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Apple has created a “forge” or foundry, an open repository for code that anyone can download and use, fix and send back to Apple. This is an exciting development, Apple both shares with the world its great software and Apple benefits from the input and creativity of the many developers and hackers who will download their software.
DevonSync lets you synchronize two copies of DevonThink Pro (version 1.2 or higher) across a network or the internet.
Eric Schmidt, newly appointed member of Apple’s board of directors, was once a researcher at Xerox PARC, and also worked for Sun and Novell before arriving at Google. Ben Metcalfe comments: “Clearly there would be a lot to gain if the two companies worker closer together - Apple has a massive media arm these days that Google is so desperate to get into. And Google effectively could become Apple’s equivalent to Microsoft’s Live - ensuring that Apple doesn’t need to open up all new web divisions to offer products matched against Microsoft’s take on Web 2.0.”
Merlin Mann on shaking his hammy fist in impotent rage at iCal’s numerous shortcomings: “Along the way I’ve discovered some modest ways to squeeze more drops of Cupertino-y goodness from its moist Jolly Rancher-like pages.”
OmniWeb users might like to try out version 5.5 release candidate 1. If you prefer Camino, you can have fun with the MoreCamino prefpane.
SpiralFrog has gained a great deal of media coverage today, even getting a mention on the 60-second news round-ups on BBC Radio 2 here in the UK. If nothing else, that tells you that today was something of a slow news day.
Among the many angles the non-tech media were taking was that this new launch was going to be a threat to the future of Apple’s iTunes. After looking at what’s promised to be on offer to far, I doubt it.
I was digging around in iPhoto 6 earlier this week looking for something new to play with. I hadn’t done much with the Greeting Card function and thought that it might be useful for something other than building pretty cards to sent to Mom. I created one, then tried to make a PDF of it. It worked. Suddenly it dawned on me that I could generate cool looking titles for my slideshows using this tool… and never have to leave iPhoto.
With a little more playing around, I used the “Save PDF to iPhoto” option in the print dialog box to put my design directly in iPhoto as 1200×800 Jpeg. I then started experimenting with the design and typography options in the Greeting Card generator itself. There’s lots of power there!
I’ve posted two mini tutorials on how to create these titles. The first, Amazing Title Graphics for iPhoto Slideshows shows you the the ins and outs for creating a static title slide for your iPhoto slideshow. The second post, How to Animate Your iPhoto Titles puts those title slides in motion using the Ken Burns effect. You can download a sample file to see how this technique would look in your slideshow.
I think slideshows are great tools for photographers of all levels. Creating one forces you to select your best images, put them in some sort of narrative, and provides you with a medium to share them with others. Adding professional graphics to these presentations — all without ever having to leave iPhoto — is a big plus. Give it a try.
See It in Person
If you’re in Northern California on the weekend of October 7, stop by the Macintosh Computer Expo and sit in on my iPhoto 6 Tips and Tricks session. It’s free, and I’ll show you this tip plus lots of other cool iPhoto goodies. For those who really want to dig into some shooting techniques, stick around another day and sign up for my Digital Photography Made Amazing half day workshop on Oct. 8. But sign up early because seating is limited.
US: Baptized in Dirty Water by Chris Thomas King
It’s a slow-burning blues scorcher from Chris Thomas King, whom you might have seen playing bluesman Tommy Johnson in the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? The Louisiana native’s latest LP is an ode to his New Orleans hometown and to the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina. In our Discovery Download this week, “Baptized in Dirty Water,” King sings about the levee that broke and the dirty water that rushed in, forcing many to confront — or reevaluate — their faith.
US: Change Feat. Lupe Fiasco by Joy Denalane
You could be forgiven for assuming that German songbird Joy Denalane is from Detroit or Memphis. Her earthy yet ethereal, silky, strong voice is clearly inspired by the sweet soul singers of the past and present, from Patti Labelle to Mary J. Blige. Better yet, she’s more than a voice: this sister is politically aware and she’s got a message. Don’t believe us? Take a listen to our Single of the Week, “Change (Feat. Lupe Fiasco),” and be uplifted.
US: Covert by Shorts International
The world of espionage and counter-espionage is alive and well. Surprising and intelligent. A demonstration of short animations at their most excellent.
US: Million Dollar Listing
When it comes to the Million Dollar Listing, it’s all about the big houses, big personalities, and the even bigger deals — especially when it’s about homes in the high-priced, flashy fantasylands of Hollywood and Malibu. This series follows two top real estate agencies and their hungriest powerbrokers as they try to reel in the biggest bounty possible. You’ll ride shotgun in their expensive luxury cars as they chase down the hottest listings, match up buyers and sellers, and then get everyone to the negotiating table as fast as possible. But you won’t believe what these agents will do to seal the deal. Each episode will feature a listing in both Hollywood and Malibu as viewers are taken through the life of the sale, from open houses to final offers and all the deal-licious drama in-between.
US: Eureka Pilot
For years, the government has been relocating the world’s geniuses (and their families) to the picturesque Pacific Northwest town of Eureka, where daily life straddles the line between unprecedented innovation and total chaos. US Marshal Jack Carter finds this out firsthand when he wrecks his car and becomes stranded there. After the town’s eccentric inhabitants unleash a scientific creation still unknown to the outside world, Carter steps in to restore order and consequently is let in on one of our country’s best-kept secrets.
US: Inside Battlestar Galactica (Season 2)
The last remnants of humanity are on the run, fighting an enemy they created — and they can’t detect. Now, as it prepares for a new season, take a behind-the-scenes look at life on board the Battlestar Galactica. Watch exclusive interviews with the people at the heart of one of television’s most acclaimed shows, from executive producer Ron Moore to cast members Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Tricia Helfer, and Katee Sackhoff. Get up to speed with the crew’s adventures so far in this free episode, and get a sneak peek at some of the upcoming action in the new season, premiering January 6, 2006.
Australia: The Only Way by Gotye
Gotye (pronounced “gore-ti-yeah”) is the musical project of independent Melbourne songwriter and producer Wally De Backer. Gotye is also a mysterious contradiction that can perhaps only be explained by the symbols = and ?. Recorded in share-house bedrooms around Melbourne between 2003 and 2005, “The Only Way” is the lead track from Gotye’s acclaimed album Like Drawing Blood. It’s the musical equivalent of a Bollywood dance routine set to contemporary R’n'B, played out in a dark room — and our Single of the Week.
Canada: Listen Isa by Tomi Swick
Tomi Swick is not one to keep things inside. Priding himself for his openness and honesty, Swick lays bare the realities of relationships on his debut album, Stalled Out in the Doorway. The Hamilton, Ontario, native cites Radiohead and Jeff Buckley as influences, but take one listen to our Single of the Week, “Listen Isa,” and you might add Coldplay to that list.
