Censorship Of Books
In the bill of rights we are promised freedom of speech and press. Do books fall under this category? I would have to say they do. I researched a lot. The government hasn’t banned a book that we have knowledge of in three decades. Everything I could find on censorship lead me to government conspiracy and cover ups. Well, I thought I could talk that subject to death. We have to admit we have all heard and are aware that our government does things that we are unaware of. This assignment was taking the concepts that we all know about our subjects, and be original and think about the future. So I think we have a little knowledge on the past and present. What I got from the assignment sheet was, take this concept further. Think creatively, what does the future of censorship look like, or what could it look like? I started to brainstorm, I looked across the room and my adorable cat Azule was cocking his head at me in his curious way. He jumped down from my book shelf and his tags jingled like they always do. But his Home Again tag caught my eye. When he was just a kitten I had a tiny micro-chip put in him so that if he ever got out, they could pull his file and see exactly where he was. Yes, I “GPS’ed” my cat. I remembered an article I read while I was sitting in the doctor’s office recently. I read that there are hundreds of hospitals and doctor’s offices that are getting the equipment to locate or scan a patient that has chosen to have the chip implanted in them.
Why would anyone do this? I Googled Home Again, I got a ton of results. These chips are actually starting to be offered to parents of newborn babies. They are also being implanted in the devopmentally disabled. They have started to offer these chips to the families of Alzheimer’s patients. Basically, anyone who is a risk to wander off and not know how to communicate where they belong or even who they are. These chips have the capacity to hold all of our personal information. If we allow them to, they could replace the need for ID’s, health alert bracelets, even credit cards. So why do I think that this has anything to do with censorship? What if the government decided to code books in stores and newspapers and any form media by what they think is appropriate for individuals. So if my eleven year old went to the library and tried to check out or even read a book that has been coded as adult content or violent, someone would quickly remove the book from her hands and say “Alexis, you are only eleven, you can’t read this.” This is a real possibility, on a YouTube video I watched while brainstorming the idea, that within ten years these chips could have the ability to control high blood pressure, and even give a deaf person their hearing back. So why couldn’t they control what books we can read or buy. So, someone who was doing a paper on corruption in our government; let’s say this person was a perceived risk. They may have aspirations to try and change things. This person has potential to be a real leader. If the government that is in place now doesn’t have the same ideals and feels that this person shouldn’t be able to access anything to educate themselves on corruption; or any other media that could possibly be used to get information. They could just stonewall all access to any book, webpage, magazine or even the daily paper. I know that it sounds far- fetched but what if this was what censorship is going to look like in twenty years. How would you like it if you tried to sit down and watch CNN and parts of the news just blue screened in front of you? What if you never knew any other way, like the infants that they are praying on their parent’s worst fears, like our child being a victim of kidnapping or getting lost, or falling in water when they can’t swim? They are promising safety, in almost every aspect of our lives. They are telling us that they will always be watching, we will all be living a safer life; but what are they not telling us, constant monitoring, would we still be free? Could we even really stop the companies from sending out information that influence’s how we think? If they could get these chips into everyone, who would be watching the watchers? Who would protect our civil liberties then?
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. — The first article of the Bill of Rights
Isn’t the idea of this a contradiction?
Even in the era of controversies, “The Patriot Act”, etc. We could be here all day naming them all. But, talking about it gets us no where! As a democracy are we really allowing this to happen right in front of our own eyes?
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
The future of newspapers: e-Newspaper
For our group presentations in class me and my group’s media industry was newspapers. This industry had done very well in the past but in the past couple of years it has been going through some struggles, and by the looks of things they are not going to end. In our presentation we discussed how and why newspapers are having such problems and what is going to become of them. Newspapers as we know it are fatal. There are so many new technologies taking over the old paper, newspaper.
The new big way to get the news now days is to go on the internet. People love this idea because it has easy access for them they can get internet at home, at work, and even at places like caribou. People this is great since they can read and look at what they want they do not have to flip through papers to find the articles they want to read it is just a click of a button. Also you can comment on different articles you read and see what other people comment on them also. Viewers can also create their own blogs which is becoming a new way some people are starting to get there news. This allows you to create something and write about it and have others comment on what you write about. The best thing about getting the news from the internet for most people is that it’s free. Some other different ways of getting the news that is popular now days is by mobile phone and iPods.
One of the things that is possible to replace newspapers in the future that I am going to talk about is called a IBM e-Newspaper. This is a newly designed newspaper concepts that would bring news and different information on it. The e-Newspaper is very thin looking but sites do say it does weigh more than a Kindle does, a Kindle is a new invention out right now for people to get there news. Even though they are trying to make the e-Newspaper may look like a regular paper newspaper it will never have the same feel as a regular newspaper. This new device is known to mold itself around the consumer by taking into account the consumers’ expectations of the new device. This new design of a newspaper can tell how a person reads, folds, and carries a normal newspaper this is so the consumer feels like it is.
Basically newspapers are slowly but surely dying. With all of the new technology we are coming up with to replace the newspapers, in the future sometime there will no longer be just the regular plain old newspaper. We all love new things and e-Newspaper is not the only new thing that is expected or trying to takeover and replace newspapers. People are looking for easier and more convenient ways to get there news, and they sure are getting exactly that.
The new big way to get the news now days is to go on the internet. People love this idea because it has easy access for them they can get internet at home, at work, and even at places like caribou. People this is great since they can read and look at what they want they do not have to flip through papers to find the articles they want to read it is just a click of a button. Also you can comment on different articles you read and see what other people comment on them also. Viewers can also create their own blogs which is becoming a new way some people are starting to get there news. This allows you to create something and write about it and have others comment on what you write about. The best thing about getting the news from the internet for most people is that it’s free. Some other different ways of getting the news that is popular now days is by mobile phone and iPods.
One of the things that is possible to replace newspapers in the future that I am going to talk about is called a IBM e-Newspaper. This is a newly designed newspaper concepts that would bring news and different information on it. The e-Newspaper is very thin looking but sites do say it does weigh more than a Kindle does, a Kindle is a new invention out right now for people to get there news. Even though they are trying to make the e-Newspaper may look like a regular paper newspaper it will never have the same feel as a regular newspaper. This new device is known to mold itself around the consumer by taking into account the consumers’ expectations of the new device. This new design of a newspaper can tell how a person reads, folds, and carries a normal newspaper this is so the consumer feels like it is.
Basically newspapers are slowly but surely dying. With all of the new technology we are coming up with to replace the newspapers, in the future sometime there will no longer be just the regular plain old newspaper. We all love new things and e-Newspaper is not the only new thing that is expected or trying to takeover and replace newspapers. People are looking for easier and more convenient ways to get there news, and they sure are getting exactly that.
The future of Music
As my part of my group’s project, I discussed music and where technology is taking the recording of music in the future. I said that with the cost of recording software, computer to instrument interfaces, and all of the other gear that you would need to do your own recording, and that this gear is getting cheaper than even ten years ago. I see that in the future as this technology gets even cheaper than right now, many more of the masses of musicians will do their own recording.
I also see the future of musical instruments being able to do many more things than just a guitar making a normal guitar sound. There is a new guitar made by Moog, which is the same brand that makes synthesizers. This guitar is an amazing innovation for the instrument as it has completely new type pickups and other new things as well. Here is a guitar player magazine article from a few months ago for you read and see some of the future of music and recording.
Paul Vo Collector’s Edition Moog Guitar Prototype
By Barry Cleveland
HEAR THE WORDS “MOOG GUITAR” AND THE FIRST image to spring to mind will likely be a guitar capable of producing the same great synthesizer sounds as the company’s legendary keyboards. While that would be a beautiful thing, the Moog Guitar is not a guitar synthesizer, or even a synth controller, and it has nothing to do with MIDI, modeling, sampling, or other familiar technologies. Instead, it is an instrument that embodies a new approach to expanding the capabilities of the electric guitar itself—particularly its ability to sustain notes.
Electric guitarists have attempted to get more sustain out of their instruments almost from the very beginning. First, they simply cranked up their amps and used tube distortion and feedback to produce notes that sang more like a violin than an acoustic guitar. Then came distortion and compression pedals, followed by an array of mechanical and magnetic devices. By 1975, there were the Gizmotron, which physically “bowed” the strings with motorized wheels, and the Ebow, which sustained notes on a single string electromagnetically. A few years later came the Roland GR-500—a pre- MIDI guitar synthesizer that also employed a magnetic device to increase sustain—followed in the mid ‘80s by the Maniac Music Sustainiac and the Fernandes Sustainer, both of which provided unlimited sustain on all strings.
Given all of these historical precedents, the concept of a guitar with infinite sustain is hardly new—but Moog’s Paul Vo has developed a radically different technology that elevates that concept to a previously unheard of level, and combines it with other significant features that put the Moog Guitar in a category all its own. Remove the rear panel, and you’ll find about 3,000 individual components on a state-of-theart, six-layer printed circuit board—all of it glorious analog technology. “While sustain is the most obvious thing that the Moog Guitar does, it is not an outgrowth of any previous ‘sustainer’ technology, but rather a vibration control system,” explains Vo. “If the Sustainer is a flashlight, the Moog Guitar is a laser.” Naturally, a project of this magnitude required lengthy R&D, and I was fortunate enough to have seen and played several prototypes as the process moved forward. Here, we look at one of eight pre-production prototypes, which, while a little rough around the edges, provides a candid glimpse into a product that is nearly ready for prime time. (Look for a follow-up review of a production model once one becomes available.)
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The Moog Guitar operates in three modes: Full Sustain mode energizes all the strings equally, Mute mode sucks the energy out of the strings (resulting in a banjo- or koto-like attack and quick decay), and Controlled Sustain mode energizes only the notes being played while muting everything else. You switch modes using a 3-position Mode Selector, and dial in the intensity of the sustaining and muting functions with the Vo Power control. There’s also a Harmonic Balance control, which shifts the Vo Power between neck and bridge pickups, for differing harmonic emphasis.
In addition to the two Moog pickups, there’s a piezo pickup mounted in the bridge that may be combined with them using the Piezo Blend control, or used independently. A 5-position pickup selector lets you choose neck pickup, bridge pickup, neck and bridge pickups out of phase, neck and bridge pickups in phase, or piezo pickup only. Audio from the Moog
HEAR THE WORDS “MOOG GUITAR” AND THE FIRST image to spring to mind will likely be a guitar capable of producing the same great synthesizer sounds as the company’s legendary keyboards. While that would be a beautiful thing, the Moog Guitar is not a guitar synthesizer, or even a synth controller, and it has nothing to do with MIDI, modeling, sampling, or other familiar technologies. Instead, it is an instrument that embodies a new approach to expanding the capabilities of the electric guitar itself—particularly its ability to sustain notes.
