The Griffin Technology Blog

iPhone 4S duets with The Flaming Lips, Erykah Badu, and Biz Markie (kind of)

Web — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 23:30:50 +0000

We love the iPhone 4S. And we love learning about new ways that people have used the iPhone to create art or connect with other people. This find from a couple of weeks ago is a great example of all of those things.

Now I Understand, a “sound construction” by The Flaming Lips, Erykah Badu, and backward samples of Biz Markie. Can’t click above? Hear it at Soundcloud.

Lips frontperson Wayne Coyne sums it up:

Life is beautiful. Music gets you high.

Peace.

Wayne

Mmmmmyup. Gratefully pinched from @jaminguy’s Twitter feed. Thanks Jamin!

The $51/pound Coffee Conundrum

Web — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:36:53 +0000

A number of the folks in Creative Services share a Keurig coffee maker. Every morning from 8:30 til 9, the Hive fills with the smells jamocha raspberry almond fudge ripple coffee. “Convenient,” they say. “A fresh cup every time” they say.

“$51 a pound” I say, having just read this post over at thekitchn.com.

For $51 a pound, my coffee had better be picked by trained panda bears and lovingly roasted one bean at a time, then brewed with water fresh from a glacier melt.

You know what is convenient? And not $51/pound. The coffee we get every week from our good friends at Bongo Java Roasting Co. Fair-trade and local-roasted. Yum. Don’t live in Nashville? No biggie. Bongo does mail order.

What’s In Your Cup?

Soccer Break

Web — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 03:06:47 +0000

A couple of our intrepid IT mages (and Daniel, who is responsible for much if the upkeep over at griffintechnology.com) have an interesting take on the concept of the “smoke break.”. Because none of them smoke, they save up the five-minute breaks they would have taken (had they been smokers), and spend the time instead showing off their mad footy skillz kicking the ball around in this strange soccer/hackeysack hybrid. Calls to FIFA continue to go unreturned.

No related posts.

Something Jar Jar this Way Comes: Phantom Menace 3D Bows … Yay or Nay?

Web — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:57:10 +0000

We’re just two days away from the debut of the rather kludgily named Star Wars: Episode I | The Phantom Menace in 3D. Opinions around the Sawtooth Building are … strong about this ~~naked cash grab~~ reboot of a classic for a new generation. What do you think? Take the poll. Let us know.

Want a free HELO TC? Sure you do. Just sign up for our newsletter. We’ll draw ten names. You could be one of them.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Thanks for reading. ^WebWebster

Tech Tip: Keep your device’s battery charged to keep HELO TC flying

Web — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:23:16 +0000

Hey, everyone. Mike from Customer Support here.

If you love HELO TC as much as we do, you know how heartbreaking crashes can be, and since HELO TC uses audio signals from the app to control the craft, any interruption can result in disaster. You’re already putting your device into Airplane Mode to prevent phone calls, texts, and other interruptions from sending your copter into a tailspin, but here’s one more tip to keep your HELO flying:

If your iOS device’s battery starts to run low, you’ll get a pop-up letting you know that your battery is at less than 20%. If this message comes up while your flying your HELO TC, it will interrupt the audio signal from the HELO TC app and the next thing you know . . . death from above. To keep this from happening, make sure you’ve charged your iOS device all the way up before you start flying.

Keep your browser pointed here for more tips and tricks from Customer Support!

Announcing our CES 2012 Case Winners

Web — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:57:58 +0000

We got thousands of entries. We drew 20 winners. Here they are. Now it’s time to let your internet envy run free.

Ernestine Jones
Ellen Sussna-Heyman
Doug Stickley
Gary Ross
Sherman Chen
Andrew Payne
Alfred Date
Margaret Hirst
Conner Craig
Michael Wright
Stanton Hancock
David George
Anthony Campbell
Paul Benbenek
Amanda Fobert
Terry Trautloff
Rogerio Castello
Alan Golub
Mike Hua
Lynne Tastard

Faar not, however. There are plenty more contests, discounts and updates. Click here to get on the list and we promise not to flood your email box.

Thanks for reading. ^Web

HELO TC for Android … cleared for takeoff!

Web — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:49:05 +0000

Android users rejoice! HELO TC for Android is finally rolling out of the hangar. Get it now. And make sure you use promocode DROIDCOPTER at check out to save 15%.

