I am a fan of Facebook and Twitter. I have my Twitter synched up to my Facebook so that people that are anti-Tweets (who are these people?!) can see all the stupid things I have to say at all times always (because who doesn’t have a Facebook account?). Lucky them! I am okay with this connectivity because it makes sense; it is a seamless integration that keeps me from having to write the same thing twice.

I thought the much hyped Xbox 360 update that allowed for Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm (I am there, too) integration was stupid for two reason:

1. What does this have to do with gaming?
2. With all the stink Microsoft was making about bringing these features to the masses, have the masses forgotten that the PlayStation 3 has a built-in browser and can already do these things from within that? (PS3 only does EVERYTHING after all)

I’ll focus this piece on the first question, and the answer is, of course, nothing. For Xbox Live Gold members, it potentially keeps them logged in longer to see what their friends are up to, comment on their photos, or shoot off a quick Tweet about whatever-the-hell, but this data will invariably be misconstrued by Microsoft on some year end fiscal report bragging that people spend X amount of time utilizing the service (which will more than likely be presented as being X minus Y hours more than the competition’s service), which sounds great to shareholders. Know what else sounds great to the Gordon Gekkos of the world? Free advertising! Service users can opt-in on updating their Facebook statuses with info about what they are playing and the Achievements they have unlocked. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but when you consider that users are paying (usually) $50 a year for the option to do so, that is pretty dickish.

“I see you are playing Borderlands on the 360. I will now buy it!”

Sony’s online infrastructure has taken a while to nearly match Microsoft’s offering in most respects, and with no subscription (for the time being) to boot. The week after the update became officially available for the 360 which allowed for all the above mentioned hullabaloo, Sony launched a minor firmware update (3.10) for the PS3 that allows for some Facebook updating as well. Users can link the PSN account to their Facebook accounts and choose to update their status with information like Trophies obtained (this only happens when gamers synch their Trophies, so it will not be an endless barrage necessarily), make purchases from the PSN Store, or potentially alert other Facebook users of in-game events that have been triggered (this feature is game dependent however). Since PSN users are not paying a subscription fee, I do not feel nearly as bad about this as with Microsoft’s offering.

“I see you are playing Borderlands on the PS3. I will now buy it!”

While they do not rely on the extra bells and whistles that Sony or Microsoft do, Nintendo is not out of the picture either. With the DSi, gamers are able to take photos and upload them onto Facebook directly using Nintendo WiFi Connection. These photos are then placed into a Facebook Album labeled “Photos from Nintendo DSi.”

“I see you are taking photos on Nintendo DSi. I will now buy one!”

I am not against peripheral features added to a console to extend its use into other areas that make it more appealing to broader audiences. I think the availability of NetFlix streaming is a huge reason some people might consider getting a 360 or a PS3 this holiday season over a Wii. And while Facebook and Twitter might be appealing bullet points (“Hey, I know Twitter!” says the middle-aged mom looking at the box), they certainly don’t add much to the experience of enjoying a piece of media, interactive or otherwise. If anything, they only serve to clutter the console’s interface (though Sony hides the Facebook connectivity within a menu), and the News Streams of Facebook friends with free propaganda for the game someone is playing.

One company that was fairly smart with their integration of Twitter support was Naughty Dog in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. While giving the player control over what the PlayStation 3 game would send updates about, Naughty Dog had noticed a ridiculous number of Tweets being made from review copies about level progress and Trophies unlocked. Not enjoying what they themselves were seeing in their own product, Naughty Dog had a day one patch that turned off certain notifications until they found what they believed to be a happy medium for said notifications. A software update has yet to be released beyond that first one.

“I see you are playing Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Tweeting
nonstop about the Chapters you have completed. I will now buy it!”

What, dear Lusipurrian, do you think? Is the integration between consoles and social network sites a trend you are happy to see in gaming? Do you feel like these companies are using you to silently advertise their products? Do you feel like your Facebook is a good indicator more of who you are as a person, or more what you are as a consumer? These last lines of disposition, my friends, is known in law as “leading the witness.” I have no shame.

UPDATE: Microsoft has no shame either and, in my eyes, it has begun.

“What’s that band called again? You know, they sound just like the Gerogerigegege.”

Well well, who doesn’t know those times when you are trying hard to come up with the name of that band you heard yesterday and they where just so great with that one certain song. If you could just remember it and show your friends the youtube video…

The last thing you would expect

But don’t stress out, the tiger is here to help you. On my endless search for new music I had to stumble over this great site:

last.fm

You don’t need to remember all the names of the bands or the albums anymore. You just send your friends a link to your last.fm profile and they are going to realise, that you have the best taste in music.

How does it work?

To make it work, you just have to make a profile on the site, download a program and listen to music. It’s as easy as that.

The program you download connects to your favourite music player, be it Windows Media Player, ITunes or Winamp. All the songs you play with that program get saved and uploaded to your profile and soon you will have your own privatemusic library.

