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Someone in Japan plays Mozart and you are there!
Smule has quickly become my favorite iPhone app developer.
It's not that their apps have been particularly useful, but they're the ones I get the most excited about. From Sonic Lighter to Sonic Boom and Sonic Vox, these guys are IMO currently the masters of fun, cool, quirky iPhone apps.
Now they're going completely bohemian with their latest release, Ocarina. According to Smule, this is the first true musical instrument for the iPhone with no precompiled riffs.
By simply blowing into your iPhone's mic you'll create sound, and by holding the "holes" on the screen you'll be able to create music. After some practice, that is.
You have the option of choosing between modes including Dorian, Lydian, or my personal favorite--Zeldarian. With Zeldarian, you'll be able to play the Zelda theme from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
.Smule's site teaches the basics, from how to hold your new instrument to how to lightly blow. It even has an online score generator that lets you translate music into Smule's Ocarina language by telling you the proper fingering to create the song you want.
By far my favorite feature, though, is the ability to listen to other people playing all over the world in real time. There's just something really cool about being able to hear a guy in Japan play Mozart from a world away.
Ocarina is available from the App Store for 99 cents.
Fun? Yes, but I wouldn't put too much stock into it.
I have to admit, I didn't see the point of Sonic Lighter. I mean, it was cool to see real-time mapping of people using it, but there was no real point. With the latest version, however, that's changed.
Smule has released Sonic Lighter 1.2.1 Special Campaign 2008 Edition for the iPhone. Instead of just lighting a normal orange flame, with the new version you now get to express yourself politically (somewhat), by choosing either the red (McCain) or blue (Obama) flame.
The coolest thing about this is the ability to see, in real-time, which flame is more prevalent in different parts of the world. If you want to get even more detailed, Smule has a Google-powered map at its site that allows you to pinpoint the flames down to the city or even a stretch of road.
Now, this is what I call instant polling results. Is it accurate? Hmmm, not so much. Unfortunately we still have to wait 'til next week to see just how much stock we can put into polling. Sonic Lighter 1.2.1 is available at the App Store for $0.99, but is a free upgrade if you already own Sonic Lighter.
Dong's new best friends.
In this episode, we pack a lot of content into a relatively small amount of time.
First off, Eric has his nerd cred questioned because of a Warcraft comment made in a previous episode, and Dong discusses making love, not Warcraft.
Serious business then as Dong presents another PSA: how to be on the lookout for fake antivirus software.
Then, can being left-handed be equated with being gay? Not usually, but Dong finds a way to connect them. Then, getting drunk. Dong tells a "scary" Halloween story about puking in a bucket.
Thanks to a resourceful reader, we have an even better way to determine what kind of panel is in your monitor or the monitor you want to get. Here are some links.
http://www.flatpanels.dk/panels.phphttp://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=2049206&enterthread=y
http://aryarya.net/wassyoi/lcdmemo.html
http://textblog.anands.net/2007/04/23/buying-a-lcd-monitor-for-photo-editing/
Sonic Vox voice distorter for your iPhone
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(Credit:
Smule)
Every once in a while, usually on a Friday, I get into something incredibly addicting and distracting. Today is one of those days. If you're like me (and gods help you) and you like to manipulate your voice in different ways--you know, to freak your cats or even your wife/girlfriend--Smule has come up with something cool to make your Friday go by faster.
Sonic Vox is an audio engine for the iPhone that alters your voice in real time. While you speak, the program contorts and shifts your voice depending on how you set the pitch and the level of echo effect. Sonic Vox is available at the App Store for 99 cents.
Smule--maker of exploding virtual firecrackers and the lighters that ignite them--claims that you'll be able to use Sonic Vox like a phone, with headphones, through an amplifier, or over Skype or any other IM service with voice. This is somewhat misleading, however, since the app does not work phone to phone, as apparently Apple does not allow it. According to Smule, you can plug your iPhone into a MacBook, basic speaker, or boom box and use it as a mic.
I'm struggling to find the correct pitch for my "Darth Vader" voice, however, finding a "Gollum" voice was easy. I'm going see if I can get this working when I record the next Inside CNET Labs Podcast. If for nothing else than to annoy Dong Ngo.
(Credit:
Smule)
In September, Smule introduced Sonic Lighter, an iPhone and iPod Touch app that's basically nothing more than a virtual lighter. Not very exciting honestly.
The folks at Smule have been working on something a bit meatier in the meantime though: the company's follow-up to Sonic Lighter, Sonic Boom. Sonic Boom turns your iPhone into a virtual firecracker, using your finger as the virtual match.
Just flick your finger along the screen, touch the fuse, then sit back and watch the fireworks--the fireworks in this case being a virtual firecracker exploding into several hundred pieces of polygonal debris.
You can even customize your explosions by grafting a pic from your iPhone's photo library onto the firecracker. Potentially sadistic? Well yes, of course, but it's all virtual, right?
One of the coolest features is the ability to see what are supposedly real-time Sonic Boom explosions by people around the globe. Also, if you have a second iPhone with Sonic Lighter, you can use it to light the fuse of the firecracker on your first phone. Talk about synergy.
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Eric Franklin's colleagues once had the following to say to him: "Eric, you've been doing this performance testing thing for over 10 years now. How about you try something different?" To which Eric responded, "How about you shut the #%$@! up?" This candid attitude
allows him to go toe-to-toe with the most extreme of personalities, including that of Dong Ngo. This bio was written by Eric Franklin.
Dong Ngo is a knowledgeable, opinionated individual who wants to convince the world that he's just a normal person; but he hasn't had much success. According to him, this is because the world itself is abnormal. Dong loves traveling and is well-versed in several languages. He, unfortunately, is not so well-versed in English. Still, it's best to ask him questions. From networking and how to optimize your system, to turning a strange place into home or what the meaning of life is…most of the time, he has the answers. The question is: Will he make himself understood? Subscribe and find out!