Then wipe the smug smiles of self-satisfaction from the faces of your iPhone-using “friends” who have been buzzing your cubicle all day with their HELO TCs. Dangerous missions of annoyance and intrigue are at your command. Reassert your awesome with the remote-controlled helicopter that you control with your Android-powered smartphone.

Get it now. Then go back and whip yourself into an air-borne frenzy by watching the videos if you haven’t done so already. And make your plans. Your day is coming. (Cue monomanical laugh).

No one runner should have all that power: Running, the iPhone and your “Power Song”

Web — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:27:06 +0000

It’s known, somewhat embarrassingly, as the “power song.” The one or more cuts on a playlist that can be counted on to re-energize, re-focus and otherwise re-hype a sagging run, work-out, house-cleaning, commute, whatever.

An iPhone, iPod or smartphone, a thoughtfully constructed Playlist and a good armband make all the difference during the last leg of whatever slog you’ve chosen to put yourself through. For me, the rather unimaginitavely named “Run 3″ playlist and an armband (I’m currently putting our adidas miCoach Armband through its paces) are crucial tools to my actually finishing the day’s run.

Muscle & Fitness lists Guns N’ Roses “Welcome to the Jungle” as its number one of “25 Greatest Power Songs of All Time.” Noticeably absent from the list are either the last three minutes of Mahler’s Symphony #8 (The Symphony of A Thousand) or anything by The Prodigy or C + C Music Factory. And the fact is, you can’t pick your power song. It picks you. You’re out doing what you do, the song comes up in the rotation, something shifts and boom there’s your new power song.

My power song? ”The Old Landmark” off of Aretha Franklin’s Amazing Grace -The Complete Recordings, Disc 2, cut 8. Three minutes of “go” straight to the legs. Didn’t mean for it to happen. But the Go wants what it wants.

So how about you? What’s the one song you need to get you over the hump and across whatever literal or figurative finish line you’re chasing?

Thanks for reading. ^Web

New year, new voices.

Web — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:35:27 +0000

Back in December, we told you about some upcoming changes in our blog. In the next few weeks, you’ll begin to see some of those changes. We’re really excited about what the updated blog will allow us to share with you (and vice versa). You may remember that we took a little bit of our new digs to CES this year. We were blown away by the response we got. So, we’re going to bring some of that personality to our online presence.

NEW YEAR, NEW VOICES

We’ve made a big deal out of our Nashville home.

The energy, vitality and creativity that have lead to so much of American music’s being created within 10 miles of our offices is reflected in more than 200 Griffinites who work in Nashville or our offices around the world. We want you to hear from them.

We’ll be introducing a chorus of new voices (yeah, sorry, the bad music metaphors just write themselves sometimes) in the coming weeks. We’re going to share some of the massive tech wisdom that’s been building in Tech Support for the last twenty years (their wiki is an awesome thing to behold, though rumors of its sentience are somewhat exaggerated). The conversation gets pretty interesting around here and we’d like you to join in.

The social media landscape is changing fast. And Griffin’s changing with it. Since launching back in 2008, we’ve blurred the lines between content, tech support and outreach … the whole task of social media is becoming more widely distributed through the company. We’ll be introducing a new curator for our online presence and a host of new contributors in the upcoming days.

We’re proud of the vibrant online community we’ve created over the past few years. And we’re looking forward to what the new year will bring. We hope you like what you hear.

Best wishes my friends

Dave — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I started working for Griffin on September 8, 2008. I know this, because that was also Griffin’s first tweet. Today, I hand the keys to @griffintech back to the boss as I’ve decided to move on. It’s been a difficult decision, but one I needed to make. Today, I resign my position as Social Media Coordinator at Griffin Technology.

I sincerely wish Griffin all of the best in everything that they do. I plan to stay a loyal customer too. I will truly miss the daily interactions with my colleagues, friends and Griffin’s online community. It’s been an honor working with all of them and with you.

If you’d like to keep in touch, you can do so by emailing me at davemadethat@gmail.com. I’ve been known to be on Twitter @davedelaney from time to time too.

Thanks to you all for the experience of a lifetime!

Cheers,
Dave

Friday goodness for our iPod touch friends