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That's the end of day 2 of #MacWorld. Thanks for reading, everyone.

Checking Out MacWorld 2012

By Jonathan Long, posted January 27, 2012

MacWorld is a yearly event in San Francisco, but this is my first time actually attending. It’s most likely because it’s only been within the last few years where I began my conversion to Mac. I still haven’t converted 100%, but I have an appreciation for the tools and software the OS supports.

I’d done my online recon for the show online taking note of booths I wanted to stop by and companies I wanted to speak with that highlighted how storage is the epicenter of the digital ecosystem.  Oddly, enough, I keep stopping at headphone manufacturers.

That aside, some of the other things that have caught my eye are the following:

For the Photographer:
Olloclip & iPro Lens: Both have the same primary function that are attachable camera lenses that allow you to take wide, fisheye or zoom pictures exclusively for the iPhone 4/4S. Given my love for iPhoneography, this is a perfect addition to my mobile picture taking experience. Olloclip’s device comes in a little cheaper at $70 where iPro Lens is listed on the site for about $200.  The handle that the iPro Lens version comes with is presumably the reason for the difference in price between the two.

For the Artist:
Nomadbrush is a stylus for digital painting that really caught my eye…ok, it was the art too that was being demonstrated.  Regardless, combined with any one of their available apps, this stylus is great for drawing or painting on your iPad at a really affordable price.

For the art enthusiast, check out the Art Authority app for iPad. Cheaper than a ticket to the museum at $5, this app gives you access to thousands of works of art dating back from ancient times to present day.  The detail on these works of art is solid and vibrant giving great information about the piece, artist and other details.

For the Music Enthusiast:
The Beosound 8 by Bang & Olufsen has an incredible sound quality that showcased well even over the noise of the convention center.  Working as a dock for iPad, iPhone or iPod and available for $999, this system leaves a great, lasting impression.

Tune Up is an iTunes plug in I will definitely need to purchase.  If you’re like me and have mislabeled music or duplicate songs, this tool will clean that up for you scouring the web for correct track listings, album art and more. If that’s still not enough, the Tuniverse feature will keep you updated with concert information, music videos and more.  Not bad for a lifetime membership of $50, right?

The Airfoil application by Rogue Amoeba, allows you to play music from any device including Apple TV, iOS devices and even other MacBook’s.  Once installed, you can search for where you have your music available (even Spotify) and let your ears feel the tingle.

So while not as big as the recent CES show, there is still a lot to see at MacWorld and the day is still early.  Drop me a line in the comments below or via Twitter of something that has caught your interest from the show.

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Still Spinning 30 Years Later: Seagate’s ‘Dinosaur’ Drive Wins Tech Contest

By Jonathan Long, posted January 27, 2012

A Seagate hard drive dating back to the early 1980s has demonstrated its longevity—and durability—in a search to unearth the oldest working hard drive in Russia.

Following the success of a similar Seagate-sponsored competition in the U.K. last April, Seagate ran the latest contest search on 3DNews, a daily Russian technology news website.

Yaroslav Levashov with his Seagate ST-412 drive.

The winning entry, like its counterpart in the U.K., was another Seagate ST-412 hard disk drive. The winning drive was submitted by Yaroslav Levashov, a self-confessed fan of Seagate who owns a collection of vintage computers. Levashov also boasts a collection of other Seagate “dinosaurs,” including a non-functioning Seagate ST-506, the world’s first 5.25-inch hard drive.

Levashov, who hosts a car show on Russian television station NTV, bought the drive soon after purchasing his first computer.

“Despite its exorbitant cost, my dream was to own an IBM PC-XT, Levashov said.  “And once I got my coveted PC, I knew precisely what was next on my wish list—I set my sights on buying an ST-412, the hard drive that was powering many of the first hard disk-equipped micro computers.”

