Thursday, March 24, 2011

EARs iPhone App



EARs lets you use your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad as a hearing aid. The app amplifies the sounds around you in real time and allows you to easily shape their tone so you can hear clear, crisp speech. With EARs’ innovative interface, improving the sounds is as easy as moving one finger. EARs can be helpful when you are having a hard time understanding a conversation in a loud room, or when you want the television to be louder without bothering others.




Walters-Storyk Design Group

The Walters-Storyk Design Group (WSDG) 
is a worldwide, full-service acoustics and audio/video design firm, specializing in critical listening and viewing environments of various types.  

The Company is celebrating its 40th year of practice and employs over 50 professionals in six offices across four continents.

 WSDG provides design, construction and consulting services for professional audio/video facilities, multi-media presentation rooms, residential home theaters, performance and entertainment spaces, houses of worship, industrial acoustical applications, product 
development, transportation facilities, sports venues, and numerous other types of projects.
www.wsdg.com

Exigy Type 515 Monitor

View Full-size ImageThe type 515 loudspeaker is the first of a series of monitor systems for use in control rooms where the cabinets will be visible. This bass reflex loudspeaker cabinet uses a 400mm (16') driver for LF, a 75mm soft dome for MF and a 25mm soft dome for HF. It is designed for critical monitoring in small to medium sized control rooms where the mix position is not more than 4m from the monitors where it will provide accurate low distortion monitoring of all SPL’s up to 122dB peak per pair with music material, at 4m, in half space. 

The cabinets are fully active and digitally controlled by a BSS 24bit 96kHz processor providing excellent performance with comprehensive room matching facilities and driver protection systems. The system may be driven with a stereo digital input. The amplifiers are by Chevin Research, type Q6. This is a 4 channel high performance amplifier and is used to power all current Exigy systems. It uses high frequency power supplies that provide excellent continuous output capability in a small lightweight package. Each channel gives 350W RMS into 8 ohms and 600W into 4 ohms. Two channels may be bridged to provide 1200W into 8 ohms. The amplifier boasts excellent distortion, noise and CMRR figures, comprehensive protection systems and has a fantastic reliability record in many years of studio use. 

With this cabinet, the amplifier may be configured so each driver uses one channel thus providing one spare channel per amplifier (which may then be used to drive other studio/control room systems) this is the preferred configuration. Alternatively, the LF or MF sections may be driven with a bridged pair of channels and limited to safe levels with the processor; this may be beneficial in situations where unusual room loadings are encountered. The amplifiers and processor should be rack mounted in a machine room as fan cooling is used in both. Loudspeaker connections are by three pairs of cables to each cabinet and these are recommended to be 6mm Sq section copper for runs up to a maximum of 20m. 

The cabinets have been specifically designed to be flush mounted in cloth finished walls where the cloth tracking system is mounted directly to the front of the cabinets. For different wall types or freestanding use, a cloth-covered bezel is provided. The Stainless Steel front face is bordered by colored edging to the drivers and cabinet outside edge, this may be chosen to complement the control room colour scheme. All connections are internal with the input cables being brought into the cabinets through compression sealing glands, the cabinets may then be fully serviced from the front without any need to remove it or disturb the cloth finishes. 

The cabinet is 985 H by 580 W by 500 D and weighs 95kg. The amplifiers are 2U each (Two amplifiers per system). The processor is 1U.

Ja Rule pleads guilty to tax evasion

Rapper Ja Rule has pleaded guilty to felony charges oftax evasion, and in addition to having to pay over $1 million to the IRS, he will also face up to three years in prison.  Ja Rule failed to file tax returns several times between 2004 and 2008, and failed to pay takes onincome totaling more than $3 million.
As if that weren’t enough trouble to be in, Ja Rule is also facing a two-year prison sentence for a weapons charge that he also pleaded guilty to back in December.  He’s due to begin that sentence just a few days before he’ll be sentenced for the tax evasion charges.  So far, 2011 is not shaping up very well for him.