UK Fancy Robots by Justine Electra
A native of Melbourne, Justine Electra now lives in Berlin, where she is fast making a name for herself both as a prolific song-writer and DJ. “I make music that is accessible to every single person that I have ever met,” says Justine, whose new album Soft Rock exemplifies her musical philosphy. Her folk and electro-inflected style relies on instruments as varied and eclectic as the characters in her often blues-tinged songs. Don’t miss out on our Single of the Week: “Fancy Robot”.
France: Funky Fire by The Aggrolites
Habile mélange d’influences, le son des Aggrolites emprunte principalement au reggae jamaïcain des années 60, mais aussi à la soul et au funk américains. Originaires du sud de la Californie, les Aggrolites sont issus de la scène punk rock et ska. Leurs apparitions scéniques déclenchent l’hystérie à travers le monde, et concentrent en concert le meilleur de l’énergie reggae, ska, punk, soul et funk. A découvrir en single gratuit de la semaine sur iTunes.
Deutschland: Everybody’s Darling von Soffy-O
Kostenloser Download.
Deutschland: Remmidemmi (Yippie Yippie Yeah) von Deichkind
Kostenloser Download.
Apple is recalling laptop batteries:
In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and other international safety authorities, Apple is voluntarily recalling certain lithium ion rechargeable batteries that were sold worldwide from October 2004 through May 2005 for use with the following notebook computers: 12-inch iBook G4, 12-inch PowerBook G4 and 15-inch PowerBook G4. These batteries were manufactured by LG Chem, Ltd. of South Korea.
Recalled batteries include model numbers starting with: A1061, A1078, A1079, HQ441 through HQ507 and 3X446 through 3X510.
Apple is also recalling Macbook Pro batteries: batteries with model number A1175 and a 12 digit serial number ending in U7SA, U7SB and U7SC.
Reader Qka points to this page for the 24 August recall.
And remember men, compute safely!
Mac Devcenter reader Ben K got in touch recently on the subject of snippet-keepers, something close to my heart.
Ben had seen my (somewhat out-of-date now) post about Sidenote, but his problem was a little more complex.
He needed something cross-platform because he uses Windows at work and a Mac at home, and that could store almost any file format, especially formatted text and images.
After much searching and testing, he settled for a commercially hosted wiki service, Stikipad. Ben said: “It offers a combination of good UI and easy backup offline (I can download the whole wiki in HTML easily). PBWiki was a close second (you can download the whole wiki as a zip file, but I didn’t like the UI as much).”
Since Ben needed something cross-platform and hassle-free, I rather think one of these hosted wiki services was by far his best bet. If any Mac Devcenter readers have other ideas or recommendations, by all means share them now…
We’ve established that we think .Mac is in trouble, at least from the point of view of users; and over at TUAW, Dave Caolo has listed his reasons for ditching .Mac after using it since the iDisk days.
Plenty of bloggers and pundits were hoping that the WWDC keynote might include some updates for .Mac and were disappointed that it didn’t.
So let’s offer Apple our collective advice. Let’s cobble together some ideas for things we’d be happy to pay $99 per year for; let’s work out what .Mac needs to become, if it’s going to survive.
One of my destination podcasts (one I try to listen to regularly) is Security Now hosted by Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson. Steve is the creator of the SpinRite disc recovery utility for the PC, anti-spyware pioneer, and former Infoworld columnist. As a well known longtime fan and critic of Microsoft Windows, it was really amusing to hear him explain to Leo why he had not tested the DOS-based SpinRite with an Intel Mac yet in SecurityNow episode 52:
Steve: I’m liking the Mac so much that first I cut the hard drive in half using Apple’s Boot
Camp.
Leo: Right.
Steve: So it was half Mac and half Windows.
Leo: Right.
Steve: And I got Windows installed and set up, and it all worked really well. It’s like, okay,
cool. Now I’ve got, you know, Windows on this really nice Mac hardware. Then I was using the
Mac for a while, and I was thinking, I’m kind of liking this Mac side. So I wiped out the Windows
side, and I used Boot Camp again to repartition it. And this time I only gave Windows 10GB out
of my total of 80. And now it’s gone completely.
I just noticed that updating the firmware of my MacBook has become a pleasant experience and is no longer the ugly, awkward procedure of the past. Since I am not sure when it happened, is this another positive change the Intel-Switch has brought about?
I once blogged about (but can’t find the URL now) how updating the firmware of a Mac used to be the un-Mac-likest thing a Mac user could experience. Now, it is another testimonial to the Mac way of life: download the firmware update, restart Mac (do not pull plug while it restarts…) - done! There is no step three!
From the “Wish I had thought of that” department: My Dream App. Casting for Mac Apps. The bad ideas are voted out and the winners will be developed by star engineers Austin Sarner (AppZapper), Jason Harris (ShapeShifter), and Martin Ott (SubEthaEdit) and shepherded to success by Mac luminaries Guy Kawasaki, David Pogue, Kevin Rose and even Steve Wozniak himself.
US: Are You With Me? by Vaux
“Are You With Me?” is a fair enough question to ask, but coming from the mouth of Vaux (pronounced “vox”) lead singer Quentin Smith, it sounds like a call for a revolution. Against what? Well, we can figure that out later. Our Single of the Week is a bold bit of alt-pop that draws its energy from metal dynamics. At their most serene, Vaux might call to mind the early Smashing Pumpkins, but when the sonic ante is upped they create their own brand of rage.
US: James River Blues by Old Crow Medicine Show
If you’re looking to hear a group with a “new” approach to playing traditional music of the folk and bluegrass variety, then Old Crow Medicine Show are not the band for you. That said, if you want to hear a group of people who understand that that the music that came down from the mountain is some of the most haunted, primal, and spiritual stuff ever made, then OCMS are just about perfect. Our Discovery Download this week, “James River Blues,” feels like a light melodic number but its searing violin and wistful lyrics bring a certain depth.
US: Passions TV Show
An entire week’s worth of episodes.
Australia: Home by Lexi's Curfew
After garnering a huge local following in North Queensland with their incendiary live shows, Lexi’s Curfew have taken their melodic and hard-hitting style and produced their debut EP with ARIA-nominated producer Michael Stangel. The band has refined its diverse and energetic approach via support gigs for some of the country’s biggest touring acts, including Machine Gun Fellatio, Spiderbait, 28 Days, the Living End, the Butterfly Effect, and NZ grinders Shihad. Our Single of the Week, the rockin’ “Home,” is taken from their debut EP, Roadie Joe.
Canada: All That I Know by Marble Index
The Marble Index (possibly named after the Nico album — if so, major points for coolness) have all the trappings of a neo-classic rock band for the 21st century but with none of the fluff. Their tunes are born from a world where power chords, jangling riffs, and punk-pop/Brit Invasion harmonies all coexist and tiptoe together through the tulips. This is a place where the Who are as cool as the Strokes, the Stones are as cool as the Clash, and the Velvet Underground are the coolest of them all. “All That I Know” is Marble Index’s undeniable shot at greatness as well as our free Single of the Week.
