Tag Archives: iTunes

Beyoncé Releases Visual Album

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With the secret release of Beyoncé’s self titled visual album today, Queen Bey is the woman that everyone is taking about. Get Beyoncé’s music video looks from Soft Paris, as featured in ‘Jealous’ and ‘Haunted’.

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Beyonce released her new album which went straight to iTunes without warning in the middle of the night. She announced it on Instagram. Bearing a brand new music video for each of its 14 tracks as well as four bonus videos, we are pretty excited and just in time for Christmas too. Let’s hope someone puts it in our stocking (metaphorically anyway)  A 30-second preview is below. What do you think?

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Idea To iPhone: The Essential Guide To Creating Your First App For iPhone and iPad

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Idea To iPhone- The Essential Guide To Creating Your First App For iPhone and iPadApps are big business and the media is full of stories of app millionaires. The internet has made becoming rich easier than ever, or has it? How easy is it to make an app? Or more importantly, how easy is it to sell it?

17-year-old Nick D’Aloisio hit the headlines by selling his app, Summly, to Yahoo for an estimated £18m, making him a tech superstar. But what about the rest of us who are not teenage whiz kids? I reviewed new book, Idea to iPhone to find out. Read on….

Idea to iPhone: The Essential Guide To Creating Your First App For iPhone and iPad by Carla White talks you through building an app from idea to iPhone, iPad, iPad mini or iPod Touch. Chapter 1 kicks off with your app adventure. It lists the excuses you may have not to make an app and dismantles them. I immediately liked this book when I was flicking through it for the first time. It is 294 pages of hard to find knowledge that you would not get anywhere else. Well, maybe if you trawled the internet for days, but even then I am not sure.

The graphs and pictures are great. The book is easy to understand anyway, but they add to the information getting into your brain. I learned that making an app is not as hard as you think and nor is it as expensive.

The other great information in this book is on Apple. How to grab their attention and how to work with them. Carla goes through everything you need to know about working with Apple and how iTunes can help or hurt sales. For instance, did you know that Apple take a 30% cut? They also pay you once a month after a four-week delay. There is also a step-by-step guide on becoming an Apple developer. Each chapter ends with a handy table of key points.

Chapter 2 is Shaping Ideas into Apps People Want. An essential chapter as there is no point in making apps that no one wants. This brilliant chapter lets you know how to find your audience. It also tells you how to integrate your app with Facebook and which device will be right for you.

Another thing I liked about the book is the quotes doted throughout. Perfect for inspiration.

Teaching you about finding an audience and building an app is one thing but marketing is also paramount. This book also covers that. You don’t need to hire an expensive PR company (at least not at first) you just need some hard work and imagination. There is also a checklist on building a press kit and information on how people scan iTunes. Essential for marketing your app.

It also has tips on finding a great designer, or designing yourself. And also a lot of information on finding and working with a developer. Tech tips on Xcode are also incredibly useful.

Further tips on making a profit, keeping track of money and getting the press interested make this book essential for anyone who wants to create their own app and become successful.

Idea to IPhone: The Essential Guide to Creating Your First App for the IPhone and IPad

 

The Wanted Announce their First Single of 2013 ‘Walks Like Rihanna’

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thewantedreleasenewsingleReleased June 23rd

One of the biggest pop acts in the world, The Wanted, have announced details of their first single of 2013. ‘Walks Like Rihanna’ is to be released in the UK on June 23rd. The new track was co-written and produced by the legendary Dr Luke who has previously worked with the likes of Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Pink and Britney Spears.

‘Walks Like Rihanna’ is a pure pop summer anthem, on the song Tom Parker said,

“We are really excited about this single. We feel it’s a little different from the usual Wanted sound, we’ve stripped it back to pure pop, it’s just a feel good, fun track. Fun is a good word to describe the video too. Let’s just say it’s got a lot of character.”

The video for ‘Walks Like Rihanna’ takes a tongue in cheek look at what being in a boy band is all about, in the undeniable style of The Wanted. It was shot in LA and will be released on Tuesday 7th May.

Subscribers to The Wanted Wanted World, the Wanted online fan club, will be able to access an exclusive first listen to a section of the new track from 10am on Friday 26th April.

The single includes vocals from Nathan Sykes who under went specialist surgery to correct a hemorrhaging vocal cord in Los Angeles in mid April. The surgery went as planned however it is still uncertain when Nathan will be re-joining the band.

2013 has been an exceptionally busy year already for The Wanted. It began with them scooping The People’s Choice Award for Favorite Breakout Artist, beating off competition from Fun, Gotye, Carly Rae Jepson and One Direction.

The band have been filming a TV show in the US for E! titled, ‘The Wanted Life’, the show will air in the US on June 2nd with UK and international transmission dates to be confirmed shortly. They have also been in the studio working on their forthcoming album which will be released globally later this year.

The Wanted will be performing shows and completing major promotion across the globe this year from Australia, Japan and Europe. UK dates include The Capital FM Summertime Ball on June 9th, Chester Rocks and North East Live. A full list of tour dates can be found here.

Fans will be able to pre-order ‘Walks Like Rihanna’ from iTunes on Tuesday 7th May. The first play of the single will be on Monday 29th April across UK radio.

Pixengo: New iPhone App helps people with their Christmas trimmings

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Last year people spent nearly 1.4 billion pounds on greetings cards, more than was spent on tea and coffee put together! But with many families looking to slash festive costs this Christmas, tis the season to be thrifty.

