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Music reviews, editorials, gear reviews for the guitarist/bass player, journal entries, advice, funny crazy stuff and more. Updated roughly 2-3 times a week.
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Friday, April 22, 2011Must-Have Android Apps
Late 2010 I got my first "smart phone". An Android of course. I had an existing contract with Verizon when I lived in the Portland metro area, and so having every desire to not break said contract and pay the exorbitant fee, I stuck with the carrier despite its poor service in the area I now live in. It's good enough. I get by just fine. I did not at the time know that Apple's incredibly popular iPhone would be available on the Verizon network and knowing that now...I still think I would have stuck with my Android phone. And here's why: for as much as I love my iPod, I hate how I'm stuck with iTunes. I dislike the necessity to utilize Apple products for the hundreds of songs I downloaded in their proprietary format, and I dislike in general how Apple tends to do the same with ALL their products. They are, inconceivably, not the least bit flexible or customizable. Good luck installing a new launcher/home replacement/UI on ANY Apple product. If I don't like the way my Samsung Fascinate's message boxes look in txt message UI, I can quite simply get a replacement, or if I don't like the built-in Car Dock...GONE! And MANY of the replacements available for even the core functions of the Android phones are chocked FULL of customizations. Colors, shapes, themes, sizes, fonts, everything I want to tweak and mess with I can. I'm surrounded by people that own and love their iPhones - and the poor souls can't even replace their own batteries. OK, enough about that.
As I mentioned before, I own a Samsung Fascinate, that I'm happy to announced I FINALLY got the FROYO (2.2) update for just yesterday. Sweetness. Love the simple functionality upgrades that came with that and am looking forward to longer battery life (or so I'm told). I can't help myself, I simply HAVE to share the top 10 essential, MUST-HAVE applications for an Android phone. #10 - Mobile Queue from Netflix If you're a Netflix member, there's nothing better. You're out on the go and you see a preview or a friend tells you there's some movie you just HAVE to see. So you whip out your phone and add it to your queue. Maybe put it at the top, or fix your queue so that some movie that's been in a waiting state and is now at the bottom of your queue, goes to the top. Netflix goodies for your Android. #9 - Remember the Milk RTM is a task/to-do list manager. It's great. There's a web interface, an iGoogle plugin, and of course an Android app. Custom reminders, color coding, prioritization, mass editing, and a fun widget to go right next to your calendar. #8 - GO SMS Pro If I'm not mistaken I paid for the pro version, and there's a free version out there that's practically the same. HUGE customizations of the SMS/text message interface. Super great. Downloadable themes, a decent widget for the home screen, customize everything and get an additional free notification pack which allows you to further customize how you're notified about text messages, phone calls, emails and more. So much better than the stock TouchWhiz messaging app which looks and feels cartoonish. #7 - Active Apps What was awesome about the TouchWhiz UI is it came with this very intelligent Task Manager application. Which I still have, even now, after replacing the launcher/UI with an aftermarket, but the WIDGET is gone. I looked and looked and looked and FINALLY somebody came out with a simple widget, displaying the number of active background applications, easily readable and, again, FULLY customizable in a plethora of mechanisms. If you're utilizing a home replacement, and miss the task manager widget, this dandy little app is what you're looking for in the market. #6 - NoLED There are two things I don't like about the Samsung Fascinate, and really only two. First is its integration with Bing. Second, there's no LED letting me know I've missed a call, text, email, etc. When my phone's in my pocket, I want the screen off. When I take it out, I'd like a visual, not necessarily audible way of knowing I've missed something. (FYI, for those that want an audible or vibrating notification, NoLED in combination with "Missed Reminder" is the way to go). This leaves your phone's screen mostly off (black) and using a very minimal amount of batter and processor/memory, displays a small floating little icon notifying you that you've missed any number of events including calendar appointments, emails, texts, calls, and more - again fully customizable in many different ways. #5 - Facebook This is a no-brainer. If you use Facebook and want an app on your phone, this is a