Great track that I discovered during one of my many overnight shifts at KRUI. Check out more about Soulwax and their many projects.
Shiner – kevin is gone
Been talking with a variety of people that have dropped SXSW into the conversation, and it reminded me of the one time I went. I saw these guys, Shiner[wiki], twice during my time there. Not the best version of this video in the world, but perhaps it will make you want to find more about this band from Kansas City.
They broke up a few years ago, but The Life and Times picks up where Shiner left off.
Spoon – don’t you evah
I’ve seen this talked about here and there, but it wasn’t until Robert Sanzalone made mention of it in a Twitter post that I’ve actually watched this video.
Spoon recently released their sixth album, “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga”, and this video appears to be a collaboration of technology and music in its best form. There is also a lot of Tokyo spread throughout this, and it triggers a lot of happy memories for me. Lead singer Britt Daniel[wiki] makes a brief cameo in a shot going up the escalator, just behind the scientist guy who is carrying the little, bopping robot.
Fob and what it stands for
One of those rare occasions where Rebecca and I get to walk into work together, I asked her what “F.O.B.” stands for this morning. This is in reference to those keyless entry things that are becoming the standard for getting into many secured buildings. You wave it in front of the pad, something beeps or the light goes green, and the door unlocks to let you in.
The one for our building is smaller than my thumb. It’s too small to act like a key chain ornament, but the one I had in my old apartment in the states was big enough to hurt small children. Actually, it was more of a credit card in size, but you get the picture.
Turns out, and thanks to Wikipedia, this isn’t an abbreviation. It’s the given name of the device.
A key fob is a decorative item many people often carry with their keys, on a ring or a chain, for ease of tactile identification, to provide a better grip, or to make a personal statement. Key fobs are often mistakenly called “key rings” or “key chains” in colloquial usage.
Fobs vary considerably in size, style and functionality. Most commonly they are simple discs of smooth metal or plastic, typically with a message or symbol such as that of a logo (as with conference tchotchke) or a sign of an important group affiliation. A fob may be symbolic or strictly aesthetic, but it can also be a small tool. Many fobs are small flashlights, compasses, calculators, penknives, store discount cards, bottle openers, or USB flash drives.
Electronic key fobs are used for remote keyless entry systems on motor vehicles. Early electric key fobs operated using infrared and required a clear line of sight to function. These could be copied using a programmable remote control. More recent models use challenge-response authentication over radio frequency, so these are harder to copy and do not need line of sight to operate. Programming these remotes sometimes require the automotive dealership to connect a diagnostic tool but many of them can be self-programmed by following a sequence of steps in the vehicle and usually requires at least 1 working key. [wiki]
So now I know, and in case you didn’t, you do now. For the longest time, I thought it stood for something but never took the effort to find out until now. Sadly, it’s not “frequency operated bobber” like Rebecca thought, but I think it should be from now on.
Matthew Good, “Hospital Music” available now
Today is the day for the official release of Hospital Music, the fourth solo album from Matthew Good, the eleventh, overall release of his nearly fifteen year career as a musician.
The album is available for purchase in music stores all across Canada. In the U.S., you can purchase Hospital Music through iTunes, CDs will be on sale at a late date.
The first single from this album, Born Losers, has been playing on Canadian radio for about a month now. Being that yours truly is working for some radio sations in Vancouver now, I can report that the single has received a lot of spin, not to mention that his show here has been sold out for the last few weeks.
Additionally, Matt has put a call out to fans to develop their own concept for the video to this single. Submissions have been coming in via YouTube, and it’s been impressive to see what people have come up with. The version I have on this post is one of the latest ones, and it’s the one that has impressed me the most so far. Plus this gives you a chance to check out the single for yourself in case you haven’t heard it yet(I’m looking at you, America!).
If you dig that single, you’re going to dig the rest of the album for sure. Dare I say it, there are a lot of musicians that talk about what music is and should be, and for the first time in a long time, this album really feels like Good is walking the walk.
Crossroads and WordTwit plugins for WordPress
Duane has been cooking up some interesting plugins for WordPress lately. I thought I would install them on my blog and try them out.
WordTwit is the first one, and this is a good one for you Twitter users out there with a WordPress website. Basically, it makes twitter updates for every blog post you make. That way tweets are sent out automatically to alert your followers on Twitter about new blog posts. This post will be my first trial, but I think this is much better than doing it manually.
The other plugin is Crossroads. If you like the Flickr and WordPress like I do, then you should really check this out. It allows you to post an entire set within a blog post as you see below.
