It’s not just you. Been about an hour now… right when I was about to talk to some very important people about very important things.

You know the good feeling you get when you think about how your computer is running Folding@home all the time, or that you’ve been careful to clip six-pack rings all your life? Well, soon you might have one more warm fuzzy feeling, if this project underway at Intel Labs Berkeley comes through. They’re designing portable [...]

We’ve been slipped some additional information on Motorola’s imminent Android-powered i1 for iDEN networks today — actually, one correction and one interesting note. First, the correction: we’re now being told (by the same tipster as before) that it’s actually got a 5 megapixel camera on board, a nice upgrade from the 3 we’d previously been told to expect. More interestingly, though, we’re also hearing that Opera Mini has been tapped as the i1’s default browser — a move that Moto is more than welcome to make since this is a Blur-powered, non-”Google Experience” device. It’s also a possible admission that third-party Android browsers are currently outperforming Google’s own, something Microsoft has long dealt with on Windows Mobile as companies like HTC ultimately ended up bundling Opera Mobile with virtually every model they sold. So, Sprint Direct Connect and Boost Mobile customers, you getting excited about this thing or what?

Motorola i1 gets clearer: 5 megapixel cam, Opera Mini default browser? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Take a break from reading our hard-hitting news coverage and take a look at these cute little things. Perfect stocking stuffer (I know, a little early) for your favorite app developer and/or iPhone fanatic. What with these things, those Android pillows, and all the other tech knickknacks I’ve been seeing, it seems that pretty soon [...]

Filed under: Multimedia, Software, iPhone, App Store, Music

Recently I’ve been preparing to move home and finally did last weekend. Naturally I had to pack up all my musical gear, equipment and of course, my Mac. In the week leading up to the move, I’ve had my iPhone and nothing else. With no creative outlet and the pressure of looming project deadlines, I found myself scouting the app store for a fix to help me start fleshing out a few creative ideas.

This is what I found that worked well for me.

1. TonePad and TonePad Pro

The iTunes Store describes TonePad Pro as “…the easiest way to make music. Discover the inner musician in you. Create songs by simply touching.” And this is exactly what I found. With a 16 x 16 matrix, and an easy-to-use user interface (literally start tapping your fingers and music is made), I found myself coming up with little melodies and tunes immediately. Although you only have the 16 x 16 matrix, to me, what initially seemed quite limiting soon became a boundary for creative focus.

You can save an unlimited number of tunes to listen back to, and upload them to a shared server where your buddies can check out what you’ve been musing. With the paid version, you can save your melodies into a ringtone that will sync back to your iPhone, too.

2. Flourish

Flourish is something a bit more immersive. While having a steeper learning curve, there’s loads more to explore here. The user interface is really fresh and unique (especially for the iPhone), and presents a creative challenge in focusing your composition whilst giving you the space to try different approaches to what you are creating.

Basically Flourish represents musical phrases as physical loops:

-Record loops with expressive multi-touch keyboards.
-Generate percussive and melodic sequences.
-Build arrangements by ear or by eye.
-Select from a consonant collection of instruments.
-Sequence loops by connecting them in chain.

Check out the Flourish website for a few demo clips.

Let us know in the comments below what other apps for the iPhone / iPod Touch, or the Mac, that are inspiring you to make music.

Count The Beats: Inspiration… two apps for the musician on the move originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Count The Beats: Inspiration… two apps for the musician on the move originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Unwilling or unable to wait for the next major trade show (CTIA in two weeks), LG showed off a king’s ransom worth of new devices to a bunch of journos in the Netherlands this week; most of it appears to be pretty low-end fare, but there were a few notables in the lot. First up, the Cookie Music extends the Cookie brand with Dolby Mobile tech on board (something LG’s been doing pretty frequently lately), a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a tweaked design that looks a little more futuristic than Cookies of old. Viewty was starting to feel like a forgotten marque, but not so — we’ve now got a GT400 Viewty Smile here featuring a 5 megapixel cam and scratch-resistant display. As QWERTY dumbphones go, we’d thought that the GT350 was the KS360’s true successor, but not so — there’s a new KS365 in the mix with revised styling but seemingly very little in the way of upgraded specs. The rest of the lot looks like pretty forgettable stuff — and seeing how LG operates, they’ll all be forgotten and replaced with revised models within a few months’ time anyhow. You know, Circle of Life and all.

LG shows off Cookie Music, Viewty Smile, other goodies to Dutch press originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Gaming, Retail, Software, Developer, iPhone, App Store

Continue reading GDC 2010: Call of Duty: World at War Zombies postmortem

GDC 2010: Call of Duty: World at War Zombies postmortem originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

GDC 2010: Call of Duty: World at War Zombies postmortem originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ComboApp launched today, this tools allows anyone to make an app for Android in 5 minutes or less. It has a simple web-based UI that you can use to create an app with a few clicks of your mouse.

The description reads:
“Meet ComboApp© – the iPhone, iPad and Android App Builder for the rest of us! [...]

Filed under: Gaming, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPad

Continue reading GDC 2010: Interview with Street Fighter IV producer Takeshi Tazuka

GDC 2010: Interview with Street Fighter IV producer Takeshi Tazuka originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

GDC 2010: Interview with Street Fighter IV producer Takeshi Tazuka originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tired of all that boring ol’ two finger pinching-and-zooming and swiping on the iPhone? Ready for some fancy new gestures to be thrown into the mix? Wish granted. Soon. Maybe.
Last night, Apple released a new beta of iPhone OS 3.2 to developers. As is par for the course at this point, people almost instantly began [...]