Friday, September 3, 2010
A Paper Jamz guitar costs $25.
This story first appeared in Vegas Seven
Sometimes, it’s unclear if a new product is innovative or just better than its predecessors. In the case of new music-making “toys” from WowWee Robotics, a better approach to a familiar product resulted in something that delivers a lot of fun.
Paper Jamz is a series of faux instruments—guitar, drums and amps—that lets kids pretend they are rock stars. We’ve all seen such electronic instruments; if you have kids, you probably own one. But what’s innovative here is the presentation. The Paper Jamz products are remarkably thin, portable and a joy for kids to play loudly—much to the chagrin of Mom and Dad.
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Thursday, September 2, 2010
My opinion piece for Appolicious on the iPod classic, which did not get a face lift like other iPods, hit Yahoo's front page.
It constantly amazes me how much we pay attention to Apple when the company announces a new product. Apple has earned our respect when it comes to innovation and cool gadgets, as it has been at the forefront of what hand-held devices can do for consumers.
Yet the amount of coverage given to an infomercial orchestrated by a master pitchman continues to amaze me. But I will say this: not only is it good for Apple, it’s good for me.
There are currently four annual media events for Apple:
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Thursday, August 26, 2010
Motorola Droid X has best battery life
This item is excerpted from Thursday’s App Industry Report on Appolicious.
If there’s a bugaboo that drives every smartphone owner nuts, it’s battery life. No smartphone holds a charge for very long, particularly when compared to mobile phones designed primarily to, gasp, just make calls.
Still, if battery life is a key consideration when buying a new smartphone (and it should be), how do various models stack up? Laptop Magazine tested a crop of the latest Android smartphones and determined that the Motorola Droid X is the best. The worst: the HTC Incredible, while the superior-screened line-up of new Samsung phones were close to the bottom.
See chart after jump
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Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The BlackBerry Torch can be controlled by touch or keyboard
Is there a smartphone less interesting than the BlackBerry these days? No. Research in Motion, BlackBerry’s maker, is desperately trying to change that perception but it hasn’t been easy.
RIM is losing market share at an alarming rate, as Android phones and the iPhone continue to attract new users. So can the BlackBerry Torch, RIM’s latest offering, stop the carnage? The Torch is the first BlackBerry to use a combination of touch-screen and keyboard — a nod to RIM’s traditional user base — to navigate the phone, while also offering an overdue upgrade to its operating system, dubbed BlackBerry 6.
So, is the Torch exciting enough to draw new users to the BlackBerry operating system? Perhaps more important: is it good enough to keep existing users from departing?
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The oceans star on the Google Earth for Android app.
This story is excerpted from Appolicious.com
Google has introduced a major upgrade to the Android version of its Google Earth app that is so cool it may sway your decision if you were to pick today between buying an Android phone or an iPhone.
With Google Earth 1.1 for Android, users can dive into the ocean to see what our planet looks like from below.
The updated app “introduces the ‘Explore the Ocean’ layer, which features hundreds of photos and videos from more than 100 contributors who are excited to share their stories of sea,” according to Google’s description on its mobile blog. One of those partners is Mission Blue, an organization dedicated to preserving special areas around the ocean. The group’s content includes undersea videos that can be accessed on the new version of Google Earth.
The complete story on Appolicious.com includes suggestions for other educational apps.
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Arcade Fire, Lollapalooza 2010. Photo by Matt Ellis
I thought this was the year I was finally going to make Lollapalooza, a staple of Chicago’s summer. Alas, I didn’t.
Yet I’ve been able to catch up with the music and other cool stuff from the artists who played at Lollapalooza 2010. Slacker Radio created a special channel for this year’s show (the Slacker Radio app is free and available for the iPhone and Android phones) that includes artist interviews and special song introductions recorded at Lollapalooza 2010.
Another spot to find Lolla content is the Lollapalooza YouTube channel. Most videos are snippets from the show, but some of the fuller clips shouldn’t be missed. Example: Check out the crazy Lady Gaga video after the jump.
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Thursday, August 19, 2010
The Kindle DX has a 9.7-inch screen, the same as an iPad
This story first appeared in Vegas Seven
Here’s the question I’ve been wrestling with regarding Amazon’s new lineup of Kindle eReaders: Can I recommend the Kindle DX, the textbook-screen-size model that costs $379, when the online retailer now offers a standard model for $139?
A week before Amazon announced availability of its slimmest Kindle (shipping soon), it sent the Kindle DX for review. The Kindle DX was recently remade with a better screen featuring excellent contrast. It is basically the same as the new Kindle—except the DX is really big. The Kindle DX weighs 1.2 pounds and has a 9.7-inch screen, like the Apple iPad.
The lowest-priced Kindle weighs a half-pound and has a 6-inch screen. It has two price points: Wi-Fi only for $139 and 3G plus Wi-Fi for $189. It will be a hit thanks to those prices.
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Wednesday, August 18, 2010
The Samsung Vibrant from T-Mobile
Of all the gimmicks that phone makers use to sell smartphones, preloading a copy of Avatar may have the least impact. Indeed, the Samsung Vibrant from T-Mobile doesn’t need the sci-fi flick to catch one’s eye: it’s a beauty all by itself.
