Finally got around to installing Mountain Lion on my Mac Pro last month and had with All My Files.

Finder > Preferences > Sidebar and remove the check on All My Files.

Here’s something to brighten your monday:

WebKit has made some serious news by finally implementing the srcset attribute. As Chair of the W3C’s Responsive Images Community Group, I’ve been alternately hoping for and dreading this moment for some time now. It turns out to be good news for all involved parties—the users browsing the Web, most of all. - 

Mat Marquis, Smashing Magazine

Responsive images have certainly been a bane for Front End Web Developers. Forcing non-high density display users to load high resolution assets is a bandwidth waste, not to mention slows down the user experience. 

As Jason Grigsby said, “IMG Tags Suck for Responsive Web Design”.  Prior to the srcset set tag, we front end developers have had to rely on javascript or serverside CDN solutions, often creating a lot of extra work in the process.

Now we have a simple browser based weapon.

Here’s what a sample code would look like

<img src="low-res-default.jpg" srcset="high-res.jpg 2x">

srcset will be ignored by unsupported browsers, and the high resolution asset will be automatically loaded if the browser uses greater than or equal 2x pixels per CSS pixel. 

You’re probably thinking, “What about non-webkit browsers?” Currently overwhelmingly mobile users, (people most likely to have high density displays) use webkit, whether they know it or not.

Those looking into responsive design for the first time or new to responsive design should read, A pixel is not a pixel is not a pixel.

There's been a recent development in the past few years, low profile midi controllers, the Korg Nanoseries, Korg MicroKey series the Akia LPK25, Akia MPK, M-Audio Axiom Air Mini 32 and the most full-featured, the Axiom Air 25, and not to mention the M-Audio Keystation Mini 32.

Pictured, Korg Nanokontrol2, Korg PadKontrol2 and the M-Audio Keystation Mini 32 and the Apple USB keyboard

Pictured: Korg PadKontrol2 and the Korg MicroKey 37 and the Apple USB keyboard

Features

The Keystation 32 doesn't bring much pizazz. It's a simple, it has a single “Volume” knob, best used as a mod or pitch bend, octave buttons, sustain button and Pitch Bend Buttons. It's minimalist, to say the least.

The Korg Keystation to anyone who's messed with midi in the past three decades is pretty familiar: Mod, pitch, and octaves on the left and keys on the right. It's very reminiscent of the first stand-alone controller I bought over a decade ago, a Midiman keyboard. As a bonus, its also a two-port USB hub, which is a very nice addition. The M-Audio does get a point for having a sustain button, as the Korg doesn't have a sustain button or ¼ inch input.

Winner: Korg (Barely)

Physical Mod and Pitch Bends are much more useful than a volume knob. The MicroKey 37's little brother, the MicroKey 25 has a sustain button, oddly enough. Why this was left off is beyond me.

Feel

I tested out a few of the competitors, mostly the KeyKontrol2 and the Akia LPK25 in store.The Korg KeyKontrol2 is nearly unusable, the button feels like plastic drum pads, and the Akia feel like a toy.

The M-Audio KeyStation mini 32keys being adequate sized and enough resistance to gauge velocity. Beyond that, I would not describe it as great or even good. Just acceptable. However, for the size, there's no comparison. It's the best you're going to get in roughly 15 inches of width.

While the Korg was stickered at the same price at my local guitar center, the M-Audio Keystation is a cheaper (and much smaller) keyboard. Bt default, the size difference makes the Korg the better unit. The Korg keys aren't semi-weighted like higher-end controllers (Axiom/Axiom Pro) but they offer a steady resistance that's familiar to lower end midi controllers and synths. The keys aren't full-sized but with a much deeper range of motion, it feels less micro and more like another keyboard. It won't win awards but its, dare I say good.

Winner: Korg

Size

The greatest liberation is not having to put away the keyboard when you're done. Even on my large desk, space is a premium as there's multiple monitors to share with it my ever-present keyboard and mouse.

I found despite owning an 88 key hammer action keyboard, my preferred piece of hardware was my Axiom 25 for years, despite being an inferior keyboard, simply due to its size. However, it's still massive compared to these two keyboards.

The Keystation 32, while wider than the Korg NanoSeries, is still small enough for a backpack. Where portability and space is concerned, the M-Audio wins hands down.

