Tim Tebow can’t throw, can’t preach. Denver Broncos QB reaches nadir

by Bill Palmer

“Tim Tebow throws like a girl” would be an insult to able bodied women everywhere. “Tim Tebow throws like yet another top tier college quarterback whose unorthodox mechanics just don’t translate to the bigger, faster NFL” might be more accurate. The quarterback for the Denver Broncos has been awful in his two starts, historically awful in fact, with the exception of one five-minute stretch in which he somehow managed to lead his team to a victory over the self-defeating Miami Dolphins, in what some have termed a “miracle.” That religious terminology seems to be half the problem. In football terms, Tebow is Ty Detmer. He’s Gino Torretta. He’s an NCAA great who everyone knew all along wouldn’t make it anywhere in the NFL, who was taken near the end of the draft almost as a courtesy, only to hold the clipboard for a couple years before moving on to a non-football career. Except Tebow wasn’t taken in the seventh round. He wasn’t signed as a scrapheap free agent. He was a first round draft pick by former Broncos coach Josh McDaniels, who apparently made the pick because he was insane. Either that, or he went to the same kind of church as Tebow…

That move, the one which elevated Tim Tebow to Page One of the NFL news reports for better or worse, is part of why Tebow’s brief NFL tenure in Denver is such a big story. The other is that Tebow spent his college career at the University of Florida pushing his particular brand of evangelical christianity on everyone, all the time, in every supposedly football-themed interview. Or maybe it merely seemed that way, as he gained legions of fans nationwide who were clearly rooting for him because A) he went to the same kind of church they did, and B) he appeared intent on using his football status to promote those religious beliefs in any way possible, even within football context. Those who believed Tebow was put on this plant by God with a mission to spread christianity through football? They began worshipping him in an almost literally god-like fashion. Everyone else just wished he would shut the bleep up and play football, and save his religious ambitions for the other six days of the week…

Interestingly enough, Tebow appears to have done exactly that now that he’s graduated to the pro league. Maybe the Broncos told him shut up. Maybe he figured out on his own that this is a job now, not a college hobby. Or perhaps he’s merely waiting until he’s accomplished something in the NFL before he resumes running his mouth regarding his religion. That seems unlikely to happen, as his two starts in Denver have revealed that he can’t consistently complete a pass in the pro game, often missing open receivers by ten yards. He’ll get maybe one more start before he’s benched, then quietly released at the end of the season. He’ll never start a game elsewhere. Already, Tebow’s legions of worshippers are surfacing with claims that he never got a fair chance, that he’s a fantastic quarterback who’s being victimized by an undertalented Broncos roster and a bad offensive scheme. Perhaps these people aren’t familiar enough with football to understand how often a star college quarterback flames out in the NFL, and that Tebow’s demise is a surprise to no one who understands pro football. Or maybe, blinded by religious fervor, they’re simply not able to see his errant throws sailing out of bounds on play after play.

To his credit, Tebow has shown that he’s a bruiser who doesn’t give up easily. Even after his stunningly awful performance in Miami put his team behind by fifteen points with the game nearly over, once he saw that the abysmal Dolphins were heading into their usual late game collapse mode, he pounced on it and managed to eke out a comeback victory. A lot of young quarterbacks in their first pro start would have already given up by that point in the game. The trouble is, it doesn’t change the fact that the kid can’t complete an NFL pass, and as quarterback, his primary job is to complete passes.

It’s also not his fault that the lunatic McDaniels, who was fired mere months after drafting Tebow, selected him in the first round when he was more realistically a seventh round talent. It was but one of many unexplainable moves McDaniels made, from running off all of the team’s star players to getting caught up in a cheating scandal. Whether drafting Tebow so high was merely yet another McDaniels moment of random lunacy, or whether McDaniels really did make the move for religious reasons, is something we’ll never know. The new regime in Denver essentially got stuck with Tebow, knowing he wasn’t an NFL talent but not willing to cut a first round draft pick who hadn’t (yet) gone bust. So they gave him his shot these past two games once it became clear the Broncos season was a wash anyway, and now they know what they (don’t) have with him. No surprise to anyone involved. Tebow himself likely knows he doesn’t belong in the NFL, and is merely doing what anyone in his position would do: trying to make the best of a long shot.

The startling part is the sheer number of football journalists, from newspapers to television, who are now defending Tebow’s awful play these past two games in a manner which makes no football sense. Some of them are undoubtedly doing it just to stir up headlines surrounding a controversial player. But other journalists are defending Tebow in such a zealous and angry fashion that it’s almost as if they’re defending their own religion in the process. In some instances, they’re probably doing just that. Sports commentators have long had their own set of code words for identifying to the audience which players and coaches are of a religion which they approve of; certain NFL television commentators in particular tend to use phrases like “man of high character” to telegraph to their fellow evangelicals that “Hey, this player goes to our kind of church – root for him” without having to actually say it in those words.

And it’s far from limited to the sports world. Certain mainstream pop and rock music acts get the majority of their sales from people who happen to go to the same kind of church they do. Sure, they’re talented, and they’ve got their regular fans as well, and their music (on the surface at least) appears to have nothing to do with religion one way or the other. But the lock-step fashion with which evangelicals get behind certain mainstream musical acts makes clear that it’s no coincidence. These acts often go so far as to tour with each other even when their relative musical stylings have no genre connection and shouldn’t have many fans in common. But instead they end up having largely the same fanbase because those fans are choosing their favorite bands based on what kind of church the band members go to.

Tim Tebow is but another moving piece in all of these mechanisms. Except unlike the music world where evangelicals can run up the album sales of their church-approved artists by buying in droves, no amount of rooting for a given football player is going to make him play any better or make his team a winner. The nationwide insistence on the part of evangelicals that Tebow be allowed to play, and the billboards they put up around Denver to that effect, aren’t what gave Tebow the starting role. The mediocre play of starter Kyle Orton and the team’s poor start to the season is what gave Tebow his shot. He’s done with it about as much as he could, and he’s performed about as poorly as his non-NFL-compatible skills dictated. It should be a quiet, local sports story: a bad backup quarterback failing to save a bad team’s irrelevant season. But because it’s a kid who spent his college career trying to become a messiah by using football to spread his religious views, the clash between the evangelicals who worship him like a god and the football fans who resent his attempts to hijack a national pastime has elevated Tebow’s 2012 saga into something more than a mere football story.

It’ll all be over soon one way or another, with Tim Tebow’s days as a starter now down to single digits and his time in the NFL not lasting much longer. But while attempts on the part of evangelicals to promote each other up the professional ranks of all walks of American society have largely taken place under the radar, the Tebow episode represents the closest they’ve come to outing themselves with their zeal. There hasn’t yet been a sportscaster who’s slipped up and actually admitted that he thinks Tebow should “get another chance because he goes to the same kind of church that I do” in those exact words, but you have to wonder if that just might happen before this episode is said and done. Certain sportscasters have appeared to have those words on the tip of their tongues from the moment Tebow was drafted. After all, the evangelicals have finally found one American profession in which they can’t manipulate one of their own people into the top ranks. They’ve managed to manipulate the voting results on most every recent season of American Idol, they have no trouble manipulating the pop music sales charts in general, and they even managed to get one of their own into the White House for eight painful years. But as we’re finding out, it seems the limit for an incompetent backup quarterback hanging onto an NFL starting job is about three weeks – even if he does go to the right kind of church. As the rest of the story unfolds, whether they quietly accept that they can’t rig pro football the way they rig other professions, or whether they become more openly blatant about the real reason they’ve been rooting for this Tebow kid all along, may serve as a far more interesting postscript than anything that belongs on the sports pages.

