If you like touch screen technology, then your going to really like Apple's new touch screen in the dashboard. The company recently filed a patent to produce a system that will replace most of your car's existing instrumentation.
When Apple announced the forth coming release of iTunes Radio last June, there was some speculation at that time, that that was the next step in the company's move toward the, "connected car." The idea was that was floating around was that the iPhone and iOS would not only provide a way to listened to your downloads, but to make phone calls and access the internet from your car as well.
The touch screen dashboard will be capable of a whole lot more. Apple is looking to make manual control of your car obsolete. The new design is said to include not only touch screens, but cameras for head and eye tracking, lasers for light, and voice actuation for hands free adjustments. Under the new system a driver will be able to control not only the radio and the temperature, but the headlights, wipers, mirrors, and much more.
Apple also intends to add tactile features that will act as knobs and sliders for control of your car's instrumentation. This will be done by the inclusion of indents and raised portions of the screen that will glow when they're ready to be used and fade once the action is finished.
What's being called the "iDash," by some bloggers, is expected to make it's way into vehicles in 2014, in time for the 2015 model release. May car manufacturers are already on board. When all is said and done, it looks like the future is quickly becoming the present.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Thursday, July 18, 2013
New Release
I've just released a new single under my given name, John Hughley, entitled, "Runaway Love." It's available at iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon, and Google Play. To hear a full stream, just click the widget below.
A video clip of "Runaway Love," is available at YouTube. Thank you for listening.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Pandora's Box
I like Pandora, the internet radio site. The first time I used it I thought it was awesome. You didn't even have to log on. You just type an artist's name into the search box and the program generates a station using the music of that artist and those that are similar. What better way is there to listen to music then hearing only what you want to hear?
When I read that Pandora wanted artists whose music they used on their site to take a cut in royalty payments I couldn't believe it. The claim was made that the company was successful but not profitable. That the only way Pandora would ever turn a profit is if the company could pay recording artists less.
Pandora even took their plight before congress in the form of the Internet Radio Fairness Act introduced late in 2012. Many major artists and recording companies were immediately move to action against the bill. However, time ran out on the 112th Congress and the bill was not passed. This year the most recent protests against Pandora have been made by the surviving members of Pink Floyd. The members complained that they had only received $16.89 for 1 million plays of the song "Low."
If a major legacy band like Pink Floyd only got $16.89 for a million plays of one song, then lesser known artist with fewer plays most certainly are receiving even less then that. So where is all the ad revenue that Pandora is getting, really going? Why must the artists, who are supplying the content, being asked to take less for the use of their work? Surely, there must be another way for such a successful company to turn a profit.
Enter iTunes Radio. A Wall Street analyst has just compared iTunes Radio to Pandora and has called it a worthy competitor. As a result, Pandora stock dropped by 9%. With that alone, one would think that Pandora would rethink their strategy. The artists were once in their corner. Why continue to alienate them, when it's their music that has made Pandora what it is today.
Pandora's box is indeed open.
When I read that Pandora wanted artists whose music they used on their site to take a cut in royalty payments I couldn't believe it. The claim was made that the company was successful but not profitable. That the only way Pandora would ever turn a profit is if the company could pay recording artists less.
Pandora even took their plight before congress in the form of the Internet Radio Fairness Act introduced late in 2012. Many major artists and recording companies were immediately move to action against the bill. However, time ran out on the 112th Congress and the bill was not passed. This year the most recent protests against Pandora have been made by the surviving members of Pink Floyd. The members complained that they had only received $16.89 for 1 million plays of the song "Low."
If a major legacy band like Pink Floyd only got $16.89 for a million plays of one song, then lesser known artist with fewer plays most certainly are receiving even less then that. So where is all the ad revenue that Pandora is getting, really going? Why must the artists, who are supplying the content, being asked to take less for the use of their work? Surely, there must be another way for such a successful company to turn a profit.
