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Here I Go Again” and “The Hardest Button to Button” on the list we think they’ve once again found the perfect balance between killer tracks and guilty pleasures!
Price: $49 www.rockband.com/games/rb3
Photos by Kelly Davidson
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OS 4.0
Here's what we're looking at: people want multi-tasking, global email integration and GPS Navigation because (let's face it) Android phones already have them. If the iPhone wants to keep up it can't just be the most stylish handset around. Looks and brains, right? So hopefully we'll b introduced to those features come 10am PST Thursday. We know, we know...they've been a few years coming. But this Android thing is so new and--we think--the first wave of real competition the iPhone has faced since its debut. Ergo, it's time to step it up, fellas.
On the wish list but highly unlikely (no matter how much you want it): a Verizon iPhone. They just inked the iPad deal. Doubtful Apple's going to turn its back on AT&T now, even if the masses would prefer a little more choice in their providers. We'd love a screen rotation lock like the iPad has too, but we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed and see!
iPad Opinion
There have been hundreds of iPad opinion columns posted over the web in the past few days, but ComputerWorld's Michael DeAgonia has done one thing in his we haven't seen yet: an honest attempt to capture the feeling you get when you use one for the first time. We've all been running on and on about screen resolution, brilliant graphics, ease of use: DeAgonia is trying to quantify the emotional aspect of this device...and trust us, there is one.
The column is long and involved but worth the read--it's so interesting to see a different tack taken. If you're tech nerd like us you know you want one...or you already own it. But the intuitive interface, seed and portability make it a worthy consideration for anyone in the market for an e-reader or netbook.
Point of Sale?
We've worked in a retail environment or three in our time and the worst thing about them is old, clunky, outdated Point of Sale Systems--especially when your employer is still using a Micros from 1985 in 2008. Why didn't they switch? They're EXPENSIVE.
But enterprising businesses are already making use of the iPad as a POS...like the Sightglass coffee shop in San Francisco. Brilliant. And about ten grand cheaper than updating your Micros.
Any more awesome iPad sightings? Tweet us!
