Filed under: Multimedia

Today Monsoon Multimedia is announcing the Vulkano, a universal video platform that integrates DVR, Web video, streaming and time shifting of media from the home to a portable device, including the iPhone, iPad, and Macs or PCs. It also supports streaming to Android, Blackberry, Symbian and WM6 phones or devices.

Prices range from US $259 to $379 depending on the storage capacity customers desire. The $379 device stores 1 Terabyte. The company says it will introduce a 3G capable app for the iPhone next month.

Among the functions available are:

• Triggering recording from a remote device
• Playback of recordings on iPads, PCs and Macs in the home and remotely
• Browsing of an electronic program guide for shows and episode information
• Access photos, video and music on your home TV from UPnP supported devices
• Connects to cable, DVD, satellite, DVR and Tivo
• Streams using H.264 and MPEG-4 standards at rates as low as 150kpbs
• Connects wirelessly to home router

Although not currently in the product software, the company says it will offer free upgrades that include Google TV, Yahoo!, Netflix, Hulu and other services in the 'near future.'

"We designed Vulkano from the ground up to replace single purpose solutions, such as TiVo, Roku, Slingbox, etc," said Steve Stone, CTO at Monsoon. "In the coming months we will be pushing new apps to Vulkano owners for free so they can rest assured that this is the first and last product they'll need for all their TV and Internet media needs."

We're going to get a review unit soon and can give you our own impressions. For a full description take a gander at the Vulkano website. Monsoon is taking pre-orders for an estimated August 10 shipping date. It will be interesting to watch the consumer reaction to this device. It is very Apple friendly and if it is easy to use and set up Monsoon will have a winner.

Like me, maybe you're not big into Japanese literature other than some graphic novels. When I read this story, I had no idea who Ryu Murakami was until I read that his list of works includes Audition. Audition, in case you don't know, was adapted to film by Takashi Miike; it's one of the most uncomfortable and graphic horror movies that I've ever seen, ... but I digress.

Murakami's latest work, titled A Singing Whale, is set to make its debut solely on the iPad; it will involve no other publishers at all. It will appear on the Japanese App Store at around US $17, and thirty percent of that purchase price will go to Apple. The rest will go to Murakami, composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, and the software company that is making the book.

You may be asking why a composer is included in this list. This deal isn't about Murakami sticking it to publishers (or, at least, it's not all about that). Like a few of the other titles that we've already seen on the App Store (like Alice in Wonderland, for example), this title will have a multimedia aspect to it. So, it's not necessarily something that could even work with traditional publication.

I just hope that A Singing Whale isn't in the same vein as Audition, or that multimedia experience will be very, very nightmare inducing. Just thinking about it makes my Achilles tendon hurt.

We were wondering what happened to Simplify Media, the well-regarded software that offers your Mac ubiquitous access to your DRM-free music and photos via iTunes, an iPhone or iPod touch.

In March, we reported that the company was "heading in a different direction," which turned out to be a sale to Google. The Simplify Media app was removed from the app store, and the ability to share your iTunes library with others was removed. The sale was just announced this morning at the Google I/O conference.

Google intends to use the product on Android Phones, and it will be a component part of an iTunes-type of service that's in development.

If anyone had any doubts about Google offering competition for Apple, this should remove it. Competition is good, and this will be most interesting to watch. The nasty part is that Simplify Media for the Mac ecosystem is likely gone for good.

Got a desire to mess with some pictures you have by controlling blur or making full-sized objects look like miniatures? I've just played with some software called Tilt-Shift-Focus that mimics the way tilt shift lenses work. By artfully applying selective blur, you can make objects look they are part of a train set. There is another effect that duplicates the look of zoom movement in a still photo.

There are several modes that let you define where the blur and sharpness is positioned in your image. You can also use a paintbrush tool to draw sharpness onto an image that is pre-blurred.

To use the software, you manipulate control points. At first it seems very counter-intuitive, but with a little practice it starts to make sense. Of course, this software is not going to duplicate what an expensive lens can do, but I found it fun to manipulate some photos from my archives and 'miniaturize' parts of the photos.

One thing I noticed was that at times loading and saving JPEG images was very slow. I also wish there was some built-in help to get you started, but the developer does have some good tutorials and a helpful videos on his website.

If you are looking to do this on an iPhone check out our review here. You can also simulate this effect in Photoshop, and we have you covered there too.

The software sells for US$14.99 and requires OS X 10.5 or later. It's worth a spin if you are interested in doing these kinds of effects.

