Monday, December 1, 2008 at 11:44 am
Why iPhone Owners Blow
So what does a TV critic do when his TiVo dies and takes the television with it? Well, as mentioned, I went on an iPhone app shopping spree. The simplest and most addictive program I picked up is Smule's Ocarina, which turns the iPhone into a wind instrument.
By blowing into the microphone and opening and closing four "holes" on the touchscreen, you have access to two haunting octaves of tones. So far, I can play a decent Shaker Melody, but only if I look at the notation online. (I do a little better with iPhone's PocketGuitar, which I already owned.) But if you're more talented than I am, you can do this:
More, including an attempt to make this post relevant to TV, after the jump.
As with so many things digital, the Ocarina app, I soon discovered, has in less than a month spawned a genre of performance videos on YouTube. You can listen to any number of Zelda themes. You can see a woman perform a (seriously amazing) version of Oh Shenandoah accompanied by a keyboard track. Or you can watch another woman play her iPhone with her nose:
Finally, one more video, to justify this post's inclusion on a blog about TV. The truth is out there:
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James Poniewozik writes TIME magazine's Tuned In column, about pop culture and society. Tuned In, the blog version, is about the stuff we used to call "TV," whether it's in your living room, on your computer or -- once the networks figure out the technology and line up the advertisers -- in your dreams themselves.
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Monday, December 1, 2008 at 12:48 pm
The iPhone totally rocks. Mr. Shara Says and I both have one and they're awesome. He's been learning to play the Ocarina of Time song over Thanksgiving break, so that's been fun to watch.
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 1:41 pm
BTW - Mo Ryan has got a hilarious post about possible Facebook updates for Lost characters: http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/
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Very funny stuff.
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 2:10 pm
[...] | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This How did the people at Joost know that today was both iPhone App Day and My TiVo Is Dead Day at Tuned In? However they managed it, it was today that the online-video [...]