May 21st, 2009 ecoli
This is an interesting program that my friend forwarded to me via twitter.
The big difference between computer typing and typewriting is that there’s no deletion on the typewriter. You could scratch off/white out some letters, but any wide-scale revisions had to be completely re-done.
Writing on a manual [typewriter] makes you slower in a good way, I think. You don’t revise as much, you just think more, because you know you’re going to have to retype the entire fucking thing. Which is a big stop on just slapping anything down and playing with it.
- Will Self
It’s an interesting exercise, because you have to be really careful about the words you’re putting onto the paper, grammar, style, etc. I think practicing with this software is good for people (like myself) who have forgotten how to write carefully. Probably good practice for those timed in-class writing assignments.
The only downside is the program itself… it runs in Java and is a little annoying to use. Still worth fiddling with now and then.
Posted in technology | 3 Comments »
June 6th, 2008 ecoli
A few months ago, I was one of the first to report on Google’s favicon change. In fact, my blog came up as one of the first when doing a search for “New Google Favicon” on Google’s search engine. Now though, it seems as if I have been delegated to page three, as more powerful blogs have picked up the story.
I still would like to report, however, that pachi, of Arbitness has informed me that Google has published an official response about the change:
“We recognized there was a need for a Google icon that would better work across multiple applications including web, mobile and client applications. We felt the small ‘g’ had many of the characteristics that best represent our brand: it’s simple, playful, and unique. We will be looking to improve and enhance this icon as we move forward.“
Or, as pachi says, Google is trying to rebrand itself, especially now that it seems cell phone and mobile technology is entering the web browsing world for good. Though, I don’t think my original hypothesis, is that far off.
Posted in link out, news, technology | No Comments »
June 5th, 2008 ecoli
Addiction to the internet is a serious problem and becoming worse the more life becomes ‘web-based.’ Apparantly, I’m no exception.
Calculate your own internet addiction score (assusingly) at this site. I scored a 62:
You are experiencing occasional or frequent problems because of the Internet. You should consider their full impact on your life.
I guess I’ll try to do that, right after I play some flash games, stumble upon sites for an hour and check SFN and scienceblogs.com.
Posted in link out, technology | 8 Comments »
February 28th, 2008 ecoli
Reviews of 2007 sales show that through iTunes, Apple, Inc. is now the number two music retailer in the country, beating out Best Buy and Target, but still lagging behind Walmart. 10% of legally obtained music is now downloaded, a 6% jump from last year. Meanwhile, the average American spends $4 less per year on music and approximately 1 million Americans stopped purchasing CDs.
These statistics speak volumes about the way the music industry is changing. Apple, originally a computer and software company found a niche in the market for portable music devices, in the way other companies were developing slimmer cell phones and digital cameras at the beginning of the 21st century. Apple was able to successfully advertise the iPod and its accompanying software, iTunes, and still largely commands the market on portable music devices.
However, portable music players are nothing new, so why is the iPod revolutionizing the music industry? What separates the iPod from the Sony Discman, and the Walkman before it, is that the iPod is completely dependant on computers in order to function. The rise of the iPod has coincided perfectly with the rise of the internet. People are getting used to transmitting information and communicating through the internet, so transmitting music is the next logical step. Completely digital transmitted music is cheaper, more efficient and less wasteful than CDs.
Through iTunes, Apple has 50 million customers and has sold 4 billion songs – and that is just music obtained legally through one music purchasing program.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in business, musings, news, technology | 9 Comments »
February 22nd, 2008 ecoli
For those of you who do anything with any musical/audio editing inclination, go and download this open source program: audacity.sourceforge.net
I create computer ‘electronic’ music, and I use it to mix all my tracks and add effects. It works superbly and the user has an extraordinary amount of control.
One of the best effects on it, is changing tempo, without altering the pitch of the notes. This is important for me because I play a lot of Eastern European folk music. There’s not a lot of sheet music and I mostly learn tunes by ear from recordings. For particularly difficult or technical pieces, I can slow down sections and catch exactly how the notes are played (I’ve been doing this all morning because my exam was canceled due to snow).
It also lets you record sounds directly off of your computer’s sound card… which means you can rip the soundtracks off of music videos from Youtube, or similar such things (of course, I expect everyone to obey all copyright laws).
You can download a small extra plugin that allows you to convert your audacity files into mp3s, .wav files come standard.
So even if you’re not a composer or musician, it’s handy to have, and it’s completely free. So what are you waiting for?
Posted in technology | 5 Comments »
February 15th, 2008 ecoli
The nations top retailer, Walmart, has officially chosen sides in the ‘Blu-Ray’ verses HD-DVD debate, according to this AP report.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Wal-Mart-Blu-ray.html?_r=1&ex=1360818000&oref=slogin
Netflix, Blockbusters, Target, MGM, News Corp, Fox, Disney and Time Warner have also chosen Sony’s Blu-Ray over Toshiba’s HD-DVD. Personally, I think because ‘Blu-Ray’ was a cooler sounding name, and thus more marketable to consumers.
Posted in business, news, technology | 1 Comment »
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