But that’s not the big deal, eh?!

No, because the real fun starts, when you begin to interact with other users. You can see other people’s profile, listen to their music uploads, share thoughts about an artist or just simply explore new music. There is an enormous amount of groups where you are able to interact with other users as well. And based on the musicevery user listens to, you can find another person with just the same taste in music as you have.

Can I have that a bit more bluesy?

The website not only consist of the profiles of each user, but also every artist that gets listened to, has an own profile. And when people scrobble music -as last.fm users name it- that they think is similar, similar artists get created. That way it is very easy to find new music in a certain field.

For example, let’s say someone would like to find a band similar to Survivor, he or she will find out, that Jounrey, Robert Tepper, Night Ranger and Pride of Lions sound similar to them. I never heard of Pride of Lions, but because I like “The Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor pretty much, I might check it out.

Web 2.0 is everywhere

The site is full of ways how users can participate in creating, editing and commenting. From the simple comment on an artist or user page to the biographie of a band, everything is user created content.

But artists can also participate and create their own bandpage, upload pictures, songs and make a close connection to fans.

Come again?

Want to listen to new music, talk to other people about music, or even upload your own music? Get a last.fm profile, download the scrobbler and start listening!

Last-fm per me è una fottuta droga…c’è poco da fare!Scrobblare tutta la musica che ascolto e vedere le statistiche del mio profilo mi fà sentire super felice.Forse perchè sono sempre stato un monomaniaco per la musica,i gruppi e le discografie dei gruppi anche quelli che non cago e non mi piacciono.La musica per me è una droga,una cosa di cui non posso fare a meno e tutti quelli che mi conoscono lo sanno bene.Quindi di conseguenza anche il profilo di Last-fm per me è una mania ma penso di averlo detto numerose volte.Ogni giorno accedo al mio profilo e dò un occhiata alle mie classifiche a quali gruppi salgono o scendono come ascolti.Poi debbo dire che a livello visivo è fatto molto bene anche se diverse modifiche mi avevano fatto storcere il naso all’inizio.Ora mi sono abituato e lo considero quasi perfetto.Ci sono tantissime applicazioni create dai diversi utenti ed è possibile implementare le proprio classifiche all’interno del proprio blog.Insomma una malattia totale che cerco di diffondere a tutti.

Per ora i bestest nella classifica degli ascolti sono costoro:

• Placebo (509 ascolti)
• U2 (472 ascolti)
• Kagrra, (396 ascolti)
• LUNA SEA (393 ascolti)
• Sepultura (385 ascolti)
• The Cure (360 ascolti)
• Dinosaur Jr. (340 ascolti)
• 

Ma sono fermamente convinto che cambierà anche se Placebo e U2 sembrano veramente intoccabili.I Placebo se lo meritano ma gli U2 un pò mi hanno stancato.Gli altri invece se lo meritano sopratutto Luna Sea,Klimt 1918 (visto l’ascesa così duramente faticata) e Dinosaur Jr.!!!Poi ho scoperto un altra grande feature…..ovvero le statistiche di ascolti per ogni mese.Fantastico..una malattia totale praticamente.Così posso vedere chi ho ascoltato di più per ogni mese.Che figata totale…adoro Last Fm!!

Feb-2008 Muse 41     Mar-2008 T.M.Revolution 66

Apr-2008 hide 62  (appena scoperto Hide previo periodo di reject) May-2008 L’Arc~en~Ciel 70   Jun-2008 Placebo 86

Jul-2008 Mercenary 57  Aug-2008 Adema 95 (riscopriamo le vecchie glorie del Nu Metal) Sep-2008 Metallica 110 (era appena uscito Death magnetic)

Oct-2008 Morgana Lefay 116 Nov-2008 D 49 (mi era arrivata tutta la discografia) Dec-2008 The Cure 114

Jan-2009 Sepultura 262 (ALEEXXX) Feb-2009 U2 148 Mar-2009 BUCK-TICK 115

Apr-2009 Kagrra, 142 May-2009 Paradise Lost 110 Jun-2009 Placebo 258  (Malattia per Battle of the sun)

Jul-2009 U2 121 Aug-2009 Megadeth 166 Sep-2009 Type O Negative 155 (Grande depressione)

Oct-2009 Dinosaur Jr. 271 (Malattia per i super dell’indie) Nov-2009 Katatonia 213 (Grande ritorno all’amore dei Katatonia complice il nuovo album)

Insomma ogni mese mi ricorda qualcosa di particolare ed è dedicato ad ogni band…ohhhh….che storia…veramente…per ogni mese ho un ricordo.Pensavo ci fosse più J-rock e invece nonostante tutto la musica occidentale trionfa…insomma quest’anno sono ritornato ad ascoltare musica occidentale dopo un sacco di tempo!!!Ma non è finita…la canzone per ogni mese…madonna..