Winner: M-Audio

Final Thoughts

Its best to go to a local dealer to see its right for you. Picky Keyboardists will find the M-Audio lacking and purists will find both woefully inadequate to the weighted hammer action keyboards on the market.

Both keyboards are plug and play. They bothworked perfectly fine with both Cubase 6 and Logic X. I'm retiring the Axiom 25, and I'm going to keep the Korg. The Microkey 37 has some baby fat that could be reduced but 3 full octaves is liberating after years of 25 keying.

The M-Audio Keystation sells routinely for $50 at sweetwater whereas the Korg MicroKey is $80. The Keystation is an ideal mate for the traveling musician or iPad musician. It's inexpensive enough to make it an addition to anyone's midi instrument collection.

The Korg is built to be a daily workhorse. True pitch bend and mod-wheels are tough to beat. The worst mistake is not including some way to either connect a sustain pedal or a button. I had to run a sustain pedal to my Korg padKontrol, and assign it to Midi CC 64 forsustainpedaling.

After being irked by the lack of proper instructions (the manual isn’t the most helpful and contains a few errors for Cubase), I decided to write this guide.

This tutorial should be largely the same for Cubase 4-7on OS X or Windows although you may notice minor disparities.

Step 1

Download the drivers here (click on Support and downloads) and install them.

Step 2

Boot the NanoKontrol in Surface mode.

Hold down the Set button under the marker section and the fast forward and rewind buttons, and connect the USB cable.

Step 3

Under the Devices Menu, select Device Setup

Then click the + symbol and Add a Mackie Control

Step 4

Select the Mackie Control in the Device Setup window and set the Inputs and Outputs to the Padkontrol

And do the same for Transport controls

If done properly the transport buttons should reflect your current play status (mostly likely the stop button as pictured)

Enjoy

After being irked by the lack of proper instructions (the manual isn’t the most helpful and contains a few errors for Cubase), I decided to write this guide.

This tutorial should be largely the same for Cubase 4-7on OS X or Windows although you may notice minor disparities.

Step 1

Download the drivers here (click on Support and downloads) and install them.

Step 2

Boot the NanoKontrol in Surface mode.

Hold down the Set button under the marker section and the fast forward and rewind buttons, and connect the USB cable.

Step 3

Under the Devices Menu, select Device Setup

Then click the + symbol and Add a Mackie Control

Step 4

Select the Mackie Control in the Device Setup window and set the Inputs and Outputs to the Padkontrol

And do the same for Transport controls

If done properly the transport buttons should reflect your current play status (mostly likely the stop button as pictured)

Enjoy

After 6 months of data collection, we chanced on an unexpected relationship. Aggregating daily battery temperature readings to city level revealed a strong correlation with historic outdoor air temperature. With a mathematical transformation, the average battery temperature across a group of phones gives the outdoor air temperature. - OpenSignal, How phone batteries measure the weather

Pretty impressive, all all the graphs are interactive. The find isn’t mind blowning, its known that batteries do discharge energy more quickly in cold weather.

Image of my APC-40 before going on Craigslist

Like a good many people, I’m on iTunes. Well not me per-say, but my buddy Tyree Harris.  Together we produced two albums, Realmatic and Financial Aid The Trials and Tribulations of the 21st Century College Student. It took a lot of time and energy but we did it. Tyree even opened for RDJ2 and has some fantastic photos to show for it. I do not.

Performing Hip Hop live is a craft like any other music. I make instrumentals, I never thought I’d be on stage, at least not as a DJ. When we walked on stage in front of 4000+ people, I plugged in my MacBook, and hit my spacebar and walked off. Not cool.

For the next 2 years I started experimenting with live Hip Hop. I’ve seen a lot of hip hop acts live, just to name a few: Common, Talib Kweli, Little Brother, The Roots, Nas, Atmosphere, Cunninglynguists, Macklemore (back when he was opening for Blue Scholars), and many many more. I’ve seen some great sets and a lot of bad ones. 

Hip hop DJing brings a nice element of “liveness” but its not exactly a show stopper. Most of the time you’re just cueing tracks and fading in but it gives you some flexibility and the ability to manipulate the performance, even if fractionally. Its much more exciting than a MacBook with iTunes.

That said, the best live acts usually incorporate more. The Roots rock a full on Band. Macklemore came on stage with a Violinist, Atmosphere had a keyboard, bassist, guitarist, vocalist and of course DJ. Tyree and I didn’t have that luxery, we were just a two man show.

