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Review: Griffin iTrip AUX is the 3-in-1 car audio, power, and remote control for Lightning devices

itripaux-1

Given the widespread adoption of Bluetooth wireless for in-car telephone calling and music streaming, it would be easy to write off Lightning connector-equipped car accessories as… decreasingly important. Any recent car with Bluetooth audio probably also has a USB port built in for Apple device charging and audio output, letting many people integrate iPhones, iPods, or iPads with cars using nothing more than a budget Lightning-to-USB cable.

But that’s not true for everyone. At CES in January, Griffin showed two new car accessories designed to help Apple users whose cars lack USB ports and Bluetooth. iTrip Bluetooth (aka iTrip Bluetooth Aux) hit stores a couple of months ago, turning any aux-only car stereo into a Bluetooth music receiver. This week, it was joined by iTrip AUX ($50, aka iTrip AUX with AutoPilot), which provides a one-connection charging, audio, and remote control solution for any Lightning-connector iPad, iPhone, or iPod. It has 2.4-Amp power output, capable of refueling any of these devices at peak speed, plus a line-out audio port, and an integrated three-button remote control. If Bluetooth sound quality isn’t good enough for you, or you value a single-connection charging and audio solution, this could be a viable car accessory…


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Review: Bose Soundlink III portable Bluetooth speaker — is bigger best?

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Bose-SoundlinkIII

I was a huge gushing fan of the Bose Soundlink Mini when I reviewed it this summer, calling it the “Best Sounding portable Bluetooth speaker ever”. For $199 you’d get bookshelf type of power and clarity with 6 hour battery in a portable package that you could throw in a coat pocket, bag, or purse.

This week, Bose started shipping a bigger version, the $299 Soundlink 3 which is officially the successor to the Soundlink 2 but it grabs a lot more technology, features and appearance from the very successful Mini.  The big bro ‘III’ boasts an impressive 14-hour battery, 6 Bluetooth device memory, and doubles the Mini with four drivers and two passive radiators. In the process it doubles in size to a 3-pound package that isn’t nearly as portable as the Mini at 5 inches high, 10 inches wide, and 2 inches deep.

But does that $100 and double size give you appreciably better sound?


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Apple updates Logic Pro & Logic Express to version 9.1.8

Apple just pushed out updates to Logic Pro 9 and Logic Express, bringing both up to version 9.1.8 and introducing a ton of fixes and performance enhancements. The update is also for the Mac App Store version of Logic Pro.

Release notes for both below:

About the Logic Pro 9.1.8 Update:

General

  • Additional content downloads now behave correctly when installing on OS X Lion and OS X Mountain Lion.
  • Resolves an issue in which the Save As command sometimes resulted in an alert dialog in Logic 9.1.7.

Audio

  • Fixes an issue that caused an Airplay dialog to repeatedly appear.
  • Relaunching the audio driver now reliably applies changes made to the buffer size.

Performance and Stability

  • Resolves performance issues when using plug-ins that provide frequent graphic feedback.
  • Resolves an issue that could cause an abnormally large monitoring delay after a computer wakes from sleep.

Plug-ins and Instruments

  • Fixes an issue with ES2 that could create distortion when a sidechain was used as the modulation source.
  • Tuner now responds consistently when used in a channel strip that also contains plug-ins which introduce latency.
  • The MIDI channel for a multi output software instrument is no longer changed when adding Aux outputs when there are regions on the track.

Compatibility

  • Logic now properly maintains Aux assignments for multi-output instances of Kontakt that are migrated from earlier versions to Kontakt 5.
  • Resolves an issue in which deleting tracks took longer than expected if Melodyne Editor was inserted on a track.

About the Logic Express 9.1.8 Update:

General

  • Resolves an issue in which the Save As command sometimes resulted in an alert dialog in Logic 9.1.7.

Audio

  • Fixes an issue that caused an Airplay dialog to repeatedly appear.
  • Relaunching the audio driver now reliably applies changes made to the buffer size.

Performance and Stability

  • Resolves performance issues when using plug-ins that provide frequent graphic feedback.
  • Resolves an issue that could cause an abnormally large monitoring delay after a computer wakes from sleep.

Plug-ins and Instruments

  • Fixes an issue with ES2 that could create distortion when a sidechain was used as the modulation source.
  • Tuner now responds consistently when used in a channel strip that also contains plug-ins which introduce latency.
  • The MIDI channel for a multi output software instrument is no longer changed when adding Aux outputs when there are regions on the track.

Compatibility

  • Logic now properly maintains Aux assignments for multi-output instances of Kontakt that are migrated from earlier versions to Kontakt 5.
  • Resolves an issue in which deleting tracks took longer than expected if Melodyne Editor was inserted on a track.