901am

New Media News Every Morning

John Lennon solo catalog debuts on iTunes

By

johnlennon.jpgApple announced the debut of the John Lennon solo catalog on the iTunes Store. Sixteen of Lennon’s solo works from EMI Music are available for the first time on iTunes starting today, with the “Lennon Legend” and “Acoustic” collections making their worldwide digital debuts. For a limited period of 30 days, exclusive video content will be included with the albums “John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band,” “Sometime in New York City,” “Walls and Bridges,” “Milk and Honey” and the collections “Anthology” and “Working Class Hero.”

“John would have loved the fact that his music will now be available in a format suited to a new generation of listeners,” said Yoko Ono.

“John Lennon is one of the greatest artists of our time,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re thrilled to have his solo catalog available on the iTunes Store for the first time.”

As part of EMI Music’s digital catalog, the John Lennon solo works will be available in iTunes Plus, offering DRM-free music tracks with high quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings for just $1.29 per song.

Originally posted on August 14, 2007 @ 12:35 pm

The Surf Network debuts as surf video mecca

By

surf-network.jpgFans of surfing in movies and television shows will be happy to know they now have a new place online for their video fix. Opper Sports Productions has announced the launch of TheSurfNetwork.com, containing over 200 television shows and surf movies.

TheSurfNetwork.com makes H.264 MPEG-4 videos available for $2.99 and $3.99 for TV shows and $9.99 for movies. Shows can be managed through iTunes and have no timed viewing expiration. Examples of movies include Bruce Brown’s “The Endless Summer,” Hal Jepsen’s “Super Sessions,” Greg MacGillivray’s “Five Summer Stories,” and Steve Soderberg’s “Ticket To Ride.” TV shows include The Surfers Journal and Long Board TV.

“Surfing has its own music, clothing, language and now we have our own Network,” said Ira Opper, President, Opper Sports Productions. “By utilizing the web as a delivery system, we can offer high quality video downloads of surf films and television shows to a passionate audience.”

Originally posted on July 17, 2007 @ 2:58 pm

Kaplan Test Prep now available in iTunes

By

kaplan.jpgKaplan Test Prep and Admissions announced the availability of three interactive SAT prep programs that students can purchase and download from iTunes, enabling them to practice for the college entrance exam. Among the key features of the programs: students receive detailed analyses of each completed quiz they take, as well as feedback and an option for tracking quiz score progress. The $4.99 programs focus on the exam’s three graded sections: Critical Reading, Mathematics and Writing.

“Students don’t go anywhere without their iPods and Kaplan has always sought to make test prep as convenient as possible for our students so it’s a natural fit to offer test prep on iTunes. As students have embraced new trends over the years, from new learning and entertainment channels to new technology, we’ve adapted our materials in ways that are relevant to their lifestyles,” said Mark Ward, president, Pre-College Programs, Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions.

The latest offerings come with the launch of Kaplan’s MySpace page.

Originally posted on June 21, 2007 @ 2:33 pm

What to Expect on the New Apple TV

By

Apple may be famous for its computer and mobile gadgets but it has also created a major global impact when it launched its own television. Known as the Apple TV, the so-called hobby device looks very similar to the old model but bigger in size.

The latest Apple TV was formally launched last September but it was released to the market a month after. Now, it can be purchased via the company’s website and other retailers. It took two years for the renowned tech company to come up with a fourth-generation Apple TV after close competitors Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast and Roku launched their recent user-friendly devices.

Main Features

The new Apple TV has two versions – the 32GB model and the 64GB version. The one with the larger storage commands a higher price. The 32GB version, however, will be sufficient is you want to use the TV to stream videos, watch television shows, play music as well as install a few apps and play some games. However, those who plan to do a lot of downloading and use apps and games should consider the 64GB model.

Voice and touch control is one of the major features of this new TV platform. It boasts of a universal voice search capability featuring Siri and sensors that can detect motion as well as keep track of its moves. It comes with two microphones and a button to allow users to toggle on Siri. This makes it different from the third generation model which used an aluminum remote or remote app.

With Siri ever available, the new set-top box can respond to various requests made by the user specifically for the TV. By giving commands, Siri can search for a television show or movie and what’s more, it can search through many different sources. In addition, it can play or pause, rewind or fast forward, and skip back 15 seconds of whatever content you’re watching.

The fourth generation TV now features a new operating system called tvOS. It is linked to an app store that lets users download third party apps from top app development companies for use in video, audio, games and other content. Also, the operating system is based primarily on iOS 9 with its interface and APIs adjusted to support the big screen.

Apps Needed

During the product’s launching last September, Apple CEO Tim Cook noted the fact that many consumers are no longer using cable and broadcast TV. A growing number of them now prefer to use streaming services and interactive experiences.

As a solution to this issue, Cook said Apple is capable of improving this “broken” process of watching TV. Modernizing the experience through the use of apps is an important task of his company, he added.

The first Apple TV was released to the market in 2007. Since then, the device has undergone four updates with the latest model released last October.

The hobby device can be bought from both online and offline retailers including the Apple High Street store except from Amazon. Online retailer Amazon does not sell Apple, Google and other devices that are in competition with its own TV streamlining device.

Originally posted on November 3, 2015 @ 10:20 am

Google Updates Mobile App for iPhone to Fit into the iPad

By

I wasn’t really expecting that Google would be among the many who will hurriedly jump in to the iPad frenzy.  But, yes indeed they did in fact was very quick to update the Google Mobile App for iPhone to fit into the Apple iPad interface. So, if you’ve been raring to have the Google Mobile experience on your new iPad, you  might want to check out Google Mobile App which is currently available now as a free download for your iPad.

And what does this Google app has to offer for all of you proud iPad users? Pretty much the same features that you’ve enjoy with the app’s iPhone version.  For instance, it allows you to search by voice supporting several accents including – American, British, Indian or Australian English accents as well as Mandarin Chinese and Japanese. The app also recognizes your current location when you are searching for nearby location.

Speaking of search, Google Mobile App for iPad also features several search-related goodies including Google Suggest, search history, contact search and vertical search for searching Google Maps, Images, News and Shopping.

The app also lets you navigate to various Google web-based services such as Gmail which was recently optimized for the iPad as well.

Overall, the app seems pretty good but although if you’ve used Google Mobile app for the iPhone, you’d notice that it’s practically the same apps, the iPad version was just modified to best suit the large screen estate of the iPad. Google also promises to come up with more iPad-specific features later on.

To download Google Mobile App to your iPad, search the iPad App Store or simply click on this iTunes Link.

Originally posted on April 13, 2010 @ 4:41 pm