When I saw Kidz in the Hall, Double O put in work:  vocoder, rapping, turn tables, drum pads… you name it and he was on it. Budo (DJing for Grieves), played the guitar and trumpet in addition to his DJ duties. Both were the classic two man show.

I decided I liked what I saw and what I heard, problem is I make instrumentals. I fumble around on a keyboard and play (With some skill) the drum pads for sample triggering. 

Ableton Live

Ableton has wowed me for years, its fast and easy to use. Its not part of my work flow but really spiffy. I decided it was time to try my hand at Ableton for live shows.

I chopped up several songs into loops and added additional loops for breaks and remixes. It was very cool and very awesome. I was performing (at least in my mind) live. My friends who saw it were impressed, although it always started with a conversation explaining what I had done which should have been the red flag.

On a whim purchase, I scored a set of Numark NS7s, which I had pined over for about two years. Suddenly I had a dilemma: Serato or Ableton.

I transitioned my set to have two pieces, the classic hip hop combo: DJ + MC and a post show Ableton performance.

Night of the concert went well and Tyree and I performed, it was our first set and the show went exceptionally well even if the turn out was a little thin. 

Post show I fired up Ableton. I realized quickly no one really cared. Why should they? There’s no context for triggering loops, or FX. What was I doing to manipulate the sound? Did that nob twist actually tweak the sound or was it part of the track?

I quickly decided to break down the set after 15 minutes and let the party commence. I wasn’t miffed or upset but I got far more compliments about the music I played BEFORE the show than the music after.

Ableton Live isn’t inferior, nor is it wrong but it isn’t the right software to make the impression. Instruments have immediate results. A guitar chord is heard as the strum happens, a horn blares when it is blown, a cymbal crashes as its hit, even a turn table scratches when the record slips. Everyone thing has a direct result.

Twisting a knob is a lot more innocuous. Pressing a glowing button is the same. Triggering loops can be impressive with the right audience but there has to be a dialog or understanding before. The “risk” of error isn’t communicated, a loop could easily be triggered at the wrong time, creating dissonance but what good is the risk if it can’t be interpreted? You could make a full 16 bar loop or four 4-bar loops, would the audience even know?

Even if someone has never seen an MPC, tapping the pads is pretty easy to understand. Sadly, tapping an Ableton surface doesn’t have an analog that’s easily decipherable. Even watching Ableton performances, I’m not always exactly sure which elements are user controlled.

What finally killed Ableton for me was the lack of support for Serato Itch or DJ and that Serato DJ added in Midi support for external controllers. I can trigger sounds with my drum pad AND man the turn tables. Audiences dig it, much more than flashing LED lights. Why? Because the one to one results are easily seen and heard. 

Absolutely gorgeous and non-obtrusive. The graphic above isn’t indicative of the actual progress bar :)

This screencap doesn’t do it justice. Go here to see it for yourself.

Note the shirt icon: How many game splash screens do you know of that have a direct link to an online store? Devs. start taking notes…

Paid vs Zombies

From a technical polish standpoint, I’m marveled and intrigued. As gamer, I’m enjoying myself but I’m not thrilled with the freemium aspects of the game.

Plants Vs Zombies 2 is the most complex freemium game that I’ve toyed with to date, and warrants a study in obfuscation as the opportunity to pay is rarely more than a screen away. Even during gameplay, players can spend real world dollars for in game currency.

To unlock in game functionality, prepare to plunk down money

In the words of Ron Burgundy, “Well, that escalated quickly”. For $19.94, you can unlock all the tower, excuse me, plant types in Plants vs Zombies 2. If that were it, I wouldn’t have much to write about, but I’m touching the tip of the iceberg…

The Store isn’t the only place to buy things…

First thing to understand is the store is not the only place to spend real world cash for in game content, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Players can purchase from the store screen:

• Coins
• Plants,
• Upgrades
• Bundles (Which are combinations of the previous three items).

Bundles are combos of coin and in-game items

Virtual Currency is nothing new to gaming, and in this aspect Plants vs Zombies 2 doesn’t break the model.

Plants and Upgrades are fairly straight forward, if you buy a plant, you can use that plant type during gameplay and the same principal applies to upgrades.