Feb-2008 Coal Chamber : Row Boat 10  (coincide anche con il mio header questa canzone..la migliore dei Coal Chamber) Mar-2008 Incubus : Wish You Were Here 8 Apr-2008 hide : EYES LOVE YOU 7  (una delle mie canzoni preferite) May-2008 L’Arc~en~Ciel : LOST HEAVEN  (Malattia Laruku per queste due canzoni) 18 Jun-2008 L’Arc~en~Ciel : MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM  13 Jul-2008 Mercenary : Times Without Changes   13 Aug-2008 Adema : Open Till Midnight    12 Sep-2008 Metallica : The Day That Never Comes    17 Oct-2008 Morgana Lefay : Caught In The Tread Wheel    8 Nov-2008 Carajo : Resistiendo con Ideas   (La scoperta di questo fantastico gruppo…ehhh) 6 Dec-2008 Dead Can Dance : In Power We Entrust the Love Advocated   8 Jan-2009 Psapp : Cosy In The Rocket  (malattia Grey’s Anatomy che coincide anche con il mio corso per delegato…che pizza però non sò ero molto triste in quel periodo…) 28 Feb-2009 U2 : Electrical Storm-New Song 10   Mar-2009 Jeff Buckley : Grace (Porca miseria Grace ha il primato di 2 mesi…record ) 19 Apr-2009 Jeff Buckley : Grace  18   May-2009 The Veils : Lavinia   9   Jun-2009 Placebo : Ashtray Heart 22    (cernizero???Non avrei mai creduto) Jul-2009 the GazettE : HEADACHE MAN  (Uscita di DIM) 8 Aug-2009 Karma-Shenjing : Yume Fu Gatsu  6 Sep-2009 Type O Negative : Thir13teen  11 Oct-2009 Dinosaur Jr. : Muck 19 (Bon…Muck proprio l’adoro) Nov-2009 Katatonia : Dissolving Bonds 10 (E’ una b-side di The Great cold distance…bellissima..non capisco perchè l’hanno estromessa…và a capì gli artisti)!!!

Ora implementerò la mia pagina con questa chicca sapendo che a causa di questo….contagierò qualche innocente…uahahahahaha….

If you’re already logged on to Last.FM (and are in Europe), then you should definitely check this out!

Sony Music Entertainment has come up with a game-like online application where you can create your own festival line-up, a la Premier League style. It’s quite fun, except for a few drawbacks.

One, it’s only for the Europe region.

Two, your line-up of artists only pertain to the Sony catalogue of artists available.

Nevertheless, a novel idea! Try it out here: http://fantasyfestival.last.fm

Seriously, you’re not going to believe this genre of music I just discovered.

Lolicore

I kid you not. It’s a fusion of breakcore and the dialogue of various anime girls. Hence the name.

Have a listen to some of these tracks. They’ll blow your mind.

Nasty Maid Grinder – FL Default Sample loop + DBlue Glitch + Distorsion + Moetan = Dirty Loli BrutalElectro beats

LOLI RIPE – Fossilized S**t Maggot Inferno

GORES**T – Tatu’d Lolis (extended mix)

Loli Battle Machine – SHOOTAN GAEMS

GORES**T – Nyan

GORES**T – Annual Hair Wash

LOLI RIPE – Be My Pet!

Ну вот, свершилось и я потратил свои первые 3$ через PayPal на оплату этого сервиса. С удивлением обнаружил ощущение чего-то родного, правильного, добротного, комфортного… На мой взгляд last.fm честно заслуживает свои три бакса в месяц, оговорюсь, я не любитель пустой растраты денег, тем более траты на сервисы в интернете.

Мой профиль на last.fm

Speaking to VentureBeat, Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten discussed the recent round of Xbox Live bans. According to Whitten, banning users from Xbox Live is "a cat and mouse game." Said Whitten, "These were people that were pirating software." He added that Microsoft looks at banning users "from a safety and anti-cheating perspective" and that the company looks out for its partners. Responding to the widely reported story that Microsoft banned over a million Xbox Live users, Whitten said that the figure is inaccurate. "I cannot explain to you why people would think it was a million people," said Whitten, then adding quite succinctly, "It wasn’t a million people."
Whitten went on to state his belief that Microsoft does "a really good job" of monitoring the activity on Xbox Live, specifically in terms of piracy and online harassment. He concluded that the company is "committed to making [Xbox Live] better and better."
The interview also covers the recent integration of Facebook on Xbox, the effect Modern Warfare 2 had on Live activity (hint: a big one) and whether or not we’ll be playing Facebook games on our consoles anytime soon. Don’t expect a straight answer on that last one though, as the closes Whitten gets is, "In the future, they will move much closer together."

