ringtones
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Google Assistant can create alarms based on weather and time of day
An update on its way to Lenovo Smart Clock will add a Google Assistant option that can switch up the alarm ringtone based on factors such as the time of day and the weather. In fact, Google's AI can create and curate the piano ringtones for you.
T-Mobile will pay $40 million for failing to fix rural calls
T-Mobile has agreed to pay (PDF) the FCC $40 million for failing to fix ongoing call failures for rural customers. The carrier previously claimed that it had resolved the problem, but the Commission kept getting complaints about calls that weren't going through. The company also admitted it had committed another grave FCC sin: Injecting false ring tones while customers are on the line, which misleads them into thinking the carrier isn't to blame if a call fails.
Apple's iTunes update removes the desktop iOS app store
While Apple expanded its iPhone lineup today, a software update delivered for iTunes on Windows and Mac PCs is slimming things down a bit. Once users install version 12.7 they will no longer have access to the App Store from the desktop. As described on Apple's support page, a focus toward "music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, and audiobooks" means that you'll usually need to use your iOS devices to manage the apps installed on them. What it adds in this update is the ability to sync with devices running iOS 11 and social music sharing for Apple Music subscribers.
iOS 8.1.2 available now, fixes missing ringtone issue
Have you ever had a problem with ringtones that you purchased through the iTunes Store disappearing from your device? If so, you'll want to install iOS 8.1.2, which has just become available as an over-the-air update. Just visit Settings > General > Software Update and you should see iOS 8.1.2 appear magically. To get those ringtones back, Apple recommends visiting http://itunes.com/restore-tones from your iOS device after installing the update. iOS 8.1.2 also includes the usual bug fixes and security content. Go ahead, knock yourself out. Tip of the hipster fedora to Federico Viticci of MacStories.net, who was the first to tweet the update.
Video: How to easily make your own ringtones in GarageBand for iOS
While the iPhone's standard ringtones certainly have their respective charms there's nothing quite like picking your own ringtones. It's your own little inside joke whenever your Grandmother calls and David Bowie's "Space Oddity" plays or you get a ring from the boss set to the "Imperial March." Thanks to the power of GarageBand the world of custom ringtones can be your oyster. You don't even need to mess with iTunes or a computer. You can do it all from your phone. This video shows how you can easily make your own ringtones using the free iOS GarageBand software available in iTunes. If you've owned an iPhone for years this may be old hat to you, but considering Apple sells millions of phones a year there are still readers who still haven't learned this trick. Once you're done with the video continue reading for a quick tutorial on how to assign your new ringtones to specific people. Here's how to set a personalize ringtone for a friend. Step 1: Go to contacts and select the contact you'd like to set the ringtone for. Step 2: Once inside the contact info hit Edit Step 3: Scroll down until you see Ringtone and select the option. Step 4: Select the song you're looking for and hit done. Your ringtone is now set.
Ringtone Director Presidential Edition lets Obama or Bush announce your messages
Ringtone Director Presidential Edition (US$0.99) lets your iPhone announce incoming messages in voices that sound like that of US President Barack Obama or former President George W. Bush. Using the app is simple. First, type what you want Obama or Bush to say, then you'll receive a link to an .m4r file via email. Install it as you would any other ringtone. You can also get an mp3 file for non-Apple devices. The Obama and Bush voices sound reasonably close to the real people, and, of course, you can have them say anything you want, funny or serious. The onscreen directions are pretty straightforward. Type the text you want spoken; add some sound effects if you wish (like the Hail to the Chief music); and send it out for processing. To do that, you hit a button marked "action," but it wasn't clear if it worked because there is no feedback that the data has been sent. It seems an easy fix for the developers. The app allows you to create 10 different ringtones; after that, you have to pay via in-app purchase for more. A $0.99 purchase gets you 10 more, and $4.99 lets you create 100. I would think the average person can get along fine with 10. Ringtone Director Presidential Edition is a cute novelty. It's a little trouble to go back to iTunes to install the ringtones, but that's Apple policy. Ringtone Director requires iOS 4.3 or later, and is optimized for the iPhone 5 series. It's a universal app, but is obviously more suited to the iPhone.
