The iPad soars on an a cappella duet on the Tonight Show Meanwhile, Redmond still fumbling around with the expiring Windows XP

Well, I’m back after a while. My thanks to  Arnold Woodworth for his weekend updates. (Francisco Franco! Still dead after 30 years!) 

Let’s get back to the topic at hand, namely, Apple getting free publicity while Microsoft still fumbles around trying to get people to give up Windows XP. 

When Jimmy Fallon of The Tonight Show got Billy Joel to join him on a duet of The Lion Sleeps Tonight; the star of the bit turned out to be the iPad Mini running the Loopy HD app. Jimmy and Billy recorded their backing tracks with Loopy in real time, then segued into the song. The crowd went wild. 

As Appleinsider reported, they did have professional help. Their music arranger used a $1,400 pro-level four-track mixer to add the vocals captured by wireless mikes to the iPad’s tracks. And Jimmy’s house band, The Roots, added a bit of percussion. Check out the story at Appleinsider for all the details. 

Tim Cook loved the bit. He tweeted a link to his 425,000 followers. Loopy announced it would go on sale for 1/2 price for a limited time. 

Now we wait for the inevitable onslaught of cute kids with their iPads doing The Lion Sleeps Tonight on YouTube. 

In other news, a Chinese source with a past record of accuracy reports that Apple will refresh the MacBook Air with a 12-inch model without a cooling fan. Coolness!, as my friend at JPL would say. 

 

 Meanwhilie, there’s Microsoft, still trying to convince the users of Windows XP to give up the old comfortable operating system for Windows 8.1-described as a bag of hurt by many. Their latest bit? We’ll give you $100-to buy a Microsoft Surface tablet with.

For all of you Windows XP people. I say, “Come on over to the Mac. Comfortable interface, top-notch programs, and much less vulnerable to malware. Not impervious, no. No one is. But a lot less worry"

“The Mac will give you what you got used to with Windows XP at its best. It just works."

“And feel free to try out an iPad when  you step into the Apple retailer of your choice. 

 

Tom Briant

Edtior, Macvalley Voice