Here are some examples I created:

The problem is, we just don't know where they're going. In a Saturday blog post, the company announced it is "...taking a new direction" and won't be offering their current apps to new users.

SimplifyMedia has been offering free software for computer-to-computer and iPhone-to-computer music sharing over the internet. Using the iPhone app, you could connect to your computer at home and stream albums, playlists or songs without any complicated firewall setups. A newer version of the software also allowed remote access to your iPhoto library.

It also looks like the company is going to slowly sunset current customer accounts but will continue to keep them functioning for at least another 3 months.

The Simplify iPhone app has been removed from the App Store, and the company says new account creation will be disabled soon.

I don't have any idea where the company is headed, but the current product will be missed. SimplifyMedia was offered for Mac, PC and Ubuntu.

[Thanks to Robert for the tip]

Now that Valve has committed to offering full support for the Mac for both its in-house games and Steam, its digital game delivery system, other developers are expressing interest in the Mac as a gaming platform, too.

Gas Powered Games, creator of Supreme Commander 2, Kings and Castles, and Dungeon Siege, has said of the Mac: "We, as a developer, will include a Mac platform option in all of our proposals moving forward. We're in 100 percent support of it, absolutely." Chris Taylor, founder of Gas Powered Games, says that porting games over to the Mac is relatively easy since Macs and PCs now have largely identical internal architectures. Intel processors and ATI or NVIDIA graphics cards are common to both platforms, making game porting far easier than it was back in the PowerPC days. Taylor also says that recent rises in Mac sales are another contributing factor making the Mac a more attractive target for game developers.

Swedish gamemaker DICE, best known for the Battlefield series of games, may also be throwing more support behind the Mac -- one of the company's lead developers has said that "We're currently investigating the possibility of making [Battlefield: Bad Company 2] available on Mac." That's not as big or flashy a commitment as Valve or Gas Powered Games, but considering the popularity of the Battlefield series, it still goes a long way toward improving the state of gaming on the Mac.

Over the next year or so, many other developers are likely to be watching Valve's success (or lack thereof) on the Mac with a very keen eye. If Valve manages to make a healthy amount of money by selling games to Mac users, it may only be a matter of time before many more gaming outfits follow suit.

Recently I've been preparing to move home and finally did last weekend. Naturally I had to pack up all my musical gear, equipment and of course, my Mac. In the week leading up to the move, I've had my iPhone and nothing else. With no creative outlet and the pressure of looming project deadlines, I found myself scouting the app store for a fix to help me start fleshing out a few creative ideas.

This is what I found that worked well for me.

1. TonePad and TonePad Pro

The iTunes Store describes TonePad Pro as "...the easiest way to make music. Discover the inner musician in you. Create songs by simply touching." And this is exactly what I found. With a 16 x 16 matrix, and an easy-to-use user interface (literally start tapping your fingers and music is made), I found myself coming up with little melodies and tunes immediately. Although you only have the 16 x 16 matrix, to me, what initially seemed quite limiting soon became a boundary for creative focus.

You can save an unlimited number of tunes to listen back to, and upload them to a shared server where your buddies can check out what you've been musing. With the paid version, you can save your melodies into a ringtone that will sync back to your iPhone, too.

2. Flourish

Flourish is something a bit more immersive. While having a steeper learning curve, there's loads more to explore here. The user interface is really fresh and unique (especially for the iPhone), and presents a creative challenge in focusing your composition whilst giving you the space to try different approaches to what you are creating.

Basically Flourish represents musical phrases as physical loops:

-Record loops with expressive multi-touch keyboards.
-Generate percussive and melodic sequences.
-Build arrangements by ear or by eye.
-Select from a consonant collection of instruments.
-Sequence loops by connecting them in chain.

Check out the Flourish website for a few demo clips.

Let us know in the comments below what other apps for the iPhone / iPod Touch, or the Mac, that are inspiring you to make music.

I've always liked Slate Magazine on the web. It's sometimes sassy and irreverent, but always interesting -- an eclectic mix of politics, culture and tech news.

Now, Slate has come to the iPhone in a US$1.99 app that features all the articles from the site, as well as the blog posts, staff tweets and streaming video from the Slate podcasts. Once content is downloaded you can read it off-line, which is a worthwhile feature. Access to Slate on the web is free, and you can read Slate from any mobile browser by going to mobile.slate.com.

