Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Geeky Thursday again

121 Responses

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  • Hadyn Green,

    Oh I get it now.
    In Starbucks you'll be able to buy music on their wifi but nothing else.

    As Gizmodo says: Give us a little taste for free, eh? How very crack-dealer of you.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn Green,

    And am i really the only person who puts their ipod in their pocket?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Andrew,

    Caring for your introvert

    Deborah, thanks, you are my new favourite person. :-)

    Hamiltron - City of the F… • Since Nov 2006 • 900 posts Report Reply

  • Adrian Wills,

    Big Apple fan that I am, I'm a little disappointed as the new touch is a bit of a sideways step... the beauty of the ipod has always been the simplicity of the necessary - it played music simply and easily at first, then it displayed pictures simply and easily, then you could watch video on it simply and easily... and that's all good and well but once you start adding internet capability via wifi, controlled via a touch screen, whilst still able to do all the previous things it could - but now in a much flasher fashion, it just seems that the idea of simple, easy and necessary are being shunted back for [all-be-it beautiful] design and features. It does still play music right?

    I really just want to listen to it when I'm walking around... and whilst all those features are great, 16GB capacity? Come on!

    I'll be upgrading to the 160GB classic no doubt but seems a shame it hasn't had much more refinement other a few little fringe benefits... has the traditional ipod come to a screaming half in growth? I really hope not.

    Parnell, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 45 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Wain,

    what's an API?

    Since Nov 2006 • 155 posts Report Reply

  • Hamboy,

    <quote>And am i really the only person who puts their ipod in their pocket?</ quote>
    Of course not. Just think apple don't realise that some of use wanna skip songs and adjust the volume all the time.

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 162 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Andrew,

    Turns out that other introverts have beaten me to it, and a quick google on antisocial networking turned up an article in New Scientist about Snubster and Isolatr.

    Hamiltron - City of the F… • Since Nov 2006 • 900 posts Report Reply

  • Hamboy,

    <quote>what's an API?</ quote>
    Wikipedia.
    Taught me everything I know, that didn't involve getting naked.

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 162 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    Caring for your introvert
    Deborah, thanks, you are my new favourite person. :-)

    Mine too.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Wain,

    Wikipedia can kiss my big ol' ass.

    c'mon, we heard what the hell a

    DAB (digital audio broadcasting)

    was... consistency's all I ask. & yep I'm lazy - like average Joe.

    and Apple is well over-rated, PC's really come around for me (apart from all those viruses). . .

    but that's another issue.

    Since Nov 2006 • 155 posts Report Reply

  • James Green,

    it's also ruining my musical reputation because of the time I listened to Van Halen's "Panama" about 20 times in a row.

    You can edit your last.fm chart if there is stuff that you wish to hide, but I think you only have like a week or so window in which to do it.

    Forget about Starbucks being the retailer used in the Wifi/iPod example. Eventually it'll be happening in other shops that play meaningful music. I like the idea of going into a cool shop, hearing some music playing in the store, and being able to to buy it on my iPod right away.

    Kinda, except sometimes you can have the most amazing conversations chatting to people about the music they have on. One night at Plato they were playing Pink Panther's Penthouse Party, and it was rool cool, but so was getting into a discussion about it with the owner. Or ages ago at Sirenz (RIP), getting introduced to Fairport Convention....

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    I also noted that Apple lopped $200 US off the price of the iPhone, (which generated much wailing and gnashing of fanboy early adopters teeth) making it now $399 US for 8GB, they also culled the 4GB one.

    But the buzz in the industry (music) has more to do with the Nokia store due this year, than the iPhone, or indeed the iPod, which, in this part of the world at least, seems to be largely slipping out of view under the wave of music enabled phones from Sony E and Nokia. It's easy to forget that Nokia sells as many phones every three days as Apple has iPhones in it's whole time on the market, and that total is growing both in number and sophistication. I can get a Wi-Fi enabled phone here with a reasonable memory for NZ$100 or less.

    Getting on the Starbucks playlist that hooks up with the WiFi iTunes and the iPhone/iPod will be quite important in the US.

    Back to Nokia who've been doing just this in Asian phone shops (and it's hard to overstate just how many there are of those in Asia) for quite some time.

    Then you toss the 3.5G revolution here into the mix...I can buy a 9GB pre-pay 3.5G unlimited time card here for $95 now....

    Already struggling musicians are posting songs to MySpace et al and feeling validated because 378 people have downloaded it and that's really important, man.

    In a way it is....we kinda used to find music, at least in NZ, these ways a lot of the time, and the mainstream broadcast media, as RB points out, simply doesn't have the legs any more...it (globally) no longer sells music, for a variety of reasons but mostly because the early adopters don't listen to it and start the ball rolling, whereas the expanding buzz from the likes of a MySpace site, or blog talk, live shows, or (in the good old days) a Rip It Up story, has that potential.