The drive—which weighs 4.1 pounds (2.1 kg)—has a capacity of 10MB, with eight read-write heads and four recording disks that spin at 3,600 RPM.  And almost 30 years after purchasing it, Levashov’s drive is still in perfect working order. Not bad for a device that originally had a projected design life of no more than five years.

“I still enjoy playing all the old games, so I regularly boot up my PC and the drive always works perfectly—not a single bad block,” Levashov said.

Back in the early ’80s, Levashov’s ST-412 drive would have cost around $404, the equivalent of $40,400 per GB. Compare that with today’s 3TB

Seagate Barracuda® XT desktop drive. With its 10 read-write heads and five disks spinning at 7,200 RPM, it costs around $293, or just 9 cents per GB. And it has 300,000 times the storage capacity of the ST-412 drive.

The vintage hard drive was unveiled at a recent press event, hosted in Moscow by Seagate’s Corporate Communications team, where Levashov was presented with his prize—a  GoFlex™ Desk external hard drive, which delivers up to 4TB of storage capacity.

“This was a fun competition that generated a lot of interest in the Russian media, and resulted in over 200 people digging out their old Seagate products to compete,” said Regina Israel, Seagate’s Corporate Communications manager for Russia. “It was also an excellent vehicle for getting across the message to a much wider audience that Seagate’s drives are reliable and robust. Based on the success of the U.K. and Russian competitions, we’ll be continuing our search for old working Seagate drives in other regions in the coming months.”

— By June Coates

 

 

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Seagate at Macworld 2012: Satellite Upgrades, a Roomier GoFlex Slim and More

By Jonathan Long, posted January 26, 2012

— By Steve Pipe

Hot on the heels of the big Consumer Electronics Show, Seagate is diving into another influential technology gathering today.

By the standards of CES—which drew more than 140,000 people to Las Vegas earlier this month—theMacworld/iWorld show, which runs Thursday through Saturday at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, is fairly cozy, with about 26,000 attendees last year.

Seagate is showcasing a wide range of GoFlex for Mac external drives.

And while Apple stopped attending the show in 2009, the event remains influential, thanks largely to a passionate community of Apple enthusiasts. That loyal following makes the show a good fit for Seagate, which has greatly expanded its lineup of storage solutions for Apple products.

“We’re there to show our support for the Apple community and to demonstrate storage solutions we think Mac enthusiasts, whether they’re creative professionals or everyday consumers, will appreciate,” says Greg Falgiano, a senior Product Marketing manager for Retail at Seagate. “It’s also a great opportunity for us to get feedback about our products directly from end users.”

The Macworld event adds “iWorld” to its official name this year to reflect a shift toward more mobile devices, such as the iPad and iPhone. And those gadgets have never been hotter. On Tuesday, Apple announced it sold a record 37.04 million iPhone units in its fiscal first quarter, up 128 percent from the same period last year, and 15.3 million iPads, up 111 percent from a year ago.

Satellite on the Big Screen
Seagate will demonstrate its support for the iPad with an innovative new demo of its GoFlex Satellite™ mobile wireless storage device. The demo includes a 50-inch display screen connected to an iPad via HDMI. The display will show visitors to Seagate’s booth how easy the GoFlex Satellite interface is to navigate—and how simple it is to carry their entire libraries of music, movies and other content with them on the go.

Seagate also will announce a firmware upgrade for the GoFlex Satellite. The upgrade, which will be available for free download in March, will enable consumers to access the Internet and stream their media libraries at the same time. The firmware upgrade also extends the Satellite’s battery life from five hours to eight hours.

Let’s say you’re using your GoFlex Satellite in a Starbucks store. With the firmware upgrade, the GoFlex Satellite’s built-in WiFi connects to your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch (or an Android mobile device) The Satellite then gives you an option to connect to the coffee store’s own WiFi connection, enabling Internet access in addition to media streaming.

