iOS devices are great for getting into music making, in fact you can make music without even knowing how to play an instrument just using your phone now, but they’ve also become increasingly great at recording different types of audio too.

If you’re trying to answer questions like: how do I record a podcast? How do I record meeting notes? How do I capture audio of my demo songs? You should try out some of the apps listed below.

Anyone who’s done audio recording in the past on a Mac or PC knows the apps can be a little convoluted so one of the requirements for being listed here is that the app could be figured out in the first 5 minutes of downloading and opening it.

Podcasts

Anchor: If you can make a phone call, you should be able to now record your own podcast. The beauty of this app is that you could record a podcast in public and it’d look like you’re on the phone.

Anchor keeps...

Back in 2011, Casey Hopkins unveiled his Elevation iPhone dock on Kickstarter to great enthusiasm. At the time it was the first campaign to raise more than $1 million.

Looking back, the original ElevationDock doesn’t seem so special, but in 2011 a quality iPhone dock was still hard to come by and thus lots of people happily gave over the money for this metal stand.

There have been revisions to the iPhone dock over the years, but none quite that have captured the usefulness of the original one — until now.

The ElevationDock 4 looks to be a near perfect iPhone dock which will be able to accommodate the iPhone years into the future as it changes shape and evolves. The new dock will also work for iPads. Check out all the benefits and features in the video.

While there’s a lot of new and noteworthy features coming in iOS 11, lets look at some of most essential ones, necessary for daily use which should help with things like freeing up space on your iPhone, doing more with the pictures you take, or just being more productive overall. iOS 11 will be able to help with all those things and more.

Free up space on your phone

In addition to some cool user-facing features, iOS 11 should bring some peace of mind by being more aware of available space and make efforts to minimize over usage.

• HEIF/HEVC: photos (and videos) will get a new type of format which will let them take up less space but keep the same quality. A photo now could take of 50% less space for the same resolution.
• Offload unused apps: if your phone detects you’re low on space and sees apps you haven’t used in a long time it can temporarily remove the apps to make room.
• Big...

Here are a few books from the first half of 2017 that might be worth your time and which cover a variety of topics.

American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind The Silk Road by Nick Bilton

About: This is the story of Ross Ulbricht who started the Silk Road—a website which allowed people to sell drugs on the dark web. It covers Ross’s story using a lot of facts from various sources to fill in the gaps and provide a gripping narrative.
Why it’s interesting: It’s a detective story at its heart, but deals with the dark web and cryptocurrency.

Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity by Derek Thompson

About: Hitmakers digs into how things have gotten popular, from the early days of published media to today’s instant viral pictures and videos using social networks.
Why it’s interest: If you don’t have an immediate answer for how a piece of content goes viral, in the...

Brand New surprised everyone with a new album on August 17th called Science Fiction. (Though, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the band just put it out whenever they felt like it, without advance notice.)

Instead of reviewing it, trying to argue it’s good or bad, let’s break it down a little differently and talk about its interesting characteristics.

1) Science Fiction isn’t too out there

Love it or hate it, Daisy was divisive for Brand New fans. That release in 2009 seemed, to me, like the band was moving more towards putting out music that scratched their itch for something new–for the sake of being different for themselves.

If Brand New put out another album two years after Daisy, who knows what it would have been, but I probably wouldn’t have cared for it. There’s a good chance it would have been wildly experimental.

Science Fiction has its quirks, like the interlaced spoken...

Brand New has a new album called Science Fiction.

Be sure to check out my 5 takeaways from the new album.

Here’s the back story on its intentional leak:

The album went up for vinyl pre-order on August 15th. Then, a CD with a single 1:01:28 long track burned on it was sent to those 500 people that pre-ordered the vinyl.

The album, as a single track began making the rounds today, August 17th, before the band put the release on its store for purchase.

What does it sounds like?

Well, it’s a pretty good mix of material the band has released up until this point. There’s some acoustic guitar, some moments of hard rock, but overall a lot of songs that sound like what you might assume Brand New’s 5th album would be.

Music reviews in 2017 are stupid.

When a new CD cost $15.99 at Tower Records and there was little way to figure out how much you were going to enjoy all the other songs beyond the radio single, writing a review of the new music made sense. Inform people about the product before they spend their money.

Fast forward, there’s almost zero need to inform people about a music album because of the internet. Spotify provides free access to new music. Even buying from iTunes or Google provides buyers a minute and 30-second samples of the songs for free. In which case, why does 500+ words need to be spilled on telling people whether the music is good or not? They can decide for themselves faster than it takes to read a review.

What about the cultural element a review provides in showcasing this new music? That is important, but it no longer needs to be a “review.” Reviews should be...

What makes a great opening album song? Is it a slow burn or is it a banger? I don’t think there’s any specific musical characteristic for an opening song which guarantees its success, rather, I think it’s one that perfectly sets the tone for the album, pulling you into the rest of the record—even if the rest of the songs suck.

Here’s some of my favorite track 1s (in no order) from the last ~10 years:

• Bon Iver - 22 (Over soon)
• D’Angelo and The Vanguard - “Ain’t That Easy”
• Wild Cub - “Shapeless”
• Ace Enders - “Reintroduction”
• Teen Daze - Cycle
• Tokyo Police Club - “Favourite Food” & “Argentina pt. I,II,III”
• Rhye - Open
• Khalid - “American Teen”

And possibly one of the best album openers of all time, Jimmy Eat World’s “Futures.”

In case you’re wondering what song Matt is referencing in the screenshot, it’s TV On The Radio’s “I Was A Lover.”

Discover Weekly, a feature of Spotify, in hindsight, has been a catalyst for automated playlists everywhere.

Apple tackled and recreated Spotify’s hit with its My New Mix Mix, but now it’s continuing to attempt to recreate this adoration Discover Weekly has garnered for computer curated playlists with an attack on another tried and true reason for music consumption: “Chill.”

This new dedicated playlist is rolling out to Apple Music subscribers under their “For You” section now.

My Chill Mix will add songs on a weekly basis, pulling cues from a user’s likes and listening history.

I dig it.

Part of the appeal of Tesla’s Model 3 is that it’s an attractive car, one that you’d expect to pay $35,000 for, regardless of its fuel consumption methods.

It’s got a sleek and sporty look. It has an eye-popping 15-inch screen as its center console and vehicle controls. Plus, it’s relatively fast.

OVERVIEW OF OWNING A TESLA MODEL 3

The problem with the Model 3 is that it’s possibly too desirable, teasing a price that’s mostly unrealistic. Here’s a breakdown of the cost realities you should expect from actually buying a Model 3 with 220 miles of range:

Base price does not include:

• Any color that isn’t black. ($1,000 for other color options)
• Premium upgrades - Heated seating, premium cabin materials, power adjustable seats, enhanced speakers and sound, tinted glass roof, auto dimming and power side mirrors, additional USB ports and phone docking options. (+$5,000 for package)
• ...