Electric guitarists have attempted to get more sustain out of their instruments almost from the very beginning. First, they simply cranked up their amps and used tube distortion and feedback to produce notes that sang more like a violin than an acoustic guitar. Then came distortion and compression pedals, followed by an array of mechanical and magnetic devices. By 1975, there were the Gizmotron, which physically “bowed” the strings with motorized wheels, and the Ebow, which sustained notes on a single string electromagnetically. A few years later came the Roland GR-500—a pre- MIDI guitar synthesizer that also employed a magnetic device to increase sustain—followed in the mid ‘80s by the Maniac Music Sustainiac and the Fernandes Sustainer, both of which provided unlimited sustain on all strings.
Given all of these historical precedents, the concept of a guitar with infinite sustain is hardly new—but Moog’s Paul Vo has developed a radically different technology that elevates that concept to a previously unheard of level, and combines it with other significant features that put the Moog Guitar in a category all its own. Remove the rear panel, and you’ll find about 3,000 individual components on a state-of-theart, six-layer printed circuit board—all of it glorious analog technology. “While sustain is the most obvious thing that the Moog Guitar does, it is not an outgrowth of any previous ‘sustainer’ technology, but rather a vibration control system,” explains Vo. “If the Sustainer is a flashlight, the Moog Guitar is a laser.” Naturally, a project of this magnitude required lengthy R&D, and I was fortunate enough to have seen and played several prototypes as the process moved forward. Here, we look at one of eight pre-production prototypes, which, while a little rough around the edges, provides a candid glimpse into a product that is nearly ready for prime time. (Look for a follow-up review of a production model once one becomes available.)
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The Moog Guitar operates in three modes: Full Sustain mode energizes all the strings equally, Mute mode sucks the energy out of the strings (resulting in a banjo- or koto-like attack and quick decay), and Controlled Sustain mode energizes only the notes being played while muting everything else. You switch modes using a 3-position Mode Selector, and dial in the intensity of the sustaining and muting functions with the Vo Power control. There’s also a Harmonic Balance control, which shifts the Vo Power between neck and bridge pickups, for differing harmonic emphasis.
In addition to the two Moog pickups, there’s a piezo pickup mounted in the bridge that may be combined with them using the Piezo Blend control, or used independently. A 5-position pickup selector lets you choose neck pickup, bridge pickup, neck and bridge pickups out of phase, neck and bridge pickups in phase, or piezo pickup only. Audio from the Moog Guitar is routed to the Moog Foot-Pedal Controller—which also serves as the power supply and audio interface—using a multipin connector. For convenience, however, there’s a standard 1/4" guitar output for the piezo, in case you want to, say, tune-up or play backstage independently of the power supply (plugging a guitar cable into the jack activates an onboard 9-volt battery).
The Moog Guitar also sports a classic Moog filter, which behaves differently depending on which of its three operating modes is selected and the setting of the Tone/Filter control. In Standard mode, the Tone/Filter control functions much like a regular guitar tone control. In Normal Moog Filter mode, the Foot-Pedal Controller sweeps the filter frequency like a sort of superwah, whereas in Articulated Moog Filter mode, playing dynamics trigger the filter auto-wah-style. In both cases the Tone/Filter control adjusts the filter resonance.
While technologies such as the Sustainiac and the Sustainer can affect all six strings simultaneously, in practice it is difficult to sound more than two or three at once, as the strings with the strongest fundamental tones will tend to dominate. With the Moog Guitar, you can have up to six strings sounding simultaneously at more or less equal volume, in much the same way you can with a polyphonic guitar synth. Another significant difference is being able to vary the amount of intensity with the Vo Power control. Rather than having the effect be either on or off at a fixed level of intensity, as with the other devices, you can dial in differing amounts of sustain (or muting) that range from very subtle to relatively intense. And finally, Controlled Sustain mode solves the problem of having to physically mute all of the strings you aren’t playing to keep them from sounding, which can be a significant limitation with other devices.
To further enhance the Vo Power effects, Moog has devised special strings. “People like the sound of nickel strings on their existing guitars, but on the Moog Guitar nickel doesn’t sound as good or work as well for vibration control,” says Vo. “That’s why we have our own string formulation, though only the wound strings are different. Any brand of unwound string should work just fine.”
GUITAR TOO?
One of the prime directives when developing the Moog Guitar was to make it capable of doing the Moog thing, while also sounding good in straight guitar mode, and that meant creating pickups that could do double duty—a Herculean task that had never even been attempted previously. Why should that be so challenging? Because as every electric guitarist knows, having your pickups set too close to the strings can cause unwanted distortion and tonal anomalies if the signal is too hot, and the increased magnetic pull can even affect tuning. It follows that when designing pickups that generate intense positive (sustain) and negative (mute) magnetic fields around the strings, it will be difficult to coax conventional guitar sounds out of them.
“Creating a pickup that both listens to the strings and controls their vibration was a huge challenge,” explains Vo. “You are going to end up with a unique sound that is similar to—but not exactly the same as—a conventional pickup sound, because the shape of the pickup is different and the underlying physics are different. It’s still electromagnetism, but our pickup receives the signal from the string in a slightly different way.”
The Moog Guitar’s pickups do have their own personalities, and while they sound quite good, the tones differ somewhat from those you’d get from, for example, a Les Paul or Stratocaster. The Moog pickups tend to sound a little more like single-coils than humbuckers, but with less mid-frequency focus and high-frequency transparency than provided by the best single-coils.
GUITAR PART
Zion Guitar Technology in Raleigh, North Carolina, is responsible for the guitar part of the Paul Vo Collector’s Edition Moog Guitar, and the prototype instrument was expertly crafted with meticulous attention to detail all around. The set neck was pleasingly chunky with a comfortable and smooth feel, and the frets were beautifully placed and dressed. Because the guitar had originally been set up with lighter strings, stringing it with the beefy .011-.052-gauged custom set resulted in some buzzing, but that won’t be an issue on the production model. I also had difficulty removing the custom strings due to the rubber bushings around their bases, but the rubber has since been replaced with silk windings—part of the trial-and-error R&D process.
The piezo pickup sounded quite good— with less harshness and brittleness than most—and when blended with the other pickups it added a more finely articulated attack and a high-end sheen to the tones. Because the piezo is mounted in a tremolo bridge, it amplifies the bridge’s mechanical noises when you’re really rocking the bar, but Moog took great pains to reduce the noise dramatically using electronic cancellation, and it obviously isn’t an issue when using just the magnetic pickups.
PLAY DATE
I spent three weeks working with the Moog Guitar prototype, including using it on several recordings. I played it through a Rivera Venus 6 amplifier, a Fractal Audio Axe-Fx modeling and effects processor, and directly into a MOTU 828mkII audio interface.
At first, I tended to play the Moog Guitar much the same way that I play my other guitars, only with the added ability to sustain notes and chords. Before long, however, I found myself significantly modifying my playing, and even devising new techniques, in response to the instrument’s capabilities. For example, the slightest changes to finger and pick attack and finger vibrato produced dramatic differences on some settings, transforming, say, a flute-like timbre to that of an English horn. Subtle alterations to hammerons, pull-offs, and tapping were equally effective, and the ability to sustain or mute notes within arpeggios lead to all sorts of unique sonic spaces. I was even able to evoke semimelodic feedback by bringing magnets into close proximity of the pickups.
I also found that even slight changes to the primary controls led to new and often unexpected possibilities. For example, varying the amount of Vo Power while in Full Sustain mode actually changed the feel of the instrument, not just the intensity of the sustain, which, in turn, inspired new approaches to playing. Likewise, Mute mode physically stops the strings from vibrating when the Vo Power is on maximum, but alters the notes’ attack and decay responses more subtly when used in moderation. And adjusting the filter settings, particularly while in Articulated Moog Filter mode, sweeps a seemingly unlimited variety of attack envelopes and timbres.
There were a few irregularities, however. The pitch of the low strings tended to fluctuate slightly even with the Vo Power entirely off, on two occasions the pickups became radiophonic when I stood in particular spots in the studio (picking up the broadcast of a local baseball game), the third string was appreciably louder on some settings, and the output of the pickups was a tad hot, overdriving my amp input. Moog is still ironing out the first two wrinkles, but they’ve already tamed the third string and devised an elegant solution to the output level issue.
“The production guitars will have a trimpot on the foot pedal,” says Vo. “We spent quite a while trying to figure out what the ‘right’ setting was, and originally adjusted it so that when you struck a string it would be pretty much the same as striking a string hard on a regular guitar. The problem is that on a regular guitar the string output fades away very rapidly, but the Moog Guitar’s sustain creates so much more RMS energy that this setting was too high. I kept turning it down and it was still too hot for some people, so we’re going to let the user choose.”
CODA
Even after my brief encounter with the Moog Guitar, I had already begun thinking of it as a new type of instrument rather than merely as an enhanced electric guitar, much as acoustic guitarists in the ’50s may have felt when first encountering the electric guitar, or late-18th Century harpsichordists when encountering the piano. And because its potential is inextricably linked to the player’s fingers and musical sensibilities—rather than the technology itself—it is limited only by one’s dexterity and imagination.
How many guitarists will embrace an instrument that sounds different than they are accustomed to, requires special strings with an unfamiliar feel, and attempts to seduce them into venturing outside their comfort zones in search of as-yet undiscovered new sounds—especially when that instrument costs $6,500? I’m guessing there are more than a few of them out there, but we’ll know the answer soon enough.
I also see the future of musical instruments being able to do many more things than just a guitar making a normal guitar sound. There is a new guitar made by Moog, which is the same brand that makes synthesizers. This guitar is an amazing innovation for the instrument as it has completely new type pickups and other new things as well. Here is a guitar player magazine article from a few months ago for you read and see some of the future of music and recording.
Paul Vo Collector’s Edition Moog Guitar Prototype
By Barry Cleveland
HEAR THE WORDS “MOOG GUITAR” AND THE FIRST image to spring to mind will likely be a guitar capable of producing the same great synthesizer sounds as the company’s legendary keyboards. While that would be a beautiful thing, the Moog Guitar is not a guitar synthesizer, or even a synth controller, and it has nothing to do with MIDI, modeling, sampling, or other familiar technologies. Instead, it is an instrument that embodies a new approach to expanding the capabilities of the electric guitar itself—particularly its ability to sustain notes.
Electric guitarists have attempted to get more sustain out of their instruments almost from the very beginning. First, they simply cranked up their amps and used tube distortion and feedback to produce notes that sang more like a violin than an acoustic guitar. Then came distortion and compression pedals, followed by an array of mechanical and magnetic devices. By 1975, there were the Gizmotron, which physically “bowed” the strings with motorized wheels, and the Ebow, which sustained notes on a single string electromagnetically. A few years later came the Roland GR-500—a pre- MIDI guitar synthesizer that also employed a magnetic device to increase sustain—followed in the mid ‘80s by the Maniac Music Sustainiac and the Fernandes Sustainer, both of which provided unlimited sustain on all strings.
