Hasta La Gadget!

There are lots of drum kit apps for mobile devices, but they’re not that easy to use. Many of them look and are arranged like real drum kits instead of being optimized for touchscreen use. Also if you’re a drummer you’re more used to using drum sticks instead of your fingers. Drummerz drum sticks might alleviate those two drawbacks.

Drummerz are made of plastic wrapped in conductive rubber. The company who makes them claims that the sticks are flexible enough that they won’t damage mobile devices, but obviously that largely depends on how hard you swing. They also come with large drum tips that supposedly enhance the sticks’ responsiveness.

You can order the drum sticks from Drummerz for $30 (USD) per pair. As you may have noticed in the video, Drummerz sticks are quite short. They’re 9.5″ long, while traditional drum sticks are typically about 15″ to 17″ long. It would’ve been nice if they could extend to a normal drum stick’s length to make the experience more realistic.

[via Fab]

Google has a history of rolling out its new services to unexpected markets, and the first non-US territories for Google Play Music All Access are no different. Mountain View recently tweeted that users in Australia and New Zealand can now can now take advantage of its subscription-based service, complete with the playlist sharing and track ratings tune hounds saw in the States. Naturally, there’s a trial with the same 30-day restriction in place as on the internet giant’s native soil — after that, Kylie Minogue’s home team will need to cough up $9.99 in local currency each month for unlimited streaming. That $10 deal only applies if you sign up before August, after that it takes a cue from kangaroos and, ahem, jumps to $11.99.

Filed under: Mobile, Google

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Source: Google Play (Twitter)

Jay-Z’s Magna Carta album release with a Samsung-centric app has lit the flame for some rather simple privacy invasion concerns. While many apps request the data this media-touting title does, the scale of this release found itself the subject of chatter from officials at U.S. civil liberties group the Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC). This week Samsung fires back.

Samsung has made clear that they’ve had no intention of selling the information the app collects, nor do they use said information for malicious – or unwarranted – purposes. What information, you might ask? According to EPIC, no less than “massive amounts of personal information… including location data” which they’d then use for “hidden spam techniques.”

This app, they say, promotes itself with these hidden spam techniques to users the initial user is connected to without the knowledge of the user. Of course if you’ve used the app yourself, you’ll know what they’re talking about: sharing through Facebook and Twitter.

“We are aware of the complaint… and believe it is baseless. Samsung takes customer privacy and the protection of personal information very seriously.

Any information obtained through the application download process was purely for customer verification purposes, app functionality purposes and for marketing communications, but only if the customer requests to receive those marketing communications.

Samsung is in no way inappropriately using or selling any information obtained from users through the download process.” – Samsung Representative

If you wanted to see a set of lyrics from one of the Magna Carta Holy Grail songs before the launch of the album, the app required you to share the fact that you were doing so with Facebook or Twitter. At this point in time, sharing is not only still voluntary – it’s relatively hard to do. You can read the full app Privacy Policy for more information if you do so wish.

VIA: Express

Samsung calls Jay-Z app privacy jabs “baseless” is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Logic Pro faces some stiff competition from the likes of Pro Tools, but Apple’s hoping to bring a few more music professionals into its camp with a fairly major revision of the software. Available today for $200, Logic Pro X brings with it a whole new interface that Apple’s Phil Schiller says is “designed to streamline the process of creating professional quality music,” along with a number of new features. Those include Drummer, which draws on performances of some well-known session players and recording engineers to provide realistic drum tracks, as well as Waves Tune-style pitch editing with Flex Pitch, Track Stacks to collapse multiple tracks or create layered instruments, and the Arpeggiator MIDI plug-in. Also launching today is the free Logic Remote app for iPad, and a major update to the Main Stage live performance application (it will set you back $30). Additional details can be found in the press release after the break.

Filed under: Software, Apple

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Source: Apple

Apple just announced a new version of its top-end music production software. It’s been four years since Apple updated its professional editing suite, so there’s a long list of upgrades in Logic Pro X. The improvements range from an overhauled interface to an iPad controller app to a new automatic drummer feature to help fill in your song when you can’t get a drummer into the studio. It’s available now for $200.

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