Impulse Agency

Coins use what a strategy that I’d like to call impulse agency. Coins probably are one of the least enticing purchases from the store but easily the most nefarious as they also can be purchased during gameplay. Purchasing coins ahead of time isn’t something that most people would care to do. When they arrive at a tense moment of gaming, they suddenly have more value, hence a higher chance impulse purchase. This phenomena is impulse agency, a situation that increases the likelihood of an impulse buy.

Coins are earned by completing levels and during gameplay as randomly and infrequently Zombies drop coins. In the first Plants vs Zombies, coins allowed you to purchase in-game content but have been relegated to purchasing plant food and in game super moves that allow the player to quickly rid the screen of zombies. Each instance is a single use item that functions as a temporary “Super charge”, either for the player or for one’s plants during gameplay.  Also, like coins, Plant Food is earned during gameplay, but plant food doesn’t carry over between levels, making it completely fleeting. If a player buys  two plant foods, and proceeds to not use them, the player will not be redeemed for not using plant food, nor will the player be able to stockpile them. 

 At 1000 coins a pop, $2.99 would only allow a player to get 5 additional plant foods and roughly the same super moves, where as $9.99 lets a player purchase 20 additional plant foods. 

The impulse agency occurs when the player is in the heat of battle. The player, in order to defeat the zombie horde, needs an extra “oomph”. If the player hasn’t saved up many coins from playing the game, the player can at anytime purchase more coins. The impulse buy has been greatly increased in this situation. That said, I will give the developers some credit, most levels can be beaten without using any coins without too much difficulty, but the temptation always looms to use the coins, and coins can be earned.

To illustrate my point, the #1 and #2 purchased items in Plants vs Zombies are 5000 coins for $2.99 and 20000 coins for $9.99. These are repeatable purchases with infinite potential, where as the #3 purchased item, the Snow Pea plant, can only be purchased once.

Thinking Outside the Store

The coins aren’t the only item that exists outside the store button. From the game, there are other purchases that arise.  After completing levels, players are sometimes presented with in-game adverts for in-game content.

The adverts appear as full screen banner ads, generally asking the player to “Rate Us” on the App Store or “Like us on FaceBook”. 

Plants vs Zombies 2 isn’t the first iOS title to beg for reviews and likes, but it has more flair than most games do. Whether this level of intrusion  is more conducive to getting positive reviews and likes, only EA knows.

The banner adverts do more than just advertise FaceBook and App Store Reviews. Occasionally these banners advertise one-time “deals” that require an impulse buy, “Get the Jalapeño 33% for $1.99”.

Sale banners entice the players to act now

Plants vs Zombie 2 uses a dual system as a methodology to paceplayers progression, keys and stars. Keys are earned randomly and infrequently by killing zombies and used to unlock portions of a map. Stars are collected via completing levels and challenges, and used to unlock new maps. 

For the impatient there’s even ways to skip earning stars and keys, effectively by-passing the game’s forced grinding.

Gamers can skip ahead levels buy using BUY NOW.

Probably the first company to massage the Freemium model effectively was NimbleBits, makers of Pocket Frogs, Tiny Tower and Nimble Quest, each game using a time delay for in-game content that could be sped up by in-game currency, which the user could generate in the game or pay real world money for.

Like previous iOS Plants vs Zombies 2 follows variant of this model, most of the content isn’t blocked by a paywall or time delay, instead simply requires the player to perform in-game feats to progress. This grinding means hours of gameplay. Plants vs Zombies 2 isn’t the first either to use this model, but it’s refined it to an art. As of writing this, Plants vs Zombies is the top free app and #17 top grossing app. It’ll be interesting to see if it can compete with SuperCell, the current reigning champs of Freemium, with titles like Clash of the Clans and Hay Day. EA already has had practice with The Simpsons: Tapped Out which as of writing this, managed to rank #9 in top grossing apps, and The Sims: Freeplay which dates back to 2011, and still ranks in the top 100 top grossing apps.

Plants vs Zombies 2 also reminds you that you can always skip ahead, and even requires you to (sneakily) to click the icon to warp to a new map once even though you will not be able to purchase it without paying money at that time. Its done so smoothly, that most players won’t even pick up on it, as the in-game characters ask you to visit the new “gate” that’s opened.

 EA “reminds” customers that content can be purchased, as when this particular advert is triggered, the player will not have enough star points to unlock the next level. 

