A survey from Vision Critical Communications shows that the interactive features of the FM tuner in Apple's new Ipod Nano show potential to energize interest among younger demographics who are the heaviest users of MP3 players. The online survey of 1,185 American parallels results of the same survey conducted among Canadian and British adults.
Key findings
The interactive features of the FM tuner generate considerable interest-particularly among 18-34 year-olds. When presented with the specific features of the FM tuner, 47 percent of Americans aged 18 and older say they are "very interested" in the ability to pause and rewind songs they hear on the radio. This rises to 66 percent among 18-34 year-olds.
Seeing the name of the song using the Nano's RBDS display also has strong appeal. In all, 41 percent of Americans and 55 percent of 18-34 year-olds express an active interest in this feature.
Consumers show somewhat less interest in the ability to tag songs for future purchase. 28 percent of Americans aged 18 and older are "very interested" in this feature, but this increases to 45 percent of 18-34 year olds.
Of the five features from the new Ipod Nano that were presented in the survey, American adults rank an FM tuner #3 in terms of overall interest. American adults in general show greater active interest in the Nano's larger display screen (with 46 percent indicating they are "very" interested) and the new video camera (45 percent "very" interested) than in an FM tuner (34 percent) when the tuner is presented on its own prior to mentioning its specific features. Interest in an FM tuner is however well above the active interest expressed in the voice recorder (21 percent) and the pedometer (17 percent).
Interest in and usage of MP3 players and the Ipod Nano are highest among 18-34 year-olds. 32 percent of 18-34 year-olds report listening "daily" to MP3s. This compares to only 14 percent of all Americans aged 18 and older. 15 percent of 18-34 year-olds say they currently use an Ipod Nano vs. 8 percent of American adults in general.
From Sept. 10 - 13, 2009, Vision Critical Communications conducted an online survey among a representative sample of 2,768 adults in the United States, the UK and Canada. The three-country studies were conducted with representative national samples selected from the Angus Reid Forum (Canada), Springboard America and Springboard UK. The three panels are made of respondents recruited in each country exclusively by Vision Critical.
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Just about when I think that the mp3 players have doomed the FM radio broadcasting industry, comes this interesting survey. This age bracket has been the trendsetter in this era.
JonQBX
JonQBX
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
FM in iPod Touch?
Apple-oriented website 9to5mac: Apple Intelligence reports that it's received a tip that a radio application is being developed in-house by Apple for the iPhone and iPod touch. The site says, "From what we know, the app will be allowed to operate in the background .. and will offer the same functionality as the FM radio in the new iPod nanos."
The site's sources say the holdup is that Apple is trying to integrate iTunes purchases into the program, allowing listeners to get information and purchase songs as they play. That would be an extension of the iTunes-integrated song-tagging feature that works with HD Radio receivers.
9to5Mac points out that iPods and iPhones can already receive FM signals, but the ability has only used in the iPod + Nike functions so far.
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This should come handy since iPhone 3GS and the new nano have already this feature. Microsoft has already this in their Zune. In the Philippines, the first commercial HD radio broadcast was in 2006 by Radio Mindanao Network's FM station 93.9 DWKC.
JonQBX
The site's sources say the holdup is that Apple is trying to integrate iTunes purchases into the program, allowing listeners to get information and purchase songs as they play. That would be an extension of the iTunes-integrated song-tagging feature that works with HD Radio receivers.
9to5Mac points out that iPods and iPhones can already receive FM signals, but the ability has only used in the iPod + Nike functions so far.
-----------
This should come handy since iPhone 3GS and the new nano have already this feature. Microsoft has already this in their Zune. In the Philippines, the first commercial HD radio broadcast was in 2006 by Radio Mindanao Network's FM station 93.9 DWKC.
