Tempo
Latest
Apple Watch now syncs with Tempo's AI-powered home gym
Tempo has rolled out Apple Watch integration for its AI-powered home gym.
Bose launches three new sunglasses with speakers for its Frames line
Tempo was made for sports, while Tenor and Soprano are for everyday use.
Spotify brings its smart running playlists to Android
When Spotify announced its new Running feature, only iPhone users were able to utilize its beat-matching skills while out on the streets. It's taken a good few months (far longer than it probably should), but from today, Android device owners can get in on the action too. Spotify says that its latest update, which has already begun rolling out to users, will recommend "multiple-genre playlists" based on your previous music selections and offer ready-made running compositions.
Activity tracker for seniors lets you know when something's wrong
We're always interested in wearables that go beyond just telling you how many steps you've walked in a day. CarePredict, for instance, is building a smartwatch that's designed to monitor the elderly while maintaining their independence. The Tempo is a wrist-worn sensor that keeps an eye on someone's activity patterns, and should it spot an anomaly, raise the alarm. It works by mapping out a general schedule of the day, and observing changes like an unusual mid-day nap or if someone has remained still in one room for too long. It'll even observe trends over a much longer period of time, so if someone's walking pace slows over a couple of weeks, you'll be able to see it and address any underlying issues.
Engadget giveaway: win an iPhone 5s and AirPort Express courtesy of Tempo AI!
The smartphone has become a one-stop-shop for organizing our daily lives. We use it to find our way around, stay on schedule and keep in touch with friends, co-workers and clients. But skipping around through all those apps lacks efficiency and wastes time. That's why Tempo AI developed the Smart Calendar app. It helps combat confusion and increase productivity by centralizing all the necessary info into one place. The Tempo Smart Calendar handles scheduling duties with aplomb, but also offers an array of social insights about your contacts, quick navigational tools and even helps you dial into conference calls without digging for passcodes. In order to help one lucky Engadget reader achieve this level of organizational zen, the company has provided an iPhone 5s and and AirPort Express. Simply head to the Rafflecopter widget below for up to three chances at winning. With all these enterprise-level tools at hand, you'll be prepared for everything the world can throw at you and you won't even break a sweat. Winner: congratulations to Tim L. of Harrison, NJ.
Blue Maestro Tempo Bluetooth Smart Thermometer: Keeping tabs on your local environment
When I first heard about Blue Maestro's Tempo Bluetooth Smart Thermometer (£29.00, or about US$48), it was shortly after I had a conversation with a new friend about creating such a device. Ron, who I met on a recent cruise vacation, had wondered aloud why there wasn't an accessory for the iPhone that would let you check the local temperature. While his idea was more like a plug-in dongle for an iPhone or iPad, I think Ron would be happy with the Tempo Bluetooth Smart Thermometer. Specifications Dimensions: 2.87" x 3.54" x 1.1" (73 x 90 x 28 mm) Weight: 3.4 oz. (96.38 gm) with batteries installed Connectivity: Bluetooth Smart (requires iPhone, 4S, iPhone 5, iPhones 5S and 5C and all later models of iPhone; iPad Mini, iPad 3 and all later models of iPad; iPod Touch 5th Generation and all later models of iPod Touch. iOS devices need to be running iOS 6, iOS 7 and later operating systems.) Material: Polycarbonate case with nonslip silicone feet Batteries: Two AA cells (lifetime of about one year) Colors: Blue, Green, Gray, White, Black Accuracy: +/- .2 degrees Celsius Range: -13 degrees/167 degrees Fahrenheit (-25 degrees/75 degrees Celsius) Usable distance: Up to 75 meters line of sight Design Highlights For something that you're probably going to use around the house, the Tempo is quite attractive. It has a rounded triangular shape and looks more like a small art object than a temperature sensor. The three nonslip silicone feet ensure that you can place the Tempo on many surfaces -- even if they're not perfectly flat -- and it will stay in one place. Tempo is waterproof, so if you want to use it as an outside temperature monitor it will work just fine. Note that the low end of the temperature range is -13 degrees Fahrenheit (-25 degrees Celsius), and that a lot of locations in North America got that cold this year... The two AA batteries are fairly easy to get to -- I was able to pry open the case with a fingernail, and I know it will be a cinch to replace them in a year. There's only one button on the device, a small pushbutton that's placed directly in the center of mass of the Tempo. Push it and a small LED lights up on the bottom of the device, indicating that it's powered up and ready to talk to the accompanying Tempo Thermometer iOS app (free). Functionality Highlights Tempo comes with the two AA batteries pre-installed, so setting it up was very easy. I just preloaded the app on my iPhone and iPads, pushed the button on the bottom of the Tempo, and then watched as the temperature came up on the app. Initially it showed the temperature in degrees Celsius -- changing to Fahrenheit was easily accomplished through settings. The device stores up to 24 hours of temperature readings, so if you happen to be away from your Tempo for a while you can see what the temperatures were like for at least the last day. If you have more than one Tempo, it's simple to rename the devices with a more descriptive