I had read about the i-20 iPod dock a few months ago. It seemed like a very exciting proposition: a dock that could extract the digital signal of the music stored on an iPod without relying on the iPod’s own digital-to-analogue circuitry, and pass the music to an external DAC (digital to analogue converter) for [...]
I, Gearhead (Part 2: Mobile and Music)
In Part 2 of this post, I discuss my mobile tech (smartphones, tablets and such) as well as my music reproduction hardware. Part 1 (Hardware and Software) is here. On the mobile front, I’m a happy iPhone 3GS user and have been for a while. It’s still a great device, and even though I’ve checked [...]
I, Gearhead (Part 1: Hardware and Software)
“One only needs two tools in life: WD-40 to make things go, and duct tape to make them stop.” — G. Weilacher “It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” — Albert Maslow As I’ve mentioned before, I love reading every new post [...]
What we can learn from gear porn
Nerds get a bad rap. We are being made fun of for our love of, and intimate ways with, our gear. When I say ‘gear,’ I mean computers, musical instruments, stereo equipment, cameras… anything that only reveals its depth when engaged with properly, and anything where there’s always a ‘step up,’ a better version that [...]

Complexity and emotion in design
[Direct link for non-Flash devices] I like some of Don Norman‘s (now slightly older) theses about complexity and emotion in design. In an online essay entitled Emotional Design: People and Things he writes, Products differ in their appeal on the three design dimensions, but so too do people and situations. Some people are behavioral, emphasizing [...]
Why Apple’s iPad will be very, very successful
Sometimes, the prevailing discourse on the Internet makes one want to despair. Blog post after blog post of the same drivel. It often feels as though the ‘blogosphere’ is a little like The Island, a 2005 movie where Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johannson wear futuristic clothes and live in a hermetically sealed underground compound. Everyone [...]
What makes a smartphone successful?
It’s been more than a month since I last blogged here. I took some well-deserved time off during December. Since last time, I’ve bought an Apple iPhone (more hipster stuff) and Google launched its Nexus One phone. Coincidentally, both happened on the same day but there was no intentional relationship between these events (unless Google [...]
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About

Carsten Knoch
Software and services professional, attentive music listener, vision enabler, instigator, reader of books and the web, vegetarian, affordable audio hobbyist, thinker, writer, blogger, tinkerer, Internet dweller since 1992. Human being since 1970.
I blog about music, technology, business, vegetarian food, politics, culture and life.
More about me on the About page.
Me, elsewhere
@carstenknoch on Twitter
- Barbarism is not the inheritance of our prehistory. It is the companion that dogs our every step. (Alain Finkielkraut) 21 hours ago
- Music really is amazing. No matter how deeply you steep yourself in it, or for how long--there's always a fantastic new artist to discover. 1 day ago
- More world's worst brands: http://t.co/FEgngM6s 1 day ago
- How to accommodate low literacy readers in your web writing. http://t.co/2s1dKV52 1 day ago
- @dybskiy So what — are you staying? 2 days ago
- @joniv Absolutely. No issues. We're having the easiest winter in the history of winters this year... can't complain really :) 3 days ago
- @joniv Great - now I have that song in my head! Hope you're well :) 4 days ago
- It's 5:30pm, and - strangely - things are finally starting to flow (where I've been beating my head against a wall for most of the day). 4 days ago
- How to catch an iPhone thief: Officer knows buttons to push. http://t.co/YHVgl0MS 1 week ago
- I have a nasty, sneaky cold. TGIF. 1 week ago

