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Posts Tagged ‘Customization’

Symbian S^3 officially announced, previewed on video

The time has finally come for us to see Symbian’s milestone shift toward finger-friendly operation in motion. Firstly, to allay any fears that it’d lack all the modern amenities, we’ll note that kinetic scrolling, swiping, and pinch-to-zoom are all present and accounted for, while a “visual multi-tasking” option allows you to see the open applications in an interface not a million miles away from the Pre’s card implementation. Customization is also a big deal in the S^3 UI, with multiple Home Screen pages available, accompanied by a litany of widgets you can add and manage. The media player application looks like a homage (read: copy) of Apple’s Cover Flow UI, right down to the album covers flipping around to reveal the track listing. We’re not complaining, we consider that a very intelligent and pleasing way to browse through music. Go check out the moving picture show after the break.

Continue reading Symbian S^3 officially announced, previewed on video

Symbian S^3 officially announced, previewed on video originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 04:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Count The beats: Training your ear with RelativePitch

Filed under: Audio, Reviews, Music

Relative pitch, let alone perfect pitch (some people are born with it, everyone else has to learn!) is an invaluable skill required when it comes to playing an instrument and understanding the music you are hearing. Thankfully, Easy Ear Training has developed a nifty little app to help you along with all your pitch training needs.

The idea is to learn how to hear the difference between two musical notes in a given key / octave, and be able to identify what that difference is, based on the root note. This is otherwise known as an interval: the space between two notes. For example, a minor 3rd, or a perfect 5th (think the Star Wars theme tune!).

For a great description of what an interval is, click here. I also came across this iTunes U video lesson by Shawn “Thunder” Wallace [iTunes Link] describing the difference between perfect pitch, relative pitch and something that Shawn calls true pitch. Very interesting!

This may sound rather complicated, but really you don’t need to know any of the theory when it comes to using the Relative Pitch app. At its simplest, it will help you to hear with more detail what it is that you’re listening too

Relative Pitch [iTunes Link] consists of two main modes: training and testing. When you open the app, you kick off with the first lesson (of which there are 14) in the training mode. Once the first lesson is complete, a corresponding test is unlocked to examine what you have learned. On passing that test the next lesson is unlocked, and so forth.

Relative Pitch will teach you to distinguish ascending, descending and harmonic intervals across four octaves. With in-app volume control, in-depth customization of the training mode, and even being able to choose the root note of the octave you want to train from, you’ll make strides.

Whether you are a seasoned musician or a complete beginner, Relative Pitch will have you listening with a sharpened ear and a greater appreciation of the music you love.

The Relative Pitch app costs £4.99, but there is a lite free version of the app here [iTunes Link] so you can try it out.

Also, keep an eye out for the revamped Easy Ear Training website launching in the coming weeks.

TUAWCount The beats: Training your ear with RelativePitch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Where To? updated with Navigon integration

Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone, App Review

In what appears to be a happy marriage, Where To? for the iPhone [iTunes link] now talks to the Navigon GPS app. You can select a category or search for a business and then transfer that information directly to the Navigon app for turn-by-turn directions. If you don’t have Navigon, you get Google Maps directions instead.

This is a nice update because the Navigon POI (points of interest) database is contained on the app, while Where To? relies on Google information. This way you get the best of both worlds, with up to date POI info that can easily be picked up the the Navigon app for a pretty seamless experience.

While checking the app on a drive around town I found it quick and easy to find some specific places to shop. Restaurants are broken down into categories, including things like cuisine categories or other criteria like “all you can eat.”

The Navigon link worked perfectly, and in real world use turned out to be handy.

The new version also adds contacts integration, and customization and deletion of categories. I liked Where To? when i first reviewed it earlier this year, and the Navigon integration is a welcome addition. Where To? is U.S. $2.99. If you don’t want to spend the money, I’d suggest a look at Around Me [iTunes link] which uses the same Google data but doesn’t link to any nav apps.

TUAWWhere To? updated with Navigon integration originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Open Microblogging Service Hires Former Creative Commons Strategist

An all-star team is forming at StatusNet, the open microblogging service for businesses and communities. The newest addition is Jon Phillips, former community and business development manager for Creative Commons.

