With the $700 billion bail out on hold and banks dropping like flies, it seems this economic apocalypse will come in - and out - with a bang and not a depression. To that end we’ve decided to scour our mind-holes for gear that will help you survive the coming economic catastrophe. While we can’t promise that there will be zombies during this international economic breakdown, we wanted to be absolutely prepared for all potential threats, especially when Pfizer goes belly-up and their laboratories are overrun by environmental activists who release a deadly “rage” virus into the wild. So, in a very real way, this is both to help you survive the Great Dustbowl of 2008 and the great Zombie uprising of suburban New Jersey. Let’s begin.
With the $700 billion bail out on hold and banks dropping like flies, it seems this economic apocalypse will come in - and out - with a bang and not a depression. To that end we’ve decided to scour our mind-holes for gear that’ll help you survive the coming economic catastrophe.
While we can’t promise that there will be zombies during this international economic breakdown, we wanted to be completely prepared for all potential threats, especially when Pfizer goes belly-up and their laboratories are overrun by environmental activists who release a deadly “rage” virus into the wild. So, in a very real way, this is both to help you survive the Great Dustbowl of 2008 and the great Zombie uprising of suburban New Jersey. Let’s start.
By Luke Anderson I’m lazy when it comes to shaving. I’ll go sometimes a week without even bothering to trim my facial hair. When I do get around to it, I spend just a few minutes with an electric razor and am done with it. Sure, I could probably get better results if I actually took […]
By Luke Anderson
I’m lazy when it comes to shaving. I’ll go sometimes a week without even bothering to trim my facial hair. When I do get around to it, I spend just a few minutes with an electric razor and am done with it. Sure, I could probably get better results if I actually took the time to use a real razor, but I have light colored hair anyway, so five o’clock shadow isn’t a big deal. However, if unlike me you’re concerned about your facial hair, and must have it shaved perfectly, look no further than the Slim Trim Razor.
I’m really not sure that I know anyone anal enough to precisely measure out where they’re shaving. If you totally must get those sideburns to within a millimeter of each other, than by all means, get yourself one of these. Unfortunately at this time the product is still a concept, so you’re going to have to do all of the measuring with a plain old ruler.
By Andrew Liszewski I don’t know about you, but besides using an alarm clock to get me out of bed every morning, I also rely on it to know what time it is when I roll over in the middle of the night. So while the Sonoro Cubo Elements alarm clock is oozing with style and […]
By Andrew Liszewski
I don’t know about you, but besides using an alarm clock to get me out of bed every morning, I also rely on it to know what time it is when I roll over in the middle of the night. So while the Sonoro Cubo Elements alarm clock is oozing with style and slick design, it’s already lost quite a few points in my alarm clock scorebook because of its minuscule LED clock. On the plus side it features a black high-gloss lacquered finish with an easy to use brushed metal LED-illuminated dial, and you can select to wake up to an MP3 from your collection, or your local radio DJs via an AM/FM tuner. There’s also an ‘Internet’ version of the Cubo Elements that can wirelessly stream over 10,000 different on the web radio stations which is perfect for people like me who wake up curious about the weather and local politics on the other side of the world.
The Cubo Elements also features a full-range upward facing speaker with adjustable bass and treble settings, an aux-in jack for connecting an MP3 player and an optional external iPod recharging dock. I have no idea what they’re asking for it, but it apparently even comes with a key-lock to secure the unit if used in a hotel room, so there’s probably a discount if you happen to run a big hotel chain and pick up 10,000 of them.
This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net Before I upgraded to an iPhone, there were always three gadgets that went everywhere with me. My cell phone, iPod and Nintendo DS were all essential to day-to-day life. I still know several people that carry around a similar trio of gadgets, however, if the latest rumors are […]
This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net
Before I upgraded to an iPhone, there were always three gadgets that went everywhere with me. My cell phone, iPod and Nintendo DS were all essential to day-to-day life. I still know several people that carry around a similar trio of gadgets, however, if the latest rumors are to be believed, you’ll be able to ditch at least one of these.