Rare Nirvana EP re-released for Record Store Day


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Record Store Day is rapidly approaching (April 16th) and the list of available vinyl is looking pretty expansive. One of the coolest offerings so far is a re-release of Nirvana’s Hormoaning EP, which was previously only released in Australia.
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The EP was originally sold on the band’s 1992 Australian tour and featured two original tracks plus covers of numbers by DevoThe Vaselines and The Wipers (the two original tracks were “Aneurysm” and “Even In His Youth”). The songs were all recorded during a session with John Peel on BBC Radio 1. Four of the tracks previously appeared on the band’s 1992 b-side album, Incesticide, which has since gone platinum.
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Like all the Record Store Day releases, the album will be limited edition and only 6,000 copies will be available. The album’s original run was limited to 15,000 copies in Australia and has since been considered a rarity. Go here to watch Nirvana perform “Aneurysm” live.
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Check out the complete tracklisting below.
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1. ‘Turnaround’ (Devo cover)
2. ‘Aneurysm’
3. ‘D-7′ (Wipers cover)
4. ‘Son of a Gun’ (Vaselines cover)
5. ‘Even in His Youth’
6. ‘Molly’s Lips’ (Vaselines cover)

KORK iPad protector


"The Kork™ is a eco-friendly, sustainable and unique piece of Design. Made from 100% natural leftover cork, it is molded into a uni-body shell that holds the iPad in place. Great protection while looking smart, and is ergonomically designed to fit perfectly in your hand, with a natural grip and feel. Practical, easy to use and very comfortable.  Very light weight, with easy access to all buttons and inputs. Nothing has been left to chance, even the Korks walls are angled to project the sound towards the user. The Kork™ is a fine blend of Technology and Nature."



http://shop.aprodukt.com/

Shadow Hills Industries Oculus


The Oculus is a new monitor Controller from Shadow Hill Industries.

Empirical Labs Smartax



"The Smartax from Empirical Labs is an equalizer, compressor, and saturation effect designed specifically for acoustic instruments, packed into a 500-series module. In addition, it can process line level signals. Circuitry is all analog, but controls are digital. The EQ section consists of a 70 or 100 Hz 18 dB/octave high pass filter followed by three bands of parametric (though not continuously variable) EQ with frequencies selected to be particularly useful for acoustic instruments. The compressor and saturation circuit follow the EQ. The degree of gain reduction and percentage of saturation distortion is determined by the Input gain control (that’s input to the compressor). A Mix control adjusts the amount of compressed/saturated signal is added to the clean signal. The compressor can be turned off to allow the saturation circuit to work independently. An internal jumper can engage a 150 Hz high pass filter in the compressor detector signal path (this is the factory setting) to prevent excessive compression from the boomy low end of a guitar. Two units can be ganged together to equally compress a stereo source, though this requires installing a jumper between pin 6 of the card slots containing the Smartaxes. When those pins are connected together (this involves soldering in most if not all 500-series racks) a front panel switch can engage or disengage stereo linking."

SoundPrism Pro Music App for iPad/iPhone


Audanika's SoundPrism Pro is a great way to compose music on your iPad or iPhone.




                                                                 http://audanika.com/

Girard Perregaux Tourbillion With Three Gold Bridges

Material : Pink gold Dimensions / Diameter : 41.00 mm Height : 11.00 mm Case-back : Secured by 6 screws Water resistance : 3 ATM (100 feet) Movement : GP9600C, automatic Calibre : 32,00 mm Frequency : 21,600 Vib/h - (3Hz) Jewels : 30 Power reserve : min. 48 hours Functions : Tourbillon, hour, minute, small second on the Tourbillon

