Jackson Guitars

Jackson is a guitar manufacturer originally owned and operated by Grover Jackson, a partner of Wayne Charvel of Charvel Guitar Repair. It is probably best-known for its "Rhoads" V model guitar, originally designed and used by guitarist Randy Rhoads. Grover put his name on the Rhoads rather than the Charvel name because he felt the design was too shocking for Charvel's regular customers. This model inspired Grover to start the Jackson guitar company. Jacksons today are most notable for their outstanding quality and fast playability.

Wayne Charvel sold his interest in the Charvel name to Grover Jackson on November 10, 1978. The shop was located in Glendora, California (while using a PO Box in neighboring San Dimas) and manufactured guitars in this location from 1979 to 1986, when the Company merged with IMC (International Music Corporation), a Texas based importer of musical instruments. The factory then moved to Ontario, California.

In the Fall of 2002, Fender Musical Instrument Corporation purchased Jackson/Charvel, and operations were moved to the Fender factory in Corona, CA. Fender is now manufacturing guitars that are almost exactly like the original San Dimas Charvels, save for a few details. Both Jackson and Charvel models are being produced at Corona.

Jackson Guitars has become most famous for its slender and elegant models, often with an aggressive look popular with harder rock and metal music and are known for their fast playing necks. These features made them particuarly popular among extreme metal guitarists in the 80's and early 90's (see artists list). Jacksons are known for their excellent quality and relatively low prices.

Almost all Jackson (and many Charvel) guitars share the typical pointed, roughly triangular headstock, originally designed by Randy Rhoads and subsequently copied by many guitar companies. Various models (especially a good number of Dinkys) feature a reversed pointy headstock with the tip pointing upwards. Charvel/Jackson was the target of many copyright lawsuits from Fender which ended the use of Stratocaster styled headstocks for Jackson and Charvel guitars until recently.

Jackson Gutiar Models

Jackson's trademark guitar models include:

• The Randy Rhoads guitar ,an asymmetric 'V' shaped body with pointy "wings". Influential endorsers of this instrument included Randy Rhoads himself and Megadeath frontman Dave Mustain.

• The Vinnie Vincent Flying V, basically the same model of the rhoad´s V with a second shadow V.

• The Soloist or Dinky. The Soloist has a neck-through neck with the superstrat body design. The Dinky has the exact body shape but with bolt-on necks. Popular among lead guitarists in the metal genre.

• The Kelly, a sleeker version of Gibson's popular Explorer, popularized by Marty Friedman.

• The King V was a symmetric 'V' shape with long pointy wings. The guitar was first commissioned by David Linsk but RATT guitarist Robbin Crosby("King" was Crosby's nickname) saw one at the factory in 1983 and became known for using them. At that time, the Jackson Custom Shop began producing King Vs for special order.Dave Mustain of Megadeath later become heavily associated with this model guitar during beginning of Megadeth's commercial popularity in the late 80's, and Jackson released the KV as a regular production model.

• The DR, a reverse headstock Dinky model.
  

• Phil Collen's signature PC1 with a Sustainer infinite sustain driver in the neck position and a Floyd Rose original locking tremolo. It was followed by the shortlived PC3 model, a moderately priced version featuring DiMarzio HSS pickups and a Wilkinson floating vibrato.

• The Warrior, a very aggressive looking body consisting of four pointy ends designed in-house. The points themselves were designed after the Jackson headstock shape.

• The Kelly Star, a vaguely star shaped body, actually the front half of the Kelly with the pointy ends of the Rhoads model.

• The T2KV, Shaped like a Gibson Flying V but the size of a King V, designed and made popular by Dave Mustain of Megadeath .

• Jackson Professional Series was the Made in Japan line of many popular USA models. Ergo, all Jacksons with "Professional" on the headstock were made in the Japan factory.

• The Performer tag is denoted on Jackson models produced in the early 90's in overseas factories (primarily Korea). Prices usually ranged from 400-800 dollars based on specifications.

While a few Jackson headstocks have had the "Strat head" shape, most have been the pointy "drooped" style shown above, designed by Randy Rhoads in 1980 - it is styled after the sleek nose of the jetliner Concorde. The Randy Rhoads V was the first guitar to carry Grover Jackson's moniker and was originally known as the Concorde. In fact, Jackson sued ESP in the late 80's for their use of the headstock Jackson was famous for. It is true that Fender sued Jackson Charvel in the 80's to discontinue their use of Fenders trademarked Stratocaster headstock.

IBM to buy Telelogic, Swedish software company

IBM says it will buy Telelogic AB, a Swedish software company, for about $745 million. Telelogic provides software development solutions and has more than 8,000 customers worldwide, primarily in aerospace and defense, telecommunications and automotive industries. Headquartered in Malmö, Sweden, with U.S. headquarters in Irvine, Calif., Telelogic has more than 1,100 employees and operations in 22 countries. Last year, the company reported revenues of approximately $208 million.

