You may have been directed hear from a cached link in a search engine based on a post URL in my older blog. I apologize if this is not the post you were looking for.
I recently switched my blog engine to WordPress from B2Evo, so old post URL’s aren’t going to work very well. I did get my old post transferred over, so it’s still here.
Feel free to run a search within my blog to find what you were looking for.
I’ve switched my blog system from B2Evo to WordPress.
Now, B2Evo wasn’t bad at all and had some really nice features, but I’ve reviewed some of WordPresses latest features and plugins and felt it was time for a change.
Thank you B2Evo for the great system!
I’m still working on transferring my data over, hopefully that goes well. Obviously old post URL’s will not work and some categories are not going to get carried over.
Copyright Criminals is a documentary that traces the roots of Hip Hop back to the streets of New York where sampling was just part of the game. Now, it is the game for many in the multi-billion dollar industry of music.
It provides perspectives from both those who sample and from those who have been sampled from. The growth of music in a variety of genres has strong roots in sampling.
In this day and age where technology is easily accessible, sharing info & content across the various channels has become easier than ever, but more importantly, the demand to obtain info & content has also risen. There are a couple facets of copyright infringement that are widely spreading as a result; illegal duplication and distribution of music, and the age-old sampling of others’ music to create new tracks. Emerging tools within the music industry, both hardware and software, are making it easier to remix, sample, cut, mash-up a multitude of music into new productions.
This documentary takes a look into this art form to review the source, process, politics, and art of sampling. It features foudning figures of hip hop such as Public Enemy, De La Soul, and Digital Underground—while also featuring emerging hip-hop artists from record labels Definitive Jux, Rhymesayers (Atmosphere, P.O.S.), Ninja Tune, and more.
From the other side, sampled artists such as Clyde Stubblefield (James Brown’s drummer and the world’s most sampled musician), as well as commentary by another highly sampled musician, the original funk legend George Clinton.
(by the way, I sampled some of these snippets from the Copyright Criminals website, modified and re-purposed it for this post – thanks www.copyrightcriminals.com)
Here is a nice clip from the documentary:
Copyright Criminals – Trailer from IndiePix on Vimeo.
Copyright Criminals
“A look at sampling, in which snippets of old songs are reused in new productions, featuring remarks from hip-hop and electronica artists as well as George Clinton and ex-James Brown drummer Clyde Stubblefield, whose beats have been heavily recycled.”
duration: 60 min
There are several dates this will air, but here is the next date for the Denver area is:
Saturday, January 23 — 11:00pm
Channel 0006 – KRMA
or HD
Channel 0658 – Digital/HD Rocky Mountain PBS
For additional show times and more info visit PBS:
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/broadcast.html
For details about Copyright Criminals visit:
http://www.copyrightcriminals.com/
It was announced late last year that Flash can run on the iPhone. This was of course, as an application using a special iPhone conversion plugin for your Flash application, and still isn’t as optimal as creating an app directly in Cocoa or local iPhone OS platform.
A developer named Tobey Schneider ( @tobeytailor ) has release an early version of Gordon, an open source Flash runtime written purely in JavaScript.
This means you can run a SWF in the browser (Safari).
Check demos here:
http://paulirish.com/work/gordon/demos/
(Yes, the swf’s demo’ed run on the iPhone via Safari)
You can view details and the source here:
http://github.com/tobeytailor/gordon
This is just an early version of Gordon which has some limitations, I’m not sure on its capabilities to run Action Script, so complex flash apps/sites may experience issues. It appears that it will play a SWF or simple animation based on the demos, but I haven’t seen anything really complex yet. This does however, open up a big door not only for Flash on iPhones, but other ways to run Flash on various devices that support Javascript and not Flash… or is that only an iPhone?
ReppinNW put together this nice video collection of some of the best and amazing tricks in snowboarding of 2009-2010 season.
And YES, there are some double corks in there, late corks, 1080º’s and 1260º’s like nobody’s business, and one of the craziest Big Mountain lines I have seen.
I think we’re all familiar with the yellow bordered magazines, be it in your current subscription lists, parent’s collection, library exposure, or the scrap book collection in art class. I am referring to the iconic National Geographic Magazine.
National Geographic has brought their entire collection, from 1888 to 2008 into the digital world with the recent version of the Complete National Geographic Software experience which includes the past 120 years of National Geographic accessible through your desktop computer!
The company I work for, Effective UI, was the UX agency behind creating this year’s version o the collection. Our team did an excellent job bringing this unique software experience to life and making it an enjoyable and exciting adventure throughout the past 120 years of magnificent National Geographic content, including the intriguing articles from around the world and of course, I must mention the visual thrill ride of their amazing photography. The other cool aspect is that this presents the issues an volumes exactly how they were originally published including the advertisements dating back to their first volumes in the late 19th century (1888).
Not only can you go through the volumes in a digital page by page metaphor, but the application also offers other features such as trivia and Geobrowse which allows you to search, correspond and relate articles geographically with an interactive global map.
The software was built with Adobe Flex (AS3.0) and wrapped in Adobe AIR, and is a cross-platform compatible software package with the Adobe Air Install.
For more info visit:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/completeng/
Purchase from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-National-Geographic-Every-Issue/dp/1426296355/ref=dp_cp_ob_sw_title_0
Luan Oliveira takes the Tampa Am again this year! The whole contest brought out a bunch of talent that killed it. Here is a video below with highlights from the contest.