title, like "Bedroom", "Kitchen" and the like. The app shows all of the readings from your various Tempos. There's a small indicator that tells you if the iPhone and device are currently in Bluetooth contact or not, and it appears that the app shuts off its request for Bluetooth connectivity in between requests. Tapping on a specific reading opens up a chart showing either 12 hours (portrait) or 24 hours (landscape) of readings. There's also a "table" button that, when tapped, provides a list of hourly temperature readings that can converted to a PDF or CSV file for emailing. Unfortunately for me, the emailed file was in degrees Celsius, not Fahrenheit. For most of the world, that's not a problem! There's also a thermometer view that's available in the app -- a tap on a thermometer button brings up a replica of a bulb thermometer with scales in both Celsius and Fahrenheit. The app also allows users to easily set up alarms; perfect if you want notification when a certain temperature is reached. When I think about my friend Ron's need for an iPhone-centric thermometer, I know that the Tempo would only serve part of his needs. What he really wants -- and I have to agree with him -- is a device that could either be part of an iPhone case or a small dongle that could be plugged into the Lightning or headphone ports for easy on-the-go temperature readings. My hope is that the Blue Maestro team will have a success with Tempo and will work on a smaller, more portable device. Conclusion While it's not something you could carry in your pocket in order to make spur-of-the-moment temperature readings, Blue Maestro's Tempo is an attractive and very functional Bluetooth Smart Thermometer that's perfect for home or office use. Blue Maestro has done a good job of making the Tempo easy to set up, and the app is surprisingly full-featured. Rating: 3-1/2 stars out of 4 stars possible
Anytune, the music-practicing app arrives for Mac, iOS version gets feature update
Last year, I took a look at Anytune Pro+ (US$14.99), an iOS app for practicing music with advanced tempo and pitch control tools that make it easier to visualize, hear and practice songs at your own pace. You can read all about the app in my mini-review here. In December, the app was updated with some great new features, including folder and playlist support, new EQ options (panning and balance), lyrics editing and autoscrolling in real time and iCloud syncing of song settings between iOS devices to Anytune. But the big news is that Anytune is now available for Mac, too. At $29.99, Anytune Pro+ for Mac -- available on the Mac App Store -- brings all the powerful and intuitive features of the iOS version to the big screen. In fact, users of Anytune for iOS will be right at home with the Mac version, as the two UIs and feature sets are very familiar. I spent some time using the Mac app and was really pleased with the results. Importing songs from iTunes couldn't be easier, accomplished with a drag and drop. Straight away I was adjusting the tempo and pitch of songs, marking and looping specific sections and adjusting the FineTouch EQ (with varying degrees of success depending on the track) to suit my practicing needs. I was glad to see my favorite feature of the iOS version made it to the Mac, too: the Interval Trainer. The Interval Trainer is designed to help you practice a particularly challenging part of a song. You loop the section, hit the Interval Trainer button and Anytune automatically slows down the loop and then repeatedly plays it back to you while gradually speeding up the timing after each loop, until it gets back to the original tempo. What a brilliant way to practice a riff, fill or lick! If you're a music teacher, dancer or budding musician, Anytune for iOS or Mac is a invaluable addition to the rehearsal environment, making practicing more dynamic and productive.
Highnote for iOS gives musicians tempo and key control over their music
Highnote allows you to slow down or speed up the tempo of songs in your iOS music library, without affecting the pitch or key. It also allows you to change the key without affecting the tempo. Any aspiring musician will need to spend hours practicing and honing their skills in order to master their instrument. Part of this practice requires playing with other musicians and learning and mimicking what they play and how they play it. And very often, this happens by playing along to a track or particular song again and again. However, sometimes what you're playing along to can be too fast for your current ability. Or perhaps you can't quite hear exactly what the musician is playing because he is playing it so quickly. Or perhaps you're not ready to play along in that particular key, but you could in another. That's where an app like Highnote is invaluable While there are other apps on the iOS App Store that offer similar features, Open Planet Software's Highnote offers a simple, clear and beautiful-looking interface that allows you to focus on practicing, without any distractions. Simply choose a track from your iOS music library, select the volume and adjust tempo and pitch on the fly. If you get lost, hit reset to restore the song to its original state. An additional, well-thought-out feature is built-in AirPlay functionality. Let's face it, you're more likely to practice while listening to the music through a powerful set of speakers than you are through your iPhone's speaker! Highnote makes AirPlay easy to turn on and off from within the app. If you're a musician, music student, teacher or indeed anyone that performs with music, Highnote is a brilliant way to slow things down (or change the key), so you can practice effectively. Highnote is available from the iOS App Store for US$2.99 now.
