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As I sit here listening to Porcupine Tree’s “Fear of a Blank Planet” on DVD-A, I wonder to myself why this band has not caught on into the USA music mainstream. One only needs to spend a few minutes perusing the airwaves both Terrestrial and Satellite to understand why. Porcupine Tree doesn’t have that safe and sterile sound found in most mainstream music today. a majority of their songs aren’t under 5 minutes long, and their music sucks for dancing. However, if you’re a progressive rock fan or appreciate the musicianship of good musicians who can actually play their instruments and sing, then you would likely find some merit in the art of their sound.
Wanting to find out a little more about what makes Steve Wilson of Porcupine Tree tick, I went to Youtube and searched out some interviews.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover he shares many of the views I have about the constant degradation of audio quality and musical substance happening in the music industry these days.
In an age of convenience winning out over quality, more and more people are settling for poorer and poorer audio quality. this is leading to generation of youngsters never being exposed to anything better and accepting highly distorted and compressed music as the norm. we now live in an era of people totally content with the sound quality of XM radio and steaming music via Bluetooth from their iPods to their car or home stereos. in fact the mastering of most music today is being done to sound good on iPods/MP3 players with limited dynamic range rather than hifi systems.
This reminds me of an article I authored years ago called:
Steve Wilson understands this better than most artists today as he is quite vocal about the demise of audio quality for convenience and doesn’t buy into it.
This short video interview with Steve Wilson discusses how he doesn’t make music for iPods:
In fact, most of the latest Porcupine Tree music is available either on Vinyl or via a 5.1 high resolution surround format such as DVD-A and Blu-ray.
Interestingly enough, this recent CEA study shows that average consumers prefer higher quality audio once exposed to it.
If you’re an avid reader of Audioholics.com you probably understand these issues all too well. Sadly despite our commanding readership of over 1 million a month, you and I don’t represent the masses. I shrug my head anytime I go to a party and have to put earplugs in my ears to protect them from the offense of distorted and compressed audio streaming from the DJ’s computer hard drive or iPod into his budget two-way horn loaded speaker boxes designed for maximum output over high fidelity. my ears shriek whenever I go to a friends or family members house and they boast about how great XM radio sounds on their cubed speaker system. They are usually totally unaware how metallic the voices sound or how frail and lifeless the percussion and cymbals sound until I actually spend time to point it out to them. Of course this becomes even more obvious when they actually pay me a visit and I play them high resolution audio on a respectable pair of speakers.
Bad Quality Audio Leads to Bad Music in General
Not only is our expectation of audio quality going down with each generation, but so is our expectation for what constitutes good music. in the era of autotuners and over processing, much of the mainstream music of today has become a manufactured good void of creativity or substance. a pop artist today doesn’t need to know how to play an instrument, or even how to sing. All they need is sex appeal and a catchy repetitive phrase combined with a production studio to lay some prefabricated music in the background. Wham, you’ve got a hit that will now be marketed all over the airwaves and on the latest American Idol show to 12 year old pre-adolescents.
I love how Steve discusses the dumbing down of our culture explaining why programs like American Idol thrive in our society. to paraphrase Steve “most of the people on these shows should be singing on cruise ships or wine bars, but instead they are considered icons. They are inspiring a whole generation of people after them to aspire to the most important thing in life is to be famous. American Idol is a way for the music business to regain control of pop music.”
Bravo, Steve, and well said!
So what Can we Do?
As fellow Audioholics, it should be our mission to educate our friends and family about the merits of high quality audio much like a food critic educates consumers about fine culinary or a climate scientist educates the public about man made climate change (ok bad example).
It is my belief that once people are exposed to good audio quality, they will also expect music of more substance. I don’t know too many audiophiles listening to Justin Beber or Brittney Spears, do you?
For those wanting to check out the latest Porcupine Tree albums in high resolution 5.1 audio surround sound, I suggest a visit to the Burning Shed website.
Next time you have a friend over that wants to hear the latest Lady Gaga song on your hifi system, you may instead consider surprising them with a little Porcupine Tree or other well engineered 5.1 audio mix from a band that produces music of substance. most importantly, support high resolution multi channel audio before it becomes a relic of the past forcing us all to succumb to the dumbed down compressed manufactured music genome.