The world of DJ’ing is constantly moving towards the digital world for sometime now. With the introduction of CD DJ controllers several years ago, to Turntable interface integrations such as Serato Scratch, and to the latest popular USB/MIDI controllers.
If you are going digital for convenience, expense or just because you love using your laptop over traditional devices, it is becoming a lot easier and a lot more prevalent to see a laptop on stage or in the DJ booth.
Don’t get me wrong, I love vinyl, and I prefer to use Serato Scratch as my primary channel of DJ’ing along with traditional vinyl, but the tools offered today are making the opportunity to DJ with a library of thousands of songs within the convenience of your own backpack very tempting. And I’m not just talking about pushing play on iTunes and sending it through the coffee house speakers.
Vestax just released a new controller named Spin.
These controllers are nothing new, as Vestax has several of these including the VCI-100 ($399) and VCI-300 ($899), Numark has a device, and Hercules ($329) has a really solid one with a sound card, but they all range well above $330 – $900+.
The Vestax Spin on the other hand, is only $250 and it has a built-in sound card for audio input like a mic!
Now the old saying, “you get what you pay for” is aways true, but Vestax is known to put out solid product. I will say that this is a price point device and has plastic controllers and faders, so it’s not professional grade, but for $250, the platters look solid, the functionality is there, you get an audio input, MIDI control, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner who wants to DJ their iTunes library for fun, begin messing with DJ’ing, or a pro looking for a quick inexpensive portable set up, then this might be the answer.
This set up also comes with a basic DJ application called DJay3. This was a freeware app several years ago that allowed you tap into your iTunes library and digitally mix on your computer. They have now improved upon it and added many more features to pair up with the Vestax Spin.
Since the device is USB/MIDI, but I still have yet to verify if you can use it with other applications such as Serato Itch or Tracktor.
Even though tools like this are becoming a lot more accessible, please keep in mind that DJ’ing has various levels. Don’t think you’re going to get a set up like this and it’s going to make you an instant Mix Master Mike or Digweed. Dj’ing is an art form that takes time to master, I myself, am and always will be a disciple of the art.
As tools get less expensive and readily available, more complex and feature rich, then the opportunity for someone to get into DJ’ing is becoming a real possibility, but there is still the human factor of DJ’ing. That aspect is creating the experience and reading your environment and audience to know what to play, when to play it, and how to mix it in. No piece of technology will ever replace that.
I have yet to experience the Vestax Spin in person, but here is some more info Scratchworx.com:
http://www.skratchworx.com/news3/comments.php?id=1360
Check it out at Apple.com
http://store.apple.com/us/product/TX742VC/A
If you’re new to Drop Box and do not have an account yet, you can sign up now and get an additional 250MB Free!
Sign up through my referral link below:
DropBox
This will give you 250MB on top of the 3GB they provide with a free account, and helps me out too by boosting my account by 250MB also!
If you’re not sure what DropBox is exactly, then read on:
Drop Box is a cross platform service for file sharing, syncing and backup. If you are familiar with the iDisk from a dotMac account, it is similar to that.
So, How do you start using it?
Create an account and this will be present online through the web interface. Download and install DropBox on your system. This will create an instance of your Drop Box folder within your normal system and login, and as you load/cretae items in there, you will essentially be uploading it to the web server simultaneously*. The great thing is you don’t have to manage any portal or ftp client, just put it in the folder.
You will also see a sync notification on the folder or toolBar icon when it is syncing.
You can install this on multiple machines and have access to your content from either machine or via web interface.
* items do not sync immediately, they take some time to sync depending on file size and connection speed.
Examples of how you could use it:
1) Files too large to email?
You have a big file you just created on your desktop at home, but you’re running late and can only take your netbook with you. No jump drive, no time to burn a disk, too big to email, but you need this file when you get to your next destination. Simple – just drop it in your DropBo folder an by the time you get to your destination, it should be synced and you just need to sync your netbook and you got it!
2) Collaboration
You have 2 other people working on the same team as you on a project. All of you will be creating documents and designs that will be living and changing. Some of these files may be too large to email, one member doesn’t know anything about FTP, and you would like to know when someone makes an update. Well, DropBox is the answer again.
It allows for collaboration and file sharing, so you can create a project folder, share it out to whomever, it will version files, and provide notifications upon updates!
My friend and I have placed audio production projects (Logic Pro) inside a DropBox shared folder and he would provide his edits and additions, and it would sync, and I would then add my additions including lyrics to a composition and we have an instant 15 mile studio, where he is on one end in his home, and I’m in mine!
3) BackUp
Don’t have a hard drive, or another computer to back your files up to? Well DropBox makes that easy too. Just drop your item inside, and it is getting redundantly saved to the server in the cloud and on your local system. If your computer crashed, you could access it from another computer via web interface or installed DropBox.
A couple weeks ago the front range was hit with a winter storm that dumped up to 2 feet in some of the metro areas. I was shoveling about a foot and a half myself in Denver.
Now yesterday it was a record setting 77ºF at DIA, and today has the same forecast hi temperature.
Warm and nice in Denver, while Keystone and other resorts are opening up for the season in the hills! This is Colorado!