must-have. Since getting this, I've turned off all notifications within Facebook to my SMS device. #4 - Maps (by Google) This too is a no-brainer. The Samsung Fascinate comes with a Bing/Verizon combination of maps and navigation via GPS, but it's horrible. If you're like the rest of the world, the first thing you'll do is hide (because you can't remove) every last reference to Bing on your phone and replace it with Google stuff. This suite of applications came with not just Maps, but Navigation, an additional app called "Latitude" which lets you share places with your contacts, and "Places" which is a decent interface for searching for popular types of locales such as restaurants, coffee shops, and others (again, with some customization). Side note: It does look like Samsung/Verizon incorporated a Google search app and widget for the Fascinate with the Froyo update, so at least you get the choice now; however the hard-coded search button on the Fascinate phone itself appears to still be mapped to Bing without the ability to change it (which is why I never use it). #3 - Car Home Ultra Now we're really getting into the creme de la creme. So the Verizong/Bing integration that came with the phone included a stock Car Dock app that is, again, chocked full of Verizon and Bing apps with zero customization within the app. However, with Android being the master of customization that it is, I replaced my car dock quite easily. And Car Home Ultra is the proverbial bomb. Big fat buttons that are easy to press at an arm's reach away, fully customizable of course, a night mode, a speedometer, a constant compass, it can verbally give you notifications of the areas and towns you enter and exit, brightness adjustment, and much more. This is the way to go for any Android phone that gets used in the car, and especially if you utilize the Car Dock (which I highly recommend for Fascinate users). #2 - GO Launcher EX I almost didn't include this because I'm not sure I'd really call this an app. But I suppose without splitting too many hairs, that it is. It's a Home replacement. Otherwise known as a new "UI" or "Launcher". If you're new to Android lingo those all mean the same thing and they have nothing to do with "rooting" your phone. It's all very legal and very cool. I've tried out 3 or 4 of the most popular launchers and this one by far gets my vote. Fully customizable & assignable 5-button dock complete with icon customization. Add as many home screens as you want and make them rotate around like sides of a cube or a few other transition options. Your apps and icons are totally customizable too in terms of resizing widgets, etc. Context menus for long-presses on nearly all objects in the UI. Gestures for all kinds of assignable tasks including make your notification bar disappear/reappear (which I use). And the app drawer blows away the TouchWhiz UI's app drawer. All-in-all, a totally worthwhile $1.99. #1 - Tasker Wow, I just can't say enough how much I love this app. I've tried trials and even bought some of the competitors software such as Easy Profiles, Setting Profiles Pro, "Profile" and Locale...and I'm here to tell you that Tasker is THE way to go. I use it to make my phone do a multitude of modifications based on triggers. Want your phone to go to silent mode & 10% screen brightness from midnight to 6am, Monday through Friday, when your GPS says you're HOME? How about vibrate only mode, or calendar appointments play the Star Trek theme when you're at work (based on GPS location) past 6pm? Or automatically reboot once a week? Maybe pre-launch your large Bible app for you when you arrive at CHURCH? Or only answer the phone in speaker mode when you're in the car on the dock? I NEVER EVER have to put my ringer on or off. This app handles it all for me. Yes it took me a few weeks to get in all the customizations I wanted, but once I was done - it's been a life saver. This app is totally worth the six and a half bucks. HOME SCREENS Just for fun, here's what's on my home screens: Screen 1 (far left) is my Games Screen: Android Lightsaber, Angry Birds, Tetris, Scanner Radio (police/EMT/fire scanner), Tricorder, Ninja Rush, Glow Hockey, Tiger NES Emulator, Tiger SNES Emulator, Fruit Ninja, Mahjong Screen 2 (2nd screen from left) is my general common apps screen: Gallery, Market, Calculator, Tasker, Flashlight, KeePassDroid, Maps, Bible, uNote, Daily Brief. Widgets: Remember the Milk and the new Calendar widget from Froyo update. Screen 3 (3rd screen from left) is my social screen: "The City" bookmark link to my church's social networking app, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email, & Calendar app shortcuts. Widgets: Facebook (2x4), Google Search (1x4), & GO SMS Pro (2x4) messaging widget. Screen 4 (4th from left) is my home screen: Sense Analog Glass Clock & Active Apps 1x1 widget. Screen 