Interwebers

Simplify Media: Our “Best App Ever!! of the Week.” Read the review: http://tinyurl.com/6haa3w. Re-tweet if you have iPhone friends!

I’m walking down the streets of New York rocking out to some Billy Joel on my iPhone. But the music isn’t loaded on my phone - and it’s not coming from a radio application. I was listening to Chris’ music; from his computer; which was sitting in Richmond, VA…340 miles away.

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A nice feature of iTunes is the ability to share your music library with other people on your network. But when your network only includes a few people, whose music you involuntarily hear through your thin walls, there’s really no point. So what if we could make that local music network into a global music network? It would redefine the concept of a shared music community and open the door to a world of nearly infinite music. 

Simplify Media does just that. Once you download, install, and create an account, you gain the ability to access the music libraries of up to 30 people (who have also installed the program) wherever you have an internet connection. 

While I only tested this on a Mac, the installation was simple, and within minutes, I was able to view Chris’ library right in iTunes. 

Ok, now I know you’re all thinking, “This is great, but I thought this was an iPhone app review. And how were you listening to Chris’ music from your phone?” Well, our friends at Simplify Media have released an app for the iPhone that does exactly the same thing as its computer version while allowing for mobile use.  You can access your own library, and any of those friends that you can convince to install the software.

This solves a huge problem. The demand for more complicated and faster DAPs (digital audio players) has led to the use of flash memory as a storage medium. While this provides faster access time needed for these modern devices and a smaller form factor, the prices have forced companies to sacrifice storage size when compared to more traditional hard drives. Many of us have music libraries too large to fit on these slimmed down devices, but with Simplify Media, we can leave our entire libraries at home and access them on the go. 

The iPhone version shows your media lists i.e. all the libraries you are currently connected to. It works on wifi, 3G, and even Edge, albeit the load times increase respectfully. The quality is remarkably good using wifi and 3g but takes a hit when switching over to edge. The interface is exactly like the native iPod feature, making the experience simple and familiar. 

One feature that the iPhone version offers over the computer version is the ability to see artist bios and lyrics, making mobile karaoke possible, though we highly advise against it, as bluetooth conversations are bad enough!

The downsides:

First, you need a computer connected to the internet. So if your friend decides to power down, there goes that music. On the phone side, you need a connection; so no signal, no music. 

Second, the program can’t run in the background, so the program must remain open. If you receive a call however, the app promptly closes, and your phone rings as normal. Background playing was available in earlier firmware for jailbroken phones, but has since been stifled by iPhone 2.0 firmware. Background playing is one major advantage of the native iPod feature, so this is something we hope Simplify Media will be able to re-implement.

Third, streaming the music through Simplify Media takes more power so battery life will take a hit. (Stay tuned for our mega post on maximizing your iPhone’s battery life!)

Fourth, purchased music from the iTunes cannot be shared from a friends computer. 

Lastly, the software is relatively new, and they are still working out the kinks. Most of our issues were related to overloaded servers and general “bugginess;” all things we expect to be ironed out in the (hopefully) near future.

So while there’s still more to be desired, Simplify Media opens a whole new door to streaming music and makes great use of the iPhone’s mobile connectivity. With the improvement in cellular networks, streaming video is right around the corner.

 The software is free for both the computer and iPhone, although they plan on charging for the iPhone version soon, so get it quick. 

With no hesitation and with all the exuberance we posses, we proudly award Simplify Media the Interwebers’ Best App Ever!! of the Week award. 

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The first “Best App Ever!! of the week” post it up. Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/5g2yl9

Introducing the Mobile Interwebers Series!! http://tinyurl.com/6g5sgf

How many times have you heard a song on the radio, thought how great it is, and then have the station immediately cut to commercial leaving you in a frustrated ponder?

Ponder no more…

Shazam and midomi are applications that allow you to capture small segments of songs using the iPhone’s mic and within a few seconds have it tagged with the appropriate track title, artist and album information.

While both retrieve track titles with surprising accuracy, there are some major differences between the programs that set them apart from each other.

In a simple performance test, I used both apps to capture the same ten songs from an FM radio, using stations of various genres. Shazam accurately retrieved 10 out of 10 song titles. Midomi fell short of perfect with eight out of ten songs successfully identified. It should be noted that Midomi had the most difficulty with rap/hip hop genre.

Once a song is captured, the apps begin to differentiate themselves even further. Shazam provides the ability to preview and purchase the song in iTunes and view any YouTube videos associated with the track. It automatically adds “tagged” tracks into a bookmark list, providing the option to delete with the popular right swipe finger gesture. Another notable feature of Shazam is the ability to tag a song with a photo taken with the iPhone, allowing a user to associate a memory with a particular song.

