Quick specs Price: Purchase; $49.00 to buy Operating system: Date added: October 20, 2010 Total Downloads: 97,997 Downloads last week: 2,769 Product Ranking: #1 in Media Management See full specifications
Reviewed by: Josh Lowensohn on October 21, 2010
The bottom line: iLife '11 is a welcome and long-overdue update to Apple's suite of digital media applications. This year's version adds a handful of advanced features to iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand without making them more difficult to use. It's a shame iDVD and iWeb did not receive updates with this year's version, but with a slightly lower price for upgraders than in years past, iLife '11 still represents a good value to consumers looking for a set of tools for editing and sharing media. At $49, and close to two years since the last major update, we can easily recommend picking this up.
Editors' note: The initial version of iLife '11 had given some users problems, specifically with iPhoto '11 library upgrades. Affected users had lost some or all of their photo libraries. The initial version had also shipped without the calendar-making feature in iPhoto. Both of these issues have since been addressed with software updates. Also, iLife '11 contains upgrades of iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand, but not iDVD or iWeb. For the purposes of this review, we're not including those two in this write-up.
Setup and interface
As usual, iLife comes preinstalled on new Mac computers, so if you just bought one of the just-introduced MacBook Airs, you already have the suite. Otherwise, Apple is offering an up-to-date program that lets recent buyers pick up the disc at a discounted price. Installation on our test machine, a recent-model unibody MacBook, took just less than 20 minutes and required no extra attention or restarts after beginning the process.
iLife '11 requires a Mac computer with an Intel processor, 1GB of RAM, Mac OS X 10.6.3 or higher, and 5GB of disc space. In reality, our upgrade required just over 4.2GB. As with previous versions, you can pick which applications you want to install, and which you don't, cutting down on installation time and disc-space use. This year's version cannot be installed on machines running Leopard, so you'll have to upgrade to the latest point release of OS X to put iLife '11 on your machine.
iPhoto
iPhoto continues to live on as Apple's consumer-oriented photo-editing software, second only to Aperture, which shares many of the same features, but is aimed at professional photographers. iPhoto, along with iMovie, GarageBand, iDVD, and iWeb, make up iLife as a suite of software that can be used to manage, edit, and share digital media.
iPhoto '11 hasn't changed much since the '09 version of the suite. Its core user interface remains largely unchanged except for an optional unified full-screen mode (letting you view events, faces, places, and your albums with fewer visual distractions) and more opportunities to share your work via Facebook or e-mail.
iPhoto '11's editing interface.
(Credit: CNET)
Veteran iPhoto users will enjoy iPhoto '11's thoughtful tweaks to the editing tools and the slideshow maker. Editing now gets handled in a sidebar that breaks down tasks into "quick fixes" and "effects," but keeps the "adjust" menu from previous versions. This tabbed interface makes it easy to hop around to different settings--a substantial change from the previous method, which had all of the controls underneath your photo or in small, floating menus. Though the new system takes up more screen real estate than the old one, it makes for less mucking about with menu placement.
The slideshow editor now has twice as many themes as iLife '09's version. The new themes, which include two variations of a 3D-ish hanging mobile, an aged look called Vintage Prints, folding picture origami, and a GPS-friendly theme called Places, all take advantage of Apple's Core Animation technology to bring some smooth-looking effects to your photos.
Out of the bunch, the Places slideshow is one of the most visually interesting additions. The slideshow scours the GPS data in your photos and downloads corresponding map tiles, then places your photos on top of these maps and adds a neat zooming effect as you move from place to place. This is a good way to encourage people to geotag their photos, which is done automatically on some cameras (including the iPhone), but which can also be done after the fact using iPhoto.
The new Places slideshow theme in iPhoto grabs GPS data from your shots to put together a visually engaging slideshow.
(Credit: CNET)
iPhoto '11 also gives sharing a healthy boost. Facebook integration, introduced in the previous version of the software, now runs much deeper. Besides allowing you to post a shot to a Facebook album, you can also very quickly post to your wall, make a new album, or make a shot your profile picture. However, you still need to log in to Facebook back on your browser to do things like reply to comments from other users.
iPhoto's new e-mail tool lets you send photos in an outgoing e-mail without firing up the Mail application.
(Credit: CNET)
Apple has also revamped iPhoto's photo e-mailing tool, which now mimics what you'd find in its iOS mobile software. Now, if you want to e-mail a photo, you compose your message right in the iPhoto software so that you don't have to fire up the standalone Mail application. Included are eight themed templates that automatically arrange any photos you've selected into a message. You're also given the option to simply add these photos as attachments.
In-app e-mailing works with all the same services you get in the standard Mac Mail application, including Windows Live Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and AOL Mail. You can even set up your e-mail account credentials from one of these places from within iPhoto. We can only hope more of Apple's applications adopt this simple addition.