Whitten: Xbox Live banning ‘a cat and mouse game’ originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Whitten: Xbox Live banning ‘a cat and mouse game’
Richard Mitchell
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:00:00 GMT

As you may already be aware, some of us here at Threevue are big fans of Last.fm.  As some of you may also be aware, Last.fm is one of three new apps (joined by Facebook and Twitter) to be integrated into the Xbox 360 dashboard in an attempt to further blur the lines between games consoles and media centers.

For those who aren’t yet aware of Last.fm, it’s a music program which lets you listen to music of your choice, in full, online.  Not content with just doing that, Last.fm will also recommend music to you based on your selections, track your listening habits, provide pictures and biographies for the artists, as well as tour schedules for any touring artists, as well as having a burgeoning community.  On top of all of that, it’s also free!

As is, there are already a number of ways to use Last.fm; via the site, a desktop app, and an iPhone/iPod Touch app,  all of which vary greatly in their functionality; the website is the most feature-packed, whilst the iPhone app is extremely bare-boned.  As a result of this variance, I was naturally a little sceptical when I first heard that this service would be coming to the Xbox dashboard.

However, I finally got around to checking this out today (despite downloading it when it launched on the 17th), and I found myself pleasantly surprised at how robust this app really is.   This version of Last.fm allows you to perform the vast majority of tasks available on the website, plus a few more gamer related things that the site doesn’t offer.  It all works fairly well with the Xbox 360 controller too, though the ability to skip tracks with the triggers/bumpers would have been good.

There are some noticeable omissions though; whilst your listening habits are “scrobbled” to your website profile for tracking, there is no stat tracking functionality available on the dashboard app itself.  Also, the “on-tour” schedule is sadly missing from the dashboard app, as are all of the event planning functions available on the site.  I have personally found these to be really useful as a single-source way of finding out which bands are playing in my city, and when.  There also doesn’t seem to be any way of adding people to your Last.fm or Xbox friends lists through this app, which seems like a huge missed opportunity.

Regardless of these omissions, the Last.fm dashboard app still contains a host of worthwhile features, and is well worth checking out.  Of course, it’s debatable as to how much use you’ll get out of this if your Xbox and PC are set up in the same room, but if you do have them set up in different rooms then this could be well worth your time.

I have a confession to make…  I’ve become obsessed with Web 2.0, and I would imagine that I’m not the only one.    The web 2.0 sites are great for writers and musicians, and they’re mostly free.   In particular, I like the writing and music sites that give artists the chance to present their work.   I use WordPress, Yudu and Last.fm – all fantastic sites.

Listing of Web 2.0 sites

________________________

Meanwhile, the editing report on my first novel should be available this weekend, so I’m preparing myself mentally.  I’ve already read the novel through after an extended period away from it and made pages of notes.

_______________________

More from the Autobiography:

In the evenings, we played with the other children on the estate.  To the right stood a square with a line of horizontal graves behind a row of benches. We would hang around there, making up scary stories about skeletons and old men, our imaginations fuelled by the evening light and the dark slab of a building at the other end of the yard that always appeared empty.  A lawn stood in the centre surrounded by trees where dog walkers brought their dogs and an incline led up to the church with hedges both side where we could throw soil around. In the distance, the rugged outlines of the Pennines stretched along the skyline, bleak and dreary most days.

[The Estate in Lancashire]

I’d say at least three times a week I browse through nearly everything offered instantly from Netflix.  Typically there’s a heavy glass of red wine sitting next to me on my floor – that needs to be vacuumed with something of industrial strength – that I’ll get to once I put my X-Box controller down.  My intention is to see what is new on “instant watch” and then start buffering up a movie that hopefully doesn’t suck.  A good lot of the time I browse for too long then flash through my queue and can’t decide on any one thing.  Why?  Too many options.  I’ll even work together with my roommate Jordan to widdle down the choices, but usually I give up and head to my room for a comic or two before bed.

Sometimes too much is just too much.

I was born in ‘84 and I’ve seen the Super Nintendo (de)evolve into the Dreamcast then grow wings and become the 360.  Without having to read and recite a book about science, I’m saying that I’ve witnessed technology grow exponentially.  Today I have the option to watch hundreds of movies with the flick of joystick and a little pressure applied to a brightly colored button.  Oh, Band McMusic just re-released their live EP from the secret show they played in Hungary – circa ‘98 – during that accidental aerial bombardment from NATO Y-Wing.  ”Type type type” then “click click click” and I have that album sitting on my desktop.  It’s obvious that we’re spoiled when it comes to the entertainment that’s a hyperlink away and I’m not sure how I feel about it.

X-Box Live just added Last FM as an application for it’s fancy Gold Members – who pay 40 some dollars a year – and are given many more reasons to never bask in natural light.  Not that this invention is anything new to the interwebs, but I can pick an artist, make a station via that artist, and listen to music within the same vein of said artist.  I know, this sounds like the radio if you were able to put it under the microscope and manipulate what you wanted from it.  It is, but sometimes it’s just too much.