The Little App Factory - Pay What You Want
Buried amidst Apple's latest announcements is news to make your digital life easier. The Little App Factory, which produces very useful utilities, offered up a "pay what you want" bundle for five of its Macintosh apps via Paddle: Evom, Grappler, Ringtones, RipIt, and iRip. All of the apps work in Mac OS X 10.6 and up. The deal is available until September 27, 2013. The current average price for the five utilities is US$3.45, while the recommended price is $29.00. No matter what you choose to pay, these apps will not disappoint you. Evom, which I confess is free on the site, takes video and converts it to an iOS-compatible format. I've used it to convert YouTube videos, Flash, AVI and WMV files. As The Little App Factory advertises: Drag. Drop. Convert. It's that easy. Grappler, according to The Little App Factory, lets you play and save video or audio off the Web. I've never used it, so I can't tell you anything about it, but you can read about it on the site. It normally sells for $19.95. iRip helps you copy your files off your iPod onto your computer. I've recovered a variety of music libraries from PC and Macintosh formatted iPods, and think iRip works really well. I had tested version 2.0, but 2.1 is the current version now. Normal price is $24.95. RipIt takes your personal DVD library and lets you convert it to iPhone, iPad, or an iPod compatible file. It works well and lets you protect your original media from children's abuse, dog teeth, and any number of other mishaps. Normal price is $24.95. Ringtones lets you take your favorite music and use slices of it as your phone ringer. It works with DRM-free music. I used it to rip a line from Jevetta Steele's "Calling You" from the Baghdad Cafe movie soundtrack. Fun stuff for the normal price of $12.95. This is a bit off topic, but if you want to see Jack Palance and CCH Pounder (Warehouse13) in very non-traditional roles, rent the movie! Paddle offers other bundles also, but I've not bought from them previously. My notice of The Little App Factory deal came via email from Wallpaper Wizard, to which I subscribe.
LG G2 to include ringtones from the Vienna Boys' Choir... yes, really
LG isn't shy about its love of classical music, having once struck a deal with Ennio Morricone to put his tunes on the company's phones. However, we'll still admit to being caught off-guard by its next collaboration: when the G2 is officially revealed on August 7th, it will include the dulcet sounds of the Vienna Boys' Choir. The Android flagship will ship with nine ringtones and five alerts sung by the youth group, along with four musical chimes. Beautiful devices need beautiful music, LG argues. Whether or not that's really true, you won't have to wait long to hear the end result. LG will post free music on the G2's teaser site on August 1st, including a choral version of its standard ringtone.
iPhone's Marimba ringtone becomes the catchy backing track for indy pop song
Since the iPhone first made it into the hands of the public nearly six years ago (June 29, 2007), one of the almost iconic sounds from the device has been the Marimba ringtone. Whether it's playing in the background during a church service or used as a wakeup alarm (to quote Dave Caolo, "I use that tone as my alarm in the morning so I've grown to despise it."), the Marimba has become part of our modern culture. Now indy band Mars Ago has recorded a new tune called "Don't Call Me" that uses the Marimba ringtone as a backing track. A video of the song is included below (recorded all in one take!):
Battleblock Theater ringtones tell the fart jokes for you
Battleblock Theater is charming beyond all reasonableness, and much of that comes from its hilarious narrator, adorable songs and, of course, the rampant fart jokes. The Behemoth has thrown some of Battleblock Theater's best audio material into a downloadable ringtone pack, available in .mp3 and .mp4 varieties.The ringtone pack includes tracks such as "Secret Song," "Relationship Song" and "Buckle ur Pants," and it includes the gem sound, the narrator's "Whoooooo" and "Mmmmhmmm" noises, and classic lines such as "Good job, baby farts" and "Everything's coming together like buttcheeks."The Behemoth is working on an official soundtrack for the game, currently listed as "coming soon." For now, download the Battleblock Theater ringtone pack and annoy all of your friends for free right here.
Breakfast Topic: Mobile users, what are your favorite WoW ringtones and sounds?
