newsFlash: New iPods and the iTunes Wi-Fi Store

Posted on 06. Sep, 2007 in All, Blog, newsFlash | No Comments

I kinda nailed the prediction for a new iPod that is almost exactly an iPhone minus the phone (and email), but I never got the chance to put my prediction in print first :-) .

So, in light of missing that opportunity, I am announcing here my prediction that the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store that’s now on the new iPod touch and the iPhone (or at least will be within the next few weeks) will be quickly migrated over to satisfy the same need on the Apple TV.  They’ve developed the software for a simple but effective, so there’s now no excuse to not have the iTunes Store on your Apple TV (I mean, I can buy games directly through my Wii, so the Apple TV should be able to handle the same :-) ).
(Other announcements were the new iPod nano , new GUI and more storage for those and the revamped iPod classic, and some new colours for the iPod shuffle.)
I’m seriously considering migrating my blog over to make use of the new iWeb 08, so here’s hoping I get some free time to nail that down soon.  Thanks for reading!

newsFlash: YouTube profile

Posted on 10. Oct, 2006 in All, Blog, newsFlash | 2 Comments

I’ve been a little lax on postings lately because of a variety of things:

  1. We’re doing the final edits on Episode 2 of muzikDEN (which took longer than expected for a number of reasons) – it’ll be posted in the next week, though;
  2. I just received my new Mac Pro and had some difficulties – more about this and a rundown of the steps I take in setting up a new Mac in my next MacOnMacs post;
  3. and I still have to do my “day jobs” so I’ve got some money to finance the rest of these endeavours :-) .

In the meantime, though, I wanted to share with you a great article that a commandN viewer, Sid Yadav, has up on his rev2.org website. Sid has done a great 2000+ word profile on YouTube that has pretty much everything you’d want to know about the service.

Sorry for passing on the writing responsibilities to someone else for this post, but I needed to prioritize my efforts while still providing you, my dear readers, with some new info ;-) . More soon!

newsFlash: Jeff’s interview at Juxtaviews.com

Posted on 31. Aug, 2006 in All, Blog, newsFlash | 4 Comments

Just wanted to let you all know that I recently did an interview on behalf of commandN that’s now up at Juxtaviews.com. Kevin chatted with me about the show, the battle between TV and vidcasting, and what the future holds. Check it out!

newsFlash: Syd Barrett, founder of Pink Floyd, dies

Posted on 12. Jul, 2006 in All, Blog, newsFlash | No Comments

I feel that given the impact that he and the early Floyd albums had in my high school and undergrad years, I should share with everyone that Syd Barrett, the founder and original lead singer/guitarist of Pink Floyd, died yesterday.

Barrett was responsible for the group’s early singles, such as See Emily Play and Lucifer Sam, as well as penning almost all of their 1967 debut album, Piper at the Gates of Dawn . The ritualistic use and abuse of acid and other psychedlics, combined with the pressures of stardom, gradually incapacitated Barrett. In circumstances not unsimilar to Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys’ collapse after Pet Sounds, the band tried to keep Barrett around as a songwriter but replaced him on stage with a young David Gilmour. Barrett played a role in a couple of tunes on Pink Floyd’s sophomore release, A Saucerful of Secrets, but that was the end of his Floyd contributions (Shine On You Crazy Diamond off of 1975′s Wish You Were Here was a tribute to him).

Thankfully some of the band and related others coaxed Barrett into recorded two fascinating solo albums in 1970, the Madcap Laughs and Barrett (Opel, which consists of previously unreleased materials, was issued in 1988). As stated in the New Rolling Stone Record Guide (1983), these albums are “a fascinating if disconcerting case study of someone who went the chemical distance and never returned”. Thanks for all the beauty and madness, my friend. Rest in peace.

newsFlash: Brian and I Interviewed at Thunderbirdsix.org

Posted on 28. Jun, 2006 in All, Blog, newsFlash | 2 Comments

Forgot to post this when it originally aired a couple of weeks ago but Brian McKechnie (commandN‘s editor) and I did an interview for Episode 33 of the podcast Thunderbird Six.

Thuderbird Six is a Canadian podcast hosted by Dave Brodbeck, and he’s been doing quite a few interviews in the podcast world as of late. Anyway, take a listen – lots of interesting chats about the rise of podcasting, how we make commandN, and other fun stuff!

PS: You’ll have to excuse my own audio quality, as I’m just using a cheap headset through Skype :-) .

newsFlash: Torrent on G4TechTV

Posted on 12. Jun, 2006 in All, Blog, newsFlash | 3 Comments

I told you in my return post that I’d give you some details on what I was up to during “the Silent Months” on my blog :-) . Well one of those things was writing all the music, and coordinating the graphics with my friend and fantastic artist Yoshi Arima, for the new G4TechTV television show, Torrent.