JonQBX
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Rock Band launches iPhone and iPod Touch app
Foo Fighters, Pixies, Beastie Boys are already confirmed for the mobile game
* October 9, 2009 | 0 Comments
* iPod news RSS feed
* More iPod news, reviews, videos and tour dates
* Post this on Twitter or Follow NME
Rock Band has announced it is to launch an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Details of the deal were announced by game developer EA Mobile on its Facebook page. According to the post, the app is to be released later this month. Users can play guitar, drums, bass or sing vocals, and also to launch multiplayer games with up to four people taking part simultaneously.
20 tracks have been confirmed for the app, including the likes of Pixies, Foo Fighters, Motorhead, Blondie and Smashing Pumpkins.
The full tracklisting for Rock Band on the iPhone and iPod Touch is:
30 Seconds To Mars – 'Attack'
AFI – 'Girls Not Grey'
All American Rejects – 'Move Along'
Beastie Boys – 'Sabotage'
Blink-182 – 'All The Small Things'
Blondie – 'Hanging on the Telephone'
Foo Fighters – 'Learn To Fly'
Foo Fighters – 'Everlong'
George Thorogood & the Destroyers – 'Bad to The Bone'
Jethro Tull – 'Hymn 43'
Joan Jett – 'Bad Reputation'
Lynyrd Skynyrd – 'Simple Man'
Motorhead – 'Ace of Spades '08'
Pixies – 'Debaser'
Presidents of The United States of America – 'Ladybug'
Rise Against – 'Give It All'
Silversun Pickups – 'Lazy Eye'
Smashing Pumpkins – 'Cherub Rock'
Steve Miller Band – 'Take The Money and Run'
The Go Gos – 'We Got The Beat'
* October 9, 2009 | 0 Comments
* iPod news RSS feed
* More iPod news, reviews, videos and tour dates
* Post this on Twitter or Follow NME
Rock Band has announced it is to launch an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Details of the deal were announced by game developer EA Mobile on its Facebook page. According to the post, the app is to be released later this month. Users can play guitar, drums, bass or sing vocals, and also to launch multiplayer games with up to four people taking part simultaneously.
20 tracks have been confirmed for the app, including the likes of Pixies, Foo Fighters, Motorhead, Blondie and Smashing Pumpkins.
The full tracklisting for Rock Band on the iPhone and iPod Touch is:
30 Seconds To Mars – 'Attack'
AFI – 'Girls Not Grey'
All American Rejects – 'Move Along'
Beastie Boys – 'Sabotage'
Blink-182 – 'All The Small Things'
Blondie – 'Hanging on the Telephone'
Foo Fighters – 'Learn To Fly'
Foo Fighters – 'Everlong'
George Thorogood & the Destroyers – 'Bad to The Bone'
Jethro Tull – 'Hymn 43'
Joan Jett – 'Bad Reputation'
Lynyrd Skynyrd – 'Simple Man'
Motorhead – 'Ace of Spades '08'
Pixies – 'Debaser'
Presidents of The United States of America – 'Ladybug'
Rise Against – 'Give It All'
Silversun Pickups – 'Lazy Eye'
Smashing Pumpkins – 'Cherub Rock'
Steve Miller Band – 'Take The Money and Run'
The Go Gos – 'We Got The Beat'
Monday, October 12, 2009
OS 3.1.2 released
It has been over a month since the last iPhone OS update was released from our favorite fruit-themed toymaker. (Your favorite maybe. sub.ed.) Nevertheless, the software engineers are back on the job with a fresh update for both iPod and iPhone consisting of several anticipated bug fixes from an assortment of problems users have been faced with.
Most notably, the 3.1.2 update resolves a sporadic issue with the iPhone that may cause the device not to wake from sleep. We have personally experienced this unpleasant bug and it was a fatal misfortune to have dealt with while networking with friendly new business contacts, only to find the device in “coma mode” and unresponsive until synchronized again.
The second critical OS code correction resolves an intermittent issue that may interrupt cellular services until the device is restarted. While we are not confident that this might also resolve random signal drops when idle for long periods of time, it will definitely be wort hour time to investigate.
