MP3 Headlines & News for January 31, 2010

Say what you will about the viability of eBook readers as an industry. But the list of companies wading into the eReader waters just keeps goin' and goin'.

The latest player to hop on the eReader bandwagon is computer giant Acer, Inc., which announced plans to launch an eBook reader by the middle of the year. According to Bloomberg News, the Acer eReader will feature a 6-inch monochrome screen and be available for sale sometime in June.

Of course, when dealing with heavyweights such as Amazon and Sony, you're gonna need some "strategery." For Acer, the plan is to concentrate on European countries and Asia to take advantage of Amazon and Barnes and Noble's "U.S.-centric approach." 'Cause when one hot tub is getting too full, you can always hop into the less crowded tub at a neighboring house (provided you've got permission, of course).

As part of the same announcement, Acer also announced that it will launch its own app store and a new netbook that runs on Google's Chrome operating system instead of Windows. In fact, the company plans to offer Chrome in at least 10 percent of the netbooks it sells. The latter is apparently part of a strategic attempt for No. 2 Acer to overtake HP as the No. 1 computer supplier in the world while also changing the current "Microsoft-Intel" environment.

Looks like somebody thinks a certain couple is taking way too much space in the PC jacuzzi, if you know what I mean.

Acer to Release eReader, Plus New App Store and Google Netbook originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 at 00:11:16.

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As well as the new song, Bear Hands have also got a limited edition 7" vinyl that is being released at the same time. For more information, visit their Website.

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• Top Free and Legal Music Download Sites
• WMP 11 tutorial: how to create a music library
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Bear Hands Celebrate New Single With Free Music Downloads originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Friday, January 22nd, 2010 at 07:25:33.

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Artist/Band: Rich Hil
Genre: Hip Hop / Rock
Free Music Download: Lady in The Hall (3:40)
Extras: More information and additional free MP3s from the official Rich Hil Website

Artist/Band: Groove Armada
Genre: Electronic
Free Music Download: Shameless (feat. Bryan Ferry) (4:47)
Extras: Free additional Groove Armada track (Pull Up (Crank It Up) (Mad Decent Remix)) via RCRD LBL
Album: Black Light (OM Records), slated for release March 2, 2010

Artist/Band: Yes Giantess
Genre: Pop / Electronic
Free Music Download: The Ruins (3:04)
Extras: More free MP3 tracks (published previously) via our free music downloads blog

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• Free and legal music download sites
• Free DJ software to create your own remixes
• How to download music files faster

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Free Music Downloads This Week originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 06:48:04.

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DJ software also typically enables you to record your mixes and save them in various file formats -- MP3 being the most popular. This is a great tool if you want to show off your creativity to your friends and family -- especially if you intend on being the New Year's Eve party DJ!

If you fancy having a go at mixing up your music library, then be sure to read our Free DJ Software article that showcases some of the best free DJ software that you can download from the Internet.

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• Free audio editors
• Top 4 free audio format converters
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Free DJ Software: Use Your Digital Music To Mix Like a Pro! originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 at 09:00:30.

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Now what is this we have here, hmm?

Aeronautics and weapons firm Lockheed Martin took off the stealthy shroud from its latest project and it's ... a USB drive?

To quote one lady I saw at Pizzeria Bianco after being told the wait was three hours: "Huh?"

Now, try as hard as I can, I can't seem to see a hidden missile bay or laser in this thing. Which can only mean that this thing truly is a USB drive.

More specifically, it's called the "IronClad," which is exactly the opposite of the excuse one of my buddies had after his girlfriend caught him staring at another woman. ("Um, I was thinking about you the whole time?")

Anywho, the IronClad USB is a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and IronKey and is supposed to shrink "a laptop's hard drive - including the entire operating system, software applications, and files - onto a secure flash drive." Now that sounds a bit more Lockheed Martin-ish.

Of course, given the company's haughty claims about the security of its new "PC on a stick," they're pretty much inviting every enterprising hacker to create a bug that could infect the darn thing. It's like walking around with a huge bullseye at a darts tournament.