“We’ve heard from a lot of consumers that they wanted to do more with their Satellite,” explains Falgiano. “People who like to listen to a lot of music while they’re on the go, for example, also want to check their email or catch up on the news. This is an example of how we’re listening to feedback from end users and reviews from the tech press to build a better product.”

And for the first time, those users can purchase Seagate products directly at the show. Among the Seagate storage solutions displayed at Macworld/iWorld are a wide range of GoFlex™ for Mac® external drives, including a new 500GB GoFlex® Slim for Mac® portable drive.

Storage Sweet Spot
“Our current GoFlex Slim has been a hit, but it’s only been available in 320GB until now,” says Falgiano. “500GB is a real sweet spot for consumers. Having half a terabyte of storage in such a small form factor should make it an even more compelling product.”

Seagate’s Thunderbolt adapters deliver “a major performance boost,” says the New York Times.

Also at the show, Seagate will demonstrate its new GoFlex® Thunderbolt Adapter and GoFlex Desk Thunderbolt Adapter. The former supports 2.5-inch drives and is priced at $100, while the latter supports 3.5-inch drives and is priced at $190. Running at 10Gbps, the Intel-developed Thunderbolt interface is up to 12 times faster than FireWire 800 connections and 20 times faster than USB 2.0.

In its coverage of the CES event, the New York Times said Seagate’s Thunderbolt adapter is “an accessory that will give some hard drives a major performance boost.”

Apple’s new Mac computers include Thunderbolt slots, but there haven’t been many Thunderbolt-compatible hard drives to choose from until now. Seagate and Western Digital both announced Thunderbolt solutions at the CES show, but WD’s offerings aren’t expected to reach the market until the middle of this calendar year. Seagate’s Thunderbolt offerings will begin shipping in the next few weeks.

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You Can’t Take It With You…Or Can You?

By Jonathan Long, posted January 25, 2012

Maybe you’re like me and have just accepted data storage as a given. Something that has become part of our inalienable rights that allows us to save whatever we want, whenever we want to later use however we want.

That’s kind of the point, right? The ability to have our most prized digital possessions on hand.

I was talking with a friend from Konsole Kingz about a hip-hop artist we were both fans of, MF DOOM.  Not only do we like his lyrical content and flow but also the melody of his music. Each song he creates has a unique sound, but still remains distinctively his based on his style.

The music has several different things happening where it encourages you to listen to it more than once so you can catch everything. It’s a very well assembled, produced sound that is perfect for his persona.

Being a MF DOOM fan, I have his entire discography that includes the “alter-egos” he’s recorded under including Viktor Vaughn, and King Geedorah as well as all of the instrumental CD’s from the Special Herbs collection.

Yup, I’m a fan. I’ve even “Liked” him on Facebook.

Now before you start asking how much I’m getting in celebrity endorsements, (not a cent, incidentally) the moral of this story is about being able to take with me everywhere something that is of great interest to me – music.

Music is great for setting a tone or mood. MF DOOM is an artist who I can play regardless of my temperament.  I can just shut down and listen to the nuances of the music.

Here are some YouTube clips for some of my favorite songs:
Humrush
Doomsday
Deep Fried Frenz
Kookies
Hey!
The Mask

Having all of this music available for me on multiple devices means I will never go without.  What is something you can’t live without?  Leave comments below or on Twitter.

Related Posts:
The Business of Streaming Music
What’s On Your Hard Drive?
Audio Euphoria

 

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Preserving the Past for the Future

By Jonathan Long, posted January 23, 2012

(cc Jim Ferreira)

It was a dark and stormy night. I could hear the rain beating down on the pavement like the drums of a high school marching band.

Rat-a-Tat-Tat… Rat-a-Tat-Tat … Rat-a-Tat-Tat …

The night was quiet and not much was going on. I was reaching for my jacket to call it an early night when she walked into my office.  She told me her name, but I wasn’t listening. She looked like money wrapped in her fur, holding her cigarette between her fingers and smelling like perfume that cost more than my wrinkled, five-dollar suit.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always loved old movies. They have elegance – a sense of style and class that today’s films just don’t capture.  The way the characters spoke, how they carried themselves, everything had a perfect sense of symmetry.