Finally, the 3.1.2 update addresses a bug that can cause occasional application crashing or OS lock-ups during video streaming. This issue has been reported consistently in the past, but some further issues with AT&T’s network may still persist.
On another note, jail breaking for this update is currently in development and iPod or iPhone users with jailbroken devices are not advised to apply the vanilla 3.1.2 update until official word has been posted by the internet famous dev teams.
Most notably, the 3.1.2 update resolves a sporadic issue with the iPhone that may cause the device not to wake from sleep. We have personally experienced this unpleasant bug and it was a fatal misfortune to have dealt with while networking with friendly new business contacts, only to find the device in “coma mode” and unresponsive until synchronized again.
The second critical OS code correction resolves an intermittent issue that may interrupt cellular services until the device is restarted. While we are not confident that this might also resolve random signal drops when idle for long periods of time, it will definitely be wort hour time to investigate.
Finally, the 3.1.2 update addresses a bug that can cause occasional application crashing or OS lock-ups during video streaming. This issue has been reported consistently in the past, but some further issues with AT&T’s network may still persist.
On another note, jail breaking for this update is currently in development and iPod or iPhone users with jailbroken devices are not advised to apply the vanilla 3.1.2 update until official word has been posted by the internet famous dev teams.
Photoshop App for iPod
Adobe have officially announced the availability of its new Photoshop app, known as Photoshop.com Mobile, for both the iPhone and iPod Touch which, apart from being billed as offering a convenient way to edit photos, apply effects and share images instantly with friends — all with the flick of a finger.
The new iPhone/iPod Touch Photoshop App, brings a wide variety of tools to your fingertips encompassing basic functions such as image cropping, resizing and rotating as well as more complex image editing functions such taking in image fine tuning (exposure, tint and vibrancy, for example) as well as providing an array of special effects that are sure to assist you in making your imagery ‘pop’ such as blurring and sketch (renders your image as though it have been drawn – obviously).
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This expands the functionality of iPhone/iPod Touch...or is it Photoshop expanding it's way to the mobile arena? What do you think?
JonQBX
The new iPhone/iPod Touch Photoshop App, brings a wide variety of tools to your fingertips encompassing basic functions such as image cropping, resizing and rotating as well as more complex image editing functions such taking in image fine tuning (exposure, tint and vibrancy, for example) as well as providing an array of special effects that are sure to assist you in making your imagery ‘pop’ such as blurring and sketch (renders your image as though it have been drawn – obviously).
------
This expands the functionality of iPhone/iPod Touch...or is it Photoshop expanding it's way to the mobile arena? What do you think?
JonQBX
Friday, October 2, 2009
iTunes on your TV?
With the enormous success of Apple selling 8.5 billion music online through iTunes, technology designers are on the rat-race in finding ways to ride the digital wave. Statistics show that 2.5 TV shows and 0.33 movie are downloaded on an average by each App Store customer. Compared to 85 downloads for music. It's apparent that videos are not the "turf" of iPods. So why not put iTunes on your TV?
Businessweek's Arik Hesseldahl blogs:
Apple should consider making iTunes an ingredient brand by embedding it as an application on smart TVs from other manufacturers. Yes I understand this is a heresy, but hear me out.
Imagine the possibilities: TV sets will be marketed with "iTunes inside" and boast a remote control that itself includes an iTunes button. Pushing the button triggers something very similar to the AppleTV experience, and contain links to the iTunes Store, allowing movies, TV shows, and music to be downloaded directly to the TV set and even shared with the nearest PC, iPod, and iPhone. AppleTV could be a feature on TVs from Samsung, Vizio, and—dare I suggest it?—even Sony (SNE), among others.
How might it happen? Apple could build and design an iTunes module using a microprocessor designed by PA Semi, the chip company it acquired in 2008, and the other chips necessary to embed iTunes software directly into the TV. Throw in some flash memory for storage, a network interface for wireless and wired connections, and offer the whole package as an add-on to TV manufacturers.