5 (from left) is my phone screen: Missed Reminders, Reverse Lookup, and Voicemail. Widgets: NoLED (1x1), new "Contacts" (4x1) widget from Froyo update, and picture frame of my wife. Screen 6 is my sports screen: Yankees.com bookmark shortcut, MLB.com bookmark shortcut, At Bat Lite, ScoreCenter from ESPN, Sports Illustrated, FootballFan, and NFL Mobile. Widgets: MLB At Bat Lite (1x5) & ScoreCenter (1x5). Screen 7 is my movies/entertainment screen: Mobile Queue Netflix, IMDB, Fandango, Video Player, Youtube, Blockbuster, Kindle, Media Hub (new from Froyo update). Widgets: Youtube (1x5) Screen 8 is my music screen: gStrings Free (guitar tuner), Jam11 (beta for iTunes streaming from my computer to my phone over the Internet), JamBox, stock Music Player, Winamp. Widgets: Pandora (1x5) and Winamp (2x5). Screen 9 (last from left, first from right) is my shopping screen: Grocery Gadget (syncs my phone with my wife's for shopping lists), Amazin MP3, my banking app, CraigslistMobile, PayPal, eBay, and Barcode Scanner. Widgets: Gracery Gadget (1x5). Dock buttons (dock 1): Phone, camera, app drawer, messaging, browser. Dock 2: contacts, navigation, car home, email, calendar. CARHOME ULTRA SCREENS: Screen 1 (center position, home screen): Voice search, navigation, GO SMS Pro (to read, never to write while driving), Maps, GasBuddy, and a shortcut to call my wife's phone. Screen 0 (left of center): banking app, Remember the Milk, Grocery Gadget, and Calendar. Screen 2 (right of center): Phone, Voicemail, Daily Briefing, Scanner Radio, Email HONORABLE Mentions (apps not on a home screen, but still good)
Bazooka-Joe made it so at 11:41 AM
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Wednesday, December 19, 2007Pod X3 Live: Settings for Acoustics w/UST Pickups (live to a PA)
Setup
Before I started I made sure my onboard EQ for the Taylor guitar was flat and the EQ-ing on the channel was flat as well. I strung a very long quarter inch instrument cable from the stage to the the midpoint of the sanctuary (middle/center of a big room) to the Pod X3 Live unit where I was sitting. I then strung a very long XLR cable from the Pod X3 Live unit to the snake in the back of the room and listened to the FOH mains. I killed the monitors and I made sure I could not hear the acoustic properties of the guitar over the mains. I then had my buddy stand on stage and play different types of music, fingerstyle, arpeggios with a pick, light strumming, heavy strumming, palm mutes, etc while I tweaked settings on the Pod from where I sat. I set the Pod Master Volume to maximum and tweaked tone volumes as appropriate. "Live Out Level" was set to "Line" not AMP and "Ground Lift" was set to GND. Preset: And here's what I came up with. Hope this helps somebody else out there! AMP: Line 6 Super Clean CAB: 4x12 '01 Treadplate MIC: '67 Condensor ROOM: 30% --Amp EQ-- BASS: 80% MID: 31% TREBLE: 60% PRES: 9% DRIVE: 16% VOL: 100% STOMP: n/a MOD: Sine Chorus (off by default) --Chorus Settings-- SPEED: 0.61Hz TAP: Off TEMPO: 150bpm MIX: 41% PRE Config DELAY: Stereo Delay (off by default) --Delay Settings-- TIME: 400ms TAP: Off TEMPO: 150bpm MIX: 30% L-FDBK: 38% R-FDBK: 50% OFFSET: 67% POST Config REVERB: Dark Hall (on by default) --Reverb Settings-- PREDLY: 50% DECAY: 50% TONE: 50% MIX: 29% Noise Gate: Off/unconfigured COMPRESSOR: on by default --Compressor Settings-- THRESH: -9db GAIN: 3db EQ: on by default --EQ Settings-- LO GN: Flat @ 260Hz LM GN: -3.4db @ 310Hz HM GN: +1.8db @ 1.8kHz HI GN: -1.0db @ 2.90kHz Regards! :Bazooka-Joe
Bazooka-Joe made it so at 4:40 PM
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Wednesday, September 27, 2006Age Before Beauty
My workplace requires a minimum of four hours of “diversity training” annually. Four hours of employer-enforced homage paying to the liberal gods of whining, complaining, political correctness, anti-family propaganda, gay agendas, and brainwashing. If their goal was for me to wake up the next morning to nightmares of losing my job to a completely unqualified individual in the name of affirmative action then congratulations boss, you’ve officially scared me into submission. Anyway, without going too far down that path, my point is that some of this training is a little easier to stomach than others. The “Generations At Work” training, for example, that I took last year was full of sorts of stereotyping and broad statements but instead of being specific to gender, race, handicap, or sexual preference, it specifically targeted ages, agism, and the fact that my workplace is primarily composed of baby boomers and the new employees coming in are 30 years younger than them. The “teacher” (term used loosely) spent most of the time speaking directly to said boomers and trying to explain why Gen-Xers, and Gen-Nexters act, talk, socialize, and think the way they do.