Analog sharing has also been improved with a totally new bookmaking experience. To aid in book creation, Apple now uses its face-finding and photo-rating technology to help pick what photos belong in what parts of a book. For instance, if there's space in a book for a shot that spans two pages, iPhoto will automatically pick a photo that's rated highly and does not have people in it. It also breaks out photos from different days into different sections of the book, which is a small, but nice organizational touch for creating books of long trips.
iPhoto now also lets you print cards through Apple's printing service. These run the gamut from flat and folded photo cards, to the more expensive, but quite pretty, letterpress cards. No matter which version you pick, they can be customized and previewed within iPhoto, and ordered the same way as books. One thing to note here is that you are still limited to printing out your work through Apple, and not through third parties, as you can with plug-ins in Aperture. Though on the plus side, with iPhoto you can export a photo book as a PDF.
iPhoto continues to compete against a handful of competitors, notably Google's Picasa, which is offered up for free on both the Mac and PC, as well as a beta version for Linux users. This year's iPhoto additions arguably give it the edge in continuing to offer a more full-screen photo-viewing experience, and deeper online integration out of the box. That said, Google's integration of Picasa Web albums and the recent addition of Picnik's online photo editing mean you can do a lot more with your photos even when you're away from your computer.
iMovie
Much like iPhoto, this year's version of iMovie looks a lot like the old one, but with the addition of some extra creative options, the biggest being movie trailer templates. These templates help you create short, thematic videos of friends, much like what you'd see in theaters. Other additions include sound-editing tools, a people finder that does a good job at spotting when people are in your shots, and new effects tools.
Movie trailers now exist alongside project themes, and as with the themes, the trailers provide a quick
preview of what your movie will look and sound like with an example provided by Apple. Unlike basic themes, trailers are custom-tailored for a specific number of people based on how many the template has been made for. This runs from one person, all the way to six. You can, of course, go off script without the program chiding you.
New to iMovie '11 are movie trailer templates, which turned out to be surprisingly fun to use.
(Credit: CNET)
Each template breaks down what kinds of clips you need, as well as how many people you need for each shot. A people detector scans your video to see who's in it and figures out how much of a person is in a shot based on how close you are to them, which is very helpful considering some shots are scripted for close-ups, whereas others need something farther out. Just like the image stabilizer, running the people finder tool on your videos can take some time, but if you plan on making movie trailers, it's well worth it.
We found trailers easy to create, as long as you have the right source footage. If you keep in mind that you might want to make a trailer while you're out shooting, you can plan those shots ahead of time. Even so, once iMovie has scanned your footage, you can turn just about anything into a trailer, even if it's slightly off from the storyboard. Expect to see a ton of these on YouTube.
What may end up being a much more well-used feature than movie trailers for most people are the new audio-editing controls, which Apple says was the top user-requested feature. This has been introduced to the program quite gracefully, with a button to toggle them on and off, and an audio waveform that highlights sections that are too loud. Balancing these high levels can be done in one of two ways: either dragging down the main volume for an entire clip, or selecting the segment of the waveform you want to change, and moving the level up and down.
iMovie '11 features audio editing alongside your video creations.
(Credit: CNET)
Alongside the audio adjustments are a fun set of 19 audio effects that can be added to just one section of your audio, or the entire movie. These range from the rather mundane of making people sound like they're on a telephone or a shortwave radio, to giving them a robot or alien voice. You can also adjust their pitch up or down, which lends itself well to video high jinks.
This year's iMovie brings with it a few more visual effects and two new themes: one for sports and another for a news event. Much like the movie trailers, the themes include templates that let you add in things like reporter and player names that pop up as onscreen overlays. The new special effects join existing effects and transitions, and offer up instant replays, flash and holds, and jump cuts at music beat markers. This last one is one of the most fun to use, as you can create markers that match up to your background music. This only takes a few seconds to set up, and has a neat end effect. We can easily see the replay feature getting much more use, though, especially for parents who use the sports template, or people making videos of friends and family members wiping out.
When it comes time to export your masterpiece, iMovie provides a handful of new, online options that join YouTube, and MobileMe. These include Facebook, video host Vimeo and CNN's iReporter. All of these require a log-in, which then gives you service-specific options on privacy, export quality, and categorization.
GarageBand
GarageBand remains one of the most creative tools in the iLife suite, and the '11 version follows suit. New to this year's version are features that better teach you how to play, as well as fix any mistakes you might have made when using it as a music editor.
On the learning front, GarageBand has tweaked its lessons system to give you feedback on how well you did. If you're playing along with a song with an attached instrument, it now listens and gives you both real-time and post-song reports. Notes you miss are highlighted in red, and can be relistened to and replayed until you get it. The application also keeps a history of your practice sessions, and it can show you how your accuracy is coming along on any particular lesson.
Apple has also expanded the number of lessons available, and it has changed how you can approach them. Instead of having a system where you play through from the basics to the advanced items, you can pick whatever lesson you want, as long as you've downloaded it from the integrated music store. There are also new lessons available for the piano, which now includes pop and classical lesson packs.
These lessons are free of charge, they just take up disk space and time to download. The celebrity-guided lessons, on the other hand, run $5 a pop and walk you through how to play certain songs directly from the artist. This is no different from the '09 version of the software, with the exception that you can now get a rating of how well you did going through it. We'd definitely like to see more celebrity lessons in the GarageBand store, though, as they bring not just instructional value, but entertainment value, too.
GarageBand's lessons feature is much the same as the previous version, save that you can now see how you did with a virtual report card.
