Technology News

A Graphic Look at Shift in Smartphone Platforms

Source: HypeBot
May 23, 2010

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Social Music Store immergent.com Launches in Beta

Source: HypeBot
May 23, 2010

Billed as “a digital music environment powered by social networking technologies" New online music store Immergent.com used this week's NARM Convention in Chicago to launch its public beta. Immergent's offering includes: M songs from all four major and 80,000+ independent record labels Social networking: Chat functionality enables fans and artists to connect via text, voice, or video. User generated content: Fans and artists can share and buy playlists and other user generated content. Search and music discovery. ...

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MySpace Bests Facebook with New Privacy Push

Source: HypeBot
May 23, 2010

Facebook users have been threatening a mass defection in recent weeks over privacy concerns. Yesterday MySpace jumped ahead of its bigger competitor with a public promise to simplify and improve its own privacy features.

“We believe users want a simpler way to control their privacy," wrote Mike Jones, Co-President of MySpace. on the company's blog. “That's why, in the coming weeks, MySpace will continue to simplify its privacy settings to create a simpler, more intuitive approach that gives users greater ...

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Interview: Greg Kot of Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music (Part 4)

Source: HypeBot
May 23, 2010

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor-- (@kbylin) -- Part 1 & Part 2 & Part 3

Cultural critic Douglas Rushkoff has made the point that, “What [people are] missing from a cultural perspective is just because we're not willing to pay for professional journalists doesn't mean that corporations have become unwilling to pay for professional public relations departments."

He continues, “So we have governments and corporations and lobbies hiring the most expressive people they can to obfuscate reality, and ...

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Eight Hellacious Background Vocal Mistakes

Source: All About Jazz
May 23, 2010

Stacked harmony vocals and extensive background voices are being heard and dug on again! Some of the best examples are on tracks by redhot indie bands such as the Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear. These bold bands are not merely pulling the nostalgic card, but rather making cutting- edge music by blending tried-and-true techniques with elements unique to themselves.

So when it comes to vocals, be as creative and adventurous as the music will allow. However, you need to know ...

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Sheet Music Apps for Your Phone

Source: Michael Ricci
May 23, 2010

Thursday's Phone Smart column, on music-related apps, does not touch on sheet-music software for mobile devices, but here are two new services worth mentioning.

The “Ultimate Guitar Tabs" app ($3 for iPhone and iPad), gives you free tablature for tens of thousands of songs from Ultimate-Guitar.com, in a player-friendly scrolling format. The big drawback is that the tabs are submitted by users, and they are often inaccurate. Ultimate- Guitar has licensing deals with several major publishers but some music publishers ...

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Three Miking Options for Grand Pianos

Source: All About Jazz
May 23, 2010

Grand pianos may seem like formidable beasts to record, but they're actually as tame as any other instrument.

Depending on the sound you're going after--in your face, bright, ambient, warm, and so on--success is typically measured by critical listening, mic selection, mic placement, and the artistry and dynamic sensitivity of the performer. Here are some starting points for devising your own approach to miking a grand.

Open the Hood A pretty basic option is opening the lid of ...

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One Day Your Pants May Power up Your iPod

Source: Michael Ricci
May 21, 2010

UC Berkeley researchers are perfecting microscopic fibers that can make electricity from simple body motions. The nanofibers may soon be woven into clothing, creating the ultimate portable generator.

Need juice for a dying iPod? You may soon be able to plug the gadget into a shirt, dance the electric slide and be good to go.

Researchers at UC Berkeley are perfecting microscopic fibers that can produce electricity from simple body motions such as bending, stretching and twisting. The filaments, which ...

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