Archive for the ‘gadgets’ Category

APPLE MAKES $46.33 BILLION in 1ST QUARTER

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

You may have heard of this tremendous feat that Apple accomplished but Engadget has a full breakdown of how each piece of Apple hardware did on its own.  Pretty interesting information here. The iPhone alone sold $37.04 Million alone.

MICROSOFT CREATING “MINORITY REPORT” STOREFRONTS [VIDEO]

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

Remember how cool you thought it would be if our computer experience was more like Tom Cruise’s in Minority Report?  Well that experience is here and it’s brought to you by Microsoft.  Mashable has the article and video…we just wanted to share this info with you all.  What do you guys think about this?

CASHMERE TECH WRAP-UP

Friday, July 15th, 2011

IT HAS FINALLY ARRIVED, SPOTIFY RELEASED IN THE U.S.

The much anticipated launch of the music listening site Spotify has finally arrived.  After being around for months in Europe, Spotify is launching its music subscription in the U.S. with paid monthly plans, as well as a limited free streaming plan.  The paid subscriptions are available now for purchase, and they will be rolling out logins for free streaming to those who sign up through email.  The paid plans cost $4.99 for ad-free music streaming, and $9.99 for the premium package, which includes full mobile access on select platforms.  With its instant music stream, easy share options, and its connection with Facebook, Spotify hopes to hit 50 million users in their first year in the U.S.

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NETFLIX SPLITS SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE TO SEPARATE STREAMING AND DVD DELIVERY

Netflix, the leader in film rental and online viewing, has decided to split its unlimited packages into two plans.  Users will now have to pay for two separate plans to receive unlimited DVDs and online streaming together.  Packaged plans used to cost $9.99 for both, but now will be $7.99/mo for each service, or about $16 for both.  The upside is that you can choose to have one or the other and not pay for both.  These new prices will be effective for any new user signing up, and will go into effect for current subscribers on September 1.

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GOOGLE+ HITS 10 MILLION USERS AFTER WEEK TWO

As we noted over the past couple weeks, tech giant Google has released its new social network, Google+, as a test to a selected number of people.  With the power of the internet and content sharing already built by sites like Facebook and Twitter, the Google+ invites were quickly passed around, allowing the platform to seemingly be “public”. With the advantage of already having such a large network of people with Google accounts, the advantage was already present, but if these numbers are anywhere near accurate, it will be the fastest growing product to ever hit the internet. They have a long way to go to get anywhere close to the 750 Million users that Facebook now has, but the future looks promising.

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EX-PIXAR DESIGNER CREATES AMAZING INTERACTIVE CHILDREN’S BOOK ON THE IPAD

Famed author, illustrator, and ex-Pixar designer William Joyce has brought a new twist to the typical children’s book, with “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore”.  This e-book, designed specifically for the iPad, is like a kids classic story, mixed with a fully animated movie, all in one.  The best part about the app is its seamless interactive component, allowing users, mostly kids, to interact with the story in many different ways, and with great ease. With such creativity and interactivity, this book/app is sure to be a hit among parents and kids everywhere.

See the video for yourself, it will amaze you: “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore”

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VITAMINWATER BUS STOP ADS WITH PHONE CHARGING STATIONS

Vitamwater is adding to its marketing for the “You’re Up” campaign with some creative thinking.  In major cities such as New York, LA, Boston, and Chicago, these bus stop ads will have a 5-port USB charging station for cell phones, music players, and other portable devices.  These charging stations are not a new concept, but adding them to bus stops in busy metropolitan areas has never been done before.   Finally, an advertisement that is actually useful.

Read full article here

CASHMERE TECH WRAP-UP

Friday, July 8th, 2011

FACEBOOK ANNOUNCES VIDEO CALLING FEATURE

Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Wednesday that Facebook will be introducing two new chat features in the coming weeks. The first feature is the new video chat option, in partnership with tech giant Skype.  The second new feature will be an updated version of chat groups, where they are created instantly, allowing multiple users to join together in a chat without creating the necessary Facebook group.

