Now that the iPhone XS is officially available for pre-order, Verizon and Apple are giving Snapchat users the opportunity to win the device through an augmented reality scavenger hunt rather than forking over $1,000 for one.
One of the most popular usages of modern-day smartphones is listening to music. It doesn't matter if you download or stream your tunes, you are part of a massive group of users who do exactly the same. While statistics are a bit foggy on how many smartphones users download music, we do know that over 68% of American smartphone owners stream music on a daily basis.
Within the last week, there have been at least three times when someone asked me to play a good playlist. This is always a tough call. What if I play something that nobody likes? I probably will.
After laying off 40% of its staff this month to cut costs, SoundCloud appears to be struggling to stay afloat. While blog posts from the company have assured fans that the music platform is not in danger of shutting down, some people aren't so sure this is the truth. Internet Archive — a non-profit dedicated to preserving websites and services — announced today that they will be conducting a partial backup of SoundCloud to safeguard the site's content in case of closure.
In the music world, it's safe to say electric instruments are more versatile, but they lack the portability of their acoustic counterparts. However, with the aid of your smartphone plus an audio interface, you can play your electric instrument anywhere — with all the pedal effects you please — and even record your efforts.
When Apple released the iOS 10.2 update to the public on December 12, 2016, iPhone users got a slew of new features, including new emojis, a brand new TV app, the ability to save camera settings, and more. But out of all of these new features, the one that interests me the most is something they didn't even include in the release notes—star ratings are back in the Music app!
The fact that this guide even exists is a downright shame, but that's neither here nor there. The truth of the matter is the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus don't have 3.5 mm headphone jacks, and since they use the Lightning connector to output audio, it's hard to charge your phone while your headphones are plugged in.
You've likely seen light-up musical keyboards that teach you how to play a song with visual cues, but few of those devices exist and have a limited number of songs you can actually learn. But Karl Baumann and his HoloLens Hackathon team figured out that in mixed reality, you can learn music with visual cues with any piano.
Now that Android Auto and Apple CarPlay have finally arrived, the days of clunky in-dash infotainment systems are coming to an end. Instead of using software created by an automotive company to get directions, stream music, or take calls, we can now get the best user experience Silicon Valley has to offer—all while sitting comfortably in the driver's seat.
Sony's Xperia line of smartphones are beautifully crafted and have many great features. But considering the fact that Sony has evolved into a media company over the last two decades, it's their media-related apps that stand out the most.
Everyone's a music aficionado these days. Whether you're having a party or on a road trip with friends, someone is always complaining about the music. There's no possible way to satisfy everyone, so instead of having your music drowned out by persistent nagging, turn Spotify into a democracy, allowing the consensus to pick what plays.
Most new Android devices come with at least one feature that helps control navigation, music, and more through voice-controlled, hands-free communication. While they usually don't end up being completely "hands-free," these apps do stop people from using both hands to perform tasks on their smartphones while driving, therefore distracting them less overall.
AllCast, from renowned developer Koushik Dutta (better known as Koush), allows users to stream personal media, such as movies, photos, and music from mobile devices to Chromecast and other streaming devices.
Amazon is currently offering over $80 in free Android apps in the Amazon Appstore, but only for Friday and Saturday, so make sure to grab them quick before they all go back to normal price. Highlights include the Fleksy Keyboard (normally $3.99), Oxford Dictionary of English with Audio (normally $24.99), and EasyTether (normally $9.99).
We've previously shown you an app called Floating Lyrics which displayed song lyrics in a, you guessed it, floating window. And while that app was great for any minimalist, it was pretty bare bones overall.
Google Now is a wonderfully powerful service—with its predictive cards and voice search, it serves as a great starting point for any searches you need done. In fact, Samsung liked it so much that they decided to build the "Okay, Google" hotword detection right into the Galaxy S5's stock launcher.
Every morning I walk out the door with my headphones plugged in and music blaring. While it's not be the most difficult thing in the world, unlocking my phone and starting my music manually every time feels like a hassle. Pressing play on my headphone's remote will auto-start music in the HTC Music app, but I prefer Google Play Music instead.
If you've just upgraded to an HTC One M8, chances are you've got some media files you want transferred over from your computer or previous phone. Even after you've done that, there will be times when you want to transfer content back to your computer for safe keeping.
What can be said about Spotify that most of us don't already know? It's the most popular digital music streaming service out there, giving you access to millions of songs on your computer. However, the mobile service was once an exclusive feature for paid subscribers. Not anymore, suckers.
One of the coolest features of the Samsung Galaxy S4 is Group Play, which lets you connect other Samsung Galaxy S4s up to yours so you can use them as extra speakers to create a surround-sound stereo of sorts.