Outside The Store: The Real World

Lastly there’s the Plants vs Zombies 2 has one last way it can monetize  players, a merchandise store. The merchandise store  is exactly what it sounds like: a place where real world physical goods can be bought.

Offering plush toys has become a new norm with games like Portal, Angry Birds, and Whale Trail.

Monetizing real world items means building a property that players feel connected enough to want to extend to their their actual lives. Angry Birds has successfully transformed itself from a game to brand. Plants vs Zombies already feels like the player is being nickel and dimed at every turn, I’m interested if EA is missing an opportunity to hide behind PopCap and transfer the game to a brand.

The Freemium balancing act

There’s a fine line to be walked in the new Freemium world, where In-App Purchases (IAP) are the new world order.

Its a tricky balance: too much for free and you’ll never see a cent, too much for pay and you’ll drive away most of the market. Much can be learned in the study of Plants vs Zombies 2, “rate us” banners are far from news in the iOS world,

In the race to the bottom, $.99 the entrance fee is too much and the consumer now expects access for free. As developers we’re partially to blame, setting the bar too low.

Plants vs Zombies is the most heavily monetized gaming experience I can name to date, on any platform. Most cash generators like Clash of the Clans only have one or two purchasable unit, like Gems or with Hay Day, Diamonds and Coins. Plants vs Zombies is the multi-headed hydra.

My personal preference if I must go freemium is a pay-once model, like FiftyThree studios and their absolutely gorgeous app, Paper. $6.99 unlocks all the brushes and $1.99 for the mixer. The entire app is unlocked for a very reasonable $9.98.  My satisfaction with the purchase remains high, a year later whereas I regret breaking down and spending money on Knights of Pen & Paper for in-game currency.

The more I’m exposed to Freemium’s insidious tactics, the more I resentment I feel for my brethren. John Moltz offers a differing opinion…

I am currently making my way slowly and carefully through my first freemium game: Plants vs. Zombies 2. I’m not opposed to spending maybe $10 on it. In a world where desktop games cost up to $60 and console games maybe $40, it seems like a good mobile game should be at least worth that much. So far I’ve spent nothing.

If you’re not the addictive type, freemium games can be played without getting screwed. Just like with gambling, though, decide how much you want to lose and leave the rest of your money at home.

- John Moltz, A very mild defense of in-app purchases

TL;DR

Plants vs Zombies 2 lets players purchase in-game content in a variety of ways, using an effective mix of unlockables, skips, in-game currency, as well as real-world items from its online store.

Plants vs Zombies 2 also uses banner advertisements to advertise its own content with flash sales, and allows players to purchase items not sold directly in the store, such as by-passing requirements to progress in the game. 

While none of these strategies are original to only Plants vs Zombies 2, its mix of strategies surely one of the most complex and multi-layered.  Plants vs Zombies 2 can easily be played without spending a cent but attempts to entice players to go the extra mile. 

App Developers looking at freemium should study this game closely.

macdailynews:

“Apple has begun showing the teaser video for the upcoming Mac Pro in movie theaters across the nation. First shown at WWDC during the initial debut of the Mac Pro, the video shows the sleek black curves of the product from multiple angles,” Juli Clover…

View Post

A rather unusual move. The Mac Pro price wise has always existed several ticks outside of the standard deviation for the average user. The Mac Pro has become a PR campaign for Apple and dare I say, a flagship. Its a drastic reversal from the increasingly modular and portable computing experience.

Even I, the ardent desktop user, recognize that I’m in a very small minority of power user. I’m not sure if Apple is trying to shout loudly, “can’t innovate my ass” or “we’re still the choice of pros”. It’ll be interesting to see reactions from laypersons…

Here’s a tip that I appreciated…

shaneo:

System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Application Shortcuts

+

Finder

Library

Command+Shit+L

Do that now.

— Enjoy

Above: Keyboard Preferences after configuration

This tip is for my power users. If memory serves me right, OS X used to have a key command to the Library folder. The average user probably won’t have much use but anyone installing fonts, looking over installer logs or installing audio plugins regularly will want this. 

As I previously mentioned, the user library in OS X 10.7-10.8 is hidden by default.