No, Nintendo isn’t branching out into the world of MP3 players, but rather integrating music playback into their already popular DS. A Japanese economic newspaper is claiming that Nintendo will be releasing a new DS which will include not only music playback, but a camera as well. Surprisingly, the new device would only cost a mere $30 more than the current Nintendo DS Lite.
While we’re still labeling this as a rumor, we do know that Nintendo is hosting simultaneous media briefings in Tokyo and San Francisco this Thursday. If a new DS really is in the works, this is where we’d most likely hear about it.
Have you ever wanted to know when politicians are lying? A startup called RealScoop thinks it can nail it down for you in real-time with the help of voice analysis technology that it claims is used widely in law enforcement and fraud prevention. Dubbed the Believability Meter, RealScoop’s analysis technology analyzes over 100 vocal elements of the human voice and performs over 1,000 calculations per second to find out if a politician or celebrity is telling the truth. On Tuesday, RealScoop will cover the Vice Presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, putting each one’s statements to its Believability test. The site itself features a bunch of videos collected from outside sources that are played in its own player. The player features a meter that changes dynamically as it analyzes what’s being said. If it believes the person is lying, the meter turns red and moves towards the “highly questionable” area. If it believes the person is telling the truth, the meter stays green and in the “believable” section.
Have you ever wanted to know when politicians are lying? A startup called RealScoop thinks it can nail it down for you in real-time with the help of voice analysis technology that it claims is used widely in law enforcement and fraud prevention.
Dubbed the Believability Meter, RealScoop’s analysis technology analyzes over 100 vocal elements of the human voice and performs over 1,000 calculations per second to find out if a politician or celebrity is telling the truth. On Tuesday, RealScoop will cover the Vice Presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, putting each one’s statements to its Believability test.
The site itself features a bunch of videos collected from outside sources that are played in its own player. The player features a meter that changes dynamically as it analyzes what’s being stated. If it believes the person is lying, the meter turns red and moves towards the “highly questionable” area. If it believes the person is telling the truth, the meter stays green and in the “believable” section.
I watched a few of the videos on the site and found it questionable, to say the least. Maybe there’s some real evidence to prove that this sort of technology can tell if a person is lying or not, but let’s face it — there’s no way to prove it and I’m not sure, after watching the videos, how a person can go from believable to questionable by uttering a few easy phrases like “uh.”
I’m sure the highly political among us will find value in this to help prove their point that the candidates they support are telling the truth and those they don’t are lying, but the more objective among us will see this for what it is: pure rubbish.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoardbecause it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
By Andrew Liszewski To celebrate the release of The Matrix trilogy on Blu-Ray in Japan, Warner Brothers has created this ridiculously over-the-top packaging where the 7 discs in the collection can be stored inside a 2-foot highly detailed model of the Nebuchadnezzar. The 7 discs include a copy of The Matrix trilogy and The Animatrix on […]
By Andrew Liszewski
To celebrate the release of The Matrix trilogy on Blu-Ray in Japan, Warner Brothers has created this ridiculously over-the-top packaging where the 7 discs in the collection can be stored inside a 2-foot highly detailed model of the Nebuchadnezzar. The 7 discs include a copy of The Matrix trilogy and The Animatrix on Blu-Ray as well as 3 additional standard-def DVDs featuring the ‘making-of’ documentaries. The Ultimate Matrix Collection, as it’s appropriately called, will probably only be available in limited quantities when it’s released in Japan on December 17th, and will sell for about $375.
By Jonathan Kimak If you’re looking to have one last summer party and happen to live in Germany and you and your friends want to have a great time trying not to die and/or auditioning for Jackass 3 then Designer/Businessman/Daredevil Jochen Schweizer has created something that’s perfect for you. The AirKick® Water is essentially a water powered […]
By Jonathan Kimak
If you’re looking to have one last summer celebration and happen to live in Germany and you and your friends want to have a great time trying not to die and/or auditioning for Jackass 3 then Designer/Businessman/Daredevil Jochen Schweizer has created something that’s perfect for you.
