Memorial Day Special Treat: Preview of the first 8 songs from Miranda Lambert's upcoming album "Platinum"

As those of you that know me are aware, one of the first things I started reviewing online was music.  I still listen to and write about music quite a bit, and was just passed a link to this preview of Miranda Lambert's upcoming album.  Have a safe Memorial Day, and please remember to take time to keep our men and women in uniform, and those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom in your thoughts and prayers as you spend time with family and friends.

Get More:

Miranda Lambert,

Miranda Lambert videos

CES 2014: The Brick is Back (kind of)

The Brick, from Binatone brings the '80s backThose of you in your 30s like me likely remember early cell phones from TV.  Huge brick shaped things with no battery life that were hugely impractical but were the only portable option short of the suitcase phones that Motorola first launched.  The folks at Binatone have brought back the basic design with a modern battery that can last up to 3(?) months on a single charge.  In addition to being able to be used as a very basic cell phone with any SIM card, it can also function as a bluetooth handset, allowing you to make and recieve phone calls without the distraction of a smartphone when you don't want it around.

I don't know if the idea will take off, ut I have reached out to the folks at Binaphone for a demo unit to see how it works. 

 

You Can Have a Zack Morris Brick Phone Without Going Back In Time:

You Can Have a Zack Morris Brick Phone Without Going Back In Time

 

Special Event: Apple October 2013 Event

Big news on tap from Apple today, and after a "State of the Apple" rundown, OS X was first up

MAC

Apple started of the day with OS X Mavericks, the 10th update to the OS X operating system.  After a rundown of all the features, Craig Federighi made an amazing announcement, Mavericks is free for EVERYONE.  Upgrading from as far back as Lion to Mavericks is free, and available today.

Phil Schiller then hits the stage to announce new 13" and 15" MacBook Pros, with the 13" Starting at $1299, 15" Starting at $1999....each down $200 from last years prices and shipping TODAY.

MacPro was up next, and it is insane!  Intel Xeon E5, 4,6,8, or 12 cores. 1866Mhz DDR3 ECC Ram, up to 64 GB of RAM.  Dual worstation grade GPUs with up to 7 teraflops of processing power.  PCIe Flash storage.  Thunderbolt 2 expansion, and can power up to three 4K displays.  Dual audio out, 4 USB3, 6 Thunderbolt 2 ports. Priced starting at $2999 with 3.7GHz Quad-Core Xeon, 12GB RAM and available in December.  This new MacPro will be the first Mac designed and BUILT in the USA for quite some time.

Next up was Eddy Cue, to talk about applications.  iLife on stage first, with new versions of Garage Band, iPhoto, and iMovie.  Bringing the design cues from the recently released iOS 7.  Photo books now possible from iPad.  iMovie now re-designed to be identical on iOS and Mac.  Garageband now supports up to 32 tracks on iOS devices with 64Bit processors.  Using iCloud integration songs you start working on while on the go with your iPhone or iPad are now available from where you left off on your Mac.  Huge focus here on seamless movement from iPad and iPhone to your Mac when you get home or to the office.  Once again, all FREE with a new iOS or Mac, and available today.

iLife was next, showing of re-designs for Mavericks and iOS.  Full file compatability across iWork, now 64Bit so it's faster than ever.  Context sensitive control panel on the Mac to make changes faster and easier.  Shared editing and live colaboration across all platforms.  Again, all FREE with purchase of a new Mac or iOS device, and available today.  As Eddy said, "today is the biggest day ever for Apps" at Apple.

iPad

In three years iPad has changed the computing world.  Tim showing quotes saying it would not change NetBooks, and one saying "Anyone who thinks this is a game changer is a tool".  More than 475,000 iPad applications in the app store.  Customers using iPads in hundreds of ways the designers never envisioned.

Phil Schiller back to talk about new iPads.  The biggest step yet....iPad Air!  Thinner, Lighter than any iPad yet.  Still 9.7" screen, bezel 34% smaller.  7.5mm thin, 20% thinner than last iPad.  Down to 1lb, was 1.4 last year.  Apple claiming it is the "Lightest full sized tablet in the world".  A7 chip from 5S, full 64Bit computing now on iPad.  Also will have M7 Motion Co-Processor.  Now 8x faster than the original iPad, 72x graphics performance versus original iPad.  Available in Space Grey and White, starting at $499 for 16GB Wi-Fi, shipping November 1st.

iPad Mini was next.  Retina display is finally here.  2048x1536, same pixel dimensions as new iPad Air.  Also running the new A7 chip with M7 motion co-processor.  Also available in Silver and Space Grey.  Starting at $399 for 16GB with Wi-Fi.  Current mini will still be available at $299.  New Mini with Retina Display will ship in November.  

