I was listening to CNet’s Buzz Out Loud podcast. They were discussing a potential purchase of Skype by Google. Tom and Molly could not imagine what the purpose of the purchase would be. The general purpose could be as simple as “something cool”, but there is real potential to make Skype huge with this purchase. GMail + Skype.
Then when you log into your Gmail account, you’re met with an extra widget on the left hand column that, very innocently, says “Skype”. So Skype replaces GTalk, but it also adds the functionality of a phone to GMail. From within GMail, you could make a phone or video call to any of your Google contacts. Aside from calling your Skype or Google contacts, you can now make or receive phone calls. In order to make those calls, you need to give Google some money.
I always felt that Skype’s problem was that it wasn’t in front of enough people. You have to go and download a piece of software. There is no web interface to Skype either, which I feel is a mistake. With a box within GMail, Skype is in front of a whole lot more people than they were before. This would also add the Skype box to all of the people who have Google Apps for Domains, which is also a large number.
In this arguement, it’s all about the number of people that would have access to Skype.
Posted on 2008-04-03
The first is a Mac Book Pro with a Core 2 Duo processor. That’s #1 with a bullet.
The next idea hasn’t actually happened yet.
I own an Apple iPod HiFi. We needed something to go in the breakfast nook that the iPod could hook up to that didn’t look like a piece of crap and sounded pretty decent. The HiFi won out.
With the addition of their new “iTV” device that’s coming out in January, I want something liek that for audio that’s not the Airport Express with AirTunes. AirTunes is nice and all, but if I’m just going to hook up the Airport Express to the HiFi, why can’t I get a wifi enabled iPod HiFi?
I want a iPod HiFi that is wifi enabled so I can just send music right to it from iTunes.
Additional features: Next, Last and Play on the Apple Remote can control iTunes.
Get on it Steve Jobs and company!
Posted on 2006-09-15
I’m continually gearing myself for the purchase of a new laptop. Claiming that when I do, my current G5 setup is going to become an actual “office” setup for me so I can have a workspace in the house that will be designated only for work.
Until recently I used Intuit’s QuickBooks for invoicing and a PDA alongside Apple’s iCal for scheduling. Both of these things teather me to my computer for writing invoices and setting up my schedule. That changed when I realized that I was continually falling behind on both. I couldn’t schedule on the fly if I had forgotten my PDA and I was on location and if I didn’t have my PDA with me, I didn’t generally keep the best notes on what the hell I was billing someone for.
I lost my Quickbooks info thanks to an oversight on my part while re-installing my system and was left without any invoicing software. Whoops. I couldn’t find the install for the life of me so rather than continually fighting to find it, I moved forward and thanks to some searching on TechCrunch I found BlinkSale for invoicing and had been using Planzo for scheduling for a little while. Along with GMail, I’m able to be on the go and still have access to my “office.”
So I went from being tied to a machine to being able to schedule and invoice on the go anywhere I have access to the internet. Pretty soon I’m pretty sure I’m going to wind up getting a smartphone where I’ll be able to access these web applications anytime I have an EVDO cellphone signal (which is very often).
At this rate I’ll be able to use my G5 for ONLY audio needs and not have any need to use my office for office functions, but only for studio use.
Woo hoo!
Posted on 2006-07-10
So I bought the Fiona Apple record “Extrodinary Machine” recently and amid all the other bunk it says “DVD SIDE - Entire Album in Enhanced Stereo”.
So being an audio engineer, I’m naturally curious about what this means. Does it mean bit depth (which loosely translates into depth volume)? Does it mean sample rate (again, loosely means higher frequencies can be heard)? How “enhanced” is this audio?
A little web searching finds me the AVS Forums and a link to a Sound and Vision Magazine article on the topic (link).
enhanced stereo is 48-kHz/16-bit linear PCM. Which, of course, is just a shade above the CD spec of 44.1/16.
Meaning: WORTHLESS. In order to marry audio with video it NEEDS to be at this sample rate. ALL DVD audio is at this sample rate. I call shenanigans on Sony on this one.
I doubt they ven bounced a seperate 48kHz mix for the DVD, I bet the just upconverted the 44.1kHz mixes rendering these COMPLETELY useless.
Let’s not get into why the CD says “The audio side of this disc does not conform to CD specifications and therefore will not play on some CD and DVD players.” It makes me too upset.
As an aside - the record is great. I like the quirkyness of the previous mixes that I managed to get my hands on, but these serve the purpose as well. I miss the strings on “Not About Love” but oh well.
Posted on 2006-07-09
