JonathanMann
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Voice behind antennagate song records a patent ditty
Remember that awesome antennagate song? You know, the one that was screened at the start of Apple's July 16th 2010 press conference all about the iPhone 4's antenna. Well..., Jonathon Mann, the guy who wrote and recorded it for his song-a-day project, has released another Apple-centric ditty. The Apple patent song is all about (would you have guessed?) Apple patents! If you're a regular reader of this site, or you frequent Patently Apple, then you'll recognize some of the clever and insightful drawings and diagrams describing ideas and technologies that haven't necessarily been made a reality, yet. If you're at MacWorld San Francisco this week, you might want to check out Mann and his band the Rock Cookie Bottoms performing at noon on the second floor of the Moscone exhibition center. Mann will also be giving a talk at 3 p.m. in room 3002. Check out the full video after the break. [Via 9 to 5 Mac]
TUAW's Daily App: Songatron
You may remember Jonathan Mann as "that guy who wrote that song Steve played at the Apple event," but of course Mr. Mann is a talented and extremely experienced musician and songwriter who's been churning out a song every single day over on his Songatron website. He's released an app with the same name, and of course, he's written a song and made a video, which you can hear and see above, about the app. The app (surprise) also makes songs -- the idea is that it works like Mad Libs, where you put a word in, and then each song in the app plays, inserting your word where it's meant to go. It's kind of kooky, but just like all of Mann's work, there's enough joy and fun put into it that it works -- even if your words don't line up exactly, hearing it all put together is bound to elicit a laugh or two. You can Facebook, Twitter or email songs that get made, and while there are ten songs to choose from right now, the app's description promises five new songs every month (some of those may end up being in-app purchases). Songatron is available as a universal app for US$1.99. And if you're a Mann fan, stay tuned -- we're told that Mr. Mann will be at Macworld, and we're planning to chat with him there. Should be fun.
The Pocket God Update Song, by Jonathan Mann
Pocket God is still rolling along. It was one of the first big original iPhone games out there, and more than any other title on the App Store, Bolt Creative has been able to both keep the app popular with constant updates and content additions, and even license the app elsewhere in the form of comics (and presumably other media, if they can swing it). Here's another example of that -- Bolt posted this video of Steve Jobs' favorite new singer songwriter Jonathan Mann (he of the extremely awkward iPhone Antenna song played at the Apple event a while back) singing a new tune about the game and its fans' constant requests for updates and new content. The song was commissioned to show off the new Dance Pack content, which lets your little islanders boogie down for 99 cents. It's cute. We've heard this from the Doodle Jump folks as well -- one of the best things that App Store developers can do for their apps is provide a string of content updates, as those both keep current fans interested, and do well to drive new purchases of the app. Of course, it sounds like Bolt is a little stressed out over all the requests, but the app is doing so well that they have to be happy with it.
