Asus Ecc PC

I found this story on Brighthand

According to Brighthand:

It will be 8.9 inches wide, 6.5 inches deep, and 1.4 inches thick (22.5 cm by 165 cm by 35 mm). It will weigh just under 2 pounds (890 g).

Details are somewhat unclear in this area, but it appears that the Eee PC will ship with a proprietary operating system with a basic set of functions, including web browsing, exchanging email, and even video chatting with a built-in VGA camera.

Users will apparently have the option of loading full versions of Windows or Linux operating systems, but these won't be bundled with this device. Asus hasn't revealed what processor this model will use, but as Intel was part of the announcement it's likely it will be one of this company's low-power chips. The Eee PC will have the typical clamshell design for a laptop computer, with a 7-inch display, a full QWERTY keyboard, and a trackpad.

For a low-cost device, it will ship with an impressive collection of connectivity options: 56K modem, Ethernet, 802.11b/g, and Bluetooth. There has even been some mention of cellular-wireless connectivity.

To make it more resistant to breakage, the Eee PC won't have a traditional spinning hard drive. Instead, it will include either a 4 GB or 16 GB solid-state Flash drive.

- Its battery life is expected to be about 3 hours on a single charge.
- Asus plans to start shipping units in August, with the goal of selling 200,000 units in 2007.
- These will sell for $200 and $300; the higher amount will be for the version with a larger capacity Flash drive.

To give you an idea of size, here's an image from the Asus site.



This could be an interesting development alongside UMPCs if it is possible to load an OS that can run music applications. I guess we'll have to wait and see, but for $200 - $300 can you go too far wrong?

Tao Group

Still very sad about the news on Tim Cole's blog. Such a great shame for everyone involved.

You have to wonder what if anything will happen to miniMIXA? I expect that V3 will not see the light of day, which is again a great shame.

Tao Group are no more!

Thanks to an anonymous comment, here is some very sad news from Tim Cole's blog. Here's what he says:

OK folks, it is with a heavy heart that I report this, but as of today, all Tao Group employees have had their employment contracts terminated. I have just got back from a staff meeting with the administrator. This means, too, that Tao Group is no more as a company. I cannot really say what happened, but you will likely be reading about it from other sources.

Why this has happened is mainly around issues to do with the continued funding of Tao. It is a sad day that employees who have worked hard for up to 17 years at Tao now find themselves in this unenviable position, especially seeing as everything was starting to go so well for Tao.

So, what is going to happen to the various Tao intent technologies, and in particular to miniMIXA (of special interest to me and Pete, as we are the developers of this)? I don’t know yet. If and when I can say something, I will.

Please keep a check on Intermorphic Ltd, a company that Pete and I are, as of today, now getting on with in earnest. Intermorphic is developing multimedia tools to aid creative activity. In the first instance these will include generative music engines and lyric generation tools. This may be a niche area, but we are going to have fun doing it!

I wish success to all former Tao employees in finding new employment quickly, and I am sure they will, as they are a hugely bright and talented bunch. It has been an enormous pleasure and honour working with them and Tao these last few years (well, since we sold SSEYO to Tao in 2002), and they built some amazing technology.

That is a real shame, for everyone involved, not least of which the employees at Tao, who are, as Tim says, in a very difficult position.

WWDC ...

So, WWDC keynote is done and I have to say I feel a bit let down. The iPhone is effectively closed except for people who want to write widgets that run in Safari, and no mention of the much rumoured sub-notebook. A shame really. OSX Leopard looks nice, but not the great leap forward I was expecting.

Virtins Pocket Instrument 1.0

I have a bit of a soft spot for this kind of application, and this one in particular as it combines an oscilloscope, a real time spectrum analyzer and a signal generator, all of which can run simultaneously. That (in my opinion) is really quite cool!

This is what PocketGear says about it:

Virtins Pocket Instument is a powerful pocket PC based virtual instrument. It consists of a real time oscilloscope, a real time spectrum analyzer and a signal generator, which can run simultaneously. It features a specially designed data acquisition approach which is able to monitor the input signal continuously without missing any trigger event before a frame of data is collected. It supports sophisticated triggering method including pre-trigger and post-trigger. It features zooming and scrolling function and allocates most of the screen for data display, all of which are essential for you to explore the fine details of the measurement data. It provides a comprehensive range of functions including wave form addition, wave form subtraction, Lissajous Pattern display, Voltmeter, transient signal recording, RMS amplitude spectrum display, relative amplitude spectrum display, phase spectrum display, auto correlation coefficient display, cross correlation coefficient display, function generation, arbitrary waveform generation, white noise and pink noise generation and sweep signal generation, etc.

It is also available direct from the developer Virtins.

Tao Group site still out

And nothing from Tim as yet.

WWDC Today

Maybe it will be a let down, maybe not, whatever there'll be something interesting. I'm hoping for:

- Real 3rd party iPhone apps
- An Apple sub-notebook

MeTeoR talk (4)

Some further feedback has been left on MeTeoR by the anonymous commentator, this looks interesting:

"Hi, it's me (anonymous) again, and I must ad important info about this prog:
When I tried it the other day and found the timing perfect, it was because I had recorded each track one by one (all others muted while recording), with the metronome on..

Today, I tried to "sing" (record) the drumtrack with metronome on, that was OK.
But when I tried to add the bass track with metronome off, the result is just awful!!!

