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iPhone 4s Update: When It Comes To Pop Culture, Siri Has A Lot To Learn

Posted 10/14/11 10:26 am EST by in Breaking News


Siri iPhone 4s

Just like thousands of Apple fans across the globe, we were in line first thing this AM to get our hands on the new iPhone 4s. We couldn't wait to have our first meeting with Siri, the personal assistant that, according to Apple's Website "lets you use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and more. Ask Siri to do things just by talking the way you talk. Siri understands what you say, knows what you mean, and even talks back. Siri is so easy to use and does so much, you’ll keep finding more and more ways to use it."

Understands what you say, knows what you mean! OK, we felt confident she could help us find good Thai food or know to retrieve text messages, but would she grasp some of the most important questions in all of pop culture? We put her to the test, asking her the following:

Who Let the Dogs Out?

What's My Age Again?

What Is Love?

Where Is My Mind?

Who Are You?

Why So Serious?

Why Don't We Do It In The Road?

How's It Gonna Be?

Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

How Can We Be Lovers If We Can't Be Friends?

Whose Line Is It Anyway?

What About Bob?

Who Can It Be Now?

Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?

The answers to most questions? "I do not understand." Apple has said that Siri will improve over time, because she can adapt to you and Apple will also upgrade her brain. We plan on putting her to the test again soon here in our Newsroom. Please leave suggestions for other pop culture mysteries we can pose to her below or on our Facebook page.

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The New And Improved MTV News App, Just In Time For The VMAs!

Posted 9/10/10 9:30 am EST by in VMAs


We're only several dozen hours away from the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, which air live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles this Sunday, September 12 at 9 p.m. Eastern on MTV (with the pre-show kicking off live at 8 p.m.). Even if you can't get yourself in front of a television when the white carpet opens and the curtain rises on Eminem's performance, you still have the opportunity to catch up with the show. MTV News will have wall-to-wall coverage (including live blogs of both the white carpet pre-show and the big main show right here on the MTV Newsroom Blog), and anybody with an iPhone or a Droid can get the updated MTV News app for full and exclusive coverage.

The updated iPhone app, which is currently available for free download at the iTunes App Store, features an all-new VMA-exclusive section that will bring you everything related to the VMAs. There will be live streams from specially-placed cameras stationed on the red carpet, backstage, among the audience and inside the dressing rooms. You can also check out all of the VMA-related video surrounding the show, including exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes reveals and fly-on-the-wall looks at the big show. It's all available right now, so you can catch up on everything before the show goes live.

And if you have a Droid, you're in even better luck, as the Droid version features all of the exclusive Verizon VMA dispatches hosted by MTV News' own Jim Cantiello. Users will be able to stream all of Cantiello's exclusive access, from the white carpet to the Nokia Theatre stage to all of the coolest after-parties. The Droid app is currently available at the Android Market.

So fire up your smartphones, download the new-and-improved MTV News app and get the full VMA experience from all possible angles. We'll see you live this Sunday!

The 27th annual MTV Video Music Awards will be broadcast live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on September 12 at 9 p.m. ET.

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Slayer Pinball: Metal, Physics On Your iPhone

Posted 6/24/10 10:00 am EST by in Music


In their nearly 30 years together as a band, Slayer have done and seen it all. They have sold millions of albums, toured all over the world, collaborated with any number of legends and have managed to stay relevant in a metal world that doesn't necessarily allow people to age gracefully. They're still hardcore, and still creating incredible music (2009's World Painted Blood was a fantastic blast of savagery that was one of the best unheralded releases of last year). But up until recently, they had never lent their name, music and philosophy to an iPhone game.

All that changed with the release of "Slayer Pinball Rocks HD," currently available for $2.99 at the Apple App store (and is also compatible on the iPad). It lives up to its own name, as it totally rocks. The game borrows tracks from World Painted Blood and features a tremendous physics engine that involves incredibly realistic pinball action. There are also plenty of metal growls and voiceovers from the guys in the band, which gives it that extra bit of metal atmosphere. It's as though you're in a pinball arcade with the members of Slayer egging you on as you try to score yet another multi-ball bonus.

