How iPads, apps and YouTube can be a band’s best practice tools
While OS X continues to be a starting point for my music, I find now when it comes to rehearsals, everything I need is on my iPad. Read more »
Mark Crump
A long-time Mac user, Mark has been writing about technology in some form for over ten years. Mark enjoys his Kool-Aid shaken, not stirred. He also believes the "it just works" slogan from the ads should have an asterisk: except when it refuses to. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/crumpy.
Hands-on with latest Orange amp models for OS X
The latest $99 software amplifiers from Orange are not not a complete substitute for real amps, but they’re a decent choice for home recording. Read more »
My iOS 7 wish list
While I may be wishing upon a star here, I’m hopeful that Apple beginning support for a third-party audio interface is a sign of change from Cupertino regarding features they may add to iOS. Read more »
Hands on: Audiobus and GarageBand on iOS
Recently Apple made a somewhat unexpected move in adding Audiobus support to its GarageBand software. After testing it out, we walk you through how to integrate GarageBand, Audiobus and Audiobus-supported apps. Read more »
Riffstation, an app to help you learn guitar parts by ear
Riffstation is a fantastic tool to help musicians learn to play new songs, but be warned that it is a complement to your ears, not a replacement Read more »
6 months with the iPhone 5: expectations vs reality
I’ve owned every iPhone model to date. Here’s my experience going from the iPhone 4S to the iPhone 5, including what I’ve liked, what has not met my expectations and what I’d like to see in a new version. Read more »
Photoshop Touch for iPhone: Impressive features on a small screen
The newest version of Photoshop Touch for iOS runs well on the iPhone 5. But powerful photo-editing tools on small-screen devices still seem an odd pairing. Read more »
When iCloud isn’t enough: balancing other cloud storage options
iCloud doesn’t work as a one-stop storage solution the way I’d hoped. Here’s a guide to how I incorporate several online storage solutions to make them work for my needs. Read more »
Four ways to connect your instrument to GarageBand
A rundown of the best methods for connecting a guitar or other instrument to your Mac. Read more »
GarageBand 101: Using Apple loops to help songwriting
photo: Shutterstock / Elaine Barker
Not ready to shell out for Logic Pro? GarageBand can be a useful and relatively cheaper way to draft and write songs for budding songwriters and musicians. Read more »
GarageBand 101: Using Magic GarageBand to create a jam-along band
While you can use programs to buy individual songs to play along with, since Macs come with GarageBand pre-installed, this is a great feature many may not know about it. Read more »
Apple’s Pages for iOS still needs some work
As more professionals are eschewing laptops for iPads, Apple needs to seriously step up its game with its iOS iWork offerings. Lack of parity between iOS and OS X iWork apps is beginning to become tough to handle. Read more »
Don’t overspend on new guitar amps: get these 2 great Mac apps instead
There are two OS X modeling programs I’ve become quite enamored with: AmpliTube 3 Custom Shop and Guitar Rig 5 Pro. Both can also plug in directly to GarageBand for use in recording a variety of sounds without having to blow out your bank account. Read more »
Three Mac apps to help you self publish your book
I’m looking to self-publish my writing, so I took a look at a bunch of different Mac apps that can create ebooks. The best I found were Apple’s Pages, Adobe InDesign, and Scrivener. Here’s a look the pros and cons of each program. Read more »
Games for the weekend: Lord of the Rings Online
Up until now, the only way to run Lord of the Rings Online on your Mac was via a program like Codeweaver’s Crossover or running it in Boot Camp. But last week Turbine released a native Mac client for the game. Read more »
Review: iBooks 3′s new scrolling view, collections, sharing
We take a look at the new ebooks software Apple updated on Tuesday. The new scrolling view and social sharing of iBooks passages are interesting features updates, but may not be for everyone. Read more »
Upon further review: The iPhone 5 camera, and ‘purple haze’
In my original review of the camera, I noticed a purple glow in the left corner of my image. Since there was a blue diode on the speaker and my desk lamp was blue, I assumed it was reflections off the blue materials. I was wrong. Read more »
A photographer’s view of the iPhone 5
The iPhone 5′s new camera lens isn’t a gigantic improvement. But where Apple does make more significant advances is the software. My tests shots show the iPhone 5 has faster photo capture, better low-light performance, and improved noise reduction. Read more »
Games for the Weekend: World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
Blizzard, being the fine souls they are, have released a Mac version of the latest WoW expansion at launch. The storyline is better than previous expansions, the design is eye-catching, and there are some more creative quests this time around. Read more »
Games for the Weekend: Guild Wars 2
While OS X satisfies almost all my computing needs, when it comes to gaming I’m forced to use Boot Camp more often than not. So, when I find out a recently released Windows game has an OS X client available already, you had me at hello. Read more »
iOS 6 hands-on: Siri has learned a lot in the last year
Siri had some major weaknesses in its first iteration released last year. In iOS 6, there are some great new additions to Siri’s capabilities. However, the software is still not perfect. Here are my experiences with the new Siri. Read more »
iOS 6 hands-on review: The new Mail app