UK: Flushed Chest by Joan As Policewoman
Indie rock songwriter and violinist Joan Wasser first came to light through her work with the Dambuilders in the ’90s. After the group’s dissolution, she began popping up as a session and live musician on performances by people like Lou Reed, Rufus Wainwright, and Antony & the Johnsons. As Joan As Policewoman, Wasser puts her raw, haunted voice on full display. “Flushed Chest” is our free Single of the Week, and it’s a soulful showcase of finesse and warmth.
France: Someone Like You (Version 2006) by Revl9n
Le trio suédois Revl9n est peut-être bien le chaînon manquant entre Gina X, la Madonna des débuts, Abba, Human League et Eurythmics. Le son no wave-disco de leur électro-pop est délicieusement hypnotique sur leur album Muscles, dont l’édition numérique inclut les remixes de Simian et Sebastian. Le premier single de Revl9n est « Someone Like You », et c’est notre Single de la semaine.
I found your conversation on beats per minute and wondered if you have come up with something? I’m trying to make a running cd with about 92 bpm. I still need to give the updated beaTunes a try, but recently I’ve been working out to Marina’s podcasts (most are $0.99 each) and Podrunner (free podcast). The Marina ones are very girly–lots of verbal support and encouragement. I like it, but others may not. Also, the very loud intro when you go from one segment to another can be really jarring. Both Marina and Podrunner are available in a wide range of bpm’s.
How long will it take for the Leopard preview DVDs to get sent to ADC members? Hey, don’t look at me. I have not a Single Clue–and Apple is spectacularly unhelpful about these queries. As I know from personal experience.
Your write up on “Getting the Video out of Your New iPod–for Cheap!” was very helpful. I couldn’t believe how simple it was to do. I thought it would be more complex like buying expensive gadgets, a tuner or some sort of converter. The article was even reader friendly for a Neanderthal such as me to comprehend. lol Thanks again for your input on getting output to my TV! Thank you! (And no, I did not pay this reader to write this!)
How do I buy an iTune and convert it to a ringtone? Me? I just use the least offensive ringtone that came with my phone. To grab the iTune, you can use the Soundflower audio redirect program to send the output of your iTunes playback to a sound recording program or take advantage of Audio Hijack’s capture software.
I repeatedly get no burn and a “Multiplexing” error [when burning a disc with iDVD]. Can you suggest what is going wrong? Make sure you’ve got enough room on your primary hard drive to build the entire project (at least 4.3 GB for a standard 1-hour DVD, more for dual-layer), and use good quality brand name disc blanks (such as Verbatim). More information here.
In my Sony Ericsson W810i Impressions post, I gave the phone very high marks except that I couldn’t send SMS messages from Address Book as I was accustomed to with my T637. Reader Jools has just chimed in with a link to mobile.feisar.com where you can find a simple workaround that takes just minutes to implement. All you have to do is add your phone name to the ABDeviceModelStrings list using the Property List Editor. I did it, and now I can text away via Address Book on my Mac. Thanks for the pointer Jools.
There are many other interesting comments on the W810i post, especially if this is a phone you’re considering. It’s been my communications companion during recent road trips, and I wouldn’t part with it for anything.
When I went to work in Iceland for the Adobe Lightroom Adventure, I stopped in Duty Free at the Reykjavik airport and bought a $25 SIM card. I had great phone coverage during my entire visit in Iceland, and a local number to boot.
The FM radio and MP3 player are proving very handy during workouts and while waiting for people and buses — or whenever I have time on my hands and want to listen to music or a podcast. BTW: the W810i has quite decent speakers so you don’t have to attach headphones to listen to podcasts. The Edge network here in the States provides rapid access to the Internet, and in my case, speedy checking of Gmail on the phone. And as I stated earlier, the 2 megapixel camera and video capture are the best I’ve used on this type of device. I’m sending the images directly to my Canon i80 printer via Bluetooth and getting crisp 4″x6″ prints.
The other big plus is the removable memory card from a easy-to-access slot on the side of the phone. I pull it out, put it in my card reader, add podcasts, download pictures, and am back in business in minutes.
Finally, the sound quality of the phone itself is quite good. Conversations from all over the world sound crisp and clear. I guess you could say these are my follow up impressions…
Oh, this is good: Over at the O’Reilly Digital Media site, the Fat Man wonders if former Apple engineer Jim Reekes kick-started the iPod as well as the Kerbango radio. (As Apple insiders know, Jim won two patents for Macintosh audio technology and created several Mac system sounds, including the subversive “Sosumi.”)
Jim Reekes plots his next audio breakthrough.
I was in the original 1997 Appliantology brainstorming group with Jim, and based on what he’s predicted over the years—much of which later came to pass—I’ll bet there is a lot of truth to Fat’s guess. The audio appliance we cooked up nine years ago does look eerily familiar:
Some of the features, like a built-in synthesizer, Java support, and e-commerce, haven’t made it to the iPod yet, but they’ve certainly arrived in cell phones.
Pop over to the Fat Man’s blog and let him know what you think. For more on the conference where this went down (Project Bar-B-Q, now in its 11th year), visit projectbarbq.com.
As I type this, my desktop e-mail program, Eudora,
is downloading hundreds of messages I read and wrote on my Gmail
account while traveling over the last 18 days. (I use other people’s computers
to check e-mail when I travel, simply because I spent my entire computer budget
on a G5 tower and an AlphaSmart
Dana laptop. The Dana, which runs Palm OS 4, is simply brilliant for writing—instant-on,
20-hour battery life, exceptional keyboard—but my version doesn’t do e-mail.)
In the past, I’d used Yahoo mail to check my various accounts, but at the end of a trip, I’d have to forward each message individually if I wanted to archive it in Eudora. In contrast, Gmail has a cool feature that lets you download mail directly to your desktop program via POP. It also updates the display immediately, unlike the unbelievably sluggish Y-mail. So I configured all my accounts to forward to my Gmail account, and used Gmail exclusively for 18 straight days.
Because I use zillions of folders to organize things in Eudora, I was initially leery of Gmail’s “use one folder for everything; we’ll help you search for it later” approach, but I grew to like the way it grouped message threads into “conversations.” After replying to a message, I could archive it to remove it from the Gmail In-box, and if someone responded, the whole conversation would pop up again.
The only difficulty I had was posting to a mailing list that expected to see my Batmosphere address. (Changing Gmail’s “reply to” setting wasn’t good enough to fool the mailing list, although that works on Eudora.) And, of course, now I’m busy sorting 428 messages into folders. I’ll also miss the way Gmail was able to display HTML e-mail, my only complaint with Eudora.
How do you sync your desktop and traveling computers?
A couple of things related to writing and note-taking:
Writely is now free for anyone to sign up and use. I’d recommend that you at very least give it a try; after trying a lot of different online word processors, I still think Writely is one of the best.
If you’re a VoodooPad user, you might want to grab the latest update (3.0.2), and have a go with the super-sekrit experimental tabs that have just been added in. Don’t forget to send some feedback to Flying Meat too. Here’s a sneak preview. And hey, you can blog with it now.