Given all of these historical precedents, the concept of a guitar with infinite sustain is hardly new—but Moog’s Paul Vo has developed a radically different technology that elevates that concept to a previously unheard of level, and combines it with other significant features that put the Moog Guitar in a category all its own. Remove the rear panel, and you’ll find about 3,000 individual components on a state-of-theart, six-layer printed circuit board—all of it glorious analog technology. “While sustain is the most obvious thing that the Moog Guitar does, it is not an outgrowth of any previous ‘sustainer’ technology, but rather a vibration control system,” explains Vo. “If the Sustainer is a flashlight, the Moog Guitar is a laser.” Naturally, a project of this magnitude required lengthy R&D, and I was fortunate enough to have seen and played several prototypes as the process moved forward. Here, we look at one of eight pre-production prototypes, which, while a little rough around the edges, provides a candid glimpse into a product that is nearly ready for prime time. (Look for a follow-up review of a production model once one becomes available.)
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The Moog Guitar operates in three modes: Full Sustain mode energizes all the strings equally, Mute mode sucks the energy out of the strings (resulting in a banjo- or koto-like attack and quick decay), and Controlled Sustain mode energizes only the notes being played while muting everything else. You switch modes using a 3-position Mode Selector, and dial in the intensity of the sustaining and muting functions with the Vo Power control. There’s also a Harmonic Balance control, which shifts the Vo Power between neck and bridge pickups, for differing harmonic emphasis.
In addition to the two Moog pickups, there’s a piezo pickup mounted in the bridge that may be combined with them using the Piezo Blend control, or used independently. A 5-position pickup selector lets you choose neck pickup, bridge pickup, neck and bridge pickups out of phase, neck and bridge pickups in phase, or piezo pickup only. Audio from the Moog
HEAR THE WORDS “MOOG GUITAR” AND THE FIRST image to spring to mind will likely be a guitar capable of producing the same great synthesizer sounds as the company’s legendary keyboards. While that would be a beautiful thing, the Moog Guitar is not a guitar synthesizer, or even a synth controller, and it has nothing to do with MIDI, modeling, sampling, or other familiar technologies. Instead, it is an instrument that embodies a new approach to expanding the capabilities of the electric guitar itself—particularly its ability to sustain notes.
Electric guitarists have attempted to get more sustain out of their instruments almost from the very beginning. First, they simply cranked up their amps and used tube distortion and feedback to produce notes that sang more like a violin than an acoustic guitar. Then came distortion and compression pedals, followed by an array of mechanical and magnetic devices. By 1975, there were the Gizmotron, which physically “bowed” the strings with motorized wheels, and the Ebow, which sustained notes on a single string electromagnetically. A few years later came the Roland GR-500—a pre- MIDI guitar synthesizer that also employed a magnetic device to increase sustain—followed in the mid ‘80s by the Maniac Music Sustainiac and the Fernandes Sustainer, both of which provided unlimited sustain on all strings.
Given all of these historical precedents, the concept of a guitar with infinite sustain is hardly new—but Moog’s Paul Vo has developed a radically different technology that elevates that concept to a previously unheard of level, and combines it with other significant features that put the Moog Guitar in a category all its own. Remove the rear panel, and you’ll find about 3,000 individual components on a state-of-theart, six-layer printed circuit board—all of it glorious analog technology. “While sustain is the most obvious thing that the Moog Guitar does, it is not an outgrowth of any previous ‘sustainer’ technology, but rather a vibration control system,” explains Vo. “If the Sustainer is a flashlight, the Moog Guitar is a laser.” Naturally, a project of this magnitude required lengthy R&D, and I was fortunate enough to have seen and played several prototypes as the process moved forward. Here, we look at one of eight pre-production prototypes, which, while a little rough around the edges, provides a candid glimpse into a product that is nearly ready for prime time. (Look for a follow-up review of a production model once one becomes available.)
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The Moog Guitar operates in three modes: Full Sustain mode energizes all the strings equally, Mute mode sucks the energy out of the strings (resulting in a banjo- or koto-like attack and quick decay), and Controlled Sustain mode energizes only the notes being played while muting everything else. You switch modes using a 3-position Mode Selector, and dial in the intensity of the sustaining and muting functions with the Vo Power control. There’s also a Harmonic Balance control, which shifts the Vo Power between neck and bridge pickups, for differing harmonic emphasis.
In addition to the two Moog pickups, there’s a piezo pickup mounted in the bridge that may be combined with them using the Piezo Blend control, or used independently. A 5-position pickup selector lets you choose neck pickup, bridge pickup, neck and bridge pickups out of phase, neck and bridge pickups in phase, or piezo pickup only. Audio from the Moog Guitar is routed to the Moog Foot-Pedal Controller—which also serves as the power supply and audio interface—using a multipin connector. For convenience, however, there’s a standard 1/4" guitar output for the piezo, in case you want to, say, tune-up or play backstage independently of the power supply (plugging a guitar cable into the jack activates an onboard 9-volt battery).
The Moog Guitar also sports a classic Moog filter, which behaves differently depending on which of its three operating modes is selected and the setting of the Tone/Filter control. In Standard mode, the Tone/Filter control functions much like a regular guitar tone control. In Normal Moog Filter mode, the Foot-Pedal Controller sweeps the filter frequency like a sort of superwah, whereas in Articulated Moog Filter mode, playing dynamics trigger the filter auto-wah-style. In both cases the Tone/Filter control adjusts the filter resonance.
While technologies such as the Sustainiac and the Sustainer can affect all six strings simultaneously, in practice it is difficult to sound more than two or three at once, as the strings with the strongest fundamental tones will tend to dominate. With the Moog Guitar, you can have up to six strings sounding simultaneously at more or less equal volume, in much the same way you can with a polyphonic guitar synth. Another significant difference is being able to vary the amount of intensity with the Vo Power control. Rather than having the effect be either on or off at a fixed level of intensity, as with the other devices, you can dial in differing amounts of sustain (or muting) that range from very subtle to relatively intense. And finally, Controlled Sustain mode solves the problem of having to physically mute all of the strings you aren’t playing to keep them from sounding, which can be a significant limitation with other devices.
To further enhance the Vo Power effects, Moog has devised special strings. “People like the sound of nickel strings on their existing guitars, but on the Moog Guitar nickel doesn’t sound as good or work as well for vibration control,” says Vo. “That’s why we have our own string formulation, though only the wound strings are different. Any brand of unwound string should work just fine.”
GUITAR TOO?
One of the prime directives when developing the Moog Guitar was to make it capable of doing the Moog thing, while also sounding good in straight guitar mode, and that meant creating pickups that could do double duty—a Herculean task that had never even been attempted previously. Why should that be so challenging? Because as every electric guitarist knows, having your pickups set too close to the strings can cause unwanted distortion and tonal anomalies if the signal is too hot, and the increased magnetic pull can even affect tuning. It follows that when designing pickups that generate intense positive (sustain) and negative (mute) magnetic fields around the strings, it will be difficult to coax conventional guitar sounds out of them.
“Creating a pickup that both listens to the strings and controls their vibration was a huge challenge,” explains Vo. “You are going to end up with a unique sound that is similar to—but not exactly the same as—a conventional pickup sound, because the shape of the pickup is different and the underlying physics are different. It’s still electromagnetism, but our pickup receives the signal from the string in a slightly different way.”
The Moog Guitar’s pickups do have their own personalities, and while they sound quite good, the tones differ somewhat from those you’d get from, for example, a Les Paul or Stratocaster. The Moog pickups tend to sound a little more like single-coils than humbuckers, but with less mid-frequency focus and high-frequency transparency than provided by the best single-coils.
GUITAR PART
Zion Guitar Technology in Raleigh, North Carolina, is responsible for the guitar part of the Paul Vo Collector’s Edition Moog Guitar, and the prototype instrument was expertly crafted with meticulous attention to detail all around. The set neck was pleasingly chunky with a comfortable and smooth feel, and the frets were beautifully placed and dressed. Because the guitar had originally been set up with lighter strings, stringing it with the beefy .011-.052-gauged custom set resulted in some buzzing, but that won’t be an issue on the production model. I also had difficulty removing the custom strings due to the rubber bushings around their bases, but the rubber has since been replaced with silk windings—part of the trial-and-error R&D process.
The piezo pickup sounded quite good— with less harshness and brittleness than most—and when blended with the other pickups it added a more finely articulated attack and a high-end sheen to the tones. Because the piezo is mounted in a tremolo bridge, it amplifies the bridge’s mechanical noises when you’re really rocking the bar, but Moog took great pains to reduce the noise dramatically using electronic cancellation, and it obviously isn’t an issue when using just the magnetic pickups.
PLAY DATE
I spent three weeks working with the Moog Guitar prototype, including using it on several recordings. I played it through a Rivera Venus 6 amplifier, a Fractal Audio Axe-Fx modeling and effects processor, and directly into a MOTU 828mkII audio interface.
At first, I tended to play the Moog Guitar much the same way that I play my other guitars, only with the added ability to sustain notes and chords. Before long, however, I found myself significantly modifying my playing, and even devising new techniques, in response to the instrument’s capabilities. For example, the slightest changes to finger and pick attack and finger vibrato produced dramatic differences on some settings, transforming, say, a flute-like timbre to that of an English horn. Subtle alterations to hammerons, pull-offs, and tapping were equally effective, and the ability to sustain or mute notes within arpeggios lead to all sorts of unique sonic spaces. I was even able to evoke semimelodic feedback by bringing magnets into close proximity of the pickups.
I also found that even slight changes to the primary controls led to new and often unexpected possibilities. For example, varying the amount of Vo Power while in Full Sustain mode actually changed the feel of the instrument, not just the intensity of the sustain, which, in turn, inspired new approaches to playing. Likewise, Mute mode physically stops the strings from vibrating when the Vo Power is on maximum, but alters the notes’ attack and decay responses more subtly when used in moderation. And adjusting the filter settings, particularly while in Articulated Moog Filter mode, sweeps a seemingly unlimited variety of attack envelopes and timbres.
There were a few irregularities, however. The pitch of the low strings tended to fluctuate slightly even with the Vo Power entirely off, on two occasions the pickups became radiophonic when I stood in particular spots in the studio (picking up the broadcast of a local baseball game), the third string was appreciably louder on some settings, and the output of the pickups was a tad hot, overdriving my amp input. Moog is still ironing out the first two wrinkles, but they’ve already tamed the third string and devised an elegant solution to the output level issue.
“The production guitars will have a trimpot on the foot pedal,” says Vo. “We spent quite a while trying to figure out what the ‘right’ setting was, and originally adjusted it so that when you struck a string it would be pretty much the same as striking a string hard on a regular guitar. The problem is that on a regular guitar the string output fades away very rapidly, but the Moog Guitar’s sustain creates so much more RMS energy that this setting was too high. I kept turning it down and it was still too hot for some people, so we’re going to let the user choose.”
CODA
Even after my brief encounter with the Moog Guitar, I had already begun thinking of it as a new type of instrument rather than merely as an enhanced electric guitar, much as acoustic guitarists in the ’50s may have felt when first encountering the electric guitar, or late-18th Century harpsichordists when encountering the piano. And because its potential is inextricably linked to the player’s fingers and musical sensibilities—rather than the technology itself—it is limited only by one’s dexterity and imagination.
