BrundleFly?

One has to wonder if the quest for wireless HD distribution is more closely related to the Philosophers Stone then Grand Unified Theory at this point.   A friend of mine compared this to eating a cake by saying 'you never know if its going to taste good until you eat it, and then its too late.  A lesson in confections from the kitchen of Mrs. Schrodinger indeed.

Wireless HD distribution is something I would install in the blink of an eye, were I confident it would\could work reliably in both speed and location. My home is not new, not nearly new, not was new to my father  in his youth; in fact my home is just barely considered new by the strict definition of antique. While spacious and accommodating my 1901 colonial home still has walls of 1x3's and lathe under plaster. I spent a good portion of my formative childhood tearing down just such walls in the numerous homes we lived in to rebuild and update. I know just how difficult it is to retrofit these homes with modern wiring without planning a complete renovation. It is not a task I look forward to with any pleasure. 

 I also have years of experience working with wireless systems of all sorts and know full well the fragility of the connective infrastructure.  RF transmission of media can be summed up simply  - Wireless transfer of data is the most convenient method yet developed, it is also the most inconsistent and unreliable form ever put into operation. (I think this statement has a very Mark Twain lilt to it and given his relationshipp with Tesla quite possibly attributable to him in an alternate Universe).

The EE Times has published, as part of a year end 'Hot Technologies to Watch for in 2009, an eye opening article on the the relative stasis HD home distribution over RF has exhibited. In the article 'Not getting the big pictures(s) yet', the EE Times editors describe 802.11n as 'troubled', UWB as a 'failure' and the 60GHz as '...too immature...'.  

So, why pursue an RF HD distribution model?  HDMI has some notorious short falls when it comes to whole house distribution which include but are not limited to cable length and physical connectors. It is a market that has huge potential to make redundant  an entire category of cable and distribution.  Trouble is what we have currently and for the near term results in an end video more BrundleFly then Seth Brundle. 

I suppose I should take a deep breath, thank my mother for having the forethought to prepare me for this moment and  with wrecking bar in hand begin the process of renovating to run wire.

Then where would I keep my pencil?

While I only rarely write about the newest or hot item, I came across the Truphone product. The Truphone allows a user to turn a iTouch into a wifi ready phone.  It struck me that this would be a steampunk application from the perspective of my three year old (or at least when he is old enough to understand such things).

So, an iPhone that is not an iPhone can now be an iPhone(ish). VerySteampunk, in a post post modern way -(maybe neomoderist?).

If you are unfamiliar with the culture of steampunk think of a world where Victorian England driven by the revolutionary difference engine creates a world which has many of the same modern convienecines  of the 21st  century just not based on the transistor.  A good start is " The Difference Engine"  byBruce Sterling and William Gibson. Much in the same fashion as the Maker Movement  hardcore fans of steampunk retro fit modern equipment to reflect their pre-modernist aesthetic.  On first look it can be a bit daunting and too much of a contrast for some viewers; it bears to reason  that it should not work this re-purposing of 19th century technology and  modern computers. Once the initial shock wears off, one finds a warmth to these hardware mash-ups which are far more enticing than the gleaming cold Borg boxes such as the Mac Air.

In a world where no one knows what tomorrow will bring economically or technologically and despite the was to rich for my blood now cheap as sand in Dubai cost of oil we do have to consider a life after the End of Oil. Is the SP movement a harbinger of a new technological age, where products contain a minimal to no petrol base products - Bakelite enclosures anyone ? 

Another major influence on the SP movement is the original Tech punk himself Nikola Tesla. If you only know the name Tesla from an 80's hair band then you should really listen to the Studio 360 Broadcast concerning him (Thanks to John Huntington's link on his Control Geek blog). Much of this modern world started in the brain of dear ole' Tes, Yahoo Serious's Young Einstein notwithstanding .  Two of  His last ideas to be tested were the 'death ray' and wireless power, one inspired the Regan era 'Star Wars' development and one has actually been shown to work!

So, are you ready to be a 'Clacker'?

[Gordon produces a notebook and pencil on wrist springs]
Capt. James West: You know, you could put a gun on that.
Artemus Gordon: Then where would I keep my pencil?
quote is from -[Wild Wild West]

Throw it out, keep it in -- I don't know why (Nirvana)

I wanted to title this piece 'Jello Biaframust be Pissed!' but could not find the supporting documentation. Jello was a vocal opponent of the practice   'Pay to Play' which a number of LA clubs began to use the late 80's. In short aband would have to insure a minimum number of people attending a show by purchasing a number of tickets which they would have to resell. Tough luck to the band that could not meet the minimums and don't even think you'll get any part of the bar take -(minus what the band drank).  It is similar to the bar gig scene in ' The Blues Brothers':

Jake: Uh, Bob, about the money for tonight.
Bob: Oh, yeah, $200, and you boys drank $300 worth of beer

As you may have heard in the ubiquitous news reports, the FCC has posited the idea of a nation wide network for free Internet access. The effort is not altruistic but a carrot to spur on the growth and implementation of the 'White Spaces' frequency spectrum -(the 300 to 400 MHz range). Several reports have mentioned that the free portion would be 'adult content '  prohibited which those over 18 can opt in to, for a price.  We have seen several attempts at Muni-Fi systems but only the small township and hamlet systems appear to have any lasting life. Philadelphia struggled to build and maintain their free access system only to finally shut it down then re-start, sort of.

