Do you have an iPhone or iPad? Do you have between 10 minutes and an hour to kill? If the answer to both of these questions was yes, then might I suggest that you download the free app Baby Scratch?
This free application is a perfect way to pass the time on a bus or train journey and despite it’s rather toy-like appearance, actually affords the user a degree of creative freedom.
The app comes as standard with a couple of standard backbeats and a “vinyl” full of generic hip-hop samples for you to play with whilst the backbeat runs.
If you have an iPhone you will be able to record your own samples on the “vinyl”, allowing you to manipulate whatever sounds you want. I have so far had the most fun with recording the built in backbeat into the sample section, allowing for very realistic beat juggling.
Here is a video of someone who has mastered the interface far better than I;
And if you’re really stuck for things to do on a rainy day/have no real friends you could hook it up to a mixer like this guy;
Spotify have just announced that their iPhone application will soon be able to multitask on the new iOS4 software for the iPhone. Users will now be able to listen to their music and use the other applications at the same time (no need for the iPod feature anymore!).
However, the company has just provided an answer in a blog post:
“We know that many of you have been waiting for an update to our iPhone app that supports the latest iOS 4 and background listening. We’re happy to say that an updated app has been submitted to Apple for review. Hopefully we’ll get a speedy approval and to make up for the extra little wait time we’ve added a nice little surprise to make Spotify mobile even more exciting for you, stay tuned!”
It has been reported by the Wall Street Journal that Kim Yeo-hee has just landed a record deal. Kim plays music with iPhones while singing over the top. In the past few months Kim has received million of views, but personally I just think its terrible!
Here’s an example of her artistry, a unique version of Lady Gaga’s Poker Face:
Billboard has always been a leader in breaking news and inside sources, however they seem to have lost their way a bit online. Thus, Billboard is now looking to grow its service even further and expand into other areas. Today, Billboard is launching a new service called Billboard Live. Having the chance to stream festivals across the ocean is nice, but Billboard offers us a customized version of streaming by letting us choose what we want their cameras to focus on.
According to Associated Press, not only does this new website offer music lovers FREE streaming of selected concerts, but there are options galore! Users get to choose from five different camera angles in which they would like to view the show.
Two more factors that could possibly make this the #1 concert-streaming site? First off, the ADD generation of social platforms have the option to also use Twitter or Facebook without having to leave the website. Secondly, (and of course) it’ll be available on for iPhone.
According to the BBC, iPhone owners in Australia got quite a surprise this week when they found their phones displaying a wallpaper of Astley’s photograph with a message: “Ikee is never going to give you up.”
The Ikee in question is a worm that affects a jail-broken phones, where a user has removed Apple’s protection mechanisms to allow the phone to run any software.
“The creator of the worm has released full source code of the four existing variants of this worm,” wrote Mikko Hypponen of security firm F-secure.
“This means that there will quickly be more variants, and they might have nastier payload than just changing your wallpaper.”
Bad things. Far, far worse than any Rick Astley song!
Currently the worm has only been found in Australia, where the hacker, Ashley Towns, who wrote the program lives. The 21-year-old said he created the virus to raise the issue of security.
The blending of Rick Astley into Towns’ security awareness project is downright genius; what says be careful with your hand-held device better than Rick Astley?
Rhapsody has had a hard time lately as they aren’t really growing their site as much as they would like. However, Rhapsody has just announced that their new iPhone application has been downloaded over 500,000 times. “Over 500K shrewd users have decided that unlimited access to practically any song, practically anywhere ain’t such a bad idea,” wrote Rhapsody’s Garrett Kamps on the company’s blog.
However, in the announcement Rhapsody didn’t mention how many of those 500,000 were paying $12.99 a month for the Rhapsody Unlimited subscription service.
EA Mobile have launched a watered down version of Rock Band for the iPhone.
All the instruments are simulated with the touch screen of course, including the Vocals! (yes, you just tap like a guitar) RockBand comes with a Bluetooth fueled multi-player option for simultaneous slamming. The game has been released with a $9.99 price tag which seems pretty steep for, although its a full RockBband game, is still basically an app. The 20 song play list does include some familiar songs with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Smashing Pumpkins and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts among others, with more available as downloads.
RockBand may have beaten its rival Guitar Hero to the iPhone only to bump into the mini-game brick wall that it Tapulous’ tap-tap revenge. But with more “buttons” it does prove more challenging than the established TTR 3 which should increase its shelf life a bit. But fans of Tap-Tap revenge fans will be quick to point out it is available for just $1 and does have a similar in-app track buying feature. The Playlist in full is.
30 Seconds to Mars – “Attack”
AFI – “Girl’s 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”
Motörhead – “Ace of Spades ‘08″
Pixies – “Debaser”
Presidents of the United States of America – “Ladybug”
Tapulous has had the music rhythm game scene to itself on the iPod for a long time, but now Harmonix and EA have ported their phenomenally successful Rock Band game to Apple’s iPhone, meaning that you can embarrass yourself pretending to be a Rock star on the train now.
The iPhone game will feature the same 4 instruments (guitar, bass, drums, vocals) as the console version, so if you’ve got 3 friends with the game you can nerd out in the doctor’s waiting room, or on the schoolbus. Rock Band costs $9.99 in the US app store and features the following songs:
Ace of Spades ‘08 – Motorhead
All The Small Things – Blink-182
Attack-30 Seconds To Mars
Bad Reputation – Joan Jett
Bad to The Bone – George Thorogood & the Destroyers
Cherub Rock – Smashing Pumpkins
Debaser – Pixies
Everlong – Foo Fighters
Girls Not Grey – AFI
Give It All – Rise Against
Hanging on the Telephone – Blondie
Hymn 43 – Jethro Tull
Ladybug – Presidents of The United States of America
Lazy Eye – Silversun Pick Ups
Learn To Fly – Foo Fighters
Move Along – All American Rejects
Sabotage – Beastie Boys
Simple Man – Lynard Skynard
Take The Money and Run – Steve Miller Band
We Got The Beat – The Go Go’s
If you don’t have any mates with iPhones, or your mum drives you to school, Tapulous have released the 3rd version of their Tap Tap Revenge Game, which looks equally shiny, flashy and comprehensible only to Japanese people and those under the age of 20. Tapulous’ offering costs a tenth of EA’s game (99c), and has 100 free songs, as well as ‘premium‘ tracks from bands like Blink 182, Fall Out Boy, Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, No Doubt, Tiesto, The KillersKorn, Megadeth, QOTSA, Weezer, AAR, AFI, Keith Urban, Crystal Method, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Last.fm is to takeover four HD radio stations off CBS in the US including, New York, LA, Chicago and San Francisco. All stations will have the same play-list, which will be determined by the outcome of the weekly charts according to the last.fm website, to feature a mix of music aggregated and influenced by the service’s user-generated weekly charts. Twinned with performances and interviews from its new New York studios. The new station will also be accessable through the website,as well as the already established CBS radio. Which is good news for fans across the pond as the new HD radio stations will only be accessible to HD radio receivers in the new areas: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco.
The broadcast will begin on October 5th, and as well as being able to find it through the named sites it will be available through the relevant related apps through iPhone, iPod Touch and some Blackberries.
Do you have an iPhone or iPad? Do you have between 10 minutes and an hour to kill? If the answer to both of these questions was yes, then might I suggest that you download the free app Baby Scratch?
