Two years after Guitar Rig 3 was released in autumn 2007, the fourth iteration of the software modelling application for guitarists was released by Native Instruments. This time around a combination of an ever increasing workload, little free time and the fact that Guitar Rig 3 was ‘good enough’ for my needs meant it took me a while before deciding to buy Guitar Rig 4.

A special offer by Native Instruments landing in my email inbox a few weeks ago, some free time to play the guitar — after weeks of not touching it — and the ease of buying software online meant that Guitar Rig 4 was running on my MacBook Pro in no time.

This release is the first one that dropped support for Power PC Macintosh computers, around three and a half years after Apple stopped selling them. There is no good reason for this change, Guitar Rig 4 would run comfortably on PowerMac G5s and maybe even the last generation of PowerPC-based iMacs.
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If its anything like the demo video Microsoft’s Courier is the closest device I’ve seen to Apple’s — now classic — demonstration entitled the Knowledge Navigator. See the resemblance?

From the few images and videos around, the device seems beautiful, but that’s not the point; as the Mac and then the iPhone have demonstrated, it’s all about the software and Courier seems to have a great combination of writing recognition using a stylus, a great touch user interface including multi-touch support for hand gestures and a great visual and ergonomic user experience paradigm to manage it all.

Most of the concepts and paradigms found in the Courier were introduced by Apple, yet Apple recently introduced the iPad, a device definitely more limited — from what we can tell without having used either — than Courier¹. Apple introduced a great ‘touch’ interface with the Newton and then redefined the whole industry with the iPhone. Apple Inc., the pioneer, is effectively doing all the applied research work for Microsoft — something I’ve also argued in earlier posts; concepts that the company comes up with and realises in the form of amazing products are, a few short years later, found — sometimes successfully, others in more kitsch, mediocre and definitely tasteless versions of their former self — in Microsoft products and technologies. At the same time, the one, single segment where Microsoft is truly and firmly leading the pack is basic research, the kind of stuff that is high risk, that may not lead to profit in the next five years, the kind of thing that costs a lot, that startups don’t have the money, need or desire to do, the kind of thing that idiots waving their MBAs would probably dismiss without a second thought, but — ultimately — the kind of stuff that changes technology and as a consequence the world we live in.

If the Courier is anything like what we see in the video (see below) then I think they’re on to a great product and I’m very interested in seeing how it’s going to play out between them, the various Android and Chrome OS devices coming out soon and of course Apple, the company that everyone uses as a point of reference and that which will most probably will continue to surprise us all in the coming decade.

1. Of course Courier is merely a demonstration while the iPad is a real device hitting the Apple Store[s] very soon.

It must have been sometime near mid-December when I first actually saw and used — albeit briefly — a Nexus One. A Googler, the owner, graciously let me use it for a bit after receiving it as part of the Google corporate gift that the device got — more a publicity stunt rather than an actual trial in my opinion. More encounters with the phone, again owned by friends or acquaintances working for Google, let me get a clearer look at what widely became an online sensation over the holiday season, generating too much buzz, well before sites like techcrunch, gizmodo, engadget et al. started publishing early, unofficial reviews.

And what I saw was good, even great in some respects, although far from what Google tries to make it seem. The Nexus One is far from just another smartphone; it is a message and a demonstration. A message from Google to the telcos, that the company is seeking a departure from the status quo. A demonstration, to everyone, but mostly perhaps to manufacturers, and Google’s competitors, that the platform, in this crucial moment where expectations are high and the mindshare is there and the spotlight is on them, of the standard that Google is seeking with regards to device design and also regarding the control it has on the software that runs on those devices.
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Just a few weeks (?) before the rumoured availability of the Apple tablet (whatever its name is), here’s a recent demonstration of what the display, miniature electronics and battery technology may lead to in the near future in the context of magazines. If everything that we’ve heard about the impending release of the Apple tablet is true, I guess there’s a chance that the paper magazine may soon follow the CD and DVD as items of yesteryear. If anything, I am excited about the ecological, typographical and æsthetic consequences such a device might bring, but also somewhat concerned about the loss of the openness that the web has brought us in the last fifteen years or so. [via Mosh].

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

Update: Here’s another video featuring a tablet version of Sports Illustrated.

Sports Illustrated – Tablet Demo 1.5 from The Wonderfactory on Vimeo.

Πάει ένας περίπου χρόνος από τη πρώτη μου παραγγελία — και το σχετικό άρθρο για το δικτυακό κατάστημα τσαγιού tsai.gr. Οι εντυπώσεις ήταν ως επι το πλείστον θετικές, με μεγάλη ποικιλία τσαγιών και βοτάνων, άμεση εξυπηρέτηση και εξαιρετικό πακετάρισμα των προϊόντων. Μεγάλη (και σημαντική) εξαίρεση οι τιμές του καταστήματος οι οποίες ήταν περίπου 20% ακριβότερες από αυτές του Δρόμου του Τσαγιού, ενός ‘φυσικού’ καταστήματος που εδρεύει στην Αθήνα και τη Θεσσαλονίκη και επίσης ειδικέυεται στο τσάι. Αν συνυπολογίσει κανείς και το επιπλέον κόστος των μεταφορικών, οι τιμές για ένα αμιγώς δικτυακό κατάστημα ήταν ανεξήγητα υψηλές.

Την πρώτη μου παραγγελία από το tsai.gr ακολούθησαν αρκετές άλλες όπως και κάποιες επισκέψεις στον Δρόμο του Τσαγιού στο Κολωνάκι. Η ποιότητα των προϊόντων των δυο καταστημάτων ήταν παρεμφερής με κάποιες διακυμάνσεις ανάλογα με τη ποικιλία και το είδος του τσαγιού.

Τις προάλλες συζητούσα με κάποιους φίλους για το tsai.gr και στη συζήτηση αναφέρθηκε ο Δρόμος το Τσαγιού ως εναλλακτική. Αναζητώντας πληροφορίες online, με μεγάλη μου χαρά διαπίστωσα την ύπαρξη νέου δικτυακού τόπου για το εν λόγω κατάστημα.
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