Virtuoso Piano

post from Daring Fireball on 16 September 2011 11:03:24 PM. © Daring Fireball

My thanks to Virtuoso Piano for sponsoring this week’s DF RSS feed. Virtuoso Piano is a very cool, very well done piano app for the iPhone. It looks, feels, and sounds real. I gave it to my son to try and he spent 30 minutes playing with it before I could get my iPhone back.

Virtuoso Piano is a free download from the App Store, and has in-app purchases to unlock extra instrument sounds (it ships with two for free — grand piano and a busted Irish Pub piano). Lots of fun, and worth checking out.

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Read The Full Article:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/virtuoso-piano-free-3/id391994966?mt=8

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Some Other Tablets You May Have Seen

post from Daring Fireball on 16 September 2011 11:03:24 PM. © Daring Fireball

Marco Arment, after watching several Build sessions on touchscreen Metro stuff:

Instead, they painfully dance around to avoid it, equivocating andgenericizing even the most iPad-specific references with ?othertablets?, ?some competitors?, ?you may have seen?,?out there?.
They know they?re talking about the iPad. Everyone in theauditorium knows they?re talking about the iPad. All of us onthe internet know they?re talking about the iPad.

I noticed that too, and agree at times it was awkward. Pride explains some of it, but I noticed they even used “other tablets” when talking about things they clearly believe are inferior compared to Metro, like the iPad’s modality for things like rearranging and deleting items in a list.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.marco.org/2011/09/16/some-other-tablets-you-may-have-seen

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Supreme Court Halts Texas Execution

post from Daring Fireball on 16 September 2011 06:03:28 PM. © Daring Fireball

David Savage, reporting for the LA Times:

The U.S. Supreme Court stopped Texas officials Thursday eveningfrom executing a Houston murderer who was sentenced to die afterjurors were told he posed a greater danger to public safetybecause he is black.
The justices acted on an emergency appeal after Texas Gov. RickPerry and state judges refused to intervene. […]
The reprieve came nearly two hours into a six-hour window whenBuck could have been executed, but state officials did not actwhile his emergency appeal was pending.

That these reprieves come at the last hour, just like in the movies, always strikes me as crazy and cruel.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-texas-death-20110916,0,33677
30.story

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Archie Out of Context

post from Daring Fireball on 16 September 2011 06:03:28 PM. © Daring Fireball

I almost feel bad laughing at some of these.

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Read The Full Article:
http://archieoutofcontext.tumblr.com/

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Alderaan Shoots First

post from Daring Fireball on 16 September 2011 05:03:40 PM. © Daring Fireball

Clip from the new Blu-ray edition of Star Wars.

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Read The Full Article:
http://mlkshk.com/p/7574

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Windows 8 Desktop Apps for ARM: Maybe

post from Daring Fireball on 16 September 2011 04:03:31 PM. © Daring Fireball

Great reporting by Joanna Stern, in an interview with Mike Anguilo, Microsoft’s VP of Windows planning¹:

When asked about Microsoft?s plans to explain the legacyprogram situation, Angiulo said that ?there is a significantamount of marketing that we are capable of doing that can getthrough — we can afford to tell a story and tell it long enoughand clearly enough. We will make sure it is absolutely clearwhere your legacy apps will run.? However, he followed that upwith a kicker: ?porting things and whether we open nativedesktop development are either decisions that are either not madeor not announced yet.?

So Microsoft hasn’t yet decided whether legacy (a.k.a. traditional desktop) apps will be able to be recompiled/ported to ARM. No question it’s technically possible — the question is whether they want to allow it. My guess is it’s a political fight inside the company.

“VP of Windows planning”? Microsoft needs to reimagine their job titles. ↩

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Read The Full Article:
http://thisismynext.com/2011/09/16/windows-8-arm-tablets-legacy-apps-microsoft-of
fice/

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Similar Use of And

post from Daring Fireball on 16 September 2011 04:03:31 PM. © Daring Fireball

“I’ll always remember this as the night that Michael Jordan and I combined for 70 points.”
?Chicago Bulls forward Stacey King, after a game in which Michael Jordan scored 69 points.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.quoteland.com/author/Stacey-King-Quotes/1813/

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Michael Mace: The Two Most Dangerous Words in
Technology Marketing

“Just wait.”

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Read The Full Article:
http://mobileopportunity.blogspot.com/2011/08/two-most-dangerous-words-in-technol
ogy.html

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Button Smasher Goes Free with Free Version

OmNom Apps today announced the release of Button Smasher Free, a free version of their already popular game. Button Smasher Free is a fast-paced game that will leave users wondering what they should press next. Players use a set of buttons at the bottom of the screen to clear shapes as quickly as possible. In doing so, players are able to earn more points and rank against others. Button Smasher Free contains the recent significant update to Button Smasher.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-30964.htm

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Sprightly Software Releases Golf Solitaire iPad
and iPhone Game

Sprightly Software today announced Golf Solitaire 1.2, an update to their popular solitaire game for iOS. Golf Solitaire is a fun, addictive, and highly entertaining solitaire game. It's played by trying to match a card that is one number higher or one number lower than the last card. Version 1.2 includes 4 new Game Center achievements, a new single hole mode, a new icon, and minor bug fixes. Players can earn Game Center achievements while they play.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-30963.htm

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