At this point you're probably thinking Apple is giving away more than it should. The margins on this iTunes module would be lower than if Apple made its own TVs—a low-margin business if there ever was one. But Apple would likely sell fewer units of the Apple TV set than many companies could sell of TV sets with "iTunes inside."
And yes, I realize this would be a fundamental departure from Apple's typical business model. ITunes, after all, exists primarily not to sell content but to give people who buy iPhones and iPods something to do with those devices. But imagine how many new iTunes accounts might be created. And if you've never owned an iPod before, and happen to buy a TV with "iTunes inside," you may be motivated to buy one. The universe of potential iPod and iPhone buyers will grow.
Ironing Out the Details
The trick of course will be in convincing content owners, especially TV networks and their affiliates, to allow iTunes video to be seen on the big screen. If you can pay $2.99 for that episode of Glee and watch it on the main TV set in your house, there's a smaller chance you'll tune in on Thursdays at 9, and thus see the ads that Fox (NWS) has sold against it. Why do you think online TV site Hulu has had such a hard time keeping its programming out of Boxee, an open-source video entertainment application that's all the rage among the early-adopter set (and installed by technically adept AppleTV owners).
And granted, this plan has some fundamental technical questions that I can't fully answer. For one: Won't the storage boost the cost to build the TV, thus boosting the retail price? Moreover, how do you easily get the Internet connection to the TV? And, of course, Apple's consumer strategy is all about selling hardware that runs great software and about controlling the entire experience from beginning to end. It's not selling chips to third-party hardware vendors à la Intel (INTC).
Doing this would require a wide-ranging philosophical shift in the mind of Steve Jobs and his executive team.
Next month will mark eight years since Apple unveiled the first iPod and thus set out on its quest to remake the music industry. Video is proving more difficult for all concerned. The way things stand now, Apple stands a chance of losing the unfolding battle for control of the digital living room. To borrow a phrase from its history, to turn the tide it will need to think different.
Businessweek's Arik Hesseldahl blogs:
Apple should consider making iTunes an ingredient brand by embedding it as an application on smart TVs from other manufacturers. Yes I understand this is a heresy, but hear me out.
Imagine the possibilities: TV sets will be marketed with "iTunes inside" and boast a remote control that itself includes an iTunes button. Pushing the button triggers something very similar to the AppleTV experience, and contain links to the iTunes Store, allowing movies, TV shows, and music to be downloaded directly to the TV set and even shared with the nearest PC, iPod, and iPhone. AppleTV could be a feature on TVs from Samsung, Vizio, and—dare I suggest it?—even Sony (SNE), among others.
How might it happen? Apple could build and design an iTunes module using a microprocessor designed by PA Semi, the chip company it acquired in 2008, and the other chips necessary to embed iTunes software directly into the TV. Throw in some flash memory for storage, a network interface for wireless and wired connections, and offer the whole package as an add-on to TV manufacturers.
At this point you're probably thinking Apple is giving away more than it should. The margins on this iTunes module would be lower than if Apple made its own TVs—a low-margin business if there ever was one. But Apple would likely sell fewer units of the Apple TV set than many companies could sell of TV sets with "iTunes inside."
And yes, I realize this would be a fundamental departure from Apple's typical business model. ITunes, after all, exists primarily not to sell content but to give people who buy iPhones and iPods something to do with those devices. But imagine how many new iTunes accounts might be created. And if you've never owned an iPod before, and happen to buy a TV with "iTunes inside," you may be motivated to buy one. The universe of potential iPod and iPhone buyers will grow.