The biggest complaint I have with my Nexus 7 is the lack of support for different types of media files. I have a lot of movies and music that I've downloaded off the web, in many different formats, and I want them on my tablet.
If you're the type of person who constantly uses multiple tabs in your browser, you know how annoying it is when one of them starts playing unwanted music or video.
One of the many new features in Mac OS X Lion is the new Launchpad utility. Launchpad allows you to gain access to all of your apps quickly by showing an overlay on the screen with several different icons. You can organize the icons into different catagories such as "Music" and "Photography." This way, all of your apps are just a click away on your Mac computer!
The Trapcode suite is a set of plug-ins for After Effects that allow video artists to create a variety of effects for inclusion in video and film productions. This particular guide demonstrates the power of Trapcode Particular and Trapcode 3D Stroke. Specifically, Wes Ball from OddBall Animation reveals how Trapcode was used in the creation of 'Eye of the Storm' - a music video by Lovett which can be seen here.
Oh god, don't you break my heart, my achy breaky heart, I just can't take it anymore. Oh well, if you still need more achy breaky, check out this video and learn the line dance that years ago caused a nation to pause and reflect.
"The Cave" by Mumford and Sons (not to be confused with "Cave" by Muse) is a great tune from this new force in the music world. Watch this video for an easy-to-follow tutorial on playing the song on acoustic guitar.
Ke$ha has become more of an icon that she probably ever could have even a decade ago (before OCD autotune use spread through the world's producers) and her latest music video "We R Who We R" continues her hit parade. This video will show you how to make a t-shirt reconstruction inspired by the one Ke$ha wears in the video.
Yes, there's a whole lot more than 3 chords out there and this lesson of aural training will help teach you the intervals of a minor 6th, minor 7th, and an augmented 4th - thus completing an entire octave in melodic interval ear training. Justin Sandercoe takes the mystery out of music with this clear and comprehensive lesson to make sure you'll be more than a one hit wonder.
The iPod Classic is the iPod of choice for the serious music listener, but the covers are as annoyingly easy to scratch and break as ever. Watch this video to learn how to replace an iPod Classic cover, restoring yours to it's original look and functionality.
Recording professional-sounding music at home is cheaper and easier than ever before, but still neither cheap nor easy compared to, say, grilled-cheese-sandwich-making. If you need some help getting started watch this video, which will teach you all about mics, cables, digital interfaces, and the other elements of the modern home recording studio.
Just like the original Super Mario Bros, New Super Mario Bros Wii begins with an open-air grassy level followed by a subterranean level with amazing background music. This video will show you how to get all of the Star Coins in World 1-2 of New Super Mario Bros.
The SAW lead is the most recognizable sound in hardstyle and hardcore electronic music, sounding like a swarm of bees attacking with the precision of an honor guard. Watch this video to learn how to program a patch for a SAW (or sawtooth) lead on a MicroKorg.
Benny Benassi is one of the biggest names in mainstream house music, and his distinctive synth sounds can be heard at clubs the world over. In this video you'll learn how to emulate one of his signature effects using Reason 4.
The Roland TR-808 drum machine is one of the most important modern instruments, forming the backbone of both hip-hop and electronic music percussion. If you have gotten your hands on one, you're a lucky devil, but you have a long way to go before you can unlock it's true potential. Watch this video to learn how to program an 808 all the way up to a 64-step beat!
Old drum machines make some of the coolest sounds in modern music, but can be very hard to get used to for beginners. If you're lucky enough to have gotten your hands on a Roland TR-909 Rhythm Composer drum machine, watch this video to learn how to program it.
MGMT is only two full-lengths old, but their impact on pop music has been massive. "Time to Pretend" has spawned legions of imitators, and for good reason. If you want to play a classy version of it, watch this video to learn how to cover the song on solo piano.
A MicroKorg synth / vocoder combined with a Micron BANSHEE talk box allow you to make a lot of great, funky music without too much equipment. Finding the right patches on the synth that make the talk box sound the best can be tough, so TalkBoxerDX made this video to demonstrate one way to patch the MicroKorg so it will sound awesome with your talk box, be it BANSHEE or otherwise.
So, you've got a copy of Reason 4 now huh? Congratulations, you own one of the most powerful music-making tools on Earth. It is infinitely complicated though, and getting started can be tough. Watch this video to learn how to load a .wav sample into Reason 4 using ReDrum, something you're going to be doing a lot of as you produce your tracks.
How funky a given song is is almost directly correlated to how awesome it is, the funkier the better. Nowhere is this more true than in house music, and in this video you'll learn how to produce a funky electro lead synth track using Reason 4, much like those employed by Justice and other electro-house producers.
