Thursday, September 28, 2006
New Winamp Player Emerges - Computing News - Digital Trends
New Winamp Player Emerges - Computing News - Digital Trends: "AOL has debuted their new Winamp media player, this time with support for pictures, video and other AOL services."
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Chat: The Long Tail - Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals)
Fireside Chat: The Long Tail - Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals): "The Chatters
Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail and Editor of Wired
Dave Goldberg, General Manager of Yahoo Music
Bradley Horowitz, VP of Product Strategy at Yahoo
Tim Quirk, VP of Music Content and Programming at Rhapsody
(Moderated by Matt and Jason from 37signals)
Topic: The Long Tail
The theory of the Long Tail is that our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of “hits” at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail. In this chat, the participants discuss the impact of the tail, mass amateurization, the role of reviews/recommendations, and how, in the future, everyone will be famous for 15 people."
I haven't read this yet, so I'm posting it here because... 1) It looks like it will be an interesting read, and 2) To remind myself to read it. Let me know if it is any good. :-)
Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail and Editor of Wired
Dave Goldberg, General Manager of Yahoo Music
Bradley Horowitz, VP of Product Strategy at Yahoo
Tim Quirk, VP of Music Content and Programming at Rhapsody
(Moderated by Matt and Jason from 37signals)
Topic: The Long Tail
The theory of the Long Tail is that our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of “hits” at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail. In this chat, the participants discuss the impact of the tail, mass amateurization, the role of reviews/recommendations, and how, in the future, everyone will be famous for 15 people."
I haven't read this yet, so I'm posting it here because... 1) It looks like it will be an interesting read, and 2) To remind myself to read it. Let me know if it is any good. :-)
Thursday, August 10, 2006
PokerBlog.com: Shout Out to Extended Family
charliebigtime's blog | PokerBlog.com: "Shannon Shorr will not become a household name if he wins tomorrow but he will return home with over $900k..."
As long as I'm throwing out props to my friends, might as well throw my extended family in here too. It tunrs out that my step-cousin* (figure that one out) is a poker whiz-kid... he was in the World Series of Poker, but was disappointed when he busted out in about 500th place (still out of 9K, not bad at all). The cool thing is that still translated into about a $20K purse. Sounds like somewhat on a whim he entered the $10K Bellagio tourney, and has been on fire... today he is playing at the final table with the opportunity to take in almost $1 million. Not bad for a 21-year old kid... eh?! I can't say that I know him (I probably last saw him when he was a really little kid), but it's still cool to follow nonetheless.
Check him out and read his blog if you are into poker.
www.shannonshorr.com
He is WAY better at keeping his blog up-to-date then I am. :-)
* My maternal grandfather's stepson's (my step-uncle's) son. Make sense??!
UPDATE: He won! Payday for Shannon was $960,000. I'm in the wrong business.... :-)
As long as I'm throwing out props to my friends, might as well throw my extended family in here too. It tunrs out that my step-cousin* (figure that one out) is a poker whiz-kid... he was in the World Series of Poker, but was disappointed when he busted out in about 500th place (still out of 9K, not bad at all). The cool thing is that still translated into about a $20K purse. Sounds like somewhat on a whim he entered the $10K Bellagio tourney, and has been on fire... today he is playing at the final table with the opportunity to take in almost $1 million. Not bad for a 21-year old kid... eh?! I can't say that I know him (I probably last saw him when he was a really little kid), but it's still cool to follow nonetheless.
Check him out and read his blog if you are into poker.
www.shannonshorr.com
He is WAY better at keeping his blog up-to-date then I am. :-)
* My maternal grandfather's stepson's (my step-uncle's) son. Make sense??!
UPDATE: He won! Payday for Shannon was $960,000. I'm in the wrong business.... :-)
PopMatters: Arthur Lee
So a good friend of mine just wrote a killer review/commentary on Arthur Lee on Popmatters. Gotta be honest, I had no idea who he was, but now I'll go give him (and his band "Love") a listen.
Friday, July 21, 2006
Apple signals iPod phone in works; 2007 debut seen | Chicago Tribune
Apple signals iPod phone in works; 2007 debut seen | Chicago Tribune: "Apple Computer Inc., known for its secrecy about new products, gave the strongest signal yet it's working on an iPod phone that analysts said could be released early next year."
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
FoxyTunes - Control your music while surfing the Web and more...
FoxyTunes - Control your music while surfing the Web and more...