Phillips joins Brion Vibber, who came from the Wikimedia Foundation where he served as chief technology officer.

Sponsor

The news is significant as it reflects the interest in open-source alternatives to the proprietary microblogging services that currently dominate the market in the consumer and enterprise communities.

According to their web site, StatusNet makes sites that use open-source software to create and distribute open content. The company also provides professional support contracts and customization for companies that use StatusNet software on their own servers for intranet or Internet microblogging.

identi.ca, the open network micro-blogging service is based on the StatusNet tool.

Phillips and Vibber join a team led by Evan Promodou, the founder of StatusNet, whose previous work included creating the Open Content travel guide, Wikitravel.

Phillips, who is an avid microblogger (@rejon) writes on the StatusNet blog:

I’m super enthused about the direction Status.Net is heading as a free network service, as a business, and as a leader in software and culture with a focus locally on niche communities on scaling internationally (more on that soon). Right now, we are working very hard towards some big releases slightly under the radar with the push towards Status.net hosted services and Status.Net 1.0 software.

Phillips says he will help with some large projects Status.Net is building, including an upcoming relaunch. He will be there to help ease some of Evan’s work load so he can be freed up to be “uber-CEO rather than having to wear 50 different hats.”

According to the bio on his blog, Phillips worked from 2005 to 2008 building the community and business development strategy for Creative Commons. Phillips “worked with hundreds of businesses through Creative Commons 50+ international jurisdictions to integrate Creative Commons licensing, and managed globally successful projects such as ccSalons, the Case Studies, Metrics, and CC+ projects. He recently completed the special project, the Public Domain Wiki, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation from Creative Commons, Wikimedia Foundation, Access Copyright, and Internet Archive.

Pretty impressive.

We expect some major pushes from the open-source microblogging community. Phillips arrival is a sure sign that major efforts are underway to make StatusNet a leader in this realm.

Discuss

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HP Envy, dv8 Quad, Mini 311, and numerous other Windows 7 machines now available to order

Since today really needs a good heap of news to somewhat balance out yesterday’s glut, HP has updated its online store to give it an abundance of new and revised Windows 7 machines, including the Envy series (Beats edition and all), Pavilion dm3 with AMD Neo or Intel CULV chips, Core i7-packing dv6t/ dv7t / dv8t Quad editions, and the not-so-netbook CQ61. We’re still not seeing the previously-leaked dm1 ultraportable anywhere, but the Mini 311 and a slightly updated Mini 110 are, with the option to jump from Windows XP to 7 for a cool $50 / $30 respectively. Most everything in the store, desktops and laptops, has been updated to at least include Windows 7 as the standard shipping OS, and while all claim free 2-day shipping, estimated shipping dates begin sometime the week after 7’s Oct 22nd launch — no early chances here, folks. Browse the read links and keep an eye on the shiny red “new” icons (no flashing GIFs, we’re afraid) for the entire revised lineup.

Update: As a number of you have pointed, the Envy product page is a bit, well, sloppy. Typos and missing commas notwithstanding, it seems to biggest laugh is the cost of customization, i.e. $800 more to downgrade from a 500GB HDD to 320GB or 250GB (same price), or $900 more to downgrade from 6GB or 4GB of DDR3 memory. Yeah, it might be best to hold off on that one until HP get the kinks worked out.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Read – Desktop lineup
Read – Laptop lineup
Read – Envy series lineup

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

HP Envy, dv8 Quad, Mini 311, and numerous other Windows 7 machines now available to order originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hadoop Clusters Get A Monitoring Client With Cloudera Desktop

Cloudera has seen some pretty amazing growth for a year-old startup. Backed by an impressive list of investors and advisors and run by a team of experienced technology veterans, Cloudera commercially distributes and services Hadoop. It’s similar in theory to Red Hat’s distribution of Linux. At tomorrow’s Hadoop World: NYC, Cloudera is announcing “Cloudera Desktop” a unified graphical user interface for Hadoop applications that includes tools for job and cluster management. This is significant because Cloudera is transitioning from providing a service to distributing an actual software.