In closing, it’s important for me to note I am not at all against portability and convenience for music. I enjoy streaming music from Pandora to my desktop system or from my iPhone to my car system. my concern is when people are never exposed to anything better and thus never have higher expectations for audio quality. It is my belief that if people never spend the time sitting down and listening to high resolution recordings on a high quality playback system, they may lose the appreciation for the art of music and simply devalue its true importance and influence on our culture.
As Apple Released iOS 5 beta 7 for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad 1, iPod Touch 3G/4G and Apple TV 2G, which improves performance and improves stability as well as also fixes numbers of bugs with minor update. To upgrade iOS 5 beta 7 you need to install or update first iTunes 10.5 beta 7, because this is only can upgrade iOS 5 beta 7 on your Device, so first step your is to update first iTunes 10.5 beta 7 than upgrade iOS 5 beta 7 on your i-Devices.
As iPhone Dev Team has already Released Redsn0w 0.9.8b7 which can Jailbreak iOS 5 beta 7 Tethered, just Follow our Steps and instructions step by step.
That’s it you done, Tethered jailbreak iOS 5 beta 7 using Redsn0w 0.9.8b7 on iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 1, iPod Touch 3G, iPod Touch 4G and Apple TV 2G.
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We’re acutely aware that we give a lot of attention to iPhone and Android devices here at PC Advisor and as a result one of our favourite handsets gets a bit neglected as a result of that.
Not today though. Today we turn our attentions to the fantastic Samsung Galaxy S II and select five smashing accessories that we think you should go and blow a percentage of your wages on immediately.
Here’s PC Advisor’s top 5 accessories for the Samsung Galaxy S II.
5. Samsung Galaxy S II Battery EB575152VUC £5
OK, so this might not be the most rock n roll Galaxy accessory out there, but we have got good reason to bring your attention to it. why? Well mainly because the person writing this feature has the unfortunate habit of going away for weekends and forgetting to pack his charger and therefore getting stuck in a new place without any means of contacting people or looking up where he is on a map. And with the benefit of hindsight(s) buying an extra battery is probably the best thing we could advise our lovely readers to do. Only a fiver too.
4. Samsung Galaxy S II i9100 MHL TV-Out Adapter – £25
We all know the Samsung Galaxy S II is one powerful beast kept in a tiny cage. Well now is the time to unleash the power of this phone via it’s micro USB connection. with this clever gizmo you can hook up your phone to your TV and experience the full 1080p HD video playback on your HDTV. Well worth pony (£25).
3. Aliph Jawbone 2 Bluetooth Earpiece – £29
Wearing a bluetooth headset when you don’t have to, rightly, gets people a lot of stick. but there are some occasions when you have to use both your hands and talk on the phone at the same time – bomb disposal for example. such activities are when this accessory becomes worth its weight in gold. Not only is this earpiece one of the clearest on the market, it’s also one that is going to make you look least like a doughnut. Pairs nicely with a Galaxy too.
2. DriveTime Samsung Galaxy S II Car Pack – £19
We’re particularly fond of the 3-Joint windshield holster in this pack. You can adjust it to give you an angle-perfect view of your phone in you car at all times. Engineering that frankly hasn’t been since since Brunel was still puffing on his cigars. It also comes with an in-car charger too, so you can charge as you drive. What more could a petrol head want?
1. Samsung Galaxy S II Mesh Vent Case £12
Tough, stylish and not at all bulky. What more you could want from a protective phone case. Nothing. So buy it now and feel free to drop your Galaxy from sensible heights, safe in the knowledge that you’ve got a Mesh Vent Case protecting your phone to the death.
Matthew Miller is an avid mobile device enthusiast who works during the day as a professional naval architect in Seattle. he is one of three hosts on the MobileTechRoundup podcast and runs the Nokia Experts website. Matthew started using mobile devices in 1997 with a US Robotics Pilot 1000 and has owned over 90 different devices running Palm, Linux, Symbian, Newton, BlackBerry, Mac OS X (iPhone), Google Android, and Windows Mobile operating systems. His current collection includes a Nokia N85, Nokia E71, Nokia 5800, Nokia N810, Apple iPhone, HTC Advantage, T-Mobile G1, Palm Treo Pro, HTC Fuze, MSI Wind, MacBook Pro, and many more, along with tons of accessories and classic devices like the Apple Newton MessagePad 2100 and Sony CLIE UX50. Matthew co-authored Master Visually Windows Mobile 2003, was a member of the Nokia Nseries Blogger relations program, and is a member of the invite-only Microsoft Mobius mobile device evangelist group. he can be found on various discussion forums under the user name of “palmsolo”.
