THE POLICE are wrapping up their final set of reunion shows in NYC this week and it’s not these shows that has us excited! Apparently drummer Stewart Copeland has created the music of the new Blackberry device. We’re anxiously awaiting the new Blackberry Bold, which is due in September and this is very exciting (in a very nerdy-tech-sort-of-way).

RIM commissioned Copeland to come up with a unique ‘theme’ for its just-launched smartphone. The result was a signature five-note melody which Copeland expanded into a percussive minute-long track simply named ‘Bold’ that’s preloaded (along with mock-up album art!) into the Bold’s ‘Sample Songs’ folder.

A softer version with an fade-in is used as an ‘alarm tone’ to gently rouse the Bold owner from his or her slumber, while six variations – which are actually excerpts form various parts of the Bold theme – are available as ring tones.

Writing ringtones may be new to Copeland, but unleashing his inner geek isn’t. Copeland has long been a dab hand at the digital world, and is an Apple fan who does all his composing on Macs.

Listen to the tunes after the jump. (more…)

A 48 year old man from New Zealand named Glenn Martin is now my hero. You see, Glenn has spend over the last 26 years creating and developing a jetpack. Martin thinks he’s finally got his design down to the point where he can start selling the pack to the public…for the retail price of $100,000. A small price to pay for the ability to get over traffic on the Pulaski Skyway in the morning.

It’s not really a jetpack by definition because of the 200 hp twin rotor engine (c’mon where are the jets!? I need to race Boba Fett). It weighs around 250 lb, with most of that weight resting on the ground when idling, and generates near 600 lbs of thrust, running for over 30 minutes before it runs out of gas.

It’s probably not safe by any stretch of the imagination but who cares!? I want to fly! Let me be the test pilot for this jawn. I’ll race you to the Tiger Mart.

Watch Glenn in action now.

Adobe has just released a beta of its new web-based photo editing software, Photoshop Express. The free service is a novice-friendly, sized-down version of its professional photo suite. It’s not nearly as powerful and versatile as the full retail version of Photoshop, but it can handle most of your imaging needs: exposure, red eye, touch-ups, etc. There are a also a number of unique features that can separate it from competitors Picnik and FotoFlexer.

The service includes 2GB of free storage, and all edits are saved but not permanent - they can be undone at any time, in any order, even something drastic like cropping. It also connects with other photo storage sites like Picasa and Photobucket and even Facebook for on-the-fly editing and seamless updating. Flickr support is on the way too. Photoshop Express may not be a replacement for an expensive photo editing suite, but it’s a great way for removing that zit from your otherwise perfect Facebook Mobile shot of you at last night’s Moby Listening Party.

NINE INCH NAILS‘ Trent Reznor self-released a new instrumental album, Ghosts I-IV, in a blitz last night through ghosts.nin.com. He’s taken yet another angle on the donation-ish digital distribution model. He’s giving away Ghosts I, asking $5 for the all four parts in MP3 or FLAC lossless format, and offering a variety of physical editions ranging in price from $10 to $300.

As you might expect, word of the release exploded and the site has slowed to a crawl, temporarily making downloads nearly impossible - but fret not. Taking it yet another step further than Radiohead, Trent proved himself forward-thinking and is outsourcing the bandwidth load to popular BitTorrent sites like The Pirate Bay. You can pick up Ghosts I for free through the indestructible official NIN torrent here. That’s the beauty of BitTorrent technology - it doesn’t slow down as more people try to download the file, it gets faster.

As for the album itself, we just finished a first listen of Ghosts I and it’s quite nice. Soft, dreamy soundscapes reminiscent of Clint Mansell, Thomas Newman or Jon Brion compositions. But you don’t have to take our word for it - find out yourself for free!

The trend of late seems to be getting great indie rock bands and use them to supply the tunes for major film and television franchises. It’s a great marriage because it lends credibility to the one and grants exposure to the other.

So when NBC announced the lineup for their upcoming soundtrack to their breakout show Heroes, it was tough to act surprised. Darlings such as Nada Surf, My Morning Jacket, Death Cab For Cutie, and Wilco will all have songs on the soundtrack.

If that wasn’t enough, the heads of the peacock network have big plans to launch the soundtrack as well. (more…)

Leica has been world-renowned for decades as makers of some of the finest lenses and compact cameras around - quite literally the stuff of legends. As an Icon in the world of photography, the name alone lends itself to black and white fantasies of parissian cafes and roman holidays; from a photographer’s standpoint, the name beckons thoughts of superb quality, ease of use, and unparalledled performance in 35 mm formats.

In the age of digital cameras, Leica still remains a legend, though more for selling lenses to other camera companies, or as a thowback for those who like to keep it analog, Leica (as well as others, such as the infamous Holga) “keep it real”. 35 mm film, much like vinyl, being the last bastian of those who prefer a classic outlook on the world, with film and vinyl being preferred to the digital counterparts of jpegs and mp3s. (more…)

It was announced this week that TOM PETTY will be the halftime entertainment at this year’s Super Bowl XLII. This decision comes as no surprise, since Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s “Nipplegate” a few years ago, organizers of the event have gone a more conventional route and lined up performers of an older age and caliber.

Though there was still some controversy over Prince’s performance during last year’s game due to appropriate timing of a guitar pose and a backlit curtain. Causing some parents to write angry letters to the CBS network. We can’t imagine Petty stirring up controversy unless that is he performs one of his many songs with mildly disguised drug references in them.

Get your mind out of the gutter! We’re talking about the new Intel ads for their merger of hardware and software. To prove their point, they have Dan Finnerty (yes Dan from The Dan Band) on board to serenade our computer geek hearts.

The point of the adds is to show how well soft(ware) rock and hard(ware) rock mix. Finnerty is the “soft” and Rob Giles is the “hard”. The clips were directed by Christopher Guest (SNL, National Lampoon, This Is Spinal Tap, Waiting For Guffman, Best In Show) and the I.T. Rock song was written by CJ Vanston (A Mighty Wind, Waiting For Guffman).

VIDEO: It Gets Easier

We’ve already reported that THE DANDY WARHOLS have written the title track for the soundtrack to the Dane Cook / Jessica Alba movie Good Luck Chuck.

Now to the squeals of 14 year old around the country, the folks over at ringblender have posted a project that allows you to deconstruct the tune and then rebuild it however you want to make it a ringtone. Forcing us to ask the question if necessity is indeed the mother of invention. For 14 year olds know how to build ringtones yet are they the target demographic for The Dandy Warhols? Time will tell.

REMIX: The Dandy Warhols :: “Good Luck Chuck”

We’re only posting this because Graham here in our office has been on the desire buy for a new iPod for a few months now. He’s been hesitant to pick the sucker up for he’s wanted to wait for the next generation of iPod. Now’s his chance!

Who knows how they can top themselves this time around. Maybe 100+gb storage? Maybe a complete touch screen like the iPhone? Maybe it will make us a sandwich and tuck us into bed at night? Who knows?! All we know is that this is a picture of the invite to the next Apple event and that it appears all will be revealed to us on September 5th, just in time for us to whine about the high price tag and beg someone to buy it for us as a Christmas present.