A truly free access nationwide Internet is a grand thing. Just the effect of bridging  the 'digital divide'  would be  significant in  and of itself. My question is just what price this freedom. Unlike the NY Public Library show, this price of freedom may just inhibit your access to it.  If anyone thinks that the entire Net Neutrality debate will not be finally fought out in this venue are to be sadly shocked. 

Who will determine what is adult content?

How will it avoid the blocking of terms like Breast Cancer rather than just Breast? (recall the gaffs the content protection software many public libraries faced?)

Who will determine which sites and which content will require a premium subscription?

Just how long before demand 'forces' providers to lobby the FCC to reduce the amount of free content to just a bare minimum?  There is only so much bandwidth you know.

Pay to Play ?

I'd gone on Holiday by Mistake!

It would seem I have been on an unintentional sabbatical for the last 4 months or so. I would like to thank all of you who emailed, IM'd. sent LinkedIn  mail and contacted me via Facebook to ask where T6 had gone.  I appreciate the interest, concern and friendship you have shown me.

So, what happened? 

 In very simple terms I stopped sleeping. 

In the past I would have thought this was a dream come true, 'finally time to finish all those projects ! Yeah, not so much.  Around late June I began to wake every hour or hour and half and then up for the day with a jolt of my legs at 5am. No matter what time I would go to bed ,(and trust me I was often in bed by 8pm, just after my kids), within two hours the pattern would begin. shades of Groundhog day.  Coming from a background in event staging I was used to, hell I was proud of my ability to shrug off sleep with a glib " sleep give you cancer man, nobody wants cancer".   I have a personal best of 60 hours with no sleep on a Comdex show in Vegas. The Machismo associated with staging techs and the utter disregard for healthy sleeping patterns was just as important as your ability to perform with out missing a cue. 

After leaving the event staging life and getting a office job I still only slept on average 4 hours a night.  reading news aggregate, commenting on blogs, catching up with work issues and finally writing my own blog would fill the hours after my kids then wife would head to bed.  I would insist on getting up at 2 or 3am when one of the kids would get up.

Then I stopped sleeping.

The first month I was only mildly annoyed by the now  2 hours of real sleep.

The Second month I started to become a bit more testy to my co-workers but held it together, for the most part. 

The Third month I just ran on instinct and drive to get my day done and be a presence in my family's  life.

The fourth month was just running on empty and finally admitting that something was up.

In the long run my answer was not the Tylenol PM's nor any self medicating, it was a morning ritual of Yoga. yeah, yoga.

So, as T6 creaks back to life and I wipe the cobwebs away from the machinery and the little grey cells I ask for your suggestions and contributions.  Are you interested in becoming a guest writer for T6? If so i will send you a T6 Style sheet and method of submitting your articles. I intend to start off with two guests a week and see how it works.

I think withnail would agree - going on holiday by mistake is never a good idea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L95MAROlcqg&feature=related

Goneril, Regan and Cordelia

EE times posted video and a short article on a symposium consisting of manufactures of three main technologies vying to be the wireless digital video delivery system.  While the event appeared cordial with pronouncements of coexistence and equitable market distribution, it is quite clear all are looking for blood in the water.  It is still possible at this juncture that all three technologies will find a place and coexist with the others but it will not, cannot be in the same market.

The full article and video clips are at http://www.eetimes.com/rss/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=208801236&cid=RSSfeed_eetimes_newsRSS

I suppose one's outlook all depends on whether you prefer the original play or the apologist performances of the 18th and 19th century.

I mean, once work's out there it's meant to be used. - Kathy Acker

I am a minimalist by nurture with regards to my physical space-(I like my art cluttered, my space sparse), as my family moved eight times before I was fifteen and each new place was totally rebuilt as we lived in it.  I shared a room with my sister more than I did not as walls were stripped down and rebuilt around us.  I remember the spackle dust most, not quite unlike animal hair; it tends to get onto and in everything no matter the preventative measures taken. Not having a lot of room for things you learned to keep tidy or lose all hope of finding something which would wind up buried in growing piles of clutter.  When my then girlfriend had first spent a few nights at my Spartan apartment and viewed my tightly folded and distinctly organized clothes she was convinced for months that I had either spent time in the military -(no, I did not) or might be a bit psychotic-(jury is still out) .  My Wife met me at a time during which I only wore black, every item of my wardrobe was black leave for one dark red 50’s shark skin sport jacket.  Wearing black had several advantages. It was hipster de rigueur for lower Manhattan, anything I wore would be back stage appropriate and everything could go in the same load of wash. When my then girlfriend –soon to be wife-and I decided to move in and ‘take the next step’ she needed a moving truck while I moved all I possessed in the back of a small van in one trip. Now I live with two kids under 5, my wife, 2 cats and a thousand toys – (I am convinced that the latter multiply overnight in some sick toy mating ritual\orgy) – and a secret part of me yearn’d for minimalist order of prior.