Only real surprises were that the Mini would get the A7 instead of an older processor like the previous generation, and that TouchID was nowhere to be found on iPad, which pundits thought would appear on the full sized device.

In all a big day.  All new software being FREE is an amazing announcement, new Macs to go with the new OS were important to keep momentum moving forward on the desktop, and new iPads in time for the holidays.

 

Big Drew's Redneck Tech Sale

Ok Folks, I am running out of room in my den for all of the review units I recieve.  My lack of space is your gain, as I have a ton of things to get rid of that will appeal to a wide range of readers.  Below is the list with what I believe to be fair market value:

Redneck Tech Sale

iPad 3 - 64GB, LTE Verizon - $500
Microsoft Surface - 64GB w/ Touch Cover - $450
Impossible Lab w/ 3 packages of film - KickStarter Edition - $200
Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 16GB with White Leather case - $350
Pinball Duo iPad Pinball Controller - $15
iCade iPad Arcade controller - $85
Blackberry Playbook 64GB - $175
Sphero remote controlled ball - $75
OUYA Video Game System - KickStarter Edition - $150
Hype Bluetooth speaker phone - $25
Infinitec TV Stick - KickStarter Edition - $100
iCade Duo Atari arcade controller - $15
Virgin Mobile Mi-Fi - $50
Sega Genesis Arcade Nano - Virtua Fighter Edition - $15
Poloroid Z340 digital camera (14.1 Megapixel) with built in zInk printer - $300
NuMark TTusb Turntable - $100
Dozens of iPad and iPad mini cases - $15-$55 each
6 Disc DVD Duplicator - $450
lomography Smartphone Film Scanner - $50
iD America Crosslink multi-cable (has Micro USB, 30 Pin, and Lightning adapter) - $15/each
6-String mini guitar kit - $65
Kobo Reader eInk ebook device - $25
12 Boxes 1991 ProSet Super Stars Musi-cards (10 series I, 2 series II) - $35/box

 

 

 

Please comment on this site with questions and offers.

Special Event: Apple WWDC Keynote

Today Tim Cook and the folks from Apple took the stage to lay out the road map for the coming year in Apple Software and to announce new hardware.  As usual, Tim started the morning giving a "State of the Company" update.  Here are some numbers:

 

  • Over 6million registered developers
  • WWDC sold out in 71 seconds
  • Retail: More than 1 million daily visitors
  • Retail: 407 stores in 17 countries
  • Appstore: 50 Billion apps in less than 5 years
  • Appstore: 900,000 applications
  • Appstore: 375,000 iPad specific
  • Appstore: 575 Million accounts with credit cards attached, largest online store in the world
  • Appstore: More than $10 Billion paid to developers so far

 

New Developer ANKI, launching first product live on stage today.  Robotics and AI researchers.  ANKI Drive, autonomous capable cars, combination of computer control and human interaction.

Mac

 

  • 72 million sold last year
  • MacBook #1 Notebook in the market
  • Mac up 100% VS. Pc up 15%
  • #1 in customer sat and quality

 

28 million copies of Mt. Lion sold in last year, not standing still.  New OS is OS X Mavericks.  New naming scheme after Californian landmarks.  New features:

 

  • Finder tabs, no more million finder windows
  • Tagging! When you save a document, you can tag it wherever it is, and tags will appear in finder
  • Multiple display support built in.  Taking a window full screen on one display will not mess up your desktop.  HDTV will be able to be a full powered secondary display

 

DEMO

Tabs work like they do in Safari, allows for easier copying, finder can go full screen.  Tag field part of save dialog, tags have their own section in the finder sidebar, making finding important documents much easier.  Documents can be tagged simply by dragging the documents into the tagged group in finder as well.

Multiple displays also allows for multiple spaces on each display.  AppleTV now can be used as another full size display, with full screen applications.

