technology

TC Electronic PolyTune iPhone App

By Ryan Van Etten on 06/04/2010

Tune up, in sixth gear, for 10 bucks. Modeled after the popular pedal, the TC Electronic PolyTune has now cruised into the App Store. Two days ago they released the app with a promotional free price tag for the first two days. They’ve now curbed the promotion but considering the killer feedback we’ve seen so far, it will likely race into the top paid music apps.

Posted in Apps, iPhone Apps, Music, News, Reviews | Tagged app review, gear, iPhone, music apps, polyphonic, PolyTune, TC Electronic, technology, tuner, video | Leave a response

Bay Area Beatmaker Freematik Makes Album with iPhone

By Ryan Van Etten on 03/17/2010

Freematik (Tom Freeman) is a San Francisco-based hip hop music producer. But outside of his fully-equipped studio, he is armed only with his iPhone and imagination. For months he’s been experimenting with apps that let him make beats and riffs on the go. The iPhone’s limitations forced him to improvise and he found himself feeling “more creative than he had in while.”

Posted in Apps, Interviews, iPhone Apps, Music, News, Popular, Reviews | Tagged album review, app review, Bay Area, beatmaker, beatmaking, creativity, development, DJing, flare, freematik, hip hop, idrum, imatik, interface, interview, iPad, iPhone, jasuto, mobile, mobility, music review, phat beats, production, psychedelic, scratching, technology, touchscreens | Leave a response

Multitouch—The Human GUI?

By Ryan Van Etten on 02/08/2010

Multitouch may be next GUI—is there a doubt? For decades we’ve used the mouse, but as GUI technology improves we’ll find more limitations in a mouse-based system. Clayton Miller’s 2009 project called 10/GUI demonstrates the potential of multitouch. According to Miller, “the industry is now at a crossroads.”

Posted in Boundless, Design, Discussion, Editorial, News | Tagged 10/GUI, augmented reality, brain, Clayton Miller, computing, con10uum, Design, gesture recognition, gestures, graphical, GUI, human, human-computer, interaction, interface, iPhone, mobile, mobility, multitouch, nintendo, Pranav Mistry, science, sixthsense, technology, TED, touchscreens, UI, virtuality, virtualization, wii | 3 Responses

Censorship and Media In An Expanding Internet Population—Do You Feel Censored On The ‘Net?

By Ryan Van Etten on 01/20/2010

Blocking sites = blocking progress. I’m American. It’s hard to imagine über-restricted Internet surfing. In the U.S. internet censorship does exist in workplaces, libraries, and schools but U.S. censorship is minimal compared to Chinese censorship. Censored sites in China include wikipedia.org, amnesty.org, nasa.gov, digg.com, bbc.co.uk, cnn.com, guardian.co.uk, facebook.com, flickr.com, tumblr.com, wordpress.com, youtube.com, and—WTF—even disney.com is censored.

Posted in Activism, Discussion, Editorial, Media/Journalism, News, Popular, Visual | Tagged access vs. ownership, blocked sites, bloggers, business, censorship, China, communication, comparison, content, cyberattacks, data, digg, facebook, fear, Google, government, how to, human rights, information, innovation, internet, media, moral values, new media, NYT, population, privacy, reality, security, stats, technology, Twitter, US, usage, Wikipedia, workplace, world | Leave a response

Moodagent iPhone App Plays Music Based On Your Mood.

By Ryan Van Etten on 12/21/2009

Syntonetic has launched Moodagent—a recommendation/playlisting app based on a user’s mood and emotion—for iPhone/iPod Touch. They have a Nokia smartphone version too, dubbed Playlist DJ. Moodagent syncs with an existing music library and users adjust moods with five sliders—sensual, tender, joy, aggressive and tempo.

Posted in Apps, iPhone Apps, Music, News, Nokia Apps, Reviews | Tagged app review, Apps, audio, data, emotion, free, iPhone, iTunes, launch, library, listeners, mobile music, mood, moodagent, music apps, music discovery, Nokia, Playlist DJ, playlists, preview, profiling, recommendation engine, science, social music, syntonetic, technology, tempo, video | 4 Responses