While it doesn't quite match the majesty of the greatest rock-based pinball game of all time (that would be Kiss Pinball, which was an actual machine that could be played in the real world), "Slayer Pinball Rocks HD" is a worthy adversary. Is it the most hardcore game available for the iPad? We think so.

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MTV News Launches iPhone App Just In Time For MTV Movie Awards

Posted 6/5/10 12:19 am EST by in Music


With the MTV Movie Awards coming up this Sunday, MTV News decided it was the perfect time to bring you our brand-new (and free!) iPhone App.

We've already been taking you inside Universal City, California's Gibson Amphitheatre on MTV.com, from pre-show interviews with host Aziz Ansari and performer Katy Perry to a live red-carpet stream and "Eclipse" sneak peek. Now you can delve even further with video clips, photo galleries and on-the-scene reports, all while you're on the go.

But don't let us yammer on about it — MTV News correspondent Jim Cantiello is on the scene and ready to give you all the details about the easy-to-use app. Take it away, Jim!

Download the MTV News iPhone App now!

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50 Cent Unveils The 'Baby By Me' Calculator For iPhone

Posted 12/15/09 3:10 pm EST by in Music


50 Cent has spent his career diversifying, getting involved in movies, video games, TV shows, Vitamin Water, sports, self-help books, fashion and whatever else interests him at any given time. His latest venture: iPhone apps. He already debuted the "Baby by Me" mixing board app (which let users remix the first single from 50's latest album Before I Self Destruct). Now there's a companion app: The "Baby by Me" calculator. The app — which retails for 99 cents on the App Store and on iTunes — asks a series of questions that will determine what your payout would be if you did indeed have a child with the man born Curtis Jackson.

"Considering a potential jumpoff? Input a set of your suitor's qualities to find out what size check you'll be getting," the press release announcing the app reads. "Answer a set of questions and find out how much you'll be on the hook for per child." The app inquires about your job, how many children you plan on having, what sort of real estate you possess and whether or not you own a boat. The app also contains snippets of wisdom care of 50 himself and automatic Twitter integration so you can brag to your online friends about how much you're going to collect for lending out your womb. There's also a convenient link that lets you purchase "Baby by Me" and Before I Self Destruct at iTunes.

50 follows in the footsteps of artists like Nine Inch Nails and Mariah Carey, both of whom have created apps that keep users engaged in their music. It won't be too long before everybody launches an app with every album that comes out, which means that 50 is once again on the cutting edge.

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Inside Mariah Carey's iPhone App

Posted 12/10/09 12:42 pm EST by in Music


For musicians in the old days, all you needed was a radio-ready tune, a music video and a willingness to hit the road in order to get your album to sell. In today's environment, you need placement in a TV show, some sort of integrated marketing and a spot on a Timbaland album. Why all artists don't develop an iPhone app is a mystery: They don't cost much to make and can have great potential for interactivity and impact.

That's why we were so excited for "Mariah Carey-oke," the iPhone app released as a tie-in to Mariah Carey's album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel. It dropped a couple of weeks ago, though we've only just gotten around to giving it a test drive. It uses voice recognition software to judge how well you know the notes and lyrics to four of Carey's tunes: "Touch My Body," "Obsessed," "Don't Forget About Us" and "Shake It Off." The songs become progressively harder as the game progresses (we had trouble getting through two, let alone the whole quartet). The app is augmented with artwork from Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel. It's a nice little presentation.

As previously stated, it's insane that more artists don't have custom apps like this. The app released by tech-savvy Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor is an incredible construction: It contains streams of all of Reznor's songs, provides a news feed and helps you connect to other fans of the band. Other groups (especially those with strong online presences) could really benefit from such technology. Weezer could totally transpose their popular online game "Weezer Fight" into an app, or Justin Bieber could provide a direct connection to his Twitter feed or a running photo stream. At $3.99, "Mariah Carey-oke" (a fantastically punny name, by the way) is a little steep for four songs worth of portable singalongs, but it's a cool idea that will probably get stolen repeatedly in the future.