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2012 Chevrolet Cruze Specs Prices and Comparisons
We weren’t anticipating driving a Chevy Cruze to new York, butan offer to drive a new Chevrolet Cruze LT came from a major supplier,Honeywell Turbo Technologies. It was a welcome alternative to a tasty butcomparatively sternly riding Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 3. Besides, the Cruze isnew generation, the Mitsubishi is highly evolved and neither Steve nor Ihad driven a Cruze. therefore, we decided to treat the car like a black boxand look at its powertrain performance from a non-enthusiast point of view.We knew nothing about the engine other than it started with a key and hadan automatic transmission though we did figure that, since Honeywell TurboTechnologies was offering the vehicle, it probably had a turbochargedengine.
For Cruze, Honeywell mates a small, single-stage turbocharger to ateensy Ecotec 1.4-liter four cylinder engine. That’s 30% the size ofa typical V-8 and 1.0-liter less than most I-4 engines. neither Steve nor Iknew this until after returning from our trip. oh, the other engine forCruze is a normally aspirated (no turbocharger or supercharger) fuelinjected 1.8-liter four with identical 138 horsepower.
I took delivery and the Cruze surprised me. sure, the interior hadlots of plastic to keep the price low, but it was engaging, filled withsoft surfaces and a fabric covered dash. the center stack, normally aregion where journalists think General Motors fails, looked more like itcame from Audi than Old-GM Chevrolet. That said, the exterior, a tastefullyneutral earth tone, did nothing to increase my self esteem; Steve and Iboth prefer bolder colors.
My first impression of how a Cruze drives was “Wow, it’smore Corvette than Cobalt.” I thought the steering far moreresponsive than any recent Chevrolet other than Corvette or Camaro, a bigsurprise in a modestly priced car. the next morning, with only 12 miles ofexperience, Steve and I headed for new York on a voyage of discovery.
Stuck for 900+ miles inside our Cruze LT, real-world priced at under$19,000, we were surprised by its upscale features like the type of centerinformation display—oil life, tire pressures for each wheel, tripodometer, distance to empty and more—that we expect from much higherpriced cars. another surprise was the seating. Both driver and passengerseat were multi-adjustable for front and rear height, the driver’sseat moves fore-aft under power; both use manual backrest adjusters. Eventhe steering wheel is outfitted with a full suite of audio and cruisecontrols. while there is an extra-cost Eco model rated at 42 mpg, we werevery interested in our fuel economy and wanted to see how this Cruze with2012 EPA ratings of 38 mpg highway, 26 mpg City (2 mpg more than the 2011model tested) stacked up against a recent trip in a Volkswagen Jettaturbo-diesel that averaged 50 mpg on an identical round trip.
Though a six-speed manual is standard on the LT, we had thesix-speed automatic. It provided decent family-car acceleration and asix-speed transmission. Steve says “it’s roomy and comfortableenough for a broad-in-the-beam guy like me and its fuel mileage allowed usto traverse long distances without stopping”. Overall our fueleconomy was over 32 miles per gallon and less than 36 on each tankful. And,according to Steve, “Cruze has ambiance and amenities that are aquantum leap from the last generation Chevy compact car,” which wasthe unlamented Cobalt.
You may be able to tell that Thom and I both liked our turbo Cruze alot. as any who know me will attest, I would always rather be behind thewheel than anywhere else, including a passenger seat. Fortunately for me,Thom was happy to be in the right seat pecking away on his laptop andentertaining us both with his characteristically esoteric banter. That way,I got to do all the driving to and from the big Apple, being entertained byboth the car and my companion.
The Cruze, equipped with Honeywell’s turbo, was impressive inperformance and design. Right from the beginning as I took the wheel in theearly morning and headed for the interstate, I felt the surprising thrustwithout noticeable turbo lag. I had to confirm with Thom that we really hada turbocharger under the hood. It was not the kind of acceleration weexpect from a performance car, but it was well beyond what we expect froman entry-level economy car. Managing the cloverleaf ramps was a distinctpleasure as the suspension tuning was up to the task as well.
