Archive for the 'Tech' category

Beatmaker for the iPhone 3G / iPod Touch

Aug 25 2008 Published by under Apple

The other day I was browsing through iPhone / iPod Touch apps, hoping to find something that would catch my interest because I am seriously considering getting an iPhone 3G.

I am ecstatic to report that there’s a whole lot more than just Super Monkey Ball to load up on the iPhone. The most exciting app I found is Beatmaker. This app is a surprisingly capable music sequencer that uses 16 touch pads to hold and playback audio samples that you can upload to the iPhone. If you don’t know much about samplers, sequencers and music composition in general, it’s not very hard to pick up. Basically, you strike the touch pads and they playback a short segment of sound (e.g. drums, stringed instruments, vocals, etc.). Then you record the pattern than you played and loop it. Finally, you can string together different loops for a song.

The app costs $19.95, which is relatively expensive compared to the other offerings at the iTunes Store, but with Beatmaker, you are getting a professionally developed app that has a lot of features and capabilities; don’t confuse this app with the torrent of amateur projects that you’ve seen released for the iPhone, in fact, check out some videos of it in action to see just how awesome it can be!

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How To Buy a Macbook Air

Aug 22 2008 Published by under Apple

My regular backpack is looking pretty beat up. The zippers often get stuck, and on various places the bag looks worn and discolored. I think it’s time for a new bag, but what kind of replacement should I get? I’ve used shoulder bags in the past, but I never found their capacity large enough to carry all my gear. But then again, shoulder bags have some nice advantages: they’re a lot more fashionable to wear, and in hotter weather they don’t contribute to excessive sweating by smothering the back.

How do I decide what to buy? Well, if I want to look cool I’ll need to get a shoulder bag, but this means I’ll have to lighten my load somehow. So what in my daily arsenal weighs the most? My 5.5 lbs laptop. It’s unfortunate, but there’s no way to remedy this problem without completely replacing it. That’s the tough reality of ditching my juvenile backpack!

What are my choice of laptops? Since last year I’ve been very happy with OS X, so I’ll have to stick with Apple products for now. This narrows my options down to two notebook models: the Macbook or the Macbook Air (my current laptop is a Macbook Pro). Obviously, there is only one real choice here — the super sleek and sexy Macbook Air! It’s literally made for slender luggage.

So there you have it. I have successfully traversed, using flawed but deeply satisfying logic, from buying a $60 bag to owning a Macbook Air. Now I just have to wait until the Penryn upgraded models are announced before I put in my Christmas-in-September pre-order.

What’s the most outrageous or expensive thing you’ve bought using this style of reasoning?

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