When I was a kid I had the radio, a small book of CDs, and the local Video Barn for entertainment.  I was content too.  As the years have passed and I now put onions on nearly every sandwich I make, it’s obvious my likes and dislikes have expanded.  My Mom would slice onions in our kitchen back home and just the scent was enough to keep me away from our downstairs for hours.  What used to sate or deter me as a child isn’t the case anymore.  Now I need three new movies in the mail twice a week to keep me from clawing at the walls.  There has to be a refresher from some new band I’ve never heard – or given any time to – at least a couple times a month, otherwise I start biting my nails down to the cuticle.  I’m American, I drink beer out of the can, and I need to be fucking entertained 24 hours out of the God damn day.  Yeah, it’s true.

I think I kinda lost my train of thought at some point in this rant, so I’ll get to some kind of point.

We used to worship idols made of stone and wood then men who said they were actual gods filled in that spot.  After that we started to hear these stories from wise elders about these powerful beings that have always been and will always be, so it was the smart choice to praise them.  Now we have the internet.  The internet knows all, tells all, and does all.  What else do we need?  If this laptop I’m typing on had a vagina built into it, could pour alcohol out one of it’s many ports, and ejected the makings for a sandwich from the CD drive… yup, wouldn’t leave the house.

I could go on with this, but I’d probably end up running my words and thoughts into solid wall of nonsense, which would most likely drive me to making dick and fart jokes.  Let me save you from that and tell you about some music you should be listening to.

1. Bang Maiden, they’re from San Francisco (make some unjustified generalizations from that fact alone because that’s what I’d do).  On Halloween last month they played their first show at The Parkside in the Misson and they definitely fit the bill if you wanna drink, dance, and bang your head.  They just uploaded a three song demo EP for download and I’m a fan.  Hardcore  - and whatever sub-genre within the same realm you babble about – is one of those sounds that’s in a bit of a slump as of late.  Don’t get me wrong, there are many greats acts currently putting out original and good tunes, but the majority is nothing more than the same old riffs that started in the ’80s, got reworked in the ’90s, and has continued the same cycle into the 2000’s.  What do these guys have that sets them apart from the fodder?  They don’t have drums, they got beats.  Patrick is the programming wizard in the three-piece that mixes the backbone of sound , which gives the group an artificial rhythm that is danceable… like boner-jams danceable.  It’s not too often you can listen to something that cuts a rug all Samurai Shodown 2 (I suck at that game), yet urges your veins to replace some of that red with drunk and maybe punch some random, all in good fun of course.  It’s dirty and fun, so give it a listen, go get tested afterwards, and pay me the ten bucks you owe.

2. Now these guys just got dredged out of the dungeon – I call it my iPod – and put a real dumb smile on my face.  Since the mammoth performance I witnessed a while back at the West Seattle Legion Hall, Giant became Brave Young, but the sound hasn’t changed a bit.  I’ve been allowing my music to grow a little more grand these days (drugs are bad), so the music I’m seeking needs to consume me and wall me up inside of it.  Brave Young is an undertaking that weighs on your ear drums with its heavy guitars and bass.  The sound becomes one looming entity that is lumbering with each bang of the drums and it’s one voice roars just far enough from the instruments before it melds back into the mass of noise.  This is one of those bands that I may never see live again, but from that one show – whatever summer it was ago – I feel lucky.

3. Oh yeah, I’m doing it.  Oingo Boingo has been the musical “first ice cold beer of the day” for me lately.  It’s fun, it’s upbeat, it can get a little spooky, and it’s one of those aspects of the ’80s that I don’t hate.  I’m not saying the 80’s were horrible, I mean come on, Earth Girls Are Easy?  You don’t have to say anything, just try not to get lost in Jeff Goldblum’s eyes, even though he does have mind powers.  There really isn’t any reason for me to explain any further.  Fire this shit up and let Danny Elfman do the rest.  Watch this too:

I thought that with the new age of Spotify and last.fm et al, the advent of streaming meant that I would constantly be exposed to new music. It sure feels like there are so many new bands to stay up to date with. Indeed, I even started a music blog to help me (and hopefully some other people too) keep track by rating them in order of that most critical would-I-listen-again factor.

But looking at the data, and I am a huge data geek after all, we seem to see a completely different picture. I ripped this data from the last.fm database which tracks all the songs I play through my iTunes, Spotify and various other sources. I analysed it by looking at whether every artist that I listened to I’d listened to before. I looked at this for every week since I’ve been using last.fm (which is nearly 2 years now so apart from a few gaps for holidays and technical malfunctions it should be pretty robust data). There are several caveats here, the obvious large one being that anything that I’ve listened to in my lifetime that hasn’t been tracked by last.fm will appear as new and that things listened to on mobile devices aren’t counted.

The graph shows that around 2/5 of all the music I listen to is new and the rest is old news. And in fact, since I became a Spotify afficionado, it was 53% and now it’s only 35%.  But it’s certainly become a far more stable pattern.

