Facebook privacy & digital NIMBY

The more you ‘live life transparently,’ the more you post to your social networking life stream, the more ‘friends’ and acquaintances you pick up along the way, the more you invite trouble. Well — that may be stating it strongly. … [read more]

Emerson String Quartet Mendelssohn Quartets

An octet with four people

In 2005, the Emerson String Quartet released an album of Mendelssohn’s string quartets which also included a version of the octet. Instead of partnering with another string quartet, though, they recorded it by themselves, taking great care to make it … [read more]

Two one-take music videos

These are fun, though (I think) unrelated. Both were shot in a single take (or at least made to look like it). OK Go, This Too Shall Pass (Rube Goldberg Machine Version) – sort of strange and amazing all at … [read more]

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 … [read more]

Peter Gabriel Scratch My Back

Listening to: Peter Gabriel, Scratch My Back

A review of Peter Gabriel’s Scratch My Back (2010) It’s a tricky business, doing covers of well-known and well-loved songs. Perhaps not when you’re Keith Jarrett or Brad Mehldau and you can fall back on a long-established tradition of converting … [read more]

Smartphones! by Vincent Diamante Creative Commons via Flickr

Corporate applications and content on smartphones

Barack Obama’s former BlackBerry, and the highly secure clunker it was allegedly replaced with, seem like an apt encapsulation of what enterprises are facing with the glut of new smartphones their users are connecting to corporate networks everywhere. As we … [read more]

Cowboy Hat

My theory about Nickelback

Now that the kind folks from the Vancouver Olympic committee have once again forced them down our collective throats during the closing ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics, I was reminded to share my theory about Nickelback. Does Nickelback warrant … [read more]