New features of OS X Mavericks:

 

  • Compressed memory - compress used memory to make room for new documents without writing to disk
  • GPU video scaling
  • OpenGL 4
  • Accelerated scrolling
  • Enhanced timings reduce idle time and allow for 72% less CPU power drain

 

Safari:

 

  • First look at flattening of the OS, improved top sites
  • Shared links lets you see all the links shared by people you follow on Twitter and FaceBook
  • JAVA enhancements
  • Enhanced memory usage
  • Lower power usage
  • AppNap stops power drain by pausing the rendering cycles of apps not in focus
  • Top Sites: Very flat, dark grey with white text
  • Reading list: Puts articles in order, pre loading the next article so that they are stacked in a single page for easier reading.
  • iCloud Keychain: essentially OnePassword built in to your local system, but available on any iCloud connected device.  Will also hold credit card info, but you still need to know the 3-digit security code.

 

Enhanced notifications, allow for iOS device notifications to display on your Mac, including while Mac is locked.

Calendar Enhancements - Facebook events, flatter interface, map and drivetime awareness on events

Maps - Now on OS X, turn by turn directions, can send direction to the iPhone, display on lock screen.  SDK allows for mapping data to be sent from any app.

iBooks for Mac - Fully featured, interactive textbooks

New MacBook Air with the Haswell ULT chip, almost doubled battery life

11" - $999 w/ 128 GB, $1199 256 GB

13" - $1099 128 GB, $1299 256 GB

Shipping today

Mac Pro!

Amazing new design.  Large black cylinder.  2x processor performance.  1866MHz DDR3.  PCIe Flash HDD, 10x fastest drive previously available.  Thunderbolt 2, 10Gbps throughput.  Dual GPU, 384-Bit memory buses.  4k Display support off of each display port. Insanely small compared to current Mac Pro, 1/8th the volume.  Full unit spins for easy access to rear panel. Coming later this year.

Made and assembled in the USA.

New Airport Extreme - built in drive bays, 2 or 3 TB drives.

 

iCloud

300 million accounts.  240 Million GameCenter users.  800 Billion iMessages.

iWork integration into iCloud:  New releases later this year of both Mobile and Desktop applications.  iWork for iCloud - web based document creation.  Clearly Apple responding to Office365.  Platform agnostic, shown using Chrome on Windows 8. Available today for developers.

 

iOS

600 Million iOS devices sold.  Number one in customer usage.  iPhone users use their phone 50% more than Android owners.  Mobile web share 60% for iOS.  93% of users are using the latest version of iOS.

iOS 7!  Biggest change to iOS since original iPhone.  New flatter interface we expected. Changed color palate. A new beginning for iOS.  HUGE developer response.  

 

  • Animated backgrounds
  • Parallax allows you to see behind the icons
  • edge to edge design
  • "We ran out of green felt for GameCenter"
  • Great use of gestures for one handed use
  • multiple pages in each folder, no more "Games 2" on my home screen!
  • great today view in notification center
  • Notification center available from lock screen

 

10 new features:

 

  • Control center - quick access to settings
  • Multitasking - Full access for all applications.  OS learns usage patterns for "Opportunistic updates".  Card like feature for running apps.
  • Safari - New full screen look.  Smart search field for one-tap access.  Parental controls.  iCloud Keychain.
  • AirDrop - Quick file transfer, system wide peer-peer wi-fi.
  • Camera - Live photo filers, 4 cameras in one.
  • Photos - Organized into moments using meta data.  Can go wider to general areas or years.  Can tap and scrub through micro-thumbnail.  Shared photo streams allow multiple people to share into Family photo or event streams.  Can see comments live in stream, including video sharing.
  • Cloud service integration - SIRI has new interface, much cleaner.  All new voice.  Much smarter, has better control over your device including settings.  Can answer more questions because of Twitter integration, WikiPedia, bing search results.  iOS in the car: 95% of cars sold today have integrated voice control of music.  On screen display of iOS using in car display.  12 car manufacturers with integration in 2014.  AppStore now auto-updates applications.  
  • Music - Much cleaner and again a flatter view.
  • iTunes Radio! - Built into the music app, curated stations.  You can build your own station based on any song you are listening to.  Favorite songs tagged for purchase in history screen.  Built into all platforms including AppleTV.  Included in iTunes Match for $25 add free.
  • Facetime Audio, Notification sync, PDF annotation.  Phone, facetime, and iMessage blocking.
  • Activation Lock - Device cannot be wiped an reactivated without linked AppleID.  
  • 1500 new APIs in new SDK

Available today for iPhone 5, later weeks for iPad and iPad mini

 

 

 

Special Event: #XboxReveal

Today the Xbox team from Microsoft took the stage to set the timeline for the next generation of living-room entertainment.

