And now, for something completely different! LIRNEasia research found that mobile phones are increasingly being used for entertainment. But we never thought of this!
Wang held his iPhone as if he were holding a sandwich, then blew into the microphone at the bottom of the device. He controlled the vibrato by tilting the phone as he played “the Zelda tune” from a popular fantasy-action video game called The Legend of Zelda.
New York Times writer David Pogue called the ocarina application “one of the most magical programs I’ve ever seen for the iPhone, and probably for any computer.” It’s also one of the most popular.
“The ocarina app we developed at SMULE has, since it was launched last November, been downloaded more than 600,000 times,” Wang said.
“Most of these half-a-million users, we don’t think they are professional musicians or performers or people who would think of themselves as artists or musicians; they are simply people who like music.
“They can pull out the ocarina and play it while they are waiting to get milk at the supermarket. They can play while they are waiting for the bus. They can play during family gatherings.
“You can actually hear the world learn music through this,” Wang added. He was not being metaphorical. He held up his iPhone to show another part of the ocarina app: On the screen was a globe of the world, with points of light that made it almost glow; each point represented someone, somewhere, who had recently used the ocarina app. Some parts of the globe—parts of North America, in particular—seemed to be a continuous field of light. He tapped part of the screen representing Southeast Asia, and a thin, wavering rendition of “Happy Birthday” could be heard.
Full story is here.
Comments are closed.