iPad 3 release date marks Steve Jobs’ last hurrah, with or without him

by Alexx Calise

Steve Jobs didn’t live to see the release date for the iPad 3, which will debut in the spring of 2012 if Apple’s pattern of iPad releases remains intact. But the device will have his fingerprints all over it, just as surely as the first iPad did. In fact there’s something to suggest the iPad 3 will be one he had his eye on all along. Any proposed new tech product is worked on in two incarnations: the device the company wants it to be, and the device the company thinks it can get out the door in a reasonable timeframe. The iPad 1 was the latter, with Jobs having returned to Apple from transplant surgery in order to continue to usher it to fruition with an nearly 2010 launch. But the “true” iPad, the model which Apple wanted the iPad to be all along, still lies in wait…

The iPad 2 wasn’t it. Sure, it was a solid upgrade, thinner, lighter, faster, camera. But it a mere service upgrade for the original iPad, and wasn’t a revolutionary new model. In other words, what Jobs and company originally envisioned the iPad to be will end up arriving as the iPad 3 in the spring if it’s ready (otherwise the iPad 3 will be yet another service upgrade in other to buy Apple another year). But backchatter had the “revolutionary new iPad” nearly ready for this past spring, with the less ambitious “iPad 2″ as we know it having been a fallback plan. That means the true revolutionary new iPad should see release date in the spring, carrying the iPad 3 name and finally delivering what Steve Jobs wanted the iPad to be all along. So just what all will it entail?

That’s another story altogether. Only those within Apple’s innermost ranks know what Jobs’ true vision for the iPad really was. He shared his ambitions for it from time to time; for instance, he saw a future in which most consumers rely on tablets as their main computers, with full-service computers like Macs and PCs reserved for specialty or professional work. That means the iPad 3 will need to gain a bunch more horsepower (A6 processor? more internal storage?) and be able to take over more of the duties which are performed on a Mac or PC now. Of course it’s not as simple as merely slapping a faster chip into the iPad. There’s more coming. Fortunately, with Jobs having hand picked his successors at Apple who are now running the company, the iPad 3 which sees release next year should be remarkably close to the one which would have surfaced had Jobs lived to see its launch. Here’s more on the iPad 3.

Review: Belkin ViewLounge for iPad 2 takes a novel stand

by Bill Palmer

The idea of a beanbag stand for the iPad 2 sounds more like it might come from two guys in a garage with a novel idea than a major accessory manufacturer like Belkin. But that’s precisely what the company is offering with its new ViewLounge. The circular beanbag sits about five inches across and more than an inch tall, with a hook-like iPad dock on the front and a flat rubbery circular surface on top.

Despite notions of a beanbag being something which might flop around in an aimless capacity, the ViewLounge is actually quite stable. You can place your iPad 2 in either portrait or landscape position, and rotate the viewing angle to an extent by shifting the beanbag itself. Once you’ve got your angle, it’s surprisingly taut – I was even able to type on the iPad’s screen without it sliding around. Of course the stand is aimed at positioning the iPad in a more upright angle, but the circle on top offers a secondary usage. The iPad can be laid on the rubbery material so as to position it at an angle only slightly above horizontal; Belkin suggests this might be handy for watching movies while in bed. This method feels a bit more tenuous, however; although my iPad 2 never did slip off the rubber during testing, I wouldn’t place it near the edge of the bed.

There are a number of iPad 2 stand mechanisms out there, and Belkin’s ViewLounge is certainly one of the more unique ones. The stigma of “But it’s just a beanbag” makes its $29 price initially seem steep, but in reality it’s in line with other iPad 2 stands which offer similar functionality. If nothing else, the ViewLounge is a conversation piece.

Rating: four stars out of five • Price: $29 • Belkin.com

App review: Dark Meadow brings iPhone-iPad horror story for Halloween

by Phil Rossi

Show of hands: who likes to wake up in a creepy, decrepit hospital, with no idea of who you are, how you got there, or how to escape? What if I were to say there was a whole ghoulish menagerie of flesh-rending demons to contend with? Sounds tasty, right? Now what if you could have this whole experience in the palm of your hand. Enter the Dark Meadow, Phosphorus Games survival horror entry that makes brilliant use of the Unreal 3 engine. When I first read about the Dark Meadow, I was excited. Survival horror is my bread and butter. The moodier and more atmospheric the title, the happier this reviewer is. In terms of ambience, the Dark Meadow does not disappoint. Visually stunning, the game really pushes the technology at its disposal to the limit, creating a rich, detailed back drop that at the outset was fantastically immersive. I felt like I had woken up on Poveglia Island or some equally terrifying place and within a few minutes, my skin was actually crawling. Music, sound effects, and dynamic lighting up the ante. I’m honestly impressed with what the developers were about to pull off in terms of overall design.

That’s the good news. The bad news is, sadly, the Dark Meadow is not perfect.
Though it pains me to say so (and deeply) the gameplay occasionally gets in the way. Combat was fun at first—the combined use of melee and ranged weapons was intuitive and satisfying. Fire. Dodge. Hack. Slash. Victory! Encounters were RPG in style and I personally found this appealing, with experience and gold tallied at the end of each battle. With gained levels came noticeable improvement to combat abilities and survival. I was down with this for the first one hundred battles or so. What felt like constant respawns soon grew tedious and got in the way of exploring the world. A little heart-breaking, really, because it is one hell of a world.

Another reason the cumbersome gameplay is unfortunate is because the Dark Meadow’s story engaging. Solid writing, cryptic clues, and an enigmatic and seemingly immortal femme fatale spice up a well-visited genre.
The Dark Meadow is a beautifully rendered, atmospheric app for the iOS that craftily utilizes the Unreal 3 engine to pull off some eye and ear pleasing tricks. The game is not without some flaws, but reasonably priced, it is well worth the download. This offering from Phosphorus Games is not one to miss.

Rating 3.5 stars out of 5 • Price: $2.99 • App Store

iPhone 4S trumps 5 in October surprise: how Siri came late in retread

by Bill Palmer

The iPhone 4S couldn’t arrive alone, logic dictated, because Apple’s four month pushback from its traditional summer iPhone launching pad to October meant the company was working overtime on something more, like a revamped iPhone 5. That logic failed to account for the scenario in which Apple ultimately realized it wasn’t going to be able to get the iPhone 5 to market in time for the start of the holiday shopping season and, feeling it needed to get something out the door in 2011, pushed the iPhone 4S out the door on its own. It was the worst of both worlds in the eyes of consumers, at least initially, as the 4S combined an overlong waiting period prior to its arrival and a total lack of hardware innovation or even renovation, at least externally. The saving grace, however, may have come in the fact that Apple ended up taking many of the would-be iPhone 5 features and stuffed them into the iPhone 4S instead, from Siri to the A5 processor, delivering a worthy if not flashy upgrade path. But what was really going on behind the scenes during those several months in which the world wondered where the new iPhone went?

Some have pointed to Apple’s recycling of the iPhone 3G in the form of the 3GS back in the summer of 2009 as evidence that the iPhone 4S might have been the plan for 2011 all along. But that theory falls down in two places, one of them fatally. First there’s the fact that despite claims that “Apple always keeps an iPhone body style around for two iterations,” the reality is that it’s only ever happened once. Apple used one body style with the original iPhone and then immediately moved to a new one a year later with the iPhone 3G (which was actually the second generation model). And while the 3GS was a solid upgrade, it didn’t garner nearly as much respect with consumers as it should have. Apple likely learned that lesson and made plans to introduce a new iPhone body style yearly going forward. That was evidenced by the fact that if Apple had been planning all along to do an iPhone 4S as its new flagship iPhone in 2011, that would have happened back in the summer. There was no new body style to design, no big revamp, nothing to have prevented the 4S from arriving in the summer like new iPhones always do. That all but cements the fact that Apple was working on an iPhone 5 instead, ran into problems, and kept pushing back its release date until it became clear that it would have to wait until next year altogether. So what, then, was the iPhone 4S all about?

