02004-10-27 | Uncategorized
The next time Verizon or Sprint cripples some phone’s Bluetooth implementation or locks you into some crazy two-year contract, take a look at this rechargeable SIM card vending machine in Tsim Sha Shui, Hong Kong, and ask yourself why we aren’t using a system where switching carriers is as easy as putting $13 in to a machine and buying a new card. Then ask yourself why you aren’t drinking a foil box with a quenching fruit concoction. And then ask why your juice box doesn’t include some promotional mobile phone minutes.
(Via Gizmodo.)
This week should I buy Tropicana OJ with the free Sim card or Horizon OJ with free music files?
02004-10-27 | Uncategorized
Michelin’s shown off a concept car whose “active” wheels contain all the elements you’d expect to find in the car itself: “Why not … use the space within the tire to put as many components as possible, including all the suspension, and make it active, and put in an electric motor, and even eliminate the need for a mechanical transmission?”
Link
(via Futurismic)
(Via BoingBoing.)
Also check out the Dutch Whisper Bus, which uses wheels containing motors.
02004-10-27 | Uncategorized
Flying with a guitar sucks, especially since 2001. I wonder how many instruments have died in the name of flight security since then.
I used to be able to either get a Business Class ticket – they always have space for a little guitar case in Business Class, or buy a second ticket for my guitar, usually called G. Liebert, if I flew Southwest Airlines for example. Yes, you actually put the guitar in its own seat and use a seatbelt extension to make sure it is safe and secure. Naturally I ate the guitar’s peanuts…
Then came the day that I flew to L.A. for a session and when I arrived at LAX in the evening to fly back to Santa Fe I discovered that shields had been added to the X-Ray belt. My guitar case did not fit through the shield. This shield was something new they were trying out at LAX and did not use in Albuquerque yet. I showed the security person my ticket for the guitar and suggested they could hand search the case. Nope, they would not. I ended up having to return to the Southwest Airline check-in and demand that someone go up to security with me as I held a valid ticket for my guitar. A gentleman then accompanied me to security and signed some kind of document which caused the security person to remove the shield for a minute, so I could stick my guitar on the X-Ray belt. Ludicrous, insane, idiotic, childish.
I called the FAA, I emailed them – never got through to anybody who could tell me why no exeptions could be made for instrumens with a valid ticket. Seems simple to me: if a person has bought a ticket for an instrument, they should be able to get the shield opened for the instrument…
Well, since then I do one of two things: First I had a heavy-duty flight case made. I stick my guitar case into the flight case, pay the overweight charge, and hope for the best. Second, when time permits I send the guitar via Federal Express to the gig and travel without the guitar. I have done this a few times already and for some reason I trust FedX more than any airlines.
[Guitar]
02004-10-27 | Uncategorized
From an email I received:
I do have a question , Like always , What key do you tune your guitar in?
That depends on the song I am playing.
When I play a Buleria in Dm, Duende del Amor for example, I make sure the A major chord sounds right, especially the C# on the second fret of the second string. Getting the A major chord to sound right is also very important for the song Santa Fe.
When I play Snakecharmer, I have to make sure the C chord sounds right, specifically the third string open G, which I use for the chorus. You will almost always notice me adjusting the third string before playing Snakecharmer.
When I play in C, a Solea for example, I have to make sure the E chord sounds right, specifically the G# on the third string, and the Am chord, specifically the C on the second string. Important for Barcelona Nights also…
The strings I have to concern myself the most with are the second and third strings.
Other people have tried to find solutions to the second and third string tuning problems and the below photo shows the Fretwave system. I have not tried a guitar with Fretwave. Not sure I would like it. I think I like arguing/fighting with my guitar. It feels like family that way. [guitar]
02004-10-26 | Uncategorized
The owner of the copyright in an audio or video recording who wished to be compensated when it was used by others would register it with the Copyright Office and would receive, in return, a unique file name, which then would be used to track its distribution, consumption, and modification. The government would raise the money necessary to compensate copyright owners through a tax – most likely, a tax on the devices and services that consumers use to gain access to digital entertainment. Using techniques pioneered by television rating services and performing rights organizations, a government agency would estimate the frequency with which each song and film was listened to or watched. The tax revenues would then be distributed to copyright owners in proportion to the rates with which their registered works were being consumed. Once this alternative regime were in place, copyright law would be reformed to eliminate most of the current prohibitions on the unauthorized reproduction and use of published recorded music and films. The social advantages of such a system, we will see, would be large: consumer convenience; radical expansion of the set of creators who could earn a livelihood from making their work available directly to the public; reduced transaction costs and associated cost savings; elimination of the economic inefficiency and social harms that result when intellectual products are priced above the costs of replicating them; reversal of the concentration of the entertainment industries; and a boost to consumer creativity caused by the abandonment of encryption. The system would certainly not be perfect. Some artists would try to manipulate it to their advantage, it would cause some distortions in consumer behavior, and the officials who administer it might abuse their power. But, on balance, it is the most promising solution [to the intensifying crisis in the entertainment industry].
Use the title-link to read more about this Alternative Compensation concept, especially how the Office is to monitor what consumers actually listen to and watch.
Note: the RIAA has co-developed ISRC codes, which are already embedded into many songs, and which basically already do what is mentioned above. They are unique to each song and will be used to track digital performances for the performing rights organizations, BMI, Ascap etc.
Is this the solution we have been waiting for? I don’t see it. But it raises an interesting point of view and is something we need to add to the stew.
