I’m a complete idiot when it comes to mental arithmetic and aspect ratios. Everything else I can convert in my head, and yet … here is an absurdly simplistic solution: Aspect Ratio Calculator Built in Java. Now, should Jaymis and I set about building our own open source alternative with lots of powerful features? (I […]
Music
In Tbilisi, music is on pause because democracy is on the line
Music Stories October 25, 2024
In music video, Lebanese duo Rust captures emotions of “Diaspora”
Music October 11, 2024
Go support these Lebanese releases on Bandcamp
Music October 4, 2024
Bent Derelict Spacecraft Keyboard, Musini Ambient Music Generator
Mike’s description: “It’s the type of artifact you might discover hidden away on a derelict alien freighter drifting aimlessly somewhere near the ancient center of our galaxy … There are mysterious faded glyphs on the buttons – the remnants of a now long dead language.” Mike aka Chronovalve writes CDM to share two new projects: […]
DIY MIDI Controller from Pennies and Popsicle Sticks
“It’s kinda ghetto”, notes creator Cousin Throckmorton, but a series of pennies becomes a touch interface for Ableton Live and drums in Battery. Apologies if you’ve seen this; I hadn’t. (That or else I had, and they didn’t push the whole “pennies and popsicles” angle.) The $.08 Ableton Live Controller His MySpace blog, 13unluckysongsaboutlove, is […]
Adobe Lightroom Goes 1.0: Shipping Soon, Introductory Price US$199
We’ve covered Lightroom from early in the beta. Now adobe have put up a product page, thanked the half-million beta testers, and announced that Lightroom won’t be a part of CS3, but will be shipping mid-feb, for an introductory price of US$199 (until May, then $299). I feel that $200 is quite reasonable for the […]
Quartz Composer: Fun, Easy, Frustrating and Beguiling
Robert of Flight404 fame has posted his initial dabblings in Quartz Composer. I find it rather exciting that a Processing Ninja such as Robert can find inspiration in QC. I have a terrible head for languages – both human and machine – so I’ve been wondering whether a node-based environment may be easier for me […]
Mute VJ: Open Source, Flash/Flex-Based Visual App Integrates flickr, Yahoo Maps
VJing with flickr? Clubbing with Yahoo Maps? Flash/Flex and Apollo-based apps present some interesting new ideas. We’ve been tracking the excellent Flash 9-based Onyx VJ tool, among others, and it’s nice to see the “open source Adobe-based VJ app” category growing. Mute is very early in development, perhaps not as far along as Onyx, but […]
Vista Launch is Here; Developers, Help Us Get Ready
This afternoon, I’m off to Microsoft’s Vista launch shindig. I’m hoping there will be clowns and ponies. After all, Microsoft can afford a party. As for the OS itself, I can’t resist relevant quotes from Star Trek III: Uhura: Would you look at that! Kirk: My friends, the great experiment: The Excelsior. Ready for trial […]
Gallo’s 5LS Prototype: Gorgeous, 78-inch Tall Giant Speakers
While on the subject of Gallo Speakers, here’s about as far as you can get from the baby-sized A’Diva satellites: speakers that tower 78″ tall, pack some 12 4″ aluminum woofers each, and deliver nearly omni-directional sound. Micro speakers (5″ each), yes, but in a slender but tall enclosure. The Reference 5LS speakers, due third […]