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Jammit Lets Budding Rock Stars Play Along With, Isolate, And Record Over The “Masters”

Posted: 25 Jan 2012 04:00 AM PST

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While magical mobile devices are able to simulate instruments in wild and mind-blowing ways, thankfully most people stick to the actual instruments themselves when learning to play. Arguably, a better — or at least more popular — use for mobile devices is to act not as the instrument itself, but as an educational aid — a tool that helps us to learn how to play our favorite instruments.

There are a ton of these educational (and often game-ified) apps out there, and we seem to have a new one at Disrupt every year. There’s Miso Media’s Plectrum, which “listens” as you play, scrolling the tablature forward as you progress through the song, or Tonara’s interactive sheet music, WildChords’, a musical game that uses audio technology to recognize sound through your device's microphone, turning your six-string into a game controller, Rocksmith, Rock Prodigy, and these … well, you get the picture.

If you want to learn to play the guitar, or another instrument, you can find plenty of YouTube videos you can strum along to, and the mobile apps and web-based tools that boost your chops continue to get better — and, frankly, astound. Of course, the truth is that most musicians learned their instrument by playing along to their favorite songs (probably not mp3s), and imitating what they hear. While YouTube offers a great jumping off point, it’s disorganized and only just scratches the surface.

Today, we’ve learned about another app for iOS (and coming soon to Mac and Windows desktops) called Jammit, which should be of interest to novices and experts alike. Ideally, when learning to play an instrument (or practicing), we want to play along with our favorite songs — to emulate them to get a better feel for how musicians created these songs — and for learning how to create our own riffs.

Jammit wants to assist in this approach by allowing musicians to play along with their favorite songs, and to get a taste (at least virtually) of what it’s like to be there in the recording studio. Jammit uses the original multi-track master recordings in its catalog so that users can tune into instrument-specific samples — for guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, and vocals. This granularity allows musicians to dive in to each nuance of a certain song, and then replace it with their own. Now you can feel like you’re part of the band — even if, like me, you’re too busy to go on tour with Rush.

It’s not easy to get access to original master recordings of songs, and Jammit Founder Scott Humphrey tells us that they’ve spent years working through the red tape to manage licensing fees and be able to offer master tracks to their users. After years of pursuing these leads, Jammit is now home to master tracks from hundreds of artists, including R.E.M., Jane’s Addiction, Nirvana, Rush, The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and more.

While the catalog is not as complete as those we’ve come to expect from iTunes, there’s plenty of classic music to get you started on practicing, mixing, recording, and tinkering. Allowing you to literally remove the original guitar riff and record yourself right into the song — from your iPad? Pretty cool.

What’s more, the app provides note-for-note transcriptions in standard notation or tablature, the ability to quickly navigate to any part of the song, repeat bars with snap-to-grid looping — and this is the kicker — slow the song down by 90 percent without affecting the pitch. This feature, along with a “now” line, which underscores exactly which note you are on to aid in the learning process, are two huge updates for the newest versions of the app. If you’re having trouble hearing what chords are being played, or are struggling with the fingering, just slow the song down and loop it, or get cues from the app itself. Then, once you’re done recording, you can send it off to friends, teachers, and groupies.

The app itself is free, and individual songs range from about $2 to $6. Jammit currently has around 200 guitar songs, and approximately the same amount for bass, drums, and vocals. Humphrey tells us that they have hundreds more songs in the cue, and are starting to see bands come to them who want to release their albums on Jammit in tandem with releasing a new album. The latest example would be Lamb of God’s new album, “Resolution.”

Jammit is currently raising a seed round of funding.

For more, check out the example of Rush’s “Limelight” below, or check out “how it works” here.

App-maker Moonbot Gets An Oscar Nomination

Posted: 24 Jan 2012 05:27 PM PST

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There’s been a lot of talk about the divide between Silicon Valley and Hollywood, but at least one upstart animation studio seems to have one foot comfortably in both worlds — Moonbot Studios, which was just nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Short.