Then again, Lockheed Martin wouldn't be Lockheed Martin without the bravado.

Photo © Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin Locks, Loads and Fires New USB Drive originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 at 00:01:18.

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It's go time, boys and girls.

With Apple's big Jan. 27 (hey, that's today!) announcement now upon us, I'm hoping to serve up tasty bites of Apple's mystery device (wink, tablet, wink) today as I get info on it.

Now I won't be at the event due to myriad reasons, one of which is unruly Sierra weather. And work. And my wallet. But I digress.

Anywho, I'm banking on live reports online to get me close to the action today (call it, um, liveblogging the liveblogs. What a "great" concept, eh?). If not, an Apple rep says an announcement should be made available to press folks immediately.

In the meantime, expect to have info start trickling in here one way or another before 10 a.m. Pacific Time.

Photo © Apple

9:09 a.m.: I'm all set up and ready to go. Are you ready for some Apple tablet news? Man this Apple tablet sure has everyone psyched out. I can't believe Apple is finally releasing its tablet! This Apple tablet is gonna change electronics as we know it — and the world! Apple tablet, tablet, tablet, tablet ... ... ... ... ... ... TABLET!!!

You know what would be funny? If Apple ends up not releasing a tablet after all this buildup. I'm gonna laugh my socks off. (I might cry, too. After all, I'm a sensitive guy who also happens to suffer from allergies. I might even laugh and cry at the same time. I'm awesome that way. By the way, did I ever say that waiting around makes me ramble incessantly?)

9:14: Looks like the folks at Gizmodo have gotten started early. You can read their discussions about facial hair at the Gizmodo liveblog. I'm telling ya' waiting plus a computer keyboard plus space to fill makes people ramble on about strange stuff. It's practically taking me all my willpower to stop myself from talking about my brother's cat right now.

9:19: Engadget's joined the Apple party as well. At least that's what the atmosphere apparently feels like, they say.

9:30: Looks like they've got one of those Continental breakfast spreads going on to feed the hungry media folk. One thing I've learned in all my years as a reporter is that journalists love free food. I mean just love it. You can't take any free stuff. But free food is apparently OK for the most part (one of the few exceptions being business lunches at a restaurant). So if you've ever wanted to attract journalists to one spot, set up a table with a Continental breakfast spread. They'll be flocking in from miles away.

9:41: The Gearlog Apple liveblog is up and running as well.

9:48: Pics of the stage are now coming out. Check out the iChair and the iTable on the stage. It would be hilarious if that's what they're unveiling.

9:53: Macworld's Apple liveblog is up and running. Apparently, Apple likes Bob Dylan. Livebloggers apparently like taking pictures of those Apple splotch logos as well.

9:57: The announcer has just asked for silence and for cell phones and pagers to be turned off. The popcorn must cost a fortune in this place.

9:59: Here's CNET's liveblog of the Apple event.

10:02: Some dude named Steve Jobs apparently just took the stage. Never heard of him. Looks like good, old Steve is wearing his good, old presentation uniform.

10:08: Looks like it's main event time. They just showed a slide with a Wall Street Journal quote about tablets. Could it be...?

10:10: Jobs' comment about Netbooks not being better than anything is getting a lot of chuckles from the audience and the blogosphere.

10:11: It's official. Apple's new tablet is called the iPad. Basically, it looks like a bigger iPhone. Like its little brother, it essentially has the same type of interface, an accelerometer, touchsreen (with a larger touchscreen keyboard that Jobs says is "a dream" to type on), same flicking action, and, of course, all sorts of apps.

10:15: Jobs is now demoing the iPad's browsing capabilities. He visits several sites first, then moves on to demo it's e-mail capabilities. Basically, Apple's goal is to create a device that serves as a middle ground between an iPhone and a laptop and does certain things better than both (that's where the netbook burn basically came from). Whether or not Apple succeeds with the iPad is something we'll find out eventually, I guess.

10:20: Maybe it's just me, but I think Jobs really likes Bob Dylan. The iPad's music interface apparently is closer to iTunes than it is to the iPhone. Given the extra real estate and what have you, it does seem to make sense.

