Aug

17

On my reading list

Filed Under Audio, Design, Education, Globalization, Media Players, Network, OpenSource, Reading, Streaming, TED, Technology, Web2.0 | Leave a Comment

If you're visiting my blog for the first time, you can subscribe to my RSS feed. This allows you to read the latest updates about Globalization, Internet2 and Education via feeds.
Thank you for visiting.

Looking forward to Larry Lessig’s new bookRemix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy. Larry has documented how the music and movie industries are turning students into criminals because they use cheap software, the internet and their creativity.  His presentation at TED hilights the core principals of his upcoming book.

The power and impact of the digital economy has placed copyright and the old guard clearly on the defensive.  Those aging companies still want the market to be “published” (in analog format) are unwilling to change to the new information economy.
–Well okay what I’m really trying to say is they don’t want to give up their revenue streams.

Okay maybe they do understand how the game has changed, yet I’m not sure the impact of how young people are wired has fundamentally changed their business model.

Actually I’m hoping Remix may also hilight how the RIAA should be chasing down the millions of pirates in China rather than students in America.  Larry is proving what everyone under 30 already has accepted as a fact of life…They have never been forced to purchase a majority of their entertainment in analog format.  Should be a great read!

Aug

6

Yahoo Music closing

Filed Under Audio, Education, Globalization, Network, Rich media, Streaming, Technology | Leave a Comment

I continue to be amazed that consumers are being held hostage to failed business practices regarding digital products sold on the internet and requiring a connection to “use” your product.
If you buy a book, read it and then move to a new house, you take the book with you right.  Sure.  Simple and not even something to think about.

But if you purchased digital music from Yahoo and move that music to a new computer or external drive, you cannot take it with you.  Yahoo’s underperforming music store has announced they are closing their doors (and also taking down their DRM technology keys) stitched into your downloaded music.

This means the music you paid for will not play anymore.  If you purchased Yahoo music you are simply SOL. Actually Yahoo tells a better story:
After September 30, 2008, you will not be able to transfer songs to unauthorized computers or re-license these songs after changing operating systems. Please note that your purchased tracks will generally continue to play on your existing authorized computers unless there is a change to the computer’s operating system.

This should serve fair warning to all the music etailers to abandon DRM.  The customer is always right and today’s teenage market has a powerful voice and the tools (like Digg) to flex their collective financial muscles….so don’t piss them off.

Read more

Aug

1

Steal this audiobook

Filed Under Audio, Education, Globalization, Network, Reading | 1 Comment

The World is Flat Audiobook

Tom Friedman’s bestseller is available FOR FREE to download until August 4th. Signup and download version 3.0 of his runaway best seller AND receive a preview of his upcoming book Hot Flat and Crowded

Tags: The World is Flat, Mark Penn, audiobook, globalization, free download

May

20

OLPC: The remix

Filed Under Audio, Design, Education, Globalization, Milwaukee, Network, OLPC, OpenSource, TED, Technology | Leave a Comment

Max’s first laptop will be the new One Laptop Per Child prototype announced this morning by Nichoals Negroponte. No “keyboard” since both sides of this ebook reader will support a virtual keyboard.

olpc xo beta

But I’d like to buy a 1st Gen unit too. And I’ll config it to run Sugar.

Tags: OLPC, sugar, Negroponte, prototype, globalization, trends

May

4

Laptop orchestra to Beijing via Internet2

Filed Under Audio, Education, Globalization, Interactive, Internet2, Media Players, Network, Streaming, Technology | Leave a Comment


Stanford’s Laptop Orchestra will perform via Internet2 to Beijing, over 6,000 miles away via HD video and audio in a performance marking the annual Pan-Asian Music Festival in Palo Alto on Tuesday May 5th.