The film in question, “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore,” was also released as an iPad app, and will be published a traditional book, too. Co-founder William Joyce is an established children’s author, and he first conceived the project as a book, but when he teamed up with Brandon Oldenburg to start Moonbot in 2009, they decided to work on a short film as well. And in the middle of all that, Apple announced the first iPad, so Joyce decided that the story would make a great app, too.

Working on so many versions of the same story at once sounds a little nuts, but Joyce says the approach always made sense to him —in fact, he says this multi-platform approach was “the key to becoming a viable company.” For one thing, Joyce notes that he was able to reuse a lot of the media assets between the various projects. More broadly, he says that one of the main advantages of Moonbot is that it’s fast and experimental, especially compared to the glacial pace of feature film production. (In addition to his books, Joyce has credits as a writer or artist on Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Meet the Robinsons, and others.)

“There’s something that’s so totally just turbocharging, adrenaline rushing and fun about saying, ‘Hey, I got an idea, what do you guys think?’ and we start it that day, and three months later we’re done,” Joyce says. “It’s like you’ve been playing with the philharmonic for a long time and then you just sit down and jazz it up.”

So far, the results are impressive, at least from an aesthetic point of view. Joyce says the resulting apps (Moonbot followed “The Fantastic Flying Books” with another app called “The Numberlys”) are not quite games and not quite e-books, so he’s calling them “story apps” for now — though there may be a better name out there, waiting to be invented. The basic structure is that of a book (“The Numberlys” is more film-like), but Moonbot adds games and other interactive elements. The reviews have been largely positive, though with some reservations — for example, Wired’s GeekDad blog said “The Numberlys” looks great, but wondered whether it was really a good fit for kids.

Moving forward, Joyce says Moonbot’s future projects will continue to cross media — though maybe not quite as comprehensively as “The Fantastic Flying Books.” For example, one of the company’s next projects will start out as a puppet show in New Orleans. (Moonbot is based in Shreveport.) And there will be another iPad app this year, too.

“We think that tablets are presenting a new narrative experience as big, as important, as television was, as books were,” Joyce says. “They’ll have their own flavor. And discovering how to make that experience super-intensely different and emotionally involving — we’re just in the baby steps of that.”

Tim Cook: “There Will Come A Day When The Tablet Market Is Larger Than The PC Market”

Posted: 24 Jan 2012 02:59 PM PST

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One of the big questions hanging over Apple this quarter was whether or not iPad sales would continue its rapid growth. Last quarter Amazon introduced the Kindle Fire at $200 (well below the iPAd’s entry-level $500 price) and there was concern that even Apple diehard fans might delay their purchase of a tablet until the iPad 3 comes out—rumored for later this year. But iPad sales came in well above expectations at 15.4 million units. It is now a $9.1 billion business. There have been a total of 55 million iPads sold since launch in 2010.

iPad sales continue to surprise even CEO Tim Cook. During the conference call today, Cook predicted: “I think there will come a day that the tablet market is larger than the PC market.”

His repeated an earlier statement that the iPad is cannibalizing Mac sales, but it is cannibalizing Windows PC sales much more.

Cook also addressed the competition without mentioning the Kindle Fire’s name: “I think people really want to do multiple things with their tablets; as a result, we don’t really see these limited function tablets, these e-readers, as being in the same category. I don’t think people who want an iPad will settle for a limited function.”

The iPad’s strength, he argues, is that it is a general-purpose device, not a limited to just a few media-consuming functions. There are “over 170,000″ iPad apps, orders of magnitude more than another tablet. “It’s not just a product,”s ays Cook, “it is a strategy for the next decade.”