Telelogic products help organizations define, model, build, test, deliver and govern the development of software used in complex systems such as aircraft radar or automobile anti-lock braking systems.

"From today's next generation entertainment devices to tomorrow's space-information systems, software is the lifeblood of complex systems," said Dr. Danny Sabbah, general manager, IBM Rational Software. "IBM's acquisition of Telelogic will complement our entire portfolio to help our clients drive efficient and effective software development processes that are vital to product delivery."

"This acquisition will provide our clients with enhanced capabilities to develop and deploy complex systems on a global basis," said Anders Lidbeck, president and CEO, Telelogic. "IBM and Telelogic clients will be able to leverage a broader set of capabilities without the need to replace existing systems."

Learn more:
IBM to Acquire Telelogic to Advance Global Software Delivery Strategy (press release)

New chip: twice the speed, no increase in power appetite

IBM today launched its dual-core POWER6 processor. Running at 4.7 GHz, the new chip is twice as fast as its predecessor, but needs virtually the same amount of electricity to run and cool it.

It is incorporated into a new server that, according to several benchmark tests, is the fastest ever built in its class. The IBM System p 570 server also incorporates special hardware and software that allows it to create many “virtual” servers on a single box.

“Like the victory of IBM’s Deep Blue chess-playing supercomputer 10 years ago this month, the debut of POWER6 processor-based systems proves that relentless innovation brings ‘impossible’ goals within reach,” said Bill Zeitler, senior vice president, IBM Systems and Technology Group.

Learn more:
IBM Unleashes World's Fastest Chip in Powerful New Computer (press release)

Paypal para Perú

Me causa una gran alegría enterarme que por fin Paypal ya está habilitado para Peru.

Así es, me enteré de este suceso a través de la web de Ventana Azul, sin embargo debo hacer una corrección a su post. Según la web oficial de Paypal, desde Peru solo es posible hacer pagos (Ventana Azul afirma que además se pueden recibir). Esperemos que más adelante se pueda recibir dinero desde cuentas de banco de Estados Unidos y/o otras cuentas Paypal.

Esto representa un paso adelante para el comercio electrónico en Peru. Paypal es uno de los servicios de transacción de dinero más usado en el mundo gracias a su seguridad y facilidad de uso.

Una ventaja significativa de este servicio es la posibilidad de hacer pagos por Internet sin exponer la tarjeta de crédito o el número de cuenta de banco (Paypal es un intermediario).

Solo queda esperar que activen más opciones para nuestro país. Tal vez un buen incentivo sería si algún banco local se interesara en trabajar con esta empresa, tal como lo viene realizando actualmente Interbank con Xoom.

Mientras tanto, si alguien tiene urgencia por usar los servicios de Paypal para su negocio tendrá que conformarse con abrir una cuenta de banco en Estados Unidos.

Apocalyptica

Apocalyptica se formó en 1992 en la academia de música clásica Sibelius de Helsinki en Finlandia bajo el nombre de Cello House Band, cuando cuatro amigos hacían covers de sus bandas favoritas sólo por diversión, pero con la diferencia de que los tocaban con sus cellos. Al principio solo tocaban en fiestas, campamentos y frente a sus amigos pero luego empezaron a tocar en clubes.
En 1995 tocaron en el Teatro Heavy Metal Club y Kari Hynninen, un representante de Zen Garden, los invitó a grabar un disco. Como la mayoría de sus covers eran de Metallica decidieron grabar el disco exclusivamente con canciones de ellos. Así, en 1996 bajo el nombre de Apocalyptica (fusión de Apocalypse y Metallica) surgió Plays Metallica by Four Cellos, el cual vendió millones de copias alrededor del mundo. Ese mismo año, el 18 y 19 de Noviembre, abrieron para Metallica durante sus dos conciertos en Helsinki.
En 1998, tras el éxito de su primer álbum, lanzaron Inquisition Symphony, que contenía más de sus covers de Metallica y de otras bandas como Sepultura, Faith No More y Pantera. Además incluía tres temas originales compuestos por Eino Matti Toppinen (alias Eicca).
Tras este disco empezaron las giras, entrevistas y apariciones en revistas importantes de música. Dos años después Antero Manninen decide salir de la banda para seguir con sus estudios de música clásica. Fue reemplazado por Perttu Paivo Kullervo Kivilaakso, otro alumno de la academia y amante del Metal.
Ese mismo año lanzaron su tercer disco, Cult, que incluía únicamente canciones originales, pero no quisieron dejar atrás sus raíces, así que incluyeron dos covers más de Metallica y un cover del clásico del compositor noruego Edvard Grieg, In the Hall of the Mountain King.
Este fue un gran paso para ellos, no sólo porque era su primer disco con solo temas originales, sino porque también incluyeron otros instrumentos como contrabajos, percusiones, cellos eléctricos y por primera vez grabaron una canción con voz. Un año después lanzaron su primer DVD en vivo, Live.

SRO Legend VI Trailer