Computers

Now those are fighting words, mister.

BERLIN (AP) — An auctioneer says one of Apple's first computers — a functioning 1976 model — has been sold for a record 516,000 euros ($668,000). German auction house Breker said Saturday an Asian client, who asked not to be named, bought the so-called Apple 1, which the tech company's founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built in a family garage. Breker claims it is one of only six known remaining functioning models in the world. Breker already sold one last year for 492,000 euros. It says the computer bears Wozniak's signature. An old business transaction letter from the late Jobs also was included. The Apple 1, which was sold for $666 in 1976, consisted of only the circuit board. A case, a keyboard and a screen had to be bought separately. Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »

One issue Yahoo will have now that it plans to build out Tumblr's advertising offerings is persuading advertisers to actually show up on Tumblr. We recently reported that Tumblr's ad products offer only extremely limited targeting abilities and that clients aren't yet asking about paid media on Tumblr. But Rob Leathern, CEO of Optimal, a social media marketing management company, wrote that brands have mostly not bothered to investigate even Tumblr's free offerings: Of the 10,600+ brands we examine on a daily basis (see optimal social.com/portfolios for more on these across 100 sectors), we see about 2,400 (just less than 25%) have a tumblr presence. However, 25% of these are mostly empty and many appear to be brands squatting on their own names and planning to get to it later when they have time, perhaps. About 588 of these brand pages have fewer than 10 items of lifetime activity. Some brands like Pepsi are quite active, though the activity levels ebb and flow quite a bit, but others are far less so. The mean number of total engagements per brand on tumblr is 224 but the median is just two. That's scary: Tumblr has 225 million unique visitors per month, but most companies don't have a presence there. Of those that do, engagement with other users is minimal: Just two per company. How likely is it that Tumblr can build a robust advertising business if brands don't even want it when it's free? Partly, it's about education. CEO David Karp only got serious about advertising a year ago. prior to that, he was actively disinterested in it. It's early days and most brands probably haven't added Tumblr to their "To Do" lists yet. A spokesperson for Tumblr tells us: We are one year into working with brand advertisers and have been delighted by the content brands have created on Tumblr- beautiful and diverse content that fits seamlessly with the best work on our network. We now have 10 out of 10 of the top Hollywood studios advertising on Tumblr along with eight out of 10 of the most valuable brands, and growing. Hayes Davis, CEO of Union Metrics, one of Tumblr's official content analytics companies, adds: Tumblr is still an emerging platform, but with that said, there is an incredible diversity in the types of brands taking advantage it. Most recently, we saw the movie studio behind Great Gatsby tap into the community to build momentum and interest around the movie's release. It saw huge levels of engagement, with an animated GIF featuring Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby receiving 161.5k notes. But it is not just entertainment - companies like General Electric, which might not come to mind when thinking about Tumblr, has a vibrant presence on the site and just in the last month has garnered 55.1k notes around its brand. ... Adidas saw an increase in conversations around its brand when a fan took a screen grab of one of its TV commercials and posted it on the Tumblr. In just two weeks the post saw 88K notes. This is part of the problem: GE, a handful of movie studios, and Adidas have famously taken to Tumblr like fish to water. But other than that, brands with serious money are conspicuous by their absence. What Tumblr must do is go down the path trodden by Facebook: Encourage brands to use Tumblr's free offerings — blogs and dashboards — and then, once they've gained some traction with their followers, start charging for promoted products that have extended reach beyond organic views.• There's A Huge Flaw In Yahoo's Monetization Plan For Tumblr • Tumblr's Ad Sales Pitch Deck Says Brands Will Now Be 'Front And Center' • Yes, Yahoo Will Put More Ads On Tumblr Please follow Advertising on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »

There are many reasons you may want to create your own audiobook: Perhaps you are the author of your own book and want a version of your book spoken in your own words. You can even create an audio only version of a favorite family story spoken by the person that lived through the event and pass it down from one generation to the next.  For me it was a chance to capture my children’s voices while reading their favorite stories and nursery rhymes (for personal use, not for reselling of course).  Now when they grow up, they can play them back to their own children. Whatever your motivation, creating your own audiobook isn’t that difficult. The following will walk you through the steps necessary to record the spoken word, capture it in digital audio, and convert it into the audiobook format. Choosing a sound location Finding an acoustically sound location to record your reading sessions is probably the single most important decision you will have to make in this process. Annoying ambient noise, room echoes and outdoor wind can make for a poor recording. Provided you do not have your own private recording studio, a large closet packed full of clothes will prove to be your best bet. The material in the clothes will absorb most of the unwanted background noises as you record. Record with Apogee MiC and an iPad Choosing a decent microphone that can produce the sound results you are looking for is the second most important decision you will make. Considering the fact that you will be retreating to your closet to do most of your recording sessions, choosing one that works well with your portable iOS devices is recommended. The Apogee MiC ($199.95, Accessory) works extremely well with both the iPad and the Mac, and has a really great sound to it.  Using any external microphone is preferred over the onboard mic that comes with the iPad. To record your voice Apogee recommends using Apple’s own GarageBand for iOS ($4.99, Universal). When you first create a project in GarageBand, be sure to select Audio Recording as your instrument. GarageBand can also be configured to record in the background, which comes in handy when you are reading a book from your iBooks library. Offload recordings to iTunes As things progress and you continue to read your book you will want to offload your recorded sessions as GarageBand project files organized for each individual chapter. Follow a naming convention that makes sense to you from the start so you don’t get your recorded sessions out of order. To offload your recording from GarageBand on the iPad, you tap on the recording you want to save and then choose to share the file to your iTunes Library on your Mac.  Once the process is complete, you then must tether your iPad to your Mac and open iTunes on your Mac.  Select your iPad and navigate to the Apps tab.  By selecting GarageBand in the File Sharing section, you should see the individual recordings you shared.  Simply save them to your music folder on your Mac. Edit recorded audio with GarageBand on a Mac When you are recording, you may have extended sessions of brilliance. But not every session will be so great. Cutting and splicing your recordings together can best be accomplished with GarageBand ($14.99, Mac) on your Mac.  In GarageBand you can cut and splice your recorded sessions to remove any unwanted audio.  So you don’t have to worry too much about being interrupted or flubbing a sentence or two when you are making your original recording.  You can always cut it out later. Share each chapter’s project as a song GarageBand is a great tool when it comes to editing multiple tracks, one song at a time, or in this case one chapter at a time. But it is not so great when it comes to organizing multiple songs into an album, or in this case multiple chapters into a book.  Each GarageBand project should be thought of as an individual song.  This means that each book will need to have multiple GarageBand projects, one for each chapter.

