|  |  |  | | | | | Appletell | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad, iPhone, iDevice Accessories, Reviews Category: iPhone soft case protection, belt holster
Developer: iSkin
System Requirements: iPhone 4
Price: $39.99 (revoClip available for $19.99)
Availability: Out now  Are holsters necessary for phones? Probably not, but there’s something fun about them—the tactile, tactical feel of snapping your phone out of a belt clip, because, ya know, your phone calls are so important that you need to be able to make them at a moment’s notice. The iSkin duet is actually two products: the revoClip belt holster and the iSkin solo skin for the iPhone itself. You can purchase them separately, or together as the duet.
The solo is a minimalist case—black, soft-shelled plastic with a rubbery feel. It’s a nondescript case with a low profile that comes in Onyx black if you buy it as part of the set (though it comes in a variety if purchased alone). It’s advertised as being incompatible with the Verizon iPhone; but the mute switch butts right up against the hole cut in the case, and is completely accessible. So, no problems there. The revoClip holster has a belt clip that rotates 180 degrees with a solid click-stop action. The clip is hooked and hangs tightly on to a belt. In fact, I had a little trouble taking it off once or twice, but that’s probably a good thing. It grabs the iPhone by two corners on the bottom and one clip along the top. You have to use the revoClip with a case—the iPhone itself it too skinny. iSkin notes that several of its cases are compatible with the revoClip, though most iPhone cases with a slim design should work as well. I tried the clip out with my Capsule case from Uncommon and the revo held it securely, though the top clip was holding it by the top of the thicker, hard plastic case, rather than wrapping around to the front. The release action on the duet is a bit of a problem; the latch isn’t on a hinge, you’re just bending it away from the case enough to push the phone out. One bonus of the revoClip’s design is that it can be used as a stand (in landscape mode), allowing you to videoconference or watch movies because you can store the iPhone in both face out and in positions. Oh, and in case you were curious, there aren’t any “holster settings” like you might find in a Blackberry product. If you want to keep your iPhone on a belt, the iSkin duet is a good combo. While the iSkin is a decent if nondescript case, the revoClip does an excellent job of holding the iPhone securely. I wish it were a little easier to get the iPhone out (especially one-handed while hanging on a belt), but better that it hold a little to tightly than a little too loosely. My advice? Buy the clip, and look for a skin that better suits your sense of style. Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Section: Reviews, Originals Author: Michael Chorost
Publisher: Free Press
Publication Date: February 15, 2011
ISBN 10: 1439119147
ISBN 13: 978-1439119143
Pages: 256
Price: $14.84  What role do our brains play in the Internet? How “filtered” is our expression, and what effect does that linguistic filter and geographical distance have on the way we communicate? From a humble beginning of a dead Blackberry and culminating in a grand theoretical vision of a world where humans might one day share not only words but entire emotions and perceptions in a direct brain-to-brain link, Dr. Michael Chorost builds a fascinating and scientifically plausible theory about how we might one day integrate networked machines into the human body.