This is pretty slick. If you are a Firefox user, then I'd recommend it. Some nice cross-polination of client software + local/streaming/podcast content management + web search.
This is pretty slick. If you are a Firefox user, then I'd recommend it. Some nice cross-polination of client software + local/streaming/podcast content management + web search.
Monday, June 12, 2006
www.myspace.com/birdmonster
www.myspace.com/birdmonster
I just stumbled across these guys, and can't say enough good things about what I've heard so far. I'm a big fan. You can check out their first EP on Music Now, hopefully we will have their new album up soon.
Janine
I just stumbled across these guys, and can't say enough good things about what I've heard so far. I'm a big fan. You can check out their first EP on Music Now, hopefully we will have their new album up soon.
Janine
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Tech-Recipes.com - Pandora: How to Rip and Save Pandoras Music to MP3 Files for Free
Tech-Recipes.com - Pandora: How to Rip and Save Pandoras Music to MP3 Files for Free: "Pandora: How to Rip and Save Pandoras Music to MP3 Files for Free"
Seems like a major hassle, even though probably consumer friendly enough that it will still cause the record labels to come down on Pandora like a jackhammer.
Seems like a major hassle, even though probably consumer friendly enough that it will still cause the record labels to come down on Pandora like a jackhammer.
Friday, May 26, 2006
PCWorld.com - The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time
PCWorld.com - The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time
If it wasn't so funny, it would be sad. I have the distinguished history of having worked on, not one, but two of the "worst tech products of all time". Although, I would certainly argue with AOL being #1, in fact they shouldn't even be on the list. Love it or hate it today, at one point or another, an entire generation was weened on the concept of online services.
That being said, I don't have any qualms about my illustrious past with #24. DigiScents managed to bring in this honor only weeks after the Wall Street Journal named it one of the 10 worst of the past 10 years. Not bad. If anyone wants to know how (or if) the "iSmell" worked, just drop me a line... a know ALL about it. ;-)
If it wasn't so funny, it would be sad. I have the distinguished history of having worked on, not one, but two of the "worst tech products of all time". Although, I would certainly argue with AOL being #1, in fact they shouldn't even be on the list. Love it or hate it today, at one point or another, an entire generation was weened on the concept of online services.
That being said, I don't have any qualms about my illustrious past with #24. DigiScents managed to bring in this honor only weeks after the Wall Street Journal named it one of the 10 worst of the past 10 years. Not bad. If anyone wants to know how (or if) the "iSmell" worked, just drop me a line... a know ALL about it. ;-)
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Better Than We Know Ourselves: Pitchfork Feature
Better Than We Know Ourselves: Pitchfork Feature: "So how about predicting what you'll do next? Since the mid-1990s, online music recommendation or music discovery tools have studied our tastes and told us what to buy. And in the past year, several startups have launched with new, more ambitious software that someday may understand us better than we know ourselves."
Covers the same territory as other articles (Last.fm, Pandora, MusicIP/Predixis, etc.), but is a good read from Pitchfork.
Covers the same territory as other articles (Last.fm, Pandora, MusicIP/Predixis, etc.), but is a good read from Pitchfork.
iDon't
iDon't
Join the anti-ipod revolution! I'm not sure how well Sansa's guerilla marketing tactic will work, but I applaude the effort and the wish them the best. Don't get me wrong... I own an iPod. But found that it was like owning a CD player that would only play new CD's purchased from Circuit City (and I often like to shop at Best Buy too). So, now I have a nice portable hard-drive that I use to carry large files and backup data on.
Join the anti-ipod revolution! I'm not sure how well Sansa's guerilla marketing tactic will work, but I applaude the effort and the wish them the best. Don't get me wrong... I own an iPod. But found that it was like owning a CD player that would only play new CD's purchased from Circuit City (and I often like to shop at Best Buy too). So, now I have a nice portable hard-drive that I use to carry large files and backup data on.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Digital Music News - AOL Music Now Web Services
Digital Music News: "AOL Music Now has just opened a developer suite within its service, allowing any web developer or blogger to grab charts and music information for their own environment. "
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
AOL Music Now Review: CNET
The good: AOL Music Now makes it simple to listen to your favorite artists or playlists from any Windows PC, and it learns your tastes over time and creates personalized playlists. The browser-based interface means no software to download for basic operation.