Fuel mileage easily kept in the mid-30-mpg range. Our speeds kept usup with traffic (which, of course, means a tad extralegal) and we were notmaking any special effort to maximize mileage. Think what we could dokeeping our speeds lower!
Interior quietness is another area where automakers are makingimpressive advances. the Cruze competes in that category with aplomb. Itactually seems quieter than Ford’s new Fiesta, which is a bitsmaller and in the entry-level class and is highly touted for its quietinterior. but, along with that quietness comes a truly admirable level offit, finish, and material quality.
Thom’s expertise extends deeply into technology and he spentsurprisingly little time getting his iPhone phone integrated into theCruze’s Bluetooth system. In that aspect, it is voice guided andeasier to pair than with Ford’s SYNC, the leader in voice-activatedinfotainment.
That’s our initial review of the car, but only touches on itsimportance. According to Tony Schultz, VP Honeywell Turbo Technologies forAmerica, the market for smaller engines with turbochargers will grow fromtoday’s 7% to 20% of all vehicles by 2015 because of emissionsregulations and fuel economy standards that must reach a corporate EPArated average of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2015. for turbo makers likeHoneywell, the shift to smaller turbocharged (and supercharged) engines isall about acceptance. Our test, just driving and evaluating a“Honeywell” instead of any specific powertrain, is important.We made no pre-judgements and neither should you.
In the US turbos have a checkered history and a somewhat tarnishedreputation that is undeserved. yes, there were some issues with bearinglife in the ‘80s, but every manufacturer we’ve talked to sayswarranty claims for turbos are always minimal and less than they budget.That’s a way of saying in the US, like Europe, and the rest of theworld, you shouldn’t worry about having a turbocharged car. WhatHoneywell—and GM—want is to get potential buyers behind thewheel to experience the power of this engine. if 1.4-liters can give youthe drivability of a larger, less fuel efficient engine why would you worryabout what’s under the hood? Really, sometimes size doesn’tmatter.
Powertrain enthusiasts may find it interesting that, according toHoneywell Chief Engineer, Steve McKinley, our Cruze’s 1.4-literEcotec engine utilizes Honeywell’s MGT-14 turbo, a device proven inEurope for half a decade. It has demonstrated durability, and a modestprice to the car maker. Steve says its performance betters the standard1.8-liter engine, performing more like a 2.0-liter normally aspiratedengine. Their development in cooperation with GM has produced a fueleconomy increase between introduction and the 2012 model year as theycontinue working on improving air flow from the intake manifold, throughthe turbo, and into cylinders for even greater efficiency.
At the Auto Channel we see the trend clearly; fewer and fewer V-8s,V-8s being replaced by V-6 engines with plenty of torque and horsepower andV-6s moving aside for I-4 engines with more power than the engines theyreplace. That’s the kind of “green” we can agreewith—fuel efficient, low emissions, and most importantly (to us),these hot little engines are fun to drive.
KEYWORDS:Chevrolet, Chevy, Chevy Cruze, Cruze, 2011 Cruze, 2012 Cruze, CruzeLT turbo, turbocharger, Honeywell, Ecotec, 1.4-liter, 1.8-liter, fueleconomy, Eco, six-speed, Fiesta, Ford Fiesta, SYNC, EPA, Honeywell MGT-14,green, fun to drive
Elecom announced yesterday the TK-FBP030E Series, available in Black and White, a new 11mm thick thin Bluetooth Keyboard sold with a dedicated pouch made for the iPad and iPad2, the TK-FBP030E Series can also be used with both iPhone and Ipod touch, as well as Macs and any other Bluetooth capable devices.Announced at 11,235 Yen in Japan with its Pouch, the TK-FBP030E Series keyboard will be available pretty much everywhere in the land of the rising sun within September.
source:Akihabara News
I was at the Dreamforce conference today in sunny San Francisco checking out all the latest and greatest in enterprise software and I couldn’t help but notice that tablets were all over the place. Well, not tablets, just the iPad. I counted at least 30 tablets on the show floor and they were all iPads. has the iPad already won with businesses?
Of course, an anecdotal story isn’t representative of the larger situation but this made me think of the larger tablet market as a whole and I’m reminded that Apple sold 9.25 million iPads last quarter and that’s probably more than all the other tablet makers combined. in fact, outside of tech conferences, I’ve only seen one non-iPad tablet in the wild. I saw a lady reading from a BlackBerry Playbook at a restaurant. she was a tourist from Canada.