This is an old photo set of mine, but it helps demonstrate the function of this plugin. Really useful instead of pointing people to Flickr to see the rest of your pictures for something that you have a bunch of pics about. And let’s be honest, people love looking at pictures just like many folks read the newspaper for the funny pages.
Visit both of the links for those plugins to find out more.
They Might Be Giants – the sun
A little something for your Friday, especially if you are enjoying the summer sun like we are (trying to) in Vancouver. I know they say this song is called, “The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas”, but I’ve always called it “The Sun”.
I used to co-host a weekly morning show at KRUI on Wednesdays called “In The Middle”. Clever, eh? Well, every week at 9:30AM, we poked fun at the surrounding FM, rock stations and their “mandatory Metallica” with our own, “Mandatory They Might Be Giants“. Yes, they are near and dear to my heart.
Forever will be the experience of John and John doing a live, acoustic performance in our little studio be remembered, then throwing on our station t-shirt at their encore that night. If Muffin is watching this post, which you see him perk up here from time to time and was my co-host of said show, he’ll agree about that. Knowing that he was a huge fan, and still is, I got him to do that interview in the studio, if not fulfill a lifetime dream. Rock.
Real world uses of Ustream, and it’s not for just being geeky
I’ve been aware of the whole Ustream phenomenon for a time now, and there have been a few opportunities to get my mug into the action with some of the live streams of the Canucks Outsider that Dave put on, with the help of Roland. Outside of that and what Chris Pirillo does with the service, I haven’t given much thought about Ustream’s capabilities or uses. At least, I know that I can use it, but what would I use it for? (Do you really wanna watch me read my RSS feeds, do some geeky web-programming-podcasting-blogging stuff, and drink coffee?)
Robert Scoble dropped by Ustream’s offices and did one of his patented interviews with the people behind the scenes. After watching it, it opened my eyes to what they are doing, how it works, and, more importantly, what the real world can use Ustream for.
The bulk of what I’m getting at comes towards the end of the interview. Since Ustream is embeddable nearly anywhere you can dropped the code, there are a variety of uses for this. With a webcam(that has a good audio source) and a decent internet connection, you can stream anything you want, live and for free. It’s that simple, and many computers are built with this capability off the shelf. You just have to set it up with Ustream and broadcast what the camera sees.
City council meetings could be open to the public with no need for local access cable channels. Company meetings can get posted on internal, corporate sites that only employees can see. Or maybe you have those events that you want to get out to the public and wish that the local news station would give you more coverage than just a fifteen second mention on the six o’clock news? Now you can bypass that worry and broadcast what you want to the world, but still invite the “media” in case they want to come down. The options are endless.
It makes more sense to me now. Ustream is looking to expand what they are doing by upping their services in a variety of ways. I’m certainly looking at them with a different perspective.
The (International) Noise Conspiracy – up for sale
Been hit with a bit of a head cold over this weekend, so that found the TV being a major source of comfort today, especially with a number of documentaries that I’ve been meaning to watch for a while. After watching SiCKO[imdb], Cocaine Cowboys[imdb], and The F Word[imdb], it reminded me of this video from T(I)NC that I was surprised to find a number of weeks ago. Didn’t even know they made a video for this song.
Can’t wait for the new album that they are working on, but The Lost Patrol Band is filling in the gaps nicely until then. Gotta see them the next time they come to town as well.
Missing out on WordCamp
Rebecca and I tried to develop some sort of insane plan to attend WordCamp in San Francisco this weekend. Alas, the income is overshadowed by the expense of such adventures, and there is a wealth of information being shared that I would like to have been apart of.
WordCamp is a 2-day conference for WordPress users and developers. The first day will focus on how to be a better blogger, the second on the development and future of WordPress.
When?
7/21-7/22, 2007
Where?
Swedish American Hall, San Francisco CA – Google Map
Cost?
Twenty-five dollars, with scholarships available.
Why?
To get WordPress users together, learn from each other, figure out the future of publishing on the web, and have a good time. [wordcamp]
Nonetheless, The WordCamp Report is the site to keep up to date with what’s going on at WordCamp over the duration of the event, especially for non-attendees like me. I also heard on The WordPress Podcast that they will be checking in from time to time with updates from the conference, if not giving a nice wrap up in a later episode.
Would have been neat to meet the likes of Matt Mullenweg or Dave Weiner. John Biehler is running amok down there, so I’m sure he’ll have plenty of pictures and things to say about it.
Update: Starting to see a lot of pictures from the event come through on Flickr here.