MP3s Are Destroying Music

Sigh. It was bound to happen, I suppose...

A professor out at Stanford University named Johnathan Berger has been conducting an informal study every year for the past 6 years. The subject of this study? Students. The purpose of the study? To find out what quality of music they prefered. In a letter to Gizmodo, Professor Berger described the experiment:

Students were asked to judge the quality of a variety of compression methods randomly mixed with uncompressed 44.1 KHz audio. The music examples included both orchestral, jazz and rock music. When I first did this I was expecting to hear preferences for uncompressed audio and expecting to see MP3 (at 128, 160 and 192 bit rates) well below other methods (including a proprietary wavelet-based approach and AAC). To my surprise, in the rock examples the MP3 at 128 was preferred. I repeated the experiment over 6 years and found the preference for MP3 - particularly in music with high energy (cymbal crashes, brass hits, etc) rising over time.

Yep. You read right. Kids these days actually prefer the sounds of overcompressed mp3s to uncompressed CD-like audio. I mean, I'm all for compression... It certainly has its uses, a lot of which are good. But actually preferring the sizzle and crackle of digital overcompression to clear, uncompressed audio?? Ugh...

One thing's for sure... My kids are being raised FROM BIRTH (or beforehand, possibly) on uncompressed music. Hm... I better keep these old CDs around...

-e

How My iPhone Has Changed My Life

A lot of fuss was raised about 6 months ago when the mystical iPhone 3G came out. I was definitely one of the people raising said fuss. I was also one of the people (or “chumps,” depending on who you ask) who waited in line for some ridiculous amount of time (6-7 hours) after getting up at some ungodly hour in the morning (4:30am) the day after the phone came out.

Yes, of course, there was a lot of oo-ing and ah-ing when I first got it. I was enamored with its sleek curves, smart and capable operating system, and all-in-one-ness… I loved it. I loved my iPhone. I’m not afraid to admit it. I accepted my fate as an Apple Slut a long time ago.

Of course, there were plenty of people who didn’t understand and/or poo-pooed the whole spectacle. There were all kinds of debate over the merits/disadvantages of the touchscreen keyboard, the AT&T network, the contracts, etc etc.

6 months later, I still have my iPhone. And, yes, I still love it. But I thought it’d be interesting to report on if/how the iPhone has changed my life… for better or worse. Mind you, I realize there are other devices out there that could do some of these things and a lot of them existed before the iPhone. …But I didn’t have any of them :p I used to have the old school 6 GB iPod mini, an LG V6somethingorother, and a Palm TX.

So, with that, here we go:

iPhone Pros (yay!):

1) I don’t have to carry around an iPod, a cell phone and a Palm Pilot anymore.
2) I’m never bored on the subway. Or anywhere, really.
3) I can finally seamlessly sync my phone with my Mac.
4) I can carry around a lot more music.
5) I never get lost.
6) I have a digital notepad for lyric ideas, shopping lists, etc…
7) Keeping in touch (which I’m kind of obsessed with) is easier than ever.
8) I can use the song recognition applications to figure out the names/artists of songs that I hear when I’m out and about (not being able to do so is a HUGE pet peeve of mine).
9) I can reference and check e-mail wherever I get a cell or wi-fi signal.
10) I have a user-friendly, good looking and highly functional datebook.
11) My family’s now on a family plan, so it’s cheaper for everyone.
12) All my photos are easily accessible.
13) I can finally feel the phone vibrate in my pocket… and/or hear the ring in my earphones.

iPhone Cons (boo...):

1) The first time I’d thought I lost it, I FREAKED. THE EFF. OUT.
2) I sometimes worry about walking around with a highly desirable, pretty expensive, easily steal-able gadget in plain view.
3) I can’t talk on the iPhone in my house OR my office, since AT&T gets zero to one bars of signal in those places. I have since been forced to get a landline (gasp!) in my house. So much for those savings on my cell phone bill…
4) The 3G network in NYC kind of sucks. I suppose this hasn’t really changed things for me, other than the fact that when people ask me about the service, I always have to add in that caveat.
5) The first couple of times I dropped it, I FREAKED. THE EFF. OUT.
6) Despite the amazing error correction software, typing on the touchscreen keyboard is really difficult in a moving car. Or when drunk. Or when drunk in a moving car.
7) I can’t type without looking anymore.
8) I used to be one of “those guys.” (Though that’s changed since the phone has become so damn popular)
9) I’m already wondering how jealous I’m going to be of the owners of the next generation iPhone…

So, although the pros and cons are pretty evenly matched in terms of numbers, I think the value of the advantages far outweighs that of the disadvantages. I still love my iPhone and, as far as I can tell, it still loves me.