Still, the enterprise market is a different beast entirely where Apple generally doesn’t do that well unless you’re talking about some of the creative fields. from my time at InformationWeek covering enterprise mobility, I know that the iPhone changed that – I heard plenty of stories where a C-level executive got an iPhone and forced it on the company’s network while the IT departments scrambled. I’m starting to see the iPad take on a similar role within businesses.
The thing about Dreamforce is that it’s a businessman (or woman’s) conference. Unlike most of the mobile tradeshows I go to, the uniform here is a full suit instead of jeans, a t shirt and a hoodie. Many of the attendees are road warriors who are likely equipped with company-issued BlackBerry smartphones and Lenovo ThinkPads (some still running XP). Yet, the iPad was still as common as an overpriced neck tie.
This isn’t to say that businesses are in a post-PC era, as the iPad became a strong complement to many workers. for example, a traveling sales person doesn’t always need to lug in a five-pound laptop to a client’s board room, as an iPad can provide the PowerPoint presentation, give that worker access to e-mail, web browsing and navigation and give the company a certain image of technological prowess.
If everything is the same, wouldn’t you tend to think the company showing you its catalog on an iPad is more “with it” than one that has a printed one? The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have already replaced their playbooks with iPads and it has opened up the door to multiple new possibilities – instead of having to carry a physical playbook and DVD for films, players have all of that in one place in an attractive package.
Quickmobile helped build the official Dreamforce app and it’s compatible with the iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and the iPad. When I asked if Honeycomb or the PlayBook were in the running, they said that Salesforce looked at its demographics and decided that the iPad was the only tablet worth supporting. Salesforce has a ton of cash, so if any other tablet had any significant share, it would have built an app for it.
Medl Mobile told me that one of the fastest-growing and most-interesting segments of the app market in the business-to-business iPad app space. these programs never see the App Store, are deployed through business distribution networks and may only be made for as few as 4 people but businesses are seeing a legitimate value in these types of programs.
For example, Kaiser Permanente built an app for some of its sales people in Washington D.C. who are trying to reach out to governmental agencies. Some of these buildings aren’t even allowed to have WiFi due to regulations, so it built an iPad app for these workers which includes videos, built-in maps and all the information they need to potentially close the deal. Medl has created multiple B2B apps for companies and so far, tablet versions have only been for the iPad.
While the iPad is definitely the runaway hit in the business tablet space, Medl founder and CEO Andrew Maltin said he expects that to change over time.
“Just as Android surpassed iOS in the phone market, I expect a lot of companies will start buying and investing in Android tablets,” said Maltin.
He said that a lot of the issues with Android fragmentation can be addressed within a single company that standardizes on a single tablet or or a small portfolio of these. Additionally, the deeper system-wide APIs in Android could be very appealing for many companies. still, Android and others will have to overcome the coolness factor of the iPad.
“The cache of the iPad will always be there,” said Medl founder and creative director Dave Swartz.
This is the market that Research in Motion should be killing, as the PlayBook offers many similar iPad features but with enterprise-grade security out of the box. The RIM tablet hasn’t taken off with consumers yet and Medl hasn’t seen much interest from enterprises yet either.
Don’t count Microsoft out of the business tablet race either, as Windows 8 is supposed to offer full computing power while also including a tablet-friendly user interface. Microsoft has deeper connections with enterprises than Apple and its development environment is one that many companies are familiar and comfortable with. it remains to be seen how good Windows 8 on a tablet will be and we should get a sneak peek at this in a few weeks at the Build conference (yep, we’ll be there). It’s also unclear if Microsoft Windows 8 tablets will ever achieve the same amount of end-user desire and coolness factor that the iPad currently has.
Like with the overall tablet market, Apple’s iPad is king with businesses. for now.
About The Author Marin Perez
Marin Perez has torture tested cell phones and smartphones for industry leaders like CNET and InformationWeek. He remembers when 4G was just a screen on PowerPoint presentations and is fascinated with the amount of innovation out there. Marin has spent a lot of time with BlackBerry and Android but he finally broke down a bought an iPhone to see what all the hype’s about. He also has too many tablets.