RIM Roadmap Leaked, Points To BlackBerry 10 Launch In September

Posted: 24 Jan 2012 12:09 PM PST

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It’s only been one full day since former COO Thorsten Heins has taken the top spot at RIM, and we may already be privy to the company’s game plan for the next 15 months. According to reports from BGR‘s always-willing sources, RIM is hard at work on a series of new product launches that will culminate with the launch of their first BlackBerry 10 device in the latter half of this year.

For a company that gets nearly consistent praise for their physical QWERTY keyboards, they’re taking a risk by making the all-touch BlackBerry London the first BlackBerry 10 device to be pushed out the door. The London is reportedly on track for a September launch despite the kerfuffle surrounding their 4G chipsets, but a release so late into 2012 will pit RIM against a crop of strong competitors.

The London’s September launch should be followed by a hybrid touch/keyboard device (along the lines of the Bold 9900) roughly a month later. There have also been internal rumblings about a BlackBerry 10-powered QWERTY slider handset (a new Torch?), which is rumored to be released in Q1 2013.

Of course, RIM plans to ship a few new BlackBerry 7 devices between now and when their platform makes its long-awaited debut. Enter the EDGE-only BlackBerry Curve 9230 and the HSPA-friendly Curve 9320, neither of which will likely turn many heads when they see the light of day.

Along with RIM’s spate of new smartphones, a revamped BlackBerry PlayBook is also said to be in the works. The jury is still out on design and dimensions, but the new PlayBook is expected to sport a 1.5GHz processor, an NFC chip, and support for 42Mbps HSPA+. This itself isn’t much of a surprise — former co-CEO Jim Balsillie confirmed the existence of a refreshed PlayBook to the Wall Street Journal yesterday — but it’ll be interesting to see if this one fares any better than the original.

Some of the info matches up to previous leaks, and so far the new RIM seems centered around two things it can’t afford to bungle: the revival of the PlayBook and (more importantly) the BlackBerry 10 launch. Let’s take the Blackberry 7-powered Curves out of the equation for right now, as no one expects those to turn things around for RIM.

Credit where credit is due, taking a more restrained approach to product launches strikes me a smarter move than what they’ve done in the past. RIM’s devices releases have are often lumped together — consider this triple whammy of AT&T BlackBerrys from August, and this pair of new handsets from November. Staggering these new releases gives these devices room to breathe and hopefully hit their stride before being joined by other models.

Still, a thoughtful release timeline won’t mean anything if the products themselves aren’t up to snuff. One real fear I have is that BlackBerry 10 won’t be enough of a step forward, even after they’ve spent all this time on it. The new CEO doesn’t do much to assuage my concerns — Heins noted yesterday that he didn’t see much need for a “drastic change” for the company, though others may see it differently (quick aside: RIM’s stock has dipped yet again).

I Didn’t Think Samsung Could Top Its Anti-Apple Ads… Until I Saw These

Posted: 24 Jan 2012 12:05 PM PST

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Next weekend is like the Super Bowl of commercials. Well, actually, next weekend is the Pro Bowl, which is also much like a Super Bowl… for companies… with regards to their commercials.

Maybe I should try a different analogy.

Either way, next weekend and the weekend after are big for most companies and Samsung is getting started early with its latest “Apple fanbois are silly for waiting outside” campaign.

The two most recent ads harp on the same jokes — that Apple customers are willing to camp out for “the next big thing” — but thankfully no humor is lost. What’s interesting, however, is that Samsung seems to be taking the whole “fanboi” thing a step further by showing off Google’s voice transcription and touting 4G LTE status.

The question of whether or not Samsung can make us laugh is already answered, but can they make us buy their phone? That’s an entirely different question.



$299 Droid RAZR MAXX To Hit Verizon Shelves On January 26

Posted: 24 Jan 2012 08:26 AM PST

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Looks like that flubbed product page turned out to be right after all — Verizon Wireless has just announced that the ever-so-slightly-tweaked Droid RAZR MAXX will indeed be hitting store shelves on January 26.