The AirKick® Water is essentially a water powered catapult for people. The passenger sits in the AirKick and then presses a button when they’re ready to fly. 60 litres of water are then forced through a rocket nozzle under the seat which will launch people distances as far as 26 feet.
The rental length is 6 hours. No word on the price.
I love useful tools like this. Songreference is a free download for iTunes (Windows only for now) and Winamp that searches for the music video of whatever MP3 you’re playing at the time and then plays it synced to the song. That syncing part isn’t trivial, and it makes all the difference. The plugin also has links to Wikipedia information on each song.
I love useful tools like this. Songreference has a free download for iTunes (Windows only for now) and Winamp called MiniTube that searches for the music video of whatever MP3 you are playing at the time and then plays it synced to the song. That syncing part isn’t trivial, and it makes all the difference. The plugin also has links to Wikipedia information on each song.
Ponoko, the site that lets you build (and sell) products from homegrown design schematics, is about to make its service even more accessible. Under a new program called Photomake, you’ll now be able to produce tangible objects from doodles on a piece of paper - just snap a photo of your masterpiece, select a material, and Ponoko’s laser cutters will do the rest. It’s a great idea, and I can’t wait to immortalize my favorite doodlings in black acrylic.
Ponoko, the site that lets you build (and sell) products from homegrown design schematics, is about to make its service even more accessible. Under a new program called Photomake, you’ll now be able to produce tangible objects from doodles on a piece of paper - just snap a photo of your masterpiece, choose a material, and Ponoko’s laser cutters will do the rest. It’s a great idea, and I can’t wait to immortalize my favorite doodlings in black acrylic.
There are a few restrictions, but they are all reasonable. The demo video below explains that drawings should be done on clean pieces of paper, and photographed under good lighting conditions (fair enough). After submitting the photograph to Ponoko, the site will generate a preview of what the laser-cut design will look like. The video explains that this should look very similar to the original design, but there may be some subtle differences - this is likely Ponoko’s software determining what elements of the submitted design are actually possible to create using the company’s lasers. And because of the nature of the service, designs won’t be in 3D (unless you create interlocking parts).
Prices vary by the type of material (the site offers varieties of acrylic, wood, and a number of others) and the thickness of the design. The cost of two custom coasters printed in the demo was around $25, which seems perfectly reasonable for something that would make for a great gift.
Photomake may not be able to build anything as complex as a chair (though Ponoko’s main service could), but it has endless applications and a low barrier to entry. I could easily see it being used by kids to make their parents gifts for the holidays, or by office workers looking to give their cubicles some character - I wouldn’t be surprised if it grows to become the most popular part of Ponoko’s business.
Today the story of Muxtape, the popular but shortlived music service that let users create virtual mixtapes, has finally come to light. In a lengthy blog post on the site’s homepage, founder Justin Ouellette details his legal wranglings with the four major record labels and the RIAA, which led him to close the site down in August. Ouellette says that he is relaunching Muxtape as a platform to help bands establish an on the web presence. Bands will be able to create attractive profiles for themselves, and upload their own music which can be played elsewhere on the internet in embeddable players. The change means that Muxtape is returning in name only - the site will bear little resemblance to the music sharing service that racked up over a million very special visitors in less than a month of existence.
This day the story of Muxtape, the popular but shortlived music service that let users create virtual mixtapes, has finally come to light. In a lengthy blog post on the site’s homepage, founder Justin Ouellette details his legal wranglings with the four major record labels and the RIAA, which led him to shut the site down in August (an unaffiliated site, Mixtube, lives on).
Ouellette says that he is relaunching Muxtape as a platform to help bands establish an on the internet presence. Bands will be able to create attractive profiles for themselves, and upload their own music which can be played elsewhere on the internet in embeddable players. The change means that Muxtape is returning in name only - the site will bear little resemblance to the music sharing service that racked up over a million very special visitors in less than a month of existence.