How many guitarists will embrace an instrument that sounds different than they are accustomed to, requires special strings with an unfamiliar feel, and attempts to seduce them into venturing outside their comfort zones in search of as-yet undiscovered new sounds—especially when that instrument costs $6,500? I’m guessing there are more than a few of them out there, but we’ll know the answer soon enough.
The Future of Newspaper: The Amazon Kindle
The media industry that my group and I looked at was newspaper. This industry has definitely faced some problems as time has gone on. As we discussed in our presentation, one of the major problems that the newspaper industry has had to wrestle with is all the innovations in technology. One thing in particular has been the internet. The industry had to learn to adapt to the internet by creating online newspapers. These newspapers are very convenient for people who are on the go and enjoy being able to read only the sections they want. It also helps that readers have access to the paper as long as they have access to the internet. This then allows people to get the paper on the computer as well as on cell phones and laptops. Users are also able to create their own blogs on the newspaper’s sites that allows them to comment on certain stories and topics that they may have opinions on.
The innovation of online newspapers has been around for a long time. A more recent invention that will help the future of newspaper is the Amazon Kindle. This device is one that allows people to read newspaper articles as well as books and magazines without the hastle of carrying around the actual paper or book. A user needs only to purchase the item they want directly on the Kindle by way of the Kindle Store. People can buy whatever they like from wherever is most convenient for them. The lightweight device can hold over 200 articles and has a long battery life. Another tidbit about the Kindle is that it does not use WiFi. It actually uses the same networks as cell phones. This means that you don’t need to be in certain areas to be able to use it. There are also no monthly fees or any kind of service plan. The user just has to pick out what they want, buy it and enjoy their purchase.
Many people may think that the Kindle is nothing special because anyone can already get the paper on their laptops or cell phones. One problem with reading the newspaper from those screens is that eventually, your eyes start to hurt and bug out. The Kindle has a special kind of screen that won’t cause a reader’s eyes to hurt after reading an article or two. The screen on the Kindle actually looks a lot like that of a page in a book or out of a newspaper. This may seem like a minor detail, but it really does make a difference. This device is just as handy as a cell phone, but it allows a person to get their daily news without being in physical pain as they do so.
Basically, what I’m trying to get at is that technology is going to continue to become more and more advanced. As this happens, all the newspaper industry can to is grow with it. They will continue to come out with more handy devices such as the Amazon Kiindle and the industry will find ways to stay involved with these innovations. As long as this can continue to happen, the newspaper should be able to live on in the future. The only thing that will continue to change will be the ways in which readers will experience it.
The media industry that my group and I looked at was newspaper. This industry has definitely faced some problems as time has gone on. As we discussed in our presentation, one of the major problems that the newspaper industry has had to wrestle with is all the innovations in technology. One thing in particular has been the internet. The industry had to learn to adapt to the internet by creating online newspapers. These newspapers are very convenient for people who are on the go and enjoy being able to read only the sections they want. It also helps that readers have access to the paper as long as they have access to the internet. This then allows people to get the paper on the computer as well as on cell phones and laptops. Users are also able to create their own blogs on the newspaper’s sites that allows them to comment on certain stories and topics that they may have opinions on.
The innovation of online newspapers has been around for a long time. A more recent invention that will help the future of newspaper is the Amazon Kindle. This device is one that allows people to read newspaper articles as well as books and magazines without the hastle of carrying around the actual paper or book. A user needs only to purchase the item they want directly on the Kindle by way of the Kindle Store. People can buy whatever they like from wherever is most convenient for them. The lightweight device can hold over 200 articles and has a long battery life. Another tidbit about the Kindle is that it does not use WiFi. It actually uses the same networks as cell phones. This means that you don’t need to be in certain areas to be able to use it. There are also no monthly fees or any kind of service plan. The user just has to pick out what they want, buy it and enjoy their purchase.
Many people may think that the Kindle is nothing special because anyone can already get the paper on their laptops or cell phones. One problem with reading the newspaper from those screens is that eventually, your eyes start to hurt and bug out. The Kindle has a special kind of screen that won’t cause a reader’s eyes to hurt after reading an article or two. The screen on the Kindle actually looks a lot like that of a page in a book or out of a newspaper. This may seem like a minor detail, but it really does make a difference. This device is just as handy as a cell phone, but it allows a person to get their daily news without being in physical pain as they do so.
Basically, what I’m trying to get at is that technology is going to continue to become more and more advanced. As this happens, all the newspaper industry can to is grow with it. They will continue to come out with more handy devices such as the Amazon Kiindle and the industry will find ways to stay involved with these innovations. As long as this can continue to happen, the newspaper should be able to live on in the future. The only thing that will continue to change will be the ways in which readers will experience it.
Media Integration: The all in One Package
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKWmLwSuIvM
It wasn't that long ago when you bought a phone and have it do exactly what a phone should do: make phone calls. Today, however technology isn't coming out with that many single advances, and instead taking the advances already made and combining them with other technology's, leading up to the frankenphones we have now that not only make calls, but also play music, videos, play video games and even browse the internet all on one tiny LCD screen.
While phones keep on becoming less and less like phones, they are just one of the many things that are subject to the integration of our media devices. Televisions are another great example of this up and coming trend, with goals of TVs and PCs to eventually become one in the same, and demonstrated in the video above (forgive me for any language barriers you may have with the video, but it's fairly obvious what it's message is. Also, the embedding was disabled in the video.)
It's been predicted that within ten years all TVs will have internet connections, and new films will be able to be downloaded directly to your TV, allowing you to watch a brand new movie without ever having to get into your car. In the meantime however, you can already browse the internet using any one of the current generation video game consoles, which have also been integrating other media devices into themselves. Your PS3 and 360 aren't just for playing video games anymore, but they also turn your TV into a stereo that can play all the MP3s you have on your PC, or go to netflix and stream a movie onto your TV. In fact, it may not be too outlandish to claim that digital distribution though your new iTVPC360 may render theaters obsolete, with new films being distributed right to the internet and ready for you to download without ever having to get up off your couch.
It's my prediction that your living room will have one device for each form of entertainment available, and instead play host to one monster media machine that can and will do anything you want it to do. From watching the game to checking your myspace. It's already happening (just look at the iphone for a recent example,) but at this point it will only continue until it get's to a point where media technology pulls a highlander and decides there can only be one. Whether or not this is for the best is still unknown to me. On one hand, I find that a one-in-all machine is gimmicky and unnecessary, but on the other, I find it to be pretty convenient. Regardless, I don't see this trend slowing down anytime in the near future.
It wasn't that long ago when you bought a phone and have it do exactly what a phone should do: make phone calls. Today, however technology isn't coming out with that many single advances, and instead taking the advances already made and combining them with other technology's, leading up to the frankenphones we have now that not only make calls, but also play music, videos, play video games and even browse the internet all on one tiny LCD screen.
While phones keep on becoming less and less like phones, they are just one of the many things that are subject to the integration of our media devices. Televisions are another great example of this up and coming trend, with goals of TVs and PCs to eventually become one in the same, and demonstrated in the video above (forgive me for any language barriers you may have with the video, but it's fairly obvious what it's message is. Also, the embedding was disabled in the video.)
It's been predicted that within ten years all TVs will have internet connections, and new films will be able to be downloaded directly to your TV, allowing you to watch a brand new movie without ever having to get into your car. In the meantime however, you can already browse the internet using any one of the current generation video game consoles, which have also been integrating other media devices into themselves. Your PS3 and 360 aren't just for playing video games anymore, but they also turn your TV into a stereo that can play all the MP3s you have on your PC, or go to netflix and stream a movie onto your TV. In fact, it may not be too outlandish to claim that digital distribution though your new iTVPC360 may render theaters obsolete, with new films being distributed right to the internet and ready for you to download without ever having to get up off your couch.
It's my prediction that your living room will have one device for each form of entertainment available, and instead play host to one monster media machine that can and will do anything you want it to do. From watching the game to checking your myspace. It's already happening (just look at the iphone for a recent example,) but at this point it will only continue until it get's to a point where media technology pulls a highlander and decides there can only be one. Whether or not this is for the best is still unknown to me. On one hand, I find that a one-in-all machine is gimmicky and unnecessary, but on the other, I find it to be pretty convenient. Regardless, I don't see this trend slowing down anytime in the near future.
Future of Movies
The movie industry is something that is always chaging over time. In order for one company to comptete with another or one theater to compete with another they need to continue to come up with new ideas. So as we move foward with movies from here on out we will need to continue to develope new ideas.
The movie industry has been looking at ways to control that amount of content that is downloaded and watched for free online. This leads to where i think the future of the move industry is headed. In the futur i think that all movies will be watched online. Not only wil we be watching them online but we wil be watching them for free. The only thing that we will need to pay for would be the price of the internet. I think that this would work becasue they could set like a ticker that counts the amount of times the movie was watched online and that is how the movie industry would make its money. A good example of this that is already happening is the show south park. You currently can watch every eppisode online for free, again with only paying the price of the internet. The convenience of this is that people can watch this stuff at their own convenience.
The old business model of selling cinema tickets, television rights and DVD versions of a title seems so unsuited today. At least for me and my friends who love seeing movies on their own computers. I think that this is the future becasue lets look at how fast this internet is moving these days.As film moved to the Internet, movie rental downloads soared and the traditional rental scheme changed. While Blockbuster and other retailers tried to make the changes, some of them just could not compete with the online world. Netflix truly changed the way video rentals worked, and they continue to lead the market in the future of movie rentals. I see all movie rental retail stores closing in the future.
As you can see i focused more on the future of where we will be able to get movies and how the renting of movies will work in the future. This part of the movie industry is something that is changind based more on the needs and convenience of people. People like convenience and now having to leave thier own home, that is why I think this is where the direction of movies is heading.
The movie industry has been looking at ways to control that amount of content that is downloaded and watched for free online. This leads to where i think the future of the move industry is headed. In the futur i think that all movies will be watched online. Not only wil we be watching them online but we wil be watching them for free. The only thing that we will need to pay for would be the price of the internet. I think that this would work becasue they could set like a ticker that counts the amount of times the movie was watched online and that is how the movie industry would make its money. A good example of this that is already happening is the show south park. You currently can watch every eppisode online for free, again with only paying the price of the internet. The convenience of this is that people can watch this stuff at their own convenience.
The old business model of selling cinema tickets, television rights and DVD versions of a title seems so unsuited today. At least for me and my friends who love seeing movies on their own computers. I think that this is the future becasue lets look at how fast this internet is moving these days.As film moved to the Internet, movie rental downloads soared and the traditional rental scheme changed. While Blockbuster and other retailers tried to make the changes, some of them just could not compete with the online world. Netflix truly changed the way video rentals worked, and they continue to lead the market in the future of movie rentals. I see all movie rental retail stores closing in the future.
