Mobile Melodies: Top 10 Musical Performances on Cellphones

September 5th, 2009 | by Barb DybwadComments

iphone-concert-260There’s a lot of creative energy out there. And we live in a world now where tools to help us express those creative energies can live right in our pockets.

It’s in the spirit of celebrating this marvelous age that we bring you this collection of mobile music performances. All of the music here is being generated by a cell phone — think about that for a minute!

While most (but not all) of these performances are on the Apple iPhone, we hope to see some AndroidAndroidAndroid orchestras sprouting up before too long. We tried to get a mix of instrumentation in here, as well as serve up a mix of great covers and creative originals as well.Computerinfo Cellphones

latest laptops in Eighteen-inch laptops compared -- is size everything?

We tend to like our laptops either really big or really small. Hence our fascination with both tiny Netbooks and oversize 18-inch laptops. We've reviewed four 18-inch models so far, and we expect to see even more in the future, as PC makers move from 16:10 screens to 16:9 screens. These 1,920x1,080 screens have the same native resolution as a 1080p HDTV, and make for an impressive package for movie watchers when coupled with a Blu-ray drive or other HD content (most current laptop screens are 16:10, which leave you with black bars on the top and bottom of your screen when viewing HDTV programs or Blu-ray movies).

Acer's Aspire 8920-6671 was the first laptop we'd seen with an 18.4-inch display. It was pricey, at $2,499, but included a unique set of touch-sensitive media controls (which we hear are unfortunately being dropped from future models).

The HP HDX18 shows mainstream PC makers getting in on the act, and the added edge-to-edge glass on the display (similar to what's on the new MacBooks), makes for a nice cinematic experience.

Sony is known for high-end, aesthetically pleasing, but expensive, systems. Of the 18-inch laptops we've looked at so far, the fixed-configuration $1,849 Vaio AW125J/H was surprisingly the least expensive Blu-ray-equipped model, beating out the HP HDX18 and the Acer Aspire 8920 by a few hundred dollars. Sony also offers similar models (such as the Vaio AW170) that can be configured with up to 1TB of hard-drive space and cost up to $3,299.

The odd man out in our first batch of 18-inch laptops was the Toshiba Qosmio G55. It has an 18-inch display, but no Blu-ray, and even the resolution was off--a mere 1,680x945. The selling points were some Web-cam gesture controls (which hardly worked), and a second Cell processor (just like the chip powering the PlayStation 3). Toshiba calls this combo "Quad Core HD," and uses the extra horsepower for accelerated video encoding (as long as you're using the included software).

Product name
Acer Aspire 8920-6671
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Acer Aspire 8920-6671

HP HDX18
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HP HDX18

Sony Vaio AW125J/H
Sony Vaio AW125J/H

Toshiba Qosmio G55-Q802
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Toshiba Qosmio////////morecomputerinfo

AMD: Netbooks? No thanks

• In case you missed it, Advanced Micro Devices is passing on Netbooks. At least as Intel and its partners have defined the category.
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• AMD thinks that ultrathin 13-inch designs such as the MacBook Air address a more viable market than what it calls mininotebooks.
• (Credit: Apple)
• In fact, a lot of the media outlets missed this point completely, insisting that AMD is going to go head-to-head with Intel on Netbook processors--apparently because it satisfies a journalistic boilerplate that AMD must, just must, have a direct response to Intel's Atom.
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• Just to set the record straight, here's what AMD Chief Executive Dirk Meyer said Thursday: "We're ignoring the Netbook phenomenon--just thinking about PC form factors above that form factor."
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• I think that is a pretty unambiguous statement. But if that wasn't clear enough, here's what Bahr Mahony, director of notebook product marketing at AMD said: "We're going to offer the Congo and Yukon platforms as an alternative (to processors and chipsets for Netbooks). There are a fair number of people that are not satisfied with the experience they're getting on these mininotebook platforms." (AMD uses the terms Netbook and mininotebook interchangeably.)
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• Mahony added that the dissatisfaction with Netbooks "has been exhibited by the high return rates that have been seen on these mininotebooks."
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• Asus or Acer may have something to say about that, but at the very least, this offers a fresh perspective on this possibly overhyped category.
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• AMD's strategy seems solid, in my opinion. Go for a segment that is bigger and better than Netbooks. The ultraportable category (the MacBook Air being the best example) is full of attractive but expensive designs. Why not work with PC makers to offer an ultrathin, ultralight, full-featured 13-inch notebook that is priced a lot less than $1,800? Why not $600 or $700?
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• In addition to the conventional criticism of Netbooks (small screens, tiny keyboards), an underrated fact is that many users eventually get the feeling that they're stuck with an underpowered laptop.
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• And being underpowered often hinges on lackluster graphics. In a conversation Thursday with Pat Moorhead, vice president of advanced marketing at AMD, he pointed to the graphics capability of AMD's upcoming Conesus CPU, which will use ATI's RS780M graphics: better graphics and better user experience overall.
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• The MacBook Air offers probably the best proof of this thinking. Apple (which, if you haven't noticed, doesn't offer a netbook), originally went with Intel's integrated graphics in the Air, but due to customer dissatisfaction with graphics performance, it added Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics to its newest models.
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• Delivering a more powerful dual-core processor (such as AMD's Conesus) for this segment would also turn some heads and offer a more full-featured experience. Intel will be the first one to tell you that Atom is underpowered for many applications.
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• Are AMD customers clamoring for Netbooks like Intel customers are? "Frankly, I don't get the same answer when I talk to the customer base," AMD's Meyer said Thursday. Time will tell whether the CEO's strategy is right, but it offers a well-thought-out alternative to the Netbook as we know it. ....more read
  
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