maker

Review: Cover Photo Maker for Facebook Free customizes your cover photo

Cover Photo Maker for Facebook Free lets users easily create their own custom Facebook cover photos. While a few features were off limits in the free version we tested, we were still pleased by the number of tools available to us and their ease of use.

First, to get started with Cover Photo Maker for Facebook, you'll need to choose a layout from a pretty large menu. We opted for the three blocks, side by side. Tapping each block gave us access to our iPhone's albums, where we selected a picture. With just the touch of your fingertip, … Read more

Maker Faire CEO: Rockets and robots instead of pigs and pies (podcast)

Since 2006, San Francisco Bay Area maker movement aficionados have been making an annual pilgrimage to the San Mateo Event Center (the county fair grounds), to attend the Maker Faire. Self-described as "part science fair, part county fair, and part something entirely new," the Faire attracts a broad swath of attendees, not just in the Bay Area, but in other Maker Faires that are popping up around the world.

Last year 165,000 people attended the flagship events in the Bay Area and New York. There were also Maker Faires in Minneapolis, Detroit, and other cities around the … Read more

Review: Create new ringtones with Ringtone Maker

Ringtone Maker is one of dozens of apps on the App Store designed to create ringtones from the music and songs already on your phone. While it is possible to purchase ringtones from the iTunes store, and the limits on certain tracks in terms of DRM make it hard to convert any track to a ringtone, this is a well-crafted app that works quite well for free.

Open Ringtone Maker and you can choose to either review the online collection of ringtones created by the app's users--usually home recordings or indie bands--or to make your own ringtone from your … Read more

Review: Create beats with Ultimate Beat Maker [Dubstep] HD1

The drum pad and beat maker app craze continues with the release of Ultimate Beat Maker [Dubstep] for the iPad. The app, designed with nearly 50 different Dubstep and electronic music beats, allows you to set and combine any of those 48 beats with the tap of a button. While lacking in a number of features that would make this a must-own app, it is still very fun to use.

This is a very basic app, basically providing a map onscreen of 48 Dubstep beats that you can choose from. Tap any of the multicolored blocks and a beat will … Read more

Review: StarMaker Karaoke with Auto-Tune enhances the karaoke experience

Thanks to video games, karaoke is more than just a barroom activity, and StarMaker Karaoke makes it more accessible than ever with a robust, feature-filled app that is a lot of fun, despite its relatively high cost of entry.

StarMaker Karaoke with Auto-Tune is exactly as it sounds, a karaoke app that allows you to sing along to your favorite songs on the iPad. You can record each of the songs as you sing them and even turn on Auto-Tune or Magic Tune to really take your song to the next level. Combined with guide vocals, background vocals, headphone recording, … Read more

Review: Lion DiskMaker for Mac lets users create a bootable USB of their OS

While not easily completed with native programs, users may still want the ability to create a bootable USB of their Mac OS. Lion DiskMaker for Mac lacks any other features, but completes this function well.

The free program downloaded and installed easily. Minimal instructions were included beyond a frequently asked questions section and it was not clear if technical support was available. At startup, Lion DiskMaker for Mac immediately asks which operating system the user would like to use, whether OS X 10.7 or 10.8. The menu is small, but uncomplicated and walks the user through the process. … Read more

Review: Create mosaics from your iPhone photo library using Photo Mosaic Maker Free

With so many apps offering photo editing in some form, it takes a unique function to warrant downloading yet another app on most people's phones. Photo Mosaic Maker Free does a decent job of offering such an experience with a very easy-to-use mosaic creation tool that pulls directly from your photo library, but is it enough to warrant the download or upgrade?

When you start Photo Mosaic Maker, you're presented with the upgrade screen outlining exactly what features are missing from the free version. You can then immediately start creating your first mosaics. Assuming you've linked your … Read more

Can technology improve the sound of 300-year-old violins?

David Segal Violins is located just a few blocks from Lincoln Center and the Juilliard School in New York City. I stopped by the showroom to learn how the technology of violin making has changed, but that wasn't the main story. Today's violins may look similar to the ones made 300 years ago by Stradivarius or Guarneri, but they get used in different ways. Where before violins were only played in concerts, now they're also recorded. Segal tells me that a great concert violin might not work all that well to accompany a vocalist.

The "technology&… Read more

In New York, 3D printing finally gets its day in the sun

NEW YORK--Guitars. Skulls. Bracelets. Colorful heads. And so much more.

That was what was on display at the Inside 3D Printing event here today, a celebration of all things 3D printing, and one of the first-ever professional events dedicated solely to the decades-old technology that has been taking the world by storm over the last few years.

Just about ever leading company in the field was on hand, from 3D Systems to MakerBot to Stratasys, and many others. And hundreds of people packed the event hall, eager to see the latest machines, and hear from some of the leaders in … Read more