As you can see i focused more on the future of where we will be able to get movies and how the renting of movies will work in the future. This part of the movie industry is something that is changind based more on the needs and convenience of people. People like convenience and now having to leave thier own home, that is why I think this is where the direction of movies is heading.
Change is coming for the print industry
With technology always advancing and taking over many aspects of our life with replacing simpler and classic objects one could see that the possible replacement of a nice old fashioned book made of dead trees was not far from sight.
Recently in the St. Paul Pioneer press there was an article about the new Kindle, Apple Handheld and Sony Reader that have come out to serve as an electronic book. Pros and cons have been made about each but with my research I have found that many are more interested I the Sony Reader. With its light adjusting background, which makes it easier to read in different settings, virtual page flipping, for the old style book appeal, and its light weight and size makes it portable and easy on the body where carrying many books may cause strain, the Sony Reader has been impressing even the most avid book lovers. This will be important for the future because if it catches on then the sales of the actual object of a book will decrease and leave authors quite upset. With authors liking their materials to be published and printed, this e- book is not necessarily loved by all writers. Instead of seeing people on planes with their favorite novel in hand we will start seeing electronic books, most likely the handy Sony Reader in place of the book. With the economy as it is right now the E-books are not taking off as much as their makers would like them too, but with the innovators out there jumping on every new gadget I am sure that word will get out on how handy these things are and the e-book industry will take off. I do not think that it will replace the book completely, nothing can replace the good old paperbacks, the industry will just have to make some changes as far as publishing goes and costs of selling the books electronically. They will have to collaborate with the makers of the electronic books to find a way to please not only the authors but the consumers and the print industry as well. The print industry will never die off, but some changes will need to be made in order to keep up with the times. http://www.twincities.com/ci_10917924?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.com
Recently in the St. Paul Pioneer press there was an article about the new Kindle, Apple Handheld and Sony Reader that have come out to serve as an electronic book. Pros and cons have been made about each but with my research I have found that many are more interested I the Sony Reader. With its light adjusting background, which makes it easier to read in different settings, virtual page flipping, for the old style book appeal, and its light weight and size makes it portable and easy on the body where carrying many books may cause strain, the Sony Reader has been impressing even the most avid book lovers. This will be important for the future because if it catches on then the sales of the actual object of a book will decrease and leave authors quite upset. With authors liking their materials to be published and printed, this e- book is not necessarily loved by all writers. Instead of seeing people on planes with their favorite novel in hand we will start seeing electronic books, most likely the handy Sony Reader in place of the book. With the economy as it is right now the E-books are not taking off as much as their makers would like them too, but with the innovators out there jumping on every new gadget I am sure that word will get out on how handy these things are and the e-book industry will take off. I do not think that it will replace the book completely, nothing can replace the good old paperbacks, the industry will just have to make some changes as far as publishing goes and costs of selling the books electronically. They will have to collaborate with the makers of the electronic books to find a way to please not only the authors but the consumers and the print industry as well. The print industry will never die off, but some changes will need to be made in order to keep up with the times. http://www.twincities.com/ci_10917924?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.com
Television and Head Tracking
There are many things that I could touch base on about the future of television, but by chance I stumbled upon this video on a friends blog. It’s definitely new technology that isn’t mass produced yet, but the more people that view it, the more of a demand it will gain. The idea behind it is quite amazing, and I encourage you to check out the video and see what it is all about. What he does is called Head Tracking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw
Basically some guy uses his Wii remote and sensor bar to create a 3D type screen. In the video he explains how he produces a 3D image on your television. It’s like having a picture in a picture frame; when that’s all you have it’s a 2D image, but when you take the photo out, and use just the frame it is essentially creating a window for which you can view things. When I first saw the 3D image on his TV, it freaked me out. I thought it was fake and computer generated. So I asked my brother about it, and sure enough, it is something that can, and has been done.
I think a lot of significance lies within this new innovation because it is going to change the way we play video games, and watch television. We can view something 3D on a 2D screen. Not only will you be playing the game, or watching a television show, you will be IN it. After watching the first video, I was interested to see if there was any further development with the idea. Low and behold, there was Finger Tracking. You should check this one out as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0awjPUkBXOU&feature=channel
If anyone has seen the movie Minority Report, the idea of moving a things around on a screen becomes real.
Some importance that this holds, is it will make it easier to view many things at once, and move them around with the swipe of a finger- without touching the screen- unlike the iPhone or the iPod touch.
All in all, I think this is a GREAT idea and I can’t wait until it is released to the general public as something that is marketable.
Just think of what it might to do those crazy sports fans; being able to move your head and see more or less as if you were there. It's going to be awesome!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw
Basically some guy uses his Wii remote and sensor bar to create a 3D type screen. In the video he explains how he produces a 3D image on your television. It’s like having a picture in a picture frame; when that’s all you have it’s a 2D image, but when you take the photo out, and use just the frame it is essentially creating a window for which you can view things. When I first saw the 3D image on his TV, it freaked me out. I thought it was fake and computer generated. So I asked my brother about it, and sure enough, it is something that can, and has been done.
I think a lot of significance lies within this new innovation because it is going to change the way we play video games, and watch television. We can view something 3D on a 2D screen. Not only will you be playing the game, or watching a television show, you will be IN it. After watching the first video, I was interested to see if there was any further development with the idea. Low and behold, there was Finger Tracking. You should check this one out as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0awjPUkBXOU&feature=channel
If anyone has seen the movie Minority Report, the idea of moving a things around on a screen becomes real.
Some importance that this holds, is it will make it easier to view many things at once, and move them around with the swipe of a finger- without touching the screen- unlike the iPhone or the iPod touch.
All in all, I think this is a GREAT idea and I can’t wait until it is released to the general public as something that is marketable.
Just think of what it might to do those crazy sports fans; being able to move your head and see more or less as if you were there. It's going to be awesome!
Internet Radio
Radio must change to adapt to the technologically advancing world we see around us today. If radio has any chance of surviving, it will need to cut some dead weight. Namely, it will have to get rid of DJs and the local broadcasting stations. Today, technology is all about personalization. The future of internet radio is bright because unlike regular radio, you can personalize your own play list and choose the songs you want to listen to. Online radio stations such as Pandora.com brought along this revolutionary idea but they fall short. Anyone can just go onto iTunes and make a play list of the songs they already have on there. The think that radio needs to do again is become portable. I remember carrying around a portable radio device when I was younger. Now that technology has advanced and everything is about making the radio match what you want to hear, the radio must be just as personalized as your MP3 player yet become portable, thus not restricting you to your computer at home.
A company named Slacker has answered this call. They have made a portable device where you make stations of artists and related artists that you would like to listen to online and then download it onto your Slacker Portable Internet Radio Device. Whats even better is that you can also use this device as an MP3 player so you can be sure to hear your favorite songs whenever you wish. A couple problems with this device are that even though it has a large screen, it is not a touch screen which would be huge for applying to the tech savvy youth of today who already have touch screen cell phones. Another downside is that though you can select a station to play your favorite artists and related artists, you cannot select specific songs to be put on your station, just hope that your favorites are included in that artist's music. The MP3 feature would be nice in cases like this but it would be awesome if they adjusted how station play lists are made so that individual songs could be selected from a list.
The last thing that makes this so innovative is that the internet radio service is free. It is paid for by advertisements so once you buy the device you can listen for free. Of course because you do not pay, there will be advertisements that you must listen to and song-skipping ability is limited. You do also have the option to pay under $8 per month to become a subscriber. With this service, you can skip between songs freely and may also skip the advertisements. I think it would be well worth $8 per moth to have free radio stations that I designed follow me everywhere and be able to listen to them advertisement free.
While this device has a few bugs to work out and a few things to consider, it is pure proof of just how much radio is changing to serve the public. Even more important than the slacker device is the windows it opens. If there is a portable internet radio device, how far off are we from having internet radio streaming from our cell phones? How long until automobiles come standard with a navigation system, which is connected to the internet, which also acts as our source of radio in the car? The way we receive our radio is changing and the songs we hear are starting to be left up to us. Slacker is the first big step in helping internet radio become as mobile as broadcast radio.
A company named Slacker has answered this call. They have made a portable device where you make stations of artists and related artists that you would like to listen to online and then download it onto your Slacker Portable Internet Radio Device. Whats even better is that you can also use this device as an MP3 player so you can be sure to hear your favorite songs whenever you wish. A couple problems with this device are that even though it has a large screen, it is not a touch screen which would be huge for applying to the tech savvy youth of today who already have touch screen cell phones. Another downside is that though you can select a station to play your favorite artists and related artists, you cannot select specific songs to be put on your station, just hope that your favorites are included in that artist's music. The MP3 feature would be nice in cases like this but it would be awesome if they adjusted how station play lists are made so that individual songs could be selected from a list.
The last thing that makes this so innovative is that the internet radio service is free. It is paid for by advertisements so once you buy the device you can listen for free. Of course because you do not pay, there will be advertisements that you must listen to and song-skipping ability is limited. You do also have the option to pay under $8 per month to become a subscriber. With this service, you can skip between songs freely and may also skip the advertisements. I think it would be well worth $8 per moth to have free radio stations that I designed follow me everywhere and be able to listen to them advertisement free.
While this device has a few bugs to work out and a few things to consider, it is pure proof of just how much radio is changing to serve the public. Even more important than the slacker device is the windows it opens. If there is a portable internet radio device, how far off are we from having internet radio streaming from our cell phones? How long until automobiles come standard with a navigation system, which is connected to the internet, which also acts as our source of radio in the car? The way we receive our radio is changing and the songs we hear are starting to be left up to us. Slacker is the first big step in helping internet radio become as mobile as broadcast radio.
TV Mirror the new technology in Television
New Technology for television
This new technology that I found is a TV mirror. When the TV is off it’s just a mirror but once you push the power button it turns into a TV. So when you don’t want to watch TV anymore and you don’t want it in your room, just turn it off and bam it’s now just a mirror. Seura is the company that makes these and says that owning a flat screen TV is just no longer a big deal anymore. By having a TV mirror it’s all about displaying it. You can have it bland into your room that it’s in.
To make these TV mirror they use LCD screens the size ranges from 15 inches to 45 inches. Soon there will be a 63 inch size out there. The cost of the TV mirrors is 2,000 to 10,000 because it all depends on how you have it. Whether its framed on your wall like painting hanging or if its costume made into the wall. They have a patented mirror formula that has light transmitted from behind and when it’s removed it then turns into a standard mirror. They made a good point when saying if someone breaks in there going to try and take a flat screen TV but they might just walk straight past one of these and not realize the value.
I think the future of this industry is going to be a hit soon. When more people realize that this is an option out there, their going to want to have it. This way you don’t have a huge TV taking up room and maybe doesn’t go with what your theme is in that room. You can just have a huge mirror up. By having this you can us it two different ways. One by simply just having it as a mirror, you can look in it well putting makeup on or for men shaving. Otherwise if it’s in your living room you can quickly look at yourself before you go out. But if you want to watch TV all you do is turn it on and you got yourself a TV. I think this is going to be important because are world is all about fashion and what looks good and this TV mirror is something that will help you do that. another thing I think its going to be important is that the fact of how many people are breaking into house lately there not going to know the worth of that simple mirror on your wall.
