This is how I feel at the doctors
Total professionals, doctors are top notch. Especially doctors of philosophy!
Edited: March 5th, 2010
The XX vs Alan Fitzpatrick & Reset Robot – Silicone Shelter – King Unique Bootleg download
I’ve been listening to this for a long time now, and I really love this song. While this zippyshare download isn’t a release quality link, it does allow me to play this song out to more people who can love it too via iTunes or Ableton!
You can download this song here: The XX vs Alan Fitzpatrick & Reset Robot -Silicone Shelter (King Unique Bootleg) on zippyshare
Here’s proof that our future is not becoming less free.
Edited: February 3rd, 2010
What the iPad means for music
Steve Jobs today introduced the Apple iPad, a handheld multitouch computer, and it’s likely to be the biggest music technology introduction of the year.
The iPad will be immediately useful as a musical tool, because it runs existing iPhone apps. As developers adapt their apps to the larger real estate, though, the Apple iPad should come into its own as a platform.
Pricing in USD:
-
Wifi models
- 16GB – $499
- 32GB – $599
- 64GB -$699
-
3G models
- 16GB – $629
- 32GB – $729
- 64GB -$829
Look at what has been happening with the JazzMutant Lemur as a malleable music controller and what has already been happening with iPhone music apps, and it’s clear that music developers are going to have fun with the Apple iPad.
Take that as a starting point – day 1 for the Apple iPad as a music platform.
The iPad won’t replace the power of a dedicated music computer – but it is creating a new platform that will support new types of mobile music making and new ways of controlling and playing music.
And, while think the iPad is going to prove to be a big deal – we’d like to know what Apple has planned for multitasking, file management, access to the iTunes library, third-party device support and more.
Check out the specs for the Apple iPad and let us know what you think.
Is this thing going to change the way you make music this year?
Apple iPad Features:
- 9.7″ Full capacitive multitouch screen
- .5″ thick
- 1 GHz Apple A4 processor
- 16GB-GB Flash storage
- Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
- WiFi 802.11n
- Built-in speaker, microphone, 30-pin connectors
- Accelerometer
- Compass
- 10 hour battery life in use
- Runs all iPhone apps
- 3G wireless options, with a $30/month unlimited plan, with international options by the summer.
Edited: January 28th, 2010
The History of the Boombox
This NPR video looks at the history of the boombox:
The boxes had to be big, to make that bass boom. The speakers in early boxes had extra-large magnets to push all that air around, and they were housed in heavy metal casing to deal with the vibrations from all the bass. Fab 5 Freddy says they got pretty big.
“I remember some boxes so big, they required 20 D-size batteries to an already heavy box,” he says. “So these boxes were so heavy that some cats that would carry their boxes all the time, they would develop massive forearms and biceps.”
The boxes were part of a style that included white Adidas and big gold chains. Freddy was a filmmaker and artist at the time, and he says he took his box everywhere.
“I traveled with my massive boombox,” Freddy says. “That thing moved with me, you know. I remember, like, being on the plane — it couldn’t go in the overhead bin, but that was my baby. It traveled first class right along with me.”
Doesn’t it make you want to go hunting for a vintage boombox?
via noiseforairports
Edited: January 27th, 2010
Prespective Configures the Topography
The French philosopher and cultural theorist Jean Baudrillard’s ideas are often called upon when matters of simulation come into discussion. When asked what new technology could potentially offer us, he suggests that new media isn’t that new:
“I don’t know much about this subject. I haven’t gone beyond the fax and the automatic answering machine. I have a very hard time getting down to work on the screen because all I see there is a text in the form of an image which I have a hard time entering. With my typewriter, the text is at a distance; it is visible and I can work with it. With the screen, it’s different; one has to be inside; it is possible to play with it but only if one is on the other side, and immerses oneself in it. That scares me a little, and Cyberspace is not of great use to me personally.”
This raises an interesting question regarding technological topography: at what point does a user stop interacting via mediation and begin interacting “directly” with an environment?
Is a paramedic directly working on a patient? Their interactions in the 21st century are mediated by latex gloves, surely they aren’t directly interacting with any patients. This is just another example of a technological mediation.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines technology as follows:
technology |tɛkˈnɒlədʒi|noun ( pl. -gies)the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, esp. in industry : advances in computer technology | recycling technologies.• machinery and equipment developed from such scientific knowledge.• the branch of knowledge dealing with engineering or applied sciences.
Surely even the paramedic is using technology already to interact in every way during his/her job. The difference between my paramedic example and interacting with a different space, such as cyberspace, is that the paramedic interacts seamlessly with his environment. (although arguably the same feelings happen in virtual reality)
The virtual experiences as perceived by the characters in the words of Surrogates (2009) or Caprica (2009) is indistinguishable by its users from real existence. While we have nothing that equates to “sensory input” in our virtual realities at this point in history, it may not be too far off. We are already designing devices which are activated by our thoughts alone. It probably isn’t much longer before fully developed sensory feedback equipment becomes common place in our daily interactions with the world.
Edited: September 24th, 2009