I can't tell you how tickled I am to get text messages these days, ever since I made the familiar murloc gurgle my text message notification sound. Text messages evoke the same feelings in me that murlocs do -- man, I get annoyed when I have to stop and deal with one, but they're actually irresistible little creatures, aren't they? Also popular at our house is my regular morning alarm. You read that right: My family actually wants to hear my alarm go off. I use that drippingly gorgeous theme from Elwynn Forest, and it eases us into consciousness with the gentle caress of dawn. Sometimes my husband whispers in the dark, "Just let it play." My other favorite notification sounds include The Lament of the Highborne as my alarm notification for after-school pickups (I need something gentle to nudge me from my writing and editing fugue at that point in the day) and the friendly, energetic classic Alliance tavern theme as my normal ringtone. (What, you thought I could handle the pandaren inn version?!) What WoW ringtones and sounds do you enjoy on your own mobile devices?
iTunes offers first Beatles ringtones
Apple started selling albums from The Beatles last year and now the company has released a set of ringtones taken from the band's most popular albums. The selections span a wide range of titles including early titles like A Hard Day's Night and later tracks like the 1970 chart-topper Let It Be. You can buy the ringtones from the iTunes app using your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. Each ringtone is US$1.29 and can be found in the Settings > Sounds > Ringtone > Buy More Tones. Be careful to click on the link for Ringtones. Also listed, as shown above, is the 1 collection for $12.99 which has 27 songs, not ringtones as I first though, from the band's twelve studio albums and 22 singles. [Via ipodnn]
iOS 5 to sell text alert tones through iTunes
The beta version of iOS 5 includes a new feature that lets you buy ringtones for alert messages, and it's just one of the 200 new features that are to debut in the new operating system. The ringtone option is found in the settings menu under the sounds. Users select any of the available alerts, like Text Tone, New Voicemail or New Mail, to see a list of available sounds. You can choose from any of the default sounds as well as "Buy More Tones." Clicking on the "Buy More Tones" button in iOS 5 launches the Ringtones Store within iTunes. This feature and others like it were apparently too small for Jobs and other Apple luminaries to mention in the Monday WWDC keynote. Expect to see more of these little gems surface over the next weeks as developers begin diving into the beta release of iOS 5.
Test chamber music: Valve offers free Portal 2 soundtrack downloads
A generous free offering from Valve will allow you to reflect on all those great times you had with Portal 2. Or, if you haven't gotten it yet, it'll allow you to get a preview of some of those great times you'll have sometime in the future. Or maybe it'll allow you to think about the great times you're having, as you're having said great times. For you non-sentimental types, it's a bunch of free Portal 2 music. The publisher posted "Volume 1" of "Songs to Test By," containing 22 tracks from the game. It also posted a set of six iPhone/Android ringtones made from recognizable soundtrack snippets. As a bonus, if you play them all at the same time, you'll hear exactly what this year's PAX will sound like. You can download the soundtrack from Valve -- or from us, right here!
Apple working on video ringtones
Patently Apple recently uncovered a patent filed by Apple that describes methods for creating video ringtones for telephonic iOS devices like the iPhone. The technology is designed to allow users to automatically combine sound and video from various sources, including iTunes and iMovie, to create custom audio-visual alerts for incoming phone calls. Patently Apple describes multiple ways the patent pending feature could automatically combine audio and video to create custom visuals for each incoming call. In a simple example, visuals displayed on the device would react to associated audio much like a visualizer in iTunes. In another example, a layered composite could be assembled from multiple video or photographic sources. These layers could be independently animated based on different characteristics in the audio track, such as its mix of high and low frequencies. The visuals would not be limited to 2D content. Apple's system could offer visual effects in 3D space, including movement, appearance, shape and differing camera angles. The patent also describes a means for callers to send the "seed" information about a particular song or video. These caller "signatures" could further alter the visual experience for the recipient or offer dynamic links to relevant content for the receiver to check out later. Aside from offering a unique new method for verifying the identity of incoming callers, Patently Apple suggests this technology could bring social networking concepts to ringtones by allowing users to share their latest favorite songs and videos with the people they are calling. The general concept of an animated ringtone is not new. App developers like iFoneTec already offer video ringtone software for the iPhone and Android platforms. (Note: iFoneTec's iPhone app appears to require a jailbroken device.) Existing video ringtone solutions appear limited to playing the same video clip every time a call comes in from a specified contact. Apple's proposed new technology seems to offer a more dynamic and extremely customizable experience that can be configured to some extent by both the caller and the receiver. Of course, Apple often files patents for technologies that never find their way into shipping products. It's unknown whether or not we'll ever see Apple's dynamically animated ringtones on the iPhone. The technology described in the patent would certainly showcase the media capabilities of the iPhone and offer a variety of new opportunities for users to express themselves. Apple's patent, credited to Brian McKnight and Michael Neuman, was originally filed in the third quarter of 2010.