Sperm Grown in a Dish


Researchers make sperm that successfully produces offspring in mice—a development that could one day help infertile men.
In a significant step toward combating male infertility, researchers at Yokohama City University have grown mouse sperm in a dish and used the sperm to produce pups that were themselves fertile in adulthood.
Researchers started with small fragments of tissue containing sperm stem cells, called spermagonia, collected from the testes of baby mice. They then grew those cells into functional sperm, using various chemicals to simulate the natural environment of the testes. The results of the study, published in this week's issue ofNature, may eventually benefit infertile men and boys undergoing chemotherapy.
"When people with cancer undergo treatment, they are almost always rendered infertile," says Martin Dym, a professor of biochemistry at Georgetown University. Dym was not involved in the study. "In men, you could freeze a sperm sample before treatment, but in [prepubescent] boys, you can't. But they do have testes cells, and if you could develop those in culture, they could be used in in vitro fertilization down the line."
Dym adds that the technique could also be used to redirect cells in the testes of infertile men to produce functional sperm. "These men don't have normal sperm, but they will have normal spermagonial stem cells," says Dym.

Takehiko Ogawa, a professor of urology, and his colleagues in Japan took small biopsies of testes tissue from baby mice that contained spermagonial stem cells but no mature sperm (The mice were too young to produce sperm.) To simulate the natural environment of the testes, Ogawa suspended the fragments on a semisolid support, partially bathing them in liquid.
The liquid contained a cocktail of chemicals called knockout serum replacement (KSR), a formulation that, counterintuitively, is used in cultures of embryonic stem cells to keep them in their undifferentiated state. Here, Ogawa found that KSR had the opposite effect, encouraging spermagonia to differentiate into mature sperm.
"We have not yet identified the key factors in KSR which really helped our system," says Ogawa. "My next challenge is to identify those factors and make an even better culture media, to improve sperm quality, and make it applicable to other animals."
While in vitro sperm counts were relatively low, the sperm produced were functional. The group inseminated adult mice with the cultured sperm, and found they were able to produce pups that, in turn, were able to mate naturally. "The final evaluation of sperm functionality was to make offspring and see the healthiness of offspring," says Ogawa. "I'm still keeping the offspring, and they are about 14 months old, and they look very normal, comparable to other mice."
In recent years, a handful of research groups have used various techniques to grow sperm from embryonic stem cells, adding growth factors to encourage stem cells to differentiate. While some efforts were able to successfully produce sperm, researchers have been unable to replicate these results, and none have been shown to produce fertile pups. Ogawa says the new system is a fairly simple one, and he hopes other researchers will attempt to replicate it.
The full health consequences in animals produced from in vitro sperm remains to be seen.Steve Krawetz, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Wayne State University, says as cells differentiate into sperm, major changes occur in their DNA that make cells vulnerable to environmental factors. Depending on what is in the surrounding environment, factors could affect a cell's DNA, creating defects that could be passed to future generations.
"We don't know the long-term consequences or transgenerational effects," says Krawetz. "But as a model system, this is fantastic. It gives us the opportunity to start looking at things in an in vitro setting and specifically alter and dissect cells in a much easier manner. It's a great step forward."

SuperMegaUltraGroovy Announces Capo 2.1

Innovative music learning software gains new MIDI functionality 

WATERLOO, Ontario (March 24, 2011) - SuperMegaUltraGroovy today announced the immediate availability of Capo 2.1 for Mac OS X 10.6. In this release, Capo has gained the ability to export MIDI transcription data, the waveform representation of audio has returned, and playback commands can now be controlled via learned keystrokes or external MIDI hardware.

"The Capo 2.0 launch was a huge hit, and it inspired many requests for new functionality that builds on the new transcription features," said Chris Liscio, SuperMegaUltraGroovy's founder. "This release is a very good representation of our customers' most popular requests."