This might be explained by the fact that now I simply listen to more music and therefore the newer music is not displacing previous music but is instead fitted in with some old favourites.  Might it?  Let’s see…  The chart below shows that the number of artists I’m listening to now is 58% more than the pre-streaming period (from 45 to 71 per week) but that the average number of tracks I listen to by each artist within that week has fallen by 21%.  When you put all this together, what you see (indicated here by the size of the balls) is that I’m now listening to 25% more music!

Another cliche you hear a lot with digital music is about the death of the album – that music is so abundant and accessible that consumers don’t need to feel constrained by the artistic notion of a body of work but can pick and choose their own playlists.  Well, I looked at whether or not my history showed whether I was moving away from albums or not (I’m defining an album rather loosely here – at least 9 tracks by the same artist in one week – since I don’t have the full data) and what I found was there is virtually no difference now.  Whilst I was averaging around a 50:50 activity split between albums and individual songs, I now only spend 53% of my proportion of songs on individual tracks and 47% on full albums. I would posit that the wealth of tracks now available to us through the wonders of the internet has not really changed my habits – I still prefer to listen to a full album to get a feel for a band rather than dip in and out.  Whereas before I might’ve needed to only sample artists on music blogs or downloads, now I can get the whole thing.  So why not listen to it as the artists intended?

Interesting findings.

Lijsten, top 10 van beste cd’s en ga zo maar door, normaal gesproken mijn pakkie aan maar dit jaar is alles anders…

De braakneigingen die ik krijg als ik weer top 2000 lijstjes zie, dat is een on going thing, daar ben ik wel aan gewend ondertussen. Net zoals dat de top 10 van 2009 even puzzelen is, maar daar valt wel uit te komen.
Wat is dan wel het probleem? De top zoveel van de jaren 00, (januari 2000 – dec 2009). OOR en NME presenteerden allebei hun lijsten met de beste albums van het afgelopen decennium. Het is weer fijn om op sommige onbegrijpelijke keuzes in te hakken, dat doet een mens altijd goed.

Mijn eigen lijstje van de jaren 00 levert alleen wel grote problemen op. Ten eerste omdat ik in een handomdraai iets van 20 albums neerzet die er zeker in horen, maar die rangschikken op volgorde van ‘goedheid’ is echt een onmogelijke zaak. Ten tweede omdat ik waarschijnlijk een stuk of 50 andere albums ben vergeten. Ten derde omdat ik de laatste tijd veel minder tijd heb om muziek te luisteren en dat er in alle lijstjes allemaal cd’s staan die ik echt weer moet gaan luisteren. Ik kan je vertellen, dit werkt echt ongelooflijk frustrerend.

What to do? Je i-tunes aanzetten (die duidelijk nog te leeg is na een harde schijf crash), je i-tunes de rest van de dag niet meer uitzetten, een blog als deze schrijven, genieten van alle prachtige muziek en af en toe trots een blik werpen op je last.fm, het enige lijstje wat altijd perfect is.

Streaming Media West is in full swing.  With 150 speakers and 40 sessions, it is a real treat that all the videos will soon be posted at StreamingMedia.com. The video to my Commonwealth Club Smarter TV event from earlier this week will also soon be available on FORA.tv.  Between the two events, there was much discussion about the features (entertainment, social, commerce) of the connected devices and their ability to serve as monetization platforms for indie content, so this post is dedicated to providing a short synopsis of what was discussed and an overview of the market offerings.

Xbox 360
- 16mm consoles in North America, 33mm worldwide
- 1.5mm active before and after the Superbowl
- starting at $199 plus subscription to Xbox LIVE
- 25,000 pieces of content via Netflix (17,000) and Zune Marketplace
(Paramount, Lionsgate, Sony, MGM, Disney, ABC, CBS, NBCU, TBS, MTV, WB)
- Indie games get 70/30 split on XBLA via creators.xna.com/en-US
- Indie content best path to Xbox is via New Video, a Zune aggregator
- The Guild, Xbox chart-topping show, was a direct deal
- Magical friending features allow 8 Xbox LIVE living rooms linked to watch same shows, also integrating FB photos, Twitter, Last.fm
- Xbox is working toward a remoteless future with Project Natal
(per Marc Whitten, Xbox @ SMW talked about going from one to many to many to many, the channel of one, from audience to community, from programming guide to contextual search and social discovery with ratings and recommendations, tapping into the 300mm FB users, and 25mm Twitter users, and 1B+ mobile phones, PC was smart then got connected, phones were connected then got smart, TVs are now smart and connected, Xbox creating a world where it all just works – gaming, internet, tv, focused on content, community, curation, control; more details at:  http://itvt.com/interview/6110/radio-microsoft-xbox-live-general-manager-marc-whitten)