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Diddy Launches iPhone App Listing His Favorite Restaurants, Hotels, Bars And Clubs

Posted 10/8/09 12:32 pm EST by in Music


Last night on Twitter, Diddy announced his latest interactive venture: An iPhone app. It teams him up with BlackBook magazine to provide city guides for 50 different metropolei around the world. Using the iPhone's GPS chip, the app will figure out where you are and then tell you all about the nearest Diddy-approved restaurants, hotels, bars and clubs. Most major American cities are represented (as well as luxury spots like Park City, Aspen and the Hamptons) as well as a number of international spots (Paris and Milan, sure, but also Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Cabo San Lucas and Dubai, among others).

"BlackBook has invested in making sure that when it's time to play, you know where the fun is," the app's description reads. "We asked ourselves, who is the one person on this planet who has even more access than BlackBook? The answer, we realized, was not a person at all — more like an empire."

BlackBook is a publication that serves a pretty high-end clientele, and considering Diddy is a jet-setting mogul (and on the cover of BlackBook's October issue), the recommendations tend to skew towards luxury establishments like Jean Georges (a super-chic eatery in Trump Tower), get after-dinner drinks at 1Oak (a swanky lounge with a very loud Web site) and of course shop at the Sean John anchor store.

The app is available for free from the App Store on iTunes, and all told it's an interesting look into what it's like to live like Diddy.

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Diddy Invites iPhone Users To Hop On His Train

Posted 4/14/09 6:34 pm EST by in Diddy, iphone


Diddy iPhone App
By Daniela Capistrano

We're all about artist iPhone apps in the Newsroom — from Lil Wayne's "Be Like Lil Wayne" app to the Fray's live-concert-streaming app, we love tracking the latest features designed to entice fans.

Music mogul and new-media king Sean "Diddy" Combs wants you to get onboard Last Train to Paris with a free iPhone app designed to build anticipation for the September 22 release of his new album.

Diddy's new app will aggregate all of his various social-networking profiles and bring news directly to his fans via his integrated Twitter feed, a feature (right now) that most artists don't provide. And, similar to Fall Out Boy's and the Fray's apps, "LTTP" allows fans to upload their favorite photos to a fan site through their iPhone. His twist on this now standard functionality is that instead of sharing concert photos of the artist, fans are asked to submit photos of themselves and their friends, particularly photos of their travels.



Read More...

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Lil Wayne, Fall Out Boy And More Cater To Tech-Savvy Fans With iPhone Apps

Posted 2/11/09 2:25 pm EST by in Fall-Out-Boy, iphone, Lil Wayne


By Daniela Capistrano

Lil Wayne's "Be Like Lil Wayne" app lets you customize your iPhone photos with grillz and other bling, then share with friends. On Fall Out Boy's app, you can follow them on tour via GPS. Pink wants you to challenge friends through multiplayer racing on "Fast and Furious: Pink Slip." And the Pussycat dolls want you to play their games on the go.

No longer a space reserved for the tech elite, artists are seeing the potential of iPhone apps and using them to develop an army of young fans who are increasingly mobile.

Nine Inch Nails, Snow Patrol, Justice, Moby and the Fray are just a few other artists who have jumped on the iPhone bandwagon, eager to maintain a connection with their tech-savvy audience. Despite the hefty price tags of iPhones and the iPod Touch (considering our bummer economy), more teens are rocking these slick mobile devices than ever before. Aware of this trend, artists are collaborating with iPhone developers to create branded apps with all the benefits of a MySpace page — without the restrictions of logging on to a computer.

With new apps in the works for Britney, Beyoncé and Akon, fans have the opportunity to connect with their favorite artists — and other fans — in a brand-new way, no matter where they are.

FOB iPhone app

(Who else is releasing an iPhone app? Find out, after the jump!)
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MTV News Producer Braves Times Square Line For New iPhone

Posted 7/11/08 6:43 pm EST by in iphone


By Andrew Ross Rowe

I've been waiting since the first iPhone to own one. I even made the iPhone commercial-song ringtone to put on my normal phone! Having a drop in price made the deal sweeter. But would standing in line Friday morning secure me the next model?

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