I recently found out that the Castro Theater in San Francisco is hosting a film noir festival – Noir City.

I will definitely be making the time to attend at least a couple nights, but it also got me thinking about how important it is to preserve things for the future. In a previous Digital Den post, I talked about all the “stuff” I have saved on my hard drive and how difficult it is for me to get rid of anything.  While that’s me just being a rat pack, I believe some things need preservation.

Noir is a film genre that has almost gone the way of the western. You may get a couple modern takes on it through a movie like L.A. Confidential or the video game L.A. Noire (sidebar – Give this rap review for the game a listen, it’s amazing.) But overall the genre has been forgotten.

The preservation of things that we love is important, whether it be a photograph, a composition or a film. It’s a time capsule that allows us to take a look back at once was, while never forgetting what is. It is something to be shared with future generations with the hope that the past can inspire the future. I hope we never forget our artistic history.

Share your comments below or with us on Twitter.

 

[Image Source Life After Hall.com]

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The Business of Streaming Music

By Jonathan Long, posted January 20, 2012

I had lunch with a friend recently and we got into the discussion of digital music and it’s impact on the industry overall.  We discussed Spotify and how their business model and that of other streaming services (i.e. Pandora, Last.FM or Slacker) was impacting sales.

If you’re not familiar w/ Spotify, it’s different from a model like iTunes because it allows you to play any song via stream. You can’t purchase, download or own the music, just listen. Over the last month or so, I’ve been more active on the Spotify bandwagon giving it a test drive to see how it works, advantages, etc.  I’ve found it great to have something as background while working (right now, I’m playing the recently released soundtrack for Pan Am), but unless I am a premium member, once I leave the office, my music stays behind.  There is a mobile app for iPhone or Android, but mobile streaming is restricted to premium membership.

On some level, streaming music sites aren’t too much different than listening to your local radio station. You just don’t have the DJ to contend with and it’s better control over music you are interested in hearing versus what pop culture counts as relevant.

What my friend noted as the biggest issue for Spotify specifically is that the music artist receives very little revenue for having their music available.  Sure, the labels receive their percentage, but the artist percentage is so small that they have to sell the proverbial millions in order to break even.

I hadn’t really thought about the financial impact this structure may have on the artists. I knew they were getting paid, but didn’t know how much (or how little) until I took a look at this infograph loosely breaking down sales and revenue. Looking at this graph, it makes complete sense why The Black Keys chose to not release their last album, El Camino, on a site like Spotify. You can even read more on some of the politics behind the decision in this blog on Gigwise.

I don’t expect this to be the situation for all music artists. I’m not a music industry analyst, but I would theorize that the better-known artists would receive a bigger piece of the pie and the more Indie/Do-It-Yourself artists get something much smaller. Regardless, the overall setup still left my mind blown.

The idea of having your music, your way, when you want it is genius and it’s smart business to create a model catering to this. I also recognize that there are a lot of pieces o this chessboard that all need their “cut.” I just want the artist who is the muse for the melody to get more of a fair share. Don’t you?

What’s your take on online music sites like Spotify, Last.FM, Pandora or Slacker? Leave a comment below or drop us a line on Twitter (@Seagate_Con).

Related Posts:
I’m Professionally Creative
Hey You! Get Off of My SoundCloud
The DIY Urge, and the power of technology in music

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What’s On Your Hard Drive?

By Jonathan Long, posted January 18, 2012

Now that the hub-bub of the Consumer Electronics Show is behind us, I can get back to that daunting task I’ve been working on little-by-little: cleaning up my hard drive.

If you’re anything like me, your hard drive is your life. I’ve been saving so much on it, that I’ve found things dating back eons which in technology years, dates back to at least Y2K.