Talking of wiki-style apps, here’s a new one. Park, based to a large extent on TiddlyWiki, describes itself as an “information playground”. In brief, it wraps TiddlyWiki up in a browser enclosure all of its own, and adds a few extras, turning it into something more like an app and less like a web page. Not sure it’s my cup of tea, but I’ll be interested to see what the GTD crowd make of it.
For those of you who are feel the need to visit every Apple Store, here’s a sighting of one under construction near Honolulu, Hawaii (its second) in Kahala Mall. BTW, I actually didn’t even notice it until I felt the tug on my shirt and an excited voice next to me saying, “Look, Dad! Look!” :-)
Buddi is an open source Java-based personal finance app.
Loop Editor is a free basic editor of sound loops, built using CoreAudio.
Gus Mueller on Leopard: “Lots of stuff in there that’s very compelling.”
John Siracusa on the future of the file system: “The trend is clear: more, smaller files are coming to a Mac OS X disk near you.”
Dave Winer complains that Apple shouldn’t advertise Macs that don’t crash, and he’s right. That said, in my experience it’s extremely rare for the Mac to crash. I can’t remember the last time the whole computer locked up, or had a kernel panic. But apps certainly do crash often enough, which is when I’m so pleased that Apple thought to include the Force Quit menu item in the Finder.
Path Finder is now at version 4.5. This means Undo (yay!), multiple shelves, a labels editor, “superuser mode” and many more new features.
Come on Steve, just do it: “What Steve Jobs needs to do is outfit a mac mini with the software that does this out of the box. Make it as easy to use a mac mini as a set top box compliment/replacement as it is to use an iPod out of the box.” Indeed.
US: Dipama by Richard Bona
Dubbed by some as “the African Sting,” Richard Bona has established himself as one of the finest bassists and sweetest vocalists currently making music today. His style is hard to define; it utilizes bits of bossa nova, funk, jazz, and pop music. The fluid sound of “Dipama” is taken from his newest album, Tiki (which also features John Legend as a guest musician). “Dipama” is our free Discovery Download.
US: In Deux Time by Deux Process
This track from the Colorado collective’s debut showcases the organic flow between the two main MCs, Chief Nek and Vice Versa. “In Deux Time” has a piano-driven backbeat (courtesy of DJ Shawn Dubb) that recalls the Roots’ at their most compelling. Call it positive party music or a return to “conscious hip-hop” of the ’90s, but Deux Process nail down a nearly perfect blend of rhythmic flow, melody, and solid funk. “In Deux Time” is our free Single of the Week.
US: Blade: The Series “Sacrifice”
Immortal warrior Blade continues his fight against a shadowy underworld of vampires who are threatening total domination of mankind. Blade meets Krista, a recently dispatched US military combat medic who is investigating her brother’s suspicious murder. As Krista is pulled into the underworld, she teams up with Blade and his partner, Shen, to infiltrate the vampires from the inside and out. However, Blade has to keep strict tabs on Krista, who could easily succumb to the dark forces of the underworld she now inhabits.
US: Passions, Episode #1802
Passions is the Emmy® award-winning daytime drama that blends supernatural horror, shocking mystery, offbeat comedy, and steamy romance. The show follows the lives and loves of four intertwined families who inhabit the quaint New England town of Harmony. The Cranes, the Bennetts, the Russells, and the Lopez-Fitzgeralds are all diverse, both in terms of their backgrounds and their dreams for the future. With danger and tragedy lurking behind every corner, true love never comes easily. Add a mischievous 300-year-old witch into the mix and the drama just never ends. The show pulls from this rich canvas to spin compelling stories of love, desire, and passion (of course). Since debuting in 1999, Passions has received acclaim for its buzz-worthy, innovative storytelling, earning the recognition of “Best Soap” by TV Guide for two years in a row. Download the series now to discover what all the fuss is about!
Australia: Pick Up The Pace by The Predators
The Predators aren’t exactly new to the game — two of their members have been going pretty strong in Powderfinger for the last 10 years — but this latest incarnation frees them up to rock with a renewed sense of urgency. “Pick Up the Pace” has all the confidence you would expect and doesn’t disappoint. It’s a slowly building bit of rock glory, driven at first by a moderate pounding and some low-slung guitar. Once the fuzzy Stooges-esque riff comes in, you’ll know why this is our free Single of the Week.
Canada: Electrik HeaT - The SeekwiLL by k-os
This new cut from Toronto’s k-os comes from his upcoming album, Atlantis. You could write a small history of hip-hop just by listening to the musical and lyrical references he uses here. The track takes the classic Lyn Collins sample (utilized to maximum effect on Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock’s 1988 classic “It Takes Two”) and then drops in bits and pieces of Public Enemy and Eric B. and Rakim. Should we mention that there’s a melodic idea on top of all this that drives the track even further? This block-rocking tune is our free Single of the Week.
UK: Panic by The Puppini Sisters
Sure, you love your post-punk. You’ve written a small treatise on the importance of Gang of Four. You might even be wise enough to appreciate Nouvelle Vague’s bossa nova revisit to the grand tunes of the post-punk era. But are you ready to hear the Smiths’ classic tune “Panic” done in the boogie-woogie vocal style of the Andrews Sisters? Such is the bounty offered up by the Puppini Sisters. Gimmicky? Perhaps. Expertly done and ridiculous fun? You bet. “Panic” is our free Single of the Week.
France: Celle que vous croyez by Dorval
Dorval est le fruit d’une conjugaison conjugale entre les mots et la voix de Pascale Baehrel et les musiques de Laurent Manganas. Mais Pascale n’est à l’aise qu’entourée, stimulée par la communion avec des musiciens et des arrangeurs qu’elle et Laurent aiment introduire au cœur même de leur dispositif créatif.À l’époque du premier album de Dorval, c’était leur complice de toujours, Benjamin Biolay, qui occupait la place, offrant à ces chansons une dynamique orchestrale et certains reliefs directement inspirés par les musiques de film. Pour ce second opus, Pascale a choisi de confier les clés de son album à deux parfaits inconnus : Remy Galichet et Julien Perraudeau, épine dorsale du trio anglophile Diving with Andy.« Celle que vous croyez » est le morceau éponyme de ce nouvel album, et c’est notre Single de la semaine sur iTunes.
The more I think about the new features announced for Mail 3.0, the less I like them.
I’m by no means alone in this. There are comments all over the place from people bemoaning the addition of stationery (”Too much bloat”) and RSS (”We’ve already got RSS support in Safari!”) - although I have to admit that I’ve not seen many people complaining about the notes feature. That seems to be pretty popular.
But perhaps there’s signs of a new direction for Apple’s software here. (This is nothing but speculation, but bear with me.)
Free Videos
iTunes’ just-built page listing all the current free video offerings. Nifty!
A&E added to iTMS
Shows include Inked, Criss Angel Mindfreak, Driving Force.
Biography added to iTMS
Shows include Notorious, Great Women, Great Leaders and Great Inventions.