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PRESIDENT OBAMA HOSTS FIRST EVER TWITTER TOWN HALL

President Obama has always been an advocate for the US Government to be active on social media networks, and he took it step further this week with the first ever town hall meeting hosted directly on Twitter.  Obama began the conversation with a tweet of his own (see picture below) and proceeded to yield questions from the general public.  Twitter users could reach the President using the #AskObama hashtag, with most questions focused on jobs and the economy.  Obama answered the questions on a live streaming twittercast, and the White House account would shorten the response to the given 140 characters. 18 questions were answered in total, before looking at responses to his answers.  He was even given a question from Speaker of the House John Boehner, which he willfully answered.  Overall, it was a successful and innovative way to reach directly to the American people, and he is sure to continually be active on the social media front throughout his 2012 campaign.

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ARTISTDATA FOUNDER LAUNCHES NEW ONLINE SPACE, ONESHEET

Brendan Mulligan, who founded the music app ArtistData, launched a new site to host bands called OneSheet.  This site is designed to be similar to a band’s website, but with further integration of its many partnering social media apps.  With a one-stop shop for all the different networks a band is a part of, OneSheet is sure to be a frequently visited hub for all types of artists.  With virtually no upkeep needed, a band’s OneSheet will integrate its Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, Tumblr, YouTube, etc… to give their fans all the info in one place.  The cool thing about this site is that it is completely free for bands, which could serve as a good alternative to expensive personal sites.  OneSheet is still in testing, so artists can only reserve their designated URL for now, and will be notified upon the official launch of the site.

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AMAZON ENHANCES CLOUD STORAGE WITH UNLIMITED SPACE

In order to keep up with Google and Apple, Amazon is enhancing its cloud based file storage service, to cater to the musically inclined users.   Now, when yo sign up for a basic account, you will get unlimited music storage space, along with the general file space you are allotted with your plan.  This is only for a limited time, so consumers will have to act fast.  Amazon has also updated its HTML version of the Cloud Player, enabling music and files to be played on an iPad.

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GOOGLE+ USERS DISCUSS NEW SOCIAL NETWORK

Robert Scoble, and many other tech bloggers and tastemakers have been reviewing the new Google+ social media site lately.  According to him, the site has some bugs that need to be worked out, including the speed of notifications and the dropping of friends.  His wife also added that it will take a while to catch on because why not just connect with people on Facebook, which already has the user base built up.  Google+ has a better news and content feed, along with new and creative ways of sharing, but there is still a lot of work to be done.  Time will be the ultimate factor, but there seems to be a healthy buzz about it in the social media world.

Read full article here

CASHMERE TECH WRAP-UP

Friday, July 1st, 2011

SPECIFIC MEDIA AND JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE LOOK TO REVIVE MYSPACE

On Wednesday, it was announced to the public that digital media firm Specifc Media had purchased social network site Myspace.  The interesting part about the acquisition is the inclusion of Grammy-Award winning artist Justin Timberlake as a Creative Director for Strategy.  With Specfic Media’s successful background in branding and advertising, and JT’s success in the entertainment industry, this pairing could bring Myspace back to a profitable social media network.  According to reports, they will aim to make Myspace a a one-stop shop for fans to come to interact with artists, entertainers, and brands.  The Specific Media team plans to bring their advertising expertise to the website, to create an innovative social advertising campaign.  With the focus on shows, videos, and music, Timberlake and the team plan to use the existing infrastructure to build upon their network and bring some life back to a site predicted to die in 2012.