(Credit: CNET)
Another neat addition to the learning aids is something called the Chord Trainer, which listens to how you're playing an attached guitar and can tell you whether you're hitting the right chords. It can run through minor and major open and barre chords, and lets you know if you hit it (or not) almost immediately. The chord trainer works hand-in-hand with the built-in guitar-tuning application. Using both of these in tandem, you can fairly easily learn what your fingers should be doing before moving on to the lessons section.
Even if you've had lessons, though, you might have a recording with a mistake or two, which is where GarageBand '11's other new features come into play. Apple has introduced Flex Time and Groove Matching, both of which let you make quick corrections to the timing on your recordings.
Flex Time lets you drag an element of a waveform to move it, or even extend it out. This lets you do things like change when a guitar note is strummed, or take that same strum and stretch it out. In practice this ends up working out well for notes that are reasonably spread apart, but less so for the ones that are close together. Nonetheless, GarageBand does a good job letting you make the adjustment, see how it will affect nearby notes, and letting you take a listen immediately afterward.
GarageBand now lets you edit and move around audio waveforms as part of the Flex Time feature.
(Credit: CNET)
The other new feature that works with Flex Time is what Apple is calling Groove Matching. This takes all the tracks and matches them up to their rhythm to whichever one you designate as the groove track. Doing this is as easy as hitting a little star icon on the far left side of any track. You can then listen to the results and go back into any of the other tracks to make adjustments with Flex Time.
Together these two tools represent a remarkable addition to GarageBand's post-processing capabilities, and a new avenue for casual home musicians to take what could be a very rough recording that they may not have the time or resources to rerecord, and turn it into something that sounds quite good.
Conclusion
Though this iteration of iLife may not have the flash of some previous releases, it brings each of the updated applications closer to professional-grade software-editing tools without making them unnecessarily complicated. If you're a frequent iPhoto user who does a lot of sharing, the updated Facebook and e-mail enhancements are must-haves; with iMovie's new movie trailer feature, you can turn scattered bits of vacation footage into something truly compelling that friends and family will want to watch. GarageBand's updates also bring a number of pro quality features to the table, while offering people who have little to no musical training easier ways to learn how to play.
Watch the CNET video review of Apple iLife: From Apple:
iPhoto 11 has a whole new look, with stunning full screen modes for Faces, Places and Events. iMovie 11 makes it easier than ever to edit videos and quickly transform them into fun theatrical trailers for easy posting online. GarageBand 11 introduces new ways to improve your playing and create great sounding songs with Flex Time and Groove Matching.
All versions: out of 30 votes 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 stars Current version: out of 27 votes 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 stars My rating: 0 stars Write review 1 stars
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
Version: Apple iLife '11
"Don't buy this update!!"
by harryvv on November 1, 2010
Pros: Full screen little more
Cons: Potential Lose of All your photos
Editing tools are separated and to crop and edit you must first open up quick fixes to crop and then open advanced editing and then if you want to retouch you have to close advanced editing and go back to quick fix.
Summary: I've had two friends who lost all their photos after they installed and opened iPhoto and updated their photo library. After you install iLife do not open it but open software updates and install the update, then open iPhoto and update your library but make sure it finishes before doing anything else. DO NOT Force Quit iPhoto. Better yet: DO NOT BUY iLIFE 11 IT'S NOT WORTH THE MONEY.
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4 stars
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
Version: Apple iLife '11
"iLife is still the best media app but ..."
by zdencina on October 26, 2010
Pros: Seems to be a nice upgrade to an already good product. Need more time to confirm this.
Cons: Not really happy with new iPhoto. I would highly appreciate that emailing photos will be possible again - and the soonest possible - without using the obligatory templates of iPhoto'11 - like it was on the previous version of iPhoto.
Summary: iLIfe '11 is certainly a good product, but I'm in doubt that it's more than a simple update. There seem to be some bugs in iPhoto and I would highly appreciate that emailing photos will be possible again without using the obligatory templates of iPhoto'11 - like on the previous version.
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2 stars
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
Version: Apple iLife '11
"iPhoto: Visual Niceties, Functional Misses"
by c2fer on November 2, 2010
Pros: Speed of Application, Expanded Slideshow Options
Cons: E-mail functionality (ugh), Limited Preference Controls, Photo Titling, Buggy
Summary: My wife and I use iPhoto to store and share our photos. Key to this -- and to my wife's hesitant conversion from PC to Mac 4 years ago -- is ease of sharing photos via e-mail. iPhoto '11 sorely misses the mark on e-mailing. With it, the user has no choice but to use Apple's predesigned email layouts. In these layouts, photos are small, there is limited space to add general message text and captioning is not possible. Ugh. The workaround is dragging photos out of iPhoto and into Mail, which is completely do-able, but why not let users set a preference to use either Mail or iPhoto templates to issue email with photos included? Second, titling photos is wonky at present. The titles do not appear to have been saved upon re-opening iPhoto later. And the titles do not carry over into Mail via drag-and-drop. Ugh. Finally, I'll point out that "full screen" is not exactly full screen. The iPhoto application expands to full screen, meaning that yes, your photo is now quite large but it also has a border around it with little menu icons and browsing thumbnails on it. If you really want to show a photo well, this detracts. Perhaps it could have been made to auto-disappear (like controls do when in Slideshow mode)?