Ps3*
- 8mm+ consoles in North America, 29mm consoles worldwide
- starting at $299 includes Blu-ray player, no charge for access to Net
- Sony launching Sony Online Service for movies, tv, music, books, games
- 10,000+ hours of download content, 14,400 TV shows, 2,300 movies
- 40 partners incl Netflix, Lucasfilm, Cinetic FilmBuff, ContentFilm Intl, Image Ent, MPI Media, New Video, Showtime, Starz, G4, E!, Summit Entertainment, Weinstein, HD Net, VIZ Media, FUNimation, Magnolia,
- Best path to PS3 is via New Video, aggregator for iTunes, Hulu, Zune..
- Social integration with Facebook games

Wii*
- 56mm consoles worldwide,
- Japan video service: original branded programming, CinemaNow
- no US movies or TV yet, Netflix maybe never

TiVo
- 1.6mm – 3.5mm subscribers, launched 10yrs ago
- $249 + $129/year (also bundled with cable/sat packages)
- DVR stores up to 1TB of TV, broadband features, integrated search
- 50,000+ VOD movies/tv via Netflix, Amazon, Blockbuster, CinemaNow, Disney, YouTube, Rhapsody, Music Choice, Live365
- Thousands of video podcasts which indie producers can add to at:
www.tivo.com/rssvideo
- Indie producers can also get on TiVo Amazon VOD via CreateSpace.com
- no FB integration, Twitter onscreen chat, can share lists w friends
- in-show purchasing with remote related to specific ad campaigns
(per Evan Young, TiVo @ Commonwealth Club Smarter TV)

Apple TV*
- 500,000-6mm units sold, now starting at $229
- 50,000 tv episodes,175,000 podcasts, 2500+ movies
- Fox, Lionsgate, MGM, Miramax, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Touchstone, Universal, Disney, WB, YouTube…
- Best path on to iTunes is via an aggregator like E1 or New Video

Boxee
- 700,000 free software downloads, expect to be at 1mm by CES
- Boxee box – partnering with TV, Blu-Ray, DVR, Game Console OEMs
- 180 partners incl Netflix, MLB, eGuiders, Pandora, Last.fm, Flickr, KidMango..
- Open SDK for indie producers to put up a channel: developer.boxee.tv
- Integrating payments platform for monetization of show content, merchandise
like having first two episodes ad-supported, buy now button for the rest of the season
- monetization should be available by summer 2009
- 2009 improve platform, grow user base, 12/7 Boxee Beta Unveiling w global search
- Cool friending feature to generate virality
(per Andrew Kippen, Boxee @ Commonwealth Club SmarterTV)

Roku
- 400,000 give or take a few hundred thousand units sold
- $79, $99, $129 wifi models sold on Roku.com and Amazon
- Netflix, Amazon, MLB, Revision3, Twit.tv, Blip.tv, Mediafly
- Open SDK enables any indie producer to launch own channel
- not about social interaction, no merchandising
(per Jim Funk, Roku @ Commonwealth Club SmarterTV)

Vudu
- 100,000 units sold starting at $150
- now licensing to LG, Mitsubishi, Vizio
- On-Demand TV/Movies, Pandora, YouTube, Flickr, Picasa..
- Select video podcasts, RSS Feed not accepting indie content yet
(per Rob Holmes, Vudu @ SMW)

Yahoo! Connected TV
- On Samsung, Sony, LG, soon Vizio (WiFi TV), Toshiba (DVD player)
in 13 different countries, remote with slider keyboard
- CBS, Y! Finance, eBay, Amazon, Blockbuster, Flickr, USA Today, Twitter
- Widget SDK: http://connectedtv.yahoo.com/developer
- Leverage 70mm US and 6000 existing widgets to bring best of the web into a TV friendly environment
- No app commerce, open surf or in-show merchandising yet
(per Russ Schafer, Yahoo! Connected TV @ Commonwealth Club SmarterTV)

ZillionTV
- Entertainment and marketing service, not selling boxes
- Going through ISPs/telcos, OEMs embedded software stack, direct to consumer
- 60+ content partners including major media players:
Fox, Sony, NBCU, Disney, WB, Lionsgate, Paramount + 60 indie producers
- Self-selectable advertising play, consumer choice ad categories
- VISA rewards to allow interactive in-show purchasing with remote
- Best path to get content onto ZillionTV is content@zilliontv.tv
- And there will be a social component, fan of Nicholas Negroponte’s Being Digital
(per Mitch Berman, ZillionTV @ Commonwealth Club SmarterTV)

Sezmi*
-Just landed $25mm, starting trial in LA
(For more:  http://itvt.com/interview/6109/radio-sezmi-co-founder-chairman-and-president-phil-wiser)