Ironing Out the Details
The trick of course will be in convincing content owners, especially TV networks and their affiliates, to allow iTunes video to be seen on the big screen. If you can pay $2.99 for that episode of Glee and watch it on the main TV set in your house, there's a smaller chance you'll tune in on Thursdays at 9, and thus see the ads that Fox (NWS) has sold against it. Why do you think online TV site Hulu has had such a hard time keeping its programming out of Boxee, an open-source video entertainment application that's all the rage among the early-adopter set (and installed by technically adept AppleTV owners).
And granted, this plan has some fundamental technical questions that I can't fully answer. For one: Won't the storage boost the cost to build the TV, thus boosting the retail price? Moreover, how do you easily get the Internet connection to the TV? And, of course, Apple's consumer strategy is all about selling hardware that runs great software and about controlling the entire experience from beginning to end. It's not selling chips to third-party hardware vendors à la Intel (INTC).
Doing this would require a wide-ranging philosophical shift in the mind of Steve Jobs and his executive team.
Next month will mark eight years since Apple unveiled the first iPod and thus set out on its quest to remake the music industry. Video is proving more difficult for all concerned. The way things stand now, Apple stands a chance of losing the unfolding battle for control of the digital living room. To borrow a phrase from its history, to turn the tide it will need to think different.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Palm Pre backs away from Apple iTunes
The long-running feud over the Palm Pre's ability to sync with Apple's iTunes may have come to an end. Or not.
On Monday, Palm announced its latest update to the Pre's webOS operating system. Conspicuously absent from the announcement was any mention of what the company calls "media sync" - the ability for Palm's smartphone to mimic an iPod when connected to iTunes.
On Tuesday, a Palm spokeswoman confirmed to The Reg that "webOS 1.2 did not reestablish media sync with iTunes."
Palm and Apple have been playing hide the salami with iTunes syncing since the Pre shipped in June. First syncing was in, then it was out. Then in. Then out.
Palm tried to get the USB Implementers Forum, guardian of all things Universal Serial Bus, to rule that Apple was unfairly locking the Pre out of iTunes, but that effort came to naught last week when the USB-IF took Apple's side in the syncing spat.
And now with the introduction of a webOS update that leaves iTunes syncing unsynced, Palm appears to have thrown in the towel.
But Palm won't admit that its media sync days are over. As the company spokeswoman told us, "We never comment on what might or might not be on our product roadmap."
source: TheRegister.co.uk
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Will a rival app for iTunes is on the way? This will be interesting.
JonQBX
On Monday, Palm announced its latest update to the Pre's webOS operating system. Conspicuously absent from the announcement was any mention of what the company calls "media sync" - the ability for Palm's smartphone to mimic an iPod when connected to iTunes.
On Tuesday, a Palm spokeswoman confirmed to The Reg that "webOS 1.2 did not reestablish media sync with iTunes."
Palm and Apple have been playing hide the salami with iTunes syncing since the Pre shipped in June. First syncing was in, then it was out. Then in. Then out.
Palm tried to get the USB Implementers Forum, guardian of all things Universal Serial Bus, to rule that Apple was unfairly locking the Pre out of iTunes, but that effort came to naught last week when the USB-IF took Apple's side in the syncing spat.
And now with the introduction of a webOS update that leaves iTunes syncing unsynced, Palm appears to have thrown in the towel.
But Palm won't admit that its media sync days are over. As the company spokeswoman told us, "We never comment on what might or might not be on our product roadmap."
source: TheRegister.co.uk
----------
Will a rival app for iTunes is on the way? This will be interesting.
JonQBX
iTunes 9 update fixes podcast syncing, app sorting, and more
Last week, Apple released iTunes 9.0.1, which addresses a number of iPhone syncing issues as well as making some performance and stability improvements.
During our first hands-on look of iTunes 9, we noted two problems with podcast episodes being listed in random order and being unable to arrange certain apps based on their being checkmarked and therefore set to sync to the iPhone or iPod Touch in question.
