Tag Archives: Music

Gibson Guitars and G Force Self Tuner at CES

ces, Interview, Music, Special Media, video, , , , , ,

Gibson LogoGibson produced their first electric guitar back in 1936 and since then, the name has been synonymous with the instrument. This doesn’t mean that Gibson trades on its history alone and the company remains at the forefront of instrument innovation. The latest “High Performance” series is the most innovative guitar they’ve ever made. Daniele Mendez gets a demo of the latest axe from Christopher Oliphant of Gibson.

These new SG-standard guitars have a range of new features, from physical changes to the contour of the neck heel through to auto-tuning. The new G Force tuning system self-tunes to both standard and alternate tunings, and the new version is faster and more accurate than before. Extremely easy to use, all the guitarist needs to do is press a button and strum the strings. The guitar will take care of the rest, tuning only one string or all strings. It’s not just for electric guitars either as the G-Force system is now fitted to high-end acoustic guitars too. Amazing to watch in action!

All the guitars are available now with prices from US$1,099 for the “High Performance” models.

Daniele Mendez is a video producer at F5 Live: Refreshing Technology.

Become a GNC Insider today!

Support my CES 2024 Sponsor:
$11.99 – For a New Domain Name cjcfs3geek
$6.99 a month Economy Hosting (Free domain, professional email, and SSL certificate for the 1st year.) Promo Code: cjcgeek1h
$12.99 a month Managed WordPress Hosting (Free domain, professional email, and SSL certificate for the 1st year.) Promo Code: cjcgeek1w
Support the show by becoming a Geek News Central Insider

Podcast (specmedia): Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Been wanting to try Spotify Premium? You can get a free Chromecast if you do it now

Music, ,

Spotify logoMusic streaming services are becoming ever more prevalent in the market these days. One made news this week by getting an exclusive deal, but those types of deals also have become common. Perhaps the most popular these days is Spotify, which can be used for free, though a premium subscription brings more functionality.

Now Spotify is trying to pull in more customers with a special deal. The streaming service is offering a free Chromecast to anyone who purchases three months of its Premium service.

To sell this deal, the company points out “With Chromecast, listening at home is easy. Simply plug Chromecast into your TV, connect it to WiFi and cast music directly from your phone or tablet. It works with Android, iOS and laptops, too. Play, skip, browse and search using the Spotify app. Oh, and feel free to make calls, watch a video or play games – the music will keep playing”.

There’s only a brief window of time to take advantage of this deal. You’ll need to act quickly because it’s only running through February 28th. You can grab the offer by visiting here. It will set you back $29.97.

YouTube set to carry the Nobel Prize show with Jay Leno, a-ha and more

YouTube, , ,

youtube logoThere are few events that are bigger and more important than the Nobel Prize awards ceremony. This gives credit to those who do the most important work — the research on diseases, figuring out a complicated economy, helping the world’s neediest people, working for peace and much more.

The extravaganza gets under way with a big show and this year that gala will be carried live via YouTube. The show will feature many performers, most notable is former Tonight Show host Jay Leno.

It’s more than just a comedy routine though. Bands like a-ha will perform, as well as Jason Derulo, MØ, KYGO, AURORA, and Emel Mathlouhti.

The Google-owned video giant also promises extras — “Exclusive to the live stream, YouTube star Derek Muller of Veritasium will host a backstage pre-show to give you a unique look at what goes on behind-the-scenes”.

You’ll need to get moving because the show is set to air live today beginning at 1:30pm EST, that’s 19:30 CET.

Pandora, Deezer and Tidal arrive on Control4

Information,

PandoraNPWhole home audio is something that has been gradually growing over a number of years. What used to be a toy for the rich has slowly become accessible to regular users. Thanks to systems like Control4 things are improving all the time.

The device maker is announcing the addition of new music services. Customers can now stream Pandora, Deezer and Tidal throughout the home

This comes with an update to version 2.8 of the operating system. Pandora works in the US, Australia and New Zealand, while Deezer covers more than 180 countries, with Tidal available in 31 nations.

“We are committed to providing the very best entertainment experience for the Smart Home,” says Martin Plaehn, Control4 Chairman and CEO. “Adding these music services as part of the Control4 experience makes it easier for homeowners to access and enjoy the music they love throughout their entire home. By providing these music services natively, our Control4 dealers can deliver an exceptional standard for entertainment to their customers, and can do so more efficiently and cost-effectively”.

Version 2.8 of the OS also brings the ability for customers to stream multiple music channels in different parts of the home, support for Airplay devices and a new look to the interface.