Apple’s release of the white iPhone 4 back in April made clear even back then that the company knew the next iPhone would be delayed; it wouldn’t have updated the iPhone 4 lineup at the end of April if it was expecting to introduce a new iPhone generation in the summer. The iPhone 4S may have been drawn up at that point as a fallback plan in case the iPhone 5 wasn’t ready for 2011 release. Or the iPhone 4S may have been in the cards all along as a budget model intended to replace the iPhone 4. The idea would have been to kill off the segregated AT&T and Verizon iterations of the iPhone 4 and replace them with a single iPhone 4S which could talk to AT&T, Verizon, and newcomer Sprint. If Siri and the A5 were intended to be the headlining features of the iPhone 5, were they also supposed to have made their way into the iPhone 4S? We may never know. As it turned out, the iPhone 5 was canned for 2011 for reasons which may also never be known, and October saw the iPhone 4S sent up to bat all by its lonesome – but with some of the best proposed iPhone 5 features in tow. Here’s more on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5.

iPad 3: release date, specs, iOS 5.5, screen, A6 news, rumors du jour

by Bill Palmer

With Apple having steadied the iPhone lineup and finished its product releases for 2011, the focus now turns to what Apple has up its sleeve first for 2012: the iPad 3. There was some buzz that Apple might update the iPad in some form before this year ended, but that went out the window when the October press event turned out to be an iPhone-only affair. The only part of the event which related to the iPad, even tangentially, was the release of the iOS 5 operating system. True to form, Apple has said nothing regarding the iPad 3. Nothing is officially set in stone. but various details, from its release date to its likely specs to rumors regarding its screen, are beginning to emerge. With the caveat of pointing out that none of this is official, none of it confirmable, and most of it based on a mere combination of interpreting Apple’s pattern history and and common sense, here’s a look at what we think we might know regarding the iPad 3…

Release date: This one might be the easiest. Both the iPad and iPad 2 were introduced early in the spring and shipped around the end of March. That places the iPad 3 release date on track for March 2012, unless something goes wrong. The arrival of the iPhone 4S in October, after years of summer iPhone launches, demonstrated that things can in fact go wrong with Apple’s annual upgrade calendar, but most often don’t.

iOS 5.5: Apple could just as easily call it iOS 5.3 or some such, but whatever the name, the iPad 3 will arrive with a revised version of the current iOS 5 operating system. The quasi-headlining features of the new iOS update will likely tie directly into whatever new hardware features the iPad 3 delivers.

Screen: Scattered rumors have Apple’s inability to get the iPad 3 up to retina display quality as the reason why the device didn’t arrive in late 2011. Whether it can be pulled off by March 2012 is anyone’s guess…

Other specs: The iPad 2 marked the debut of the dual core A5 processor, which has since also found its way into the iPhone 4S. The year before, the iPad 1 marked the debut of the A4 processor. The safe-ish bet has the quad core A6 debuting in the iPad 3, giving the new tablet a level of computing speed which will finally begin to rival the horsepower found under the hoods of desktop and laptop computers, bringing Steve Jobs’ vision of tablets eclipsing home computers one step closer to reality.

Carriers and colors: Apple finally managed to deliver a single device in the iPhone 4S which can talk to AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon networks. The iPad 3 could do the same, eliminating the current carrier-segregated 3G models. That in turn could open the door for Apple to offer the iPad 3 in more colors than merely white and black, a limitation presumably placed on the iPad 2 out of respect for the eighteen different configurations on the market based merely on carrier, capacity, and two colors. Here’s more on the iPad 3.

Sound of Cancer: Alexx Calise rocks different on No Vampires in Gilroy

by Bill Palmer

Those who’ve heard the Alexx Calise ballad entitled “Cry” on any of the spate of television shows it’s appeared on this month may be surprised when they seek out her two albums and find that she has the knobs turned quite a bit higher most of the time. And they’ll be even more surprised when they find their way to Sound of Cancer, Calise’s new collaborative project with drummer Dennis Morehouse in which she sets aside the aggressive modern rock of her solo albums in favor of of a more textured alt-rock landscape.

The record is called No Vampires in Gilroy, and a spooky undead theme winds its way through the lyrics; it’s fitting that the album is seeing a Halloween release. But this is no over the top monster mash, rather it’s a rock record which just happens to cover morose subject matter. Even as Calise sings “You will be my lover in this life another” on the mid tempo song Vamp, Morehouse’s rhythm section pounds away as if it might be influenced by nineties stalwarts Jane’s Addiction or Stone Temple Pilots. As it turns out, those are some of the same bands Calise grew up listening to.

Those who were initially introduced to Calise’s softer side will see it on display on the album’s final track, a quiet ballad in which she’s accompanied only by acoustic guitar. But as evidenced by her two solo records, along with Morehouse’s percussion work with Gilby Clarke from Guns n’ Roses and Marc Ford from the Black Crowes, these two musicians are both looking to rock out when they can – and that’s what they spend most of No Vampires in Gilroy doing. Fortunately for listeners, Sound of Cancer excels at the task.

Learn more: Soundofcancer.com • Facebook

Review: Kensington PowerLift battery, dock and stand for iPhone 4S etc

by Bill Palmer

Kensington’s PowerLift battery dock isn’t the first product of its kind, but it does offer a different take on the idea. Most battery docks operate under the same premise: it folds flat enough to be used as an (oversized) snap-on battery for your iPhone 4 or 4S, but excels when you fold it open. It then forms a dock which props up your iPhone while recharging it. The 1200 mAh battery in the PowerLift will only give your iPhone a bit more than a fifty percent battery boost, but it’s enough to allow you to leave your fully charged iPhone on your nightstand overnight, for instance, and expect it to still have a full charge the next morning. And while at your desk, it can be connected to your computer for recharging via USB while also using it to recharge and dock your iPhone.

Where the PowerLift differs from similar competing products is that while most of them include a USB port and separate cable, Kensington has embedded a short USB cable into the PowerLift directly, which tucks into the product itself. Depending on how you plan to use this product, you’ll view the built in cable as either the product’s best or worst feature. On the one hand, it makes things more portable as you don’t need to carry a cable with it and you can recharge it anytime, anywhere you’ve got access to a USB port. On the other hand, the three inch cable means you’ll need to place the PowerLift that close to your computer’s USB port when in use. That may not be the answer if you keep your laptop on a riser or if your computer’s only USB ports are on the front of the minitower.

In essence, the viability of the PowerLift comes down to how you’re going to use it and how you’re going to recharge it. As with so many other of Kensington’s power products, this one is geared toward people who like to travel light.

Price: $49 • Kensington.com

Review: Scosche clipSYNC charge-sync keychain fob for iPhone-iPad-iPod

by Bill Palmer

Scosche’s flipSYNC was a brilliant way of embedding an iPhone-iPad-iPod sync cable into a keychain fob, but adding it your keychain was about as cumbersome as adding anything else: split the keychain ring with your fingertips and slide it through the small hole on the flipSYNC. The company’s new clipSYNC attempts to remedy that by making it effortlessly easy to attach and remove it from your keychain thanks to an embedded carabiner-style clip. The clip just as easily attaches to your belt loop instead of your keychain.

In other words, for those who loved the flipSYNC but found themselves trying to use it for syncing purposes with their keys still attached because it wasn’t easy enough to get it off their keychain, the clipSYNC takes the original novel idea and turns it into a darn near perfect product. The only catch? The clipSYNC is a bit larger, along the lines of about a half an inch taller and a quarter inch or so wider.