History Channel added to iTMS
Shows include Modern Marvels, Digging for the Truth and my husband’s absolute favorite The Revolution.
NBA TV added to itMS
Not quite a whole channel lineup yet. the only show so far is the USA Basketball World Tour.
One final question: Why can’t I buy a copy of “Chico Time” at the US Store? Can we Americans not experience the splendor of that which is Chico? And isn’t a new Chico single due out today?
Back in June, Giles Turnbull asked what new features Mac users would like to see implemented in an email client. Some of the favorites were improved threading, message tags, seamless encryption, more stable IMAP support, and notifications via Growl. Apple’s ideas for enhancing Mail are a bit different, though: the three new features that Steve Jobs demoed during last week’s WWDC keynote are stationary, notes, and to-do lists. Let’s ignore the question of whether the stationary/templates approach will work as well for email messages as it does for documents created in iLife or iWork, because the other two features are much more important.
For a lot of us, our email client is the main communication hub of our daily life. Not only do we use it for exchanging information we need for getting our ongoing tasks done; it’s also via email that we get requests for new tasks and send out tasks for delegation. While it does make sense to have some kind of access to task management features right inside the email client, there’s also iCal to manage tasks and events, and redundant features across several applications are usually not a good idea.
Apple has found an elegant solution for this problem: Leopard will feature a system-wide to-do service. Just like any application can already access the contact information stored in Address Book (think email addresses from within Mail, or buddies from within iChat), to-do items will also be accessible to any application. That’s good news for data integrity (and, thus, for user sanity), and it will provide third-party developers with an opportunity to transparently tie their own task management software into this system.
The addition of to-do’s and notes to Mail may indicate that Apple has some useful ideas for enhancing a “non-glamourous” application like Mail beyond just beautiful eye candy. It would be great if they would move further along this path by adding real workflows to Mail.
Regardless of the specific methodology you use to manage your tasks, you most definitely have put some processes in place for handling your emails. Sometimes, you just need to send a quick reply to an email and discard both the incoming message and your response after sending out the latter. Wouldn’t buttons for “Reply and Delete Incoming Message” or “Send and Delete” be handy in these situations?
Here’s a more complex example: imagine you have sent out a request for some piece of information. You move the sent message to your “Wait On” folder, and when the reply comes in, you may send another reply to this incoming message, then move that message to the “Wait On” folder, and transfer both your original request and the reply you received to your Archive folder. That’s a lot of mouse moves and clicks… Just think of how much time and effort you could save if a single click — say, on a “Respond and Archive Thread” button — would take care of all these steps!
Part of this functionality is already available via Rules, AppleScript, Automator, and third-party plug-ins like Scott Morrison’s superb Mail Act-On, but there are some shortcomings: except for incoming messages, Rules cannot be triggered automatically; AppleScript is too difficult to use for average Mac users who have no programming experience; as of now, Automator has far too few Mail-related actions to be seriously useful; and the UIs of some plug-ins feel like bolt-ons, not like seamless, “natural” extensions (which criticism definitely does not apply to Mail Act-On, mind you!).
Nevertheless, AppleScript and Automator already provide a great foundation to build “serious” Mail workflows on. What I hope Apple will do, then, is, first, build (many) more Mail-related Automator actions, including very basic functionality like moving messages to a mailbox folder, or replying to a message; and, second, use some of their UI design voodoo to come up with an elegant and effective way of triggering these workflows within Mail. In that sense, I’d love to see the equivalent to the Finder’s Folder Actions for every mailbox in Mail, multiple varieties for core functionality like “Reply” (see the above examples), message threading across mailboxes, automatic filing of messages based on those threads, etc.
Compare any email clients available today, and their overall feature sets are pretty much the same: all of them have mature implementations of address books, rules, archive message folders, support for multi-media files, etc. Adding workflows which average users could create and edit, and which would advance automated email handling in ways that makes even die-hard productivity geeks smile, could make Apple Mail stand out from the crowd for more than just its good-looking UI.
If Mail offered extensive workflows, which of your email management processes would you like to automate? Or would you consider other features more important and/or innovative, instead?
With the Intel switch finished, Apple no longer sells a machine capable of running pre-2001 Mac software. 17 years of executable Mac history gone. Does anyone care?
What happens when an Apple Upgrade doesn’t work with your original serial numbers or you can’t find the latest serial number? A lot of frustration, that’s what. KKP bought a copy of Final Cut Studio Crossgrade that came with four discs and no serial number. After an unsuccessful search for the original Final Cut Studio serial number, she tried using a FCP3 serial number to no avail.
Theoretically, this isn’t an got-Applecare-or-not issue. You should be able to retrieve your serial number whether you’re covered under Applecare or not. I recommended that KK call Apple at 1-800-275-2273 (AppleCare Service & Support Line) to start the process to retrieve her serial number.
And, given that I had a missing DVD Studio Pro serial number, I decided to try this out myself. I gave a call over to AppleCare and ended up in phone-hell. I talked to at least 5 or 6 people and was hung up on twice. Finally, I got transferred to the “Professional Application” group.
Listen up kiddies, when in doubt, ask to be transferred to the Professional Application group immediately. There, I was connected to Shaun–a support person who Had A Clue. Within a few moments, I had a serial number on the way.
All it took was looking up my original order information. I’d purchased my copy from the Apple store and still had all my electronic receipts on-hand. I forwarded them to Shaun by e-mail and he processed a replace serial number request for me. If you don’t have Apple receipts, you’ll need to forward or fax your third party/reseller receipt. (The fax number is 512-674-8125. Make sure you have a case number and a cover sheet–they’ll send you one–before faxing.)
Once they have your materials on-hand make sure your support person verifies that you’re good to go and submits the replacement serial number request. It only takes a few minutes for the serial number to generate and get sent to your e-mail in-box.
Thanks Shaun!
Erik Schwiebert, a Software Design Lead at Microsoft Corporation in the Macintosh Business Unit, posts a long thoughtful blog entry discussing why Visual Basic will not be available in the next version of Microsoft Office for the Mac.
Saying goodbye to Visual Basic
Anyone with an interest in the next version of Office for the Mac should head over to the blog and read it.
With the WWDC keynote, the obituaries for some third party apps have started. Although I do not think that suddenly having to compete with Apple is the end of the world, there is one question that keeps bothering me:
Might it be a better business model for us Mac developers to bring ideas from the Mac platform (including Apple’s) to Windows than it is to create innovative apps for the Mac?
I have often observed Windows users being envious when they see how easy to use Mac apps are. We constantly get requests from Windows users for Windows versions of FotoMagico and iStopMotion although there are plenty of stop motion or slideshow apps available for Windows. Tons of Windows users want the iLife suite. Many people that see me giving presentations with Keynote wish they had something like it on their Windows machines.
There is a fairly big market there.