    Witness the LEDs and the buzz around them...more buzz right now in the fanworld, which is where it really matters, than any NZ act being played on any commercial station...and then look at Scribe, whose having trouble getting much buzz at all on his new stuff because he lost those people who might have bought the 378 copies off a MySpace page. It's actually really all about those 378 copies.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Hamboy,

    Fine. Advanced Programming Interface. Well that's the API I know and hate.

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 162 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Wikipedia can kiss my big ol' ass.

    Alright, without even looking at Wikipedia ...

    An API (application programming interface) is some code that allows one piece of software to talk to and interact with another, and make use of another's features.

    So if you're going to write a program for Windows, you'll need to relevant Windows APIs. If you want to write a game to run on an Xbox, you'll need the Xbox API, and if you want to mash Google Maps into your web application, you'll use the Google Maps API.

    Something like that.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • kmont,

    it's also ruining my musical reputation because of the time I listened to Van Halen's "Panama" about 20 times in a row.

    You can edit your last.fm chart if there is stuff that you wish to hide, but I think you only have like a week or so window in which to do it.

    This is good to know. I fear that my addiction to Notorious B.I.G. will be there for all to see........oops!
    I even feel nervous about people having a look at my itunes, it doesn't really reflect my current listening habits anyway. Mostly I listen to Lastfm and internet radio.

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 485 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    I would imagine that most music in Starbucks would be of the Norah Jones variety. I thought the point of having an iPod was to block out the white noise with music of your own choosing.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Rowe,

    International:

    Next thing you know we'll have websites where people too lazy dial talkback radio can spiel off their thought for the day and feel self important that their world view has been 'heard'.

    The future is now: http://www.youthink.co.nz/

    As advertised on Radio Sport where talkback rarely rises above how great/badly the ABs/Warriors/Knights etc are doing and whether Henry/Cleary/Herbert etc know what they are doing.

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Rowe,

    I would imagine that most music in Starbucks would be of the Norah Jones variety. I thought the point of having an iPod was to block out the white noise with music of your own choosing.

    I feel fairly confident that I won't walk into Starbucks and utter the phrase "ooh, I didn't realise there was a new godspeed you black emperor album out...."

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Wain,

    hey! that's ABs/Warriors/PHOENIX now buddy... you're right though, Radio Sport has never recovered from Graham Hill's departure.

    Since Nov 2006 • 155 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    There's nothing nicer than a long cup of hot vanilla-essence flavoured milk, and listening to Born In the USA in a squishy seat designed for a kingsized arse, just-like-me. Why would I ever leave?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Rowe,

    hey! that's ABs/Warriors/PHOENIX now buddy

    The talkback gods have yet to start piling into the Phoenix - give them a week or two!!

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report Reply

  • Andrew Smith,

    I recently had a coffee at a Starbucks in Manila...I think it was civet coffee without the beans.

    Since Jan 2007 • 150 posts Report Reply

  • robbery,

    -- it's a fairly striking example of the way that commercial radio is becoming irrelevant as a music discovery platform.

    what do you mean "is becoming"?
    its been a long time since anyone ever discovered anything they didn't already know on a radio in new zealand. (the odd notable exception, - has anyone given kiwifm a second chance listen after the first program director balls'd it all up? mr fagan's done a really impressive job of creating a listenable, entertaining and varied sound field in the key of nz music, and they said it couldn't be done)

    The other side of the starbucks thing is the concept of them becoming the radio station, which leads to people paying them to play their crappy records they can't sell. if it wasn't a chain store it wouldn't be so scary.

    I like the idea of a variety of independent stores with no corporate agenda who play anything they want or like giving customers the ability to find out and buy what they hear while shopping in the store.

    new zealand • Since May 2007 • 1882 posts Report Reply

  • kmont,

    I like the idea of a variety of independent stores with no corporate agenda who play anything they want or like giving customers the ability to find out and buy what they hear while shopping in the store.

    This kind of thing already exists albeit using the good old fashioned CD. There seemed to be quite a few totally awesome hybrid music/cafe/design stores in Tokyo. Not to mention people pimping their friends and their favourites in their own small shops. You could frequently buy something that was playing.

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 485 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Andrew,

    I know the hold music at my work plays the CD of the band one of our scientists plays in.

    Was quite convenient for us - no copyright issues in ripping it into MP3 to play on the system when the band has given its blessing.

    OTOH, I doubt Leonard sold any more CDs because of that exposure.

    Hamiltron - City of the F… • Since Nov 2006 • 900 posts Report Reply

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