The Vibrant is part of Samsung’s Galaxy S line-up of Android phones that are starting to appear at all major U.S. wireless carriers. The Samsung Vibrant is sold at T-Mobile for $199 after contract, but I recently spotted a Web special for $99. It runs on version 2.1 of the Android operating system, features a 4-inch screen, 16GB of internal memory (upgradable with a MicroSD card) and a 5-megapixel camera. Oh, and a full copy of Avatar.
Other phones in the Galaxy S line-up include the Samsung Captivate at AT&T, Samsung Epic 4G at Sprint and the Samsung Fascinate at Verizon. (Check carriers for pricing and availability.)
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Wine Spectator's Vintage Charts+ app joins a collection of wine apps
We are still very much in the early stages of the app development game, but sometimes you have to wonder about missed opportunities. Wine Spectator magazine, the elite title for wine snobs, just released an iPhone app. (And it’s not called Wine Snob.)
Welcome, Wine Spectator, and thanks for a free app. But here’s the problem: the app, called VintageChart+ By Wine Spectator, can be tough to find.
By my count, there are about 60-plus apps that use the word “wine” in the name. More broadly, hundreds of apps include topics relating to wine. Basically, the app store is swimming in wine apps.
Good luck finding the right vintage.
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I’ve been thinking about the potential of a Hulu.com IPO and I can’t get past three issues that make it a risky investment. The issues boil down to a pretty basic question: How will Hulu make real money?
A Hulu IPO may come in the the fall, reports the New York Times, and could value the company at $2 billion. That’s an eye-popping number that makes no sense to my admittedly below-average math skills. The three problems I can’t get past:
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Thursday, August 12, 2010
EyeTV Hybrid works with an antenna or cable TV
This story first appeared in Vegas Seven
I’m not an advocate of replacing a proper TV with watching shows on a computer, but sometimes watching TV on a computer is useful. Many options exist, including network programming—old and new—on Hulu.com, or live sports on ESPN3.com.
I’ve been playing with a third option, and it is pretty sweet and flexible, if somewhat flawed. This TV-watching gadget is called EyeTV Hybrid, and it’s a USB device that plugs into your computer and lets users tune in over-the-air channels and cable fare. For standard TV you need to attach an antenna—sadly, it doesn’t ship with one—and to get cable you need to connect the EyeTV Hybrid to your cable hook-up.
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Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Improvements to Gmail made Contacts easier to find.
On Tuesday, I started noodling around MailChimp, a newsletter service, to start preparing for the eventual launch of a Bendable Media newsletter. (Send an email to Eric Benderoff if you want to be on the mailing list!)
To create a newsletter you first need a list. So as I was culling through my Gmail account for contacts to ask if they want to receive my newsletter — a work in progress — I realized that it was a real pain to sort through contacts. I had so many contact duplicates that it was annoying to determine the correct email for each. I really hadn’t noticed how bad my contact organization was until I took that deep look.
Lo and behold, Wednesday morning Google introduced a spanking new system to manage contacts.
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A screenshot from Math Games - Free Addition and Subtraction Edition
The app recommendation site Appolicious (a client) is a great resource for parents looking for apps to educate and entertain children. I used the site as a key reference for this tech-oriented back-to-school story.
Appolicious offers several user-generated back-to-school app lists — or “Curated Apps.” (The site is filled with app lists on a variety of topics, such as photography, word lists, travel, etc.) Better, a number of these education app lists come from teachers or involved parents. Indeed, there are a number of app lists for teachers to help prepare for the coming school year.
Here are six lists of education-specific apps I included in the story:
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Screenshot of Slacker Radio's Lollapalooza channel
This story was excerpted from a piece I wrote for Appolicious (check out the new home page!) Read the entire story here.
If you’re going to the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago this weekend, here are some handy tools for your iPhone.
The official Lolla app offers a list and schedule of when and where bands are playing. The app includes a map of the venue’s stages, an integrated Facebook app to post pictures, and a channel from Slacker Radio that plays music from the acts.
That Lollapalooza channel is also available on the standard Slacker Radio app, by the way, and a recommended listen. (I’ve been playing it all week.)
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Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Shure's new SE535 headphones fill your ears with crisp sound
There’s a certain serenity to listening to music. I’m not talking about having music playing in the background while you work or read (although I enjoy both), but just listening to music while you do nothing else. I did that a lot back in the day, as I’m sure most of us have. But it can be tough to find the time to just listen today, with kids, work and the non-stop array of errands and tasks that need our attention.
Well, I’m starting to carve out time to just listen and it’s been easier than I thought. That’s partly because I’ve been trying to write this review of Shure’s newest high-end earphones (music required!) and the sound is so good, so rich and so fills my ears, that it’s hard to concentrate on the words. I must stop and listen, so much so that this piece should have been finished two days ago.
The Shure SE535 Sound Isolating Earphones recently went on sale for, gasp, $499. Yes, that’s a price that makes one choke but if you can afford such a luxury, you will not be disappointed.
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