As a wannabe musician, I’m always on the lookout for cool things to merge the worlds of technology and music creation, especially when it’s something portable. There have been various pocket instruments that have been released for the iPhone, and BeatMaker, which lets you sequence, but my heart lies with recording actual instruments…and today I got to try out Fourtrack, which does just that.

Fourtrack is simple to use. You fire up the app, “Arm” a track to enable it to record, hit the record button, and go. You can use it with the built in microphone on the iPhone, or use a thirdpart mic for iPhone or iPod touch. Once you’re done recording your track, you can arm another track, and monitor the first track through headphones while you record the next. You can do this for up to 4 tracks.

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The new MacBooks, MacBook Pros, and 24″ Cinema Display (floor model only) showed up at our Apple store, so we popped in and gave them a good lookin’ over to see if there was anything we couldn’t live without. After nearly getting the book when Ryan set off the anti-theft alarm on the MacBook he was fondling, we noted the following impressions.

MacBook

Paul says: - I like the new, more Air-like design in both shape and finish. Also, this machine definitely feels peppier than our previous-gen MacBook. Still stuck with the same 1280×800 resolution as before, which is a little bit disappointing.

Ryan says: - I really like the new design, more than I thought I would based on the initial pictures.  I, like Paul, wish the display resolution was tighter. Noticeably quicker than previous models and felt like it blew the MacBook Air out of the water speed-wise. This is almost a MacBook Air replacement for my light and portable machine, but not quite. An interesting note, I didn’t find the new trackpad much different than the current one. It’s bigger, but all they’ve really done is created the bottom edge so it tips down effectively hiding the button. That feature wasn’t as impressive to me hands on as it was when Jobs pitched it.

MacBook Pro

Paul says: - I could be drinking the dual video card Kool-aid, but the new MBP definitely feels peppy with all apps that I could open. Again, I like the new sleeker look, and really like the easy access to the hard drive. Since I currently use the 17″ high resolution model, I’m not sure I could move down to the lower resolution of the 15″, but that size factor is always tempting.

Ryan says: - I have similar comments to how I felt about the MacBook. Great design. Gorgeous screen. Love all the connectors on one side. I also like the new keyboard style, picking up the Air and MacBook design. If I were buying today, I think this is what I’d go with given the nice balance between portability and power.

24″ LED Cinema Display

Paul says: - Apple is calling this display ‘the must-have MacBook accessory,’ and I think I’m buying the hype. The new display is bright and crisp, and looks good from a design perspective. I also like the new three-in-one mag safe connector that has power, usb, and mini display port connectors in one dock-like cable. Built in camera, mic, speakers and usb ports are definitely handy, and my wife will love that it’s ‘the greenest display’ from Apple yet.

Ryan says: - Let me just say, I’m in love with Apple displays…yet I don’t own one. I don’t know that this will be the one I’ll buy. It’s a beautiful display. I also love the new connector cable on one hand, and am disappointed on the other. I can’t use this display, out of the box, with any of my current Macs. Also, no 30″ option (my current dream display)…yet.

Hands On Conclusion

Paul says: - When the 24″ displays hit in November, I could be tempted to try them out alongside a MacBook. (You have to get one with the other, since the new displays only use the mini displayport at this time.) Until the MacBook Pros get the 17″ refresh as was noted in the announcement, I probably would not be tempted to go with the 15″ at this time.

Ryan says: - All in all, I was a little disappointed on announcement day. Steve spoke and I was left wanting more. I love the refresh on some of the products, but I really wanted something substantially new. I suppose I could be tempted by a refreshed 17″ MacBook Pro and possibly the 24″ LED display to go on my desk at the office where I’d only use the notebook/display combo, but other than that, there’s not a lot that makes me want to move out of current Macs and into new gear. Other than the usual “new gear happy” feeling of cracking open something fresh

Just saw over on Engadget that Apple has confirmed the rumored notebook event, and it looks like some new notebooks will be announced on October 14th!

MacRumors had already released supposed shots of the new case/flightdeck of upcoming notebooks, and there have been many whisperings around the etherworld about new machines.

What else can they change? Thinner? Lighter? Faster? What are you looking for in a new MacBook or MacBook Pro?

Honestly, with the economic crisis at hand, and an election looming, people seem to be acting just flat out crazy. According to this report, the normally peaceful suburban town of Winnetka, IL is still reeling following the news Monday that a local resident, whose name is being withheld by police pending a full investigation, left an iPhone unattended for more than three hours in a car parked in the hot sun.