The product still functions the same: the dock connector side pops out, followed by the USB side, forming the equivalent of a four or five inch sync cable. The clipSYNC is a large-ish thing to have on your keychain, so it only makes sense if you’re going to use it with some regularity. But for travelers it’s a boon, as it’s one less cable you have to take in your bag and keep fishing out for syncing and charging purposes. And thanks to the clip, it’s now easier to put it to good use than before.

Price: $19 • Scosche.com

iPhone 4S: Siri, A5 and five other reasons to dive in, four to skip it

by Bill Palmer

The iPhone 4S is a record setting hot seller thanks to features like Siri and availability on carriers like Sprint, but not everyone is biting. The most common question we get is whether it’s more advisable to plunk down on the 4S now or wait until next year for Apple’s next iPhone which will invariably come with a new bag of tricks. For the majority of users we advise taking the plunge now, but the answer is different for each user based on their circumstance and preferences. For the sake of both sides of the argument, here’s a look at several reasons to buy the iPhone 4S now, followed by a few reasons to consider skipping it.

Siri: Any discussion of the iPhone 4S must start here. Unlike voice command products of the past, which were too robotic and too inaccurate, Siri is receiving (mostly) high marks both for its ability to understand plain English and for its accuracy in figuring out what you’re really looking for it to do. But Siri is just one of a number of features the iPhone 4S offers, most of which are less sexy and less publicized…

A5: This microprocessor family first debuted in the iPad 2, and what it brings to the table is speed. Don’t be fooled by the familiar body style of the iPhone 4S, as it’s a different beast inside. The A5 runs circles around the A4 found in the iPhone 4, particularly when using apps (like video games) which are complex and require a large amount of computation or display complex graphics.

Sprint: This one is simple. The iPhone 4 was initially available only on AT&T, then later expanded to Verizon. The iPhone 4S adds Sprint compatibility to the first two.

You’re eligible: If you’re still clinging to your iPhone 3GS because you weren’t upgrade eligible for the iPhone 4 last year or because you couldn’t afford a new phone last year, the iPhone 4S rewards you for waiting. The 4S is a second chance to get the iPhone 4 at upgrade-eligible pricing (anyone who bought a 3GS in 2009 is certainly eligible for an upgrade by now), and it’s a better device than the original iPhone 4.

It’s in white: So you bought an iPhone 4 sixteen months ago, and you ended up with black even though you wanted white because the white model was delayed. As shallow as it may sound, the 4S gives you an excuse to get a white one.

Capacity: The iPhone 4S is the first iPhone to offer sixty-four gigabytes of storage on the high end, meaning you might finally be able to fit all of your music on it. That could mean jettisoning that old iPod classic model you’ve been keeping around purely for capacity purposes.

iOS 5: Apple’s new operating system runs fine on the iPhone 4 and it’s a free upgrade. But as users have found out, its more advanced features run better on the faster iPhone 4S.

There are, of course, reasons to think twice about the iPhone 4S and consider holding off for next year’s iPhone…

Battery: The iPhone 4 represented a major advance in battery life over the 3GS, but the 4S doesn’t offer a substantial boost over the 4. Furthermore, a handful of 4S buyers have found themselves subjected to a bug which actually drains battery faster than ever. That bug should be cleaned up in the iOS 5.0.1 software update, but it might be worth holding off from buying at least until that arrives.

4G LTE: With the carriers being slow to build their nationwide 4G LTE networks (none of them has covered more than about a third of their respective customers, and some of them have done far worse), most iPhone 4S users won’t care that it doesn’t have LTE networking built in. But if you’re the type who likes to buy a phone and then hand onto it for awhile (read: more than a year), you might resent the iPhone 4S by this time next year when the iPhone 5 debuts with 4G LTE built in and the carriers have finally built 4G LTE towers in your town.

You’re not eligible: If you have an iPhone 4, you might or might not be eligible for upgrade pricing as of now. Despite two year contracts, carriers offer upgrade pricing at twelve, eighteen, or twenty month intervals after you bought your most recent phone (good luck trying to calculate which interval you’re on; better to just call them and ask). If you’re not yet upgrade-eligible, and those who bought their iPhone 4 later in the game almost certainly aren’t, you could look at paying $399 or $449 for the “$199″ iPhone 4S model. This is true of all carriers and all phones, nothing specific to the iPhone, but it’s worth considering when eyeballing the 4S.

You’re bored: Skipping the iPhone 4S because it looks just like the old one is as shallow as buying the iPhone 4S because it comes in white. But aesthetics can be important, so if you’re bummed that the iPhone 4S re-uses the iPhone 4 body style, we’re not going to judge.

Here’s more on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5.

Devyn Rush looks to conquer the world with love, yoga, and music

by Bill Palmer

When the year began, Devyn Rush was a singing waitress working her way through the ranks of American Idol. Now she’s a yoga instructor and child advocate who just happens to be working on her debut album. That evolution won’t come as a surprise, however, to those who know her.

“Today I taught three classes,” the New Yorker says of her yoga schedule which, spanning five days a week, is now essentially a full time gig. That schedule is being interrupted this week by a nine-day jaunt to San Francisco punctuated by an event called Women Rock It in which she aims to help inspire women to “get out of their own way in a male-driven business society.”

Things won’t slow down after she gets back to the east coast, however. “The following day after I get back, I’m going to Massachusetts to do another teacher training.” This time it’s yoga for the benefit of women and children who come from domestic violence.

“Yoga is very accessible for kids,” she explains. “I want them to have the poses in their bodies, so a really fun way to teach kids is to give them animal poses. A lot of the poses are named after animals anyway, so I use that to my advantage. And they love it. They love downward dog.”

The youthful yoga efforts tie into Devyn’s anti-bullying campaign. “Once you start to get to the age of nine, that’s when your brain starts changing rapidly and going into this pre-pubescent phase. That’s when the judgment starts to seep in. So that’s why I think the kids need to have yoga and anything that’s in their body and in their minds early on so they never feel like it’s weird.”

“Everything that I’m doing ties in together. It’s funny, I have a lot of conversations: How do songwriting and yoga work together? Devyn, you have to focus. I am focused. I’ve noticed the music industry has changed so much. And for me to get a record deal the way that I want to, and for me to go multi-platinum the way that I want to, I have to start a revolution on my own. This is something that I whole heartedly believe in, that you can’t give somebody something that you don’t have. If you don’t have self-love, you ain’t giving love to anybody else whole heartedly. So I want to teach people how to love themselves. I want to instill that in people early on, because there are too many adults that walk around unhappy.”

That’s a long way from when the year began and she was trying to win on a television show. So is Devyn Rush, with all her do-gooder efforts, finding any time for her own well-being? Turns out they’re one and the same. “I’m doing exactly what I want to do. Every day I’m loving my life a little bit more.”