Hadoop is a Java software framework born out of an open-source implementation of Google’s published computing infrastructure which is fostered within the Apache Software Foundation. Hadoop supports distributed applications running on large clusters of commodity computers processing enormous amounts of data. Cloudera helps distribute Hadoop, and provides services around the technology. Cloudera’s newest Desktop software lets developers, analysts and administrators submit jobs, to monitor cluster health and to browse the data stored on a Hadoop cluster. Basically, helps business teams manage and monitor applications that store data using Hadoop.

Cloudera Desktop runs inside a Web browser, and works on Windows, Macintosh and Linux systems. Applications within Desktop include a file browser, for copying and browsing the data files stored on a cluster; a job designer, for creating, running and saving jobs for later reuse or customization; the job browser, for keeping track of job status and progress; and a cluster health dashboard, for monitoring the health of a Hadoop cluster and alerting operators in case of problems.

Via Cloudera, Hadoop is currently used by most of the giants in the space including Google, Yahoo, Facebook (we wrote about Facebook’s use of Cloudera here), Amazon, AOL, Baidu and more. To date, Cloudera has raised $11 million in funding from Accel Partners and Greylock Partners.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

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SteelSeries Aion limited edition Zboard keeps MMO addicts stuck in the basement

You’ve got to hand it to ‘em, SteelSeries knows its market. Following up on its array of WoW-themed gear, the company has just issued a new limited edition Zboard aimed at to-be Aion gamers, which just might be “the most anticipated MMO of 2009.” As with most of the outfit’s MMORPG-centric keyboards, this one also packs a colorful motif, a swath of dedicated action keys, menus and chat commands, full customization of each key and quick-access “emote keys for greeting, intimidating, or taunting your opponent.” In related news, the firm is also dishing out an Aion Asmodian mousepad, which may or may not be superior to the stained napkin you’re currently using to raid on. Both units are available for pre-order right now at $19.99 and $14.99, respectively, and we hear that UPS totally delivers to dingy basements for a nominal fee.

[Via Coolest-Gadgets]

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Filed under: Peripherals

SteelSeries Aion limited edition Zboard keeps MMO addicts stuck in the basement originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Friday Favorite: Dropzone

Filed under: Software, Cool tools, Productivity

One of my favorite new tools is Dropzone from Aptonic Software. Cory mentioned it back in early beta, but it’s come a long way since then. Dropzone lets you set up “destinations,” and when you click its icon in the dock it pops up a HUD-style window with icons for each destination. You can drop files and text onto each icon, or have them launch apps and run scripts with a click. It comes with ready-made destinations for everything from Flickr uploading of dropped images to zipping and emailing a collection of dropped files. The beauty of Dropzone is that the average user can set up all of the destinations they would normally launch other apps for, but users in more advanced stages of geekery can construct their own destinations using the Ruby-based Dropzone API.

My personal Dropzone setup includes destinations for creating projects or opening files in TextMate, opening a folder in GitX, sending files to my Amazon S3 account (puts a publicly-accessible url in my clipboard), filing based on OpenMeta tags, mounting and unmounting FireWire drives, making quick Backpack reminders, and the list goes on. I’ve even got one that scans dropped text for “http://” links and creates a linkbun.ch for me. Some of these scripts I’ve written, some were just a matter of customizing the existing destinations. Either way, I’ve got all of these capabilities no more than a click or drag away.

Creating your own destinations just requires a little Ruby-fu. “But I’m the farthest thing from a level 12 Ruby Mage,” you say. Don’t sweat it, let the community do it for you. Several scripts from my personal setup, along with a great selection of others, are available in the user-contributed actions section of the Aptonic Software website. Additionally, included actions like the application launcher allow full customization just by selecting the application to trigger.

Dropzone is available for a free trial, and can be had for $10US. Give it a try and see if it doesn’t speed up your workflow. If you create any scripts you’d like to share, be sure to let the author know!

TUAWFriday Favorite: Dropzone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AmazonS3 – Flickr – Ruby – Application programming interface – Backpack
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