Read the full article here

GOVERNMENT REGULATORS SHUT DOWN ONLINE POKER SITE FULL TILT

The British Government has officially shut down the for-money gambling side of popular gaming site FullTiltPoker.com after the U.S. Justice Department cracked down on the site, which was allegedly going around gambling laws set up in the U.S.  The site was a popular destination for online poker players, and was featured as a sponsor for many of the top professionals.  While online gambling is illegal in  the U.S., Full Tilt paid many of their customers as fake merchant accounts, and not as site members.  Unfortunately for most of these members, Full Tilt will not be paying its outstanding accounts until after its hearing in July.  Goodluck to all those with thousands froze up in their accounts, because it could be long, drawn out battle.

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RUMORS FLY ABOUT FREE iPHONE 3GS

Investment firm RBC Capital Markets is reporting the possibility of Apple dropping the price of its iPhone 3GS to ZERO in the coming months, with its goal to attract “mid-market” smartphone buyers.  The tech giant is scheduled to make an announcement soon about its future plans for the release of the iPhone 5 and the “baby iPhone”, which will most likely determine the outcome of its previous versions.  While the iPhone 5 is expected to be released anywhere from this Fall to sometime in 2012, the 3GS could be offered free of charge for new two-year activations.  It is already offered at $99, but the opportunity to get a free iPhone would definitely attract some new customers.

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SOCIAL GAMING SITE ZYNGA FILES FOR IPO AT 1 BILLION DOLLARS

With 60 million daily active users, Zynga has become the leader in social online gaming, with widely popular games Farmville and Mafia Wars.  The company raised $597 million in revenue in 2010 with the purchase of “items” in its games, as well as advertising.  Zynga’s Founder Mark Pincus is hoping to raise $1 billion in investments, as it files to go public with the SEC.  With a net profit of roughly $11 million in the first quarter of 2011, Zynga is on the rise and looking to grow even more throughout the rest of the year.

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GOOGLE RELEASE THEIR NEW SOCIAL NETWORK, KNOWN AS GOOGLE+

With Facebook dominating the social space, Google decided to make a more user-friendly and personable social network to take advantage of the billions of people who trust their software.  It is still in beta testing and released through private invitation, but for those who have registered and taken a closer look, there are so many things to cheer about with Google+.  The first main quality is the selection of sharing through what they call “circles”.  You can pick and choose your specific social circles, so you no longer have to feel stage fright about what you are posting or sharing.  The second main attribute is what they call the “spark”, a live, content relevant feed from Google of all the topics you love and care about.  The third big upside of the new network is the chat feature, which allows for a selective group video chat to stay connected with your friends.  Google seems like they have been fixing everything that is wrong with Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace, and I am sure the buzz will explode once it is actually released to the public.

Read the full article here

New Gadget: SHORT++

Monday, June 27th, 2011

Today’s technological find is brought you by the Cashmere Crew’s own, Grace Park; all 5 foot, 2 and half inches of her:

I’m short. Not short as in “that’s cute”, but short as in my neck hurts when I talk to people. So when I came across SHORT++, a robotic shoe that is controlled by an iPhone application, I thought it was genius.

It can be controlled real-time through your phone while you interact with the tall “others” and though it’s not much of a fashion statement, it might be nice to look someone in their eyes, not the bottom of their chin once in a while. The application looks extremely simple and easy to use.

Here is a video of how it works! And for more  information and videos visit adimarom.com!

CASHMERE TECH WRAP-UP

Friday, June 17th, 2011

PRESIDENT OBAMA TO START TWEETING FROM @BARACKOBAMA

As Barack Obama’s 2012 Presidential campaign starts gearing up, his social media networks have been taken over by his campaign staff, as well as himself.  Ever since Obama’s twitter account has become active, his tweets have come mostly from his White House staff, but with next year’s campaign tour is quickly approaching, the President himself will begin posting his own tweets, signed with a “BO” at the end.  His 2008 campaign was centralized around Facebook, and from all indications, 2012 will be pushed heavily in 140 characters or less.