Torrent is “a weekly one-hour television Internet-culture show for tech-savvy audiences looking for unique first-person pop-tech stories from around the world”. Torrent’s slogan is “from podcast to broadcast”, which refers to the fact that, aside from Amber’s hosting and some other short pieces, most of the content is taken from video podcasts online. So, in addition to my music and graphics work, I also have one of my commandN segments in each Torrent episode – which is cool b/c, well, it’s on TV :-) . As you can read on the website “Torrent will bring the best video podcast segments on the Internet to the living rooms of our viewers. It will be the first time ever that a network selects the best podcasts for broadcast”. A great idea and a substantial bridge between the online video world of podcasting and the world of traditional broadcast television.

The show is still very new but I’ve been noticing improvements almost every episode. It’s great to see some of the excellent content online cross mediums here, and I find myself learning something new with each show (which is the kind of viewing I like ;-) ). Although Torrent is only broadcast in Canada and (I think?) Australia right now, there are numerous ways to find and download this online (I’ll post a link if I find one, as I don’t think there’s much wrong with American and other viewers downloading content that they otherwise would have no access to). Check it out!

UPDATE: Found that link (and note that these do get progressively better, so watch through a few of the more recent ones too ;-) )… www.1hug.com/tor/.

newsFlash: Best and Worst Tech Products

Posted on 26. May, 2006 in All, Blog, newsFlash | 3 Comments

I don’t usually like to just point people to other articles in my blog posts, but PC World has recently followed up its list of “50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years” with a “25 Worst Tech Products of All Time” list, both of which are fun reads.

Topping out the list of best products are the Sony Walkman TPS-L2 (1979) and the Apple iPod (2001) – interesting that the two best tech products are both music-oriented. A look further down the list brings back fond memories of #7 – Atari Video Computer System (1977), #27 – Commodore 64 (1982), and some other hits from my childhood.

For worst products, we start out with America Online (1989-2006) and RealNetworks RealPlayer (1999) in the top two positions (no argument there). A couple of entries from Microsoft, Microsoft Windows Millennium (2000) and Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 (2001) appear at #4 and #8 respectively. And just to show you that I am not just a rabid Apple fanboy, I have to point out that Apple does have a couple of entries here too: Apple’s 16-pound Macintosh “Portable” (1989) at #17 and- did you know that before Xbox, PlayStation, or DreamCast, Apple had an internet-capable game console that connected to your TV? It did and it was crappy – #22, the Apple Pippin @World (1996).

What do you think the best and worst tech products are? Write a comment to let me and other readers know your picks (especially if they aren’t already on PC World’s list)!

newsFlash: I’m back…

Posted on 15. May, 2006 in All, Blog, newsFlash | 3 Comments

After an over-two-month hiatus, I am finally back (I hope you missed me! :-) ). I’ve been so insanely busy during that time that something just had to give. Unfortunately for you guys (and me, b/c I miss it), my blog was what got put on the back burner (seeing as how I still needed to put a roof over my head, and this thing doesn’t exactly pay the bills). Please accept my sincere apologies and I promise to get back on track with postings each and every week, and hopefully even more often (the daily posts took a little too much out of me for me to commit to that right away). :-)

A brief rundown of what I’ve been up to:

  • journeying to Sri Lanka for a couple of weeks to shoot a Tsunami Reconstruction video (soon to be released online – I’ll be sure to provide some more details here ASAP);
  • writing the music for, and directing the graphics production of, a new tech TV show;
  • finding out a lot of interesting Mac tips and tricks in all this work, while becoming more familiar with Final Cut Pro and some other apps (and also keeping up on the Apple rumour mill, of course);
  • traveling to Miami and Daytona Beach in Florida, and Vancouver, BC, and doing some shooting in each place;
  • developing some websites and other media projects;
  • and, of course, shooting commandN each week.

I’ll be posting more info on each and every one of these things and more, but since I’m just easing back into blogging I think I’ll keep you in suspense until my next post ;-) .

Thanks for hanging in there while my life got crazy-fied. I can’t wait to get back into the blogging community, reading your great comments, and providing you with some useful reading material. Let the blogging begin…

newsFlash: Merry Christmas!!!

Posted on 24. Dec, 2005 in All, Blog, newsFlash | 3 Comments

Been very busy with Christmas stuff for the past few days, so I’ve been a little light on postings. I’ll be back at it strong in a few more days, though. ;-)

It’s been a great year for me and commandN, and I’ve really enjoyed interacting with everyone through my blog. Thanks to all my readers, posters, and the online community in general, and I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Best wishes,

Jeff

newsFlash: Just Got Back From the TechTV Meet Up

Posted on 15. Dec, 2005 in All, Blog, newsFlash | 1 Comment

Thanks to everyone who made it out the TechTV Meet Up tonight (despite the snow storm in Toronto!). It was great to hang out with everyone in such a fun setting. If I got a chance to talk to you tonight (or even if I didn’t) then definitely send me an email to remind me and keep in touch. A lot of really cool folks out- from Research In Motion, IBM, the guy who did the Mac Front Row hack, some people who drove from Buffalo in the storm, displaced New Orleans-ers, guys from the Apple Store, and lots of other great podcasters, vidcasters, and fans. It’s wonderful to be a part of such a strong community (but I gotta go to bed now – work tomorrow :-) ).

Rebuild Ampara – Episode 3commandN 235commandN 244commandN 239

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