By default Lion and Mountain Lion hide the user Library folder, in all previous versions of OS X, this was accessible by the user.  Punch in the following terminal command to unhide it. Its also not a bad idea to leave it unhidden as you may need access to it in the future when cleaning out OS X.

chflags nohidden ~/Library/

I originally posted this review on Amazon.com, but I’ve chosen to repost it as its lost in fray.  

The legend of Monoprice

Monoprice is a white label brand, or least wants us desperately to believe that it is. In reality, the Monoprice machine works on economies of scale, sourcing cheap Asian electronics and creating products from them, which is what many major electronics firms do. Some of said products use the same components found in more reputable brands. This strategy has worked well in the cable market and soon ventured into microphones, monitors, and headphones. 

Monoprice has a small legion of loyal fans, who all feel empowered by their prowess as consumers, usually professing Monoprice’s much cheaper product is better than <insert well known brand>. In the case of XLR cabling, this wasn’t too far from the truth. I bought an XLR cable after my cheap Guitar Center cable started to pick up errant radio signals due to improper shielding. For the price I paid, which was about roughly the same as Guitar Center, I got a heavier duty cable. The cognizant paradox is had I ponied the cash up the for a reputable cable to begin with, I would have never had to chance on Monoprice after failing at my first gamble buying a cheap mic cable and spent the same amount of money in the end. Not all of Monoprice’s products are winners, I learned this on my second purchase of 1/8 inch cables for my car, which broke much faster than the Fred Meyer no-brand cables that died after years.

Monoprice is the counter-brand, brand of electronics. It’s counter-marketing marketing scheme, runs the gambit of selling  less expensive copies/rip offs of products already on the market. There’s a self-effacing nature to the brand that desires to unbrand its products with uncreative names, spartan information, plain packaging. However, this nihilism is only skin deep, as Monoprice really does care about itself as brand and warmly embraces positive feedback by touting proudly on its own website customer reviews and seems to gleefully encourage its comparisons to name-brand despite itself being a name-brand by simply making this comparison. I could go on to pontificate about the greater ironies of our consumeristic culture but what you’re undoubtedly here for is a review.

Quick Forward

 I’m a headphone junkie. I’ve owned a lot of headphones in my life, Beyerdyanmic, Sennheiser, Grado, Sony, Klipsch, Etymotic, Beats, Jay’s, Numark, Apple, JVC, earbuds and cans alike. For the sake of this review I’ll list my current roster: Beyerdynamic DT-990s (preferred cans), Klipsch X10s (my office earbuds), Klipsch S4, Sony PS3 Wireless (for gaming) my old Beats Tour (I bought when they first arrived not realizing the gimmicky nature), and occasionally the Numark RED WAVE DJs for my Numark NS7s. Basically, I’ve owned a lot of headphones. 

The Monoprice 8323s spiked my interest, at $20ish, they’re a bit hard to resist. Reviews exclaim how wonderful they are with users professing them sounding better (insert brand) at fraction of the price. Looking to replace my absolutely disappointing Numark Red WAVEs, I decided to take a bite.

 If they were simply better than my worst set of headphones, then it’d be a victory. 

Sound:

Are they as good as professed? Nope.

I’m not trying to rain the parade but quite frankly they aren’t as good as the classic Sony V6s, which are two things: arguably of the best closed ear headphones made for under $80 and clearly what Monoprice was styling the headphones after. 

They simply lack the articulation. The highs are slightly shrill, and upper mids seem somewhat absent. The bass is strong, slightly boomy, lower mids seem to drown out the upper mids. The stereo articulation present but slightly diminished by the mids. 

Sonically, they’ll feel a bit lost.  They remind somewhat of the Beats soundscape of punchy and absent sound. Perhaps I’m spoiled but I wasn’t enthralled by what I was hearing but I wasn’t completely offended. 

It seems silly to compare these to headphones costing 3x as much right? I’d say yes except a lot of reviews are. What they sound like is a budget pair of headphones.

Design:

The actual physical design of the headphones actually better than average. They may not be the sturdiest headphones made but they feature a separated cable (Even both my pairs of Beyerdynamic DT-990s lack this, and my Grados did as well). The top of the headband features mild padding, DT-990s these are not but they’re more comfy than the average pair of cans. While they lack the full rotation of the cups like my Numark RED Waves, I’ve never found much value in the the ability to fully rotate the speakers when DJing or otherwise. They fold nicely for storage as well. They’re not as sturdy as the more expensive Numark Red Waves, but you could buy 2-3x of these headphones (depending on where you buy them) for the price of one pair of Numark Red WAVES.