As I have been thinking about this I came across an article on Gizmodo about a set of ‘one line’ furniture by Aykut Erol.  Perhaps as I have been tinkering with concepts of space and environmental influence (see ‘My God it’s full of Stars’ and ‘I Sing the Building Electric’) and my growing comfort with overstuffed plush-ness of Victorian drawing rooms, I had an immediate, and unexpected, repulsion to the images.  The first two images suit me just fine and echo the Pompideu or the Blue Man Group Tubulum.  The third picture just does me in as I instantly associate it with Edward Kienholz’s ‘ The State Hospital’ and get a real uneasy feeling at how similar the color and lighting are. Both are most certainly places I’d rather not be.

I also like my Radio (Terrestrial, Satellite or Streaming) to be bare bones and simple. Gob it up with excess chatter, nonsense bumpers or too many ads and I will not listen – or at least I will find ways to note the non music cycles and avoid the station at those times. I have no issue with stations generating revenue but make it something I have the option of pulling up. Make it flashy, intriguing, and compelling but do not interrupt my access to content. Now the RIAA is equating General radio broadcasts as “a form of piracy”. Essentially the RIAA is attempting to push legislation to enforce radio stations to pay royalties on every song played. The RIAA already wants streaming stations to pay fees based on a per song \ per user structure. In the end this just means stations will pay for the added fees by playing less music and inserting more ads.  Will any of these collected fees ever go to any of the artists RIAA claims to be ‘protecting?’ 

To be clear here I have never been a supporter of the Napsters of the Inter-tubes. My strong opinion is that if the artist wants to sell the music based on per item fee structure, then obtaining it any other way is stealing, period. You can disagree with the concept but it is how this artist has decided to do business. If you have strong feelings about this do not buy their ‘product’ and do not go to their shows, the market will dictate.  If you like the music enough then you must respect the wishes of the artist, otherwise have nothing to do with them. More artists are breaking –(or attempting to ) from their labels, how can major labels survive when mainstream artists like Josh Stone proclaim piracy to be ‘great'.
 
NPR has been running a great series on the arts and Internet in China. The second article in the series of three is a real eye opener for me. The article entitled ‘Internet helps liberate, Create Music in China’ discusses the duality of the internet’s ability to expose millions –(or be exposed yourself) to music in a society where piracy is rampant to the point of cultural. China may be the test model for where the west will be in 5 years. Chinese artists are struggling to make a living from their music where selling content is already considered worthless. An early answer is to provide file sharing as a collective by offering the tools and content, pooling resources and drawing users to each artist’s live events. The article also has a link to the independent collective site and tools mentioned in the article. The Site is in Chinese but is fairly intuitive to negotiate – (although many of the links pop up new browser session which can be a bit of a clutter).

I just have to ask, who says pirates are a bad thing? Think of the environment people!

A word on subscriptions to T6

I have been made aware of an issue with my RSS link -(located at the top right).  The error is caused by Microsoft Word adding an HTML anchor at the beginning and end of some sections.  I mostly compose in word then transfer over to Typepad. 

In order to fix this I must edit every article shown on the main page.  I hope to have this done shortly. In the mean time the Google, Yahoo, Bloglines, etc reader links Do work. 

Just Record it in Dubly

Digital Audio has been the both the savior and root of evil for the music business, truly the conversation has migrated from the back rooms of audiophiles and tech geek into the general zeitgeist.  

While today’s populist conversation centers on the question of downloading in the digital domain with the repercussions on intellectual rights and distribution models, there is a more overriding debate- which has existed since its beginnings.  The question is of Sound Quality.

I was an inside witness to recording studios transitioning from the old Analog Studer A-800 24 track machines to the Sony and Mitsubishi 48 track digital units.  I consider myself lucky to have been involved at this particular time as I learned the venerable process of syncing two 24 track Studers’ via a Timeline Lynx- a very hands on process.  I was taught by some of the ‘old timers’ still practicing the ‘art’ while becoming familiar with the new digital machines as well.  In short I was given the privilege of learning the method and process which the digital machines incorporated behind the scenes.  (I would also be lucky enough –in much the same way- to learn from a number of ‘ole’ slide guys the process and method of setting up multi-image shows. Working with these gentlemen helped me understand the fundamentals of media presentation and better understand how to deal with the –then- new media (meaning the medium) in video–(CRV, Mavica, DVD, etc) then pushing slides into extinction.

One of the earliest and most persistent criticisms of digital recordings is the ‘coldness’  in the sound for which all manner of outboard processing is used in final mix down to help alleviate. The processing is used ostensibly to add back in the ‘warmth’ that harmonic distortion of analog tape provides.  When I worked in recording studios the amount of gear that was used to ‘correct’ the coldness of a digital recording astounded me (still does). 

At the time Stephen St. Croix wrote about the failures of digital’s promise but eventually he came around to ‘embracing ‘it, I especially recall an article praising the newest version of Sony’s ATRAC compression scheme for the mini disk – (which came too late and directly after one of the early Sony disasters of which would become all too familiar later on).  I too came along slowly to the revolution in digital media but now embrace my iPod and streaming media. I also miss the days of high quality recordings that could blow you away from the first note.  I also worry my sons will not have the opportunity to hear great recordings as there will be no great recordings.

Now I know of several close associates who will (and have) argued that a high quality MP3 is possible and have provided me with recordings to prove their point.  The recordings are truly beautiful, but the mass market will never accept them- at least enough to have those who record them make any money back. I am sorry, but the dynamic path of change rules out all but the midland formats for mass market distribution. While it is true the digital format and (more importantly) the playback devices have become astoundingly better then products offered only few years ago; and the recorded quality has become noticeably better in the 20 years of digital, I have trepidations. My question is whether or not we have reached a leveling off as the amount of music being played, shared, transferred and sometimes even sold can support a higher grade format en masse.  A bigger question is if we have already witnessed the peak and are now at the top of a descending arc.

I write about this after listening to a podcast of T Bone Burnett on WNYC’s Sound Check where he rails against the current poor state of audio quality in today’s recordings by calling it

 “…a Xerox, of a Polaroid of a print of a painting….”

T Bone’s solution is to provide a number of formats on the DVD audio disc, so the listener can utilize the format of choice but have access to better if desired.

Mr. Burnett also makes a great point that listening to compressed digital audio is akin to

‘…hearing a Stradivarius through a hallmark card speaker.’

Two comments which left me nodding my head but he follows it up with another classic argument surrounding digital recordings, that of sample rate. T Bone restates the pet peeve of a number of recording engineers- that 44.1 KHz hobbles the quality of the recording from the get go.  Even with the Nyquist frequency I have had trouble seeing any benefit from setting the sample rate to 96 or 128Hz. Yes, the music played at the time of recording produced frequencies far above and below the human threshold.  As a musician Mr. Burnett is appalled that all this information is just cut out.  I on the other hand feel that the extraordinary recording (one that captures every nuance and harmonic resonance) will go completely unnoticed by 90% of listeners who do not and will never have the equipment to reproduce the sound properly.  Perhaps someday everyone will be able to own music systems which will give them true sound in every environment, but that day is a long time off. 

I applaud the fighting of the good fight but there is a reason nearly every studio control room has an auratone located dead center on the mixing board, to simulate the average home system.  The engineer can insure that the essential instrumentation comes through even in mono. Indeed we are setting the standard to never exclude the Lowest Common Denominator.

It's not *Hedy*, it's *Hedley*. Hedley Lamarr.

 

 

It's not *Hedy*, it's *Hedley*. Hedley Lamarr.

                    It's not *Hedy*, it's *Hedley*. Hedley Lamarr.

                                      It's not *Hedy*, it's *Hedley*. Hedley Lamarr.

It's not *Hedy*, it's *Hedley*. Hedley Lamarr.

                   It's not *Hedy*, it's *Hedley*. Hedley Lamarr.

It's not *Hedy*, it's *Hedley*. Hedley Lamarr.

  

                  

Whether you know it or not, you use an invention of the 1940’s cinema star –(and ‘most beautiful woman in the world’) Heddy Lamarr every day, sometimes several.

The concept of spread spectrum frequency hopping had been conceived prior but none had applied in a useful manner.  Heddy and her associate, avant garde composer, George Antheil came up with the idea -(based on player piano rolls )- to help guide torpedoes and avoid jamming from enemy ships.

WNYC’s ‘The Take Away’ had an interesting article this morning about this and a play based on the unlikely duo’s contribution to the war effort called Frequency Hopping.

Alas their patented system was never used to defeat the Nazi’s but would be   ‘re-discovered’ by independent companies working on CDMA.  Every time you call on your cell you are paying homage to Heddy and Antheil – Now, do you think that I could find the Ballet Mecanique as a ring tone?

And Just because it makes me laugh:

Governor William J. Le Petomane: Thank you, Hedy, thank you
Hedley Lamarr: It's not *Hedy*, it's *Hedley*. Hedley Lamarr.
Governor William J. Le Petomane: What the hell are you worried about? This is 1874. You'll be able to sue *her*.

Aside:  I do seem to be on a Dadaist roll lately in my blog posting, not sure where this is going to go.

  

 

Missed It by That Much

 Does WiMax already have its best days behind it?  The strained relationship between the IMT (International Mobile Telecommunications) and Sprint in its push to make WiMax the 4g standard may be all for naught.

Verizion  and Alltel announced a deal to combine their services and thereby trumping Sprints main goal for WiMax, long distance wide coverage and higher data rates then current 3G networks.

Verizion and Alltel have existing infrastructures which will allow them to quickly and nimbly outstrip the pace of installation by Sprint.

In attempt to ease manufacture adoption Sprint  and partners created an ‘open patent ‘group to

"…to help ensure product differentiation and interoperability at a more predictable cost”

But one of the major 4G players –Qualcomm – is expressing indifference.

And what may be the equivalent of”Et tu, Brute” Nortel is shifting research funding from WiMax to LTE.

 

In addition there is  also the 60GHz band now under development for Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN) by the IEEE 80.11 study group on Very High Throughput (VHT) and the 802.153c group.  As the article as EE Times states

“The .3c group focused its standard on two applications. One is distribution of uncompressed high-definition video. The other is high-bandwidth synchronization of devices, such as wirelessly downloading a video from a kiosk to a portable media player.”

A direct strike at the other much touted possible use of WiMax. 

Sprint may invoked itself into a cone of silence

I Sing the Building Electric

David  Byrne has performed several exhibition pieces around the world by playing (and letting attendees play) buildings. The instrument consists of hooking up an organ keyboard to servos and motors attached  to the structures of buildings (columns, beams, radiators, etc) .  

 

David Byrne has more videos of the set up and performances on his website

 The sound is somewhat ambient, moves like dada, and has at its heart the early punk ethos –‘a musician could not play it any better a person off the street…’

 

 

Internet Radio is dead, long live internet radio.

 

I used to be what one could describe as a radio geek.  Living on the east end of Long Island your standard Realistic radio receiver would pick up signals from Connecticut, Rhode Island, NYC, New Jersey and sometimes ‘skips’ from as far away as Halifax  or  Harrisburg.  It helped that I lived on hill above town-one of the highest points in Sag Harbor.   I heard countless college and free form radio from all the listed above exposing me to the music and nomenclature of innumerable genres.  I built UHF amplifiers straight out of popular electronics or Radio Shack kits so I could tune in shows that I would not find locally.   I also nearly destroyed our families first VCR attempting to tap into its tuning section in an attempt to get better reception of WFMU.  You’ll recall that the early VCR’s used a series of tuning wheels to modulate the video out onto the TV channel – I learned so much by tinkering with it. Thankfully my mother never found out just how much I tinkered into that box, she would have been appalled at my opening such an expensive device.  In a very analog way I had my internet radio, just without the genre shaping Genome and Audioscrobble Pandora and Lastfm provide.  I pined for a shortwave receiver as I read articles about the stations in far flung parts of the world –or just the BBC- playing all sorts of music; alas I could never afford a decent one in high school.

I moved to NYC the summer high school ended and was both disappointed and intrigued.  Living on the top floor of a six floor walk up getting decent reception of WFMU, WSOU and a new find WNYU worked out fine with an ‘illegal’ antenna hook up on the roof. So I could hear the lone free form radio station much better and a new station came into my life which indeed opened my ears to the urban alternative rock movement. But that was it, aside from the few college stations or WBAI’s morning music-(I did love that Delphine Blue) broadcasting only at parts of the day- NYC radio was\is a wasteland.

This is why I fell so hard for early internet radio, it was brash, eclectic often shocking, sometimes dull and fidelity was a feature for a later date. It was just like to old days. Radio IO was my first and still my favorite.

Currently the number of internet ‘stations’ can be counted in the thousands but its mass cannot stop the rag tag collection from being washed out. Twice has published a report which shows internet radio is growing despite several forces which could in a perfect storm combine to wreck havoc like a tornado in a trailer park.  The article, based on findings from Soundexchange claims that the number of new stations registering with the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) increased by 400, although this is 100 less than the numbers from last year.  My question is just who is applying and why. 

Some evidence can be gleaned from Warner Bros recent decisionto pull out of its involvement with Lastfm, most likely to put its eggs in the MySpace streaming project.  The issue? royalties of course.  Warner Bros has been quite vocal about its desire to siphon off a share of the Ad revenues, not just from the main page but from the ancillary pages a user may go to whilst searching the artist. This is not a bad thing as it shows a traditional brick n’ mortar music company actively looking to compensate for the woeful sales of physical discs.  I am sure if WB could effectively set up its own streaming ‘radio’ and abandon the distribution model it would.  A number of labels \ artists are utilizing a single point of sale model already as evidenced by the fact that  AC\DC is just the latest in a line of artist to sell their CDs’   exclusively through Wall Mart.

  Why would an artist\label apparently limit distribution and technically expose the product to less folks?  - Control of margins and less expenditure on real world distribution.   How long before Label (X) only provides a song via Pandora or only on its own site?  Madness you say? Just another example of last gasp attempts by a limping to extinction record companies?   Answer me this, why are most record labels (such as Warner Bros \ Time Warner) are against the legislating for Net Neutrality?   Bandwidth equals access.   If the ISP’s get their wish media companies could purchase the lion’s share of bandwidth and elbow out the smaller niche players by having the playing field all to themselves.     Some have argued that the hoopla is much ado about very little, that the shakeout will leave a number of marginal players absorbed or destroyed but that in the end the independent music will find a way to get out there.  I counter, imagine you own a building in which your business resides, then one day someone tells you that a bigger competitor needs 85% of your space for stock storage.   Oh yeah, and you will have to move your sign and front door to the back and the street will be reduced to a one way dead end.  You may still get some of your dedicated existing clients but most new visitors will not even notice you.  Bandwidth.

Over the next few years the big question for installers or custom systems is just how and what are you going to install in your clients homes.  Most certainly there will always be the high client who will want-(or told) the Media System with ADA output cards but where will the content come from and can you tag a recurring income from it?  Is the newest dealership to be an offical provider of Warner Bros licensed receivers?  Will high end CE manufacturers  provide multi license players much in the way you can sell ‘radio’ receivers with built in Wifi  for  internet content  streaming? 

Can pirate radio exist in a world where radio is only online? Will we never see the likes of Mark Hunter (Hard Harry)   again?

 

My God it’s Full of Stars.

Just how does your space influence you?   NPR’s ‘On the Media ‘had an interesting show entitled ‘Space Odyssey’.

My industry is one of creating or enhancing the personal space of a corporation or home.  It’s simplistic and direct so this issue of OTM caught my attention immediately.   

Some regard personal space as a minimum of 3ft at any time (beware close talkers).   If you disagree, try living in NYC right after a major snow storm and navigating the barely cleared sidewalks.  Then talk to me about personal space.

Two sections of the ‘On the Media show’ felt particularly relevant. 

Clearing the Air

Discusses how San Paulo has banned all outdoor advertising, social issues it exposes and the apparent positive cultural effect this has had.

The article spurred some thoughts in me:

Love Piccadilly square but it can get a bit Enki Bilal or Blade runner.

I worked on an install at the Maiden Lane offices of TBWA\Chiat Day, creator of many Apple mac and the early wonder Bra ads. The company (the Chiat day portion)   had three floors of no offices- just wide open mobile work spaces, dramatic paint schemes, fire polls between floors- who needs’ stairs?  As well as a fantastic view of lower Manhattan and the meeting of the rivers.  I wanted to work for them right there.  The environment was perfectly suited to creativity, so much so that I wrote journal entries and poetry for each night I was there and weeks after.

It is interesting to note that the partner company TBWA was a strict black tie| white shirt culture, when they showed at Maiden Lane it became, well odd.

Sound Reasoning

Discusses the early 20’s research on how excess noise reduced productivity and the reactionary response of installing sound-proofing acoustic tiles- (they originally used the wonder product asbestos by the way).

 If you grew up or worked in studios during the early 80s you would still encounter some dead rooms. Dead rooms were popular from the late 50’ to the early 70’s where it was thought that a room devoid of any reflections or resonance was best for recording music.  My experience in these few remaining rooms was not quite unlike entering an anechoic chamber; for a young man who had the beginnings of tinnitus from too many roadhouse sessions behind the boards it was always a bit disturbing to have the ringing come from the background to front and center.

How many of us really understand the function ‘the space’ effects our interpretation of an event.  Acoustic, video and audio ‘sculptures’ clearly understand this and use subtle environmental queues to influence our reactions.   For the media this means branding via ads and viral campaigns  to associate image to feeling to sense of belonging .  For the Audio Visual industry it is about combining the elements of a physical environment toward a emotional result – usually excitement or relaxation or a mix of both.  

How often do you examine why you feel a certain way in a place, do you know who’s zooming who?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jack Butler: Yeah. 220... 221, whatever it takes

John Huntington of www.Controlgeek.net has posted a classic example of just how insane some of this industry can be. 

John posts a picture of a flyer from a 90's NSCA show of a product called the J-CON, a product which consists of an Edison socket connected directly to a 1\4" TRS plug. Yah.

You have to go and read the mind boggeling response from the Rep on the potential dangers. http://www.controlgeek.net/blog/2008/5/29/j-con-an-oldie-but-goodie.html

While your at it why not view a few more electrical horrors at http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/forum1/more-electrical-horrors-t2444.html

Or check out the boys who build patneted devices to see if they could ever work. The Re-inventors http://www.history.ca/ontv/titledetails.aspx?titleid=103872

I mean, we'd be as rich as the Stones if only we'd sold as many records as them.

Does digital media need a centralized distribution model?

For generations the large record companies not only offered access to the means of recording but more importantly to the vast distribution chain that put records into stores and on the radio. Napster added gasoline to an already smoldering fire. Just like the time your uncle Ron poured half a can of lighter fluid onto the charcoal grill, the resulting flare up took off more than a few eyebrows but should not have surprised anyone watching.

I recall seeing the circa 1999 and 2000 interviews with Chuck D of Public Enemy declaring the age of the major labels to be nigh. The promise, according to CD was of a limitless variety of music all directly from the artist at half the cost – if not free.  He got it right, the revolution is being downloaded. But just where do I find all these artists? How do I find what I want and get involved with other artists who may share similar genre? In many ways it has been a piecemeal process to find new music outside the standard web portal stores. (It is interesting to note the number of artists who recanted support once it was their music being ‘shared’ for free).

Sure, there is\was MySpace which started out a place for musicians to stake out a place on the web to directly connect with fans and build followings out of local shows. This network of fans could connect in this early version of a social network site to share their thoughts on the newest songs, the show last night and find others going to a local show. Prior to this fans of marginal or indie bands often communicated and ‘gathered’ via pen pal groups or through the pages of fanzines like Maximum Rock n’ Roll. MySapce provides some means of selling hard copies or downloads but unless the band page linked to other bands your ability to find new music was limited to what the labels put out or fans called out in the chat boards. In essence you had know where to go,  to go.

Today we have ‘intelligent’ streaming players who learn what your likes are and can build playlist(s) of ‘related bands’ based on your input – Pandora has the Genome, Last.fm has Audioscrobbler-(all provide links to purchase single MP3s or albums)..  Facebook provides the ability to give visitor’s music links and streaming video of the bands you like-(and purchase links). Bloggers can embed tools like StreamPad to share your favorite music. While the number of collective sites is growing, all are still struggling to stand out amongst the haze of information. Each has its set of fans who evangelize promises of providing the most comprehensive access through links and social networking. Even Amazon has long attempted provide outreach based on the ‘others who purchased ‘x’ also purchased….(Y & Z). In Truth none of these stand out clearly above all others.

iTunes has similar micro models like this but it is just a distribution point and not a label or content producer… yet. The record companies have only begrudgingly joined forces with Apple because it was the first model to provide some legal and protected means of establishing a foothold where the pirates reigned.  And for the most part it is still a lonely outpost of mainstream music sales. The labels have long bemoaned the margins provided by Apple and have fought – unsuccessfully – to pry more out of iTunes and to get a rise in prices.   

Ian Rogers at FISTFULAYEN has proposed an interesting restructuring which he hinges nothing less than the survival of labels.  IR’s proposal in a nut shell is to utilize the mature power tools of record companies, mainly –distribution, marketing as well as A&R. One large label would be broken down in to smaller outfits that focus on specific markets \ genres. The micro labels could develop larger market bands on which dozens or hundreds of like genre – (or cross gene)- bands could be hung or cross referenced upon.  Add in a centralized payment utility and any label could begin to compete with the market share iTunes has.

It could also shift a measure of control back to the suits. When we finally enter into a post net neutrality world, this power shift could mean influence on traffic and bandwidth toward their favor.  

But is it really necessary?  Can the decentralized direct artist to fan model provide an adequate income to survive if not flourish. In other words, is there a way provide income where a day job is not necessary?

Kevin Kelly seems to think so.  Mr. Kelly discusses the concept of ‘1000 True Fans’  on, one of his several blogs, the Technium http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php.  The basic concept is one where  an artist can make a comfortable living by tending to a 1000 fans who are dedicated to buying the music, subscribing to the blogs \fan club, buying the T-shirts and going to the shows. To earn a base income of $100,000 it would only take each True Fan spending $100 a year, which is a very manageable number. The gross number does not take into account overhead of servers, ISP and equipment but it is still a workable model.  Mr. Kelly also addresses this in his entry ‘The Case against 1000 True Fans’.   The main argument being that many are not looking to just survive but to sell platinum numbers of units. I have begun to believe that such aspirations immense rock n’ roll wealth are to be relegated to the stories of yore. As Gene Simmons so emphatically stated during his conversation on the Henry Rollins Show (IFC) ‘…its over, the industry has been killed by you (points at screen) downloading illegal copies of music… There are no more rock stars…”.

Having subscribed to Indie fanzines such as The Big TakeOver for years I tend to concur with the tongue, It is the niche market indie bands who will find solid ground of continued production and income, just not millions of dollars a year. Regardless it is now possible for artist to ‘live off the grid’ of major labels –or any label at all.

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Now, the making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art. Many do's and don'ts. First of all you're using someone else's poetry to express how you feel. This is a delicate thing

 If you are old school like me and still long for the days of mix tapes the site MuxTape is for you.

I have a certain amount of nostalgia for the creating a seamless tape of songs which were more then a jumbled together collection but had intent and purpose, ('a tape for Laura - her songs', 'the madness of living on 12th street').  The act of creating an analog mix tape is an art lost in the playlist era.  It is not that the thought process for creating the order of songs is any less, but the ease of building a list with drag and drop lacks the 'hands on effort' once required to operate multiple decks.

Mux Tape is nifty in that it attempts to give off the aura of old mix tape experience. It has a clunky interface, where you choose a list names which are set up as if you were digging through a cassette organizer looking at the cover labels.. Just like an old analog tape you can get the 'tape' but only know whats on the tape \ playlist by opening it. As an added fun the tape names are never in the same place when you get back to the main page - just like when your roommates took tapes and put them back wrong!

 Up until a few days ago a Muxtape user developed a search engine at muxfind.com which allowed searches of artist or song title. I loved the tool as I could find playlists with a band I desired then get to hear someone else’s take on what other songs work around it.  Unfortunately it appears the fear of the RIAA has gripped muxfind and they have pulled back the Song \ Artist search feature and offer only the URL or Playlist name search. 

While is a free steaming music site, Muxtape.com does not conflict with my previous entry the effects of freevirus as muxtape offers link for each song for purchase. via an Amazon link through. While the RIAA might get all hot n' bothered - me not so much.

When the bomb goes off there'll be a thousand mutations! Andromeda will spread everywhere! They'll never be rid of it!

Jesse James -( the custom motorcycle maker, not the 1800's outlaw)- has a tattoo on the palm of his hand which reads 'Pay up Sucker' around a $100 bill. Why? because even in his small specialized client base there are people who want his services for free. When viewed from the perspective of individual businesses against an industry the effect appears insignificant, take a macro view and free can be a killer.  Philippe Bradley  (who writes in sheer genius form) made me aware of the 'freevirus' concept in a post on Fred Wilsons blog  in a post entitled "Triangulating For Insight"

Using Darwinian evolution as a metaphor for Venture Capitalists’ role in developing startup companies, Mr Bradley introduces the concept Freevirus coming about when startups who have a building subscriber base get attacked and usually destroyed by 'competing' services who offer free what the startup charged for. Once the virus is let loose it usually takes down all around it and in fairly short order begins to run out of hosts.  If a freevirus upstart manages to destroy or weaken the original hosts it must find something to sustain it - usually ads. The end result is less choice as the startups who had financial backing and an economic model for sustainability and innovation are killed off and the FV upstarts are thinned due to lack of sustainability.  (I cannot do the original post justice you must go read it).

And yet, it is the freevirus's action which brings in the mass market acceptance, draws in those beyond first adapters. As a service transitions from niche tool of the uber chic to general ubiquity the freevirus version suffers through the invigoration and stresses of meeting the demands and criticisms of users.  New tools are developed and added as suggestions and demands are stated. So, freevirus can often act in a symbiotic manner - for a short time. As my wife is fond of stating, "Oh Honey, nothing really comes for free...". 

Can freevirus be harnessed into a benign catalyst? Prior and current examples are inconclusive,

Microsoft floated the idea for a way to prop up the struggling Zune platform, with the expected backlash.

No Ads on my Zune please:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13526_3-9948849-27.html

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One model is to provide services or content which the freevirus cannot match or have available.

Frustrating the Pirates:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/technology/17online.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

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What does it mean when even the uber techies -(many of them VC's who struggle with this question)- balk at paying for the much heralded Twitter?

Will the Tweets pay for their Tweets? Nope.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-9950085-16.html

Even large infrastructures cannot find the funding to keep subsidized toplogies up and running.

Say goodbye to Muni-Fi

http://www.infoworld.com/news/feeds/08/05/16/Say-goodbye-to-Muni-Fi.html

Why are we so averse to advertising which can subsidize content, keeping the cost low or free?   The legitimate Question of whether advertisers could have any direct control of content is a serious one. (No more clear channels please!).

 Why do so many insist that all content should be their right not a privilege to obtain?   

Why are you a freevirus carrier ?

 

"When properly lit and shot on film, this makes for the best test of flesh tones one can find." -TW

It is indeed interesting what one finds whilst trolling manufactures websites – Yeah, I know I need to get out more.

3M has announced a functioning video projector designed to fit into a mobile device (Cell Phone, Blackberry, and Digital Camera).  The 3M site http://www.3m.com/mpro/index.html states the unit is

"Roughly the size of a wireless earpiece, and a half inch thick..."

can project an image of

"VGA 640x480 Resolution"

And - most interestingly or curiously

"Projects sizes 5' to 50' or more"

The 3M description markets this as a social tool for sharing photos and videos; I see the break mobile content providers have been looking for in particular the WiMax folks.  All those arguments against people watching content on their phones because the screen is too small just may have gone away. 

Taking a futurist POV, imagine a time when there are no 103" plasmas just your mobile content device which projects an HD image of up to 60" or 70".  Aside from a central sever for storing your terabytes of content you take it all with you. (that which you could not store on the mobile device could be accessed via a slingbox like connection) oh, and it can make phone calls as well.

While the techie in me gets all worked up about the above being possible and I am intent on finding system diagrams to figure out how this works, the luddite in me bemoans the loss of regionalization. With the advent of cable, Satellite TV and the Slingbox type devices we no longer allow ourselves a chance to see local programming. Often locals do not see local programming - aside from the 6:00 news. Accents are becoming homogenized, Story lines all the same. Instead we arrive at the hotel, set up our PC to connect to the Slingbox and watch all our shows including our local news-(not the local news of the place we are staying). I do have hope that IPTV and sites like YouTube will always provide an outlet for truly regional culture; does anyone know exactly what happened to the Manhattan accent you last saw in 40's movies?

There are a number of troublesome possibilities as well:

·       Those lovely folks who seem to think the rest of us are utterly fascinated with their lives and use their Nextel or speaker phone on trains have a new way to invade personal space.

·       The potential for showing images you would really not rather- or I'd rather not see.

The lure of showing something elicits in a public manner -even if just as a laugh- can be quite strong.

In the days of the first single gun LCD projectors a number of techs-(including me) and a projectionist stayed late putting a new unit through its paces. The company I worked for rented several floors which had windows on two side streets and the main ave. Initially we pointed the projector out one of the open windows facing a block long side street wall to see just how big an image the projector could actually produce.  The image was big and damn bright! As it grew later on an early summers day we became even more impressed as the video engineer tweaked a few things and was able to produce a super bright image of about 20' (remember the throw was just a Manhattan side street width).  The projectionist wondered aloud if this 'data' projector could moonlight as IMAG support - (IMAG commonly is the projected talking head of the on stage speaker).  Someone mentioned that it must be fairly inefficient in handling flesh tones. 

Here is where the title of this entry comes from. Our ever resourceful projectionist placed a tape in the SVO deck and hit play. Up before us leaped to life a 20' super bright image of a couple in flagrante delicto. Yeah, you read that right.  There in full color was a 20' porn playing. We laughed, snickered, and thanked our stars that this was an industrial area after 8 pm on a Tuesday night. Then we heard a Yelp, expletives and our desk phones started to ring.  It appears two senior management types had stayed late as well and were just at that moment crossing the side street when our impromptu show had started.  Suffice it to say, the next few days were a bit tense in the office. Those who know the story, who’s initial are credited to the quote and just why we had ready access to the content will completely understand why I still find it hilarious.

We were some high tech geeks with access to very pricey toys and took a moment to misuse it. It was a one off event unlikely to happen again for some time.  Now anyone with a penchant to cause a ruckus could do nearly the same but all from his \ her mobile device.

Considering the two leading specs quoted above from the 3M site. 

640x480 is just tolerable looking at a 5' image, any bigger and you lose all definition.  I see no way the "..up to and above 50' image" is plausible.