DevynRush.com • Twitter

iPhone 5 release date with iOS 6 cuts ties from Google Maps weak link

by Bill Palmer

When the iPhone 5 sees its release date next year with the iOS 6 operating system installed, one of the iPhone’s few remaining ties to Google will be severed if Apple’s latest gambit comes to fruition in time. Apple has purchased a company called C3 Technologies (says Venture Beat) which makes, you guessed it, mapping software. That means you can say goodbye to the Google Maps embedded within the iPhone’s “Maps” app as soon as Apple can figure out how to build out its newly acquired mapping footprint to serve as a suitable replacement. iOS user views on the use of Google Maps in the Maps app have long varied: some like the familiarity, as it means the Maps app has a lot in common with the maps.google.com site where users tend to get their maps when on their Mac or PC. But others have tagged Google Maps as merely being the best of a weak bunch, beating out flailing competitors like Mapquest but not being in a position to brag about doing so. For Apple, however, relying on Google in any capacity has become a strategic weak link…

And that leaves iOS users in a position to benefit if Apple can get its maps act together in time for the release of iOS 6, which should correspond with the release date of the iPhone 5; Apple has long paired the new iPhone and new version of the operating system together on the calendar despite the OS also working on the iPod touch and iPad. Apple’s rule is that it generally won’t bring something in-house unless it thinks it can do a meaningfully better job. Although Apple could likely make nicer looking printers than what’s on the market, for instance, the company declines to go there because the improvements wouldn’t be of any substance. But make no mistake: Apple wants to rid itself of as much dependence on Google as possible. As was made clear when Apple fired former Google CEO Eric Schmidt from its board of directors and then proceeded to file patent lawsuits against nearly every Android hardware manufacturer, and spelled out even more explicitly in Steve Jobs’ posthumous biography, Apple feels the Android OS was a copycat job on the part of Google, ripping off the iPhone operating system…

Clearly Apple wants as little to do with Google as possible going forward. And yet Apple has shown that it won’t throw its users under a bus for the sake of pettiness. For instance, even as Apple incorporated the competing Bing search engine into the iPhone along with its Safari web browser for Mac and Windows, it left Google search as the default. Why? Because Google’s search engine is better than Bing’s. As such, when the iPhone 5 rolls around, users can expect Apple to only swap out the Google Maps engine in the iPhone’s Maps app for an in-house app if A) the in-house app is ready to go, and B) the in-house app is superior to the existing one. It should be pointed out that the iPhone’s Maps app has always been an Apple creation; it merely pulls Google Maps data for the actual mapping. Apple won’t need to write an in-house Maps app, as it’s already done that. All it needs to do is build out its own maps. Whether that means Apple vans driving the streets of the world in order to map out the globe remains to be seen.

On a larger note, now that it’s clear Apple no longer wants to be Google dependent in any way, one has to wonder whether Apple might be considering getting in on search as well. Many have concluded the Google has already won the search engine wars and there’s no going back, and have pointed to the mostly-failed Bing as evidence: if even Microsoft with all its resources can’t make a dent in Google’s search dominance, who can? But then again, outside of gaming, Microsoft hasn’t successfully moved into any new market in the past decade or more. If Apple is indeed out to weaken Google in the name of weakening Android, expanding into search might be the most effective strategy. In fact Apple already has an iAds framework for in-app ads which could be expanded into search engines. Whether Apple could succeed in the search engine realm is another matter.

But in the short(er) term, those with their eye on next year’s iPhone 5 may find that its Maps app looks a bit different. Just don’t expect Apple to light up its own in-house mapping technology in place of Google’s unless it’s ready for prime time. As much as Apple wants to take down Google, it doesn’t appear willing to take down its own users in the process. Here’s more on the iPhone 5 release date.

iPhone 4S battery life bug fix coming, but battery extensions abound

by Bill Palmer

A relative handful of iPhone 4S users have seen their battery life come up significantly short of Apple’s claims and well short of even what the previous iPhone 4 offered, and the predictable firestorm has erupted. “A few user” has been misreported as “all users,” in a move on the part of some media outlets to either grab a bigger headline or as part of their usual attempts to talk people out of buying Apple products whenever possible (most tech headlines are controlled by the kind of tech geeks who hate Apple and its mainstream-centric focus). But the problem is in fact very real for the tiny percentage of iPhone 4S users who’ve been affected by it. The inevitable iOS 5.0.1 update will solve the problem via software, but in the mean time we hear Apple is offering to swap out affected units on a case by case basis. Still, this doesn’t address the fact that while the iPhone 4S has the longest last battery of any smartphone on the market, it’s not a substantial improvement over the iPhone 4 before it. Fortunately, there are ways to extend your battery life significantly…

There are two schools of thought to getting more battery life out of your iPhone 4S. One is the “more is more” philosophy of adding more battery; the other is the “less is more” strategy of reducing how much power your device uses. Adding more battery is simple enough. For most users, we recommend a battery case which isn’t much thicker than a regular case but can add anywhere from 50% to 100% more battery life, depending on which one you go with. The Mophie Juice Pack Air/Pro and PowerSkin are our highest-tested products in that arena; both are under $100. If your budget is tighter or you need more power, there are plenty of battery bricks which either snap onto the bottom (for quasi-portability) or connect via USB cable (for serious recharging potential). But that’s only half the equation…

The less you use your iPhone 4S, the long the battery lasts. That sounds overwhelmingly obvious, but it’s actually a more complex issue. Leaving the screen turned off while listening to music, rather than staring at album artwork the whole time, will add significant battery life. So will turning off features like wifi and bluetooth when you’re not using them; otherwise your device will be searching for non-existent signals the entire time. And speaking of non-existent signals, nothing will kill a cellphone’s battery more quickly than when there’s no cellular signal available but it keeps searching for one anyway. If you’re out of range (such as in a subway, in the mountains, or on an airplane), try putting your iPhone into Airplane Mode so it’ll stop wasting battery life looking for a cellular signal. Here’s more on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5.

iPhone 5 release date in spring 2012 competes with iPad 3 for calendar

by Bill Palmer

“Can the iPhone 5 really see its release date as soon as the spring of 2012?” asks one reader optimistically. The answer is a definite maybe, but Apple’s other flagship iProduct launch, the iPad 3, would pull calendar rank. Assuming the iPhone 5 was supposed to be ready this year and the iPhone 4S was a stand-in when Apple had to go to Plan B at the last minute, that means the iPhone 5 is probably ready to be launched at whatever point in 2012 Apple thinks it strategically ideal. The 4S will have to get its day in the sun for awhile. And the fact that it’s sold so well out of the gate certainly eliminates any possibility of the iPhone 5 being rushed out the door in, say, February. If the iPhone 4S keeps selling well, the iPhone 5 can more likely see a release date in the summer (in keeping with Apple’s longtime summer iPhone launch pattern) or in the fall (giving the 4S a full year) of 2012. But the spring 2012 scenario is still possible. Here’s what it would take…

First, you’d have to see a slowdown in iPhone 4S sales. Strong holiday sales would appear to be a given at this point, considering the record breaking early sales levels thus far. But if we get to early 2012 and “We’ve seen this iPhone body style before” fatigue sets in, or if carriers like Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint get around to building out more of their 4G LTE networks and the public finally begins caring about next-gen networking technology and begins to ask why the latest iPhone doesn’t offer it (right now, almost no one among the mainstream public cares about 4G LTE, regardless of what the pundits and tech enthusiasts might claim), then iPhone 4S sales could tail off and Apple might be motivated to release the iPhone 5 sooner than later. Part of whether or not that could happen in the spring, let’s say April so it’s not in the same month as the expected March 2012 release date for the iPad 3, depends on what Apple’s original iPhone plan was for this year…

If Apple’s 2011 blueprint always centered around the iPhone 4S and there was never going to be an iPhone 5 this year one way or the other, then that means Apple is more or less on track with its original plan (the unexplained four month delay of the iPhone 4S from its expected summer debut notwithstanding). That would mean Apple is in no hurry to launch an iPhone 5 which it never had pegged until mid 2012 anyway. But if the iPhone 4S was supposed to be the mere sidekick model, with the plan calling for the iPhone 5 to debut at the same time as the 2011 flagship model, that means Apple is off blueprint. It also means the iPhone 5 was almost ready to go this month, and burying it in favor of promoting the iPhone 4S to the new flagship model was never Apple’s goal. If that’s the case then it means the iPhone 5 should be ready to go at just about any time in 2012 Apple wants, and considering that it was supposed to have already been on the market by now, a first-half 2012 launch would be a surprise but not a total shock. But either way, much of it depends on how well the iPhone 4S performs in the interim. It’ll continue to get its day in the sun until that sun goes dim. Either way, expect the iPad 3 release date to arrive first. Here’s more on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5.