-e

Green Energy: It's Coming!

Most of my friends know that I'm a bit of a cynic when it comes the general public's adoption of clean, renewable sources of energy. I just don't think enough people care enough. Or, at least, I used to think that...

Lately, I've been seeing a lot of reports on really cool things people are doing to promote and use alternative sources of energy. It was enough to make me think that maybe, just maybe, we will turn this thing around. A few of the coolest innovations I've seen recently include:

The Sakai City Waterfront Mega Solar Power Generation Plan - Long name, cool project. Sharp and Kansai Electric Power's giant solar energy plant will generate a ton of clean power and reduce CO2 emissions by several bajillion kilotons. Okay, the real numbers can be found in the Sharp press release.

Orange's Green Cell Phone Charging Stations - UK cell phone provider Orange will be setting up these nifty tents at the Glastonbury Festival. Basically, they use wind and solar power to charge people's cell phones. One tent can charge about 100 cell phones per hour. Yay technology! Now I just need one for my house...

The Microfueler - "The EFuel100 MicroFueler™ is the world's first portable ethanol micro-refinery system." In other words, sugar and/or discarded booze goes in, wait about 5-7 days, and useable ethanol comes out. Sure it costs about $10,000 and it won't be available until late 2008. But look at it this way: now you have something to do with all the Larrys people leave at your parties...

Honda's FCX Clarity - The first production car to be powered by hydrogen fuel cells. That's right, we're talking ZERO emissions. Not less, not some... ZERO. 'Nuff said. If you live in Southern California, go get one.

So maybe we will be able to save the planet. Now if we only had some sort of machine that could suck up all that excess greenhouse carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere and turn it into something useful... Like food. Or oxygen... Hmmm...

I Want I Want I Want I Want I Want I Want...

...the new iPhone! I've been waiting to get one of these things for probably 3 years now, ever since the first rumors started surfacing that Apple was developing a phone. I somehow managed to resist buying iPhone v.1... But yeah... I can't wait any longer. I must have it.

The most impressive new functionalities the iThang will feature are 3G and GPS capabilities. Apple also boasts that there will be much improved audio (what that means exactly is yet to be discovered) and great battery life. Otherwise, there are a few cosmetic modifications that just add to the cool factor such as thinner edges, a headphone jack that's flush with the outside edge, a glossy black plastic backing, and solid metal buttons. Though, the new headphone jack has some practical function as well, as it will allow people to use any headphones they want without the annoying adaptors.

AND, they've lowered the price. The 8 GB model will be available for $199 and the 16 GB model will be $299. Hot. And cheap. Hot, cheap buns. I mean, phones.


There are a few catches though. For one, there is no increase in memory, which people were hoping for. However, the most crappy thing is that all us Apple fanboys and fangirls, will have to continue to mop up our saliva until July 11th, when they will finally roll out this beautiful piece of technology. Check out these shots from the Gizmodo coverage of the WWDC:




Will there be pre-orders? I don't know. And I don't care. All I know is, I must have one. I will have one.

-e

Beam Me Up, Stevie...

In case anyone wasn't aware just how big of a dork I am, allow me to geek out for a second about Star Trek...

Ever notice how when people "video chatted" in Star Trek, there was never any visible video camera? People actually could look straight into the monitor and have the person on the other side look straight at them.

Instead of how video chats go now, where each person is looking at his/her screen but the video camera is mounted on the top of their monitor, so it looks like the person on the screen is looking intently at your belly button?

Well... It looks like our friends at Apple have been working on a solution for that for quite some time now, according to a recent article on Apple Insider.