One of the big issues Jordan noted in our original Droid RAZR review was that the battery could leave some heavy users in the lurch, but that (hopefully) won’t be the case with the RAZR MAXX. Despite sporting near-identical specs to its slimmer brother, the MAXX also packs a fairly ridiculous 3300 mAh battery without sacrificing too much of its alluring profile.

The MAXX also features 32GB of onboard storage, a considerable bump up from the original’s 16GB allotment. If you can live with just a little extra heft (the MAXX comes in at 8.99mm thick, compared to the original’s 7.1mm waist line), this is looking like the Droid RAZR to beat.

With the RAZR MAXX preparing to take its place in Verizon’s top-tier smartphone pantheon, you can expect the price tag to match its status. It’ll cost $299 out of the gate with a two-year contract, though the penny-pinchers among you should know that the original model (sans SD card) has recently dropped down to a more reasonable $199.

Mobile App Highlight Gives You A 6th Sense About Who’s Nearby

Posted: 24 Jan 2012 07:59 AM PST

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Checkins are not the future. They interrupt the moment and quickly become outdated. Highlight, a mobile app launching today, offers a better gateway to serendipitous meetups. All you do is download Highlight, turn it on, and let it run passively in the background. Then when you come within a few blocks of another Highlight user who’s your Facebook friend or that you have friends or interests in common with, Highlight sends you a push notification and lets you message them.

Highlight’s founder Paul Davison excitedly explains, “Nothing effects our lives and happiness more than the people we’re closest to, but the way we learn about them is totally random.” When his sister moved to the US from London and needed to meet new people, Davison got the idea for Highlight. Davison previously worked for Benchmark Capital and at Metaweb through its acquisition by Google, but is now half of the extra-lean bootstrapped two-man team behind Highlight.

The iOS app’s home screen shows a reverse chronological list of all the people you’ve crossed paths with. Clicking through to someone reveals basic information they’ve added, mutual friends and interests, Highlight status updates, and a log of every time you’ve been nearby them. The app can drain battery life as it runs GPS in the background. However, Davison says he hasn’t heard many complaints from users, and it should become even less of an issue as the app is further optimized and mobile tech improves.

Highlight’s internal message feature can help you meetup with friends who might be in the coffee shop next door, or introduce yourself to potential business contacts, buddies, or romantic interests. A pause button lets you go off the radar until you next open the app if you don’t want to share your location.

By default your profile can appear to anyone you cross paths with, but a privacy option lets you restrict visibility to friends of friends only. Some people are still sure to think Highlight is creepy right now. Like many great social technologies, though, Highlight may be ahead of the curve. Davison insists creating a safe, trusted network where both men and women feel comfortable is a priority.

“Whether we do it or someone else does it, I know this 6th sense is going to exist and it’s going to change the world”, Davison believes. “In the future we’ll look back and say ‘I can’t believe we didn’t have it and walked around blind.’”

Highlight could disrupt existing location services like Foursquare and Facebook Places, or at least spur them to evolve. Those companies may attempt to copy its passive functionality, so Highlight needs to establish traction now. But really, Highlight does something new. The way Instagram makes you see art everywhere you look, Highlight makes you feel connected where you were once surrounded by strangers.

Highlight is now available for iOS to anyone in the US.

Onavo’s Data-Compressing Mobile App Raises $10 Million Series B From Horizons, Motorola Ventures

Posted: 24 Jan 2012 06:57 AM PST

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Onavo, makers of the money-saving, data-compressing app mobile app, just raised $10 million in Series B funding. Horizons Ventures, the private investment arm of Li Ka-shing, led the investment along with Motorola Mobility Ventures, the strategic equity investment arm of Motorola Mobility, Inc.

The company’s previous investors, Sequoia Capital and Magma Venture Partners, also participated in the round.

As a part of the new funding, Jason Wong from Horizons Ventures joined Onavo's board of directors.