iPhone 4S staves off iPhone 5 as surrogate model steals best features

The iPhone 4S is, in more ways than one, a surrogate to the iPhone 5. The “real thing” wasn’t ready this year, either by design or by default – and whether Apple had originally been planning for the 5 to drop this year or not, the public was certainly expecting it. The “iPhone 5″ envisioned in the minds of the public generally consisted of a faster A5 processor and the new iOS 5 operating system, in whatever new body style each user might have cooked up in their own mind. As it turns out, the iPhone 4S has arrived fitting the general description of the iPhone 5 in terms of features, with the only letdown being that it retains the same old suspiciously familiar body style that’s been around since the summer of 2010. The initial backlash against the 4S, based primarily on that same-old body style and the fact that it didn’t have a “5″ in its name, was predictable. The swiftness with which the 4S backlash transformed into excitement and record-breaking sales in the millions may well have been predictable as well. After all, the iPhone 4S ultimately stole the thunder of the iPhone 5 by stealing its known feature set and adding some goodies in for good measure…

“We want an iPhone 5 on Sprint” was the rallying cry of those who had stuck with the smaller carrier even as AT&T and more recently Verizon offered the iPhone to their respective customer bases. The iPhone 5 didn’t arrive on Sprint this year, but the iPhone 4S did. Problem solved. “We want the iOS 5 software features shown off at WWDC but we want them to run on suitably fast iPhone 5 hardware,” others insisted. Instead they got their iOS 5 on faster hardware; it merely didn’t look new. “We want a better iPhone camera with faster shutter speed,” yet another segment demanded. They got what they wanted as well. It merely turns out that it took a minute for each group to figure out that the iPhone 4S offered most of what they had been hoping for out of their proposed iPhone 5. The fact that Siri got thrown in with the 4S for good measure is merely a bonus. As such the iPhone 4S is indeed merely a surrogate attempting to channel what the public had been expecting from the iPhone 5 this year – but it’s a successful one at that.

iPhone 5 release date bypasses iPhone 4S with LTE, NFC, A6 alpha soup

by Bill Palmer

The iPhone 5 release date brings a host of new features which bypass the current iPhone 4S offerings, and for once, the new headlining features could consist primarily of the kind of alphanumeric soup which Apple typically leaves to its competitors. The 4S is headlined by the fun and easy Siri digital voice assistant, while the iPhone 4 before it was led by the equally fun and easy FaceTime video chat. But the list of expected features piling up thus far for the iPhone 5 reads quite differently. From 4G LTE to the A6 to NFC, the proposed iPhone 5 roadmap reads like a bunch of code-named nonsense to the typical user who doesn’t follow tech buzzwords. That’s the kind Apple has long sought to avoid. For instance, while the iPhone 4S includes a faster A5 processor, Apple isn’t running ads regarding the merits of the new low-power microprocessing architecture. But with the iPhone 5 looking to be a unique combination of style and brawn, a campaign which Apple explains its alpha-soup features to the public might be just what the doctor ordered…

Thus far ads for 4G LTE networking, mostly run by carriers who have pushed further with their LTE marketing than they have with the building out of their LTE networks, have focused on dry speed tests. They convey the sense that LTE phones are faster, but they don’t show real world ways in which having a faster data network matters (unless you count Verizon’s short-lived campaign which inexplicably showed a user praising a speedier data network while waiting for the fire department to get him out of a burning building). Ads for NFC don’t even exist yet, perhaps partly because the feature isn’t yet ready for prime time, or perhaps because it doesn’t even yet have a real name. Most viewers would mistake “NFC” for a pro football ad, rather than understanding that it’s a digital wallet system which allows you to swipe your phone instead of swiping your credit card. If Apple adds these features to the iPhone 5 it’ll have some explaining to do, as no one else has yet explained to mainstream consumers what these features should mean to them. Just as Apple is doing now with its iPhone 4S ads in which it attempts to show real world examples in which Siri could come in handy, as well as how easy it is to use for users of any technical skill level…

Part of Apple’s strategy is that it takes obtuse features like LTE and NFC and gives them an implementation which is practical and easily manageable. The other part is that it explains the benefits of these features to the public in real world terms as opposed to the geeky, gimmicky ways in which its competitors are still obtusely marketing their products. The iPhone 5 release date may mark the point at which Apple, rather than brushing aside alphanumeric soup features as usual, acts as ambassador by delivering these seemingly geek-leaning features to the public in a way in which they’ll finally embrace it. Here’s more on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5.

iPhone 4S gets better: iOS 5.1 will improve Siri, Sprint data, more

by Bill Palmer

The iPhone 4S is selling at a breakneck pace and users are giving it mostly thumbs up across the board, but all products have their blemishes here and there. Siri is brilliant on the whole, but still has a few rough edges when it comes to understanding what the user is asking. iOS 5 is a major step forward for the iPhone interface, but it has a few minor pitfalls here and there. The iPhone 4S battery lasts longer than the iPhone 4 before it in most instances, but under certain conditions can drain away too quickly. And Sprint iPhone 4S users have found that their 3G data experience doesn’t measure up to that of their Verizon and AT&T iPhone 4S brethren. Fortunately, all of the above and more are about to get better. While Apple hasn’t yet stated a release timeframe, it’s inevitable that Apple will release iOS 5.1 which will deliver a whole host of smoothed rough edges…

As much advance testing as Apple must have done with Siri on the iPhone 4S before launching it, it’s not until the real world usage and feedback comes back to the company that it can get a feel for all the various usage scenarios it didn’t imagine happening. This feedback will allow the iOS 5.1 iteration of Siri to become smarter and more relatable. Actually it may not even take that long, as Siri interactions actually happen at Apple’s server farm, not on the iPhone 4S itself, meaning that Siri is likely getting smarter as we speak. But other 4S improvements will be more specific iOS 5.1. For instance, the oddball battery drainage issues are likely a software bug which Apple can pave over with new OS code once the problem has been identified. And while the slow data speeds for the iPhone 4S on Sprint are at least partially due to network overload (Sprint has never offered a smartphone this popular before), longtime Sprint users are aware that the company’s data network doesn’t suck this badly. That means Sprint’s network and the iPhone 4S simply need to learn how to talk to each other more smoothly, which is yet another issue which can be cleaned up in system software. iOS 5.1, then, to the rescue. Don’t bother asking Apple when it’ll arrive, as the company doesn’t speak about unreleased products in general. But expect it within the next month or two as a general rule. And for the more severe iOS 5 bugs, expect an iOS 5.0.1 bug fix release within a week or two at most. Here’s more on the iPhone 4S.

Chas Sandford interview: Wag More, Bark Less

by Dana Feldman

At one point or another it is a safe bet that most of us have enjoyed, even perhaps been caught singing along to, one of musician Chas Sandford’s tunes. An acclaimed singer-songwriter, producer, guitarist and engineer, there isn’t much that he hasn’t done in relation to the music industry. Add creator of timeless classics — that still to this very day resonate with music lovers globally — to that list and you have a man who has, after decades of dedication, earned much deserved recognition for his album “Wag More, Bark Less” from the powers-that-be at the Grammys.

Of the honor of being considered during this most crucial of times, the very first round of Grammy voting, Sandford says of it all, “Obviously I am thrilled!” His song “Let Love Back In This House” is up for both Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year and the album itself is up for the coveted Album Of The Year, Best Americana Album and Best Engineered Album. Sandford is up for Best New Artist.