Read the full article here

PANDORA GOES PUBLIC, WITH A GREAT FIRST DAY ON THE NYSE

Investors flocked to the New York Stock Exchange release of Pandora, the online streaming radio website.  Pandora (P) sold at $16 a share on Wednesday, well above its anticipated price of $10-$12 per share.  After large technology companies such as LinkedIN did very well in their initial sale, investors were eager to get a hold of the recently public shares of Pandora.  Selling a total $234.9 Million in the first day, Pandora sold about 9 percent of its total available shares.  With recent successes of tech stocks, there was a pent up demand for Pandora to be released, and only time will tell how it compares to the larger firms such as Apple, Google, and Amazon.

Read the full article here

TWITTER AUTOMATES LINK SHORTENING

Twitter has recently announced that its web app, Twitter.com, will now be automatically shortening all links down to a reasonable 19 characters.  Marked by its shortening code “t.co”, all links will be shortened down to a specific link ID, with an abbreviated look at where the link is taking you.  Other shortening services like Hootsuite and Bit.ly will still be available, especially with their advanced analytics, but you will now see all tweets with links from Twitter.com looking very similar.

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TURNTABLE.FM HITS MUSIC FANS WITH THE NERDY APPROACH

Turntable.fm has launched a website that allows users to congregate in music rooms, with chosen “DJ’s” playing songs from their uploaded playlist for everyone else to listen to.  The DJ’s will take turns playing tracks that are either uploaded from their own libraries, or searched for in the turntable.fm library.  Other users will have a chance to vote on the tracks as being “lame” or “awesome”, which gives the DJ’s points.  If a track becomes too “lame”, it stops playing and the next DJ is loaded up.  There is also a chat function that allows all those in the room to comment and discuss the music.  With the ability to create custom rooms with all your friends or coworkers, it appears that a little more of the work day will be spent on another networking site.

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FACEBOOK BUILDING PHOTO-SHARING APP

In a move to attempt to keep driving a majority of the social networking through its own site, Facebook is reportedly in the process of developing its own photo-sharing app.  With big start-ups like Instagram and Color gaining popularity with their apps, Facebook could be feel their market share is being threatened and may be taking steps to keep control of the social sphere.  Look out for more information to come out in the coming weeks, but we know that there is something in the works.

Read full article here

Cashmere Tech Wrap Up

Friday, June 3rd, 2011

FIRST SNEAK PEEK OF WINDOWS 8

As Microsoft continues to compete in the Operating System world, their newest version of Windows is going to be a huge jump from Windows 7. Looking more like the operating system of a touchscreen phone, “Windows 8″ is an outside-the-box type of system, introducing new and innovative concepts to making computing more simple and enjoyable.

Today, they released the first trailer for their new OS, revealing many of the new features they have been secretly working on.  Check out the video, you may be surprised by what they are introducing to the standard of computers.

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HYPEBOT ANNOUNCES THAT 34% OF U.S. BROADBAND USERS ACCESS MUSIC ON THEIR PHONES

Last week we reported that Apple was close to signing deals with all the major record labels to release its iCloud music service.  With these new services and the rise of sales of smartphones, the use of phones as a music device is becoming more and more common.  Hypebot explains how a Parks Associates report demonstrates a sharp rise from 7% in 2009 to 34% in 2010 using their phones to play music.  This is also pushing web music providers to make sure their services are mobile friendly.

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THE FIRST EVER USER GENERATED 3D PROJECTION MAPPING, BROUGHT TO YOU BY WRIGLEY’S 5 GUM

Wrigleys has been working lately on a really unique way to launch their new line of 5 Gum.  In Johannesburg, South Africa, Wrigleys created a campaign where users could create their own 3D image projections online, and have them projected on to a real building, creating the world’s first user generated 3D projection mapping.

Here is a video of the live projection on the side of a building in South Africa’s largest city.

Wrigley’s 5 Gum :: Launches In Joburg from Dont Party on Vimeo.