Up until iOS 6, I’d considered Apple’s mobile Mail app merely adequate for my needs. Now, it’s moved into not-half-bad territory. Here’s a rundown of my experiences using the new features of the Mail app, which will be available to everyone when iOS 6 rolls out Wednesday. Read more »
Tips for integrating Documents in the Cloud into your life
I need a central place to store all my files, and Documents in the Cloud is an easy way for me to access them from any of my devices. Here’s a walk through how I’m using the software, as well as some pitfalls to avoid. Read more »
Hands on: Mac and iOS task management with Things 2
Things was my task management tool of choice in the pre-cloud era. When Cultured Code announced recently that, finally, after four years that cloud syncing was finally here, I was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to try it out. Here’s my take on the new software. Read more »
The 3 best iPad comic book readers
There are a lot of comic book readers out there. Here are the best tablet apps I’ve found for reading them, both commercial readers (apps that let you buy comics as well as read them), and an app that supports CBZ and CBR files. Read more »
How an advanced photographer uses the iPhone and iPad
If you had told me even a year ago that more than 60 percent of the photos I take would never touch my Mac, I’d have laughed. But it’s true. Here’s a walk through my heavily iOS (and Mac) powered digital photography workflow. Read more »
Hands on: iWork Documents in the Cloud
With the release of OS X Mountain Lion on Tuesday, and updated versions of the iWork apps (which also now have Retina display support) I can finally sync and edit files across all my Apple devices. Here’s a quick tutorial on how to set this up. Read more »
5 productivity tips for OS X Mountain Lion
While Mountain Lion is clearly evolutionary, I’ve found it does a lot of little things to make life easier. Here are five short tips that will help you get the most out of the latest version of OS X. Read more »
Guitar Jamming: Audio interfaces for your iOS devices
Here are my experiences with three options to connect to your axe to your iOS device. They’ll let you use your iPhone or iPad as an amp, or record your guitar, bass or keyboard on GarageBand for iOS. Read more »
Review: What a photographer thinks of Aperture 3.3
With the new MacBook Pro with Retina display, Apple made some small but important updates to its Aperture photo-processing app. Aperture 3.3 isn’t a full version upgrade, but the new features added tells us that Apple is serious about this program and its future. Read more »
Hands on: New turn-by-turn navigation in iOS 6
It’s important to note with beta software that it’s unreleased for a reason. While iOS 6 is still in the early beta, it’s not too early to answer the question: How does turn-by-turn navigation in Maps for iOS 6 work? I tested out the new app. Read more »
5 handy iPhoto for iOS tips
I’m starting to use iPhoto for iOS more often in my photography workflow. While it’s unlikely it’ll ever fully replace a true post-processing program like Aperture or Lightroom, for shots that don’t require that high degree of editing I find iPhoto for iOS to be suitable. Read more »
How my iPhone and iPad helped me (re)learn guitar
About 20 years ago, I was a pretty good guitar player. Once it hit me that I was never going to be a rock star (although I did have a fun four summers setting up stages for some instead) guitar playing fell off the radar. I […] Read more »
Games for the weekend: Ticket to Ride (Retina edition)
Ticket to Ride was one of the earliest games we looked at for this weekly feature, and it’s still a favorite. An update released Thursday upgrades the graphics for the new iPad’s high-resolution display, and makes the game more accessible for color blind users. Read more »
Hands on: Retina-enabled reading apps for iPad
The main appeal of the high-resolution Retina display of the new iPad to voracious readers is the improved text viewing. We go hands on with the major reader apps that are now Retina-capable — the Kindle app, iBooks, Comixology and Zinio — to see which adapted best. Read more »
Hands on: Retina-optimized iWork apps
Some of the first productivity-oriented apps that have been upgraded for the new iPad’s high-resolution Retina display are Apple’s own iWork apps. Here are our first impressions of how presentations, spreadsheets and documents in Keynote, Numbers and Pages fare on the new tablet’s display. Read more »
OS X Mountain Lion: Hands on with Notes, Reminders and Notifications
Apple’s OS X Mountain Lion, which should arrive some time this summer, has finally brought true feature parity between iOS and OS X for Notes, Reminders and Notifications. We spent some time with the new features, and here is what we found. Read more »
Comparing Zinio, Kindle and Newsstand apps for iPad magazine reading
While the iPad has solved the problem of too many paper magazines accumulating in my office, it has created another problem — me spending way too much on impulse magazine purchases. Here are my experiences with Zinio, the Amazon Kindle app and Apple’s Newsstand. Read more »
Games for the weekend: Modern Combat 3
I’m starting to think there’s a union rule: In every shooter, the helicopter, plane, train, or automobile you use to arrive will be destroyed. Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation for iOS is no exception, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Read more »
Games for the weekend: Monster Hunter Dynamic Hunting
I’m a simple man, and at times I like simple games. At its core, Monster Hunter Dynamic Hunter ($0.99 until Oct. 24) is a simple game. The object is to defeat various monsters in an arena setting, and it does a good job of delivering that. Read more »