As with so many other fallen music sites, restrictive and costly licensing deals have effectively put Muxtape out of business - they create a barrier that only grants well-funded companies like imeem and MySpace to play ball. Some sites like 8tracks have manged to make use of clever DMCA loopholes, treating themselves as miniature on the internet radio broadcasts that grant them to skirt licensing deals in favor of cheaper royalty rates. But this solution is only temporary - if 8tracks continue to grow, it will have to pay higher fees.
For an alternative to Muxtape that runs on Seeqpod’s music service (which is itself of questionable legality), check out Favtape, which we’ve described as Muxtape on steroids.
Here’s Ouellette’s post in its entirety, which you can also find at Muxtape.com:
I love music. I believe that for people who love music, the desire to share it is innate and crucial for music itself. When we find a song we love, we beckon our friends over to the turntable, we loan them the CD, we turn up the car stereo, we put it on a mixtape. We do this because music makes us feel and we want someone else to feel it, too.
The story of Muxtape began when I had a weekly show at my university’s radio station in Oregon. In addition to keeping the station’s regular log I compiled my playlists into a web page, with each show represented by a simple block that corresponded to a cassette recording for that week. At the time, mixtapes were already well into their twilight, but long after my show ended I couldn’t stop thinking about how the playlist page served a similar purpose, and in many ways served it better. Like a mixtape, each playlist was a curated group that was greater than the sum of its parts. Unlike a mixtape, it wasn’t constrained by any physical boundaries of dissemination, but… it also didn’t contain any actual music. Someone might come across the page and smile knowingly at the songs they knew, but shifting the burden of actually compiling the mix to its intended listener defeated the purpose entirely.
Five years later, internet technology had advanced significantly. I was working on experimental user interfaces for web sites when I started thinking about that playlist page again, and ultimately set out to bring it to life. My desire to share music (in the mixtape sense) hadn’t gone anywhere, but the channels to do so were becoming extinct. Popular blogging services grant you to post audio files in an ephemeral sort of way, but it wasn’t the context I was looking for. A physical cassette tape in your hands has such a insistent aesthetic; just holding one makes you want to find a tape player to fulfill its destiny. My goal with Muxtape’s design was to translate some of that tactility into the digital world, to build a context around the music that gave it a tiny extra spark of life and made the holder anxious to listen.
The first version was a one-page supplement to my tumblr, and was more or less identical to what it would become later. The feedback was great, and the number one question rapidly became “can you make one for me, too?” At first I started thinking about ways I could package the source code, but the more I thought about it the more it seemed like massively wasted potential. Distributing the source would mean limiting access to the small niche of people who operate their own web server, whereas I wanted to make something that was accessible to anyone who cares about music. The natural conclusion was a centralized service, which suddenly unfolded whole other dimensions of possibility for serendipitous music discovery. What seemed before like the hollow shell of a mixtape now seemed like its evolution. I knew I had to try building it. Three weeks of long nights later, I launched Muxtape.
It was successful very swiftly. 8,685 users registered in the first 24 hours, 97,748 in the first month with 1.2 million very special visitors and a healthy growth rate. Lots of press. Rampant speculation. Tech rags either lauded it or declared it an instant failure. Everyone was excited. I was thrilled.
There was a popular misconception that Muxtape only survived because it was “flying under the radar,” and the moment the major labels found out about it it’d be shut down. In actuality, the labels and the RIAA read web sites like everyone else, and I heard from them both within a week or so. An RIAA notice arrived in triplicate, via email, registered mail, and FedEx overnight (with print and CD versions). They demanded that I take down six specific muxtapes they felt were infringing, so I did.
Around the same time I got a call from the VP of anti-piracy at one of the majors. After I picked up the phone his first words were, “Justin, I just have one question for you: where do I send the summons and complaint?” The conversation picked up from there. There was no summons, it was an intimidation tactic setting the tone for the business development meeting he was proposing, the true reason for the call. Around the same time another one of the large four’s business developers reached out to me, too.