World Wide Mind: The Coming Integration of Humanity, Machines, and the Internet presents, in more or less layman’s terms, a roadmap to building technology capable of reading and stimulating neural activity in the brain related to memory, with the ultimate goal of sharing that information via the Internet with other people connected to this World Wide Mind. As the recipient of cochlear implants himself and through a profoundly personal story of his own search for personal connectedness, Chorost is in a unique position to consider the impacts of melding the human body with technology and enabling the sharing of a deeper level of human consciousness. At its heart, World Wide Mind is the ultimate love story. Chorost is on a journey towards self enlightenment, learning to overcome his own self image of being “short and deaf,” which prevented him from being fully open to experience true personal intimacy—not physical, but the emotional and conscious sharing of another persons’s innermost being. Unfortunately for some readers, Chorost’s path to discovery led right through a clothing-optional intimacy workshop, which may fall squarely outside the comfort zone of more inhibited individuals. This journey, however, is interleaved with fascinating medical and biological research into the inner workings of the brain and ways to monitor that activity, tied neatly to the learning and growth Chorost does through his workshop experience. Scientific advances in neurobiology and a field Chorost introduces called “optogenetics” (the genetic modification of neurons to display and respond to certain wavelengths of light) are built in concert with the author’s journey towards deeper interpersonal connections. Rather than being simply another technological means of communication, Chorost posits that the World Wide Mind could allow for an entirely new form of telempathetic sharing. For more prudish readers, fear not: a telempathetic connection as described in the book can be achieved while fully clothed. Conventional wisdom holds that technology tends to be colder, more impersonal, and ultimately isolating (just think of how many times you have seen several people at a table each reading their own facebook/twitter/whatever feed on a smartphone rather than communicating with the people with whom they are sharing a meal)! The impersonal media of the telephone and telegraph were decried as ruinous to civilization itself, because they would lead to the downfall of face to face communication. By enabling people to share not just a tweet about their dog’s latest antics, but to share instead a visual memory of the event and the feeling of joy associated with the event, this connection could bring people closer together. Chorost’s contribution is not so much a specific technological path—indeed, the theoretical trappings of the World Wide Mind, including genetic modification of the brain and implantation of LED lights with fiber optic cabling in the skull, make the entire notion highly undesirable (imagine standing in line for the latest iPhone, only you need anesthesia, retroviruses, and that awful hospital gown while recuperating). Unlike science fiction such as Star Trek, where the writers are both unconcerned with and unconstrained by reality, Chorost lays out a vision of human-machine integration that is at least technically feasible, if not very pleasant. World Wide Mind pulls from advanced research in neuroscience, biology, traumatic brain injury treatment, and social sciences to build a conceptually feasible view of this World Wide Mind, and its potential impacts on humanity’s ability to share experiences. The ability to plug your mind into the Internet may invoke visions (for the Trekkies out there) of the Borg Collective or Vulcan mind melds. But the technology and the ways of sharing mind-to-mind that Chorost describes are more closely related to ancient oral traditions carried by bards and other storytellers. The World Wide Mind provides a connection and platform on which to share memories and emotions, much as a storyteller would evoke scenes of long-past heros or epic battles to a group. Group members visualize the scene in their own way, adding their experiences to the framework laid down by the storyteller. In a way, the World Wide Mind is a step back from the explicit images we are accustomed to with movies and MMS, but maybe the point is to return the humanity of interpreting shared experiences with our own unique perspectives. As stated before, this book is a love story, one that is less about loving the latest gadget and more about finding the love for our fellow man. If you are willing to suspend disbelief, genetic modification of your brain’s neurons and a fancy LED rig in your head could be the key to doing that. Full Story » | Written by Aaron Kraus for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Section: Macintosh / Apple Hardware, Peripherals, External and Portable Storage Devices, Reviews Provides: Portable data storage
Colors: Black, orange, green, blue, pink
Developer: Verbatim
Minimum Requirements: USB Port
Price: $18.62 (three pack for $52.30)
Availability: Now File storage has come a long way from the days when you had to plug a cord into an external hard drive and lug it around with you. Now USB drives are so small you could mistake them for a paper clip. In fact that is the idea behind Verbatim’s Clip-it USB drive. It is uber tiny, but it still holds 4 GB of storage in what amounts to a fun candy shell. The hardest part about using the Clip-it was figuring out which way the device goes into the port. After all, it fits into a standard 2.0 USB port both ways. Other than that things go fairly smoothly. Unlike other USB drives, this model is not bogged down with proprietary software that takes up your precious memory space. You paid for that space, and all of it is yours. On the whole it stands up to wear and tear well. Just don't run it over and you should be fine. As a very portable storage option, Verbatim’s 4GB Clip-it USB drive worth the price. Full Story » | Written by Katie Gatto for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, iDevice Apps, Reviews  Provides: Highly advanced recording with realtime audio waveform display, input sound processing, SoundCloud integration, and audio file metadata