A total of six categories is no small feat for the man who is definitely not new at this game. Famous artists such as Stevie Nicks (her classic ‘Talk To Me’ was written by Sandford), Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, John Waite (he is still known for Sandford’s ‘Missing You’), Roger Daltrey, Millie Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Alison Krauss, David Wilcox and Sammy Hagar have all covered and recorded his songs over the years.

He independently released his second album back on January 11th of this year. A very personal album to him, he told me at the time, “As we all know, the more real, the better.” He admitted at the time that there are a lot of raw nerve endings hanging out on this album, which he said is about being happier, rather than in conflict all the time. He wrote the songs over the past several years after his divorce and a follow up romance went awry.

It took a bit of time, over two decades for those who had been waiting, for Sandford to release his second album, a follow-up to his debut ‘Parallax View’ (Elektra Records/Asylum), and it is more than clear that the long wait was well worth it.

Born in Atlanta, Sandford presently resides in Franklin, TN. He wore many hats in the making of this album, which he produced, engineered and mixed in his Secret Sound Studio. Some of the world’s top recording artists have used this studio to create music magic. Described as a melodic rock & pop mix of electric and acoustic styles, the album is filled with songs written about the themes of life, love and loss – themes of which we all can relate.

His debut album included songs that were covered by John Waite, Sammy Hagar, Rick Springfield and Sheila B. Devotion. When three of the songs he was writing for a planned second album turned into hits, a #1 hit for Waite with ‘Missing You’ and Top 5 singles for both Stevie Nicks with ‘Talk to Me’ and Chicago’s ‘What Kind of Man Would I Be’, he suddenly found himself as one of the most in-demand producer/songwriters in the music business. Of this change of directions for him as an artist, Sandford has been quoted as saying, “I’ve always wanted to be an artist, but I was on a roll as a producer and writer, so I went with it.”

He has garnered an astounding twelve ASCAP “Most Performed Song” awards and a total of over more than 6,750,000 airplays alone for the hit classic ‘Missing You’, making it one of the most played songs of all time. He has also produced a wide range of artists, including Chicago, Stevie Nicks, Roger Daltrey, Rod Stewart, Berlin, Gene Loves Jezebel, House of Schock and Don Johnson (with a cast of guest musicians which included Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bonnie Raitt, Ron Wood and Dickey Betts).

On “Wag More, Bark Less,” he enlisted an all-star group of talented artists including bassist Davis Santos (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, John Fogerty, Billy Joel, Elton John, Phoebe Snow, James Taylor) and drummer Nick Buda (Taylor Swift, Jewel, Edwin McCain, Mindy Smith, Randy Houser), with cameos by Chicago’s Bill Champlin and James Matchack, Survivor’s Jim Peterik, recording artist/ slide guitarist Lee Roy Parnell, and singer-songwriter Nicole Witt on background vocals.

His career in music began when Sandford ran off to Los Angeles at the age of fifteen years old. As fate would have it, he met Ike Turner, dressed in a leopard skin bathrobe and shades, in an Inglewood alley in back of his own studio. The legendary musician invited him to a recording session with Ike & Tina and Delaney & Bonnie later that night, and Sandford has never looked back. He opened for The Eagles on the European leg of their Hotel California tour, then played in a band he put together with future A&R executive Tony Berg (they played themselves in Robert Altman’s ‘A Perfect Couple’ which included a live show at the Hollywood Bowl with the L.A. Philharmonic). Sandford went on to spend two memorable months on Broadway, and then he backed Bette Midler in the film ‘Divine Madness.’ Things continued to get better for Sandford when the late, great James Brown hand-picked him to perform with him at a charity show at the Arena, now named The James Brown Arena, in Augusta, GA.

His personal studio, Secret Sound, which has had incarnations in Los Angeles, Kauai, Nashville and now Franklin, TN, has become a go-to destination for a wide range of recording artists, including Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett, Madonna, Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman, Celine Dion, Joe Cocker, Aaron Neville, Def Leppard, KISS, Keith Urban, Amy Grant, Wynonna, Levon Helm, Trisha Yearwood, Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, Shania Twain and Tim McGraw, among many others.

I interviewed him back in January just before his new album was released and here is a bit of our conversation.

What does it feel like to hear other artists perform your songs?

I love hearing other artists perform my songs. I am always interested in their vocal interpretation and delivery. How believable and heartfelt the performance is, if they own it. Everyone hears phrasing and subtle timing nuances in their own way. I have discovered and am often told my feel is kind of unique. Singers sometimes spend a lot of time trying to wrap their approach and feel around what sounds very simple on first listen, but is very different when they try to sing it. If I am involved with, or close to the production, I usually try to get them to just try it their way, but often they want to take the time to emulate what I have done in a particular place or with a particular feel, phrasing or timing. I always like hearing the different production ideas and approaches and, of course, am flattered when they emulate the original version. I distinctly remember being on pins and needles waiting to hear the Trevor Horn production of Tina Turner singing ‘Missing You’. I had not heard anything and got the final mix hand delivered to me just as I was getting on a plane. I put the headphones on and heard the first note just as the wheels left the ground. I had goose bumps the size of Volkswagens! I will never forget that moment.

Do they ever change them in a way that you like more or less?

Of course, that would be only natural. As I mentioned, I loved Tina Turner’s version and Trevor Horn’s production of ‘Missing You’, even though it was quite different and had a slightly different arrangement. I have heard other versions that left particular parts out or just didn’t feel right to me personally, though they were quite well received. So ultimately I am always thrilled and appreciative when someone records one of my songs.

What is the feeling when you see those songs become huge hits and all time classics?

Well there is hardly a better feeling in the world! It is kind of like having children really. You want them to grow up, go out into the world and find their own way and be successful. It is very much like that. I honestly feel as a creator that you are just the conduit where these creations flow through and it is kind of your sacred duty to do your best to honor that and “raise them” to be successful, and hopefully touch others. That is all a part of the full circle of the creative process to me.

Do you think those songs needed to be performed by others to become a hit? For instance, ‘Talk To Me’ (one of my all time favorites) which was performed by Stevie Nicks?

In that particular instance, as in many others I think it is “The Record” which is kind of the perfect storm. It is the marriage of the right song, with the right vocal and the right production that all come together at that right, perfect moment in time. The perfect alignment of all those elements is what makes a memorable or classic record that you remember for years and years. There were so many of those that I grew up on and always remember. Whenever I hear those records, they completely take me back to the first moment I heard them, the place, the time, the weather, the smells, it all comes back to me, that embedded memory seems to exist on the cellular level and becomes so vibrant and vivid when it is reawakened. That is unique to music I believe. Different from a book, a film or any other medium I can think of. I have been blessed enough to have been involved in a handful of those and that is why I do what I do. I love that feeling and experience. I do believe there is “THE Classic” version of a record or song but I always want to hear the original version and appreciate other versions. The original usually has an angst or special element that is coupled with the moment of creation that is unique. There is something magical about that. ‘Talk To Me’ actually was my original demo which I produced and added Stevie to. We did cut another version, but ultimately it was that vibe of the original that won out and became the classic version that we all know, and got the Grammy nomination. I try to record a version of a song as close to the moment of creation as possible. That is why I have always had my own studio. There is an intoxication in that first moment, a newness as it comes from somewhere else, like the first moment of falling in love, the first kiss. I feel like often when you can capture that moment, it is never quite the same when you reproduce it at a later, sometimes much later, date. For instance, all the songs on ‘Wag More, Bark Less’ were done at my studio, Secret Sound, and were the original versions with at least some, if not most, of the elements done as the song was written or immediately thereafter.

Is there ever a regret that you didn’t perform ‘Missing You’ which became a huge hit for John Waite?