Their solution - XBOX ONE

Leveraging their work with Kinect, the system recognizes you and your voice, removing the need for logging in to your gamer tag.  

Fast voice control using what they call "Instant Switching", demo looking very cool.  It will also interact with WindowsPhone 8 devices and use them as remote controls using their SmartGlass system.  

Leveraging Skype for video calls, which can be used at the same time as the other apps in what they are calling "Snap Mode".  Simply saying "Xbox, snap "application name" which will bring it up along side whatever you are doing.

Hardware:

x86 architecture, 8GB RAM, USB 3.0, Blue-Ray drive, Wi-Fi Direct, 64-Bit, variable power states

Kinect leveraging USB 3.0 to stream 3Gb/sec of audio visual data to speed response.  Sensors are sensitive enough to read heart rate while using exercise applications.

 

Software:

3 operating systems:

1. Xbox OS

2. Windows Kernel

3. Custom switching OS to bridge the two kernels

New Xbox Live system will include personal DVR to record all game play, and allow you to save and share the recordings including a built-in video editing suite.

 

Developer support:

EA announcing new strategic partnership, more details coming soon (probably at E3).  New "Ignite" game engine for sports titles.  10x animation depth and detail, dubbed "True Player Motion".  Video demo from EA looks insanely realistic.

Microsoft studios was up next, showing off Forza Motosports 5.  Again the graphics look great.  Will be available at launch.  Huge emphasis on gaming experience and multi-player.

Trailers for other games were shown as well, concluding with the trailer for "Modern Warfare: Ghosts", which looked amazing.

 

Microsoft promises more details at E3 in 20 days, so stay tuned, this looks like it could knock Sony's PS4 announcement out of the water.

 

 

 

 

 

Special Event: Google I/O: What's New in Android, Chrome, and Beyond

Yesterday Google opened their I/O developers conference with some big announcements.  From a montly music subscription to a new all-in-one chat application called Google HangOuts, Google is taking technology, especially on their Android platform to new highs.  They also began the push for new smaller image and video formats to make sharing special events with family and customers more cost effective, reducing file sizes more than 25% with BETTER quality.  

Only time will tell how impacting these announcements will be, but the folks at Google sure made a splash.  Follow the link below for more details from the folks at Gizmodo.

 

Google I/O: What's New in Android, Chrome, and Beyond (Updating):

Google I/O: What's New in Android, Chrome, and Beyond

 

Windows 8 Launch Event - NYC

On Thursday, Oct. 25th Microsoft held a press event in New York City to formally launch their latest operating system, Windows 8.  A huge move forward from Windows 7, Windows 8 was built from the ground up to take advantage of touch screens and cloud services such as Microsoft's own SkyDrive service.  The big news, however is that for the first time Windows will run on an ARM processor much like those that power smart phones and tablets, while at the same time abandoning  all previous Windows software.  While the Pro version of windows 8 will allow older or "legacy" software to run as it did in older versions, the big push for Windows 8 is RT (Run-Time) which will only run new software available from the Windows App Store.

As with any new Windows release, this is a huge event.  The great news for consumers is that Windows 8 Pro will run on all Windows 7 personal computers, although in most cases without being able to take advantage of the new touch interface that makes it so great.  Upgrades start at $39.99 in the U.S. and are on sale as I write this post.  The big news however is all of the new computers built for the native touch interface, including all kinds of devices from large all-in-one desktop machines to portable tablets and literally every form factor in between.  All of the major PC manufacturers from Dell to Lenovo had new systems to announce, making this a big day for the whole industry.

The biggest news of the day was the release of the first Microsoft branded computer ever, Surface, a Windows RT tablet built from the ground up to bridge the gap between ultra-portables and tablets such as the iPad in the consumer space.  I'll have one today, and will post several items over the next few days while I put it through it's paces.

You can see the press events for both Windows 8 and the special event for the Surface tablet here.