Entrepreneurs are now going well beyond building mobile-friendly versions of their websites to create apps that actually add to their bottom line — but doing it well is easier said than done. And a big part of why an app does or doesn’t take off is its usability, plain and simple. That’s why I recently asked a panel of 11 successful young entrepreneurs the following question: What are some app design best practices that entrepreneurs (and their dev teams) should not ignore? Below is their best advice — some of which can be hashed out early in the development phase, and a few tips on details to polish just before release: 1. Testing is key Testing in mobile apps is a bit of a new field, but it can be extremely impactful. Check out platforms like Artisan to power these tests. - Robert J. Moore, RJMetrics 2. Go Deep With Your Users Your users’ motivations matter more than your own. You need to understand the motivations of your users at a very deep level and place triggers in their path accordingly. If you live this concept, you have a solid foundation to do user experience well. If you don’t, then your conversion attempts and growth tactic experiments are likely just a crapshoot. - Danny Boice, Speek 3. Plan for the Offline Experience Some of the hottest app designs are lauded for their usability when the consumer is not actually online. Apps like WorkFlowy and Evernote work seamlessly even when the consumer is not connected to WiFi or another signal. This is a design practice that entrepreneurs and their development teams should think about as they plan their apps. Think ahead about how the app works in the offline mode. - Doreen Bloch, Poshly Inc. 4. Design With Ease of Use Even though almost half of all Americans now own smartphones, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re adept at using them. For that reason, the mobile app should be so simple that even a newbie mobile user can navigate it effectively. - Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance 5. Make It Stupid Simple Once you have a rough design ready, take the most non-technical friend or family member you have and watch them work the app. Is it intuitive? Are there big, easy-to-read buttons? Do you write in tech-speak? Take extensive notes, and pay attention to the places where they get stuck — new users will drop off quickly if you don’t make your design intuitive and easy-to-use. - Kelly Azevedo, She’s Got Systems 6. Tailor Your Design Android owners use their device differently than iPhone owners. Make sure your design principals match the operating system you are designing for. One size doesn’t fit all. - Adam Lieb, Duxter 7. Use Grids Using a grid in your design is helpful in that it keeps everything consistent as you move from page to page throughout your app. Grids are an important design concept that enable designers to maintain consistency, create visual connections and keep the design unified across the app. - Jesse Pujji, Ampush 8. Cover as Many Platforms as Possible Every day users access apps across multiple devices and platforms — desktop, Web, smartphone and tablet — often covering all platforms in one day. Entrepreneurs need to make sure their app is available, functional and attractive across as many devices and platforms as possible. - Clay Hebert, Spindows 9. Don’t Forget the Importance of Convenience With any mobile app or mobile website, the sole concern should be, “Am I making the end user’s life more convenient?” Human-centered design, a common process in the development of physical products, is often left out of the digital space. Don’t design from a cubicle. Design with your end user by seeking input at every step of the way and putting yourself in their shoes. - Matthew Manos, verynice 10. Emulate the Real World The key to designing a fantastic app that delivers a rich user experience is to create a design for

It's graduation time, and everyone is sharing their best advice for graduates. So we decided to ask our editorial and senior staff here at Business Insider, "What do you wish someone had told you at graduation?" Our colleagues had a lot to say, from how important it is to take care of your finances to not worrying about the first five years after graduation (you read that correctly: the first five years aren't all that important, according to SAI Senior Editor Jay Yarow). But advice is all relative. As Politics Reporter Walter Hickey says, "Ignore all the advice. Statistics insist."Alyson Shontell, Senior Reporter, SAI "Join a startup when you graduate run by seasoned, smart founders. In an ideal world, you'll pick one that will grow far bigger than it is when you join it. Either way, you will get tremendous experience and get to try your hand at a number of different roles, which can help you decide what you actually want to do with your life. And if the company grows, your career can grow with it." Steve Kovach, SAI Editor "My advice is to not settle. There's a good chance your first job will be something you hate. If that's the case, don't stop looking until you land somewhere you can see yourself working for several years." Alex Davies, Transportation Reporter "Leave the country for at least a year. Chances are you can find a job in Europe, South America, or Asia teaching English. You'll have a good time, and won't have to worry about a career for a year. When you come back you will seem more interesting to everyone, including potential employers. It's not like you'll be missing out on a booming economy, either, and none of the people in my graduating class who left the country for a year had more trouble than usual finding a job upon their return." See the rest of the story at Business Insider Please follow War Room on Twitter and Facebook.