But iPhoto '11 is a prettier application, made to be more 'consumer attractive.' In its functional execution though, it appears to be less than fully user tested and may be looking to create a very sharp line between who use iPhoto and who uses Aperture (or PhotoShop).
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2 stars
7 out of 9 people found this review helpful
Version: Apple iLife '11
"Think I'll wait"
by WalterMarble on October 26, 2010
Pros: More templates for slide shows
Cons: Too many users experiencing iPhoto disasters!
Summary: Let's see...can't upgrade to iLife '11 if I'm still running Safari 10.5.8, so I'd have to buy SnowLeopard. However, Lion is just announced and will be out in a few months, so I'll have an out-of-date OS soon. Thanks, but I think I'll wait for Lion and the bugs to be worked out of iLife '11.
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3 stars
7 out of 9 people found this review helpful
Version: Apple iLife '11
"Missing handy features from old version of iPhoto....."
by curtpusa1 on October 26, 2010
Pros: Very cool new graphically pleasing look.
Cons: No access to address book with new email feature. If you don't know email address you have to manually bring up your address book to copy & paste address. Also very disappointed that key words are no longer displayed under the photos.
Summary: I am hoping a future upgrade will restore the two features mentioned in the "Cons" to iPhoto. Do not like the new email method of only allowing the placement of photos in Apple's email templates.
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5 stars
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
Version: Apple iLife '11
"Nice update to an already good product"
by dawagner1 on October 25, 2010
Pros: full screen mode is great. facebook integration is a snap
Cons: moved a couple of the original menu items. could use better iphoto to imovie integration
Summary: Easy and intuitive to use. Very easy for my wife, unless you have moved some of the menu items which can be a source of frustration at first. Putting together a number of clips shot on my wife's iphone and uploading the finished version to facebook was a snap. We had no issues upgrading, although I have read of some potentially lost data on upgrades made by others.
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1 stars
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: Apple iLife '11
"IPhoto crash on a fresh update Snow Leopard."
by solodisole2 on October 27, 2010
Pros: New template ! Fresh apps interface. Facebook sync
Cons: I've lost my photo after have followed the upgrade step.
Don't install it if you take care at your photo, or backup it first !
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1 stars
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: Apple iLife '11
"iPhoto disaster for me!!!!~!"
by cubobaker on October 26, 2010
Pros: great marketing for the minor upgrades....I was very excited to get it....
Cons: deleted Facebook photos and albums, crashes when attempting to import photos, email photos crashes and not able to work around, very, very buggy, no calendars, slow web integration, can't revert back!!!
Summary: I want my old version of iLife back and I want my money back!!! I know this is harsh but this program is actually costing me money and time...the crashes, the endless customer service calls and constant frustration....they definitely released this way too early....please someone let me know how to go back to what I had...
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1 stars
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: Apple iLife '11
"Mediocre and problem-filled upgrade, no iWeb update"
by spinoza2 on October 26, 2010
Pros: minor enhancements to GarageBand, iMovie and iPhoto
Cons: no iWeb update, poor quality--control of other app upgrades.
Summary: I'm not sure who at Apple pushed this through, but obviously it was not ready for prime time. The problems people are having installing it are legion, and the improvements really minor in the end. That Apple left out an iWeb update is very frustrating and an affront to the many iWeb users out there. This should never have been released in its current form, and Apple even seems to be admitting this by offering it for a lower price.
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4 stars
Version: Apple iLife '11
"Excellent Update to an already great software suite"
by cyee07 on December 23, 2010
Pros: I really like the new menu for iPhoto and the Full-Screen mode is a nice touch. I also enjoy editing movies so the audio controls were a much needed addition to iMovie.
Cons: I still think they could have updated iDVD and iWeb, but the cheaper price is appreciated.
Summary: Now that apple has issued a patch for iPhoto, I can wholeheartedly endorse buying the iLife '11 software suite. If you love pictures like I do or dabble in editing movies then iLife '11 adds some much needed features that will make your job a whole lot easier. Overall a great buy and definitely worth your money.
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Friday, December 31, 2010
IPad Verizon Wireless offers national stores today
Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod touch and Mac are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the United States and other countries.
iPad and Multi-Touch are trademarks of Apple Inc.
iPad and Multi-Touch are trademarks of Apple Inc.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
iPad available today stores AT & T
Extends coverage service AT & T network to mobile broadband faster nation mobile broadband data network. More information on international plans
With 250 MB or 2 GB data plan options, you will receive an alert on the screen when the amount of data in your plan is weak or plan is about to expire. If you exceed the amount of data on your plan, you can immediately purchase a plan additional data or wait for the current plan is renewed automatically at the end of the period of 30 days. Plans expire when you used all of the data included in your plan, or within 30 days, whichever occurs first.
