Thursday, 19 November 2009
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NEW (TO ME) TOY
Nokia Surge, photo from mobilegazette.com
I replaced my wireless phone of two years with yet another Nokia product. Since I tend to send text more often than I talk, I've wanted a phone with QWERTY keys for some time, so when this guy showed on AT&T's website with the price tag of "free with contract renewal" it was hard to turn down. Naturally, I did a little homework on it anyway.
Numerous articles imply that this device is probably going to be one of the last of the Symbian smartphones (since I saw some other articles declaring that even Nokia are ready to orphan the Symbian project.) Like many toy/technologies on their last commercial legs, this device is being sold as an entry level or youth market device. Perhaps the assumption is that the sort that would want a Blackberry will have trouble reading a smaller screen on a smaller device, although its QWERTY keys are bigger than Blackberry's or Treo's. It's smaller than an iPhone, in fact, it's smaller than the flip-style phone it's replacing, and yet, it can do more than I really want it to do.
Descriptions of Symbian reminded me of descriptions of Palm OS (after everyone was no longer mystified by it)- that it is clunky, awkward, a good idea that never reached fruition, and so on. When this happens, marketing tends to neglect a very important selling point- it is a known and mature technology. I've now owned this phone for a week and a half, I've rebooted it only once, and it has yet to crash on me. Can't say that for my previous (java) phone, in fact, I can't say that for any tech I've owned, really. I assume that this thing will crash on me eventually. Apparently, it's more powerful in processor and memory than its predecessors, it's smaller than a Blackberry or an iPhone, it's very snappy to operate (as opposed to sluggish, a compliment I saw given to many of the Palm Treo series before Pre came out,) which brings me back to my point that it does its few things extremely well, something tech salesmen don't really know how to pitch.
The web browser is good as well, so it appears thanks to this thing, I'm almost always connected to the net in some way, which is a scary thing for a habitual introvert.
When the Symbian project sinks (forgive my pessimism but I don't think the open-source Symbian project is going anywhere good right now,) I'll most likely still be happy enough with this thing to keep it through its contract; I'm used to deliberately using obsolete gear.
...
It's no secret that work is headed straight to crunch time and that this is the time of year when I focus on making back the money I overspent throughout the year. I hope everyone is doing okay.
Famicompo has opened for entries, if things don't get too hairy I'm going to try to put some NES tunes in. Mukunda made a new tool that I've played with a couple times and really like.
More on that later, see you next time
Monday, 02 November 2009
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REMIX – capslock by Mick Rippon
Download from loopproject.com SounDevotion round 43 was a remix round, the challenge being to remix any piece by classic and current module tracker Mick Rippon. His great works can be found at http://mickrippon.com This is more like a cover with slight rearrangement than a remix, though I have deliberately tried to create this from memory- some samples [...]http://bit.ly/34VcRo
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
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THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN
It's getting to be that time of year at work again, and it appears a lot of people are going to turn to mail order and the internet this holiday season, so to avoid having your gift order cancelled by someone like me, this is a reminder to make sure your "billing address" fields match the information on file with your bank account.
See you next time.
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
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Compact Electronic Desktop Music
Download audio from Soundcloud here Download the source Renoise file here This is for the Indamixx + Renoise + Create Digital Music contest, detailed here: http://bit.ly/4oB6Cm Released under Creative Commons license by-sa ver 3 in accordance with the contest rules. Please ask me if you wish to use the music and the license is not understood. Enjoy! Posted in Single [...]http://bit.ly/GXIKe
Wednesday, 07 October 2009
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Approximate set list at U2 360
Breathe
Get On Your Boots
Mysterious Ways
Stuck In a Moment You Can't Get Out of
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Amazing Grace (yes, the hymn)
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
No Line On the Horizon
Beautiful Day
Until the End of the World
Elevation
The Unforgetable Fire
Vertigo
Magnificent
Sunday Bloody Sunday
I Know I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
MLK
Walk On
First Encores-
One
Where the Streets Have No Name
Second Encores-
Ultraviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender
To be revised if I remember anything differently. I know the order is wrong and I'm probably still forgetting something that was played. Notably NOT played that night: Bullet the Blue Sky, Pride (In the Name of Love,) All I Want Is You.
It was a fun night and Muse were a great opener.
Sunday, 04 October 2009
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(This Is a) Test
This is a test When competing to be the best, it starts when you arm the track (and press record.) From Wikipedia: The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) was an emergency warning system in the United States, used from 1963 to 1997, when it was replaced by the Emergency Alert System. http://ping.fm/ZSmvh Inspirations for this SounDevotion entry: http://ping.fm/53nTc http://ping.fm/Wca7v http://ping.fm/CoGK7 Enjoy! Posted in Single Tracks [...]http://bit.ly/hoNJt
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
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Release Zero featured at BLINK OF MEMORY blog
I wish I had noticed this feature while it was happening so I can say thank you and welcome to all the visitors from Japan that have come in the past month or so. Thank you very much for the feature and recommendation, which can be read here: http://ping.fm/OnuRQ The BLINK OF MEMORY blog is a nice [...]http://bit.ly/1dIdUh
Monday, 07 September 2009
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Solfeggietto by C.P.E. Bach
Download from loopproject.com This is a piano piece often used to teach students how to play using both of their hands without breaking rhythm, and it’s been used as video game B.G.M more than a few times. This was entered in SounDevotion Round 41, the theme was to remake a (small “c”) classical music piece. Posted in [...]http://bit.ly/dH4jB
Monday, 31 August 2009
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LESSONS LEARNED FROM GAMESBORO
As stated in the other blog, the performance went very well. I have not yet thanked Brett Moots, Yatagarasu, and Bubblegum Octopus (the other performers of the night) so I will do that here. Thanks for being part of a great night, and thanks again to Ian, Britt and all Gamesboro for setting it up.
Some thoughts about performing tracker music live:- Either my audience found my improvising boring (which means my skills in it are lacking and I need more practice) or I should wait until later in a performance to resort to it. I had the impression that they were bored of DS-10 quite quickly; no one to blame for that but me.
- As above, the pre-programmed and karaoke-sung bits went over better than the spur-of-the-moment in most cases.
- Despite that, there was still a sense of spontaneity, mainly in finding things to play while other programs took a long time to load. I'm proud of myself for this. I won't name names so the Renoise team can relax.
- The only awkward pause of sorts was when I found I needed to tune the guitar. 12-string guitars are such a pain to keep in tune.
- To better maintain that sense, I should make a point to not require too much concentration early in the performance, as above.
- Then again, I may be over-analyzing and it may be best to be deep in concentration early on and not react strongly to the audience impression until sometime later.
See you next time. - Either my audience found my improvising boring (which means my skills in it are lacking and I need more practice) or I should wait until later in a performance to resort to it. I had the impression that they were bored of DS-10 quite quickly; no one to blame for that but me.
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Video and wrap – Gamesboro near Georgia Southern University (Statesboro, GA) 8/28
I want to thank Gamesboro for having me perform on a very interesting night. Most of the entertainment of the night could not make it, leaving only four of us with myself closing off the night to an audience that exceeded my expectations. The store made a great venue, the staff were great, and the audience [...]http://bit.ly/l6y4M
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