There are a number of cool Smartphone and Pocket PC Phone Edition devices out there that run Microsoft Windows Mobile 5: Palm Treo 700w, Motorola Q, T-Mobile SDA, T-Mobile MDA, etc. There are third party applications that let you sync them with a Mac running Mac OS X. Parallels just released a new Beta for Parallels Desktop for Mac that provides another option. One of the new features introduced with this beta is support for more USB devices including Windows Mobile 5 devices (Pocket PC, Pocket PC Phone Edition, and Smartphone). Of course, you need a licensed copy of Windows XP to try this. But, Windows Mobile 5 devices come bundled with Microsoft Outlook. So, if you have a Windows XP running as a Guest OS, you should have everything you need to test out Parallels’ newfound Windows Mobile 5 device compatibility.
A lot of really great technology was announced yesterday at the WWDC keynote. The Mac Pro — a guaranteed hit that’s on sale now — is sure to boost Apple’s third quarter numbers. What we were shown of Leopard indicates that Apple has not been resting on its laurels and has continued to innovate beyond the wildest expectations of Vista’s fans.
And yet, at the time of this writing, Apple’s stock price is still hovering at around $66/share — down $0.80 for the day and a far cry from where it was before AAPL’s Friday beating. Wallstreet seems to believe Apple’s stock option snafu outweighs any announcements coming out of this year’s WWDC. Could they know something we don’t? I’m no stock broker, and lord knows if I claimed the street was being unfairly cynical towards Apple, I wouldn’t be the first. But Apple’s stock price isn’t the only thing sweating under the pressure of the stock option investigation. Steve is too.
Wow. The iTMS got updated way early today. Must be the WWDC effect.
US: Sewn (Radio Edit) by The Feeling
This UK five-piece may be full of young hipsters, but they’re not hip in the traditional sense. There’s no ’80s post-punk revival going on here; the Feeling find their inspiration in big, orchestral rock somewhere between 10cc, Steve Miller Band, and Electric Light Orchestra. The infectious, hypnotic track “Sewn” is our free Single of the Week.
US: Mi Tumbao by Tres Coronas
The “three crowns” referenced in this group’s name do not allude to a round of brews for the boys — it actually stands for South America, United States, and Europe, where the trio’s roots are found. With a strong Latin style integrated seamlessly into a hip-hop flow, “Mi Tumbao” stands strong as this week’s free Discovery Download.
Australia: Ships are Sinking by Airway Lanes
Formed in late 2004, Airway Lanes features the vocal and songwriting talents of Dan Hall, who spent the last five years refining his songwriting and gaining a loyal fan base via frequent acoustic shows in and around Melbourne. Earlier this year, Airway Lanes roared onto the Australian music scene with the release of their self-titled debut EP. This exciting four-piece has quickly carved out its own identity and has a rapidly rising reputation as the buzz band of the year, earning rave reviews for its edgy, no-nonsense approach. All hands are needed on deck for our Single of the Week, “Ships Are Sinking,” from the band’s debut, Airway Lanes.
Canada: Yell Fire by Michael Franti & Spearhead
“Yell Fire” is the title track from the newest album from Michael Franti and Spearhead. Inspired by Franti’s trip to Iraq, the song is a travelogue of injustices wrapped up in brilliant songwriting. With a huge chorus, a major riff, and a backbeat to kill for, “Yell Fire” is our anthemic Single of the Week.
UK: Super Heartbeats by the Motorettes
With nary a female member among them, this Tynemouth trio tries to balance out any gender inequality by spending much of their songwriting energy expounding on the pursuit of said fairer sex. It might be a noble endeavour, but let’s move on to the music, which is a sparkling, urgent blend of punk-pop and girl groups. With little bit of sugar and a little bit of motor oil, “Super Heartbeats” gets the checkered flag this week.
France: Poissons volants, plantes carnivores by Alpha Jet
Projet expérimental polymorphe emmené par le duo franco-new-yorkais Tom Fury/Nathan Mozes, Alpha Jet propulse au beau milieu de la scène de la chanson hexogonale une pop extra-terrestre, entre Air et Eels, s’inspirant des génies de Philip K. Dick ou d’Erik Satie. « Poissons volants, plantes carnivores » est notre Single de la semaine sur iTunes, le morceau éponyme du premier album signé par les ovnis supersoniques d’Alpha Jet.
Cycling ’74’s free audio-routing utility, Soundflower, gained Universal Binary support today. The new version, 1.2, lets you assign virtual audio outputs to any Core Audio program on Intel Macs. That lets you stream audio between programs that normally don’t communicate. Be sure to download the Soundflowerbed menu utility as well, so you can switch assignments on the fly.
So Apple has posted a Sneak Peek section giving us much more information about all the cool stuff announced at WWDC today. What does it tell us, exactly?
(Warning to dial-up users: this is a screenshot-heavy post.)
It’s been over five years since I bought a Mac. I’ve been using my G4 733 tower forever and it’s time–past time really–to move up. I have no issues about opening cases, adding hard drives, memory, modems. I want to buy the very least Mac Pro that will get me through about 5 more years and let me test all new operating systems and most software.
My preliminary thoughts are a “bottom of the line” Mac Pro dual-Core 2GHz 1GB unit with 160GB main drive, GeForce 7300 GT 256MB, no displays (I’ve got dual LCDs–and I assume I can still use them with the newer Mac), SuperDrive, no built-in wireless, standard keyboard/mouse (which will go into a drawer, and I will continue to use my current setup), and no software or protection plan with the plan of adding memory from Crucial, hard drives from wherever I can find them on sale via FatWallet, and a 3rd party modem unless I can figure out how to re-use the modem from the 733. (I’d also like to re-use my USB 2.0 & 1394 expansion cards.)
Where am I going wrong? What bad choices am I making? Should I consider a fully loaded Mac Mini instead? Advise away.
Things that made me sit up:
* Core Animation. I can’t wait to play with this.
* iChat. With tabs, sending images and video and all the cool photobooth effects built-in. Looks nifty.
* Time Machine. Superb idea. Didn’t they have something like this in WinME? I vaguely remember… Looks like it’s time to buy lots and lots of really big hard drives. I hope Apple includes an option to use a 2nd disk, just in case of hard drive drive failure and not just “oops I didn’t mean to delete that”. Of course, I still belong to the school of “save every 5 seconds” so I’m not sure how much I have to change my style to work with this.
* To do lists and notes. This may convince me to jump to Mail from Eudora. Or not. I’ve got to test ride it first.
* Dashcode & Web clip. Smart moves in the right direction.
Things that made me go meh:
* Spaces. Didn’t they have this back in X-Windows? TWM or whatever, with virtual desktops? Anyway, it’s nice to have it there, but I’d like to make sure that you can run the same application in multiple spaces without messing up preferences and stuff. Yeah, I’ll still end up using though.
* Built-in Bootcamp. It’s a good move, but I still want to emulate.
OK folks, today’s top stories are a new Mac Pro replacing the PowerMac, and lots of preview nuggets from OS X 10.5.
First off, it’s bye bye PowerMac, hello Mac Pro. It’s a 64-bit computer with dual 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo “Woodcrest” processors, a 128-bit vector engine, 4MB shared L2 cache, two optical drives, Superdrive, gig’o'RAM, and roughly twice the speed of of its predecessor.