Every debuting online music service brings something new to the party, and AOL Music Now is a strong choice for people who work at multiple Windows 2000 or XP PCs. The service is browser based and can remember your personal playlists, so hearing your favorite tunes is as easy as logging on. It's a neat trick that competitor Rhapsody, which also offers a browser-based option, hasn't yet learned.
Read the entire review
Not bad, not great.
Every debuting online music service brings something new to the party, and AOL Music Now is a strong choice for people who work at multiple Windows 2000 or XP PCs. The service is browser based and can remember your personal playlists, so hearing your favorite tunes is as easy as logging on. It's a neat trick that competitor Rhapsody, which also offers a browser-based option, hasn't yet learned.
Read the entire review
Not bad, not great.
Friday, April 14, 2006
InformationWeek | AOL Music Now | AOL's Music Service Has A Good Groove | March 13, 2006
InformationWeek | AOL Music Now | AOL's Music Service Has A Good Groove | March 13, 2006: "AOL's Music Service Has A Good Groove"
This review is a little older than, and not quite as glowing as, the PC Magazine review below, but still solid for a service that is still in "Preview".
This review is a little older than, and not quite as glowing as, the PC Magazine review below, but still solid for a service that is still in "Preview".
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
(no) Synchronicity II
Damn, I thought I could outsmart this sync bug by putting my miniSD card into my old Audiovox SMT56000 (running Smartphone 2003 instead of Windows Mobile 5.0), syncing all my WMDRM'd content to it, then swaping the memory card back into the SDA. I guess it was stupid of me to think that Windows Media DRM wouldn't prevent that, but hey... I had to give it a shot.
The interesting thing I've now noticed is that if I keep syncing, I seem to be building a collecting of more than 25 tracks. I don't know if the "bug" is just limiting it to 25 protected tracks *per* sync, or what. But at least now I've got a few dozen tracks on there. Someone at work actually suggested that this may not be a "bug", but a way for Microsoft to appease the carriers (for those that have aspirations to sell over-the-air downloads for a couple bucks a pop). It actually rings true to me, and is a frightening thought reminiscent of the Motorola Rokr and it's artificial 100 song sync limit. Scary.
Let's just hope T-Mobile doesn't have aspirations to be a music service provider, and releases the OS update soon... I can't rely on guaranteed Edge data rates that just allow me to stream everywhere I go.
The interesting thing I've now noticed is that if I keep syncing, I seem to be building a collecting of more than 25 tracks. I don't know if the "bug" is just limiting it to 25 protected tracks *per* sync, or what. But at least now I've got a few dozen tracks on there. Someone at work actually suggested that this may not be a "bug", but a way for Microsoft to appease the carriers (for those that have aspirations to sell over-the-air downloads for a couple bucks a pop). It actually rings true to me, and is a frightening thought reminiscent of the Motorola Rokr and it's artificial 100 song sync limit. Scary.
Let's just hope T-Mobile doesn't have aspirations to be a music service provider, and releases the OS update soon... I can't rely on guaranteed Edge data rates that just allow me to stream everywhere I go.
Monday, April 10, 2006
SDA Sync Update - or Lack Thereof
So, I though if I bypassed Windows Mobile 5.0 and tried to sync content directly to my storage card (via a card writer/reader), then perhaps I could get around the 25 track "bug" (see earlier post).
Unfortunately, no luck.... although this time I get a different error. I've got a couple more ideas. Stay tuned.
Unfortunately, no luck.... although this time I get a different error. I've got a couple more ideas. Stay tuned.
Streaming Goodness
So, I was complaining yesterday about the sync errors I was getting with my subscription music content and Windows Mobile 5.0. But, who needs to sync?! I'm continually getting good enough Edge data rates, that I'm able to stream any/all of the 2 million tracks directly to my phone. Using a smartphone RSS reader (like Newsbreak), I can subscribe to any/all of my Music Now feeds - I'm partial to my Daily Playlist - click the link and listen in all 128kbps glory. You will get forced to login to the site (which isn't formatted for display on such a small screen - but you it's not all that bad).
This combined with T-Mobile's all-you-can eat data plan has me wondering... do I even need to sync my songs? I guess when traveling somewhere out of data range (e.g. a plane), but in my normal day to day, I'm not convinced I ever need to sync. More to come...
This combined with T-Mobile's all-you-can eat data plan has me wondering... do I even need to sync my songs? I guess when traveling somewhere out of data range (e.g. a plane), but in my normal day to day, I'm not convinced I ever need to sync. More to come...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)