“”Security cameras have shown that the iPhone had been in the car—with the doors locked and the windows rolled up—since 1 p.m. Due to the tragic and highly emotional nature of this case, we cannot say any more at this time.”

They make people take tests to obtain a license to drive, but there is no test to own and care for an iPhone. Maybe we need stricter guidelines as to who can just walk in and purchase one of these precious gifts from above.

Click for full article.

I purchased and downloaded Intua’s Beatmaker when it first released earlier in the year. This “mobile music creation studio” that runs on the iPhone is easily one of the most sophisticated, if not the most complicated apps I’ve downloaded for the iPhone so far. While it’s been fun to press buttons and make drum and sequence sounds come out of the iPhone, I have to admit that I haven’t really learned to use this tool beyond very basic tinkering.

This week, as a drummer was out of town, I contemplated using BeatMaker to program up some of the tracks for the performance, but I realized I didn’t have the know how to adequately put songs together and needed to learn how to not only create patterns, but also assemble songs. BeatMaker is a different animal than GarageBand, ProTools, or Logic, my normal music creation tools. I looked to the Intua website, and found these videos, but sadly, they don’t have much in the way of instruction, so much as just a visual demonstration of capabilities. In this next video, they show how to assemble a song from patterns, but the dude is just flying around the screen without saying anything else.

I’ve since downloaded the latest version, as well as the latest updated version of the manual, and have finally determined to tame the beast that is BeatMaker. Stay tuned for my series on using the BeatMaker program and understanding the interface.

Flickr has launched a new iPhone Optimized version of it’s site, and so far, it’s not too shabby. If you’ve been using programs like Exposure to access Flickr on the iPhone, you may very well prefer to use the mobile version now.

You can’t edit, or use the Organizr, but pretty much everything else is available through the site as normal. This is almost like a lighter, sleeker version of Flickr, meant to perform well on your iPhone. Call it Flickr Lite.

Those heavy duty Flickr users out there will have to decide if this is a decent version of Flickr for you or not. I only use it occasionally, but do enjoy it for the ability to quickly load and show off an iPhone photo.

This may just fit the bill. Share your experiences about the iPhone optimzed Flickr on the iPhone.

Dang. 2 minutes compared to 2 hours. Really, that’s all I got to say. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Love comin’ back for the iPhone.

The Let’s Rock event is underway, and so far we know this….

iTunes 8.0 - something called Genius that reminds me a little of Pandora Radio (maybe Jobs had something to do with the upcoming most-likely demise of Pandora!)

HDtv - $2.99 shows available to play in iTunes, or with the AppleTV. Now if only my AppleTV would stream a little quicker, this might be interesting.

Nano - new Nano released that is thinner and funkier than before. Has the accelerometer, voice recording (with mic), and starts at $149 for the 8gb model.

Touch - new Touch announced as well. New thinner design, side volume controls, built in speaker, built in Nike+ (you still need the transmitter)

Headphones - $79 headphones with tweeter and woofer. Look kind of cool…we’ll see how they sound.

New Games - The App store apparently will have Need for Speed, Spore, and a Soccer game…they look decent.

iPhone Firmware 2.1 - supposed to have faster syncing and fixed some bugs. Performance improvement. Available Friday.

I love my iPhone, I really do, but it’s proving to be less than rock solid. In the couple months that I’ve had it, I’ve had to do a complete restore at least 4 or 5 times now. I’m not really doing anything hard core on the device, just normal everyday tasks and phone usage, yet I continue to send it crashing to the ground.

I think I’ve narrowed down my particular problems to Apps, and specifically to something in the installation process. I can almost guarantee a phone lock up of some sort during an OTA app install.

If I do ANYTHING else at all while an app is installing, game over. If I install two apps at the same time OTA style, game over. If a call comes in while installing an app, game over. I will point out that I do have around 50 apps installed on my device, but still have plenty of storage available.

Fortunately I’ve had a fairly recent backup all but one time, and have been able to resume life again after a 2-3 hour restore and backup process. However, I crash and burn at the most inopportune times, like just before a trip out of town for the day. I’ll continue to watch the processes and see if I can narrow down the issue, but hopefully Apple will solve this with an update before long. I’m getting leary of playing Wheel of Crash on the iPhone.

According to ars technica, Apple will indeed be hosting a special event on September 9, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, just down a bit from the Moscone Center. The event will be held Tuesday morning at 10 am Pacific Time, and by all indications will definitely be about iPods. Will there also be new MacBook Pros as many have hoped for and rumored? Time will tell.

What do you think we’ll see next week at the Let’s Rock event?