Wikipedia defines Generation X as anyone born between 1969 and 1988. The class curriculum however defined Generation X as 1965 to 1980 and by its definition I was/am a member of Generation X, though I’m likely equally influenced by the pop culture and news-worthy happenings of GeneratioNext as well (1981-2000). Wikipedia I think really does a better breakdown of the generational ranges, as they display some significant overlap between them. Technically, according to Wiki, I’m part of the “MTV Generation,” a subset of generation X born between 1975 and 1985. I find that to be depressing and ultimately offensive, but whatever. Instead of Generation Next, Wiki uses the term Generation Y to describe those born between 1977 and 2003. So you see, technically, being born in 1979, I’m a member of all three (and yet, somehow, none of them). It’s like those tests you take that are so prominent on Myspace that tell you if you’re left-brained or right-brained, introverted or extroverted, more like Screech, Zach or Slater. The analytical side of my brain that likes the breakfast cereal aisle in the grocery store really loves that kind of stuff (but the kid in me craves the frosting). So today’s blog is about age and pop culture. I satisfactorily and mathematically have proven to myself, this very day, that I am most decidedly, getting old. Even now as I write this, I am celebrating my last few precious hours as a 26 year old. It is my understanding, and my belief that the de facto standardized definition for the term “early twenties” is the age range betwixt 21 through 23. The age of 20 frankly doesn’t belong to “early twenties”, because if you’re 20 years old, you’re technically not “in your twenties”. You’re just 20. I think that’s fair, and most of you I’m sure you would agree. So if we look at “the twenties” as the ages of 21 to 29, it’s easy to compartmentalize them into subcategories. “Mid twenties” obviously picks up at 24 and ends at 26. Which means tomorrow I’m officially in my “late twenties”. At 26 I was closer to 30 than 20, and that came with its own mental baggage and emotional abuse. But now, being officially late twenties, well I might as well be 30. And while 30 in and of itself doesn’t feel old, it sure sounds old. But it’s more than just a numbers game. It’s crossed over to the right side of my brain as well. My appreciation for art, which really begins and ends with music, has matured to the ranks of “fuddy-duddy” I think too. Or the darned kids these days with their baggyish pants and skating boards would have me believing as much (I squeal aloud as I reposition my teeth and feebly shake my cane in the air). As the archetypes of every generation long before have stated of their successors, I too call out in the name of all irritable, belligerent adults with eyes squinting and covering my ears in pale platitudes of antipathy and aversion; and with ancestry behind me backing my every syllable from which I once defended myself; I now stand and declare: What is up with music these days?!?!?! (and with that one single statement I drive the final nail in the proverbial coffin that is my epic quest from hip mid-twenties to prehistoric late-twenties) Prepare yourself for an earful of opinionated goodness now. I think the main reason I have no desire to associate myself with the title “Generation X”, other than the fact that term is associated with latchkey kids glued to their video game consoles with no ambition or ability/desire to integrate with the ‘real world’…is their music. Let’s face it, 80’s music with a few pleasant pockets of exception, doesn’t withstand the test of time (pardon the cliché). Talking Heads, Flock of Seagulls, Depeche Mode, Toto, Quiet Riot, Bangles, The Knack, Def Leppard, Duran Duran, even Tears for Fears (RIP) simply don’t do anything for…well, for anybody really. Whether it’s “new wave” music, synthpop, 80’s techno, or butt rock it’s rarely ever addressed in conversation as anything but a comical reference to a pop culture time that had seen its hay day and nobody has any desire to see that return. The keytar never had a chance. But the music of my youth, the music my generation listened to on the radio as teenagers from 1994 to 2000, at least to my mind, is different. While certainly out of style today, it doesn’t have that same embarrassing quality that the Breakfast Club music icons are packaged with. Weezer, Pearl Jam, Everclear, Bush, Radiohead, even the grunge scene is all still listenable music in my own humble opinion. Even baby boomers, a group which I am surrounded by presently, admits the music of the 90’s as a whole is much better than what came out in the 80’s. And while today’s music doesn’t have that same embarrassing quality that music from the 80’s has, it just doesn’t feel on the same level as the average album release in the late to mid 90’s either. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m too old now and the music is no longer written for my generation, hence it doesn’t seem as appealing to me as the music that was written for my generation. It really comes down to marketing and the fact that it’s kids between the ages of 13 and 19 that are targeted by the record labels for the most part. I think it’s mostly that age group that defines the music scene any given year because they’re the targeted consumers. I’m not saying anything here that isn’t common knowledge and hasn’t already been stated ad nauseum by others in the blogosphere. But the average cost per byte for disk space these days has gone down so low that I don’t even mind reiterating it one more time for the world to read. So there it is folks. There’s my plea for my generation and its music when compared to its predecessor and its successor. And justification to myself for why my iPod is half-filled with music that came out during the 6 years that I was the age of the targeted music consumer market. Coincidentally I’ve heard the book “The Greatest Generation” by Tom Brokaw is a pretty good read about the generation that fought in WWII and experienced the great depression (my grandparents’ generation). I’m considering picking it up and reading, in spite of the fact it was written by Tom Brokaw. If anyone’s read it, I’d love a review on it. So I leave you with these final thoughts. Remember me, as I experience yet another birthday and leave the ranks of the mid-twenties. If you’re 15 and reading this…laugh now you poor wretch. Laugh while you still can. Laugh till it hurts and then realize that some day you’ll need a diaper change from laughing that hard. And yes, I’ll get there before you do but I’ll be done with it before you are too. And to my loyal readership, I’m signing off for the last time as a 26 year old. There’s a slice of sugar free chocolate cake and a scoop of low fat vanilla ice cream with my name on it. Goosfraba. :Bazooka-Joe
Bazooka-Joe made it so at 4:12 PM
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