...it may be of some interest to recall an earlier patent filing from Apple for an 'integrated sensing display' capable of serving as both a display screen and a digital camera.

The filing, which predates the iPhone's release by nearly three years, describes a new breed of LCD display that could simultaneously take photos while continuing its role as the primary display screen of an electronics device or computer monitor.

So cool!! How would they accomplish such a feat, you ask? Well...

The idea behind the invention is to wedge thousands of microscopic image sensors between the LCD cells that make up the display, where each sensor would be responsible for capturing a piece of the overall photo. Those pieces would then be stitched together by software to recreate the complete image capture.

The rumor site implied that this new innovation might be implemented on the new 3G iPhones that everyone is waiting for later this year. But, personally, I think Apple would more likely apply this technology to their laptop line first.

I suppose time will tell...

-e

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy...

According to engaget.com, Apple just cut their 8 gig iPhone price to $399! (that's down from $599)

Woohoo!

-e

Cell Phone Carriers' Secret!

Hehe... Yet another excerpt from David Pogue's NY Times blog, where he describes a half-joking comment he made to a cellular exec at a big cellular-industy conference in Lake Como, Italy:

(P.S. … As longtime Pogue’s Posts readers know, my biggest cellular pet peeve is the endless recording you hear when you reach someone’s voicemail: “To page this person, press 2 now. You may leave a message at the tone. When you finish recording, you may hang up. Or press 5 for more options”—and so on.

At the conference, I asked one cellular executive if that message is deliberately recorded slowly and with as many words as possible, to eat up your airtime and make more ARPU [Average Revenue Per User] for the cell carrier. I was half kidding—but he wasn’t fooling around in his reply: “Yes.”

The secret’s out.)

Aaaaaa-HA!

-e

An Incredible (and hilarious) iPhone story

Check this report out from David Pogue's NY Times blog:

It seems that an enterprising Dallas woman brought $16,000 in cash to her local AT&T store on Friday, with the intention of buying out the store’s entire inventory of iPhones and then selling them on eBay. She breezed up to Mark Rebillet, the man at the head of the line, who’d been waiting there for hours, and offered him $800 to surrender his place in line. He agreed.

Turns out it was an excellent trade. Sure enough, the enterprising entrepreneur, who quite reasonably declined to give her name, was first in the door. That’s the first she heard about AT&T’s rule: one iPhone per customer.

As for Mark Rebillet: he, too, made it in the door before all the iPhones were gone. He spent much of the $800 on an iPhone and loads of accessories, in effect getting it all for free.

How awesome is that??

-e

iPhone!

More on London soon... but for now, feast your eyes on the latest work of genius from the folks at Apple:


Me likey. Check out the details here.

-e

ED-209, Anyone?

I've been super busy lately... But this one was too good to pass up. Does anyone remember the movie Robocop? Now, does anyone remember ED-209 from Robocop? Y'know, that insane security robot that went insane and killed some dude in a boardroom meeting? Well, check this article from the digital edition of the Chosun Ilbo:

Korea Develops Armed Security Guard Robot

Korea has unveiled an “intelligent” robotic security guard on Thursday. The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy tested the robot in front of some 100 guests including the minister, Chung Sye-kyun. The robot has the ability to discern people and vehicles within a 2-km range in daytime and 1 km at night and of telling the difference between friend and foe by asking for a password when someone comes within 10 m of it.

When it identifies a suspicious individual, it sends a warning and can fire at intruders using a built-in K-3 machine gun or a non-lethal rubber bullet gun. The developer, Samsung Techwin, expects the robot to become commercially available in late 2007 for use in guarding sensitive facilities such as military units or airports.

Hehe...

ED-209: Please put down your weapon. You have 20 seconds to comply.
Dick Jones: I think you'd better do as he says, Mr. Kinney.

...seconds later...

[Dick Jones's ED-209 has malfunctioned during a demonstration, killing an office worker]
The Old Man: Dick, I'm very disappointed.
Dick Jones: I'm sure it's only a glitch. A temporary setback.
The Old Man: You call this a GLITCH?

Ah, ain't technology grand?

-e