Posts tagged with "iPad"

Music Mashup with iPhone, iPad and iMovie [Video]

In 2010 we saw some amazing videos of songs played and, at best, created using only iOS devices. Does the new Gorillaz album sound familiar to you? That’s because it was entirely created with an iPad and some apps. iOS devices, also thanks to full-featured MIDI support introduced in iOS 4.2, now provide a feasible alternative to portable, digital music making and mixing.

Ellen Hilton wanted to show her friends and family that it was possible to do music with an iPad and a MIDI external device. So she took two of her favorite songs – “Hey Soul Sister” and “New Soul” – mashed them up and played along with her iPad. She filmed the performance using Pro Camera on the iPhone, edited the video using iMovie ‘11. The session was recorded by running everything into Cubase. The result is fun and definitely worth a look.

The apps used in the video include Pianist Pro, NanoStudio, Percussions and BeBot. If there’s anything Steve Jobs should feature on stage at the next iPad keynote, that should be about people using the iPad to make music. Read more

MacStories’ 2010 Roundup: Top 8 Apps for Kids

Welcome to another MacStories’ 2010 Roundup! In this new series, we collect the best apps released in 2010 for the Mac, iPhone and iPad — apps we have or will feature here on MacStories. Only the best apps, both free and paid. Apps you shouldn’t miss.

Do your kids often ask you do play with your iPads or iPhones? I know my 3.5 year old son does, he’s always asking me! Entertain your little ones with these iOS apps and games, great for toddlers, preschoolers, and big kids at heart.

Why 8? Because we tried and tried to narrow it down to 5 but we couldn’t do it! So, we have collected our top 8 apps for kids released this year. We think they are great apps you should go install right now. We could have included more, but we wanted to bring some of the best to your attention, not just the “pretty good” ones.

So jump after the break, and check our Top 8 list of kid’s apps for iOS.

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The iPad Hasn’t Saved Magazines, Magazines Haven’t Saved Themselves

Last year, when the “Apple tablet” rumors started to grow louder and become more persistent on the Internet, many speculated such a device would be the savior of the digital publishing industry. Magazines and newspapers could finally find a new home on the rumored Apple device that was meant for reading. The iPad came out, the big names dropped their guns and released not-so-great magazine apps, the iPad didn’t save them from low sales numbers at all. According to data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the iPad has failed at “saving” the digital publishing industry.

To make it simple, the numbers have been a disappointment: the Wired app sold 24,000 copies in its first 24 hours in the App Store, reached 100,000 downloads in June but then fell back to 31,000 monthly downloads between July and September and 23,000 in November. That’s a rapid decline indeed. Want more numbers? Vanity Fair sold 8,700 copies in November, Glamour went down to 2,775 downloads. GQ? Only 11,000 sales in November. Men’s Health has the worst performances with 2,000 copies sold in September and October.

Sure, the iPad hasn’t saved magazines if you look at the big picture. But let me tell you one thing: magazines haven’t done anything in their power to stand out on this new platform either. Developers of these magazine apps did, at best, optimize old PDF versions of a publication for the tablet’s screen, ignoring Apple’s user interface guidelines and people’s request for easier sharing options on Facebook and Twitter. Heck, they didn’t even make sure text was selectable in their apps. And it’s not that Apple has weird policies or “too much control” on apps: people, users, actually care about well-realized software. When they see something that’s been quickly converted or squeezed into a 10-inch screen, they don’t download. Or they stop buying. That’s what happened with the Wired app.

I understand big publications would rather have a single “tablet version” to use on a variety of devices such as the iPad or other Android tablets. I also understand that the lack of monthly subscriptions gets in the way with selling updates to App Store users. But a good app? That should always be the starting point.

Short URLS Suck, OS X & iOS Malware To Become More “Sophisticated” According To McAfee

McAfee Logo

McAfee Logo

When short URLs first arrived on the scene, I was rather excited at the prospect of simply using a good looking “designer” URL to vainly share links on Twitter. Short URLs provide brand reassurance: MacStories, Engadget, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, and other sites now sport custom short URLs that verify the links we share lead back to our site. However, links from Bit.ly, CloudApp cl.ly links, and Twitter’s t.co links have become nothing more than a nuisance. If I use a service like TinyGrab, I know their short URLs will most likely lead to a snapshot someone has taken of their material. With more anonymous (everything) URL shorteners, there’s no way to verify its trust without using software that allows you to preview the long URL before you click through. We’ve seen their validity ruined plenty of times on Twitter through various attacks such as the cross-site request forgery attack that amused us for a few hours earlier this year, but I’ve simply lost trust in these “brands.”

While I didn’t need McAfee to be skeptical of weird Twitter users asking me if I want a free iPad, they predict short URLs will continue to annoy the tech savvy as the computer-illiterate continue to click through short URLs to whatever tomfoolery exists on the other side. McAfee’s other big claim: OS X could be the next target for malware kiddies.

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#MacStoriesDeals - Tuesday

Is your wallet surviving all the holidays? Here’s some great deals for today on iOS & Mac apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get ‘em while they’re hot! iOS apps price drops are starting to show up again too!

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