MySpace Music
Today MySpace is synonymous with practically every form of media via internet. With each enhanced version of MySpace surfacing over the years, users have continuously taken advantage of new tools and ways to organize their music. When Facebook launched in 2004, it seemed attention was focused away from MySpace (although the site continues to draw in 115 million users each month). However, MySpace seems to be making a comeback –at least when it comes to the future of music.
Recently, MySpace underwent a major renovation with the establishment and upgrading of MySpace Music. The site has come to function in the same way as other online music programs such as iTunes and Napster. New features include a “My Music Page”, which allow those with MySpace accounts to manage their music and to create and edit playlists of songs, as well as embedding their top ten songs to their profile. Users can search and buy ringtones, upload music, add songs to multiple playlists, and purchase MP3s and entire albums, much like on iTunes. The MySpace Personal Music Player allows users to create, share, and buy infinite playlists from any profile, as well as allowing users to have a pop-up playlist available for use at any time they are using their computer. There now exists a Featured Playlist page, in which artists and celebrities create playlists, giving fans an inside look at what their favorite artists are listening to. Search enhancements have also added to the user-friendly design of the site.
In addition to the services offered to users of MySpace Music, MySpace has collaborated progressively more and more directly with artists and bands. MySpace Records emerged in 2005, launching their own independent record label to sign artists featured on the site. Artists are able to perform live webcasts, which now serve as major means for promotion, especially for local or unknown bands. “Artist on Artist” is a new feature of MySpace Music in which video interviews between actors, musicians, filmmakers, and comedians are extended to fans, allowing artists to promote themselves as well as letting users explore the worlds of their favorite celebrities. “Front to Back” offers artists promotion they can’t receive on other music sites. In this feature, artists are able to perform concerts comprised of a single album on a webcast. Users view the online concert weeks before a live show, allowing them to then decide whether or not they want to attend a concert in their city (locations and ticket information is available on the same page). Either way, this is publicity for artists not offered on sites other than MySpace. With such features, fans are capable of creating and controlling their own world of music, by looking up and receiving instant information about their favorite artists/bands/songs/genres. Friends are allowed to share, purchase, and explore further music of their preference.
MySpace Music claims that in the near future the program will continue to develop multiple new features and music management tools, as well as more freely streamable audio and video content. Undoubtedly, the site will increasingly offer promotions to artists (both local and large-scale), as well as attract various artists to MySpace Records. Allowing access to previously unavailable music for fans, as well as continuing to develop user-friendly technology, could possibly result in MySpace becoming the top online music retailer.
Artist on Artist: Ringo Starr & Ben Harper
Recently, MySpace underwent a major renovation with the establishment and upgrading of MySpace Music. The site has come to function in the same way as other online music programs such as iTunes and Napster. New features include a “My Music Page”, which allow those with MySpace accounts to manage their music and to create and edit playlists of songs, as well as embedding their top ten songs to their profile. Users can search and buy ringtones, upload music, add songs to multiple playlists, and purchase MP3s and entire albums, much like on iTunes. The MySpace Personal Music Player allows users to create, share, and buy infinite playlists from any profile, as well as allowing users to have a pop-up playlist available for use at any time they are using their computer. There now exists a Featured Playlist page, in which artists and celebrities create playlists, giving fans an inside look at what their favorite artists are listening to. Search enhancements have also added to the user-friendly design of the site.
In addition to the services offered to users of MySpace Music, MySpace has collaborated progressively more and more directly with artists and bands. MySpace Records emerged in 2005, launching their own independent record label to sign artists featured on the site. Artists are able to perform live webcasts, which now serve as major means for promotion, especially for local or unknown bands. “Artist on Artist” is a new feature of MySpace Music in which video interviews between actors, musicians, filmmakers, and comedians are extended to fans, allowing artists to promote themselves as well as letting users explore the worlds of their favorite celebrities. “Front to Back” offers artists promotion they can’t receive on other music sites. In this feature, artists are able to perform concerts comprised of a single album on a webcast. Users view the online concert weeks before a live show, allowing them to then decide whether or not they want to attend a concert in their city (locations and ticket information is available on the same page). Either way, this is publicity for artists not offered on sites other than MySpace. With such features, fans are capable of creating and controlling their own world of music, by looking up and receiving instant information about their favorite artists/bands/songs/genres. Friends are allowed to share, purchase, and explore further music of their preference.
MySpace Music claims that in the near future the program will continue to develop multiple new features and music management tools, as well as more freely streamable audio and video content. Undoubtedly, the site will increasingly offer promotions to artists (both local and large-scale), as well as attract various artists to MySpace Records. Allowing access to previously unavailable music for fans, as well as continuing to develop user-friendly technology, could possibly result in MySpace becoming the top online music retailer.
Artist on Artist: Ringo Starr & Ben Harper
HD Radio
HD Radio:
Listen here: http://www.hdradio.com/how_does_hd_digital_radio_sound.php
A company called iBiquity Digital is the reason HD radio is available. They license this technology to radio stations to help them with the conversion process. Unlike HD television, you have the option to switch to HD radio. It is not something you have to do.
HD radio is a new way of looking at radio. What it is looking to do is upgrade the radio we all ready have. There is no charge for HD radio unlike a lot of the things that are coming out now. HD is not new radio; it is an upgrade of how the signals are transmitted, from analog to digital signals. Digital technology allows a radio station to transmit more information in the same radio wave. Primarily, this means higher quality sound. This means that FM will have a more cd like quality and AM will have the traditional FM sound. This in turn means no more static, pops, or crackles, and even fades. There will be more information transmitted through this radio such as song titles and the artist’s names. Digital signals are less vulnerable to reception problems and if you do happen to lose the signal your radio will switch back to analog.
HD radio works just about the same as regular analog radio. The radio station sends out the analog and digital radio signals, along with a third signal for text data. The digital signal is compressed before being transmitted. The three signals are transmitted from the radio station's upgraded digital transmitter. The interference, caused by the signal reflecting off of buildings, is ignored by the digital radio, which is able to discern the true signal and ignore interference. Your radio receives the signal and, depending on your equipment, you hear either the digital or analog feed.
While the future of HD radio is not known yet, there are many predictions as to what is will become. HD radio has quite a few things that satellite radio does not. For example, most people like analog radio for the local news, sports, weather, and traffic. These are all things you cannot get with satellite radio. These things are all very important to the average listener, if they are stuck in traffic they want to hear the traffic report to know how long it will be till they are out of the traffic. Also satellite radio charges you to listen where as HD radio does not. While others are saying HD radio isn’t going to do well because not many people understand it or know how to use it.
Listen here: http://www.hdradio.com/how_does_hd_digital_radio_sound.php
A company called iBiquity Digital is the reason HD radio is available. They license this technology to radio stations to help them with the conversion process. Unlike HD television, you have the option to switch to HD radio. It is not something you have to do.
HD radio is a new way of looking at radio. What it is looking to do is upgrade the radio we all ready have. There is no charge for HD radio unlike a lot of the things that are coming out now. HD is not new radio; it is an upgrade of how the signals are transmitted, from analog to digital signals. Digital technology allows a radio station to transmit more information in the same radio wave. Primarily, this means higher quality sound. This means that FM will have a more cd like quality and AM will have the traditional FM sound. This in turn means no more static, pops, or crackles, and even fades. There will be more information transmitted through this radio such as song titles and the artist’s names. Digital signals are less vulnerable to reception problems and if you do happen to lose the signal your radio will switch back to analog.
HD radio works just about the same as regular analog radio. The radio station sends out the analog and digital radio signals, along with a third signal for text data. The digital signal is compressed before being transmitted. The three signals are transmitted from the radio station's upgraded digital transmitter. The interference, caused by the signal reflecting off of buildings, is ignored by the digital radio, which is able to discern the true signal and ignore interference. Your radio receives the signal and, depending on your equipment, you hear either the digital or analog feed.
While the future of HD radio is not known yet, there are many predictions as to what is will become. HD radio has quite a few things that satellite radio does not. For example, most people like analog radio for the local news, sports, weather, and traffic. These are all things you cannot get with satellite radio. These things are all very important to the average listener, if they are stuck in traffic they want to hear the traffic report to know how long it will be till they are out of the traffic. Also satellite radio charges you to listen where as HD radio does not. While others are saying HD radio isn’t going to do well because not many people understand it or know how to use it.
SlingCatcher
The SlingCatcher is a device that allows a user to stream video and audio content from a PC, along with video from the Internet (YouTube), directly to the TV. When it comes to technology, this is another device that is connecting different bits of technology in to one, to make life more convenient. The device plugs into any AV system, and locates a slingbox on the user's network, allowing them to be connected to a television or computer anywhere in the world. The next question that one might ask is, "what is a Slingbox?"
A Slingbox is a set-top box that connects to one's television, and it allows them to stream the signal to another machine in real-time with no recording. This is a device that enhanced the lifestyles of those who traveled a lot, and paid for premium television services. A person would be able to access their premium movies or sports channels, anywhere in the world, using an array of different devices. These devices ranged from a laptop to a cell phone, and the Slingbox would stream the signal from the television through the various networks connecting those devices.
The beauty of the SlingCatcher is that it enhances this streaming technology by integrating a larger part of the computer to any television. Someone can plug in the device to a television, miles from there home, and watch video from a computer that is attached to the slingbox back home, using its included SlingProjector software. Another aspect involves being able to attach an external hard drive or USB storage device to the SlingCatcher, and watch a multitude of different video files, due to the compatibility with many different video codecs and file types. Once again, for clarification on the distinction, the SlingCatcher receives content from an external source and displays it on the TV, and the Slingbox takes content from the TV at one's house and displays it on remote devices like cell phones and laptops.
So why is this device important to the television industry? SlingCatcher is going to have a major impact on the Cable industry. In a downturning economy, many people are considering the removal of extra costs that fall into a category of wants and not needs. Cable is easily classified as a want, and with the introduction of the SlingCatcher, people will have an easier means towards customized content distribution, perhaps with deals made with major networks.
And God Said, “Let There Be Radio Cube.”
Iona Cube
The new radio “Cube” is a recent invention that will transform the way radio is consumed in the future. It is a portable Wi-Fi internet radio receiver that holds 4 of your favorite stations or podcasts. This radio is shaped like a small box. The bottom of the box has a speaker and the top works as an off switch. To tune in to a channel one must place the cube on one of its four sides. To change the channel, the user just has to rotate the cube to a different side. The volume levels can be decreased or increased simply by spinning the cube to the left or to the right. Just like any other volume control would. One of the neatest things about this invention is that users can customize their favorite programs into the cubes memory. At any time the user can change stations on the cube by making adjustments on the internet. This innovation is huge. Radio’s popularity has been decreasing steadily over the years with the influx of iPods. This cube is the radio’s lifeline.