I spent the next month listening. I talked to a lot of very smart lawyers and other people whose views on the matter I respected, trying to gain a consensus for Muxtape’s legality. The only consensus seemed to be that there was no consensus. I had two dozen slightly different views that ran the gamut from “Muxtape is 100% legal and you’re on solid ground,” to “Muxtape is a cesspool of piracy and I hope you’re ready for a hundred million dollar lawsuit and a stint at Riker’s.”
In the end, Muxtape’s legality was moot. I didn’t have any money to defend against a lawsuit, just or not, so the major labels had an ax over my head either way. I always told myself I’d remove any artist or label that contacted me and objected, no questions asked. Not a single one ever did. On the contrary, each artist I heard from was a fan of the site and excited about its possibilities. I got calls from the marketing departments of massive labels whose corporate parents were supposed to be outraged, wanting to know how they get could their latest acts on the home page. Smaller labels wanted to feature their content in other creative ways. It seemed obvious Muxtape had value for listeners and artists alike.
In May I had my first meeting with a major label, Universal Music Group. I went alone and prepared myself for the worst, having spent the last decade toeing the indie celebration line that the large labels were hopelessly obstinate luddites with no idea what was good for them. I’m here to tell you now that the labels understand their business a lot superior than most people suspect, although they each have their own surprisingly distinct personality when it comes to how they approach the future. The gentlemen I met at Universal were incredibly receptive and tactful; I didn’t have to sell them on why Muxtape was good for them, they knew it was cool and just wanted to get paid. I sympathized with that. I told them I needed some time to get a proposal together and we left things in limbo.
A few weeks later I had a meeting with EMI, the character of which was much different. I walked into a conference room and shook eight or nine hands, sitting down at a conference table with a phonebook-thick file labeled “Muxtape” laying on it. The people I met formed a semi-circle around me like a split brain, legal on one side and business development on the other. The meeting alternated between an intense grilling from the legal side (“you are a willful infringer and we are mere hours from shutting you down”) and an awkward discussion with the business side (“assuming we don’t shut you down, how do you see us working together?”). I asked for two weeks to make a proposal, they gave me two days.
I had to make a decision. As I saw it I had three options. The first was to just shut everything down, which I never really considered. The second was to ban major label content entirely, which might have solved the immediate crisis, but had two strong points against it. The first, most visibly, was that it would prevent people from using the majority of available music in their mixes. The second was that it did nothing to address the deeper questions surrounding ownership and usage for everyone else who wasn’t a major label: mid-size labels and independent artists who have just as fundamental a right to address how their content is used as a massive corporation, even if they don’t carry quite as large a stick.
The third option was to approach a fully licensed model, which I had been edging toward since I met with Universal. I knew other licensed services so far had met with mixed success, but I also knew Muxtape was different and that it was at least worth exploring. The question about whether or not the labels saw value in it had been answered, the new question was how much it was going to cost.
It was June. I approached a Fifth Ave law firm about representing me in licensing negotiations with the major labels, and they took me on. Two weeks later I met with all four, flanked by lawyers this time, and started the slow process of working out a deal. The first round of terms were stiff and complex, but not almost as bad as I’d imagined, and I managed to convince them that allowing Muxtape to continue to operate was in everyone’s best interest. Things were going well. I spent the next two months talking with investors, designing the next phases of the site itself, and supervising the negotiations. A big concern was getting a deal that took into consideration the fact that Muxtape wasn’t a straightforward on-demand service, and should pay accordingly less than a service that was. Another reason I liked the licensing option from the outset was that it seemed like a uncommon win-win; I didn’t want the capability to search and stream any song at any given notice, and they were reluctant to offer it (for the price, anyway). Muxtape’s unusual limitations were its strength in more ways than one.
The first red flag came in August. Up until then all the discussion had been about numbers, but as we closed in on an agreement the talk shifted to things like guaranteed placement and “marketing opportunities.” I was denied the possibility of releasing a mobile version of Muxtape. My flexibility was being constricted. I had been worried about Muxtape getting a fair deal, but my biggest concern all along was maintaing the integrity and experience of the site (one of the reasons I wanted to license in the first place). Now it wasn’t so simple; I had concurred to a variety of encroachments into Muxtape’s financials because I wanted to play ball, but giving up any kind of editorial or creative control was something I had a much harder time swallowing.