Capo 2 was the first app to allow users to easily transcribe their music to a notational representation using tablature. Now, in 2.1, users can export their data out of Capo in the standard MIDI format, and use it to incorporate transcribed solos into MIDI sequencers, or import the data into applications that facilitate advanced scoring work.
"The ability to export MIDI really extends Capo's reach into a musician's workflow," says Liscio. "Because you can capture the precise timing of a performance using Capo, you can build a very accurate MIDI arrangement, or score, from a source recording."
In addition to the requests for new functionality, there was also an overwhelming request to bring back the classic waveform representation. Capo 2.1 now allows users to set and manipulate their loops with an always-visible waveform that makes looping much easier to use.
"The waveform tackles two problems at the same time, offering both an improved interaction area, and a clearer visual representation for setting loops," says Liscio. "I'm confident that both new and long-time users will really enjoy this addition."
Because many Capo users come from a long history of using other transcription aids, their experience with Capo is dependent on the keyboard shortcuts they are used to. Capo 2.1 now adds the ability for users to train a set of new keystrokes, or assign MIDI commands, to control Capo's playback.
"I think it's really cool that I can use a group of MIDI foot switches to control Capo's playback on my louder monitors while standing with my guitar on the other side of the room," says Liscio. "Users are going to have a lot of fun with this."
Capo 2.1 is available now as a free update to all 2.0 customers, and is still a $19 upgrade for 1.x users. Capo can be purchased for $49 at Capo - Learn Your Music, or on the Mac App Store. A free trial is available for download at Capo - Learn Your Music.

BRAINWORX: 4 new products, free TDM & MEGA SALE!


- bx_dynEQ V2 -dynamic Equalizers - mono, stereo & M/S versions

- bx_ALL bundle - new bundle ft. all 12 BX plugins - save 30%!

- bx_MASTERING bundle - bx_digital V2 & bx_XL, etc. - save 20%!

- bx_MIX bundle (9 BX plugins) - save 20% and more

To celebrate we have started THE BIGGEST %%% SALE in the history of BX.

All individual plugins and bundles have new pricing now!

And the best is yet to come: 
There is only ONE version of each product now, EVERY INSTALLER CONTAINS FREE TDM & VENUE VERSIONS!

This means: TDM prices off by 50% and more, and all installers now contain:
TDM, VENUE, RTAS, AU, VST3, VST2.4, AS!
www.brainworx-music.de

iPhone Survives 1,000-Foot Drop Without a Scratch

U.S. Air Force Combat Controller Ron Walker says he dropped his iPhone 4. That’s happened to us all, but at the time Walker was leaning out of a US Air Force plane door while preparing for a skydive.
After landing, Walker says he used the Find My iPhone app, and found his iPhone at the base of a tree in a forest. The phone was unscratched and worked fine, according to Walker.
The phone had a Griffin Motif case, and no other protection.

Driver's Ed, Courtesy of Mercedes German automaker announces teen-driving school



Marketing 101 (along with actual demographic research) teaches that brand loyalty tends to be established at a young age—the painfully image-conscious adolescent years, especially. This is why a number of nervier adult brands have rolled out youth extensions: Pink by Victoria’s Secret, for instance, or Teen Vogue, or U.K. brand King of Shaves’ recently introduced Kings 1965, a line of shaving products targeted at teen boys hard at work on their first whiskers. Well, get ready youth of America: Mercedes-Benz is the latest grown-up brand to want you.

No, the iconic German automaker isn’t cranking out a new line of skateboards. Rather, Mercedes-Benz USA just announced the creation of a teen-driving school that will open later this year (cost and location undisclosed). The project is a pond jump from the U.K.-based Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy—also aimed at youth—that opened in 2009. Some 4,500 peach-faced motorists have taken that course, which surely beats the sleep-inducing 30-hour class we all endured during high school. Seventy-nine percent of the U.K. school grads passed their road test on the first try, which is nearly double the U.K. average of 43 percent.

Of course, Mercedes’ stated aim for the U.S. teen-driving school is to turn out safe drivers, not the next Dale Earnhardt. “The skills required to simply get a license do not fully prepare young drivers to meet the demands of the road,” according to Daimler AG’s senior manager Alexander Hobbach—and who are we to doubt the man?