Smart calendar app Tempo speeds up your day
Not to bother you with a study from the University of the Obvious, but if you think about the history of technologically facilitated intelligent agents, the goal always seems to be to sub in for a clever, always-on human personal assistant. There's a reason that hyper-busy, well-compensated folk have such staffers on the payroll: they make things easier. Need a file for that meeting, or background on the attendees? Running late and need to tell them? Want to know which flights are delayed before you head to the airport, or where to park near the place you're having lunch? With a personal assistant, one call or text and you've got it handled. We can't all have personal aides, but a lot of us have smartphones. Siri tackles the question of accessing your data or contacting people without putting your hands and / or eyes on the iPhone; Android's Google Now feature aims at the information supply side, parceling out the tidbits you need (or at least the ones it thinks you need) just when you're likely to want them. Even the oversubscribed launch of Mailbox this week speaks to the desire we have to start getting a streamlined, secure handle on the ebb and flow of our critical information. Another option for getting the smart back into your smartphone launches today, and it's aimed at both your calendar and all the collateral information that surrounds it. Tempo Smart Calendar, incubated in Siri's birthplace at SRI International, derives situational awareness by analyzing your meetings alongside other data sinks like your email, LinkedIn contacts, attachments, location and more. The app is iPhone-only for now, with other platforms to come along later. Tempo may look like other calendar apps on the App Store -- to my eyes, it pays some UI tribute to the revamped Gmail native app -- but its power lies in context as well as content. Rather than overwhelm you with every tidbit and factoid about your events, Tempo's design is intended to "reduce the noise that's often associated with virtual assistants that push information to users out of context or intent," says founder and CEO Raj Singh. The app will even find context that you didn't explicitly associate with the event, by looking for frequently emailed people connected to meeting hosts or attachments to messages with contextually relevant subjects. Wherever possible, the calendar app distills actions down to a single tap: send an "I'm running late" alert, get directions, pull up attachments for the next appointment, check LinkedIn profiles or join a conference call (it even auto-dials conference codes for you, which I currently do with a $1.99 singletasker). As Tempo learns your modus operandi, it adjusts to provide the most-frequently needed information more promptly. I may not be busy enough to take full advantage of Tempo's savvy, but if your day involves hopping from call to meeting to meal to evening, you may indeed benefit from the added clarity and context that the app provides. Of course, Tempo's AI has to learn about you and what your day looks like, so using it means giving it access to a lot of your personal data, including your email (and letting it mull for a while on initial setup). If that makes you uncomfortable, be forewarned. You should check the Tempo site for privacy assurances and make sure that if you do try it and don't like it, you can fully erase yourself from the service. Tempo's privacy statement is here; the important note for anyone who intends to do a short-term trial and possibly cancel later on is that if you delete your Tempo account, your third-party service info might remain on their system for several weeks until it's aged out. If you want to get your mail and other data off more quickly, be sure to remove those subaccounts within the Tempo app before deleting your master Tempo account. Tempo is launching as a free app, with possible premium features down the road for paid users. In contrast to Mailbox's Gmail-only limitation, Tempo is calendar- and email-agnostic. To provide a sense of what's possible inside the app, Tempo's produced this adorable promo video featuring a busy architect dad and his preternaturally articulate daughter. Robert Scoble also has a 30-minute interview with founder Singh in his enthusiastic writeup.
Nokia hints at June 18th news, may be PureView related instead of Microsoft (Update)
Amidst the upheaval in Espoo Nokia continues to push forward, and tonight its Facebook page has already posted a couple of teaser images, including the one seen above, suggesting there's big news due on June 18th. Astute observers will note that's also the day its good buddy Microsoft has already planned its own high profile and highly secretive event, although you may not want to connect the two just yet. One of the images is a map of Hawaii, which AllThingsD notes is home to area code 808, a possible reference to Nokia's PureView 808 41MP cameraphone technology, which was followed up by the above image, with tempo cranked all the way up (ready to go boom...like an 808?). Draw your own conclusions -- of course we'll be hanging around Monday to see what happens. Update: If the Roland TR-808 image wasn't explicit enough, Nokia US has dropped another hint on its Facebook page, featuring what appears to be artwork cropped from the 808 State album ex:el.
