bands

Update at 5 p.m. PT: EA now says that the message to users was an "error" and that the game will continue to be playable. See the full story on that here. Original story follows:

Owners of EA's Rock Band app for iOS are discovering a nasty surprise today: the game they bought has just weeks to live.

Reported on by The Guardian and first spotted by Rockbandaide, the software -- which is still for sale at $4.99 -- today began serving up a pop-up message that says "Dear Rockers, On May 31, Rock … Read more

GarageBand got a few tweaks, but they are mostly limited to fixing stability issues. Apple says a bug that formerly would crash the app when uploading songs to iCloud, and another that caused an error when logging into SoundCloud with a Facebook account, have been fixed.

iPhoto received mostly bug fixes and enhancements to streamline use as well, but did get a minor interface tweak that will be useful. Now when you publish a journal to iCloud, a new button lets you copy the link to clipboard -- useful for sharing freshly made journals with friends right away.

iMovie received … Read more

The Nike+ FuelBand has been officially available for a while now, that is, if you can get your hands on one. If you haven't been fortunate enough to find one yet but plan to or you are receiving one soon, and want to know what the setup process is like, look no further.

To begin the setup process for your Nike+ FuelBand, you will need to download and install the Nike+ Connect app on your computer. You can do so by visiting nikeplus.com/setup.

After you have installed and launched the app, you will be prompted to connect … Read more

Spring has sprung and that means summer is right around the corner. If you still haven't worked off those extra winter pounds, it's high time to start before swimsuit and tank top weather cruelly arrives. Luckily, there are new mobile accessories that harness wireless technology, competitive behavior, social media, and other online tools to help couch potatoes catch the exercise bug.… Read more

This was a big week for Apple with the announcement of the new iPad, and though I got to play with it a little bit at the event Wednesday, I really can't wait to put it through its paces when it's finally released March 16.

With that said, the new iPad wasn't the only thing released on Wednesday; Apple also announced the availability of several updates to iOS apps, including the new iPhoto for iOS.

This week's collection of iOS apps is a little different than usual. Instead of a themed collection, I'm going to list the Apple apps released this week so you can have them all in one place. Click the name of the link to head to our download page, or click the link at the end of each one to read our hands-on articles about each of the apps.… Read more

As part of the new iPad announcement Apple released new versions of iPhoto and GarageBand for iOS, but in addition Apple updated the existing versions of these programs for its Mac OS X platform.

The update for iPhoto is fairly sizable at 354.57MB, which may seem a bit strange given that its only new feature is the ability to delete photos from the iCloud Photo Stream (a feature that Apple also included in iOS 5.1); however, the update does also include fixes and enhancements included in the previous 9.2.0 update, such as problems with rebuilding libraries, … Read more

Though iPhoto is the newest addition to the iPad's iLife apps, GarageBand also got a few updated features and instruments to add to its arsenal of music tools. The original version of GarageBand for iOS already impressed me with intuitive touch-screen instruments, smart instruments that required no prior musical skill, and multitrack recording features anyone could use, but the new GarageBand adds even more to like, with wireless connections of up to four iPads for live music creation, and more.

The new version is by no means a complete makeover, but it adds a new category of instruments, the … Read more

Intel apparently believes there's life beyond Ethernet and USB.

Those industry-standard interfaces are taking over an ever larger number of jobs connecting one digital device to another. Its work with Apple to develop and promote Thunderbolt shows that the company doesn't think USB is the only way to plug a device into a PC, and a deal to acquire InfiniBand assets from Qlogic shows that it sees limits to Ethernet, too.

Intel didn't disclose terms of the deal but said it should close this quarter. Along with the InfiniBand product lines and related assets, Intel said it … Read more

I have to hand it to Nike for its unique take on the growing fad of fitness-tracking devices.

The FuelBand is Nike's stab at this segment, which others including the Jawbone Up and Motorola Mobility's MotoActv have already tread. But with production of the Up halted for a battery issue, and Motorola's product still a little-known niche device, there's a big opening in the market.

Unlike some of the other devices, the primary crux of the FuelBand is its Nike Fuel reading, a metric that Nike put together on its own that matches a person's movement through the wristband's accelerometer against data collected on how rapidly oxygen is consumed. As with other fitness monitors that rely on an accelerometer, the readings vary greatly depending on how much you move your arm. Cycling and certain kinds of weight lifting, for instance, wouldn't register much as simply sitting on your couch and waving your hands.

But chances are, if you're spending $149 on a FuelBand, you're going to want to pay attention to the Nike Fuel readout.

Following a press conference that Nike held yesterday to unveil the device, the company took the media on a little field trip to test out the FuelBand in a variety of activities. The following are my early impressions after a day with the device. … Read more