Pocket Lint has a review of the quite cool (IMHO) Phobile Handset from Firebox. I have to say I don’t think it’s as ironic and throw-away as both the review and Firebox themselves say. Like most people I know I never use a landline, so at home it’d be pretty useful to have a “large-format” handset. Of course, this is all academic when you use Skype for all your calls, but for the incoming it’s quite nice.
Pigeon-Empowered Wireless Internet
pasta and vinegar reports (via RIM – Ami Ben-Bassat’s Blog) how Dr. Yossi Vardi, with Ami Ben-Bassat, a science writer, and Guy Vardi, “the CPO (chief pigeon/technical officer)” ran a test of Pigeon-Empowered Wireless Internet to “try and improve Wi-Fly – pigeon-empowered wireless internet and to confront this technology against ADSL”.
Looks like it worked. Nice one. Not sure if the design of the pigeon graphic was meant to look like a peace dove, but it’d be nice, wouldn’t it?
Subversion
Livin' La Vida Loca!
The Death of Dynamic Range is an interesting piece about how dynamic range has been progressively more and more mashed in modern music production in the recent years. While this in itself isn’t exactly news, it’s interesting to see the examples and discussion. It’s also interesting to see how the same sound gets maximised quite differently for different formats and/or markets.
The article’s main point is that crushing the dynamic range into (or past) the clipping limit of the medium is destruction of the sound. Of course, it is, but so is using a distortion pedal. That said, it’s not such a “musical” usage of the effect and applying something to the whole mix isn’t the same as applying it to an element to create differentiation in tone colour. Anyway, it’s an interesting page.
WordPress 1.5 update
I’ve been threatening to upgrade this blog to WordPress 1.5 for a while, to bring it up to date with domipix and Brown Bear. Now I have, but the style is just a plain version of the theme from domipix.com. It’ll be changin’…
Foxblocker
Doggie style
Now this I like: Kaloo, the WebCam dog. I especially like the cable going up his arse – very fetish.
WordPress 1.5
I’ve updated www.domipix.com to WordPress 1.5 and so far, so good. Nice piece of work. (www.domipix.com is very new and still developing, so no dissin’…)
[Update: blog.domipix.com has now moved to www.domipix.com.]
Knobs 'n' stuff
I’m looking around for music control surfaces, leaning towards Behringer’s B-Controls, especially the flying-faders-equipped BCF2000. But I have to wonder: are they going to come out with a daddy unit for this series? Like a box that contains the faders version and the rotary one? Or 2 of each? And if not, why not? In any case, could I just buy the bits and stick ’em together in a bigger case? Watch this space…
The End of Email
New Forms of Online Communication Spell End of Email Era in Korea, according to The Chosun Ilbo. “I use email when I send messages to elders”.