There’s less cooling required in the box, which frees up space for more drives, up to a terabyte of storage if you need it. The outside of the case stays the same, but the interior is all new; you can insert drives by just clicking them into place, no tools necessary.
All this (and more, much more if you explore the build-to-order options) for $2499, shipping today.
There’s also some new Xserves to play with, five times faster than before according to Apple, including dual Xeon chips and with room inside for an optional redundant power supply or plenty more storage. And $2999 for the basic spec machine.
Switching the entire Mac product line to Intel has taken just 210 days.
Okay, only one item on the list: Put WWDC 2007 back into end of May/Beginning of June or move to end of September.
Just to give you a couple of stats on this year’s Boinx Software WWDC trip:
4 People
Airline fares 2006 (Economy from Europe): $6,125 (2005: $3,750)
Hotel Rooms 2006: $1,740 (2005: $1,080; same Hotel)
Rental Car Fri-Mon 2006: $280 (2005: $150; bigger car)
At the hight of the tourist season, WWDC is a significantly bigger investment for us than any other time of the year. We wouldn’t go if we didn’t think it worth it, but still.
After attending 13 or so WWDCs in the Bay Area, I also wished it would be in some other part of the US for a change, but of course it makes sense for Apple to have it close to the mothership.
All things considered, I’ve been a pretty bad girl this year and have no reason whatsoever to expect wish-fulfilling anthropomorphic representations of corporate America to reward me for this. Regardless. Chris A. thought it would be a good idea if several of us wrote to Steve and asked for stuff rather than just expecting coal-black 5G iPods in the Apple Store-stockings. So here’s my list.
It’s the night before the WWDC 2006 Steve-note, and for a second straight year, the rumor sites have virtually nothing…
Apple-love at its extreme. The unpaid programming story of Graphing Calculator.
Why did Greg and I do something so ludicrous as sneaking into an eight-billion-dollar corporation to do volunteer work? Apple was having financial troubles then, so we joked that we were volunteering for a nonprofit organization. In reality, our motivation was complex. Partly, the PowerPC was an awesome machine, and we wanted to show off what could be done with it; in the Spinal Tap idiom, we said, “OK, this one goes to eleven.” Partly, we were thinking of the storytelling value. Partly, it was a macho computer guy thing - we had never shipped a million copies of software before. Mostly, Greg and I felt that creating quality educational software was a public service. We were doing it to help kids learn math. Public schools are too poor to buy software, so the most effective way to deliver it is to install it at the factory.
Found via Digg.
Remember a few months ago all the buzz and excitement about the iLuv recorder? You could stick your iPod into it, hook it up to video and record directly to the iPod. It was supposed to be out in early August. I just stopped by their site and all references to the device have now been removed. This reminds me a lot about the buzz about the ATO iSee, which according to their site eventually did appear.
Have any of you reader folk gotten a chance to look at, or play with, either device? How does it work and/or compare to other iPod video recording solutions?
I personally use a Neuros unit to record to memory card, then copy the video to the hard drive and sync through iTunes. The option of recording directly to the iPod and skipping the copy/sync steps sounds very appealing.
Soapstar: “Who am I” Episode and Finale Sneak Peak
Pure Bedlam! The explosions, catfights, and steamy love scenes are just the beginning as 10 contestants vie for a contract role on One Life to Live on season 3 of SOAPnet’s hit reality series, I Wanna Be a Soap Star. With a cast like this, a couch won’t do. Twelve contestants vie for a contract role on All My Children on season 2 of SOAPnet’s hit reality series. [Note: The free episode is *not* the premiere, but rather from later in the season.]
Got a Mac and a yen to upload photos to Google’s Picasa Web Album? Well, wait no longer, Mac tools are available now. Just click on the link below:
Google Picasa Web Album Mac Tools
The tools include:
Note that these tools only work with Tiger (10.4).
I haven’t tried Google’s Picasa Web Albums yet. Guess I have a reason to take it for a spin now :-)
So last night I decide to experiment. I hooked up my video iPod to a Canopus analog-to-digital converter, plugged it into the Mac, fired up iChat AV and connected to the long-suffering and endlessly-helpful Andy Lester, who allowed me to send video snippets at him and provided quality feedback.
According to Andy, the video arrived looking good but even at the highest volume settings (and I was careful to turn the Volume Limiter function off), the audio was a bit weak. I probably should have fed it through an amplifier. Unfortunately, all of my amplifiers use 1/8th-inch connections and I didn’t have any RCA converters on-hand to put in place between the iPod and the Canopus.
It was pretty easy to send over the video, but you do have to start playback before connecting in order to produce an iChat-compliant video signal. So your audience may lose the very beginning of the show. Also, if you’re not really really quick at the iPod menus, you can easily lose the connection as I did when switching between videos.
Next, I downloaded a copy of ShowMacster, an iChat extension that adds streaming of image and video files. I wanted to try playing QuickTime files over the connection. I’m not sure whether my problem was that I was using an underpowered Mac, or whether ShowMacster really can’t handle streaming over a QuickTime movie in realtime without hesitation. In any case, I ended up staring at the rolling rainbow icon of death and Andy wasn’t able to see any of the streamed video.
So in the end, I’m not sure this “podcasting” exercise did anything other than make it possible to let other people watch my collection of iPodded Project Runway, Veronica Mars and Dora the Explorer episodes, which might be a good thing–or not. What do you think? Would you like to be able to stream recorded video to a friend? Do you already do so? What do you use?
Yet another free TV show turned up on iTunes this morning: Three Moons over Milford. In addition, free episodes/features are still available for (if memory serves) Tabloid Wars, Workout, Who Wants to be a Superhero, 30 Days, Psych, Battlestar Galactica, Bono in Africa, Prison Break, the Apprentice and a few others. Just scan through the links in my previous posts to see whether they’re still active or not. For some reason, a lot of these newer video freebies and some of the older ones have remarkable staying power.
Three Moons over Milford: Epsidoe 101
Relax…it’s only the end of the world. Download the new ABC Family Original Series Three Moons Over Milford, a quirky drama that asks the question: “What would you do if the world were coming to an end?” Milford is a picturesque small town dealing with the effects of a cosmic explosion threatening Earth’s existence. Living under three moons, the residents of Milford take life to the extreme, as if any day could be their last, and the Davis family is no exception. Starring Elizabeth McGovern and Nora Dunn.
In other news, the new TV show Heroes is apparently due for a three week free run at the iTMS, well in advance of its first scheduled NBC showing. This is in contrast to earlier reports that said Heroes would require a special download code (as was used with TV Guide/Battlestar Galactica’s “Downloaded” episode a few months back). I’ve actually seen the new Heroes pilot, courtesy of a friend, and it was remarkably not awful. I look forward to seeing how the show itself turns out.