The Summoner's Guidebook: It's time to get serious!
One of the things that was baffling for me as a League of Legends noob was the overall tempo of PvP games. In bot matches, I got used to staying in my lane, and I was never sure when it was a good time to meet up with my team or go for objectives. I actually didn't really understand what "mid game" and "late game" actually meant. However, on Summoner's Rift, those terms actually have real meaning. You have different goals in the early, mid, and late game, and if you try to continue laning when you're in the midgame, you're going to run into huge problems, as the entire enemy team is probably ganging up to come and kill you. This week, we're going to talk about the flow of the game on Summoner's Rift, and when you should be switching up your game to accomplish different things.
Encrypted Text: Controlling tempo in PvP
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Chase Christian will be your guide to the world of shadows every Wednesday. Please email me with any topic requests or questions you have! PvP is hard to discuss in writing. (I'm not talking about how to properly 4-gate your opponent on Shakuras Plateau, but rather about WoW's player-vs-player content.) It's a relatively easy task to distill a PvE encounter into a list of salient points, but that's because raid bosses aren't random. Magmaw is going to do the same thing against every single raid group that encounters him, and so our strategies for countering him are fairly unilateral. We're playing rock-paper-scissors with the developers, except that we know they're going to throw paper ahead of time. All we have to do is successfully become scissors, and the raid bosses will fall over and explode with purples -- they're just loot piñatas. PvP, meanwhile, is impossible to condense into a single strategy. In a raid setting, most classes use less than a dozen simple abilities on any given encounter. In an arena or battleground, players will be drawing from the deepest, darkest pages of their spellbooks to gain any advantage. I can't tell you what that warrior on the opposing team is going to do, because he can literally do anything. Instead of trying to make some sort of overly complicated flowchart in an attempt to remove all decision-making from PvP, you have to adjust and react on the fly. The key to surviving in this volatile environment is to maintain control of the tempo -- you need to fight on your terms.
Key pattern analysis software times your typing for improved password protection
The recent pilfering of PlayStation Network passwords and personal info shows that having a strong passcode doesn't always guarantee your online safety. However, key-pattern analysis (KPA) software from researchers at American University of Beirut may be able to keep our logins secure even if they're stolen. You create a unique profile by entering your password a few times while the code tracks the speed and timing of your keystrokes. The software then associates that data to your password as another means of authentication. Henceforth, should the magic word be entered in a different typing tempo, access is denied. We saw a similar solution last year, but that system was meant to prevent multiple users from accessing subscription databases with a single account. This KPA software allows multiple profiles per password so that your significant other can still read all your email -- assuming you and your mate reside in the trust tree, of course.
Apple patents multitouch gestures
Patently Apple reports that Apple has picked up a major patent from the USPTO for a long list of mutitouch gestures. The gestures all involve moving two or more fingers on a multitouch surface, and cover everything from cut and copy shortcuts to global search and find and replace motions. I'm sure creative types could probably come up with at least a few other ways to ways to move your fingers on a surface, but this one's pretty far-reaching. PA also notes that almost all of these gestures were picked up by Apple as part of their Fingerworks purchase -- while (as far as I know) not all of these gestures eventually made it to the iPad, we can probably expect to see them show up in the future. Also picked up from the USPTO includes a patent for adjusting the tempo of music played by an iPod, possibly even according to some body metric (like putting a strap on your arm to measure your pulse by using Nike+), one patent for antenna structure, and a few different patents dealing with digital files and folders. As always, just the fact that Apple is patenting these ideas doesn't ever mean that we'll for sure see them in future updates of software or hardware. But watching these patents is a good way to keep an eye on what's coming out of Apple's R&D departments.