Onavo, for those unaware, is a cross-platform mobile application which runs in the background, monitoring the data usage on your mobile device. When you use your phone’s data connection, the app steps in to route the data in a compressed format through its own cloud servers, before the data reaches the carrier. (Yep, it’s basically a proxy server.)

The app makes sense for price-conscious consumers, who can’t afford high dollar mobile data plans. It’s also helpful for travelers, who need access to data while overseas, but can’t afford the astronomical bill that accompanies such usage.

On iOS, the app actually compresses the data (the company claims up to 80%), but, in a weird turn of events, it’s actually the Android version that’s less powerful. For now, the Android app only warns users of data hogging apps, providing increased visibility into the apps and services running on the mobile user’s handset. It doesn’t actually compress data.

Although some consumers may see such an app as a way to thumb their nose at carriers’ and their high mobile data prices, the truth is that carriers, too, are facing the increased burden of users’ growing desire for more and more mobile data. They’re not as opposed to a data-saving app like this as you may think.

Says Jason Wong of Horizons Ventures, “mobile data use continues to grow exponentially, which creates issues for carriers and consumers alike…We believe Onavo’s unique data compression solution will prove compelling to both carriers and consumers."

New iOS Hack Lets You Natively Tweet By Talking To Siri

Posted: 24 Jan 2012 06:39 AM PST

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There’s no shortage of novel things you can strongarm Siri into doing for you these days, but sometimes it’s the little things that get me excited.

While not as innately flashy as being able to start a car, a new (and currently nameless) tweak from developer InfectionFX does something that Siri should have been able to do from the beginning: tweet for you.

Sure, it’s already technically possible to do this — setting your Twitter account to accept tweets via text gets the job done, but its reliance on a mobile network means that illicit Siri users with iPod Touches can’t join in the fun. With this new tweak though, any user with a jailbroken Siri-friendly device will soon be able to verbally tweet with reckless abandon.

InfectionFX — also known as Grooveshark employee and part-time iOS hacker Tyler Nettleton — whipped up the tweak late last night after asking his Twitter followers if they wanted to see it happen. The demo videos that have since popped up show it that it works like a charm even in its pre-release state, as Siri remarks that the tweet was sent and the sound of a sweet little bird can be heard punctuating her announcement. Pay no mind to the displayed text though — the tweet seems to go through just fine even though Nettleton hasn’t yet changed her text response.

The Siri tweak isn’t available just yet though, but it should find its way into the third-party Cydia app store by the end of the week.

Hat tip to Phil Synowiec of iOSVlog for the video!

Verizon Posts A Net Loss Of $2.02B In Q4 2011

Posted: 24 Jan 2012 06:00 AM PST

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Ever since the AT&T/T-Mobile saga came to a grinding halt, you’d think that Verizon would be enjoying its reign in peace. But it would seem that the company has posted a net loss of $2.02 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011. At the same time a year earlier, Verizon was seeing a profit of $2.64 billion.

According to Bloomberg, the loss can be attributed to a pension charge and higher subsidy costs for rising iPhone sales. But there have been gains, as well. Verizon lured in 1.2 million new subscribers — probably thanks in large part to the iPhone — and hopes that the high subsidy costs will eventually be paid off by consumers as they spend on calling and data.

Bloomberg enlisted the help of James Ratcliffe, an analyst at Barclays Capital in New York, who said that “the average smartphone customer will spend about $2,000 over the two-year contract. If the subsidy is $400, you're still getting $1,600, and that's very cash-flow positive.” It would appear that smartphones are, indeed, where it’s at for Verizon, as the company reported that 44 percent of its customer base is now using a smartphone.

The carrier announced a total revenue of $18.3 billion for the quarter, representing a 13 percent year-over-year increase. Not surprisingly, data played a major role in bringing in the big bucks for ol’ Big Red.

In fact, 42 percent of all revenue for the quarter was made up of the $6.3 billion in data revenue, up 19.2 percent from the same time last year.