The Contemplation » iPhone

Pandora Launches Live Concert Video Series

tech — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:31:03 +0000

Pandora, the leading personalized radio service, today announced an online extension of the free, live concert series that the company debuted earlier in the month. The Pandora live concert series hub, currently sponsored by Budweiser, can be accessed at: Pandora.

The live concert series launched in Portland, Ore. on December 13 with Dawes, an emerging rock band from Southern California. As the official launch sponsor, Budweiser presented the inaugural concert free of charge to more than 230 fans, and is now bringing the experience online via the dedicated hub.

All artists that participate in Pandora’s live concert series will be showcased on the hub. The hub currently consists of behind-the-scenes video content from the Dawes concert, including: interviews with the band and fans, the band as they tour Portland, Pandora Founder Tim Westergren interacting with the band and highlights from the evening. The hub also features a curated mixtape with up to 100 songs selected by the band and Pandora music analysts.

Senior Vice President of Strategic Solutions Heidi Browning said, “We’re very excited to have Budweiser as our official launch partner of Pandora’s personalized, live concert series. Through this partnership we’re able to give fans a great experience both online and offline. Our collaboration is proof that Pandora is a valuable platform for connecting brands, bands, and fans.”

“Music is a universal passion that unites people, and Budweiser’s ties to music run deep,” said Rob McCarthy, vice president of Budweiser. “We’re excited to assist Pandora in bringing this unique concert series to life, and to connect their local listeners with bands they love.“

Pandora determines the right mix of artists and locations for the live concert series from a unique collection of spin and thumbs-up data. True to Pandora’s philosophy of personalization, listeners who have created stations and thumbed-up songs for a specific artist or similar artists are invited to attend these exclusive free shows. Pandora listeners can look forward to more of these types of concerts in different cities across the country in 2012.

Free Music Resources

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Pete Townshend calls Apple ‘a vampire’

tech — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:51:55 +0000

The Who guitarist Pete Townshend has urged Apple’s iTunes to use its power to help new bands instead of “bleeding” artists like a “digital vampire”.

He also argued against unauthorized file-sharing, saying the internet was “destroying copyright as we know it . . . . The word ‘sharing’ surely means giving away something you have earned, or made, or paid for?” and added that people who downloaded his music without paying for it “may as well come and steal my son’s bike while they’re at it . . . If someone “pretends that something I have created should be available to them free… I wonder what has gone wrong with human morality and social justice”.

“Is there really any good reason why, just because iTunes exists in the wild west internet land of Facebook and Twitter, it can’t provide some aspect of these services to the artists whose work it bleeds like a digital vampire, like a digital Northern Rock, for its enormous commission?” he asked. He contiuned on to say Apple should employ 20 talent scouts “from the dying record business” to give guidance to new acts and provide financial and marketing support to the best ones.

The reality, without Steve Jobs, Apple is becoming nothing more than a retail franchise. Apple spent $614 million on retail stores and the other $4 billion on other capital expenditures — including purchasing land for its new office in Cupertino, Calif. Apple is filthy rich; it sold four million phones in three days. But Apple why is spending only 2.2% of revenue on Research and Development (R&D)? Because it is not a creative company and nothing more than a legal Peer to Peer company. (read more . . .)

People try to put us d-down (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
Just because we get around (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
Things they do look awful c-c-cold (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
I hope I die before I get old (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)

This is my generation
This is my generation, baby

Why don’t you all f-fade away (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
And don’t try to dig what we all s-s-say (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
I’m not trying to cause a big s-s-sensation (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
I’m just talkin’ ’bout my g-g-g-generation (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)

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The Apple Is Rotting Without Steve Jobs

tech — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:43:39 +0000

Apple will nearly double its expenses next year. It will spend $900 million opening 40 new retail stores — three quarters of which will open internationally — next year. Apple will also spend $7.1 billion on its other capital expenses, such as manufacturing equipment and corporate facilities.

Apple spent $614 million on retail stores and the other $4 billion on other capital expenditures — including purchasing land for its new office in Cupertino, Calif.

Apple is filthy rich; it sold four million phones in three days. But Apple is spending only 2.2% of revenue on Research and Development (R&D)?

