cloak media

danger device

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for the last several months i’ve been following the handheld market. steve jobs called the end to the handheld PDA in january 2002, saying that new multifunction devices were coming, most likely from apple in the form of an iphone. now i read that a company called danger has finally released their new tool called the hiptop, but called the sidekick by its service provider deutsche telekom AG. this one device does near every online function, from a small PDA like surface. pen input is replaced by thumb keyboard, and you get web, e-mail, IM, voice, and other services for one fixed price per month. this is amazing, and maybe will be my first wireless device, and finally i can retire my newton messagepads. tell me what you think. handspring has already left the pen based arena, and the handspring visor, neo, and soon the treo is going away. we want all our devices (mobile phone, pager, blackberry, etc) into one package syncable by USB or bluetooth. when i get to comdex, i will give you a full report. do you want to contibute to my mobile fund this year?

son music

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i’m waiting for the sunday paper to arrive, and reflecting on last night’s “son” musician concert. combining the rhythms of african drumming, with the storytelling of mexican artistry, from the states of guerrerro and vera cruz, three “son” groups came to california plaza in downtown los angeles for a fiesta of native music and native instruments. the most unique was the artesa, a carved 1 meter log that dancers used as a percussive tool, accomanying the driving beat of rain sticks, fiddle, and drumming. a most wonderful concert.

IM names

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i wish i could get all my siblings and friends to have open whenever they are online IM. now in OS X apple made ichat which in the culmination of a five year agreement to share technology. very similar to AOL instant messenging ichat has fun emoticons and chat rooms, that makes conversations fun. when i’m online i always have ichat open. this then frees up the dial-up connection so anyone on a computer can reach you. if i ever get a mobile phone, not only will it have bluetooth for syncing, but it must be IM compatible (i would need a keyboard too). when i get up early, i always look for my brother across the ocean, but only once every two weeks to i find him on IM. i hope i will find him online, or even aiko soon.

privacy snoops

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scott mcnealy claims privacy is gone, so starting today. for those of you who insist that the FBI carnivore e-mail snooping system, the NSA echelon system does not exist, and other methods to remove my privacy from e-mail are not important, i’ve decided to take it one additional step and publish all my e-mails to the public domain via my blog. if you write me, expect to receive the response in the blog, instead of a reply message. this way all groups locally and around the world can share in the answer. so in the future no reply message, but the blog message. now if you option for PGP security, then i will gladly write back securely.

disc burning

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the burn. it’s quite a pleasure to prepare a disc image for burning. in OS X, disc burning is transparent in the OS, so when you place a blank disc into the burner, it just goes. i like using disk copy, first creating an image, adding media, and then unmounting and burning from the app. so far I’ve delivered four discs and zero coasters. for higher end CD-R i would like to get roxio toast, which can talk to DVD+R discs along with the standard flavors of CD and DVD. did you know sony just released the first ever combination DVD burner? it can record to all formats including DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, CD-RW, CD-R, and some other flavors.

insomnia

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insomnia. ever since coming back from lassen volcanic national park i’ve been having trouble staying asleep. i’ve been waking up anywhere from 5 AM, 6 AM, and on two occassions 4:15 AM. my brain aches after five or six hours of sleep, and my entire day sleepiness takes over, but after lying in bed for thirty minutes, i’m reminded of my old professor william dement, “it’s better to get up and then try to go back asleep.” if you have any ideas (melotonin?) let me know.

opcode vision dead

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it’s always enpowering when your gambles pay off. many years ago when i first introduced myself to digital audio and electronic music, i concluded that home computers would get so powerful, that racks of sound and equipment would become obsolete. i bought a MIDI controller from yamaha instead of a keyboard, and now four years later virtual instuments and physical modeling are the norms. the cubase clinic confirmed this. not only is my opcode vision product old (works only in classic), but with current processor technology (soon the G5), outdated fully. it’s time to move to core audio in OS X.