No, again that was a classic moment in time and record. And John’s vocal performance was so great. They had tried to cut that several times and it didn’t work for whatever reason. I brought back in the original demo, we re-listened and got back into the vibe of it, recreated the sounds and simplicity of that moment and the perfect storm came together when John delivered literally a career vocal. It was magic and that’s what it’s all about really. I still do that song live and may record it at some point, most likely as a live version. I love performing it and people seem to appreciate my version as well as the song itself. I have enjoyed all the versions I have heard of it, for some element or another, but that version will remain the classic.

Your new album, ‘Wag More, Bark Less,’ is filled with fantastic songs about heartache, longing and sorrow over painful memories of love lost. When writing songs about such personal experiences, do you ever draw the line and keep certain things off the record for the sake of privacy?

Well first, thank you. No, not really. I usually try to write as close to the heart and experience as possible and just let it flow out. I think the more truthful and exposed the raw nerve endings are the more powerful the song. And I naturally tend to frame things in a general way that would let people tap into the experience, the emotion or feeling of what I was going through and wouldn’t usually mention very specific elements such as times, places or names that might pull from, or distract from, the feeling or emotion. That is just my particular style and not so much a conscious effort. There are times when a song may be a conglomeration of events or persons that are blended together to express a single emotion, as well. That’s not to say when I’m co-writing I wouldn’t describe a particular experience and person to the co-writer who might be familiar with them. Co-writes usually start with people catching up, bitching or elated about life or circumstances and someone goes ooohh, and off you go. Of course, those who know me and my life might have an opinion as to whom I may have written something about. Although strangely enough sometimes they are completely wrong! Ha. And as you might imagine, most long past girlfriends tend to think the beautiful love songs are always written about them. So I just smile and have no comment.

When writing songs about love lost, does the process purge that pain and heal you from those experiences, or does it bring up the pain and force you to relive those experiences?

I would have to say both. Of course at first you really have to kind of relive it to bring up the real emotion. You have to re-experience it in a way to genuinely write about it meaningfully or in a way that will touch others I believe. I try to relive and relate the experience and keep the craftsmanship at bay as much as possible. I think that makes for a more powerful song. If needed, I might then use the craftsmanship to tidy up the rough bits and make it flow more concisely. But when it’s all over I always feel better, feel a sense of relief and accomplishment, kind of like having a real good cry. Eventually the pain subsides and you feel much better than you did before.

What advice can you give to other songwriters out there who would be honored to accomplish what you have?

I would have to repeat the things that always resonated in me, keep it real. Write and create from the heart, with all your heart. Write what you know. Learn your craft. Keep the bar high. Emulate the greats and you will learn much and your own style will eventually emerge. That’s what the greats did. They emulated the previous generations. Truly love what you do and don’t get caught up with all the naysayers and doom and gloom predictors. They have always been around and never got anywhere. Pay attention to, but don’t follow trends. They are usually over before you can get good at it. Be yourself. And again, LOVE what you do.

Was there ever anything else that you thought about doing as a career?

Truthfully, no. Other than a brief stint of wanting to be James Bond when I grew up, which in retrospect may have been slightly easier. I started so young I didn’t know any better. This truly has always been my dream and what I feel I was made to do. And feast or famine, I am living the dream.

Sandford has been quoted as saying that his best successes have always come when he is doing his own thing, and this latest album is proof of just that. Sandford says, “I am proud of this album and am extremely thankful for all of the talented people who helped me along the way to get it to this point.”

Song List for ‘Wag More, Bark Less’ (Produced, Engineered, and Mixed by Chas Sandford with Hanalei Music Group):

1. Let Love Back In This House
2. The Best Of Times
3. Someday Susan
4. I Believed
5. Broken
6. My Favorite Regret
7. I’ll Be There
8. Whenever I See Your Smile
9. Waiting For The Sun
10. Love Can Really Mess You Up
11. Because Of You
12. It’s Changing

Learn more at ChasSandford.com • SecretSound.co • iTunes • Twitter • Facebook

iPhone 5 release date: Tim Cook’s 4S sequel. iPad 3 is Steve Jobs coda

by Bill Palmer

Buzz has the iPhone 5 release date event in 2012 being a shrine to Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs, with ideas as far flung as a posthumous pre-taped introductory video visit from Jobs himself to usher in the “one more thing” iPhone 5 and its litany of presumed new features. But history and timing both say that even if such a thing were to happen, it would be for the iPad 3 introduction instead. Apple’s most recent event, the iPhone 4S and iOS 5 launch, was hosted by new Apple CEO Tim Cook with significant contributions from longtime Apple marketing honcho Phil Schiller. Nary a mention was made of Jobs, whom the world later learned was living out the last full day of his life even as his colleagues were unveiling the 4S and making nary a mention of him (most likely at his own insistence, as he would have seen it as a distraction). But enough time having passed by next year, with Tim Cook being viewed firmly as the Apple CEO by that time, why would the iPhone 5 event still not be Jobs-themed? For two reasons, one of which is the fact that the iPad was always Steve’s baby…

Actually, the more simple reason is one of the calendar: with the iPad 3 likely to see its release date around March 2012 and the iPhone 5 not likely to follow until the summer or fall, the iPad event comes first. If Steve were to make a posthumous product introduction (again, we’re not saying the idea sounds realistic, but rather merely addressing viability of the buzz we’re hearing), it would be at Apple’s next event – and that’ll be the iPad 3 event. But it runs deeper than that. When Apple introduced the first iPad, Jobs revealed that he’d been working on the iPad since before even the iPhone was on the table. He viewed the iPad tablet as the device of the future, the one which would replace Mac and PC computers in most homes; he admitted he only decided to shrink the iPad down into phone-size and go that route first because that’s the way the industry wind was blowing…

In fact, after his transplant, Jobs came back to Apple specifically to finish the iPad and get it out the door, which he did in the spring of 2010. In fact, even after taking a medical leave of absence, he still showed up on stage to introduce the iPad 2 this past spring. If Steve were going to do something as seemingly out of character as filming an introductory video before his death to be used at a future Apple event, it would be the iPad 3 introduction if anything.

It wouldn’t be the first time Jobs has surprised people at an Apple event. In the fall of 2009, not too long after his transplant, he was the first person on stage. That alone earned him an extended standing ovation from the press in attendance. If he were able to sneak in one last “one more thing” it would send the room – and the world – into a frenzy. But if such a thing were to happen, it would be at the iPad 3 event, not at the iPhone 5 release date. However, don’t look for it at all if you don’t want to be disappointed. While Jobs appeared to enjoy playing showman for Apple’s new products, he wanted the focus on the products themselves. Here’s more on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5.

Halloween Light Show Pairs Pumpkins with Thriller, LMFAO (video)

By: Daynah

Yesterday, I wrote about the amazing Halloween Light Show in my city (Riverside, CA). And to my amazement, it was on my local news! I guess the video went viral online and now everyone is excited to see it.

The night before, there were about 100 viewers sitting in front of the house, anxiously waiting for the show. Last night, there was well over 1000 people sitting in the street just to watch the show, including a news van, and police! The policemen were mainly there just to see the show too! They had to close down the entire street for half an hour or so, and the neighbors were unable to drive to their houses. The Halloween light show just exploded!

If you want to catch the show, it starts at 7:30pm every night (until Halloween or when the neighbors are not happy anymore) and ends promptly at 8pm. The show is 24 minutes altogether. For privacy reasons, I will not include the address in this post. But with a little bit of research and driving around, you’ll be able to find it.

Here are some photos I wanted to share with you:

Here’s the house on Channel 4 News:

The news van waits outside the home to interview the homeowner after the show.

Kim Baldonado from NBC interviewed the homeowner after the audience cleared the streets.

If you missed the videos, please catch them in our previous post, or you can watch last year’s show starring Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

For LMFAO video version, click here.

Next Page »