Plans are active for 30 days or until that depleted.Plans automatically renew every 30 days for national data plans. International plans do not automatically renew.Plans cannot be cancelled at any time.Wednesday, December 29, 2010
The Beatles now on iTunes
iTunes pictures
LONDON and CUPERTINO, California - November 16, 2010 - Apple Corps, EMI and Apple ® today announced that the Beatles, the most beloved and influential rock in the history of music, are now available for the first time on the iTunes ® store (www.itunes.com). Starting today, 13 legendary studio remastered albums group with iTunes, disks, "Red" and "Blue" classical and compilation "Past masters" of two volumes are available for purchase and download from iTunes ® worldwide as albums or individual songs. Fans can also get a special digital "Beatles Box Set" starring film concert "Live at the Coliseum in Washington D.c., 1964", an exclusive iTunes worldwide that captures the Beatles first U.S. concert.
"We are really excited to bring the Beatles iTunes music, said Sir Paul McCartney." It's great to see the songs that we originally released on vinyl receive as much love digital as they have done the first autour worldwide. »
"I am particularly happy to do more to arise when the Beatles arrive at iTunes," said Ringo Starr. "Finally, if you want it - you can get it now - the Liverpool Beatles here." Peace and love, Ringo. »
"We love the Beatles and honoured and pleased to welcome to iTunes,", said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "It was a long and winding road to get here." Thanks to the Beatles and EMI, we are now a dream that we have had since we launched iTunes ten years ago. »
In the spirit happy to Give Peace A Chance, I think it is therefore that we are doing this John 70th anniversary of birth year,"said Yoko Ono Lennon.
"The Beatles on iTunes - Bravo!" said Olivia Harrison.
"The Beatles and iTunes have both been true innovators in their field," said EMI Director General Roger Faxon. "It is a privilege for all over the world to the EMI to work with Steve Jobs and Apple Corps Jeff Jones and their teams to mark a major milestone in the development of digital music."
Each of the 13 Beatles legendary remastered album studio, including "From the Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band," "Revolver", "The Beatles [White Album]" and "Abbey Road" include iTunes, disks, creating an album immersive experience with a beautiful design and Visual features expanded, including a unique mini documentary on the creation of each album. The compilation of "Past masters" of two volumes and collections "Red" and "Blue" classic are also available.
Unique albums are available for purchase and download for $12.99, double albums for $19.99 and individual songs for $1.29 each.
The special digital "Beatles Box Set" ($149) contains 13 albums studio remastered with iTunes drives and all mini-documentaires "Past masters" and the concert "Live at the Coliseum in Washington, 1964" film, an exclusive iTunes worldwide that captures the Beatles U.S. very first concert in its entirety. In addition, the Beatles fans can stream and view the concert film "Live at the Coliseum in Washington D.c., 1964" iTunes free of charge for the remainder of that calendar year.
Apple Corps Ltd. was founded by the Beatles in 1968 to address business group. The London-based company administered the Beatles releases of the 1960s that were sold to this day more than 600 million records, cassettes and CD catalog. Since the 1990s, Apple has piloted new Beatles projects which have become benchmarks for the realization of pioneering and include the Beatles Anthology projects 29 - million selling album The Beatles 1, show The Beatles LOVE and CD, 09/09/09 The Beatles Remastered catalog and the music of the Beatles rock game release. More information on the Beatles projects can be found at www.thebeatles.com.
EMI Music is one of the main music of the world, representing artists musical tastes and genres. His recordings include Angel, recorded, Blue Note, Capitol, Capitol Latin, Capitol Nashville, EMI Classics, EMI CMG, EMI records, EMI Records Nashville, Manhattan, Parlophone and Virgin.
Apple designs Mac, personal computers in the world, with OS X, iLife, iWork and software professionals. Apple is leading the revolution of digital music with the iPod and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and APP store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad is to define the future of mobile media and computing devices.Press contacts:
Tom Neumayr
Apple
tneumayr@Apple.com
(408) 974-1972
Moira Bella
MBC PR for Apple Corps Ltd.
Moira@mbcpr.com
+ 44 207 483 9213
Dylan Jones
EMI
djones@emigroup.com
(212) 492-1230
Children digital Fiddle with iPad
Font Resize By Julia Prodis Sulek
Mercury NewsPosted: 12/16/2010 08: 28: 11 AM PSTUpdated: 12/16/2010 10: 43: 46 AM PST
Seventh-grader Heejung Chung has entered the Apple Store in Palo Alto, Wednesday evening, with a violin in a rigid box strapped to his back, but who has spent the next hour playing iPad on his shoulder.
Heejung has been invited to attend a workshop with nine other students organized by Apple and presented by Ge Wang, whose company Smule created iPad app "Magic Fiddle." The Community School of Music students and seated on stools around to the back of the Bank, each with an iPad hand circular island mountain view art Wang started the lesson.
"Have good posture," said Wang, a teacher assistant Stanford music and computers who founded Smule in 2008, less than two kilometres from the Apple Store on University avenue. "Want you". When their Chin touch screen iPad, graphic bubbles continuously on her and the iPad has been transformed into a violin.
"We do not have a bow." "We have here is a strange circular arc - we call it a circle thingamabob", said Wang. Now put your finger on top chain index." After the tutorial, Wang has raised his hands as a conductor:
"One, two, three - TAP!" said as the magic flute and music "" Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star appears on the screen.