FLO TV
- Bought Channel 55 spectrum in digital transition
- Now able to broadcast TV, no broadband capacity issues, no buffering
- 24/7 access to live sports, breaking news, hit shows, animation,
kids programming, soaps, game shows, reality, comedy, crime dramas
- CBS Mobile, (Y&R, CSI), Comedy Central (quick ht snacking)
- perishable content that offers social currency where live matters
- viewers watch on average 30min/day more than Hulu at 9min/day
- 900min/month more than the average voice minutes used per month
- Peaks at 1pm, stays relatively consistent 2-10pm
- 7/7/09 MJ Memorial 49minutes, most viewed in history of FLO TV
- most watch 150hrs/month, 120-180hrs range,
95% broadcast, 5% on demand
- In the top 100 cities in the US
- ATSCMH standard, DVR capability more of a rights issue
- FLO TV is standard in Japan, not using US technology
- Can’t disclose current subscriber #s, many millions split
between ATT and Verizon
- 99% subscription based, not ad supported model
- Projecting 43mm mobile tv users by 2013, 67mm by 2019
- Focusing on mobile, personal tvs and auto-entertainment
- 3″ PTV is $249, $10/month (first 6m free with purchase)
- working on monthly passes, day passes, event passes
- Established content delivers the comfort and safety of brands they know
- Original content like LXD, Amanda Congdon’s SometimesDaily
keeps them coming back for more
- Path for indie content on to FLO TV incl MyDamnChannel
- FLO TV might be integrated in nexgen iPhone
- No plans for a 20″ FLO TV but great alternative to cable
(per Bill Stone, FLO TV @ SMW)

*not present at SMW or Smarter TV

NATPE, 1/25-28
NATPE, beloved trade association that champions content deal flow, was onsite as well interesting new media companies in being showcased at the NATPE Market in Vegas in January.  The show will have a featured section for the Connected Home, and qualified exhibitors are being offered face time with major media players, venerable press outlets, and possibly even brand sponsors.  For more information, visit www.natpemarket.com, check out our NATPE LATV Fest coverage, or contact evie@natpe.org for exhbitor opportunities.

Back to the party
The party is still going strong tonight with the Reader’s Choice Awards and performance by VJ remixers Eclectic Method.  You can watch it via live stream.  And tomorrow, Epix kicks off the morning keynote which will be streamed live as well, then its another full day of programming.  In addition, there is a sizable show floor with a demo stage and rows and rows of exhibitors.  Check out Google’s little plush googlers. who won Content NOW’s Best of Schwag.  And be sure to stop by Tandberg for their timeshifting keychain and remote mints and Microlink for their pocket frisbees.  End of day, the remarks from Epix will be posted along with those from Revision3, MTV, Next New Networks, FUNimation, Tubemogul, and Electric Farm.  And then when the SMW video posts I’ll circle back on yesterday’s sessions with Hot Topic and HBO Broadband. Many thanks to conference director Dan Rayburn who embraces his attendees, offering them his cell number, free industry analyses and business development introductions. He was an enormous help to me with my Smarter TV event and this post.  He lives and breathes the stuff, and it shows.  Check out his post on the market:
http://blog.streamingmedia.com/the_business_of_online_vi/2009/09/breakdown-on-the-number-of-broadband-enables-devices-sold-in-the-us.html

Hallöchen. Heute wollte ich hier mal so auflisten, was sich so alles auf meinem iPhone-Homescreen tummelt.

Fangen wir mit dem Dock an:

Seite 1:

Seite 2:

Seite 3:

Das waren meine ersten 3 Seite komplett. Jetzt kommen nur noch “Empfehlungen”:

Stand: 2009-11-18. (iTunes-Links)
Alle Angaben ohne Gewähr.
P.S.: Ich habe einige Apps nicht zu diesen Preisen gekauft. Da waren sie zeitweise günstiger o. Ä.

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It’s what we do…

Am facut treijdimii de play-uri pe last.fm \:D/ confirmarea : http://www.last.fm/user/Alina_a

Top 10 Artists:

1. Tom Waits (2,546)
2. Alexandru Andries (1,753)
3. Pasarea Colibri (1,505)
4. Ensiferum (1,446)
5. Celelalte cuvinte (1,293)
6. Eluveitie (1,123)
7. Ada Milea ( 916 )
8. Tudor Gheorghe (632)
9. Patrice (597)
9. Richard Cheese (597)
10. Luna Amara (565)

Top 10 Tracks:

1. Ensiferum – LAI LAI HEI (319)
2. Tom Waits – Yesterday Is Here (283)
3. Alexandru Andries – asa am crezut si noi (207)
4. Alexandru Andries – cea mai frumoasa zi (167)
5. Morcheeba – Enjoy The Ride (Feat. Judy Tzuke) (165)
6. Pasarea Colibri – Nu-i Nimic (161)
7. Michael Nyman – The Heart Asks Pleasure First (160)
8. Helloween – A Tale That Wasn’t Right (154)
9. Eluveitie – Bloodstained Ground (148)
10. Luna Amara – Transitions (145)