Real guitars for Guitar Hero

Now that you have mastered the Guitar Hero and RockBand with the five-button guitar, what next? How about moving on from five buttons to six strings?

Thanks to Zivix Z1, you now can rock-and-roll with Guitar Hero or RockBand on a REAL electric guitar. If you are an amateur, Z1 will teach you to fret and pick on a real guitar. After you master the basics, you can practice your guitar skills with your favorite songs. Selections between playing a drum, bass, lead or rhythm track or turning the track off can be made by dragging your pick on the strings across the upper or lower five of the sensors on the fret board.

The current guitar that is available now makes the player look like a child by relying on the color-coded buttons to play the music. In comparison, Z1 requires the player to strum the guitar which resembles the real guitar thing. Thus, it requires knowledge of chords, timing and fingering which take patience to learn.

Zivix Z1 comes with bundled software to plug into a PC/Mac to play professional-sounding music. If you think you are ready to rock on like a pro, you can also record your own original track and share it online, or better yet, play it live with others online like a true rocker.

Unfortunately, Zivix's Web site neither provides the details of where it is available nor its price for now.

Hands-on with Pandora's Internet radio iPhone app

Apple publicly unveiled the Pandora Internet radio iPhone and iPod touch application during the unveiling of the iTunes App store on July 10. Tim Westergren, CEO for Pandora, was kind enough to give us a personal tour of the new application. The following is a synopsis of just about every question we had for Tim.

Editors' note: This is not an interview transcript, but a roundup of information on the Pandora iPhone application presented in a FAQ format.
Read more »

You gotta know when to fold' em--on the iPhone

Several new iPhone apps are bringing Vegas-style poker to the mobile world. With them, users can deal and draw without toting around a deck of cards.

One new poker app is Griffin Technology's 5 Card Touch video poker. Released along with the iTunes 7.7 App Store Thursday, the application works like any other video poker game, except it's available on-the-go and on a touchscreen.

Players bet between one and five credits, tapping the screen to deal, discard cards, or draw for new ones. A royal flush earns the most points, and jacks or better win the minimum prize. Users can also keep track of winnings, hands played, and hands won or lost. Gamers are given 1,000 virtual dollars to start playing.

The new iTunes App Store has a total of nine video poker games ranging from the 5 Card Touch price of US$1.99 to games that cost US$9.99. iTunes also offers two Texas Hold'em poker games for US$4.99. Either way, gambling on the iPhone will probably be considerably cheaper than betting at the casino.

Via CNET Crave

MOTOROKR S605 Bluetooth Stereo Headset launched in Asia

Motorola today unveiled its latest Bluetooth stereo headset, the MOTOROKR S605, at a press event held in Singapore. Targeted at music enthusiasts, this A2DP-enabled device is designed in Asia, especially for the Asian user, according to Motorola. This could explain why the S605 is not available in the US. So far, it's been launched in some parts of Europe, with Korea and HK expected to get it one month after the island-state.

The MOTOROKR S605 comes in two parts. The main unit houses the built-in battery, Bluetooth transmitter/receiver, music playback buttons, while the other is a pair of earphones.

One of the main draws here is probably its 3.5mm audio jack, which gives users the option to use their own headphones (with 3.5mm jack) or the one bundled in the package. The ultracompact and lightweight design (36 x 16 x 10mm; 17g) of the main unit should appeal to mobile music listeners, too. Like its predecessor, the Motorola S705 SoundPilot, the new S605 comes with an integrated FM radio. So essentially, it can work on its own, even without music input from a Bluetooth stereo source.
Read more »

App Store now available in desktop iTunes--with some trickery

Although Apple has not yet updated the iTunes Store front page to link directly to the desktop version of the iPhone App Store, it can still be accessed with a little trickery. To access the desktop App Store, follow these steps:

• Download and install iTunes 7.7, if you haven't already
• Click on the iTunes Store in the left-hand panel
• Search for current iPhone application, such as Super Monkey Ball
• Click small gray arrow next to Super Monkey Ball in the search results to go to the app's download page
• In the top navigation bar in iTunes, click "App Store"

The main App Store page will appear, and you can buy and download applications then sync them to your iPhone/iPod touch.

Via CNET Crave

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