Quick tip.
Ask Siri to remind you to pick up the letter. Siri will add this with a time action. However, ask Siri to remember to pick up the letter, Siri adds this with no time action.
Ask Siri to navigate home. It opens Apple Maps. Ask Siri to navigate home by transit, this will open Google maps app (or whatever third party sat nav software installed).
Apple has produced a top 30 mastered for iTunes classical album list. I have started to wade through the options and must say I am impressed by their selection. Below is a list of their top 30.
1. Hildegard von Bingen, The Origin of Fire
Anonymous 4 (Harmonia Mundi)
2. Allegri, Miserere and Palestrina, Missa Papae Marcelli
Tallis Scholars, Peter Philips
3. Vivaldi, The Four Seasons
Janine Jansen (Decca)
4. Bach, The Brandenburg Concertos
Rinato Alessandrini (Naive)
5. Bach, The Goldberg Variations
Glenn Gould (Sony)
6. Handel, Messiah
Harry Christophers, The Sixteen (Coro)
7. Mozart, Piano Concertos 20 and 21
Friedrich Gulda, Abbado, Wiener Philharmoniker (DG)
8. Mozart, Late Symphonies 38-41
Sir Charles Mackerras, Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Linn)
9. Mozart, Requiem
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Concentus Musicus Wien (Sony)
10. Beethoven, Symphony No. 5
Kleiber, Wiener Philharmoniker (DG)
11. Beethoven, Symphony No. 9
Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker (DG)
12. Helene Grimaud of Beethoven Piano Works including the “Emperor” Concerto
13. Chopin, Nocturnes
Arthur Rubinstein (Sony)
14. Mendelssohn & Bruch Violin Concertos
Heifetz (Sony)
15. Verdi, La Traviata
Netrebko, Villazon, Rizzi, Wiener Philharmoniker (DG)
16. Wagner, The Ring of the Niebelungs
Solti, Wiener Philharmoniker (Decca)
17. Bizet, Carmen
Domingo, Abbado, LSO (DG)
18. Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake
Previn, LSO (EMI)
19. Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”
Kubelik, Berliner Philharmoniker (DG)
20. Puccini, La Boheme
Pavarotti, Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker (Decca)
21. Rachmaninov, Piano Concerto No. 2
Ashkenazy, Previn, LSO (Decca)
22. Holst, The Planets
Rattle, Berliner Philharmoniker (EMI)
23. Elgar, Cello Concerto
Du Pre, Barbirolli, LSO (EMI)
24. Ravel, Bolero + Other Masterworks
Boulez, Berliner Philharmoniker (DG)
25. Stravinsky, Rite of Spring + Mussorgsky Night on Bare Mountain + Bartok Miraculous Mandarin
Salonen, LA Philharmonic (DG)
26. Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue, American in Paris; Bernstein, West Side Story Symphonic Dances
Bernstein, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic (Sony)
27. Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet
Gergiev, LSO (LSO Live)
28. Barber, Adagio for Strings + Copland, Appalachian Spring etc.
Bernstein, New York Philharmonic (Sony)
29. Glass: Various Concertos (Orange Mountain)
30. Elgar, Enigma Variations / LSO Live / Sir Colin Davis
Update. I bought numbers 16, 17, 20 and 29. All really good. 16 and 29 were my favourites.
Amazingly iOS 6.1 now equates according to Chitika to over 82% of all web traffic.
Very impressive.
Apple Updates Processors & Prices of MacBook Pro with Retina Display –
CUPERTINO, California-February 13, 2013-Apple® is making the MacBook Pro® with Retina® display faster and more affordable with updated processors and lower starting prices. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display now starts at $1,499 for 128GB of flash, and $1,699 for a new 2.6 GHz processor and 256GB of flash. The 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display now features a faster 2.4 GHz quad-core processor, and the top-of-the-line 15-inch notebook comes with a new 2.7 GHz quad-core processor and 16GB of memory. Apple today also announced that the 13-inch MacBook Air® with 256GB of flash has a new lower price of $1,399.
Despite the lower price point, these laptops are still premium machines.
Recently on twitter several friends of mine were discussing the pros and cons of streaming music. There were arguments for local storage or streaming.
There are several services available including Google Music which allows you to store 20,000 songs for free. This is a very worthy feature as most people will be able to upload all their music library into the cloud. Amazon by contrast offers 250 songs before you need to pay and Apple is pay immediately. There are other streaming services from the likes of Spotify too.
I was thinking about the arguments for and after, and basically it boils down to whether you have a decent fast Internet coverage. And a broadband or mobile tariff that can cope with the demand in data. With on device local storage your music is always there but if you have a large music collection you are unlikely to fit it all on your phone unless you have something like an iPod Classic 160gb.
However, I think there is a major advantage of streaming instead of local storage. I have deleted all my music on my iPad and if I want to listen to anything I stream it over wifi to my iPad. This means I free up tons of space to fit more games and all my photos. It also means I don’t have to worry or think about buying a bigger capacity iPad, unless I need more space for games. But this only works because the iPad doesn’t venture away from a fixed wifi spot. If it travelled all over the place then the argument to keep the music on the local memory will win the day.
What’s your preferences?
I loved the previous versions of Real Racing, especially Real Racing 2 with airplay to my TV.
The next incarnation is being released in two weeks time 28th February and it will be a free to play game. And that’s where I sigh. I just hope the game is playable and not had the fun zapped out with constant in app purchases.
I really don’t like free to play apps. Generally they remove the enjoyment and are a con just trying to exploit your bank account. I would rather pay upfront.
The iOS 6.1 update fixes many huge bugs like the wifi and no service but it has introduced a new one that stops the loudspeaker from working with iOS 6.1. It doesn’t impact everyone but there is a workaround, well sort of.
Firstly you might find that not all audio is crippled. Voice Memo app may well work ok and you will also be able to hear your phone ringing and the speakerphone will function fine during the conversation, but you’ll get no sound from a music track, video file or game.
Restarting the iPhone doesn’t work. So what do you do? and where is the giveaway sign there is a problem. If you have access to AirPlay, you’ll notice something odd that the choice offered to you is usually the local AppleTV and your iPhone, but now the iPhone option alternates between it and Dock Connector. This means that your iPhone believes it’s connected to a Dock and insists on rerouting the sound to a non-existent extension.
So all you can do is restore from fresh. This will wipe your phone and data. If this doesn’t work it’s a trip to the Apple store or Apple support. Not ideal, but then it’s not affecting many people either.
Today I thought it would be useful to highlight a useful feature from iPhoto iOS app. Over the next few weeks, I will periodically select a few apps and pick a feature out that I hope you will find useful. iPhoto has many editing functions, but my favourite is using the repair brush. Look at the 2 photos. The original has a TV mast on the top left. Using the iPhoto repair brush I have been able to remove it as per second photo.
If you have any tips you would like to share, please let me know.
Apple has announced that CEO Tim Cook will speak at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, and his presentation will be streamed live tomorrow, February 12 at 10:15 a.m. Eastern on Apple’s site.
While Cook will probably discuss Apple’s business, it’s rumoured who will announce 2 new products. Personally I doubt it. More a case of gloating on the sales figures of the iPhone and iPad if anything at all.
Back in 2008 Apple obtained a patent for a solar powered front screen. Now if this could be made a reality just think of the benefits of extended battery life and potentially a solution to a common problem of flat batteries and nowhere to charge.
This would be innovation in my book. What do you think ?
Gavin's Gadgets & Photography 