The power of the Cube resides in the consumer and a Wi-Fi connection. The average person typically listens to 3 or 4 radio stations regularly. The Cube cuts the crap by allowing users to customize a top four. Consumers have a choice between 10,000 online radio stations and podcasts, which gives them the power to listen only to what they want. The Cube is more affordable than other media devices, ranging $50-$60.
Most radios today are rather large in comparison to the Cube. They may require antennas, tuning knobs, dials, etc. Not to mention, a station may not even come clearly. Stereos are almost obsolete. In fact, in comparison to the Cube, they are obsolete. Radio has been in need of innovation for years, and this Cube is perfect for the future. Why bother with bulky stereos when you can have a tiny box with consistent crystal clear sound? I predict that in ten years everyone will be using the new Cubes in place of their stereos.
The future of radio is inside the radio Cube. Like digital a newspapers or magazine that you can download onto your portable news device, radio also can now be customized and taken with the consumer. Not only is this a brilliant new marketing strategy for the radio industry, but it keeps radio in stride with the changes in other media forms here in the 21st century. Thus, ensuring radio will be alive for future generations.
The new radio “Cube” is a recent invention that will transform the way radio is consumed in the future. It is a portable Wi-Fi internet radio receiver that holds 4 of your favorite stations or podcasts. This radio is shaped like a small box. The bottom of the box has a speaker and the top works as an off switch. To tune in to a channel one must place the cube on one of its four sides. To change the channel, the user just has to rotate the cube to a different side. The volume levels can be decreased or increased simply by spinning the cube to the left or to the right. Just like any other volume control would. One of the neatest things about this invention is that users can customize their favorite programs into the cubes memory. At any time the user can change stations on the cube by making adjustments on the internet. This innovation is huge. Radio’s popularity has been decreasing steadily over the years with the influx of iPods. This cube is the radio’s lifeline.
The power of the Cube resides in the consumer and a Wi-Fi connection. The average person typically listens to 3 or 4 radio stations regularly. The Cube cuts the crap by allowing users to customize a top four. Consumers have a choice between 10,000 online radio stations and podcasts, which gives them the power to listen only to what they want. The Cube is more affordable than other media devices, ranging $50-$60.
Most radios today are rather large in comparison to the Cube. They may require antennas, tuning knobs, dials, etc. Not to mention, a station may not even come clearly. Stereos are almost obsolete. In fact, in comparison to the Cube, they are obsolete. Radio has been in need of innovation for years, and this Cube is perfect for the future. Why bother with bulky stereos when you can have a tiny box with consistent crystal clear sound? I predict that in ten years everyone will be using the new Cubes in place of their stereos.
The future of radio is inside the radio Cube. Like digital a newspapers or magazine that you can download onto your portable news device, radio also can now be customized and taken with the consumer. Not only is this a brilliant new marketing strategy for the radio industry, but it keeps radio in stride with the changes in other media forms here in the 21st century. Thus, ensuring radio will be alive for future generations.
iphone feature shazam
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlHVK_HIXpM
The music industry is constantly changing and having to find new ideas to spark consumer’s interest in buying music. As presented in the presentation on the changes to the music industry, MP3 and MP4 players are continually changing. One of these ways is by incorporating them into cell phones. The iphone is one of the most recognized cell phones for doing this. To promote music sales Apple, makers of the iphone, created a new application to the phone which allows consumers to identify songs played by a speaker. An example of this is when you hear a song over the radio and want to know the song name, and the artist. With this application consumers are allowed to purchase the songs that they have identified right away. The iphone application, which is called Shazam, is claimed to be able to identify any song within ten to fifteen seconds in any normal environment. Meaning that sounds from a car or sounds from a TV on in the background shouldn’t affect the phones ability of identifying the song.
This new application has a significant role to music industry in many ways. People can go online and get almost any song they want for free. This means that if a consumer is going to pay, usually $0.99 per song, for the music they can get for free there must be a reason. To many people $0.99 isn’t that much money and with the application of the Shazam feature, consumers are more likely to purchase the song because it’s very easy. Consumers downloading music for free is what’s destroying the large record labels. With the new innovations being applied to the iphone allowing consumers to purchase music easily lets the music labels get some revenue from the songs they help create. New technology like the Shazam feature is one that will pave the road for the future of the music industry. Only by adapting to the real world will the music industries ever survive.
HD Radio
HD radio isn’t new necessarily but it’s about the only recent thing that I could find. HD Radio technology enables AM and FM radio stations to broadcast their programs digitally. This HD radio service is free however, one mist buy a special receiver to actually tune into these channels. This is still in the works some of the problems that exist that are being talked about with HD radio is that when listened through the receiver on a standard FM channel is sound CD quality which does not compare of that to the satellite radio . However, the amount of music you can listen to is just of that of satellite. Unfortunately this has not caught on yet for many reasons some of them being people have no need to upgrade their radio service because they only listen to it in the car or at the office. With that being said HD radio is trying to talk with auto makers to integrate it with their cars. This will be a major breakthrough if things get worked out. HD radio has applications that can be added to your iphone. Also, it can let you tag a song and then let you buy it from itunes later if the person wants to. Also, because advertisers that deal with the radio are decreasing their spending that leaves too much time the radio guys know what to do with and the ratings kept going down. So with the HD radio the need for advertising does not necessarily need to be there. There is now in the makes a portable HD radio device that will allow you to take it on the go.
"MinnPost, a new approach and new technique"
Minnpost is a brilliant, non-profit internet newspaper concept that uses all the resources that online newspapers have to offer. It's slogan reads," A thoughtful approach to news", which is exactly what it is. It offers front page news stories, as well as blogs and interactive posts. MinnPost came together when large newspaper companies like Pioneer Press and Star Tribune began to layoff talented journalists in order to save money. With all of the layoffs that occurred, there was a natural decline in the quality of professional print journalism. MinnPost tried to recapture the high quality by hiring senior staff members that were fired from Pioneer Press and Star Tribune because of budget cuts. Some featured staff and writers of MinnPost include Susan Albright, Joel Kramer, and John Camp. Many writers for MinnPost have won awards in the past, such as the Pulitzer Prize. Recently the website won an award for the best website design and concept. The online newspaper has gotten high grades by critics for the quality of writing, sophistication, coverage of local stories, and worldview stories. MinnPost is stepping away from the old print newspaper and focusing on using the internet as a way for consumers to enjoy the news.
The website MinnPost is very significant when it comes to the future of the newspaper and it's industry. The internet has had a very large effect on the industry and will be a big part of the future. All newspaper companies are focusing on the internet to get news out. Many people do not pay for the physical newspaper because you can go online and get the same news for free from somewhere else. The techniques that MinnPost uses not only has drastically changed how consumers view newspapers, but also continue to shape them for the future. MinnPost uses resources such as posts, commenting on content, and talented writers that have the passion for accurate, professional journalism. Unlike many printed and online newspapers, MinnPost is news-based, not opinion-based. However, you are allowed to comment on the content below the article. Consumers are now looking for accurate news stories, not articles thrown together at the last minute. People are reading MinnPost because that's all it is, news. Also, the amount of advertising is less then a newspaper such as Pioneer Press. Consumers are becoming aware of "commercialized" newspapers and looking online for news that is trustworthy and not just looking for another buck. MinnPost is just one step towards the newspaper becoming personal again.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Sony OLED TV- The Future of TV
The Sony OLED TV was first released in 2008. It is the first Organic Light Emitting Diode television. When measured, the XEL-1 model is just under 12 by 10 by 5.5 inches overall and weighs a little more than 4 pounds. It is only about three millimeters thick. The display on this small TV’s resolution is 960 by 540 pixels. This television offers picture quality with exceptionally high contrast, a very bright screen, outstanding color reproduction and an extremely fast response time. There is no backlight on these TV’s, so it is able to control all phases of light emissions from no light to its peak brightness. The new technology that is used displays exceptional color expression and detail without using a lot of power. Sony uses its own Super Top Emission technology to produce a wide aperture ratio producing high brightness and efficiency so the TV will display an accurate picture. This technology has a color filter and a micro cavity structure that allows it to reproduce all natural colors, so that all colors are what they were originally intended to be.
The display panel on the OLED does not use very much power because the light emitting structure of the panel eliminates the need for another light source. Since the OLED displays create their own light, any mercury associated with the usual TV backlighting is eliminated. The light emitted from the organic materials can spontaneously be turned on and off when an electric current is applied. This allows for rapid response times so there is smooth and natural reproduction of fast moving content(such as action movies and sporting events).
These new TV’s also feature the latest connectivity options, including two HDMI inputs and a memory stick slot so you can view high resolution photos. This model is also compatible with DMeX, so consumers can have BRAVIA Internet Video Link service on their TV. By using broadband connection, the module streams would select internet video-free of charge and put it right on the TV, without needing to use a computer.
This TV is one of the most important innovations in the television industry because it doesn’t only change the technology but also demonstrates a flawless picture quality. This flawless picture quality is soon going to be standard, so all TV’s will be compared to it. This is important in the future of the television industry because it allows you to do and see things that we have never seen on a television before. This new technology is allowing us to upload pictures and get movies straight off the internet without even needing a computer.
Rock Band: Dowloadable Song Tracks
A new way that people are purchasing music is through video games, such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero. These music-insprired games have become incredibly popular in the last few years. A recent innovation is the ability to download new song tracks to be played in the game. This is known as downloadable content, or DLC. The most recent game, Rock Band 2, includes 80 songs from popular recording artists on the game disc. Harmonix, the game's creators, estimates that they will have over 500 downloadable songs available by the end of 2008. Consumers can purchase these songs for $1.99 each by going online with their PS3's and XBOX360's. As the music industry and record labels struggle to find their audience, it appears that the videogame industry has given them a helping hand. The royalties paid to the record labels for the use of songs in the game is a new source of revenue. Due to the immense popularity of games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, new audiences are being introduced to the world of rock music. By hearing and playing songs in the game, it is reasonable to assume that fans might purchase a CD or MP3's of a band they first heard of in the game.
A few factoids about Rock Band 2
- Rock Band 2 is the first and only video game to feature the music of AC/DC
- Axl Rose chose RB2 as the first medium for fans to hear tracks from Guns n Roses long-awaited album Chinese Democracy
- The next game from Harmonix, creators of Rock Band, is going to feature the music of The Beatles
The fact that The Beatles are working with Harmonix on the next Rock Band game is HUGE. The Beatles are extremely restrictive about the rights to their music. In fact, there is currently no legal way to purchase music online from The Beatles. If you want their music, you're stuck with CD's, tapes, or records. In 2009, The Beatles will release their music digitally for the first time ever, starting with Rock Band. Perhaps this will pave the way for them to eventually reconcile with Apple Computer and sell their songs on iTunes. Sure, Rock Band is only a game, but it’s an extremely popular game that undoubtedly inhabits the living rooms of many households. It’s this reason that makes The Beatles’ decision to partner with Harmonix monumental. They will be distributing their music on a new, popular platform to generations of young people who may have never heard them. Sir Paul McCartney said, “The project is a fun idea which broadens the appeal of The Beatles and their music. I like people having the opportunity to get to know the music from the inside out.”
interent radio on PSP
It doesn’t take an expert to realize that traditional radio is dying in the near and far future. The Radio landscape that was once dominated by only AM and FM stations has dramatically changed over the past 10 years both within the industry and beyond its borders. New technological forms have invaded the industry and changed the way we broadcast, receive, listen and even consume radio. HD radio, satellite radio and internet radio are some of the more obvious new radio forms responsible for the fall of traditional radio. But the thing that is up and coming in the last couple of month has to be PSP’s latest innovation.