The iTMS video section continues to grow. New content providers include:
Macintouch published a survey of MacBook reliability which makes interesting reading. The black MacBook I was sent for review this week was DOA, hopefully a working machine will arrive soon…
An analyst’s predictions for WWDC; I agree, I think iPod stuff will be held over for a separate event.
Prettying up the Finder. Anyone else think the Finder’s sidebar might start to look like Mail’s? Hmmm.
Mojo, a new OS X editor aimed at web developers, is approaching a beta release…
Rentzsch has details of an OS X Server Firewall Serial Hole, video walkthrough included.
The TidBits team want a special editor, something that would work like a GUI front end to subversion. A text tool for groups of writers (and yes, they’ve tried SubEthaEdit - it’s not quite what they’re after). They’re looking for comments on a serious RFP document - go have your say.
If recent reports are anything to go by, .Mac is in trouble.
Stories of outages and breakages do nothing to improve the already fairly poor reputation of Apple’s online services package. And everyone who has invested money in a .Mac account, and perhaps in third-party apps that take advantage of it, ends up frustrated and locked in to a single machine, since they can’t sync stuff between different Macs as they expected.
Steve Jobs might announce all sorts of things at WWDC next week, and to be honest I don’t expect .Mac to feature among them. But Apple really needs to address .Mac soon (and not just by introducing a whole bunch of .Mac-only new features in iApps and Leopard).
The service needs to be re-thought and re-vamped completely. There’s nothing like it in the Windows world, and .Mac is a superb idea, a wonderful feature to attract new users to Macs; it’s just the the reality of using it offers little other than frustration, disappointment, and bemusement that other online services offer so much more (often for a lot less money).
Even if .Mac gets zero attention next week, I’m hoping that something drastic is done to it before the end of the year. Even if that means simply putting it out of its misery.
“Guess what? I got a fever. And the only prescription…is more cowbell!”
US: Listen Up! by The Gossip
Cowbell enthusiasts take note: the Gossip have brought that familiar clang to the forefront of the minimal dance-punk charge of “Listen Up,” our Single of the Week. Vocalist Beth Ditto creates a new type of frontwoman: the punk rock/funk diva with indie credibility. Her commanding vocals take hold of the skittery funk found here, and attempts to teach those awkward types how to dance. [More Cowbell!]
US: Tangled by Jackie Allen
A new member of the prestigious Blue Note roster, Jackie Allen delivers our Discovery Download this week in the form of the smoldering, slow shuffle of “Tangled.” Allen is a warmly expressive vocalist who conjures up images of both dusty barrooms and chic after-hours clubs. The soaring blues lead on this track adds in another savory element.
US: Who Wants to Be A Superhero: Episode 101
The SCI FI Channel, Bruce Nash (Nash Entertainment), and legendary comic book creator Stan Lee’s (Spider-Man, Hulk, The Fantastic Four, X-Men) POW! Entertainment, Inc., have joined forces to discover the next great American superhero. Who Wants to Be a Superhero? is an all-new reality series that challenges a lucky few to create their very own superhero alter-ego, live together under in a secret lair under the watchful eye of Stan Lee, and compete for the best reality competition prize yet: immortality. All they’ll need is an original idea, a killer costume, and some real superhero mojo. The winning superhero will be immortalized in a new comic book from Dark Horse Comics created by Stan Lee himself and will be featured in an original SCI FI Channel movie. Executive producers are Bruce Nash, Stan Lee, Scott Satin, Gill Champion and Andrew Jebb.
US: 30 Days: Episode 101 and Making-of Special
30 Days features a diverse group of participants, each given the opportunity to experience firsthand a world antithetical to their own comfortable existence. Each installment of the show examines a very different subject and is hosted by Morgan Spurlock. In the final installment this season, Spurlock is also a participant, as he turns the cameras on himself. The series explores explosive topical issues and conducts fascinating social experiments. As the 30 Days participants learn about others, viewers will learn more about themselves. Join host Morgan Spurlock as he conducts fascinating social experiments that immerse participants in worlds vastly different from their own.
US: Tabloid Wars: Episode 101
Every day the staff of the New York Daily News only has 24 hours to win the story…or lose the war against its archrival, the New York Post. Follow the News’s top editors, journalists, and reporters as they hunt down the headlines, get their story straight and play beat-the-clock to get the paper out the door and into the hands of its hundreds of thousands of readers every day. These tireless and intrepid newspeople take viewers out on the “beat” — to the scene of the crime, to get the much-needed quote from the source, or to the hottest celebrity bashes for the photo op — and then back into the newsroom before deadline.
US: Workout Episode 1
Jackie Warner, the star of Work Out and elite trainer and owner of the exclusive Sky Sports and Spa in Beverly Hills, California, believes in two things: working hard and playing harder. We’ll go “between the machines” of this fitness mecca for an inside look at the actors, models, and celebrities — and the people who just want to look like them and are willing to pay a hefty price to do so — on their quest for the best body in Hollywood. This six-episode, one-hour docu-series uncovers the drama, conflicts, pressure, and emotional turmoil — in and out of the gym — as Jackie makes her team of sexy, hard-bodied trainers and upscale clients sweat the big stuff all while keeping her business growing and her own personal life afloat.
Australia: This Mess (Single Edit) by Wolf & Cub
“This Mess” is the first glimpse of Wolf & Cub’s debut album, Vessels, due out in late August. The album was recorded in Adelaide and mixed in Glasgow with producer Tony Doogan, who has previously worked with Mogwai, Super Furry Animals, Belle & Sebastian, and the Mountain Goats. Already gathering a host of accolades in the UK, this home-grown band has a stomping, crackling indie rock vibe with touches of metal. Wolf & Cub are truly an awesome prospect. Enjoy them free here on iTunes.
Canada: Begin by Ben Lee
“Begin” is a little slice of Ben Lee’s world, a dive into the lovelorn experiences in the day-to-day life of a starry-eyed dreamer. It almost makes obsession seem more like heaven than hell. Lee’s sweetly reflective voice, tinkling piano, and a warm electronic backbeat augment this Single of the Week.
UK: Lamposts by Bell X1
The Bell X-1 was the first airplane to fly faster than the speed of light. The Irish group Bell X1 aren’t exactly breaking any records for speed, but their lofty dream pop does seem to exist in an atmosphere a bit higher than most. The group was at one time known as Juniper and had a certain vocalist in the form of (now famous singer/songwriter) Damien Rice. Upon his exit, Bell X1 was born. Our Single of the Week,”Lamposts”, is a cosmic daydream of a tune, drifting and pulsating with a spaced-out rock crunch underlying the sweetly adrift melody.
France: La complainte du triste amant by Les Torps
Après avoir écumé les salles françaises et québécoises, les Torps ont sorti leur premier EP l’année dernière. Bêtes de scène, entre rock alternatif et folk festive, les frères Kerautret et le reste de la bande chantent ici « La complainte du triste amant », qui ouvre leur EP Un cœur d’artichaut. C’est notre Single de la semaine sur iTunes, et comme à l’habitude, c’est gratuit.
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