You can check out the products by visiting Control4. There’s a lot more than just audio there.

Nuziki Picks Up Where This Is My Jam Left Off

Music, ,

Nusiki logoEarlier this year, I wrote about how music-sharing site This Is My Jam would be closing. And while This Is My Jam is still slated to go into archive mode, a new service named Nusiki has popped up to carry on where This Is My Jam left off.

When creating a Nusiki account, users have the option to enter their This Is My Jam credentials, allowing them to pull in the songs they’d added to their This Is My Jam accounts. I tried it, and it worked flawlessly. I was also able to add all of my This Is My Jam friends with the click of one button, which is pretty handy.

Sharing music thru Nusiki is simple. Search for a song title or artist name using Nusiki’s search box. Once you find what you’re looking for, you can easily add it to your Nusiki profile. From there, you can also share to Twitter and Facebook.

Listening to music on Nusiki is simple, too. Once you’ve added some friends, all of their shares automatically show up in your Music Feed. Pressing play in the Nusiki player will start playing the first track in the feed and then automatically cycle to the next song.

Nusiki web interface

Like This Is My Jam before it, Nusiki is limited to sharing songs from YouTube and SoundCloud only. So, you may not find every song you like thru Nusiki’s search engine. But these two sources still offer a lot of music to choose from.

You can use Nusiki on the web or thru the service’s iOS and Android apps. My username on the service is shawnmx if you’d like to follow me. Let’s share some great music!

Columbia House Shutting Down for Good

Music,

Columbia House logoAdd this to the, “I had no idea that was even still around” file. Mail-order media company Columbia House is finally shutting down for good. I guess this is another win for digital media and another loss for lovers of physical media. I’m also guessing that a person’s familiarity with Columbia House and its ubiquitous “12 Records or Tapes for $1.00” will have a direct connection to that person’s age. Regardless, Columbia House billed itself as a “music club.” Customers would get reeled in by an initial offer that seemed too good to be true. From there, they’d be obligated to remain a member of the club for a couple years. During that period, they were required to buy a certain number of albums in order to fulfill their obligation to the club. Alternatively, they could just let Columbia House mail them one album per month, chosen by Columbia House, based on its understanding of that customer’s music preferences. If customers were happy with Columbia House’s monthly selections, they could then mail back a voucher with payment enclosed. If they didn’t want the record/tape/CD Columbia House chose, they could write “Return to Sender” on the cardboard mailer and return it to the company’s Terre Haute, IN processing center.

Considering the proliferation of monthly subscription services now dominating the Internet, Columbia House was arguably ahead of its time. Of course, this business model leads to some consternation among consumers, as it’s really predicated on getting them to sign up once and then forget about those monthly charges as they rack up. In its time, I knew plenty of people who’d signed up for Columbia House and they’d always be frustrated when that next piece of media came in the mail and they had to decide what to do with it.

Columbia House was best known for its role as a music seller. But over the years, it had also gotten into a  similar monthly service for DVD’s. And it was that iconic music division that went first, having been shuttered in 2010. The company managed to hang on for another five years in the movie/TV show selling business. But the increased adoption of digital audio and video streaming ultimately sent Columbia House’s parent company into bankruptcy. Looks like it’s time to say goodbye to another relic of the pre-digital era.

This Is My Jam is (sorta) Shutting Down

Music,

This Is My Jam logoMusic discovery and social sharing site This Is My Jam is shutting down. But the site won’t completely disappear from the Internet. From an e-mail sent today to This Is My Jam users:

Well, this is a tough one to send. After four years, more than two million jams, and assessing many options, we’ve decided to archive Jam in September.

And:

Instead of going offline, the site will become a read-only archive of all the music shared between 2011–2015. So no posting, but you’ll be able to browse profiles, play jams, and of course download all your data!

The developers behind This Is My Jam explained their reasoning for this decision in-depth on their blog. It’s pretty simple, really. They found that running This Is My Jam was fun but that it didn’t really have anything else to do or anywhere else to go.

I’ll admit that I hadn’t used the site myself in well over a year. It’s a cool concept, as it forces users to share one song they’re enjoying in the moment, as opposed to a playlist or an album. This single-track focus is a good idea in today’s attention-deprived world. This Is My Jam features all of the usual social following/sharing features, making it easy to find and connect with others that carry like-minded musical tastes. But the interface is kinda wonky and it’s only able to pull tracks from sources that don’t carry DRM. So, it’s library is limited. Still, the idea has some merit. Perhaps another group of code-savvy music fans will build a better system that’ll pick up where This Is My Jam left off.