As they tapped colourful, numerical strings sounds amplified by stakeholders, they sounds almost like a warm-up band. Or, as Wang said, "we have already sound like we're in a horror film." Good enough! "On his mark, he gave them a
pessimistic. "Let's inflate in a crescendo," he said, calling for a boy to his left thumb closer to the Centre of the violin.
"Play with your ear, not only your eyes," said. "It is not just play, it is to listen to the song you make and play with everyone. Then, for already advanced music students, he raised his hand in a fist to the universal "cut" sign which has put an end to the song.
A multitude of Apple customers had already collected the show by this point and some have burst into applause.
"It was not meant to replace the instruments, but increasing," said the Wang. "We did try just imitate the instruments, but to explore new experiences of music". Wang, 33, has already developed other popular music for iPhone applications and iPad including flute (where the user blows in the microphone and taps on the screen to play notes) and karaoke Glee that he developed in cooperation with Fox digital media.
Parents watched in awe.
"It's exciting," says Petra Clark, a teacher of strings in the school of Mountain View, including two boys joined the workshop. "My boys are not string players.To experience with this software is that essentially a stringed instrument gives them a window trying to a new instrument without the barrier of learning the new instrument himself."
Learning an instrument can "take a long time before you can actually play something that seems to be good." For her two boys, who plays the trumpet, and drums "they get to taste it wihout tell me to sit with a cello."
Evy Schiffman, Director of marketing at the school of the community, said she was delighted to see the children thus incurred.
"All you can do to connect to their hook to use the technology to participate in studies of music is a win-win," she says, "and they teach each other." It is the dynamic I'm watching - and they become you an orchestra.
Kevin Murray, 10 said he plays the drums and sax and "I do plays anything like the violin." That's cool. It is a good idea. »
Heejung Chung, 12, is the youngest member of the Stanford Symphony appreciated technology.
"This is as close as you can get an acoustic violin," she says. "You can hear mistakes."
And, as a set of iPad, users can earn points for their performance – something trumpet student Ryan Araghi enjoy.
"I won a medal!", he called.
And then there was a question more Wang: "are you guys ever do a trumpet?
"Maybe," said Wang.
And as that customer Apple continues to fill the store, Wang led students to finish with a grand finale, Silent Night: "one, two or three - TAP!".
View the original article here
Mercury NewsPosted: 12/16/2010 08: 28: 11 AM PSTUpdated: 12/16/2010 10: 43: 46 AM PST
Seventh-grader Heejung Chung has entered the Apple Store in Palo Alto, Wednesday evening, with a violin in a rigid box strapped to his back, but who has spent the next hour playing iPad on his shoulder.
Heejung has been invited to attend a workshop with nine other students organized by Apple and presented by Ge Wang, whose company Smule created iPad app "Magic Fiddle." The Community School of Music students and seated on stools around to the back of the Bank, each with an iPad hand circular island mountain view art Wang started the lesson.
"Have good posture," said Wang, a teacher assistant Stanford music and computers who founded Smule in 2008, less than two kilometres from the Apple Store on University avenue. "Want you". When their Chin touch screen iPad, graphic bubbles continuously on her and the iPad has been transformed into a violin.
"We do not have a bow." "We have here is a strange circular arc - we call it a circle thingamabob", said Wang. Now put your finger on top chain index." After the tutorial, Wang has raised his hands as a conductor:
"One, two, three - TAP!" said as the magic flute and music "" Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star appears on the screen.
As they tapped colourful, numerical strings sounds amplified by stakeholders, they sounds almost like a warm-up band. Or, as Wang said, "we have already sound like we're in a horror film." Good enough! "On his mark, he gave them a
pessimistic. "Let's inflate in a crescendo," he said, calling for a boy to his left thumb closer to the Centre of the violin.
"Play with your ear, not only your eyes," said. "It is not just play, it is to listen to the song you make and play with everyone. Then, for already advanced music students, he raised his hand in a fist to the universal "cut" sign which has put an end to the song.
A multitude of Apple customers had already collected the show by this point and some have burst into applause.
"It was not meant to replace the instruments, but increasing," said the Wang. "We did try just imitate the instruments, but to explore new experiences of music". Wang, 33, has already developed other popular music for iPhone applications and iPad including flute (where the user blows in the microphone and taps on the screen to play notes) and karaoke Glee that he developed in cooperation with Fox digital media.
Parents watched in awe.
"It's exciting," says Petra Clark, a teacher of strings in the school of Mountain View, including two boys joined the workshop. "My boys are not string players.To experience with this software is that essentially a stringed instrument gives them a window trying to a new instrument without the barrier of learning the new instrument himself."
Learning an instrument can "take a long time before you can actually play something that seems to be good." For her two boys, who plays the trumpet, and drums "they get to taste it wihout tell me to sit with a cello."
Evy Schiffman, Director of marketing at the school of the community, said she was delighted to see the children thus incurred.
"All you can do to connect to their hook to use the technology to participate in studies of music is a win-win," she says, "and they teach each other." It is the dynamic I'm watching - and they become you an orchestra.
