There's also a new video clip! Thank you for listening.
Friday, November 29, 2013
New Release
I've just released a new song entitled, "Nth Degree." It's available at iTunes. To hear a full stream, click the Tunecore widget below.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
ISON Is Here
The much anticipated Comet ISON is expected to put on a spectacular show as it makes it's extremely close approach to the sun on Thanksgiving day, November 28, 2013. From now until then, ISON is expected to increase in brightness and then fade into the suns glare as it makes its way in. Right now, the comet can be seen as a faint blob of light above the horizon, in the south to south east portion of the early morning sky, at about a half an hour before sunrise.
The comet, C/2012 S1, was discovered by two amateur astronomers, Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok, after observing photographs taken by an ISON telescope in September 2012. ISON stands for International Scientific Optical Network and was established as a Russian initiative to monitor and study near Earth objects and space debris in 2001. In the year since its discovery, comet C/2012 S1 was given the name ISON.
Right now, as ISON gets closer to the sun, its getting brighter and brighter. ISON is expected to pass within 730,000 miles of the sun on Thanksgiving day. At that distance, it is possible that the comet may actually break up and fall into the sun.
If ISON survives its rendezvous with ole Sol, scientists say that it will appear as a very bright comet in the skies of the northern hemisphere. They also believe that the comet will pass in front of the sun as it moves back out into the solar system, and as it dose they may see extreme emissions of ultraviolet radiation. It's said that if ISON survives, it may even become visible during daylight hours.
ISON is expected to be visible with the naked eye through the month of December, including Christmas Eve and Christmas night. Have no fear though. ISON will pose no threat to the Earth. At its closest approach it will still be 40 million miles away, which is a little less than half of the distance between the Earth and the sun.
The comet, C/2012 S1, was discovered by two amateur astronomers, Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok, after observing photographs taken by an ISON telescope in September 2012. ISON stands for International Scientific Optical Network and was established as a Russian initiative to monitor and study near Earth objects and space debris in 2001. In the year since its discovery, comet C/2012 S1 was given the name ISON.
Right now, as ISON gets closer to the sun, its getting brighter and brighter. ISON is expected to pass within 730,000 miles of the sun on Thanksgiving day. At that distance, it is possible that the comet may actually break up and fall into the sun.
If ISON survives its rendezvous with ole Sol, scientists say that it will appear as a very bright comet in the skies of the northern hemisphere. They also believe that the comet will pass in front of the sun as it moves back out into the solar system, and as it dose they may see extreme emissions of ultraviolet radiation. It's said that if ISON survives, it may even become visible during daylight hours.
ISON is expected to be visible with the naked eye through the month of December, including Christmas Eve and Christmas night. Have no fear though. ISON will pose no threat to the Earth. At its closest approach it will still be 40 million miles away, which is a little less than half of the distance between the Earth and the sun.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Contract Free
On November 13th 2013, Google announced the release of it's Moto G smart phone. What makes that a big deal is that the Moto G is not only affordable, it's contract free.
The Moto G is an 8GB smart phone that sells for $179 and comes unlocked and contract free. The phone needs only a SIM card from any of the major carriers and you're off and running. This effectively eliminates the need for a two year agreement. Some smart phone users have found that the two year contract has not only lead to their paying for services that they may not have needed, but also left them waiting for months when they may have wanted or needed an upgrade.
This may also be good news for those non smart phone users who have been wanting to move on to a smart phone. Many standard cell phone users have found the cost of a smart phone either prohibitive, or a two contract not a viable option, due to credit restrictions or other budget concerns.
Google closed the buy out of Motorola Mobility in May of 2012. Many analyst believed that the company was looking to gain access to the thousand of patents owned by Motorola, while other say that Google clearly has its eye on the success of Apple's iPhone.
Looking ahead, work on curved screen technology has given rise to Samsung's just announced prototype of a foldable smart phone. On November 7th 2013, Samsung announced that they had created a prototype of a smart phone the size of a Galaxy S III that could be folded in half from top to bottom like a lady's compact.
The flexible OLED material used in making the phone is said to have withstood 100,000 foldings without any significant degradation in brightness or image quality at the screen's seam. Samsung says that more testing is needed before the phones can be released to the public. They believe that a two year time frame should be sufficient and are looking toward a 2015 release.
The Moto G is an 8GB smart phone that sells for $179 and comes unlocked and contract free. The phone needs only a SIM card from any of the major carriers and you're off and running. This effectively eliminates the need for a two year agreement. Some smart phone users have found that the two year contract has not only lead to their paying for services that they may not have needed, but also left them waiting for months when they may have wanted or needed an upgrade.
This may also be good news for those non smart phone users who have been wanting to move on to a smart phone. Many standard cell phone users have found the cost of a smart phone either prohibitive, or a two contract not a viable option, due to credit restrictions or other budget concerns.
Google closed the buy out of Motorola Mobility in May of 2012. Many analyst believed that the company was looking to gain access to the thousand of patents owned by Motorola, while other say that Google clearly has its eye on the success of Apple's iPhone.
Looking ahead, work on curved screen technology has given rise to Samsung's just announced prototype of a foldable smart phone. On November 7th 2013, Samsung announced that they had created a prototype of a smart phone the size of a Galaxy S III that could be folded in half from top to bottom like a lady's compact.
The flexible OLED material used in making the phone is said to have withstood 100,000 foldings without any significant degradation in brightness or image quality at the screen's seam. Samsung says that more testing is needed before the phones can be released to the public. They believe that a two year time frame should be sufficient and are looking toward a 2015 release.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Rhapsody Radio
On November 1st Rhapsody announced the release of Rhapsody Radio. The company has partnered with Echo Nest to provide an update to its mobile app for iOS and Android as well as its web player. The service is ad free, but there's a reason for that.
If you are already a Rhapsody user, you can go to Rhapsody.com, sign in, and preview the new radio for a short period of time. After that you are invited to sing up for a free 14 day trial. If you like what you see and hear, then agree to pay $9.99 a month for an unlimited music listening experience.
Other features include the ability to rewind a song and listen to it again. There's unlimited skipping, track preview, and if you like a song you can add it to your favorites list for playback at a moments notice. Rhapsody Radio also has the ability to play songs more or less like the artist or genre that you've chosen.
While it's true that Rhapsody has taken a bit of a back seat to some of the other streaming media services, they have however, maintained a very clean and clear sound streamed from their network. Downloads have also held a clear and crisp sound. Rhapsody Radio continues this tradition. Even if you prefer one of the other service, you may at least want to give Rhapsody Radio a try.
If you are already a Rhapsody user, you can go to Rhapsody.com, sign in, and preview the new radio for a short period of time. After that you are invited to sing up for a free 14 day trial. If you like what you see and hear, then agree to pay $9.99 a month for an unlimited music listening experience.
Other features include the ability to rewind a song and listen to it again. There's unlimited skipping, track preview, and if you like a song you can add it to your favorites list for playback at a moments notice. Rhapsody Radio also has the ability to play songs more or less like the artist or genre that you've chosen.
While it's true that Rhapsody has taken a bit of a back seat to some of the other streaming media services, they have however, maintained a very clean and clear sound streamed from their network. Downloads have also held a clear and crisp sound. Rhapsody Radio continues this tradition. Even if you prefer one of the other service, you may at least want to give Rhapsody Radio a try.
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