So I'd say this program is a good wave files mixer, but you can't use it as a true multitracks recorder since you can't just add a bassline over a drums track...

There's a "latency" setting, but I think it's an overall latency setting, not track by track setting.
I think the issue would be acceptable if we could manually "play" with this latency, allowing us to adjust each track with each other (or rather with the first or drum track)."

I think it would be really useful if the anonymous commentator could pass this feedback to 4Pockets the developer to see what kind of response you get.

I have to say that so far my experience has been with using this application with vocals and an existing .wav track (not using the metronome), and I had good experiences.

Syntrax is free!

Syntrax is now free! All versions:

PocketPC Versions:
Syntrax Version 1.05 (ARM/XScale)
Syntrax Version 1.05 (Mips)
Syntrax Version 1.05 (SH3)
Symbian UIQ version:
Syntrax Version 1.09 (p800/p900/p910i/a925/a920)
Symbian Series 60 version:
Syntrax Version 1.09 (Nokia NGage,6600,6620,7610, Siemens SX1, and more)
Symbian UIQ 3.0 Version:
Syntrax version 1.09 (SonyEricsson m600, p990, w950)
Full WinXP and Win2000 Desktop version (v1.04)
Syntrax Version 1.04

Well worth checking out if you use any of the devices listed above.

Tao Group site

Still out, no contact from Tim Cole either. I'll keep checking daily to see if there's any update.

WWDC Tomorrow

Here's to some interesting news tomorrow, although I have to say that I'm not holding out too much hope. I'd love to see a new Apple sub-notebook, but I doubt it will be announced.

Still, let's see what does come out.

iPhone specifications...

Care of MacRumors, iPhone specs:

• System requirements
- Mac or PC
- iTunes 7
- Internet access is required, and a broadband connection is recommended
- Mac: Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later
- PC: Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2)
• External Controls
- Volume Up / Down
- Ringer / Silent
- Power / Lock
- Sleep / Wake
- Menu Button
• Dimensions
- 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches / 115 x 61 x 11.6mm
• Weight 4.8 ounces / 125 grams
• Input Method - Multi-touch
• Operating System - OS X
• Screen size - 3.5 inches
• Screen resolution - 320 x 480 at 160 ppi
• Storage - 4GB or 8GB
• GSM - Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
• Wireless data
- Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0
• Camera - 2.0 megapixels
• Battery
- Lithium
- Up to 5 hours - Talk / Video / Browsing
- Up to 16 hours - Audio playback
(Battery life varies by use)
• Connectors and other input & output
- 30 pin iPod connector
- 3.5mm jack includes audio and mic support
- SIM tray
- Built-in speaker
- Built-in microphone

Interesting that the 3.5mm jack is a 4-pole audio in and out? That could be useful

Tao Group site

Still nothing, so I've contacted Tim Cole to see if there's any news.

Apple Sub-Notebook?

Will we find out anymore, or will they keep it secret. As ever, more may (or may not) become clear after the 11th of June.

iPhone SDK at WWDC?

There has been and continues to be a great deal of speculation about whether Apple will open up the iPhone for 3rd party applications. Some say that an SDK will be available at the WWDC on the 11th of June. Others say that this will only be for widget applications and little else.

Not long to wait to find out.

iPhone coming soon, but?

There has been lots of talk about the iPhone and what it may bring. I am sure it will be an amazing device in many ways, but will it really bring anything for music makers?

I guess that from the 29th of June we'll get to find out.

MeTeoR talk (3)

Some interesting feedback has been left on my first post on MeTeoR by an anonymous commentator:

The axim x50v and x51v both have an audio input and output. Actually, it's the same "hole", but you can buy or make yourself (someone gave all the instructions about how to make it)a cable that divides itself into 2 cables (1 for input, 1 for output).
I tried the demo today and the software is awsome!!
Sometimes the metronome sounds weird when recording, but when listening, with metronome off, everything's perfect!

They go on to say:

Both axims (x50v and x51v) have audio input and output.
Actually, it's the same "hole", so you can buy or make yourself a cable ( someone somewhere gives all instructions needed to make it for cheap)that divides itself into 2 cables (one output,one input).
The input plug can even be guitar-plug sized! so you can record any instrument on it!
I tried the demo today with 6 tracks (only voices without a real mic) and I can say the software is great!!!
The metronome may sometimes sound weird while recording, but when listening with metronome off, everything is just pefect (I'm a drummer so I know the timing was good).

Good feedback I'd say...

Tao Group site still out

According to an anonymous comment, it seems like there Tao group aren't even responding to phone calls! This doesn't feel good at all. Let's hope it isn't really bad news.

Kinetica GPS PDA workshop

Aura: The Stuff Around the Stuff Around You

Kinetica are hosting a workshop on 3D audio worlds using PDAs with GPS. I am sure I read about something like this at one of the Mobile Music Workshops.

Here's what the Kinetica site says about it:

Probably the best metaphor for an aura sound world is to imagine walking through an array of invisible audio speakers suspended in space. Each speaker represents a sound node and emits different audio depending on where you, the user, is situated in relation to it. The sounds appear to act like real sounds in the real world. Steve Symons invites you to play with his aura software and create your own 3D audio worlds using GPS enabled PDAs.

Sadly it is yet another event I can't attend, but I thought it might interest others.

Performance?

People routinely perform with laptops, so could you or would you perform with a PDA, or even a series of PDAs? What would it be like?

Could it be more theatrical, like the kind of thing that the Sancho Plan do?