ChevronWP7 team releases custom ringtone manager for 'unlocked' Windows Phone 7 devices
While we patiently wait for the now-offline ChevronWP7 team to partner up with Microsoft and make homebrew awesomeness happen on the real, those that have already opened their Windows Phone 7 devices to sideloading will want to take a look at the team's second tool released earlier this week. The custom ringtone manager they've crafted works in a most unusual way: you select five ringtones you want installed, then let the tool craft a custom XAP (which represent WP7's application package files) which you then sideload -- assuming you've already used the original ChevronWP7 tool to allow such shenanigans.
No custom ringtones for Windows Phone 7? (video)
We just sat through an eight minute long video of someone at Pocketnow sampling every ringtone on his HTC Surround. Why did we do this? Just wanted to see if we could stand it; suffice it to say, we never want to hear a ringtone again. Perhaps more importantly, our man points out that Microsoft seems to have left the ability to add your own custom ringtones out of Windows Phone 7 altogether. The Surround itself has a couple recognizable fan favorites that we recognize from AT&T and HTC phones past, so it looks like manufacturers and carriers will be able to bring their own to the table, but for the end user, it looks like you won't be able to roll your own -- at least for the time being. And now we're going to go put our phones on vibrate.
iTunes 10 drops custom ringtone purchasing
Along with the up-front iTunes 10 changes (social awareness, monochrome sidebar, new-attitude icon), it looks like Apple has quietly dropped one store-centric feature from the latest version. Roberto Baldwin at Mac|Life notes that the feature allowing users to buy a section of a track from the iTunes Store for use as a custom ringtone has gone AWOL between 9.2.1 and 10. Granted, there are lots and lots of ways to make DIY ringtones from tracks you already own or other sources, but the iTunes-authorized method was certainly convenient. Apple may be proud to announce that Ping already has over 1 million users, but now we know that none of them are making ringtones straight from the store. [via MacRumors]
Ringtone creationism not for sale in iTunes 10, but DIY method still seems to work
Not that we've ever been a fan of paying an additional 99 cents to turn an already-purchased track into a seconds-long ringtone, but if you fancied the option in iTunes 9.2.1, we're sad to inform you that yesterday's update seems to have nixed said option. But hey, look at this way, now you can learn a new skill: how to make iTunes 10 ringtones free of charge with some filename finagling. The old method still seems to work just fine (instructions via More Coverage link below), so turn that .m4-frown upside down!
Ringtones and a twist with AutoRingtone Pro Uncensored
It's not hard getting ringtones on your iPhone. You certainly don't have to buy them. If, however, you'd like something a bit more customized, there is a nice app called AutoRingtone Pro Uncensored. In a nutshell, it lets you pick out what the ringtone should say. It can be just an announcement about who is calling, like "Your friend Bob is calling from Las Vegas" or it could be a bit more insulting like "Your dumb buddy John from Indianapolis is on the phone". Basically, it takes what you've written and converts your text to speech in a voice you have selected. Here's how it works: Type what you want the phone to say into a field. Then choose a voice, like British female, quiet whisper, American male and so on. You can also precede the message with a sound, and there are about 200 to choose from. When you're ready, the instructions you've given are sent to a server (you must have internet access) where the ringtone is rendered. You retrieve it from a special website, and drag it into iTunes to get it on your iPhone. There are no fees or subscriptions, and you can make as many as you want.
