Josh Reisner

Via BoingBoing yesterday, I watched a fascinating video about experiments with touchscreen technology.  I recommend you watch it, if you’re in to that kind of thing.

I think what we’re seeing here is that when you add more pointers (fingers) you can really interact with a computer in novel ways.  By pulling your fingers apart, you can zoom in.  By pinching together, you can zoom out.  By swirling, you can rotate.  By applying pressure you can swivel.

Although it’s true that Apple has patented a lot of stuff in this area, that’s not why they’re going to take advantage of it.  They’re going to take advantage of it because their OS is lightyears beyond Microsoft’s and that affords them the flexibility and power to focus on new technologies like this while not having to worry that the whole thing is going to fall apart.

And you just know Apple is going to go for this touch-screen stuff!  First of all, the simplicity: you add a whole dimension to the experience without adding any new clutter to the desktop.  Second, the emphasis on hardware.  Apple can make it a natural component of all their computers since they make all the monitors, while Microsoft would have to make it an optional plugin for people who bought the extra thing from Dell or HP.  Third, you can tell they love the idea that they’ve become a consumer electronics company.  They’ve made their interactions with the customer more expansive than just the ordinary sit-at-a-desk-and-use-the-computer.  For example, see their work with Front Row.  A touchscreen will allow casual interactions like walking by your computer and changing the music without sitting down or even bending over.

Raconteurs = Jack White + Brandon Benson + two of the Greenhornes.  Be warned, this is an insanely catchy song.  Also, please be sure to check out their retro web site.

Steady As She Goes (mp3, via Indie for Dummies)

They’re like a younger Belle & Sebastian but from Sweden and with raging hormones.  And in the tradition of recent Scandinavian bands I’ve been listening to*, appear to have like a lot of peripheral members.  Which, given the Strip Club’s obvious disposition, could mean a pretty kinky live experience.  Or not.  Maybe not.  I don’t know.

Down and Out and Away (mp3)

*I guess I just mean Ske & Gus Gus

I can’t tell if the band’s just not all that tight, or whether there’s a dissonance-effect thing going on.  But it hardly matters much, because WOW can Becky Stark sing or what?

You Broke My Heart (mp3)

You should check out this excellent podcast.  People are making a big deal out of how young she is (15), like her excellent taste in music makes her a prodigy or something.  I say whatever!  Kids are always way more plugged in than adults are.

More importantly, I wonder whether the other kids at her school think she’s cool for doing this.  I bet they don’t; I bet they all think she’s a square.  They’re all probably listening to even cooler shit and like rolling their eyes at Zoe.  And podcasting’s like for old people. God.

(via blogging.la)

Mac users: rejoice!  Google Earth has been ported for Macintosh.  It’s really spectacular.  Any ideas for a good data layer?

Oh, that’s right.  No comments.  I’ll fix that shortly.

Don’t get me wrong: I think it’s great that Kodak is ass-vertising instead of creating a groundbreaking digital media product, such as:

• a gigapixel camera
• pro photo software like Aperture
• a better graphics file format that contains multiple resolutions (like you see the thumbnail and the web version, but if you right-click you can go to kodak.com and get the print-version)
• an internet printing and shipping service that presents itself at the level of a printer driver (ie is an option when you go to print and charges reasonable rates)

But enough of that.  The reason for this post is that, also via BoingBoing, I noticed that France’s parliament has voted to introduce an amendment to legalize filesharing.

That must be giving the RIAA and MPAA a Christmas aneurysm.  Which of course is happy news to most rational people, as the copyrighters’ response thus far has been to sue companies, sue grandmothers, and compromise the quality of their product via ‘crippleware.’

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is trading files like it’s 1999.

I just cannot comprehend why the record and motion picture companies haven’t shut this down by now.  I mean, fuck the record companies, but let’s get real for a second.  They could, in an afternoon, make all this go away.

Here’s where I would start: offer a salary of $100,000 w/ benefits to everyone who has *ever* worked at Limewire, Acquisition, or Kazaa.  Hire everyone at p2pnet.net, while you’re at it.  Start by measuring traffic and tracking what’s actually going on out there.  Spend a good three months doing this.  Discover stuff like what labels are getting hit the most, what that would equal in dollars, and to what extent there’s a legal alternative.  Most importantly, you have to come up with a statistic that says how bad filesharing really is, and you have to figure out a way to come at that question from the perspective that some filesharing is actually good for business.

Then you methodically shut it down.  Make RIAA servers all the available ultrapeers on the network.  Return bad search results.  Control the system.  Make sure that every single available download is a compelling advertisement for a legal alternative.

Or whatever; sue some more grandmothers and keep the party going.  It’s up to them, and, if history is any indication, the party’s going to go on forever.

TV on the Radio rocks.  And so does this video from the Touch-and-Go Records site YouTube.

TV on the Radio – Staring at the Sun

I suppose it’s not a good time time to be Sony, particularly in San Francisco.  Nevertheless, via AmericaBlog, I saw a beautiful new Sony ad (for a TV or whatever) that I wanted to pass along.  As you can deduce from the picture above, it concerns bouncy-balls.

First, the Nick Drake-esque soundtrack is by the talented José González.  The song is a cover of ‘Heartbeats’ by The Knife — a band I don’t understand at all. 

The second thing I want to say about the Sony ad is that it’s another entry in what has become the ‘raw economic power’ genre of ads: big-budget TV spots that only tangentially relate to the product itself.  For an even-more-remarkable example, see this spot for Microsoft’s XBOX 360 (needless to say, it’s hard to find a QuickTime version).  All this is to say that I hope the “a million dollars can’t be wrong” model of advertising is making investors a little uncomfortable.  After all, what happened to the “you won’t believe how incredible this product is… look!” model?  When did you see that last?

José González – Heartbeats

Score one for the ‘molasses’ model of site development; the back end of this website has finally caught up with the front end!  You’re now reading these words straight from an ambitious little database.  So now you can go ahead and link to my posts directly from your very own blog.  It also means things are moving right along in my little Project.

Speaking of which, this site has come a long way in six months.  As that post indicates, today marks the midpoint in my year-long development path.  How’s that coming?  Well, I’ve got 21 tables now, and I think I’m finished making them.  Now I’m adding features and making the site more robust.  But I’ve certainly got a long way to go.

In the near future, you can expect:

• music links every so often (like two-week interval?)
• archives
• RSS
• the ability to post comments
• topic categories
• search
• more detailed information on the Project

I’m also going to be soliciting some help, particularly in the areas of security, performance, communications and graphic design.  Stay posted, yo.