But let’s separate out the parts here. Most teen boys in America are as likely to get a chance to test the 4.3-second, 0-to-60 acceleration of a Mercedes coupe as they are to get a date with one of the Kardashians. So once you give Junior a spin around the track with 451 horses under the hood and his hands on that leather Alcantara-grip steering wheel, tell us: When he grows up, what brand of car do you think he’ll want to buy?

Hence, this looks like a smart move for Mercedes, which, by the way, already offers a roving driver’s class for adults called the Mercedes AMG Driving Academy at various racetracks around the country. The basic course starts at around $1,800—an amount that, last we checked, was considerably cheaper than an SLS convertible. 

Disco singer Loleatta Holloway dies at 64



US singer Loleatta Holloway, best known for her vocals which were sampled on Black Box's 1989 hit Ride On Time, has died at the age of 64.
The performer died of heart failure, her manager Ron Richardson confirmed to the BBC.
She made six studio albums and her hits included ballad Only You in 1978 and 1980's Love Sensation.
It was the latter track that Black Box sampled for Ride On Time, which was number one in the UK for six weeks.
The song became controversial after it emerged the Italian dance act had used Holloway's performance without crediting her, and she went on to successfully sue the band.
Her vocals were lip-synched by model Catherine Quinol, who fronted Black Box during their chart success.
"She was a very strong, powerful woman, but she was sweet at the same time," Mr Richardson told BBC 6 Music.
"She was also very fragile, which a lot of people didn't know."
Singer Carol Williams, who was on the SalSoul Records label with Holloway, said that she "put her right up at the top as one of the greatest voices in the world".
"When she recorded in the studio, she would have to stand so far back from the mic. Most singers, you know, go right up to the mic and almost have their lips on it. Loleatta could stand feet away."
Gilles Peterson, BBC Radio 1 DJ and co-founder of the Acid Jazz label, told 6 Music his favourite Holloway song was Hit and Run.
"That needs to get played again, because that really takes the soul, the emotion, the disco - everything about Loleatta Holloway is in that one song," he said.
Holloway leaves behind four children and nine grandchildren.
A private service for the family and a public memorial at Rev Jesse Jackson's church in Chicago are due to be held.

Iran accused in 'dire' net security attack


Hackers in Iran have been accused of trying to subvert one of the net's key security systems.
Analysis in the wake of the thwarted attack suggests it originated and was co-ordinated via servers in Iran.
If it had succeeded, the attackers would have been able to pass themselves off as web giants Google, Yahoo, Skype, Mozilla and Microsoft.
The impersonation would have let attackers trick web users into thinking they were accessing the real service.
Fake identity
The attack was mounted on the widely used online security system known as the Secure Sockets Layer or SSL.
This acts as a guarantee of identity so users can be confident that the site they are visiting is who it claims to be. The guarantee of identity is in the form of a digital passport known as a certificate.
Analysis of the attack reveals that someone got access to the computer systems of one firm that issue certificates. This allowed them to issue bogus certificated that, if they had been used, would have let them impersonate any one of several big net firms.
It appears that the attackers targeted the SSL certificates of several specific net communication services such as Gmail and Skype as well as other popular sites such as Microsoft Live, Yahoo and the Firefox browser.
SSL certificate issuer Comodo published an analysis of the attackwhich was carried out via the computer systems of one of its regional affiliates.
It said the attack exhibited "clinical accuracy" and that, along with other facets of the attack led it to one conclusion: "this was likely to be a state-driven attack."
It is thought it was carried out by the Iranian authorities to step up scrutiny of opposition groups in the country that use the web to co-ordinate their activity.
The bogus certificates have now been revoked and Comodo said it was looking into ways of improving security at its affiliates.
Browsers have also been updated so anyone visiting a site whose credentials are guaranteed by the bogus certificates will be warned.
"The incident got close to — but was not quite — an internet-wide security meltdown," he said.
"We urgently need to start reinforcing the system that is currently used to authenticate and identify secure websites and e-mail systems," said Mr Eckersley.