We last discussed music discovery site TheSixtyOne back in 2009, but it's changed pretty radically since then. Out with pages of spare, Facebook-like charts, in with gorgeous full-screen imagery peppered with photos and information about each track and the artists behind them. Anybody can submit music to the site, where community listens and ratings elevate the best to the top, and users can directly tip their favorite musicians with purchasable credits. Explore by mood, by Creative Commons tracks, indulge in some gamification with quests (in the top bar), or follow development on the official blog areasixtyone. Returning soon: user-created listening rooms for dedicated playlists or topics. And if you own an iPad, don't miss the free companion app Aweditorium, which sprawls the site's entire collection into an endless grid of playable audiovisual fun.
posted by Rhaomi on Oct 28, 2012 - 15 comments

Reading Rainbow is back (includes video interview with LeVar Burton, ~4.5 min.) - "rebooted as an app for tablet computers" (Android? yes, soon); reviews from Gizmodo & Engadget. Here's a recent convention Q&A with Burton where he announces the app (video, relevant part starts at 3:30). But if this announcement is simply making you nostalgic for the television show, all 155 episodes of Reading Rainbow are available here on YouTube (neatly sorted into playlists by season, or you can just start here for every single episode in order). (previously: LeVar Burton goes behind the scenes of Star Trek: The Next Generation in a Reading Rainbow episode - Reading Rainbow ends its 26-year run)
posted by flex on Jun 21, 2012 - 53 comments

New App Lets iPad Users Play With Real Live Pigs
posted by delmoi on Dec 21, 2011 - 77 comments

Jeff Bridges digs this app, ..man. What might be a whole new way of studying music in general. “What I like about the app,” says Jackson Browne, “is that it is very much like a book in that you can open it whenever you want, it will keep your place, and you can come back to it whenever you want. It kind of defeats the constraints of time and space, all the barriers of getting together with a teacher at a particular time.” Reviews are varied, and the lessons aren't cheap.
posted by thisisdrew on Aug 25, 2011 - 29 comments

Illustrator Kyle Lambert has used his iPad (with the Brushed app) to paint a series of stills from an imaginary Toy Story 3/ The Shining mashup.
posted by bonobothegreat on Jul 6, 2011 - 15 comments

Kraftwerk, after being silent since 2003, finally has a new release of original material. It's not exactly what we were expecting.
posted by smcdow on Mar 11, 2011 - 23 comments