Tags: Internet2, laptop, orchestra, community, globalization, trends

Feb

25

Philadelphia Orchestra: Live via Internet2

Filed Under Audio, Design, Education, Globalization, HighRes, Interactive, Internet2, Milwaukee, Network, Streaming, Technology, WiscNet | Leave a Comment

Global concert seriesFriday afternoon Milwaukee’s Discover World hosted a live performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra via Internet2. The Philadelphia Orchestra Association is a member of Internet2.

The HD video concert was projected in Discovery World’s Digital Theater which provides viewers with a spectacular 27foot wide high definition image with a 2048×1920 resolution picture.

discoverworld
Early arrival at Discovery World

The Philadelphia Orchestra is the first major orchestra to transmit live concerts to multiple large screen venues such as Discovery World. The live broadcast uses an MPEG 2 compressed stream running at bandwidths exceeding 50 times that of conventional internet video streams. For this concert performance only 20 venues around the world participated.

Read more

Jan

29

BMW integrates iPhone

Filed Under Audio, BMW, Design, Education, Smartphone, Technology | Leave a Comment

BMW has once again integrated Apple technology.

Although announced months ago BMW has recently posted details online. To date iPhones are compatible with the 2007 line of vehicles. Its another look at BMW and Apple, two of the most known brands working to provide a seamless integration of their respective products.

BMW was the first vehicle manufacturer to integrate the iPod in 2004. Expect additional auto manufacturers to follow their lead.

Tags: BMW, iPhone, advanced technologies, trends

Jan

18

Philadelphia Orchestra + Internet2

Filed Under Audio, Design, Education, Globalization, HighRes, Internet2, Network, Streaming, Technology | Leave a Comment

Internet2 is quickly becoming the performance stage for music. Philadelphia’s orchestra was stuck with declining audiences for its main subscription series and a downturn in ticket revenue. Pretty typical of many of today’s performing arts that must compete with consumers who have many more choices.

Their solution? Plan future performances over Internet2. The orchestra’s performance hall has installed HD video cameras and now the groundwork for performances sent in HD to Asia and Europe are underway.  This is similar to the plan by Internet2 member New World Symphony in Miami.

As they say, time to face the music. Jump on-board … or get run over. Your choice.

Tags: Internet2, Philadelphia, orchestra, globalization, network, trends

Dec

12

Open Yale

Filed Under Audio, Design, Education, Globalization, Network, Streaming, Technology | Leave a Comment

Have you ever wanted to take a class on Modern Poetry taught by a distinguished scholar?

Yale University has joined MIT and select institutions of higher learning by placing academic courses online, inviting anyone around the globe (this means you) to participate. Today seven courses are available with additional courses on the way.

Read more

Dec

3

Why DRM is failing

Filed Under Audio, Education, Globalization, Media Players, Rich media, Smartphone, Streaming | Leave a Comment

walmart amazonDigital Rights Management or DRM, has been a controversial snippet of software embedded into music files for a long time. Regardless of how you feel about Microsoft’s PlaysForSure DRM wrapper or Apple’s FairPlay for iTunes it appears the coming death of DRM is from two powerhouses in online sales: Amazon and Wal-Mart.

Funny that Microsoft’s own DRM software will not run on their Zune product. Wal-Mart ditched DRM music in August and a month later Amazon’s site launched DRM free. With larger numbers of online shoppers, the control over digital rights now sit in the hands of the big resellers and not the music industry or even technology companies.

PS - The disappointment with Wal-Mart is their decision to NOT support Mac or Linux systems for downloading music.  Not a good sign for a lot of users.

Tags: Amazon, Walmart, music store, music download, Fairplay, PlaysForSure, The Long Tail, trends

Sep

27

Amazon’s new music store

Filed Under Audio, Education, Globalization, Media Players, Network, Smartphone, Streaming, Technology, Web2.0 | Leave a Comment

Today Amazon opened the beta door to their new music store amazonmp3beta and as the name suggests, everything is available in mp3 format. In comparison Apple’s iTunes format is AAC for all those millions of iPods.

Amazon MP3 offers the top 100 songs for 89 cents each and the top 100 albums for $8.99, with most albums priced from $5.99 to $9.99.

 

amazonmp3

However I believe the breaking point will be what is available.
Search for U2 and you get:

Read more

Sep

1

NBC: slap the iTunes hand that feeds you?

Filed Under Audio, Education, Globalization, Media Players, Rich media, Technology, Web2.0 | 1 Comment

nbcApple’s iTunes music store has been a benefit to NBC and other TV networks selling episodes and full seasons of their television programming worldwide. A number of NBC shows and special programming events have been online for $1.99/episode.

To prove money greed makes the world go round NBC has broken off relations with the iTunes music store over their demand to charge $5.00/episode … more than double the current episode download price point.

Shame on NBC for pulling such a greedy decision. Exactly who is going to provide that revenue (and successful download solution) tied to all those iPods?

Tags: NBC, iTunes, tv show, download

Jun

19

Designers: Core Animation

Filed Under Audio, Design, Education, Globalization, Interactive, Media Players, Network, RSS, Rich media, Smartphone, Technology, Web2.0 | 1 Comment

Lets face it: Today many graphic designers are programmers. They have been moving into the coding world for a number of years. Most cut their teeth on Web 1.0’s plain old HTML. With one foot in Flash’s ActionScript and JavaScript were clearly the sign to jump in with both feet. This acquired knowledge and new creative energies have paid off handsomely for many designers.

CSS was the next logical choice that continues today as designers create smarter webpages and blogs with strong visual impacts. Even WordPress‘ own website correctly states: Code is Poetry. These skills have proved to be required tools for today’s successful graphic designer.

falling pinsThe next step may well be Apple’s Core Animation. Look closely at the new iPhone commercials - you will notice a bit of Core Animation: Google push pins drop from the sky onto a map. Good bye static pins!

This small example should really open up the interactive space for designers. Core Animation clearly shows just the tip of the graphical/animation iceberg that will become more robust moving forward.

Designers will jump on this new technology and adapt the necessary code to implement designs on phone and webpages. Apple needs to empower more than their die-hard programmers. Give designers the right tool for the job and we will see amazing interactive graphic elements on the web and our iPhones.

Tags: Core Animation, graphic design, code, iPhone, information design, trends

May

6

Changes in wind direction

Filed Under Audio, Education, Globalization, Technology | Leave a Comment

While I will freely admit that I do not watch American Idol, it is no small feat that Carrie Underwood’s exclusive single from iTunes has broken the Billboard Top 10.
american idol itunesThe first time a single available only on iTunes (no CDs from any music reseller — anywhere) debuts at number 6 after selling over 100,000 downloads. This is also an example of the changes in business known as The Long Tail written by Wired Magazine’s Chris Anderson. It proves how iPod sales are now changing the purchasing decisions of music fans.

Remember when the iTunes Music Store suffered a meltdown on Christmas day? Maybe some people still had a balance on their iTunes gift certificates last week.

Tags: iTunes, American Idol, The Long Tail, Billboard, Carrie Underwood, music store, trends

Dec

2

My latest read - Mozart

Filed Under Audio, Education, Reading | Leave a Comment

As a fan of his music this book by Peter Gay Mozart (A Penguin Life) has proved to be of a surprise. It was not until I was almost half way through before everything began to get interesting in new documented relationships Mozart established with so many while traveling Europe and how cheap some nobles were to him and his sister while their father was established private audiences with royals. Gay is able to account for more personal writings of both Wolfgang and his father than other books regarding Mozart that I have read.

This was also more of an acknowledgement of Solomon’s book and even the most recent writings and hit movie. The previously unknown story of how he withheld the death of his mother who was traveling with him showed new sources that have not been known to me previously. In the end Gay’s book will bolster the knowledge and lifestyle of Mozart and his family lead for any fan.

Tags: , ,

Next Page →