So why the charge for the iPhone app? Slate says it cost something to develop it, and it gives you a much richer experience in a portable form. I can't argue with that, but I can argue with the ads that appear absolutely everywhere. Even the splash screen popped up with an ad. I think that's a bit much after I've paid for the app, but I'm beginning to see a lot of this in other apps as well.

I do like the app a lot, and it is a better experience for me than reading Slate stories in Safari on the iPhone. I even prefer the app to reading the site on my desktop or laptop. I just think the constant intrusive ads are a turn-off that will keep some people from pulling the trigger on what is an otherwise laudable effort.

Slate works on any iPhone or iPod touch with OS 3.0 or greater. I expect we'll see an iPad version as well.

Full disclosure: In the dim, distant past I worked at the Washington Post Company, which owns Slate.

Take a gander at some screen shots below:

I'm much more of a baseball fan (go Cubs!), but of course it is now March, and that means college basketball is about to heat up. CBS Sports has now released an official March Madness On Demand app, and just like the great MLB iPhone app, this one also offers streaming video on demand of 63 March Madness games. Video even comes over 3G and EDGE, so no matter where you are, you'll be able to keep up to date on what's happening in the big tournament. The app also offers scores and bracket updates (so you can see how your picks are playing out), as well as connections to Facebook and Twitter, so you can do a little trash-talking, too.

There is a lite version that offers up just scores and news, but the US$9.99 premium version gives you live video of all the games, and/or audio broadcasts as they happen from Westwood One (and the press release says CBS worked in conjunction with MLB Advanced Media, so I'd guess the quality is pretty good). If you're planning on watching the tournament at all, and think you might spend at least a game or two away from the television, the app will probably be worth it. It's up for download right now on the App Store -- play ball! No wait. What do they say for basketball? Tip off?

Steve Jobs and the iPad both appeared on TV during last night's Academy Awards, but they weren't the extent of Apple's presence.

Cnet reports this morning that the majority of the "Documentary Feature" and "Documentary Short" nominees -- 9 out of 10 in fact -- were made using Final Cut Studio, Apple's professional video editing package. Cnet spoke with some of the filmmakers, including Dan Wilken, online editor of "Food, Inc," who sung the suite's praises. "...[switching to Final Cut Studio] made the most sense economically and allowed us to do everything we needed."

Final Cut isn't the only professional editing software available but it is the most popular; market research firm SCRI International claim is has a near 50% market share among nonlinear editors.

With this in mind we get an even clearer picture of Steve's motivation for showing up. Certainly to have fun and experience the show, cheer on Up and other Disney offerings and keep his company and products in the minds of a very lucrative market.

Scans from the April 2010 issue of Gameinformer have confirmed that Portal 2, the sequel to Valve's wildly popular and critically acclaimed game Portal, will be released in fall of 2010 for the Xbox 360, PC, and Mac (as reported on MacRumors). No, your eyes do not deceive you: Portal 2 is coming to the Mac this fall.

More on the Valve front: TUAW reader Jason let us know that Gameinformer's April 2010 issue also confirms a May launch of Steam for the Mac. This was rumored several weeks ago based on some WebKit & Mac-specific content in the Steam beta, and pretty well locked in by Valve's viral leaks of Mac-themed 'reimagined' advertisements last week. (The final one is a bit of a give-away... read the copy.)

"There is an article on page 22, News, 'Mac Gets Its Steam On' - Valve preps May launch on Apple platform," Jason tells us. He also says the article itself states, "Valve will start a beta program this spring, with a full launch targeted for May [...] If you already have a Steam account but want to use it on your brand-new Macbook, for instance, your Steam keys will still work."

That last part is pretty huge; from the sounds of it, if you already bought PC versions of games on Steam, you won't have to pay again to download Mac versions of the same games. That should be a huge relief to Mac gamers who've been booting into Windows to get some gaming done.

We haven't been able to confirm this reader tip, so if any of you have access to the same issue of Gameinformer and can confirm what Jason's told us, let us know in the comments.

In the battle of the network superstars between free-to-stream, ad-supported video (the Hulu model) and pay-per-show, ad-free TV (the iTunes model), there's been a big missing piece: how to monetize shows and sell ads for content that's downloaded and played on mobile devices like the iPad? Obviously, it's a better deal for the user if they can watch at will, without having to maintain network connectivity on the go (to say nothing of the streaming quality, or lack thereof, when connected over 3G), but making sure they see the ads in the content -- and reporting back to advertisers who want to know who watched what -- is much more challenging for anywhere, anytime viewers.