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CRUX LOADED TURNS IPAD2 INTO A LAPTOP

There are so many gizmos and gadgets being released to accompany one of the highest selling electronic devices on the market, the Apple iPad2.  Amongst all the flare and unnecessary apps and add-ons, comes the Crux Loaded by CruxCase, a hardshell cover that turns the tablet into a laptop.  Although there have been other keyboard attachments for the device, the Crux is the first one of its kind to have a fully functional track-pad that serves as an replacement for the touch screen. All we know is that this could be one of the most useful iPad additions out there.

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ONE.ORG RELEASES ITS FIRST ACTIVISM APP

You know when everyone says, “Yea, there’s an app for that”?  Well ONE.org has now joined the conversation.  The organization, co-founded by U2 front-man Bono to fight world poverty, has created its first iPhone app in hopes of connecting the philanthropic  community and encouraging activism within it.  With their motto being that “activism is more important than monetary donation”, what better way to get people involved than to bring the organization right to your hands!

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Cashmere Tech Wrap Up

Friday, May 20th, 2011

WAHWAH.FM IS LIKE FOURSQUARE, FOR SOUND

Imagine being able to listen to streaming music, and broadcast it to others around you, all from you iPhone.  That is exactly what new Berlin start-up wahwah.fm brings to the the music game.  With this new app, you can listen to streaming music from Soundcloud, and broadcast a playlist simultaneously to users around you.  It is very similar to Foursquare, but instead of checking in to a business or place, you are checking into a playlist from another user.  With wahwah.fm, users can comment on other’s playlists, as well as track how many listeners they have on their own stations.  In essence, the award-winning app is bringing back the art of music discovery, but to your phone, with millions of tiny radio stations.

Released at this year’s “The Next Conference” and winner of “The Next Elevator Award” for best new start-up, the beta version of wahwah.fm is slotted to be released to a few trial users this Spring.

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SOCIAL NETWORKS OFFER A WAY TO NARROW THE FIELD OF FRIENDS

Have you ever wanted to post a picture, video, or status update for only a few people to see, not your entire Facebook or Twitter network?  Maybe they don’t care about such small happenings in your life, or maybe you don’t want everyone to see it.  Whatever the case is, these new web services are now offering a way to select groups of people to share content with.  Facebook is leading the way, starting the new Groups feature, as well as the new Send button, for you to share these posts with select people or directly from person to person.

Some of these companies include Path, GroupMe, Frenzy, Rally Up, Shizzlr, Huddl and Bubbla.  These services are aiming to eliminate the strangeness involved in posting to your entire network, and bring you comfort in be able to share content with your book club, sports team, family, neighborhood, or social club.

Dave Morin- Founder of PATH

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FOOTLOCKER LAUNCHES SNEAKERPEDIA, A WIKIPEDIA FOR SNEAKER HEADS

In an effort to align itself with the sneaker-head community, Foot Lockers has launched its brand new sneaker info site, “Sneakerpedia”.  Modeled after Wikipedia, the site allows users to find the make, year launched, composition, and style of all different types of shoes.  Users can also upload stories about their particular experience with the sneakers as well.

There are some definite questions about the site that remains to be answered.  One, with the focus more on shoes already on the market, are they going to grab the attention of sneaker maniacs who normally look for info on future releases?  Will they gain site traffic, especially with very little Foot Locker branding on the website? Will sales increase even though there is no link to buy the shoes on the new site?  All these will be answered in the coming months, but we do know that the idea is definitely innovative.

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FACEBOOK PHOTO TAGS FOR PAGES LET USERS SHOW THEIR LOVE FOR BRANDS

Facebook users can now interact with brand’s pages in a whole new way.  Unlike before, where you could only tag your friends in photos, Facebook has added a feature to be able to tag pages too.  For example, if you were posting a picture of you and your friends at TAO Nightclub in Vegas with Kanye West performing, you could tag both TAO and Kanye’s Facebook pages in the photo.  This is a great new way to interact with your favorite brands, celebrities, and companies to show support.  This is also great for the brands themselves, as they can get a better idea of their customer base and how much affinity they have toward the brand.

