Sponsor: Try GotoMeeting free for 30 days! For this special offer, visit www.gotomeeting.com/techpodcasts Sponsor: Try SquareSpace free for 14 days, use the code “bwana” to save 10% on the life of the account www.squarespace.com/?associateTag=bwana In this video, I answer a question from _Keith from Twitter   – http://twitter.com/_Keith who asks: “Hey Bwana I recently got a new laptop and now have to find something to do with my old one, any suggestions? (I don’t wanna sell)”  Thanks for the question Keith.  There are many ways to utilize an older laptop.  Some of my suggestions are:  1.  Use it as a couch surfing machine in your living room.  Combined with a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse, you can make use of a web browser and also you can utilize it for musics and video.  In terms of games, you can utilize basic flash games as well.  2.  If you have kids, you can use a distribution of Ubuntu called Qimo which is a specific pre-configured OS for kids.  It has all kinds of cool things that kids enjoy.  3.  You can use it learn new operating systems by way of VMWare or simply install the OS on the machine.  These are just some of the ways you can utilize that old machine to satisfy your needs.  Thanks for the question Keith!

From the department of the random department:  Salsa Portal

In this video, I discuss two applications which show the flexibility of the iPhone when it comes to musical applications. Community regular, jrblaze, donated the funds to purchase these applications so that I can review them and I must say, I’ve never seen anything like them. They are called Guitar and iShred. These are true musical applications for the iPhone. Guitar is an acoustic guitar app while iShred is an electric guitar app. The applications feature a rich interface which shows the chords, strum positions, and supports just about anything a guitar can do. Songs can be played, recorded, edited, renamed, and even saved to the web which can be shared via a feature called “AirPlay”. iShred offers various effects pedals, amp simulators, and even a “Wahsabi” which allows you to tilt the phone to control the wah pedal! If you love playing the Guitar, or have any interest in learning to play the Guitar, you should pick up these apps. Guitar is $3.99 and iShred is $4.99 on the iTunes App store for iPhone and iPod Touch.

In this video, I discuss Tap Tap Revenge 2 (TTR2) by Tapulous. TTR2 brings 150 free tracks and three play modes to play in. It improves on the first iteration of TTR by bringing an entirely new gaming engine to the scene as well as new ways to tap like “Tap & Hold” and “Multi-Tap”. There are three ways to play TTR2 with your friends: Challenge Mode, Two Player Split-Screen mode, and Career Mode. The folks at Tapulous promise new tracks to download regularly so you can keep the experience fresh. All in all, TTR2 is a great upgrade to an already solid title. Given that Tapulous has kept the price tag free, this app is a must have for anyone interested in music rhythm games. Enjoy!

In this video, I attempt to play Song of Storms again, but a lot faster than before.  I use the Super Smash Brothers Brawl (SSBB) rendition of Song of Storms as background aid.  I’ve been practicing this song the most out of all the ones I’ve played and I wanted to test myself on whether I was able to keep up with the official versions of the song.  You guys be the judge on my progress.  Enjoy!

In this video, I discuss a popular topic at Bwana.TV, ringtones.  My Free iPhone Ringtone video at Youtube is one of my most popular to date.  It was created when iTunes 7.4.1 was released and it used a workaround that I thought would not last for a month.  Instead, this workaround works on the latest iTunes 8.0.2.  This video demonstrates how to create ringtones form the rich sound loop library at Soundsnap.com.  This solution is for the iPhone only, but if your mobile device supports mp3 ringtones, then all you need to do is download your favorite loop from Soundsnap, and copy it to your mobile device.  With the iPhone, this trick that I demonstrate involves renaming the file extension to .M4R after converting the MP3 to AAC.  Soundsnap saves you the trouble of editing your sounds to loop correctly and offers a ton of sound effects, music loops and the like.  I’ve already created 2 ringtones in less than 10 minutes of surfing the site.  I highly recommend you check out Soundsnap.com for all kinds of music loops use this technique or whatever technique you prefer to transfer those loops your mobile device.  Enjoy!

In this video, I perform The Legend of Zelda’s “Song of Storms” as a direct request of “bloodxshotxliez” from Youtube.  The composition for this song is here:  http://bit.ly/XTUr .  This video is available in 720p at http://hd.bwana.tv.  Enjoy!

In this video, I continue with some short Ocarina songs.  Heres a popular tune from the movie, “An American Tail” called “Somewhere Out There”.  The composition for this song is here: http://bit.ly/O9Z2. This video is available in 720p at http://hd.bwana.tv.  Enjoy.

In this video, I continue with some short Ocarina songs.  Heres a popular tune from the game, “The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” called “Zelda’s Lullaby”.  The composition for this song is here: http://bit.ly/cPuY . This video is available in 720p.  Enjoy.

In this video I talk about how to learn how to play various songs using the popular iPhone app, Ocarina.  This application is taking the net by storm as many people are learning to compose and create new songs.  The quickest way to learn how to play songs with Ocarina is to visit http://ocarina.smule.com and click the “Forums” link.  From there, you can navigate to the “Share your score” section of the forums and see what songs people have composed.  These compositions consist of the note fingerings so you can play them.  I find it is best to know the song before attempting to play it as the rhythms are not documented very well.  Most of these songs are not terribly difficult and after a 10-15 minute practice, you will be able to play these songs (albeit at a slower pace).   If you’ve ever played a fingering instrument before, then you’ll probably get the hang of it even quicker.  Have fun with Ocarina, this $0.99 app is amazing!  Enjoy!