Technology in harmony | Bangkok Post: tech

Always at the IT forefront, Dell is now moving forward with a combination of technology and design on its mobile gadgets.

A combination of brains and beauty, the Inspiron R introduces Dell’s ‘‘Switch by Design Studio’’ interchangeble lids.

The company's gadgets have received a warm welcome not only from businesses and consumers, but from professional artists and freelancers who have found ways to extend their function using various applications.

The company recently launched its "Dell Access" programme at a small gallery, Art Trove, in Singapore. The showcase event was attended by a street artist and a guitarist, who demonstrated how their jobs can be served by technology.

Randolf Arriola, a singer and innovative guitarist, has long been fascinating audiences with his solo "live looping" performances.

Live looping is a unique creative method and form of performance where no prerecorded audio materials are used and all sounds are created in real time.

"Live looping is creating sound and creating compositional layers on the spot," he said. "Absolutely no sound material is used. It allows you to record layers upon layers upon layers, where eventually it's a sound."

Constantly exploring new sounds, Arriola has developed a contraption that involves a modified speaker stand and basically allows the guitar to connect to the gadget.

With his own custom-made Dell Streak mini tablet mount/holder interface for his Klein electric guitar, the guitarist can transmit wirelessly. The gadget functions as an extended instrument using various music apps as well as onboard switchable effects and an amp simulator.

Arriola has been tweaking the interface to overcome problems of trying to accommodate the vastly different output levels and impedances between active and passive electric guitar pickups.

The other guest presenter at the launch was street artist Trase, who is always on the move and would like to carry as light a load as possible.

"I would also like something simple and fast to work with, because my job does not really require lots of heavy graphic work on the computer," he said.

Trase, who was commissioned to paint live at the event, used a little bit of technology and some simple animation to interact with his work.

To him, the Dell Inspiron R provides simple functions to do quick illustrations because of the device's fast processing speed.

The Dell Inspiron R helps the street artist to do some quick illustration work because of its fast processing speed.

The event was the first time he had used technology such as projection with a mural. Trase said the notebook was easy to set up and, with integrated media card readers, he could load his media files very quickly.

According to Chue Chee Wei, Dell's executive director South Asia and Korea for Consumer, Small and Medium Business, the Dell Access programme is an exclusive community designed especially for friends of Dell.

Wei said it was conceptualised to bring together brand advocates, influential media personalities and other key influencers to form a "synergistic, passionate community that matters".

The event is the first in a series of regional and local activities in South Asia aimed at providing an exclusive platform for like-minded people to exchange ideas, discuss trends and be among the first in the region to obtain the latest news and information from Dell, he said.

"Dell has always been an innovator and differentiator, with a strong focus on listening to customers," Wei said. "We have been focusing on collecting feedback from consumers and take those on the design delivering in best experience."

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Randolf Arriola plays his Optimus Klein guitar mounted to a Dell Streak mini tablet for his solo ‘‘live looping’’ performance.