Later, we discovered more problems with syncing in general, including wrong episodes being synced to playlists containing podcasts, podcasts failing to sync, etc. Smart Playlists, according to users, were generally messed up and did not behave as expected.
iTunes 9.0.1 has addressed all of these issues with the exception of the Smart Playlist problem. Podcasts are now properly synced, podcast episodes display in the correct order, and you can arrange apps regardless of their sync status.
The temporary workaround for new or existing Smart Playlists that no longer work as they used to is to uncheck "Live updating" in the settings.
iTunes 9.0.1 also addresses other issues, including performance issues that can lead to iTunes freezing or unexpectedly quitting, problems browsing the iTunes Store, and improved app syncing for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
The update is available from Software Update or via direct download from Apple's downloads page for both Mac or PC.
source: CNet.com
During our first hands-on look of iTunes 9, we noted two problems with podcast episodes being listed in random order and being unable to arrange certain apps based on their being checkmarked and therefore set to sync to the iPhone or iPod Touch in question.
Later, we discovered more problems with syncing in general, including wrong episodes being synced to playlists containing podcasts, podcasts failing to sync, etc. Smart Playlists, according to users, were generally messed up and did not behave as expected.
iTunes 9.0.1 has addressed all of these issues with the exception of the Smart Playlist problem. Podcasts are now properly synced, podcast episodes display in the correct order, and you can arrange apps regardless of their sync status.
The temporary workaround for new or existing Smart Playlists that no longer work as they used to is to uncheck "Live updating" in the settings.
iTunes 9.0.1 also addresses other issues, including performance issues that can lead to iTunes freezing or unexpectedly quitting, problems browsing the iTunes Store, and improved app syncing for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
The update is available from Software Update or via direct download from Apple's downloads page for both Mac or PC.
source: CNet.com
The top 10 singles and albums on iTunes
iTunes' top 10 selling singles and albums of the week ending Sept. 21, 2009:
Singles:
1. "Party In the U.S.A.," Miley Cyrus
2. "Whatcha Say," Jason DeRulo
3. "I Gotta Feeling," Black Eyed Peas
4. "Paparazzi," Lady GaGa
5. "Down," Jay Sean
6. "Empire State of Mind (feat. Alicia Keys)," Jay-Z
7. "Run This Town (feat. Rihanna & Kanye West)," Jay-Z
8. "Cowboy Casanova," Carrie Underwood
9. "Forever," Drake, Lil Wayne, Eminem, Kanye West
10. "Use Somebody," Kings of Leon
Albums:
1. "Backspacer," Pearl Jam
2. "The Blueprint 3," Jay-Z
3. "Life Starts Now," Three Days Grace
4. "Church Music," David Crowder Band
5. "The Boy Who Knew Too Much," MIKA
6. "Draw the Line," David Gray
7. "Daisy," Brand New
8. "Monsters of Folk," Monsters of Folk
9. "The Resistance," Muse
10. "War is the Answer," Five Finger Death Punch
source: The Associated Press
Singles:
1. "Party In the U.S.A.," Miley Cyrus
2. "Whatcha Say," Jason DeRulo
3. "I Gotta Feeling," Black Eyed Peas
4. "Paparazzi," Lady GaGa
5. "Down," Jay Sean
6. "Empire State of Mind (feat. Alicia Keys)," Jay-Z
7. "Run This Town (feat. Rihanna & Kanye West)," Jay-Z
8. "Cowboy Casanova," Carrie Underwood
9. "Forever," Drake, Lil Wayne, Eminem, Kanye West
10. "Use Somebody," Kings of Leon
Albums:
1. "Backspacer," Pearl Jam
2. "The Blueprint 3," Jay-Z
3. "Life Starts Now," Three Days Grace
4. "Church Music," David Crowder Band
5. "The Boy Who Knew Too Much," MIKA
6. "Draw the Line," David Gray
7. "Daisy," Brand New
8. "Monsters of Folk," Monsters of Folk
9. "The Resistance," Muse
10. "War is the Answer," Five Finger Death Punch
source: The Associated Press
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