This got me thinking about what people save and how I’ve been able to categorize my hard drive contents into these buckets:

Photographs:
Unless incriminating from a wild night in college, I don’t know if a photograph should ever be deleted. I love how a simple image can capture a moment or an experience. The photograph is the lifeblood of a memory.

Music:
My music collection is old yet timeless. Well maybe not this song by one-hit wonder Trio but you get the gist.  I love the power of music and how it can shape your mode, set a tone or just provide ambience.  It’s my background noise when writing; it’s my co-pilot on the commute home.  Having all of my collection in one place makes sense.

Artwork:
I’m a comic fan. I like collecting cool art and putting it on my smartphone or computer as wallpaper. I have art from comics that aren’t even in publication anymore and creators who’ve gone onto other things.  I know I should delete them for the space but I feel like the moment I do, I’ll want to re-post it again.

Movies:
Whether I shot them myself or have purchased them online, it’s always good to have a movie handy. You never know when cable will go out or you’ll be stuck at a bus station in the seedy part of town. Having a copy of Top Gun will always draw a crowd.

(cc Oktober Black Press)

Writings & Musings:
A little known fact I don’t talk about much is that I used to write comics. A friend of mine convinced me to join with him in some small press publishing to do some creator owned projects.  It was a lifetime ago, but I still have the scripts I wrote with the intent to one day go back, dust them off, and do something with them. One day…

Graphics and Other Techno-Trinkets:
There was a period in my life where I collected a lot of dumb things on the Internet. Animated cursors, desktop themes, sound clips. I have zero reason to keep these things, but I know the moment I will delete them, I will want my Luke Skywalker lightsaber mouse pointer and may not be able to find it again.  Stranger things have happened.

Documents:
This is the boring stuff. Some spreadsheet tracking your finances, an old resume that needs updating or in my case, an inventory of Star Wars figures that I had intended to sell on eBay ten years ago. This isn’t as sexy as the inspirational PowerPoint presentations you get forwarded from your mother, but equally just as important.

As you can see, I have a long way to go before I can purge my hard drive with the unnecessary, the outdated and the just plain immature.  Or I can do what I’ve already done and upload it all to an external drive and deal with it another day until I can get my rat pack tendencies under control.

Time will tell, but I’m sure I’m not the only one collecting all things for a rainy day. Share some of your hard drive baubles in comments below or with us on Twitter.

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A Walkthrough of CES

By Jonathan Long, posted January 17, 2012

We covered a lot of different things during CES ranging from videos to photo-essays to keynotes.  We dug deep into some of the key innovations we wanted to share but didn’t get a chance to cover other things that we just thought interesting. Here are some of the things I stumbled upon just walking the show floor.

 

Film Fresh:
An alternative in the online digital entertainment space that allows you to buy or rent films that can be viewed via select Blu-ray players or Internet-connected televisions and coming soon tablets and smartphones.  What I liked about this site is how it will suggest movies based upon your mood. Want to “Battle the Forces of Evil?” Prepare for recommendations such as Zombieland or Ghostbusters. Need to “Kiss and Make Up?” Then Twilight or 50 First Dates may be what you’re suggested. Film Fresh also has all the social hooks to keep you engaged and share your love of movies with all of your friends.

iShower:
Admittedly, I stumbled upon this looking for something else, but given my penchant for singing in the shower, I feel like the universe wanted me to have this device. Coming this March for $99, this Bluetooth-enabled speaker allows you to play music from any 5 devices from a 200-foot range for up to 15 hours of continues play.  (I’m going to need a lot more soap!)

iGrill:
Positioned right next to the iShower, I had to take a looksee. Simply put, this app is a wireless meat & fish thermometer. Available for free on iTunes, download to any iOS device and monitor your food from a distance up to 200 feet.  When your food is ready, your device will chirp and start your mouth salivating.