Now you don’t have to spend a fortune posting Christmas cards. Pixengo, an innovative new App for the iPhone available to download from iTunes, is FREE and allows you to add thoughts and emotions to still images by fusing them with 30 second sound bites.

Record a festive message, whisper sweet nothings to a partner or even sing a Christmas carol if you are brave. Let your photos do the talking!

Pixengo means you can send personalised Christmas greetings to friends, family and loved ones. Capture a photo using the App or select an existing one from your camera roll – perhaps one of you, your family or even a pet! If you want to enhance the image Pixengo comes complete with special creative tools and filters.

Add a recording and share via your Pixengo stream, email, Facebook or Twitter publicly or just with your nearest and dearest. If you mess up you can rerecord, simple.
Lucky recipients see the photo, click on a play button to listen to the sound clip and have the option to like or comment. You can view ‘Pixengos’ in a web browser on your mobile or a computer; you do not need the App.

Pixengo saves you time and hassle as well as money by allowing you to send Christmas greetings on the go from your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, and to multiple recipients if you wish – all at the touch of a button! This means you can spend more precious time with those closest to you.

Personalised Pixengo greetings are perfect for any celebration or special day, not just Christmas. You can send birthdays wishes, congratulate someone on getting married or having a baby, and wish people luck in a new job.

Check out our example Christmas greeting Pixengo by visiting http://new.pixengo.com/p/18CYJ74

So, What is The Most Liked Video on YouTube?

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South Korean superstar, Psy, has the most ‘liked’ video in YouTube history. He even has a Guinness World Records certificate to prove it.

 

Psy said “I’m honoured. This is the first certificate I’ve ever had… I didn’t get one at school”.

 

The online sensation has only been available to view since the 15th of July but as of today has been ‘liked’ 4,911,081 times. The figure puts its competitors in the shade; LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem has accumulated 1,574,963 likes, Justin’s Bieber’s Baby (1,327,147 likes) and British pop star Adele’s Rolling in the Deep (1,245,641 likes).

 

PSY (real name: Park Jae-Sang) is a South Korean singer, songwriter, and performer. Gangnam Style, his most successful single to date, is the most viewed K-Pop video on YouTube, and marks the first time a South Korean artist has topped the iTunes charts.

 

 

Let’s Toddle! Free App For Parents

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Cow & Gate launches free app for parents

 

Did you know that by the time your toddler is three they will have reached around half of their adult size and could be using up to 900 words? Now, parents never need to miss a moment of their toddler’s extraordinary growth and development with Cow & Gate’s handy new ‘Let’s Toddle!’ app.

 

Available on iPhone, passionate parents can keep track of all of the exciting milestones their toddlers reach, from finger painting to taking those first few steps, as it happens with this handy tool.

 

The Let’s Toddle! app is easy to use with four simple steps:

 

  1. Download it for free from the iTunes App Store.

 

  1. Capture it by taking photos and building an album to celebrate each special moment, making each one totally unique with different frames and captions.

 

  1. Enjoy it as you share with friends and loved ones online, uploading their most amazing moments to Facebook and Twitter, or sending via email.

 

  1. Ask it any questions you may have about toddler development. Contact Cow & Gate’s expert Careline advisors directly who are on hand, day and night, with tips and advice from how to cope with a fussy eater to ensuring your little ones are getting all of the nutrients they need.

 

The app is jam-packed with a whole host of astonishing facts about toddler development. Did you know that a toddler’s nutritional needs can be more than double those of an adult? With so much growth and development between one and three years it’s not surprising, which is why Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk is specially formulated to help provide your toddler with the extra goodness they need throughout this period of extraordinary development. Growing Up Milk is made from cows’ milk, enriched with the key nutrients toddlers need, such as iron, calcium and vitamins A, C and D.

 

 

We love: Avril Lavigne's 'What The Hell'

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Avril Lavigne’s lastest nugget of angsty delight hit iTunes on Monday, and has already soared past Bruno Mars and Katy Perry to nab the No.2  spot behind Ms Spears’ ‘Hold It Against Me’. It’s the first single from her fourth studio album ‘Goodbye Lullaby’ (due March 8), and although we’re not quite hearing the promised evidence of a more mature Avril (it certainly doesn’t sound like the offering of a recent divorcée), it is undeniably, arrestingly catchy.

Despite her absence from the charts we’ve grown fonder of Avril over the last year or so. Mainly because we’re highly impressionable tweens at heart, and so when ‘Keep Holding On’ featured in Season One of Glee and then Cher Lloyd sang the crap out of ‘Girlfriend’ on X-Factor we were reminded of her in the most favourable light possible. And irritating though it can be when a woman in her mid twenties looks and sings like a 14-year-old (‘yeah’ & ‘woah’ are to Avril what ‘uh’ is to Britney), she does come up trumps when it comes to peppy, infectious girlypunk. You can try to resist, we say don’t bother.

Why we love What The Hell:

1. The lyrics. They’re just so darn sympathetic. Who among us hasn’t at times needed to “be a little crazy” and wanted nothing more than to “mess around”?

2. The barest, faintest, flicker of pain: “You can’t save me”, “You never call or listen to me anyway”. We’re imagining Avril in a Skins-type scenario, starved of affection from the one she truly loves, and therefore doing the natural thing, ie: put it recklessly about. “Yeah, I am messing with your head, When I’m messing with you in bed”- Effy anyone?

3. The tune. It’s VERY similar to Girlfriend. But we loved Girlfriend as well, so that’s fine.

4. The pure shamelessness of a 26 year old refusing to grow up . Obstinate, foolhardy party-pop, let it wash over you…

Fall in love: