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Armor plate for iPod Photo

I know they scratch easy, but is this really necessary?
I guess that's the point isn't it... iPods are seen by some to be a little excessive in the first place. But CNC'd stainless armour?

Although I'm probably not on anyone's "hip-hop aficionados" list I do know what hip-hop I like, and here's a track I've been into lately:

It's called Dorian by Brother Ali. It's about beating the crap out of a guy who was beating his girlfriend up. Here's a few select lines for ya:

He invited my right fist for a party on his left cheek
I didn't mean to seem rude so I accepted,
But arrived a half a second early, right cross connected -
Oh, staggered him, just by taggin' him,
Mr. tough guy, one punch bring out the fag in him
Little man could make moves that I couldn't,
He cut and tried to foot it, now how should I put it
I stood at full posture and swatted him down the staircase
Bare knuckles to bare face, all punches knew their place
Air point style, the second one take off, the next one land
Learn some respect young man

I said "somebody need to beat your ass,
And then teach your ass, and I'm sorry I can only do half"

Here's a good interview with him too.

I haven't been blogging about music nearly enough - that's not to say I don't have anything to say.

Last night I bought the new Esthero EP (in all it's iTMS glory). Any of you iTunes junkies out there who haven't made the plunge to purchase anything via the store yet should seriously consider at least the title track from this EP because it's fantastic in many more ways than just being a great song.
[click here to check it out on the store if you have iTunes installed]

First, it's WONDERFUL to FINALLY get something both new AND official from one of my favourite artists of all time (her last official release was in 1998 when I discovered her - in Shediac of all places)

There are 5 tracks on the EP - three all on her/their (I don't know if her guitar man/producer Doc is still with her) own, and two collaborations. (She's probably one of the most prolific collaborative artists of the last ten years, and she does great work this way)

The collaborations are with Cee-lo Green ( who apparently is the soul machine) and none other than Sean Lennon (crappy link but it will have to do)(who, apart from what is essentially a b-sides record, hasn't done anything since his debut album in 1998 - coincidence?!). Sweet eh?

To set the tone and hopefully wet your apettite, here are some bits from the EP - the lyrics to the title track, and a quick message from E herself which is apparently printed with the EP packaging:

We R in Need of A Musical Revolution

I'm so sick and tired
Of the shit on the radio
And MTV, they only play the same thing
No matter where I go
I see ashanti in the video
I want some thing more

We are in need of
A musical revolution

How can you make your way through the world today
When everybody is so angry
And what we hear affects our hearts
There's got to be a better way to communicate
So show your love not hate

We are in need of
A musical revolution
We're so tired of the same old
We are in need of
Some spiritual evolution
We're so tired of the same old

We are in need of love

I'm calling out
Doesn't anybody wanna do
Something new

I'm calling all creators in the movement
It's time to offer a solution
To the dilution of what we love
And the greats would be so disppointed
Cause we've sold our souls for what we don't own anymore

We are in need of
Let's start a musical revolution
We're so tired of the same old
We are in need of some lyrical evolution
We're so tired of the same old, same old

Let's start a musical revolution

Tell me why
A grown man can rape a little girl but we
Still hear his shit on the radio
A grown-ass man can videotape a little girl but we
Still see his mug up on our video screens

I want something more


A Message From Esthero:

We live in a world where in the same week a man who is accused of statutory rape can also have the largest selling record of his career. Where we are numb to witnessing burned-out and freshly bombed neighborhoods in a land far, far away... but Janet shows us a little tittie and we are nothing short of "shocked" and "appalled."
This song is a call to arms. It is a call to my pirate sisters, to my rebel brothers, to demand MORE. More from every moment of your life, but especially to demand more of radio stations, of video channels, of the so-called "keepers of the keys to the kingdom." It is meant to inspire and to motivate--not to offend. I want this to be very clear: This song is not meant to be a personal attack on Ashanti or Britney Spears (both of whom, I am willing to bet, are also bored to death of radio)... I was merely trying to make an example of the fact that we overplay and over saturate only a few artists at a time... leaving little to no room for any others. We have no variety. We are stagnating. I am concerned about us, all of us who truly love music, to whom music is a soundtrack of the key moments of our lives, and yet stand idly by while our airwaves are controlled and polluted by people who program music so it doesn't interfere with the frequencies generated by the hamburger commercials they peddle. I really do believe that "what we hear DOES affect our hearts." We are on a bad musical diet and we are getting sick. I mean, a little sugar and extra cheese is great in moderation... But we need veggies and water to SURVIVE. I don't know about you, but personally, I'm starving.
There are revolutionary musicians all around us, ready to nourish and enrich our lives. It is up to all of usto stand up and demand that they be heard.
So here is my humble offering, fresh from the oven, homemade with love. Dig in and enjoy.
- Esthero

Apple and Volvo Cars of North America Announce iPod Connectivity for Entire 2005 US Model Line
Super happy about this one.
Two of my favourite companies integrating their products together! This is wicked. Now if only I had the 80k for a nice s60-R to go with my iPod....

Joe Wilcox: Apple's Inspirational Marketing
I like this Wilcox dude more every time I visit his blog.
I have felt this "create rather than consume" paradigm happening underneath me for the past 5 years or so with regards to Apple's technology, and though I hadn't really had the thought that it would affect my kids (since I don't have any) I HAVE thought about how having this type of technology around would change my own life - I wish I could afford a new Mac (which I almost can now) and a digital camera, possibly even a cheap DV-camcorder, I already have a beautiful iPod, and use iLife to make slideshows and movies and very handsome looking DVDs to present it all in... it would really enrich not just my life by those around me - these things make great Christmas gifts!
I guy I work with made CDs for his family members of pictures and videos he had taken of his 3 year old daughter with his Sony Cybershot over the past year - he printed out some jewel case inserts and sticker-type CD labels and made a real production of it. Cool idea right? Here's the problem, it was just a plain old data CD with a bunch of files on it in directory structures that looked like "/Pictures/Second_Birthday/" etc... how nice would it have been to actually make a DVD or a VCD of all that stuff with a nice DVD menu that had chapter selection and a pictures section and a soundtrack and everything... You can DO that stuff with iLife! This is something that I think is really lost on most people. I can't wait till I start having some cash around and MY memories just look so much better than everyone else's!

Programming's all about assumptions.

Today I found an error in my logic that went a little something like this:

Please tell me if anything in this LIST
okay, since there are some things in that LIST, tell me about THIS ASPECT of
THIS ONE

when of course it SHOULD have looked like:

Please tell me if anything in this LIST
Okay, since there are some things in that LIST, is THIS ONE in that list?
Okay, since THIS ONE is in the list, tell me about THIS ASPECT of it.

Foolish. It took me over an hour to search this problem out because the debugger can't tell me anything about THIS ONE when I step through the program because it's a Java object (and .NET object don't know much about Java objects)

The problem with all this is that if you don't assume enough (not frequently enough, or don't try encompass enough in your assumptions) you can't get anything done because everything's a special case, whereas if you assume too much (as in my example above) you run into mistakes. It's a fine line. We programmers are all a bunch of highly skilled line-walkers.

Joe Wilcox: The Mac Generation

This guy is one of the smartest bloggers out there. I guess that's why he works for Jupiter, eh?

This article is requisite reading for the remainder of this blog.

Michael Gartenberg: Apple Thought for the day..: "Have you considered the fact that Apple now has a computer in their line that is cheaper than the most expensive iPod?"

Griffin Technology

Finally some Bluetooth stuff for iPod.
And a wicked idea too. I think this is the way to go for controlling your iPod while driving (so there's no distracting screen)

JustBlogIt with a simple right-click.

For those of you who don't a) use FireFox and b) know about this extension here's some important info:

1) get FireFox
2) this extension lets you post to your blog whenever you see something interesting online. It's wicked fast and wicked cool and also wicked.

Creative’s CEO disses the iPod shuffle: Them’s fightin’ words! - Engadget - www.engadget.com

I agree with Engadget's editors (not always the case, by the way), and I agree with Apple's marketing plan on this one. They have a clearly defined market and they have the shiz-nit to grab most of it.

MacLevel | News - Apple lowers prices on its line of keyboards and mice

Well, I was wrong. Apple did offer TWO products in the low-end consumer space; that being low-power, low-featured (as in there aren't many), and most importantly low-margin.

As a qualifier, (and hopefully redemption in the eyes of my readers as the omnipotent and omnipresent Apple strategy think-tank) I was right about one thing - and this (above link) is proof.

I said that it wasn't that Apple wouldn't introduce low-end consumer products, it's that it would take a major shift in company strategy. (I think I actually used the word focus, but now that I've used two loosely related synonyms you probably have a handle on what I'm going for) Now here they are, changing their strategy.

I've already alluded to the fact that I was surprised and delighted that the Mac Mini was so SMALL! I had never even considered the possibility (and here's where I was really wrong - shame on me) that the hardware for a computer aimed at the 'commodity market' would end up being (typically) exceptionally beautiful and (here's the kicker) COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from everything else out there! (The iPod shuffle is not completely different from everything out there [I actually think my old buddy Woo from Creative have a product quite like it and whose looks remind me of Mr. Hanky], so I guess it is different than everything else in that regard - it's actually cool) At first I was a bit worried that my "complete shift in focus" prediction wouldn't come true and I would have been just plain old wrong on all counts here - but today I hear a report that Apple has quietly reduced the price of their USB keyboards and mice. Unbelievable. They used to be $60 US - and debatably worth every penny. Now they're half that! They want people to be able to see their stuff as being as affordable as the DELL "QuietKey" (biggest joke in the history of computing). I don't think I need to beat this horse to death for you to see where this is going, but something I do want to mention so everyone keeps this in mind is WHO this product (the Mac mini) is aimed at - EXISTING PC/WINTEL OWNERS. This thing is meant to come home with your new iPod, get set up on the same desk as your existing PC (maybe on top of it, or on top of a gargantuan 19" CRT that PC owners seem to love so much) and outclass your PC in every way (no annoying antivirus or spyware or firewall software (yes, Mac OS X actually uses a REAL firewall that doesn't interrupt every single web transaction, no (slightly less than it used to be but nonetheless annoyingly) clumsy UI, no more "Abort/Retry/Fail", freedom from the Microsoft juggernaut, integrated iLife apps for your music and photos and movies, etc etc etc) and convince you first of all that it was a good purchase, and second (of all?) that you trust Apple to be in your home and you take them seriously enough to plop down $2000 bucks for a super wicked iMac the next time you go in there. And an iBook for Johnny when he goes to school. And an iPod for Suzy when she gets older. This has NEVER been Apple's strategy before, and I think we're going to start seeing a lot more symptoms of what's going on at Apple right now in terms of a more encompasing and embracing focus.

I've said before of the Mac naysayers "I don't want you in my club" because of their ridicule and skepticism - Apple is clearly saying here that there is a way into the club after all and frankly I'm happy for the change of heart.

Well, they're really going after the low end music player market too. I never would have believed it but it's happening.

Here's some specks: (courtesy of MacDailyNews.com)

• - "iPod shuffle" features volume/up down button with simple LED to provide feedback. Comes with lanyard for carrying ease.
• - "iPod shuffle" is priced at US $99 for 512MB or $149 for 1GB of memory for $149. Jobs, "We're really serious about this." The 512MB unit holds 120 songs, while the 1GB unit holds 240.
• - Autofill button in iTunes to make playlists sized perfectly for "iPod shuffle." You can also load it manually. Can be used as USB thumb drive, too.
• - Colored LED shows when unit is playing.
• - "iPod shuffle" fetaures USB 2 for transers and 12-hour rechargable battery for Mac or Windows.
• - Jobs debuts "iPod shuffle" which has no screen allows listening through shuffle. Smaller than a pack og gum, weighs less than an ounce, "which is less than 4 quarters." (1:51 PM EST)
• - Apple wants the remaining flash player market.
• - Jobs says that iPod market share has now doubled to 65% including all music players (flash-based units included).

And so it begins - The Mac mini, based around the concept of the iPod mini, and the Apple Retail Store mini.

Jobs says it very tiny. If it is REALLY small, this concept might actually work! I hadn't thought about SMALL! Talk about differentiation!

UPDATE:
Here's some specs on the Mac mini (courtesy of MacDailyNews.com):

• - "Mac mini" height is about half the size of an iPod mini. Ships January 22 in a smaller box than the regular iPod box.
• - "Mac mini" better model: UIS$599 with 1.42GHz G4, 80GB drive, combo drive...
• - "Mac mini"base model: 1.25GHz G4, 256MB RAM, 40 GB hard drive.
• - "Mac mini" will retail for US$499. Jobs, "Priced so that people wanting to Switch have no more excuses."
  
• - "Mac mini" omes without a keyboard or mouse and uses any industry standard display. FireWire, Ethernet, Modem, and USB. Comes with Panther and iLife '05.
• - The "Mac mini" fits in the palm of your hand and looks like a 3" tall CD drive. A short cube featuring DVI and VGA connections.
  
• - The Headless Mac is now known as the "Mac mini."

Clarus (for those uneducated neandethals who don't know) is a DogCow, who stems from the era of Apple when ClarisWorks was being developed - the first (and possibly only TRUE) real works suite where all works functionality was integrated into ONE app.

Clarus was no longer a part of the OS come Mac OS X, and now she is probably rolling in her grave (poor thing)

iWorks has just been announced (as was expected) as a successor to AppleWorks (which really hasn't been the same lighthearted productivity app since ClarisWorks 4) with (ugh) separate apps for separate functions - including a new word processor called Pages - "Word Processing With Style". I'm excited about the app - (it WAS needed - AW6 was very long in the tooth) but sad to see the "Integrated Works Suite" era pass by.

I still have Claris 4 around somewhere....

I love all this news about High Def video technologies too! This could indeed be "The Year Of High Definition"

Looks like John Mayer is helping out with the GarageBand demo again this time. Fantastic.
Say what you want about current pop music, or his weird breathy voice - this dude has two things that make him alright by me:

1. He's cool as hell
2. He can REALLY REALLY play that gui-tar!
   

So, you all may not be aware but there is a ton of industry buzz around this year's MacWorld San Francisco Conference. Especially the Keynote. Why?

By most accounts this has really been Apple's year. Quarter-before-last (as in, ended in September) was about 6% better than the year-ago quarter for Mac sales. This may not seem like a lot, but here's a couple of things to keep in mind:

• Apple was one of only TWO computer manufacturers able to keep it "in the black" this year (DELL was the other)
• 6% is about the increase the entire industry felt (so Apple is on par with the rest of the industry)
• They are expected to have sold as many iPods in THIS quarter (as in, the Christmas shopping season, as in financial results tomorrow via conference call) as they did for the entire lifetime of the iPod before THIS quarter
• A recent poll found that approx 6% (gasp) of Macintosh shoppers from that quarter were PC users who "switched" due mainly to a positive experience with iPod, and approx 7% were folks who planned to switch soon

That last one should really make you do a double take. Not only did they manage to basically hang on to ALL of their existing business, but also basically ALL of their growth was in the form of a NEW market - people "switching". Hopefully that 7% cashes in THIS quarter.

So this explains why people are paying attention to Apple - they're doing well.

Why this expo?

There are rumors abound, that say there's a flash-based iPod coming, and a $500 headless (no screen) Mac. Those are the biggest reasons.

The expo is about to start and I don't want to be criticized for not getting predicitons out before hand so I'm just going to dive right into what I think of all this. Maybe I'll go into more detail later.

My man Rob Cringely says Apple SHOULD introduce a commodity style, low cost mac to go along with their iPod, to try to entice people over to the platform - get them exposed to the beautiful OS, the lickable iApps, the integration... the Apple Way. He says they should even use their cash stockpile (~7 Billion dollars at this point) to subsidize it as a sort of "loss leader" and lose money on it just to get it into people's hands.

The same basic argument gets made for the flash iPod.

I don't like it personally. I think Apple not only doesn't LIKE to play in the 'low end' markets, I think it (traditionally) doesn't play well in those markets. They don't like bending to customers demands, etc, etc, etc - to a certain extent, making low end tech products is a lot about letting your customers drive your innovation (directing it), and Apple doesn't like to do that.

That's not to say that they can't, or won't. They could very well pull this off - All I'm saying is that it will take a major shift in company focus.

I want to check out what's happening at the keynote now so I'm off to tune in. (no webcast so I'll just be reading semi-live updates)

Here's hoping there's no low end stuff at this show.

01/10/2005: "Shrek 2 is the people's choice"

So I flicked on the tube last night to chill out for a few minutes before bed, and guess what I managed to see in the (literally) 3 minutes that I watched.... "The People's Choice Awards"

A particular segment of the awards as well: Shrek 2 beating out The Incredibles for Favourite Animated Movie. And in fact, Pixar didn't even win a single award last night. (or so the above linked article says)

I can only guess that there hasn't been enough time for the "people" doing the choosing to see The Incredibles yet. I know there are those out there who would say that my support for Pixar films, and Steve Jobs' companies' products are gumming up my faculties of reason... but of course that's not what I think.

In case anyone out there actually does cares what I think, (and why would you be here if you didn't) The Incredibles was probably the best movie I saw this year PERIOD, let alone best among animated films. I don't know if the character awards could have gone to The Incredibles over Shrek - Donkey really was awesome, though I think he probably got this award based more on his performance in both movies combined (as opposed to just the 2nd movie)

But all is not lost. I think Pixar's flick will do very very well at the awards where movie folks call the shots, rather than us common-folk. I do concede however that losing the people's choice competition is a major setback.

Hello everyone!

Merry Christmas!
Happy New Year!

I'm glad we all made it through the holidays and back to our respective desks in our respective towns safely. And happily. And Merri-ly?

Just two quick things to speak on this afternoon:

First off, as le premier post of the new year, I thought I'd share one of my resolutions with you all. And it goes, a little something, like this:

"This year I would like to write more. Music, poetry, maybe some prose, maybe even some screen stuff - but I want to write more. It's the type of creativity I feel best at (by which I mean I feel as though I have had success in the past) and it's also the type of have been doing the least. "

Not bad eh?

Also, I wanted all my faithful followers out there to know that despite the many many ways in which the words "Sonic Infusion" have been used together, this very blog is sitting at a comfortable 23 in the results list for a Google for those very words.

Not bad again.

Enjoy the hockey tonight!


UPDATE:

I didn't notice this before but a google for the term "sonicinfusion" (both words together) actually places this blog as the *FIRST* hit! Amazing!