Billy Corgan: “Quality First”
During SXSW 2012 Billy Corgan shared some rockable insights for indie musicians. “At the end of the day you always have to focus on the fact of quality first and everything else comes second” he says in the video below. (4:00) Corgan talked at SXSW about how artists need to create experiences that translate to [...]
TC Electronic PolyTune iPhone App
Tune up, in sixth gear, for 10 bucks. Modeled after the popular pedal, the TC Electronic PolyTune has now cruised into the App Store. Two days ago they released the app with a promotional free price tag for the first two days. They’ve now curbed the promotion but considering the killer feedback we’ve seen so far, it will likely race into the top paid music apps.
Bay Area Beatmaker Freematik Makes Album with iPhone
Freematik (Tom Freeman) is a San Francisco-based hip hop music producer. But outside of his fully-equipped studio, he is armed only with his iPhone and imagination. For months he’s been experimenting with apps that let him make beats and riffs on the go. The iPhone’s limitations forced him to improvise and he found himself feeling “more creative than he had in while.”
Multitouch—The Human GUI?
Multitouch may be next GUI—is there a doubt? For decades we’ve used the mouse, but as GUI technology improves we’ll find more limitations in a mouse-based system. Clayton Miller’s 2009 project called 10/GUI demonstrates the potential of multitouch. According to Miller, “the industry is now at a crossroads.”
Censorship and Media In An Expanding Internet Population—Do You Feel Censored On The ‘Net?
Blocking sites = blocking progress. I’m American. It’s hard to imagine über-restricted Internet surfing. In the U.S. internet censorship does exist in workplaces, libraries, and schools but U.S. censorship is minimal compared to Chinese censorship. Censored sites in China include wikipedia.org, amnesty.org, nasa.gov, digg.com, bbc.co.uk, cnn.com, guardian.co.uk, facebook.com, flickr.com, tumblr.com, wordpress.com, youtube.com, and—WTF—even disney.com is censored.
Moodagent iPhone App Plays Music Based On Your Mood.
Syntonetic has launched Moodagent—a recommendation/playlisting app based on a user’s mood and emotion—for iPhone/iPod Touch. They have a Nokia smartphone version too, dubbed Playlist DJ. Moodagent syncs with an existing music library and users adjust moods with five sliders—sensual, tender, joy, aggressive and tempo.