Apple’s 2.2% marks a 10-year low. Why wouldn’t Apple spend more on ideas?

Maybe without Steve Jobs R&D isn’t important. Without pushing the boundaries, as we expect with Apple, “One More Thing” will become “Same Old Thing”.

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Steve Jobs said ‘No Porn’ – Now What?

tech — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:01:51 +0000

“ (W)e do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone…You know, there’s a porn store for Android….You can download nothing but porn. You can download porn, your kids can download porn. That’s a place we don’t want to go – so we’re not going to go there“. (Steve Jobs)

Jobs’ opposition to porn was made loud and clear, but Apple’s crackdown on sex-tinged apps can be described as a “semi-ban” at best. The Playboy app remains in the App Store, as does the Sports Illustrated app, because they come from “more reputable companies,” according to Apple’s vice president of marketing, Phil Schiller.

But with his death will this control eliminated?

It seems that Apple’s success is dependent upon iPhone’s success, a slow demise of desktop Operating Systems and the Lion’s defective default settings – the iOS app-based OS will have to be more than Steve Jobs ideals.

Apple’s iPhone still lacks many features Android handsets provide.

No support for external storage,
No real file access,
Locked-down approach to customization.
Flash
No integrated turn-by-turn GPS navigation

Every iPhone is a clone of each other, unless you are brave enough to jailbreak. You’re still stuck with those static rows of icons on your home screens as opposed to dynamic, interactive widgets and a practically limitless choice of personalized launcher utilities. You can’t use useful keyboard replacements like Swype, because Apple doesn’t allow them. There’s no integrated turn-by-turn GPS navigation. And I won’t even get into the whole Flash debacle.

Most of all, Apple’s iPhone continues to lack the variety, choice, and customization other platforms provide. With an iPhone, you get that arguably dated 3.5-inch-sized display — and that’s that. More so than ever, Apple’s restrictive, we-know-what’s-best-for-you approach is feeling tired and stale, and the ongoing trends in smartphone market share — both within the U.S. and globally – seem to reflect that.

So will Apple’s iOS future domination be slowly eliminated only because of Apple lack of personalization and all hopes are still on the iPhone.

Bottom line: The iPhone 4S is a disappointment.

1. NO Bigger Display

The iPhone 4S will have the same 3.5-inch 960 x 540 Retina display as found on the 2010-era iPhone 4.

2. NO 4G:

While it is great that the new iPhone 4S is a world phone and will work on the networks run by AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless, the poor CDMA 3G customers over at Sprint and Verizon will be stuck with a device that’s even slower than AT&T’s.

3. NO Brand New Design

The iPhone 4S still packs front and back glass surfaces. This means it will be as apt as ever to break when dropped. The glass back plate, in particular, has plagued unfortunate customers with cracks and shatters. Apple didn’t make mention of any improvements to the glass surfaces to toughen them up.

4. NO Standards-Based Technologies

Apple continues to shun industry standards in favor of its own. For example, the International Telecommunications Union has decreed that all cellular telephones use the microUSB port for charging and data transfer.

5. Must Buy High Priced Accessories

The iPhone 4S uses a proprietary Apple-made connector for attaching it to computers, chargers, and other peripherals. Which means people are beholden to purchase cables from Apple and its partners rather than use any old cable. Apple also didn’t add an HDMI port for easier sharing with HDTVs. Instead, it wants you to spend $100 on the Apple TV and stream the content wirelessly.

6. NO NFC

Totally absent from the iPhone 4S is any way to make mobile tap-and-go payments. It doesn’t support NFC (near-field communications), which means it won’t enable customers to make mobile payments at retail stores on the go while Google, Sprint, Visa, MasterCard, RIM, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and myriad others are in the middle of packaging together vast NFC-based mobile payment tech. When it comes to mobile payments, Apple is clearly allowing other companies to lead the way.

Maybe Apple should re-think the whole porn thing.Similar Posts:

Web Pick: How to Make A Nuclear Reactor

tech — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:38:45 +0000

How to make a nuclear reactor using materials that you have at home. From “The Nuclear Boy Scout” Copyright Eagle & Eagle Ltd

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