Kevin Murray, 10 said he plays the drums and sax and "I do plays anything like the violin." That's cool. It is a good idea. »
Heejung Chung, 12, is the youngest member of the Stanford Symphony appreciated technology.
"This is as close as you can get an acoustic violin," she says. "You can hear mistakes."
And, as a set of iPad, users can earn points for their performance – something trumpet student Ryan Araghi enjoy.
"I won a medal!", he called.
And then there was a question more Wang: "are you guys ever do a trumpet?
"Maybe," said Wang.
And as that customer Apple continues to fill the store, Wang led students to finish with a grand finale, Silent Night: "one, two or three - TAP!".
View the original article here
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
MacBook Air was "Wow"
Last Wednesday, I got my hands on one of the new MacBook Air. I've not touched on my MacBook Pro since. It is six months old. RIP.
I know that seems shocking. Or hyperbole. But it is not. When I wrote in my initial thoughts, it was after only a few hours of use. I only had not yet used outside of the House again. But now I have. I've used it almost everywhere where that I was almost a week now. There is no doubt in my mind that it has replaced my MacBook Pro as my go - to machine.
But the thing really crazy. It is not only the size of the thing that I like so (I have the 13-inch model) - which is amazing, is speed. This thing starts in less than 15 seconds, ready to go. My iMac i7 with 8 GB of RAM takes 2 minutes or something. My i7 MacBook Pro takes at least 30-45 seconds and has a SSD drive.
Applications seem to load faster. File transfer faster. The thing stops in 3 seconds approximately. Macworld has initial benchmarks. They don't lie. It just screams.
And by the speed, I hear as "power". Remarkably, for the first time I used one, the MacBook Air will feel malnourished. Not at all. Once again, for the past 6 months I use a combination of an i7 iMac and MacBook Pro i7. Judging by processor, clock speed and the amount of memory RAM, both should be considerably faster than the air. For some tasks, no doubt it. But for almost everything that I made this last week - essentially, my regular work and play habits - I can't really say no I noticed a difference. This certainly surprised me.
Yet once the Macworld initial reference numbers at least partially appear until such crazy claim. I have baseline 13 inch MacBook Air with 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2 GB of RAM and 128 GB flash storage HDD. Tests have this thing performing better than the 13-inch MacBook Pro with a faster core 2 Duo processor and double the RAM. And it is not that far from the Pro i5 model.
They credit largely the hard disk storage flash. And it is undoubtedly a huge part of the show. But another part is likely that previous MacBook Airs executed underclocked heat issues. Which do not seem to occur with these models. They can therefore purring along at full speed. And it shows.
Earlier this evening, John Gruber of Daring Fireball wrote a post wondering where this new air fits within the range of Apple MacBook? A good question, whereas the basic model is the same price of $999 as the basic MacBook model. He believes that there may be a secondary computer. I am in agreement, for the moment.
There is one thing to remember air: storage space. Thanks in large part to Apple themselves, we live in a world where we have digital music, photos, movies and television programs that take dozens, even hundreds of gigabytes of storage. As a result, a 128 GB hard disk not enough for many people these days if they are going to use air as their primary machine. Increasingly, even 256 GB is not enough. Hell, I'm almost 1 to media on my iMac.
But. We know that Apple has aspirations of media towards the cloud. If they can do and cut the strings of these machines, they will fly. On the shelves. Pressed.
Here is how I see: if imported from storage, I think the MacBook 13 inch air would almost immediately best-selling Mac Apple. It is worth that.
I can't speak for the 11-inch model as I've not used, but it becomes rave. 13-Inch model that I'm talking about here is the basic model is $1,299. 11 Inch models begin at $999.
It's funny that I have not really even spoke machine-size is brilliant attractiveness which strings people. But the air that has always. That he had not previously had a grand prize and the killer performance. Now, he does. Just for the six-day, five people that I've shown this thing already bought one. This is iPhone stuff and iPads are manufactured. It was the "wow" factor
And regardless of whether or not the capacity of storage hold back, I have no doubt that air points the future of the MacBook line. Soon, they all go lose their optical drives, acquire storage flash disks and work for hours on end. In fact, the only machine, I think that I love more than one is that lasts even longer. For that, I would accept a model that is slightly more large (15 - inch), slightly more heavy (perhaps 3.3 pounds), but has 10 hours of battery life. This is the future MacBook Pro.
Speaking of battery life, yet again, this thing shines quite nicely in this category as well. Apple says it will get 7 hours and based on my use, which is near. I generally see 5-6 hours depending on what I'm doing and brightness of the screen. A few times, I got about 7 hours.
As for the so-called 30 days time pending? It is difficult to imagine I do not by this thing for 30 days at a time, but I will say that I spent in bed with her to the power 50 per 100 and staged several hours later with the power of 49%. And Yes, the thing wakes up from sleep instantly. The only thing you have to wait is to your Wi-Fi to connect.
As regards the screen? Yet again, I thought it would be a matter of switching to a MacBook Pro 15-inch to this, but it isn't really. This thing has the same resolution of 1440-by-900 as standard screen MacBook Pro 15 inch, so there you go.