10:31: Now it's time for some specs: The iPad is 0.5 inches thin, weighs 1.5 pounds, and features a 9.7-inch, "full-capacitive multi-touch" IPS (In-Plane Switching) display. Powering the device is a 1GHz Apple A4 chip. The device will come in three iterations that feature 16GB, 32GB and 64GB of memory. For networking, the device will have WiFi 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1 plus EDR. Besides the accelerometer, it will also feature a compass in case you get lost admiring your shiny, new iPad. Other features include speakers, a mic and 30-pin connector.

10:33: Battery life is apparently 10 hours, including when watching video. For a videophile such as yours truly who takes long trips, that's actually a big deal. Standby is also over one month, Apple claims.

10:36: Now it's time for one of Apple's golden geese: apps. Apple's showing several games, including a first-person shooter. It would be interesting to see how this stuff controls (which is supposedly customizable). Then Apple showed the New York Times app. All I can say is, if Apple can make reading newspapers cool for the younger generation (which the industry has struggled with mightily for a loooong time), then newspapers will kiss Jobs figuratively and literally.

10:45: Hey look, a paint app. As a former art minor who switched minors to English because I flat ran out of money for art supplies, this app will, well, likely not help too much from an art supply standpoint but it's still a nice thing to have.

10:48: Check it out. EA's demoing its racing game Need for Speed. Where's Tom Cruise when you need him? (I feel the need ... the need for speed!) I feel like watching Top Gun all of a sudden. They squeeze in some baseball, too.

10:54: Oooh, iBooks. Jobs' credits Amazon for really kick starting the field. "Now we'll crush them like the tiny, little rainforest ants that they are." Actually he didn't say the latter but I wouldn't be surprised if his inner Jobs was thinking the exact same thing. Looks like Apple will support the EPUB format. Interface for iBooks also looks iTunes-ish.

11:00: Now they're demoing iWork. I think I'll start adding that little "i" when talking to people about my job. "Yeah, I'm iWorking right now on an iArticle about iFalafels." Notice how my credibility suddenly went up a hundredfold with that little change. Anywho, they're demoing how to create presentations, spreadsheets. etc.

11:13: Time for some networking talk. Though Wi-Fi is standard, some iPads will also come with 3G. There will apparently be two data plans — a 250MB plan for $14.99 per month and $29.99 for unlimited data, both with AT&T. Both don't require any contracts and you can also get free use of AT&T's WiFi hotspots. I wonder if there's any synergy for folks such as myself who already are AT&T customers... Incidentally, a data plan was the biggest buzzkill for survey respondents in a recent Apple tablet survey.

11:18: Money talks so it's time for some pricing info. iPad pricing will start at $499 for the 16GB version, $629 with 3G. For the 32GB iPad, the two price points are $599 for the Wi-Fi version and $729 for the Wi-Fi+3G version. Pricing for the 64GB iPad is $699 and $829 respectively. (I wonder if you can plug an external hard drive to this thing?). The Wi-Fi-only iPad starts shipping in 60 days while the Wi-Fi+3G model starts shipping in 90 days.

11:20: For accessories, it looks like there will a be an iPad dock, a keyboard dock and a case. Pretty sparse for now. I'm sure third-party manufacturers are licking their chops...

11:27: A few loose ends now. The iPad features a backlight display so it will be interesting to see how eBooks look on it, given how many folks prefer the look of E Ink. The multi-touch screen also features 1,000 hardware sensors. Oh yeah, not only is the device "revolutionary," Apple says it's also "magical." And no, I don't think the latter has anything to do with all the unicorn pictures some sites ran with their iPad rumor stories.

11:33: Jobs ends the presentation surrounded by a screen of paint splotches. So what do you think of Apple's new iPad? Personally, I think it looks pretty solid but I also wasn't incredibly blown away by it. That may change when the platform matures and more stuff becomes available for it. In the meantime, I've also put together an iPad first look recap with specs and features. Thanks for tuning in!

Following Apple's Big Jan. 27 Announcement (cough, Apple Tablet, cough) originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 00:01:34.

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