While more complex, midomi’s interface allows for a number of additional features. One of midomi’s more significant features is the ability to tag a song via humming, singing, saying and typing. While I expected the singing to be horribly inaccurate, it matched the songs within the first five results, despite my not-so-Pavarotti voice.

Different from Shazam, midomi gives the user the option to bookmark and allows a preview of the song right in the application instead of linking it to iTunes. 

Overall, both applications perform well in retrieving various titles of songs. Shazam lacks features and the ability to preview a song when not connected to wifi. However, in terms of accuracy, Shazam shines the brightest. Despite its ability to recognize songs using different methods, midomi doesn’t put together as comprehensive a package as Shazam. With a rating of 4/5, Shazam edges out midomu (3.5/5) to receive the inaugural Best App Ever of the Week! award.

Here at Interwebers, the focus is on the internet the people who use it. In a time of exploding mobile technology, more people are taking the internet with them wherever they go. This is increasing user participation and subsequently, the demand of the technology. Apple’s iPhone is a huge contributor to this movement and that’s why we’re going to dedicate a series of posts to the iPhone.

I’d like to introduce a new series entitled “Best App Ever!! of the Week” Interwebers’ senior iPhone correspondent Tim MacLaga will be writing posts highlighting some of the greatest new apps (ever? ) available for your iPhone. We’re also putting together some very informative posts that promise to enhance your mobile interwebing experience.

Keep an eye on your RSS feeds. If you’re not subscribing yet, click to subscribe to interwebers.

There are several steps to starting a successful blog. Having just set up a client with a blog of their own, I had a chance to revisit and redefine many of these steps. 

In an upcoming post, I’m going to share the approach I took in setting up a successful attorney blog for our client. For now, I want to share the one step I missed when setting up my own dearly-beloved Interwebers.

Claim your blog on Technorati!! (If you’re a blogger reading this, I know what you’re thinking: “D’uh!”) Forehead slapping aside, claiming your blog on Technorati is simple and helpful to the success of your blog. It allows you track all links your blogs receives (yay traffic source) so you can link back. I know what you SEOs are thinking: “But hey! That’s reciprical linking!!” Yes, it is, but the key to blog traffic isn’t Google rankings. Providing a good, streamlined flow of traffic through the blogosphere will get you the traffic and eventually your readers. For this purpose, Technorati is the tool for you.

New post on student/teacher relationships in the social network world: http://interwebers.com/

CNN ran this story about student-teacher online relationships. When it comes to teachers and students connecting through social networks, the title says it all: it can be tricky. 

Just like how corporate CEO’s blogging has given huge corporate brands a more human element, social networks are breaking down a social and communication barrier between teacher and student. But is this a good thing…?

On one side of the coin, it helps enhance communication. If a teacher has a Myspace or Facebook page, they seem more human; more approachable; more real. I remember a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon where Calvin’s mom saw his teacher in the food store. Calvin acted surprised - assuming his teacher was cryogenically frozen during the summer. A little over the top, sure. But remember how hard it was to imagine our teachers actually had lives outside of school - that they were real people?

Let’s turn the coin over. The relationship between a student and his teacher is a special thing. It’s also very challenging. You walk a thin line between what’s good for the student and their development, and what can viewed as inappropriate among parents and administrators. 

Most instructors want to be liked by their students. They want to be the “cool” teacher. The teacher they remember from when they went to school. But this presents risks.

How close can we get to our teachers or our students without it becoming too close? What is too close? It’s subjective. However it can reach a point where it’s no longer subjective. It’s wrong. It’s illegal. A sacred line is crossed and all that was gained is lost. I don’t have to go into detail. We all know where I’m going with this.

In most cases, it doesn’t become that serious. Still, there can be consequences to getting too close. If a teacher cedes too much of his/her authority in the name of coming down to the students’ level, the kids will walk all over him/her. A social network page reveals a lot about your personal life. It shows what you’re doing outside the classroom, who your adult friends are, if you have a significant other, how you might spend your Saturday nights, so on and so forth. You’re not going to walk into class on Monday and tell your kids about your crazy weekend shenanigans. It just wouldn’t seem appropriate. But these are the things we tend to give away on our social network pages.

Most of my friends are educators. One works full time job at a distinguished high school in the mid west. He has a Facebook page and is Facebook friends with many of his students, but he recognizes the risk it presents. “I have to be REALLY careful.” The way he interacts with his students online and the information he includes in his profile affect the way he is perceived by his students, both inside and outside the classroom.

I just began a high school teaching gig. My students inevitably are going to Facebook me. Fortunately, my role as a drumline instructor is a little more casual than, say, a history teacher. But I’m going to tread cautiously, remembering my best teachers were often the ones I disliked while I was their student, not the ones who were my friend….err Facebook friend.