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Category: music
why Apple is sort-of evil
I’m all about the balanced journalism.
David Sykes made the scary (actually not that scary) leap to Linix, Ubuntu specifically, and now claims to be happy away from Mac.
He’s right. I wish I had the guts to do it.
Ubuntu is available pre-installed on computers from a number of different vendors, including Dell, Tesco, and System 76. …
… Besides standard system tools and other small applications, Ubuntu comes installed with the following software: the OpenOffice.org productivity suite, the Internet browser Firefox, the instant messenger Pidgin (formerly known as Gaim), and the raster graphics editor GIMP. …
one Ubuntu desktop – Wikipedia
Many Linux users like Apple, but have reservations about the company. The iTunes / iPod monopoly, in particular:
Apple also has received criticism for its iPhone and iPod integration with iTunes for not facilitating creation of software to run and maintain those devices using different applications tools besides iTunes.
Similarly, Apple has not licensed its Fairplay DRM system to any other company, preventing users to listening to DRM protected music bought from sources other than the iTunes store. By not allowing other companies or individuals to interoperate with its DRM system, Apple prevents competition and divides the market. For that reason most other online music stores which use DRM use the Windows Media format, which is incompatible with Apple products.
Another common criticism of Apple is that its products are often not user serviceable, instead requiring they be returned to Apple for repairs and upgrades.[citation needed] Typical examples include the batteries in the iPod, iPhone and MacBook Air which are non-user replaceable, and the difficulty of installing simple upgrades (HDD, RAM etc) in older MacBooks.
There are many serious complaints about lock down of iPhones too.
Any company with something of a monopoly is a problem for customers.
On the other hand, Apple has been astonishingly successful at popularizing technology. The design team, led by Jonathan Ive, is the best in Tech. I love the philosophy of “simplification” of complicated technology.
The Steve Jobs reality distortion field works for me.
One day I too will switch to Linux. But that day is far off yet, I think.
I resisted the iPod until last year. But, since then, I’ve been very happy with iTunes and iPod. It works perfectly.
Apple is somewhat evil, but I’ll stay a Mac Snob for now. Research shows Mac users think that they are ‘self important, extraordinary and more intellectually curious’. HEY — it ain’t bragging if it’s true.
If you might be interested in Ubuntu for yourself, check Dave’s comment below.
Cirque at the Grammy Awards
From the show LOVE in Vegas. With an excellent new gospel treatment of “Let it Be”.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
My buddy Dan Niehaus is head coach of that show, my favourite.
Barack Obama – Black Eyed Peas remix
Bill Wallace sent me a link to this excellent music video called Barack Obama – Yes We Can.
We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
It’s nice to see so many people get excited about government. Not many politicians ever have been this inspirational.
Obama’s original speech is here.
Thanks Bill.
I have seen the future. And it is 3D.
When I was a young man, Gord Starchuk introduced me to a hip Irish Band. Their Album was called War.
Ever since, I’ve been a big fan of U2.
Bono may be preachy. But in rock music, who’s done more to improve the world? (U2 made it BIG at the same time as Bruce Springstein. But what’s Bruce done to change the world?)
I very much recommend you go see the new IMAX film U2 3D.
It’s fantastic. One I’ll include on my very short list of BEST concert movies:
Prince – Sign of the Times
The Band – The Last Waltz
Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense
Neil Young – Heart of Gold
(What am I missing?)
A rave review:
In fact, watching U2 3D—a concert film shot using digital 3-D multicamera technology during the South American leg of the band’s Vertigo tour—projected onto the museum’s giant Imax screen is perhaps the next best thing to actually being within fingers’ reach of the Edge’s ubiquitous wool cap. …
But U2 3D’s true achievement comes less from its cool gimmicks and perfect simulation of an environment than from the effect this optical illusion has on your perception of the band itself: The sensation of physical proximity imparts a newfound feeling of immediacy to the songs, making the delivery of every lyric feel fresh, heartfelt, almost raw. Even if you don’t wholeheartedly buy the politics of the man in the cool shades and blazer, when Bono belts out “Sunday Bloody Sunday” onscreen, it’s like falling in love all over again with the band. Goosebumps included.
At times you feel you’re in a hologram. You can reach arms length and clean the smudge off Bono’s famous glasses. The potential for 3D technology is mind boggling.
Bono’s self-admittedly only an average vocalist. But Edge is one of greatest, innovative guitar stylists ever.
Israeli musician Yael Naim – I’m a New Soul
Apple created another hit by using a strange and lovely song in a recent TV ad.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
If you like that sound, watch the oddly captivating music video for the song on YouTube.
Yael Naim – Wikipedia
Randy Newman is still alive?
Seems to be.
He performed yesterday at the Apple Whoop Fest.
Macenstein | The biggest surprise? Randy Newman is still alive!
music will be free – whether we like it or not
He puts it even more bluntly than I do. But Michael Arrington speaks truth:
It is becoming more and more difficult for the music industry to ignore the basic economics of the their industry: unenforceable property rights (you can’t sue everyone) and zero marginal production costs (file sharing is ridiculously easy). All the big labels have now given up on DRM. They haven’t yet given up on trying to charge for their music, but it’s becoming more and more clear that as long as there is a free alternative (file sharing), the price of music will have to fall towards free.
You can disagree as to whether it’s “fair” that the price of recorded music will be zero or near zero, but you can’t disagree that it’s going to happen.
…
Personally, I think a new era of free recorded music and paid live performances is a very good thing. Recorded music will become a marketing tool to get people to pay for concerts and merchandise. Overall the music industry will be smaller in terms of revenue. But the artists who are driven to create their art will continue to do so, and many will make a very good living from it.
Well worth reading:The Music Industry’s Last Stand Will Be A Music Tax – TechCrunch
At least we can look forward to the end of RIAA guilt tripping.
Mad TV – Feist Apple iPod spoof
Leslie Feist, who grew up in Calgary, is nominated for a Grammy. She’s big time in part because her song was featured in an Apple TV commercial.
With so many considering getting an iPod or iPhone over the holidays, here’s a timely spoof.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
video – The Miniature Earth
This widely circulated video really puts things in perspective. We have much to be thankful for.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Thanks Amber.
I love the music, too.
The statistics on how many people live on less than $2 / day are deceptive, of course.
When I was in rural Tibet we trekked through a village waving US and Chinese money. But there was no store. Nothing to buy. No one wanted to rent us pack animals. Subsistence villagers had no use for “paper”.
Those Tibetans lived on ZERO dollars a day. And lived that way quite happily for the past hundreds of years.
By any numeric measure of “poverty” in Canada, I am below the “line” myself. The number of dollars you have in your pocket is relative.
