Tag: Tech Culture

They Only Sound Like Bumbling Goofs

It never pays to be cranky and sarcastic on social media (unless you’re writing about Chad Kroeger or Justin Bieber; then, all bets are off), which is why I enjoyed reading in the Democrat and Chronicle about what Vidler’s 5 & 10 in East Aurora, NY is doing with its YouTube channel. Here’s a seasonal sampling:
Given the lack of blog activity, it looks as if the store is using its channel as its primary content marketing tool, blasting out awareness through Facebook and good ol’ fashioned PR. This makes perfectly good sense: with limited resources, it pays to focus on one social media outlet, commit to it with regular updates, and make the content distinctive enough so that it is of real value and interest to people.

These videos are wildly entertaining, but even if you find them hokey, you’ll at least get some good product ideas.

Vidler’s are stone-cold social-media ninjas.

Finally, Something the iPad is Good for

A couple of weeks ago, The Atlantic posted an article about the iPad’s usefulness as a replacement for hard-copy sheet music,  and included this video of James Rhodes making a big deal of his decision to go electronic:

About a year ago, Gizmodo expressed similar sentiments, declaring that the iPad is “perfect” as a sheet-music reader. Over at the Technology in Music Education blog, there is a review of music readers for the iPad. 

The music readers for iPads go beyond the gimmickry of Smule apps, but I’m sure there’s something disconcerting about relying on a computer in a performance setting. Paper music can blow off the stand, but if a tablet computer loses power, you’re out of luck.

Grooveshark Fights Back

A week after Amazon sent a (leaked or open) letter to record labels re-stating the legitimacy of its Cloud Drive and Player, Grooveshark yesterday released its own open missive, defending their right to exist under the Safe Harbor provision of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

The company specifically calls out Google for withdrawing Grooveshark’s App from its Android Market. In a brilliant rhetorical move, it compares its service with Google’s own YouTube, both in its relationship to the DMCA and in its business practices to avoid piracy.

The letter, available on Digital Music News, was probably cover as Grooveshark released its own third-party Android app on Monday.

The Amazing Internet-Streaming Flip Camera That Wasn’t

Clearly, David Pogue’s a disappointed fan of the now-defunct Flip video camera, as am I. In his column this week, he revealed some inside information that makes the shutdown of Flip even more disappointing: apparently, the company was preparing to launch FlipLive, a new camera that would allow you to share video over the internet in real time:

Think how amazing that would be. The world could tune in, live, to join you in watching concerts. Shuttle launches. The plane in the Hudson. College lectures. Apple keynote speeches. 

Or your relatives could join you for smaller, more personal events: weddings, birthday parties,  graduations, first steps.

Imagine how cool that would have been. Certainly, it would have kept me in Flip for a while. This is something an iPhone 4 just can’t do. 
The other interesting thing about Pogue’s article is his speculation on why Cisco, which bought Flip from Pure Digital in 2009, had no intention of keeping the product on the market: 

The most plausible reason is that Cisco wants the technology in the Flip more than it wants the business. Cisco is, after all, in the videoconferencing business, and the Flip’s video quality— for its size and price—was amazing. Maybe, in fact, that was Cisco’s plan all along. Buy the beloved Flip for its technology, then shut it down and fire 550 people.

The Flip Camera: Easy to Use, Fun for Families, and Gone

Recently, I used a Flip video camera to shoot this:

And this:

Flip cameras are popular with journalists, and I can see why: I use ours to share the familial goings-on with friends and relatives all over the world. I’ve recorded ballet and violin recitals, trips the to the Met Museum and Prince Edward Island, and uploaded them all to Facebook or YouTube.

We got our first Flip video shortly after they arrived on the market, a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law. The video quality was underwhelming, but it became our go-to camera (period) because it was just so easy to use, and so relatively easy to share clips online. Vanessa even uses it to document her performances and rehearsals.

David Pogue reported this week that Flip was readying a camera that would stream live to the internet. That’s amazing, and it’s not going to happen. (More on that here).

Last Christmas, we gave my son his own Flip video. He should hold on to that; it’s a collector’s item now.

Amazon: Don’t Even Think About Suing Us

In a letter to record labels, Amazon.com made it pretty clear where they stand on getting music licenses: 

Cloud Player is a media management and play-back application not unlike Windows Media Player and any number of other media management applications that let customers manage and play their music. It requires a license from content owners no more than those applications do. It really is that simple.

Nothing to see here. Move along, RIAA.

The full text of the letter is here.

Meanwhile, I haven’t used the Cloud Player since its first day, mostly because I can’t seamlessly buy and load to it from work, which is when I do most of my listening.

Second Thoughts on Using Amazon’s Cloud Drive

Because it uses Flash, there’s only an Android app for Amazon’s new Cloud Player–nothing for iPhone. But I’m having no problem installing the MP3 Uploader on my MacBook and can upload and play tracks through Chrome and Safari. At least I can listen through my computer at work (a PC) and through portable speakers at home (the Mac).

Here’s the thing: to upload all of my music from iTunes to the Cloud Drive, I need 20 GB of storage and they only give me 5 GB for free. If I buy an MP3 album from Amazon, I get that additional 15 GB without cost for a year. But what do I do after a year? Then I pay $20 annually to keep my music in the locker. That’s pretty cheap, but I’m not going to go for it before I see what Google’s got to offer. 
For now, I’ll live with my free 5 GBs, and because they’ll let me store anything I buy from them for free,  I’ll use Amazon’s MP3 store. (See: they got me!)
Want more? 
Matt Brian speculates that all of this is a prelude to Amazon releasing their own Android tablet. Glenn Peoples of Billboard has weighed in on his blog, and Ben Parr of Mashable has some first impressions. 

First Thoughts On Using Amazon’s Cloud Drive

The new Amazon.com “storage locker” for music (and other stuff) is nothing fancy; it’s even more boring to look at than iTunes.

Amazon gives you 5 GB for free, and nothing you buy from its MP3 store counts against this amount. So, if you already use Amazon.com as your source for music, it’s a good deal. 

I put up Fully Completely and am listening to it now. Loading the album was a drag: I had to upload track by track. You can download an app that helps with uploading, but I’m at work and the firewall’s blocking this. I’ll have to try it out at home.

I couldn’t use Chrome to upload and had to shift to Firefox–not a big deal, but I use Chrome as my default.

I went home and tried playing around on my Mac.

Oh, Come On! Really?

Is it really that cute, that groundbreaking, to do this sort of thing on an iPad?

David Hockney’s got a display of Apple art going on in Paris until the end of January:

As Open Culture mentions, the blog Messy Nessy Chic has some samples online.

In the above video, Hockney muses over the problems of displaying his iArt. He goes with hanging rows upon rows of iPads and iPods on the walls of the gallery.

I have an idea: print the damn things out!

It Never Ends

A couple of things struck me when I read that Gorillaz is recording its new record on an iPad:

  • Frontman Damon Albarn professes to be a technophobe but “fell in love” with his iPad at first look. And now he’s recording an album on it. That’s a pretty big leap. 
  • There’s no mention about how Albarn is using the iPad. Is he using Smule apps for instruments? Is he mixing stuff on it, using it as a virtual console? 
  • We should stop talking about all the great things an iPad can do. 
Here’s the video that Radhika Marya mentions was a YouTube hit: 

http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:uma:video:mtv.com:489414