Developer: Audiofile Engineering
Compatibility:i iOS 4.0 and above
Price: $5.99
If you find yourself hampered by the limited recording capabilities included with Apple’s Voice Memos application (and if you do anything more complicated than record a simple “pick up milk” type memo, you will), Audiofile’s excellent FiRe is the definitive, gold standard, stereo audio recording app. Packed full of enough features that are well laid out, thoughtfully integrated, and super responsive even on older iPhones/iPods, FiRe could easily replace more complicated (and heavier) audio recording gear. Accepting input from the built-in microphone, line-in microphone, or a dock connector microphone plugin, FiRe is an outstanding component of an overall recording setup. Sound Recording FiRe handles sound recording quickly and competently on the “Recording” screen, where dual-view of the audio waveform being captured is displayed. During recording, this basic screen shows a timer, input level bars, a zoomed version of the audio waveform, and a view of the overall waveform that has been recorded. The display conveniently flips through 180º, so if you are using a dock connector mic and flip the iDevice to hold it like a regular mic, the recording display reorients itself for optimal reading at this angle. While recording, there is an option to automatically add markers at predefined intervals, with a convenient double-tap navigation between markers after recording is complete to make finding that particular segment all the easier. This level of polish is evidenced throughout the app, making its $5.99 price feel scandalously cheap.  Before you record, FiRe offers a veritable schmorgasbord of choices, including the overall recording quality (Low/Medium/High), time format to be used for recording, whether the iDevice should sleep while recording, and limits on the total file size per recording (2 GB is the standard). To enhance the quality of the recording, a variety of audio processing presets are available to minimize background noise (Rumble Reducer) or bring out a particular subject during the recording (Male and Female Voice Enhancers). FiRe provides the ability to tag recordings with a mountain of information, including a photo for the recording, a geotag, and metadata tags for major formats like AIFF, WAVE, Broadcast WAVE, and Ogg Vorbis. These tags may also be populated after the recording is made, and defaults can be set for many of them to reduce repetitive entry. Post-Recording  Once you have recorded, FiRe’s capabilities are hardly exhausted. The basic screen now displays the total length of the clip, the entire waveform captured that allows for scrubbing across the recording, and the zoomed version of the waveform that allows for more fine scrubbing across a segment of the recording. Playback with scrubbing is also available from the main Recordings screen (a library of all the recordings in the app), along with a search bar that searches not only recording names but also metadata. Once you have found the file you are looking for, have tagged it as necessary, and are ready to share it, there are three main choices. To push recordings from the iDevice out you can FTP them or upload them directly into SoundCloud. SoundCloud is an audio sharing site similar to YouTube, and it requires a separate account. Luckily, FiRe supports the tag formats in use on SoundCloud, so uploaded recordings are already tagged and ready to go. If FTP/SoundCloud upload is not your chosen solution, FiRe also has the ability to allow browser-based access to the Recordings library. WIth a flick of a button, FiRe turns your iDevice into a server hosting a Bonjour gallery of recordings. For all the various sharing options, the built-in codecs provide the opportunity to compress the sound to speed up transfer. These include Apple Lossless, FLAC, WAVE, AAC, and Ogg Vorbis. No matter who the recipients are, chances are you can find a format they will be able to play back without issues. And speaking of playback, for users who find themselves overwhelmed by the speed of their recorded speakers, FiRe includes a decent audio speed controller with pitch control, so speeding up that slow-as-molasses presenter will not lead to comic Mickey Mouse sounds! Let’s Hear the Verdict FiRe is a winner. When an app is this good, it is a disservice to find a cute way of saying that. For occasional use, the $5.99 price tag is more than reasonabl. And for serious audio engineers, anyone conducting interviews, or anybody who needs a full featured solution to record, play back, and share audio, the app is a no brainer (especially when coupled with an external mic such as the Mikey 2.0 from Blue Microphones, which I used during testing). FiRe is literally bursting at the seams with truly useful features, and it performs exactly the way an app should: giving you access to all those options when you want them, and getting out of the way and doing its job flawlessly when you need it to. Full Story » | Written by Aaron Kraus for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »
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