Playing with Photoshop Express...
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March 27, 2008
Behold the Power of FRIENDFEED!
Friend Feed, the little social network, here's all the stuff I do on the web, aggerator that could- has been getting alot of press lately.
Like anything on the web these days, the moment it starts to snowball into the viral stream of ideas and blog posts the idea is called everything from vile waste of time to tomorrows pony for the civilized man.
Hats off to Friend Feed, they are todays new pony! I just read an article with a sensational headline like "Mover over Facebook..FRIEND FEED IS HERE!" In my head I can already see bad informericals with some guy in a suit address me.. "oh you've known social networks, and maybe you like jesus even.. but FRIENDFEED is here.. fear no more!" Or maybe some completely unrelated claim appears out of the crowd.. "Down with COSTCO, just give me FRIENDFEED!" and then you'll see the stock kids talkin about it "I see that FF, or FriendFeed's IPO will be in just under 56 billion.. not bad for a company that started with just a handful of folks..."
Of course being an early FF'eeder myself I can't help but pat myself on the back, good going man, you spot it, you be there! Yet, geeze people why can't we just enjoy stuff without holding it up comparing it to everyones toast lately?
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Have I ever known ideal sleep?
Per the reccomendations of my doctor I recently participated in a Sleep Study to see if I had sleep apnea. I had all the requirements, big, overweight, odds are I probably had it. Part of me thinks sleep apnea is kind of a sham in that regard- you beefy.. yes, sign up, you got it!
I put the test off for weeks, then finally a few days ago I figured F it, I'll do it, tell me, I want to know my data. Actually I just wrote a trend article about the overall trend lately of people harnessing their own medical data in interesting ways to improve themselves, hack your mind, know your body... umm hello, I should do the same.
So the idea is you go there, get 50 wires stapled to your head, neck, body, face and try and sleep. At first I though I would never sleep with all these wires on my face, and overall the setup process was pretty demeaning. I felt helpless and depressed. Of course I joked my way through it with staff on hand. Between my sense of humor and watching John Woo's Appleseed EX Machinima which I rented for my iPhone + a little Kaossilator love, I got over the shortcomings of being a lab rat.
Waking up at 4am and having to ring a tech to come unplug you from the wall so you and your bundle of wires can go take a piss is umm.. neat. But shortly later I woke at 5:30am and promptly got the "get the hell outa here" feel from the techs, I grabbed my pillow and left.
Overall, not that big of a deal.
Then comes data. Yesterday I met with my sleep doc and he showed me my data. I love data, I want to know everything about it. What's this number mean, that one, and what about this squigly line here. Well my sleep data was pretty telling. I get to sleep fast, and race right down to REM sleep, I love a good dream, sadly... when I get to REM sleep, my oxygen levels plundge as my respiratory system goes from 80-90% air intake (the average) to 40-70% not so good. The brain releases a stimulant that the doc best described as "its like being mugged in an alley... except your brain is releasing this drug 49 times an hour..." or something.
Simply put, after seeing my data and having a nice comfy conversation about what all it meant.. I wonder now.. have I ever known ideal sleep? Have I ever had a good nights sleep? Maybe I did before I was beefy.. we'll see.
Next comes the mask as I go back for another demeaning sleep over experience this time with a air pressured face mask. This time however I welcome the 50 wires on my face, bring it on, I want to know this ideal sleep experiencec. I want to wake up headache free, not mugged some 40 times a night. What can this new world of sleep offer me?
The big laugh in all of this is that last year I did study involving sleep apnea. We talked to people who were bad sleepers that had it, and good sleepers who didn't trying to find patterns in what ideal sleep consisted of. Our findings basically pointed out that having a routine can make or break the whole experience. You deviate from your routine and you got bad sleep coming your way. Looking back on that study I wonder if we asked the right questions or realized what we're really up against in understanding sleep.
Soon I will know what this mysterious ideal sleep is like, and when I know.. you will too. Stay tuned.
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March 21, 2008
new tracks...
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March 19, 2008
Cramer's False Bottom...
Watching Mad Money this morning Cramer was high on the idea that the bottom was discovered for the market, yes we were finally there. But alas, the roller coaster continues. Mass RED today, and I don't know who the winners are but clearly folks are in panic mode.
This market is a rollercoaster at best. One day we're up, then.. you can bet on it.. it'll be done the next.
I bet folks you are playing the option dance on yoyo effects of the market are doing well.
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Key to Happiness?
Key to happiness? One song a day. Get a Kaossilator and make one song a day. That's it. That makes me happy, and by force of habit I'm making one track a day. One groove. Record it into GarageBand and save it for all time.
I've got to try and train my kaossilating to limit my layer madness. Mainly in recording it to GarageBand. Like just lay down the beat for 3 mins, then go back and play on top of it with something wild, that way you always have the beat intact to trade it to someone else.
Early on I played around too much and made wild tracks, and yeah, they were sometimes cool, but later I wished I layered them out so that I could trade the various bits with folks I know so that they could play with what I made.
Even still, the Kaossilator is hands down the coolest gadget I've come across in a long time. Its like a huge breath of freedom in my hands. Unlike the Chumby, which is cool, yet limited. Chumby had me going with the promise that yes anything is possible, but the barrier to this reality was learning flash lite 2. The Kaossilator barrier to creation is a finger dance. I wish we had more tools like the Kaossilator that inspire and drive you to really create, faster, on the fly, instantly.
Tags: kaossilator, garageband chumby
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March 12, 2008
Kaossilator Vids
Ok here we go, the first of many I hope.
So what you see here is a video that has two songs I made the Kaossilator. I made the tracks in the Kaossilator, then recorded them into the Mac via GarageBand. Then I wanted some extra stuff, so I went to Poesybeat.org, and probably violated their terms of agreement, but I was in a rush I needed some extra voices or sounds or something. Poesybeat.org has great poetry readings on there and sure enough I found a few bits that worked. I put those elements into GarageBand and tweaked with minor effecting. I saved the two songs out as an MP3.
In iMovie 08, I pulled in a few old renderings of screwing-around-graphics I made with Poser 3D, and xFrog. If you recall, I love xFrog, my favorivte screwing-around-graphics program. I then slapped the MP3 on my stills, tweaked some settings and timings and presto, insta video.
I think slower tempo songs make it easier to hide mistakes and you sorta set the stage for what you're creating. Some of my best Kaossilator tracks are ones where I totally screw around with sounds I don't think I'd normally use. In all it was fun to make and edit.
Tags: kaossilator, imovie08, garageband, xfrog, poser
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March 11, 2008
iKey Plus Review
Ok so 20 minutes ago my iKey Plus arrived. Luckily I had my Korg Kaossilator on hand and ready. In just five minutes I loaded up the iKey Plus, connected my Kaossilator and jammed out a beautiful MP3! Then slapped that into the mac, sucked into itunes and yes people.. this is a thing of beauty!
Oh ya and I forget to tell you. The iKey Plus is a real time analog to digital converter that you hook up to any USB drive. It basically enables you to record MP3's on the fly from whatever ya got, microphone, turntable or any line input device, such as a Kaossilator. Now I can turly jam anything out and save it, freeing me from having to go to the MAC all the time I want to save something.
iKey Plus works well. Controls and options are plenty. I tested out the microphone, interesting, using it with another mic i have it could be a decent way to record interviews or podcasts in the field. Colored face plates neat ok. At first I was pretty miffed about having to have a screw driver to get my batteries in. That seemed to really suck. But later I found they did send me easy to remove thumb handle like screws, I quickly swapped out the old screws for these easier to remove screws and I was set!
This whole setup allows me to go wherever I want and make music and save it. That is great! It also free's me from having to be a slave to the MAC to record. Now I can jam wherever, and that is really cool. Having insta-mp3's is alot of fun. And it doesn't format the USB drive you hook up, it just adds new files right on there. This is a pretty cool device.
Overall I cant wait to jam more tunes out!!
Tags: ikeyplus, kaossilator
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March 10, 2008
11 Future Trends for When the Dust Settles
Recession is clearly here. Watching the stock market slide more and more today its clear that investors are spooked big time. There's good reason for all of that, market, jobs, war, terror, consumer confidence, housing market, credit crunch you name it and its all boiling up to be big slow down. Everytime I think we've hit bottom, nope, here it comes again, just a wee bit lower.
In thinking about all that today I started to wonder.. what are some future trends for when the dust does settle, and when?
LBS, Location Based Services languished for years in the would be if that realm of the cool and neato and probably japanese. The US just didn't know what the hell we were talking abou when we said LBS, but now with GPS being an almost standard in new cars, and in new phones (in one form or another), the fun of knowing where you are and where to go next is very hip. Makes me wish I got my Project Sammy done when I wanted to, we'd be right on schedule, granted we'd have to tweak things a bit. Nevertheless LBS is here, within our grasp, heck its old news in Japan, been there done that, they're moving on to Augmented Reality while we edge toward new found wonders with what all can be possible with the data of where we are.
OSN, Online Social Networks will continue to thrive but will be stuck in a cycle of newness. Born, languish, adopt, maybe, popular probably, fade oh yes.. you will fade, and then reborn again. OSN's are like the canvas for advertising and awareness. Where you hang out, here on the web is the new parking lot for advertisers.
LUXMatters, Luxury that Matters. Luxury will transfer from 60" mega LCD's (even though they are getting cheaper and cheaper) to Luxury thats near you, part of you, very very close to you. Your phone, and all its must haves, bits of luxury. Your ipod, you PC, gotta have it expensive must haves are the new luxurys when the dust settles. Heck its happening right now. You're still a penny pincher, you're still critical, but you gotta have that iphone.
Personal, The trend of personalization will continue. Sure its gonna be a bit of ME trend, but right now you're suited up for the fall, you're taking the market head on, its not about you right now, who the FRAK is in charge!??!
AWMY, All Within My Reach. It used to be Always On, we'd expect all our devices, all of who we are to be online, all the time. Now thats a nuff said, however its also all within my reach. Whatever I want, I know how to get it. Access unifed across all segments of my want. All that I want, is with my reach. I will not reach that far, if I do, it must not be something I really want. Its expected reality, its all within my reach.
MTM, Money Trend Management. Money Mangement will continue to be BIG, even Warren Buffett thinks so, but I'm gonna toss in TREND as well. Money TREND Management. Trends will continue to be stared at with a close eye, especially as we start to tumble here, the corps wanna know the way out and will do anything, and everything to latch on to the next hot awareness or market must have trend.
M&W, Materials & Wisdom, will be the new voice of Venture Capital. VC will distil down into two basic categories of materials, what is needed, and wisdom, what is needed to move it to the next step. People will start to think in materials, and wisdom, nothing more. Wisdom to take it to the next step and wisdom for experience sake, and wisdom to capture the trend that is unfolding.
MAC, Minimalistic Asthetic Computing. Minimalism is here to stay. Folks want that minimalistic nature expressed in full force via their computing experience. Power, assumed, minimal expressed, asthetic delightful, asthetic pleasing. Who plays in this pod, isn't it obvious, Apple, their asipirational at this point, they've gone beyond the brand, they're now a state of mind.
WELL, Wellness will continue to dominate and stay in the radar of 98% of the population. As we all get heavier, and more beefy, oh yah, we're gettin beefy all right, the need to get better be healthy will continue on and on and on.
SSP, Smart Sustainability with a Purpose. Save the planet not because oh its our duty but because it makes sense. Save energy not cause we all should, but because it can save ME some money. Sustainability that affects the ME now, and in the long run.
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11 Future Trends for When the Dust Settles
Recession is clearly here. Watching the stock market slide more and more today its clear that investors are spooked big time. There's good reason for all of that, market, jobs, war, terror, consumer confidence, housing market, credit crunch you name it and its all boiling up to be big slow down. Everytime I think we've hit bottom, nope, here it comes again, just a wee bit lower.
In thinking about all that today I started to wonder.. what are some future trends for when the dust does settle, and when?
LBS, Location Based Services languished for years in the would be if that realm of the cool and neato and probably japanese. The US just didn't know what the hell we were talking abou when we said LBS, but now with GPS being an almost standard in new cars, and in new phones (in one form or another), the fun of knowing where you are and where to go next is very hip. Makes me wish I got my Project Sammy done when I wanted to, we'd be right on schedule, granted we'd have to tweak things a bit. Nevertheless LBS is here, within our grasp, heck its old news in Japan, been there done that, they're moving on to Augmented Reality while we edge toward new found wonders with what all can be possible with the data of where we are.
OSN, Online Social Networks will continue to thrive but will be stuck in a cycle of newness. Born, languish, adopt, maybe, popular probably, fade oh yes.. you will fade, and then reborn again. OSN's are like the canvas for advertising and awareness. Where you hang out, here on the web is the new parking lot for advertisers.
LUXMatters, Luxury that Matters. Luxury will transfer from 60" mega LCD's (even though they are getting cheaper and cheaper) to Luxury thats near you, part of you, very very close to you. Your phone, and all its must haves, bits of luxury. Your ipod, you PC, gotta have it expensive must haves are the new luxurys when the dust settles. Heck its happening right now. You're still a penny pincher, you're still critical, but you gotta have that iphone.
Personal, The trend of personalization will continue. Sure its gonna be a bit of ME trend, but right now you're suited up for the fall, you're taking the market head on, its not about you right now, who the FRAK is in charge!??!
AWMY, All Within My Reach. It used to be Always On, we'd expect all our devices, all of who we are to be online, all the time. Now thats a nuff said, however its also all within my reach. Whatever I want, I know how to get it. Access unifed across all segments of my want. All that I want, is with my reach. I will not reach that far, if I do, it must not be something I really want. Its expected reality, its all within my reach.
MTM, Money Trend Management. Money Mangement will continue to be BIG, even Warren Buffett thinks so, but I'm gonna toss in TREND as well. Money TREND Management. Trends will continue to be stared at with a close eye, especially as we start to tumble here, the corps wanna know the way out and will do anything, and everything to latch on to the next hot awareness or market must have trend.
M&W, Materials & Wisdom, will be the new voice of Venture Capital. VC will distil down into two basic categories of materials, what is needed, and wisdom, what is needed to move it to the next step. People will start to think in materials, and wisdom, nothing more. Wisdom to take it to the next step and wisdom for experience sake, and wisdom to capture the trend that is unfolding.
MAC, Minimalistic Asthetic Computing. Minimalism is here to stay. Folks want that minimalistic nature expressed in full force via their computing experience. Power, assumed, minimal expressed, asthetic delightful, asthetic pleasing. Who plays in this pod, isn't it obvious, Apple, their asipirational at this point, they've gone beyond the brand, they're now a state of mind.
WELL, Wellness will continue to dominate and stay in the radar of 98% of the population. As we all get heavier, and more beefy, oh yah, we're gettin beefy all right, the need to get better be healthy will continue on and on and on.
SSP, Smart Sustainability with a Purpose. Save the planet not because oh its our duty but because it makes sense. Save energy not cause we all should, but because it can save ME some money. Sustainability that affects the ME now, and in the long run.
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March 07, 2008
Reflections on Henry
So I got a new office mate in my room. Henry.
For as long as I've been exposed to this wild kingdom of research there's been a "henry" of the design research world. He's kinda like Tom Baker of Doctor Who, a good timelord, but sorta whacky. He's a multiple hat wearer like me. Sometimes I wonder wait.. am I gonna end up like him?
For the longest time I never actually met him just heard about him. He's a tinkering, gadget, gizmo guy. Wanna film in the dark, sure, wanna observe mice in sub degree temps, ok, you wanna strap that tech to this thing to do that stuff, ok. That's what folks like me and henry do for researchers. We're usually the tool enablers for the larger group. We edit video, make stuff, inform, educate, and empower. At least thats what we like to think we do.
For me I've dabbled across the whole yard. I've been the moderator, the researcher, the note taker, the report writer, the presenter, the client nodder (one who nods at clients often), proposal writer, pitch dude, camera guy, video editor, lab rat, coder, web wizard and more.
So Henry has arrived at lextant. What's he like working with? Well he's a bit like fax machine. You never know when you're gonna get something on your fax. I remember the days we'd get all kinds of weird stuff on the fax machine, and you'd couldnt do anything about it, but sit there and watch it slowly spit out its pages. I mean who uses faxes any more anyways? But still, Henry spits out bits a dialogue and you just have to strap in, and ride it out. Sometimes it can be annoying, and well ya just gotta say hey man, thats cool, hello kitty rocks. Most of the time its not so bad. Good little fax machine.
I feel i'm more of a copier. File comes into my head and process it forever, and then yeah a billion pages here ya go, zan, zan zan etc.. ya know zan is the sound of a copier. "ZANNN"
Henry's desk is littered with electronics, wires.. kinda sexy for geek freaks, scary to anyone else. I think Henry has replaced me as top geek. He's wickedly good at intimation via geek speak... "You mean you need a AT84 Redux? I usually use 77, but whatever..." people run and flee from our room.
He kinda reminds me of techno hippe as well. He's got the jeep, he could go on and on about burning man I bet. He talks about his wife and kids alot, seems like thats all good. Lots of stories. He's got a Robbie and Raven, which sometimes makes me picture these like crazy rocking kids at home, dressed in black, asking dad for permission to jam judest priest in the drive way, but I dont really think they are like that.
Overall he's alot like me, maybe I'm just quieter. We both edit video, sometimes we'll have dueling video conversations.... "oh i'd do a dissovle...".... "yeah we'll I INVENTED the page flip.." and thing is, he's been around so long, theres a chance he did invent the page flip.
Maybe he'll complete me I wonder sometimes. Like sometimes one really far out gear, I'll leave it in a box and debate in my mind on- 1. why did i buy that, 2. how do i justify that, 3. did anyone see my bring this in here, 4. how do i set that up, 5. why did i buy that... Maybe Henry can help me out there.
Well all have our quirks. I probably come off a bit pissy at times. But my last office mate was JooYoung, a quiet 5 foot asian girl that often spoke to me in broken english phrases at times. "Do you pray Dan?"... "ummm ya I pray... why who's asking..." JooYoung's english is quite good really its just sometimes she can catch ya off guard with a phrase or question that sends your mind wondering.. wait do i really pray? JooYoung and I were silent partners. Henry is hanging out with a super mario crack addict... "ya gotta get those turtle guys.... bad.. gotta get'm.. bad turtles.. bad i say... you gonna eat that" ok maybe addict isn't the right term, but you get the idea. BIG CHANGE!
Tags: henry, lextant, research
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March 06, 2008
Difference between Marketing and Design
So a minute ago a co-worker of mine was having conversation with a student from CMU about the differences between Marketing and Design.
Let's face its design research folks, we're in a sweet spot. Everybody loves to talk about design, innovation, experience, ya baby, we're hot. Of course this means that Marketing is no doubt curious about these so called resesarchers and their design mojo.
Every year Marketing gets in their big ships and attempts to board our pristine design vessels. WTF you say? Indeed. Yet ya know, its not that bad. I mean Marketing often has more budget than pure research does. They also tend to dabble in advertising, and hey those guys and gals spend money like water.
As for what the difference is between US and THEM, us being design research folks. I like to think of design people as the ones that figure out the DNA, the core, the roots of a experience. We're after the big yeah, the smile on a customers face when all the touchpoints, from 2 to 900 make it. We deal in DNA. If you screw up the DNA, odds are you're outcome will suck. Thus no matter how much marketing, advertising and wishful cash incentives you apply, it just won't stick, the DNA is messed up man, your baby - es ugly.
90% of the people out there fly at the seat of their pants, figuring their DNA is just fine, no need for research. Some make it, some don't. But it never hurts to have your DNA looked at.
So while we're harvesting DNA, shaping it, forming it up to deliver the perfect smile, marketers are figuring out who to target, I mean they obviously build upon the DNA, but they aren't the DNA. They're kinda like the Doctors. They all have an agenda. Sure I want you to get well, BUT, you should get well because the alternatives are X. Marketers always have an agenda. DNA makers just make DNA, I suppose there could be an overall agenda in the works, but generally, a good DNA mixture is out to get the smile, the big yeah, no real agenda other than that. That affirmation of YEAH is at the hear of the DNA. A markerters job is to leverage that YEAH and turn it into 4 million YEAH's.
But again I think about those folks coming our way. In some ways I envy marketers. They tend to shoot from the hip more often. They tend to SEE more so than researchers in that they'll risk it, they'll put the product and 20 kids in a closet for 7 hrs, live on tv, to SEE, to see what happens. DNA makers fester about the intent on that eventual experience. DNA makers tend to obsess about the future that want to craft. YOU WILL HAVE THIS EXPERIENCE!! thats the motto of a DNA maker. A good DNA maker is more like YOU WILL HAVE SOMETHING DARN NEAR CLOSE TO THIS EXPERIENCE.. hence more vague, more room for newness, be cause that, yes, the cycle of newness is the bomb in the end.
Tags: marketing, design, lextant
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Prepare for MASS iPhone adoption.
Moments ago Apple made massive waves with their iPhone SDK annoucement. HUGE I say, it's gonna be good.
Course this really gets me a bit because like all web news before one of these annoucements, its all doom, doom, dooom.. and a dash a gloom. But the annoucement was really really good!
First up, hit up those annoying nagging windows exchange users. Fine, here ya go, exchange on the iphone now shut up!
Next we got to see the coding world, some good stuff in there, power, core animation, all kinds of goodness.
Then we dived into examples of multi-touch apps, like TouchFighter and image editing using gestures. Very cool.
Then straight into SPORE, frickin SPORE on the iphone. That was badass. That's classic apple to take the next biggest hyped game of the century and jam it on an iphone- best part, they just had 2 weeks to show that they could, and there it was. Nice, very, very nice.
The rest of the gravy spells good for developers, you'll get 70% of whatever you want to ask for apps. Apple takes 30% and gives you a hassle free developer experience.
Ok so much was said and all was good. There is a flood of goodness out there in jailbroken land, so I can't wait to see what arrives for SDK kids!
The exchange story alone IS a huge win for shutting up all those nagging PC people.
I expect massive iphone adoption coming. Developer madness and seriously, good times for many many apps. Expect a ton of news over this event.
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March 05, 2008
Redefining "Stuck" for Steve Rubel
So I'm surfing away and I see a headline.. Most Online Communites Haven't Stuck, and of course, I click, go read and it bothers me.
For one, online experiences continually get refined, reworked, and re-imagined over and over. To think that you can measure something as sticking or not on a landscape that continually changes seems unlikely. To me it seems like old marketing rules just can't be applied to this constantly changing experience.
I think we need to think less about what's not sticking and explore more this idea of the cycle of newness. Master the cycle of newness and you're brand will always be on the radar, part of the scene and if all your other touchpoints work out, perhaps the next big IT of that scene.
Maybe online communitites are simply lunch meat to consumers, and the real bread and butter is empowerment, access, freedom, interconnectedness. So Friendster didn't stick, well consumer generated video sure stuck. Will Twitter be forever, probably not, but the idea of mico-conversation tools is stuck into the minds of users.
Online communities are fleeting. Leveraging platforms endure. The blog. The podcast, yes its been debatable yet its still alive. The consumer generated video. The access you have to nearly anything you want- that search power. Then the cycle of newness for social connectivity. You're in myspace for now, you're in facebook, FOR NOW, eventually you'll leave it. You will. Because the cycle of newness dictates it. Your interest will wane, your friends will quake and soon you'll be in Zebra, sure its like Facebook and Myspace, but it has just a dash of Jimmy in it, and Jimmy was awesome last year.
Last year when the planet told me Facebook was the bomb, I knew it wasn't. Not because I wasn't on it, but because I knew that eventually, it'd die. The question Steve should be asking is what's the life span of your big idea on todays interconnected mass crazy internet highway? And if your brand is putting all of its eggs into that big idea, you'd better bail in advance. You can't play the internet that way. Hats off to the communities that expect this eventual bailing of consumers and strive to stay in the new, either by reinventing their own core concepts or by constistently keeping up with whatever the cycle of newness demands.
Quite often the cycle of newness is niche, freaky and strange, yet, that kind of uncommon group is refreshing. If we probed why people bailed more, we'd know the triggers of bailing, and odds are we'd probably find out, there's little you can do about it. The rush could be in bailing itself. Revealing that while love being in the womb, connected to all, we love the rush of freedom, no connection, then back to the womb again, this time in another world. Hell we could study MMORPG gamers and I bet we could find out the why and connectiveness there. However, in MMORPG's, you labor for long hours to craft your ideal you in a wizard, or warrior fashion, then you're REALLY STUCK, cause its time that you see. You don't see a wizard any more, you see 123 days played. You see an investment. With our identites online in social networks, again with smart data portability, we should be plug in play in these communities, taking our media, contacts, and experiences with us where ever we go.
Most Online Communities Haven't Stuck, that in itself is a true statement, but I wager that the reason why is because online communities can't stick. Not in a way a traditional marketing company would hope it would. Do your really think one online communitiy can contain a user for all time? Hell, more than six months in one place gives me the itches to move on.
Now certain networks, mainly empowerment portals are sticking. YouTube, Delicious, Flickr, to me those are less social networks, and more empowerment portals. Play with your bookmarks, images, video. That is tangible, accessible by all, any place, any time, not stuck in any one world online. With the dawn of the widget, your stuff is free.
That's another idea thats outa the bag, the widget, the widget code is here to stay. You can definately say that stuck.
But online networks like facebook, myspace, beboo etc, they are all on borrowed time. Eventually users will leap from network to network. Meanwhile your network ages, takes a few hits, the code could be snappy but the perception damage is done, you fade while others gain, and if you're smart, you've made that next network to stay in the game.
Tags: socialnetworks, stuck, facebook, myspace, steverubel
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Kaossilator Firestorm...
The Kaossilator has become my new must have mobile play toy. I carry with me where ever I go. Any time I wanna jam, bam its there, and its quite fun. Of course this dangerous because now its sparked a whole slew of must have new gadgets for me. Luckily all this stuff is pretty cheap. Still all combined its about the cost of a new laptop I could be wielding, but screw that, I'm making music here.
Next up, something basic. Stereo cables for the iphone. Yes, I wanna play with music on my ipod ya know. Cheap. 12 bucks.
Then the next biggie, the Korg KP3 Pad. I debated for a long time, some 3 days really on whether or not to get the Mini-KP vs the full fledged KP3. The mini offered me portability which I REALLY REALLY like, but it fell short on complete usefulness and thats where I figured the KP3, while unable to go the battery route was a bummer, its far more interesting as a piece of gear. I can't wait to screw with sampler!! I miss my old Roland SH10! HA! The KP3 however, was $349 bucks. But it will be my core workhorse.
Lastly, something to make our whole experience more interesting let's throw in a real time MP3 encoder/recorder. The iKey Plus. Real time MP3 or WAV analog to digital conversion goodness. Its a cool idea really, a mini converter gizmo that you simply attach any USB storage device to it and you're good to go, as a bonus it has a mic jack, so it could be a good podcast/field recorder. Cost $120.
So this is good. No more being stuck to the mac for jam sessions. Mary can sleep in peace (the mac is in our bedroom), and I can flee to the basement, or anywhere and jam, effect, and record away.
Again I cannot stress enough how cool the Kaossilator is, you can do anything with it fast. This morning I was intentionally playing notes that sounded bad to see if I could end up with something good, and usually I did. Pretty wild.
Ya know the iPhone and its whole track pad tech would make for a fun musical device as well. I've seen a drum machine for it out there, but it'd be cool to see someone hack together an app that was kaossilator-like.
Tags: korg, kaossilator, kp3, ikey, iphone
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March 04, 2008
Jam Pants
So nearly every night since I got the kaossilator I've cranked out 5-8 songs with it. Just messing around, jamming away. Its highly addictive. Lately I've been playing around with slower tempo songs. Tracks around 90 BMP or so, making smooth angry wispy whacked noises.
I've watched nearly every video online about the Kaossilator. Every youtube clip, every article, I keep scouring the planet for something new related to the device. I kinda wonder, has anyone torn it apart yet. You can't get this viral, this popular on youtube without someone taking an axe to the device to tear it apart. Sadly, no one has done it yet.
This gets me thinking about hacking the kaossilator. What could you hack it to do? In the shower I came up with the idea of Jam Pants. On one thigh you'd have the track pad, and the loop record button. On the opposing thigh you'd have the sound bank selector, knob, and tempo, scale buttons. Your shirt, or maybe your wide ass cheek pants would be speakers, or maybe in the shirt or shoes. Of course you'd have headphone jack somewhere in there as well. I thought it'd be cool to jam away on my thighs, standing up, waiting in line, or sitting on a bus, or hanging out at the airport. I could jam wherever I go. At any time, ready to record a sweet lick, a bit track, something interesting, new. My Jam Pants would have standard 1gig worth of memory too. And they'd be washable of course. And super comfy.
The thing is, the Kaossilator is a breakthrough product. It's going to get mass props, mass press and probably spawn a wave of personal jamming products like it. The Kaossilator will infect average joes, thus, spilling demand for the device into the mainstream. DJ's will play it, joe's will play it, and hard core musicians will play it too. I say we deconstruct it, rework it, mold it to any shape we wish. Someone, help me, let's get to work on them Jam Pants!
Tags: kaossilator, korg
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We'll Tell Others... and FLAUNT IT goes into beta...
SO I keep reading about web startups that simply tell other people what you do. There's like 20+ sites now that collect all your happenings from all your various services, and then pass the word on to others.
I keep thinking I too need to get into that game. Maybe with "We'll Tell Others!" or..I know.. FLAUNT IT! At FLAUNT it, we don't just tell other people what you're doing. WE FLAUNT it. Post on a blog, pretty mundane, fear not, we'll kick it up a notch. Steveie posted PORN on his blog, click here! Sure we may lie a bit, but it sounds better and you're 87% ganuranteed a click through via our patented prez hilton keyword inserter technology. Shared an article on Google Reader? Kick it up. Steveie FONDLED a new article, check it out!
Tags: flaunt, friendfeed, aggerator
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March 01, 2008
Kaossilator Madness!
Ok new sounds, some ok, others strange!!! Still alot of fun. These tracks are kaossilator only nothing else..
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