If you have tried to download a trailer from the Quicktime website lately and wondered why it wasn't possible, Apple has discontinued the option. Without announcing the upcoming action, Apple began phasing out the downloading options as of May 22nd. So, while older trailers can still be downloaded from the site, Apple appears to be removing downloads from older trailers as newer trailers are added, slowly phasing out the availability of trailer downloads altogether. Comments

What does video tool Vine have in common with iconic rappers like the Beastie Boys and the Notorious BIG? More than you think. Like hip-hop, Vine is way to sample and collect culture — and it may have to run the same legal gambit that rappers did a decade ago. If you haven’t tried it, Vine is a tool to make looping, six-second video clips and post them on social media or a website. The company, which is owned by Twitter, launched in January and its videos have already become a part of the Tribeca Film Festival, the U.S. Senate and major marketing campaigns. A new video mash-up culture Vine exists because of new smartphone technology but it also replicates older forms of mashup culture. In particular, it mirrors what pioneering hip-hop artists started to do in the 1980s — taking sounds from myriad sources and sharing them through records like Paul’s Boutique and Ready to Die. Those hiphop records are aural tapestries that today stand as monuments to a new form of music and community. In the 2000s, however, copyright collectors came along and sued the rappers — resulting in a drawn-out debate over where to draw a line between culture and intellectual property theft. Hip-hop  largely prevailed but was damaged in the process. Now, a fight over a Vine video last month suggests history may repeat itself but this time, on the video front. The dispute involved the musician Prince using a law called the DMCA to force Vine to take down six-second concert clips posted by a fan. The fan didn’t oppose Prince’s takedown demand, meaning no has ruled on whether a six-second clip actually infringes copyright. But if a court did look at the Vine case, the decision process would lead right through hip-hop. Hip hop, copyright and six second samples In the 1990s, hip-hop artists called the sounds they use “samples.” Copyright owners, however, called it theft instead and sued the musicians. The conflicts led to important court decisions about music, but whose principles apply equally to Vine. As the Disco Project explained in a thoughtful analysis of the Prince case, the most relevant precedents involve the Notorious B.I.G. and the Beastie Boys. Both were involved in famous cases involving short samples. In the case of the Notorious B.I.G., a Tennessee court shut down store sales and radio plays of the late rapper’s “Ready to Die” album, and a jury awarded $4 million in damages — all over a three note horn riff. An appeals court, which had earlier written “get a license or do not sample,” upheld the verdict in 2007. As law professor Tim Wu explained at the time, the case and others like it were especially absurd because the copyright owner was not even a musician but a one-man corporation who had obtained the music rights under shady circumstances. Fortunately, in the case of the Beastie Boys, a California appeals court took a more rational approach to the issue and ruled that a six second (the same length as a Vine video!) flute sample on the song “Pass the Mic” didn’t infringe on copyright. The Supreme Court, in 2005, refused to reconsider the decision. The upshot, however, is that today we still don’t know for sure how long a sample can be before it infringes copyright. Twitter declined to comment on whether it believes Vine videos are covered by copyright law’s “fair use” exception, but a source familiar with the company told me that the decision to make the videos six seconds long was not a coincidence. Chilling our new visual culture The trouble with Prince’s request to take down the Vine videos is not so much the disappearance of the videos themselves — but instead that Vine and other forms of visual expression could meet the same fate as early hip-hop. When the Beastie Boys released their sample-stuffed 1989 masterpiece, Paul’s Boutique, the law was still in a gray area and no one was suing hi

Just in time for the start of what has been predicted as a very active hurricane season for the East Coast, the weather satellite positioned to give accurate tracking information and imaging has gone dark. A backup satellite has been activated, but does not have the view range of the failed satellite due to its particular geostationary orbit. The satellite fleets that meteorologists use to monitor severe weather and generate forecasts are aging. Replacements are scheduled to launch beginning in 2015, but between now and then there is growing concern "that we are going to end up with gaps in our coverage" Comments

Remember the days of Buzz? It was Google's kinda-sorta social network that made Google Reader into a Twitter-type platform for sharing cool stuff online. Not too many people cared to use it, and in October 2011 Google announced that it'd eventually discontinue the service. Finally and at long last, Google's determined that the time has arrived. Doors are closing on Buzz forever, and you'll receive a backup data file of all your posts saved to your Google Drive on or after July 17, 2013. Any active Buzz users out there better take note – your service is only guaranteed through July 17. For everyone else, you can go about continuing to live your lives. Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »