1. During his stint at EMI, [former Google CIO / VP Engineering] Douglas Merrill profiled the behavior of LimeWire users and discovered something rather interesting. Those same file-sharing “thieves” were also iTunes’ biggest spenders.

    “That’s not theft, that’s try-before-you-buy marketing and we weren’t even paying for it… so it makes sense to sue them,” Merrill said, while undoubtedly rolling his eyes.

    LimeWire Pirates Were iTunes’ Best Customers

    Thursday July 28th, 2011

  2. ➶ Macworld's GarageBand for iPad Review

    Incredibly in-depth review of GarageBand by Chris Breen.

    With GarageBand for iPad, Apple is sending a different message: Yes, GarageBand is a tool for making music, but anyone—from musicians to tin-eared newbies—can use it. No talent required. It underscores this message by eschewing the podcast, ringtone, and movie-soundtrack elements and focusing entirely on making it easy to compose music. It includes a variety of “smart” instruments that allow you to play pleasing notes, chords, and beats on virtual keyboards, guitars, basses, and drums without requiring that you have a lick of musical training.

    That doesn’t make GarageBand for iPad a toy or somehow unworthy of trained musicians. In addition to its smart instruments, this eight-track recorder includes a wide variety of virtual instruments (synthesized and sampled) that you can play and record; lets you record real instruments jacked into a compatible audio interface as well as sounds recorded with the iPad’s microphone or a compatible external mic; includes modeled guitar amps and stompboxes for guitar players; offers a couple of different ways to create drum tracks; and even includes a sampler instrument that allows you to use an onscreen keyboard to play back sounds recorded with a microphone.

    After spending many hours with GarageBand for iPad, my first-generation iPad, and a few music gadgets, I’m a believer.

    I simply cannot wait to give this a go.

    Thursday March 10th, 2011

  3. ➶ That Song from the John Lewis Advert

    Remember the stunning John Lewis “Never Knowingly Undersold” ad from last week? The cover of “She’s Always a Woman” is now available on iTunes

    Tuesday May 4th, 2010

  4. The Big List: 2009 Edition

    Favourite Albums Released in 2009

    1. Passion Pit - Manners
    2. Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
    3. Sourhaze - EP1

    Favourite iPhone Apps

    There’s been tonnes of new iPhone apps this year, but these are the new ones that have stayed on my phone since their launch in the year.

    1. Birdfeed - I’ve tried every Twitter client out there (and I mean, every Twitter client out there). This one remains my favourite - and I’m looking forward to seeing what Buzz has in the works for Birdfeed.
    2. Ramp Champ - easily the most stylish iPhone game out there, I’ve remained hooked on Ramp Champ and its ramp-packs since its launch.
    3. Reeder - I’ve waxed lyrical about Reeder here before, and it remains my favourite RSS reader.
    4. Ego - Another beautifully-designed app, Ego is super handy for keeping track of my vanity stats (website views, Twitter followers, Ember followers and the like).

    Favourite Mac Apps

    1. Viewfinder - Placed at the top as it’s the only all-new app, Viewfinder has been a huge timesaver for my Download Squad writing. If you’re forever researching images to use in posts etc, you need to be using this.
    2. LittleSnapper 1.5 - I know, I know: I’m a little biased. But LittleSnapper is one of the few apps that run all the time on my Mac. Whether it’s for desktop screenshots, websites or iPhone screensnaps: I can’t live without it.
    3. The Hit List - I’m eagerly awaiting the iPhone version to accompany it, but The Hit List is great even without the iPhone companion.
    4. Xscope - In all the work on Happening, Xscope has been utterly invaluable in gathering dimensions within screenshots and UIs.

    Favourite Web Apps

    1. Tumblr - I’ve used Tumblr since it was launched in 2007, and you’d have to pry it from my dead cold hands.
    2. Twitter - If you need an explanation about this one, where have you been?
    3. Github - I’m no SCM zealot, however Github was pretty much the deal-breaker when I started work on Happening. The social coding aspect is brilliant, and the recent UI tweaks continue to make browse commits / diff online a breeze.
    4. Upcoming - Much as I dislike aspects of the Upcoming website, it remains one of my most-visited sites to see what’s going on.

    Favourite Movies

    1. Up - As some have quipped, not so much Up as ‘Down’. The first 15 minutes of this movie is - to my mind - some of the best storytelling found in modern cinema. The rest of the film is brilliant, as you would expect.
    2. District 9 - Seen in San Francisco, front row at the Metreon, I was completely immersed in this film. Rewarding on so many levels.
    3. Star Trek - A lot of fun and definitely lacking in lens flare. Ahem.
    4. Watchmen - Whilst I’m not graphic novel fan, this was super-slick, super-stylish - though a little long for my liking.

    Saturday January 2nd, 2010

  5. ➶ Some iPhone Snaps from Counting Crows

    I was fortunate enough to score a ticket to see Counting Crows in Brighton last night (thanks to Realmac comrade Danny). Given they’re from an iPhone the photos are, as they say, not too shabby.

    Monday May 25th, 2009