Monoprice gets kudos for including two 1/8 inch cables, a short lightweight cable ideal for portable music, and heavier duty, longer cable, suited for home/gaming, and they included a ¼ inch adapter, which I’m always happy to have more of.

Comfort:

This can be summed up as good but not great. They’re more comfortable than the Numark RED Waves, Grado SR-80s, and maybe Sony V6s by just a hair but its hard for them to top larger cans that go over-the-ear. Headphone and earbud ergonomics  in the past ten years have really improved, so while they deserve kudos, even at $20, its not surprising.

Final Thoughts:

I’m not terribly impressed by these headphones. If I had to guess a price, I’d of hazarded about $15-$40 range.

 They’re much much much better than my $50 Numark RED WAVES, which is a pretty low bar. However, shouldn’t be considered a marker of what $50 headphones are like. My other $50 headphones I own, the Klipsch S4s (earbuds) are superior to  the Numark and Monoprice headphones.   Apple’s redesigned earbuds that have been shipping since the iPhone 5 cost $30 stand alone. When compared to the Monoprice, there’s a world of difference between the two: The Apple earbuds sound considerably better. Usually, large cans have an inherent soundstage advantage simply due to the raw physics of the larger transducers, so it’s telling these get trounced by the slightly more expensive Apple earbuds.

The build quality was a little better than expected, and the extra cabling was nice. I’d really be interested to see what Monoprice could serve up if they decided to release a $50 pair of cans. My gut tells me its space Monoprice isn’t ready to enter… yet. They’re better than my current DJ headphones, but not by a wide margin. If you’re looking to pay no more than $20, there are some Koss headphones that are in the same ballpark for performance.

These are not the steal that legions of Monoprice fans profess, however they are a decent pair of headphones at a low price point. I don’t regret buying them but these aren’t my primary or even secondary headphones. 

Strangely, the best analogy I could think of is In-and-Out Burger, a chain that many people obsess over and revel in its mediocrity. The two times in my life I had it, I wasn’t offended but I failed to understand what was the big deal, even at the price point. As someone who doesn’t eat fast food, I’d of rather paid the few extra dollars and gotten a better burger and better experience. This sums up my feelings towards Monoprice.

Remember:

You get what you pay for.

Shannon entropy is based on the average probability that a given string of bits will occur in a particular type of digital file. In a general-purpose communications system, that’s the right type of entropy to use, because the characteristics of the data traffic will quickly converge to the statistical averages. Although Shannon’s seminal 1948 paper dealt with cryptography, it was primarily concerned with communication, and it used the same measure of entropy in both discussions.

But in cryptography, the real concern isn’t with the average case but with the worst case. A codebreaker needs only one reliable correlation between the encrypted and unencrypted versions of a file in order to begin to deduce further correlations. In the years since Shannon’s paper, information theorists have developed other notions of entropy, some of which give greater weight to improbable outcomes. Those, it turns out, offer a more accurate picture of the problem of codebreaking.

When Médard, Duffy and their students used these alternate measures of entropy, they found that slight deviations from perfect uniformity in source files, which seemed trivial in the light of Shannon entropy, suddenly loomed much larger. The upshot is that a computer turned loose to simply guess correlations between the encrypted and unencrypted versions of a file would make headway much faster than previously expected.

Interesting, hardly a cryptographer myself but encryption is hardly moot, just a little easier to break than previously thought.

JQuery Knobs: A clever and pretty, and they work well on a touch screen…

Rather than turning its next Mac Pro into a big dual-socket affair, Apple is capitalizing on the fact that Ivy Bridge-EP will ship in 12-core configurations, and it’s consolidating the platform into a 9.9-inch-tall cylinder with up to one Xeon E5-2697 V2 CPU. Regardless of whether you love or hate the “wastebasket” design, the system’s specs are very impressive for the volume of space it occupies. -  tomshardware.com

After analyzing the new Xeon’s, Tom’s Hardware’s immediate speculation is the new Mac Pros. I imagine that the new Mac Pro will be offered in several core configs, it also makes sense that Apple would go for a single socket design for space/heat. 

I’m willing to bet we see multiple configurations divided mostly by 6, 8, 12 core CPUs.