Wherever there's trouble, they're there on the double: the Bloodhound Gang known as Apple's engineering team has a patent application that may offer a way forward. First filed in September of 2008 and made public on March 4, this patent received a thorough analysis over at Patently Apple. The core idea: watch a block of ads to 'unlock' the next segment of video content, not unlike the way most network streaming sites appear to work now. The difference is in the implementation, reporting and controlling how the ads appear and which content is freed up. Users might be able to 'pay past' the ads, or watch them all at the beginning of the program to deliver a more seamless viewing session.

More intriguingly, Apple's patents suggest that advertisers can require or customize a particular level & kind of user interaction that will be embedded in the ad experience, requiring viewers to engage on some level before proceeding to the next segment (thereby ensuring that they're paying attention and not off making a snack). That would be something of a Holy Grail for advertisers who fear that their messaging is getting lost in the TiVo/DVR 'just skip it' timeshifting era.

Combined with the October 2009 patent regarding ad-subsidized hardware platforms, which lists Steve Jobs and Mike Matas among its co-inventors, and it's looking like we might be moving towards a future where that $499 iPad can be had for a fantastic, subsidized price of $199... if you accept a certain level of embedded and un-skippable advertising alongside your media and mobility experience. "Magical & revolutionary," you betcha. The idea of power-ads taking over your media playback might not bother everyone, but if you buy Fake Steve's argument, that's where the $30/month TV subscription plan comes in. Can't take the ads? Just pay to play.

[via MacRumors]

Image from Apple patent, courtesy Patently Apple site. No comment on the fact that it looks like a picture of Charlie from Lost (Dominic Monaghan).

Apple is definitely one of the world's most admired companies, but their lofty ambitions, high visibility, and easy-to-identify style also makes them ripe for parody, as in this very funny video by the UK's E4. They're boasting about a madeup device called the ePad, which will wow you with its revolutionary and magical keyboard, screen, and standard attached computer and television. Like they say, if you want to see one of their shows, you can just literally reach out and touch ... well, we won't ruin the surprise.

But it is funny. And it shows that while yes, the iPad is a cool device, anything you talk about in a "revolutionary" and "magical" way can seem like it's exactly that -- even if it is just another heavy piece of junk.

I love Flickr (and alliteration, apparently). That is, I love Flickr on my desktop, and often on my Apple TV. I've never really been in love with the mobile experience, mostly due to long wait times and cumbersome navigation. When Mike Bernardo from Green Volcano Software contacted me about Flickit Pro, his Flickr app for the iPhone, I was definitely game to try it. I bought a copy the same day in the hopes that it would bring a little joy to my mobile Flickring.

We've played with Photon before, so we know that Green Volcano knows how to make photo handling fluid and fast. That interface dexterity carries over to the iPhone app. I was impressed by the overall aesthetics, and as I played with it I quickly confirmed that it wasn't just eye candy. There are little details that made me smile, and then ask, "Why all apps don't do things like this?" My favorite of these interface gems has to be the ability to zoom a photo in quite far, drag it to the edge and hold it a sec, and watch it suck back down and load the next image. Whether or not you dislike the usual double-tap-before-you-slide on most iPhone photo browsers as much as I do, it's still a great feature and demonstrates some serious attention to detail.

The speed is impressive, the background loading isn't cumbersome or even noticeable, and the overall experience left a great impression. It was $3.99US well spent. There's a free version, Flickit (without the Pro), but I haven't tried it. I assume it's a cool app, but if you're a Flickr fanatic (or really like well-designed apps), check out Flickit Pro.

I put together a little gallery below, so in case you don't buy that whole "nice interface" spiel, you can dive in and see for yourself.

As if I weren't excited enough to buy Major League Baseball's (MLB) iPhone app At Bat (here's an example of my previous gushing), they've added a new feature that makes it easy to listen to games while using other apps.

While Apple doesn't allow 3rd party apps to run in the background on the iPhone or iPod touch,* Silicon Alley Insider notes that you can listen to audio in Mobile Safari while using other applications. It's this trick that MLB exploited with At Bat 2010. With the tap of a button, At Bat will push an audio stream to Mobile Safari.

Note that MLB didn't come up with this trick, nor is their app the first to exploit it. ESPN Radio does it, as well as Scanner911 and FlyCast. Still, it's nice that MLB's devs acknowledged that some users might want to check email or hop onto Twitter while listening to game, and made it easy to do so.

Now if only Pandora would follow suit.

*Yes, you can enjoy the benefits of background apps with a jailbroken iPhone, but that's a different post entirely.