I was wrestling with this when, on August 15th, I received notice from Amazon Web Services (the platform that hosts Muxtape’s servers and files) that they’d received a complaint from the RIAA. Per Amazon’s terms, I had one business day to remove an incredibly long list of songs or face having my servers shut down and data deleted. This came as a big surprise to me, as I’d been thinking that I hadn’t heard from the RIAA in a long time because I had an understanding with the labels. I had a panicked exchange of emails with Amazon, trying to explain that I was in the middle of a licensing deal, that I suspected it was a clerical error, and that I was doing everything I could to get someone to vouch for me on a summer Friday afternoon. My one business day extended over the weekend, and on Monday when I wasn’t able to produce the documentation Amazon wanted (or even get someone from the RIAA on the phone), the servers were shut down and I was locked out of the account. I moved the domain name to a new server with a short message and the very real expectation that I could get it sorted out. I still thought it was all just a large mistake. I was wrong.
Over the next week I learned a little more, mainly that the RIAA moves quite autonomously from their label parents and that the understanding I had with them didn’t necessarily carry over. I also learned that none of the labels were especially interested in helping me out, and from their perspective it had no bearing on the negotiations. I disagreed. The deals were still weeks or months away (an eternity on the internet) meaning that at ideal, Muxtape was going to be down until the end of year. There was also still the matter of how to pay for it; getting investment is hard enough in this volatile space even with a wildly successful and growing web site, it became an entirely different proposition with no web site at all.
And so I made one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever faced: I walked away from the licensing deals. They had become too complex for a site founded on simplicity, too restrictive and hostile to continue to innovate the way I wanted to. They’d already taken so much attention away from development that I started to question my own motivations. I didn’t get into this to build a massive company as fast as I could no matter what the cost, I got into this to make something easy and beautiful for people who love music, and I plan to continue doing that. As promised, the site is coming back, but not as you’ve known. I’m taking a feature that was in development in the early stages and making it the new central focus.
Muxtape is relaunching as a service exclusively for bands, offering an extremely powerful platform with unheard-of simplicity for artists to thrive on the internet. Musicians in 2008 without access to a full time web developer have few options when it comes to establishing themselves online, but their needs often revolve around a common set of problems. The new Muxtape will grant bands to upload their own music and offer an embeddable player that works anywhere on the web, in addition to the original muxtape format. Bands will be able to assemble an attractive profile with easy modules that enable optional functionality such as a calendar, pics, comments, downloads and sales, or anything else they need. The system has been built from the ground up to be extended infinitely and is wrapped in a template system that’ll be open to CSS designers. There will be more details soon. The beta is still private at the moment, but that will change in the coming weeks.
I realize this is a somewhat radical shift in functionality, but Muxtape’s core goals haven’t changed. I still want to challenge the way we experience music online, and I still want to work to enable what I think is the most interesting aspect of interconnected music: discovering new stuff.
Thank to you everyone who made Muxtape the breathtaking place it was in its first phase, it couldn’t have happened without your mixes. The industry will catch up some day, it pretty much has to.
With the $700 billion bail out on hold and banks dropping like flies, it seems this economic apocalypse will come in - and out - with a bang and not a depression. To that end we’ve decided to scour our mind-holes for gear that will help you survive the coming economic catastrophe. While we can’t promise that there will be zombies during this international economic breakdown, we wanted to be absolutely prepared for all potential threats, especially when Pfizer goes belly-up and their laboratories are overrun by environmental activists who release a deadly “rage” virus into the wild. So, in a very real way, this is both to help you survive the Great Dustbowl of 2008 and the great Zombie uprising of suburban New Jersey. Let’s begin.
Have you ever wanted to know when politicians are lying? A startup called 
I love useful tools like this. 
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