10 CREATIVE WAYS MUSICIANS CAN USE QR CODES

Here are 10 tips for musicians to use QR codes (via Hypebot):

1. Connect a gig poster with a place to buy tickets
2. Connect posters to a video or track that sells the band
3. Connect your t-shirt to your website
4. Connect a t-shirt or poster to a free download
5. Connect a poster to your online store with a discount
6. Connect a poster to your Facebook page
7. Connect signage on stage or merch table to mobile friendly site with email sign-up
8. Connect your CD cover to an email sign-up
9. Connect a CD cover to bonus content
10. Offer a free track to retailers who include your name and QR code connecting to a tweet-for or email-for-track landing page

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Cashmere Tech Wrap-Up

Friday, April 8th, 2011

UPGRADED TWITTER SEARCH HELPS YOU FIND NEW PEOPLE TO FOLLOW

Twitter has rolled out an update to its search tool that makes it easier to find new people to follow.

Now, when you search for a given topic on the microblogging site, you’ll get suggestions of people and accounts that tweet about that topic. For instance, a search for “movies” yields Roger Ebert, Judd Apatow, Jon Favreau and the iTunes Trailer account under the “People results for movies” sidebar.

You can get further suggestions by clicking on the “People” tab on the left-hand side search results where you can also browse recent tweets about the queried topic. In the movies example, further results include Tom Hanks, DisneyPixar and Kevin Smith.

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YOUTUBE LAUNCHES LIVE STREAMING PAGE

YouTube, the video site owned by Google, on Friday unveiled a page highlighting live programming and said users have asked for more live streams.

“With over 2 billion views a day, it’s easy to think about YouTube as a place to watch videos recorded in the past,” it said in a blog post. “But you’ve told us you want more – and that includes events taking place right now. In response, we’ve live streamed a number of popular concerts, sporting events, and interviews, but primarily on a one-off basis.”

The initial rollout of YouTube Live will “integrate live streaming capabilities and discovery tools directly into the YouTube platform for the first time,” the video site said.

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SONGZA RETOOLS AS SOCIAL RADIO

Over the last few months Songza has made the transition from quirky streamer of YouTube audio to a non-interactive DMCA compliant radio model with a licenced library of 11.3 million songs.  Internet radio is a crowded field, but Songza’s angle is to make listening social. “The under 35 demo spends 87 minutes per day listening to music in a social vacuum,” according to Songza’s Eric Davich. “That experience will change, like many other experiences on the web, to become far more social and immersive.”

Social radio on Songza means playlists created by people: friends, celebrities and groups of users collaborating.

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SMALL CARRIER GET BIG TAILWIND FROM SOCIAL MEDIA

THE popularity of Richard Simmons, the fitness guru known for his big personality and tiny shorts, peaked sometime in the 1980s, but on YouTube he is enjoying something of a Justin Bieber moment.

Mr. Simmons stars in an in-flight safety video for Air New Zealand in which, along with providing standard instructions about oxygen masks and flotation devices, he leads crew members clad in fluorescent spandex and leg warmers in aerobic exercises. Since being uploaded to YouTube on March 28, it has garnered more than 1.9 million views.

Air New Zealand may be a small carrier with a modest presence in the United States (it flies only from airports in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Honolulu), but its online videos, just as surely as its airplanes, seem to always take off.

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INVISIBLE INSTRUMENT – AN IPHONE BASED MUSIC TOOL

At Music Hack Day NYC, Tim Soo won the top prize with his invisible instruments. Using the iPhone and Wii controller as a MIDI device, he is able to create music out of thin air. Thus far, a drum set, violin, cello, bass, keyboard, and guitar have been developed with many more coming soon. How soon? Soo is currently seeking funding via Kickstarter. Check out Soo’s cover of “Just The Way You Are” by Bruno Mars.

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