Whatever your ear poison, chances are PSP’s latest 3.93 firmware upgrade has an option for you, thanks to it adding 20 new themed radio station players to listen via any Wi-Fi hotspot. The idea of streaming and listening to internet radio on PSP is “the Killer” feature that will storm the industry at a rapid rate. Who knew expanding your music library could be so easy. You can pigeonhole your taste at ease and listen to music by genre, artist, year and many other categories. Sony was successful in coming up with a fairly simple implementation for the average customer. This gives the consumer the ability to listen to internet radio on the go. It is easy to use and install, in just few steps you will be browsing through the many genres and music stations that are available.
The significance of this innovation lies in the effect it will have on traditional radio. This innovation by PSP gives listeners the luxury of listening to internet radio on the go. In other words, this feature introduces a new trend of internet radio by streaming audio podcasts off the internet, where pretty much you can make your own station and share it with friends or the whole world. It is the popularity of PSP especially among young generations that makes this feature threatening to the traditional radio. The impact of this new innovation will be felt by the traditional radio stations that depend on listeners in their car. Such listeners now have the option to connect their PSP to their car and listen to commercial free radio or even their own radio, instead of the more conventional stations.
Follow up to the Future of a Media Industry-Hologram
Have you been watching the news lately? If not, here is what you have been missing out on. Just recently on November 4th of 2008 on Election Day, CNN broadcasted an example of Holographic image technology. Although this was not a real Holographic, this is a great example on how the Future of Media will be. This embedded video clip from you tube serves good evidence. I believe this new technique and this new approach will be set off into another direction. Not only will we see this on the television series of Star Wars, but we will also see this in the future of our media industry.
As you can see the news begins with Wolf Blitzer where he mentions that CNN is going to do something different that’s never been done on television. Seconds later Jessica Yellin, ET’s reporter who was in Chicago, appears in holographic form at the CNN election center. As Blitzer mentions, she is said to be the first who is beamed into the CNN election center. Yellin appeared somewhat fuzzy and her image projected a few feet in front of Blitzer, a red glow appeared around the edges of her. While having conversation with Blitzer, she refers herself as the Star Wars character Princess Leia. She then explains the remarkable set up of this projected hologram. Her image was being filmed in Chicago by 35 high-definition cameras set in a ring inside a special tent, which were processed and synchronized by 20 computers to the cameras in the New York studio. This technique helped transmit what looks like an entire body image. A remark that Blitzer states to allow the viewers believe that he was really seeing her as he would see her in reality was, “Its still Jessica Yellin, and you look like Jessica Yellin, and we know that you are Jessica Yellin.” The way he addressed this seemed like he really wanted the viewers to believe that he was actually seeing her in holographic form.
Many viewers made negative compliments about the “via hologram” that was being aired on CNN. I found some examples, but the one I found to be my most interest was this one.
What the heck were they thinking? It was obvious that they weren't holograms, but for ANY news agency to pretend otherwise is silly at best, insulting and LIES at...worst? No, insulting and lies is exactly what it was.
And CNN is supposed to be a class act? The world standard?
Really, what the...heck...were they thinking? It wasn't April Fool's day either, it was coverage of THE BIGGEST STORY IN YEARS!!!
Monday, November 24, 2008
The Future of Print: E-ink
Books and printed works seem to be the media source that has the largest disconnect of what people assume to be happening, and what actually IS happening. Many people assume that with the advent of different technology, books as a medium are slowly dying off. With different mediums such as television and the internet, it seems like books don't have much in terms of use in a contemporary setting, and most futurists and sci-fi geeks don't picture the twenty-first century man picking up a light novel for entertainment in their depictions of the future.
E-ink has already been integrated into "ebook" portable reading devices such as Amazon's Kindle and the Sony Reader. Beyond that, E-ink has been integrated into other technologies as well, such as certain cell phones and laptop computers. As it stands now, E-ink is often considered as a "replacement" for paper-printed book. In large part, the general aim seems to be to be rid of the numerous paper books one might own and instead put them on a portable device of their choosing. However, the youtube link provided above shows a fascinating use that is actually the opposite of what the suggested idea. The video is of the October 2008 issue of the Esquire magazine, which actually integrates E-ink into the pages of their own magazine. The result is a unique, if somewhat alarming, look at what may be coming in the future of print.
In Ridley Scott's 1980s sci-fi masterpiece "Blade Runner," the backgrounds and settings visually assault your senses by the sheer amount of all of the things that are glowing and shiny. Nearly everything that is interacted with has some sort of glowing feature, but there is a startling lack of books. With E-ink and ebook technology, the printed word appears to be following its media counterparts right into such a setting. While books have largely remained the same since the printing press, new innovations are right at the doorstep. The as-of-now shockingly dull book and magazine section and magazine section may soon be completely revamped and replaced with glowing, interactive products and displays, while still retaining the same function.
Friday, November 21, 2008
What Does the Future of the Music Industry Hold for Us?
What is happening to music? Will we be renting music from everyone instead of owning it? Will we be free to play it on anything we want or anywhere we want? I think that the future of music remains unclear. Many are challenging the idea of DRM for very legitamate reasons such as they can't play music on other music players becuase of the DRM. Many argue the rights of DRM to be reasonable, becuase they think music should be paid for and they're trying to put some control on it. I feel the pain of both sides. Understanding that anyone can try to justify their illegal and/or wrong behaviors such as stealing music. Anyone can say,"well I only need one stick of gum so I have a right to steal a piece out of this package. They are obviously wrong for stealing, but they can justify the'r actions until they're blue in the face and the silly ness continues. One side says it's okay to download illegally, "we have the right", and the other side says it's wrong, "music artists aren't getting their well deserved profit anymore". I don't feel we have the right to free music. We never have been able to get music free before unless on the radio, so why should we be able to download it for free? However, the problem lies deeper than just the downloading dilema. It is more of a need to answer the question, "what should a person be allowed to do with the music once they have paid for the download?", and "how much will it cost a person to download and how much will they charge for a person to do what ever they want with it, playing it anywhere on anything?". When we had tapes, they weren't handed out for free. You had to buy it, and if you felt you had the right to have it for free, you could steal it and risk getting caught for shoplifting. If you knew someone who had purchased the tape you could dub the whole tape on a blank tape and pass up the expensive costs of the original, or you could wait for the song to come on the radio and record it from their. Then the CD came, and the decision became, "do I buy the single tape with the one popular song I like?, or should I buy the new hip CD that I can play in the car cd player and the new stereos and at all my friends houses with their new cd players? Then burning CD's became intelligently affordable and popular, and everyone had all these anonymous discs with all kinds of illegally downloaded and burned music to share freely. Then, the popular and sheek ipod came. Now, you can take your music with you everywhere without scratching, skipping, tape eating, burning discs or stealing, and all the other ancient annoyances like dropping your walkman while rollerblading or carrying a boombox with you where ever you go to hang out. Either way you look at it, the game is all about the internet now. Figuring out how to control the consumers who download music and find a way to make money without having the music given away for free. Everything on the internet is free, so now the game is how can we create the coolest products to acces the best music. The only way to control the illegal downloading is to continue to have products for consumers to desire, and designing the products to only be capable to download from particluar stores and played on particluar music players. Even the cell phone music players are the best creations so far becuase everyone has a cell phone and now the game is who has one with music and how are they going to get their musc? It seems that the game of music retail and consumption is getting so difficult that the easiest way to have music is to download it illegally. The myth "it's simple, and not everyone gets caught", can be tricky to believe. I don't know about all that, but I think that it is possible for the government to get involved and regulate it and just come down hard on the internet. It's possible, but I didn't say I agreed that it'll be fare or not and people will definately not like it. Some people don't agree with the legal age of alcohol consumption either, but just because their is a legal age to drink doesn't stop people from drinking under the legal age limit. They risk getting caught, and some do get caught and pay the consequences. If they can't figure out how to control the online music industry their might not be a music industry. Still, between record labels' new ideas and computer companies' new ideas something has got to form a pattern for consumers to easily conform to a mutual, modern way of getting music while the music artist still gets a revenue. The future of music lies in the hands of the computer/internet industry now.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
A New Look For Books!
Torn pages, lost covers, no biding and using bookmarks as place holders. All these things are so 1999, it’s the 2000’s and the new millennium and with that comes new technology whether it’s with television, newspapers, radio or film things are changing every day.
As my fellow P.O.P.(Power Of Print) Stars and I presented the wonderful world of books, so much has gone down in the world of print and books are catching up with the times and becoming more exciting than just 340 pages bound together telling a story of a boy who has lost his dog and must travel back in time to change his past to fix the present. Now maybe that example was a little farfetched, but any story someone can write with proper mechanics and grammar have the potential of having a book published and being on the New York Times Best seller list. So I digressed a little bit away from the topic at hand, but as I’ve said before when most people read about books whether it’s a book report or a research paper on the history of them, society or our class rather lose focus quickly.
Though I am aware that people that really read and appreciate books are the type of people that will never let go of a real book just because there is something about holding it, and turning pages and all that and not just reading it off a screen, the future of books is inside the Sony E-Reader is the next big thing in the world of books. As the video shows, the ereader allows nontraditional readers to have a on the go electronic folder of essentially 350 ebooks. The model shown in the video features the book light for dim light reading and also a stylus pen which allows users to search for books out of their database. To say the ereader will make more people read would be a false theory, because though the technology is update and allows users to page through a digital version of books that we page through every day at libraries these ereaders take a good chunk out of your pocket. They’re saying this model in the video is about 400 dollars, unless you have a lot of money and 400 is pocket change for you, not many people are going to add this to their bookshelf. Which brings up an interesting thought is there going to be ereader bookshelves probably not seeing as the ereader holds thousand s upon thousand pages, but I had to mention it. I to this point read books very rarely, unless it’s related to pro wrestlers or tips of making it big in Hollywood and there is many classic novels I’d read again and again, but books are not my favorite past time, but until they adapt them with ereader I don’t plan on making a purchasing on one, but that doesn’t mean if someone from class gets one I won’t want to check it out. Thanks for reading everyone, can’t wait to read the rest of my P.O.P. Star’s blogs and everyone else’s of course.
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