Dropcam:
Dropcam is an HD video-monitoring camera allowing you to watch and record from anywhere. Great for home security, child (or pet) monitoring and a slew of other uses limited only by the imagination. Shipping this March for $150, this easy-to-setup camera has multiple DVR plans for hosting your recorded content ranging from free to $29.95 a month.

Mimoco:
Finally, flash drives with personality! As a Superman fan, when I saw this little ditty during Pepcom, I knew I had to have one.  Available this March in characters ranging from DC Comics™ to Star Wars™, these small, handy, devices are ready to keep your data from falling into the hands of the Dark Side.

You can read in-depth some of the other products and companies through The Digital Den but there were so many things you pass walking through the show, I wanted to highlight some varied tidbits of other things from the show floor.

Let us know what you thought of our show coverage in the comments below or via Twitter. We’re always connected.

 

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Audio Euphoria – The Sequel

By Jonathan Long, posted January 16, 2012

I don’t know if I’d go as far as to call it a trend of the CES show but one item I saw in abundance were headphones.  I already talked about Audio Euphoria from home theater systems, it seems like the popularity of the Beats by Dre line has encouraged other companies to test the water and jump in the pool and my ears couldn’t be happier.

The Soul® by Ludacris booth was bumping with a really good DJ and a bounty of models showcasing the various products.  Finding the quietest section of the booth, I was able to check out the SL300GG, which had a great sound for the low price of $300.  The noise cancellation was amazing even blocking out the majority of music the DJ was playing only twenty-five feet away.  Comfortable and ready for smartphones, this is a solid product.

Skullcandy had a number of styles also on display on their booth, but the Hesh model is what caught my eye…or rather my ear. Very consumer friendly for $50, this is a good, quality noise cancelling headset that’s available in various styles to best match your personality including Kobe Bryant Purple, or the Devil Julius by Paul Frank.

Not to be outdone, even Ecko Unltd is jumping into the mix launching a headphone line later this year. I was able to demo The Lux and found it had terrific sound without being too heavy on the base or too light on treble. The phones themselves were light and comfortable without feeling heavy on my head.  Marc Ecko has always had his finger on the pulse of the urban market and with the various styles these headphones come in, no one should be surprised how visually stunning they are. Expect these bad boys to come in at around $140.

Regardless of your audio preference, you’ll have a lot of options in the next few months on what type of headset you’ll want to invest in. With the exception of the Marc Ecko line, most of these devices are available now.  Pity, Christmas has already passed, right?  Well there’s always your birthday.

And if you want to know birthday and preference, leave a comment below or tag us on Twitter.

 

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Say Hello to My Little Friend – The PS Vita

By Jonathan Long, posted January 15, 2012

The Consumer Electronics Show covers the gamut from televisions to washing machines to automobiles.  As such, what sometimes can get overlooked is gaming.  Maybe it’s because the gaming industry has enough opportunity to toot its horn at shows like Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) or the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) but it’s still a facet of consumer electronics and shouldn’t be overlooked. In fact, I wish the gaming industry had more of a presence at CES, but another blog post for another day.

Thank goodness for Sony’s PlayStation® Vita.

Available on February 22 starting at $249, the PS Vita will be the monster in your pocket that will let you game, take pictures, download apps, chat, watch videos, browse the web, connect with your social networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and much more.

Taking a brief moment to speak with Jeff Rubenstein from the PlayStation Blog at the Sony booth, he is as excited for it’s release as I am to have it released.  The touch-screen controls are making the navigation easy without being too sensitive. The device has weight, but won’t weigh you down when on the go. The OLED screen brings such pop and vibrancy you’ll be impressed with the level of detail in some of the games featured.

I was one of the lucky ones to stand in line for the original PlayStation Portable system. I thought that may be my last time, but with the pending release of the PS Vita, I remember why I often say Never Say Never Again.

Will you be joining me in the PS Vita line at launch day? Leave a comment below or on Twitter.

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