Enter iTunes Radio. A Wall Street analyst has just compared iTunes Radio to Pandora and has called it a worthy competitor. As a result, Pandora stock dropped by 9%. With that alone, one would think that Pandora would rethink their strategy. The artists were once in their corner. Why continue to alienate them, when it's their music that has made Pandora what it is today.
Pandora's box is indeed open.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
It's About The Return Of High Fidelity
On June 20th, Universal Music Group announced the release of it's new high resolution audio disc called High Fidelity Pure Audio at Dolby Head quarters in London. What's interesting about this news is that this is not the first attempt to introduce such a product. About 10 years ago, it was DVD Audio and SACD. And, there's the question of why now, when consumers are beginning to move onto digital downloads and streaming media?
The High Fidelity Pure Audio disc is basically a Blu Ray disc that can be played back on any Blu Ray device or PS3. The bit resolution is 24/96kHz which has become the standard for recording major releases and is much greater than the 16 bit 44.1kHz found on today's CDs. Most high end mp3s may be 256kbps to 320kbps and the file is a lossy file, which means that some audio was removed when the music was encoded.
The mp3 has been a great start for the age of digital distribution, but it only provides a measure of immediacy, The sound quality has always been lacking. The average listener may not be able to discern the difference between an mp3 and a lossless music file such as FLAC, but with digital, the higher the resolution the better the sound.
There are those who think this move by the High Fidelity Pure Audio group or, HFPA will only meet with failure. There is, and this is just my opinion, the possibility that there maybe new audio devices in the works. And, the release of another optical playback media is a good way to not only take advantage of the growth of Blu Ray, but possibly to introduce new hardware. Also, HFPA discs will be sold with the added bonus of downloading your music as a 320kbps mp3 or lossless FLAC.
This might be a good time to bring the FLAC file to the forefront. A FLAC file is like a zip file for music. No information is lost when the file is encoded. The same amount of data that goes into the file is what you get back when it is decoded. Plus, a FLAC file can be played while in it's encoded form and still deliver the same sound as the file it was made from. Making major releases available as FLAC files would give listeners both the immediacy that they've come to enjoy from downloading, with the added bonus of improved sound quality.
I think that it will be interesting to see just what will happen in the months ahead. While it's clear that most music lovers have kind of forgotten about high fidelity in this digital age, there's always the possibility that all that is needed is time and opportunity for music fans to find their way back to true fidelity at last.
The High Fidelity Pure Audio disc is basically a Blu Ray disc that can be played back on any Blu Ray device or PS3. The bit resolution is 24/96kHz which has become the standard for recording major releases and is much greater than the 16 bit 44.1kHz found on today's CDs. Most high end mp3s may be 256kbps to 320kbps and the file is a lossy file, which means that some audio was removed when the music was encoded.
The mp3 has been a great start for the age of digital distribution, but it only provides a measure of immediacy, The sound quality has always been lacking. The average listener may not be able to discern the difference between an mp3 and a lossless music file such as FLAC, but with digital, the higher the resolution the better the sound.
There are those who think this move by the High Fidelity Pure Audio group or, HFPA will only meet with failure. There is, and this is just my opinion, the possibility that there maybe new audio devices in the works. And, the release of another optical playback media is a good way to not only take advantage of the growth of Blu Ray, but possibly to introduce new hardware. Also, HFPA discs will be sold with the added bonus of downloading your music as a 320kbps mp3 or lossless FLAC.
This might be a good time to bring the FLAC file to the forefront. A FLAC file is like a zip file for music. No information is lost when the file is encoded. The same amount of data that goes into the file is what you get back when it is decoded. Plus, a FLAC file can be played while in it's encoded form and still deliver the same sound as the file it was made from. Making major releases available as FLAC files would give listeners both the immediacy that they've come to enjoy from downloading, with the added bonus of improved sound quality.
I think that it will be interesting to see just what will happen in the months ahead. While it's clear that most music lovers have kind of forgotten about high fidelity in this digital age, there's always the possibility that all that is needed is time and opportunity for music fans to find their way back to true fidelity at last.
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