People also seem to believe when I say that he did run hot. But it is not. The times I've felt it get a little warm is when I ran - surprise, surprise - multiple Flash movies. But the heat does not come close to my MacBook Pro. Not occurring near my old MacBook Pro, which was the stove at points a backwards.
It is difficult to know what else to say. Is the computer that I've been waiting for. It makes me feel stupid to spend great almost three on a brand-new car-up MacBook Pro six months ago. I see just a time I'll ever want or need to turn it back on.
Au revoir, MacBook Pro. Your candle burned long until your hard disk ever did.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
JBuds J2 Premium Hi-Fi Noise-Isolating Earbuds (Onyx Black)
JBuds are the perfect companion for your iPod or portable media player, combining sleek design, premium sound quality, noise cancellation, and maximum comfort. The soft silicone earbuds fit perfectly inside your ears, allowing you to comfortably enjoy your music non-stop while blocking outside noise. The JBuds give you a high-intensity listening experience with crisp, clear sound and powerful bass.
Price: $79.95
Monday, December 6, 2010
USB Car Charger, USB Wall / Travel Charger, Earphones, and Screen Protector / Guard for Apple iPod Nano 6G Nano 6th Generation. CrazyOnDigital Wristband Included
Protect your screen with the 6 inch full screen guard protector. Charge your iPod Nano 6G w/ the USB Car and Wall Charger whether you're on the go, or on the road charge it in your car, if you're on vacation take the spare wall charger to the hotel. Also listen to your iPod w/ the headphones to ensure a clear sound without any distracting outside noise.
Price: $39.99
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Philips DC190 iPod Docking Clock Radio
COMPATIBLE WITH IPOD TOUCH 1G/2G, IPOD NANO 1G/2G/3G/4G, IPOD CLASSIC, IPOD 5G & IPOD MINI; PLAYS & CHARGES IPOD; FM DIGITAL TUNING WITH PRESETS; WAKE TO IPOD OR RADIO; DUAL ALARM WITH WEEKDAY & WEEKEND SETTINGS; GENTLE WAKE UP WITH INCREASING ALARM VOLUME; NEODYMIUM SPEAKER DRIVERS DELIVER PURE BALANCED SOUND; 3W RMS TOTAL OUTPUT POWER; MP3 LINK FOR CONNECTING OTHER PORTABLE MUSIC PLAYERS
Price: $49.99
Jailbreak iPod Touch 2G on Windows!
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Tuneband for iPod Classic 160GB (NEWEST), Grantwood Technology's Armband, Silicone Skin, and Screen Protector, (Released 09/09), Black
Grantwood Technology presents the tuneband armband for the new iPod Classic 160 GB released 9/09. Our skin also fits the iPod Classic 120 GB (new in 09/08) and 80 GB or iPod Classic 6th Generation/6G,
Also 30GB 5G and 5.5G . The silicone skin is secure, thick and protective and allows access to all the ports on the new iPod Classic 160 GB/7G, and the older 120 GB/6G or 80 GB/6G,
Also 30GB 5G and 5.5G. The tuneband has a comfortable stretchy Velcro® band that fits both large and small arms.
Also, the tuneband comes with a low tack peel screen protector. If for any reason you are not 100% satisfied we will guarantee a replacement of your purchase or a refund. We stand by the our products and look forward to you becoming another happy customer.
For US customers, we now offer expedited shipping via USPS Priority Mail (2-4 days after shipping) or you can chose standard shipping via USPS First Class mail.
If you are unsure of your iPod Generation, please contact us first.
Also 30GB 5G and 5.5G . The silicone skin is secure, thick and protective and allows access to all the ports on the new iPod Classic 160 GB/7G, and the older 120 GB/6G or 80 GB/6G,
Also 30GB 5G and 5.5G. The tuneband has a comfortable stretchy Velcro® band that fits both large and small arms.
Also, the tuneband comes with a low tack peel screen protector. If for any reason you are not 100% satisfied we will guarantee a replacement of your purchase or a refund. We stand by the our products and look forward to you becoming another happy customer.
For US customers, we now offer expedited shipping via USPS Priority Mail (2-4 days after shipping) or you can chose standard shipping via USPS First Class mail.
If you are unsure of your iPod Generation, please contact us first.
Price: $19.99
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Pioneer DEH-2200UB CD Receiver with iPod Direct Control and USB Input
Connect your iPod, iPhone, or USB devices through the front-panel USB input for convenient access to your music library. Restore the sound quality and clarity to your compressed digital files with Pioneer's exclusive Advanced Sound Retriever. Unleash the power of your iPod with advanced control features—find songs fast with alphabetical hi-speed search or discover new music with Link Play.
Price: $135.00
Friday, December 3, 2010
Sony ICF-C7IP Clock Radio for iPod and iPhone with Hidden Sliding Dock Tray
Compatible with iPod touch(R), iPod nano 1G/2G/3G, iPod classic(R), iPod(R) 4G/5G & iPod(R) mini Hidden sliding dock tray Dual alarms Wake to iPod(R), iPhone(R), radio or buzzer Preset alarm volume for iPod(R), iPhone(R) or radio Automatic time set Digital AM/FM tuner with 30 station presets Includes remote
Price: $69.95
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