Acer F900, M900, X960, and DX900 hands-on with video
Acer's new Tempo lineup of middling Windows Mobile 6.1 sets isn't going to steal the show from the TG01, the OmniaHD, or the Magic, but it's not like they're total failures -- they're just way behind the curve. Engadget Spanish did the honors, and it looks like Acer would have been better off spending the time getting these ready to ship with 6.5 instead of the amusingly quaint Microsoft Bob-like Acer Shell it's come up with to skin 6.1 -- all it's missing is the dog. Add in a general sense of lagginess and a stubborn resistive touchscreen, and we'd say this round is better off skipped. So much for those budding Acer fanboys. More galleries and a video after the break.%Gallery-45048%
Pixelmator releases 1.3.1
The good folks at Pixelmator have released version 1.3.1 of their lightweight and smooth photo editing software. While the update is mostly "bug fixes and minor improvements" (isn't that exciting, unless maybe you really were waiting for "iSigh support" -- which probably means iSight), but there are two big changes: the Color Management panel has been updated (as you can see above), and the Refine Selection tool has a very nice, real-time masked UI that lets you see exactly which parts of your selection are being feathered or smoothed out.Definitely not as big an update as the 1.3 Tempo that we posted about a while ago (although 1.4 Sparkle, we're told, is being worked on right now), but it is free to all users, and in fact ready to download right now in Pixelmator. The app itself costs $59, but if you're looking for something a little more refined than GIMP that's not quite as pricey as Photoshop, it's your new bicycle.
Pixelmator 1.3 Tempo is on the street
The team over at Pixelmator has announced the release of their much-awaited 1.3 version, which they've titled Tempo. TUAW did a preview of this version a while ago -- it features lots of back-end updates, making the app itself much, much faster, especially when handling large images. And it brings to the table a few things Pixelmator has promised since the app first came out, including the Magic Eraser functionality, and a few magic touches elsewhere (you can use almost any of the tools in the "magic" way, by clicking and then dragging until the program automatically fills in your selection). There are also updates to the Hue and Saturation, Colorize, and Replace Color tools, and there's an auto-hide feature (that can be turned off) that clears out some of the clutter when you're working with important tools. As a Pixelmator user, I really like the update -- I'm not sure if it's quite enough to pull you into the app if you aren't already using it (and as we've said before, this is not an app for power Photoshop users), but if you're looking for a relatively light, very stylistic photo editor, it's definitely worth a trial again. You can pick one up over on their site. %Gallery-32631%
TUAW preview: Pixelmator 1.3 "Tempo"
We've praised Pixelmator here before (and we've even shared our love with the devs directly) -- I am by no means an image-editing professional (Photoshop and Aperture are way, way beyond my ken), but Pixelmator lands exactly where I want it to: it's a relatively lightweight application with just enough features to do the complicated stuff when I need it done.One of the big drawbacks of the software, though, is that performance-wise, it's never quite been up to par. Especially when pulling down big jobs like editing a lot of pictures at once or opening or closing really large pictures, Pixelmator has always lagged a bit behind. The team, however, wants to fix all that with their latest release, appropriately called "Tempo" -- they've made huge changes on the back end to try and bring performance up to where it needs to be for a solid image editor.They've made a number of other nice changes, too, including finally creating a "Magic Eraser" with some nice click-and-drag functionality for selecting and editing specific color areas. TUAW recently got our hands on a preview version of Tempo -- our in-depth preview starts after the break, and you can click through the gallery below to see the new features in action.%Gallery-32631%
Pixelmator puts new shortcuts in 1.2.3, pitches 1.3 Tempo beta
My favorite plucky little picture editor, Pixelmator, has recently updated to version 1.2.3 with a few bug fixes and improvements. They've also added even more keyboard shortcuts -- enough to necessitate a keyboard shortcuts document. Unfortunately, making it white-on-black, which may fit the app's style, doesn't really help with printing. However, if you want to go a little bit past the usual Open Apple-C and Open Apple-S (yes, I'm a die-hard, and so are they), it's a good cheat sheet.But the even bigger news is that beta 1.3 "Tempo" is right around the corner, and they're soliciting beta testers right now. If, like me, you use the thing every day and want to see what the new version is like, hit up their beta email and see if you can get a little testing in for them. This is an app that has grown in leaps and bounds ever since it first premiered. While it still isn't quite as in-depth or solid as many other image-editing apps out there, its style and relative simplicity has really won me over.
App roundup: Timekeeping and billing
When I started freelancing last November, I knew I needed to get my act together about billing. I have a love/hate relationship with billing: I love getting paid, but I hate doing billing. Thankfully, there are many, many apps that help you do this. If you're just starting out, you might be a little overwhelmed at just how many ways there are to track your time. This little post here isn't meant to be a comprehensive list, but instead a place for freelancers to start looking for a small-scale billing solution that works best for them. Follow me for a look at a handful of apps and services that will help you keep your time tracking and invoicing in line: Billable Fanurio On The Job WorkTimer Tempo LiveTimer Freshbooks
