On March 17th 2014, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announced that they had discovered more evidence of the Big Bang, in the form of Gravity Waves. Gravity Waves were first predicted by Albert Einstein as part of his theory of General Relativity almost a century ago. The discovery also lends proof of the theory of Inflation, as put forth by Dr. Alan Guth in 1980. Gravitational Waves are ripples of energy within the fabric of space-time that move outward from the Big Bang at the speed of light.
The experiment, called, BICEP2 (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extra-galactic Polarization 2) took place at an observatory at the South Pole. Researchers used a telescope to detect a pattern of premordial B-mode polarization in the light coming from the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation or CMB. Gravitational Waves squeeze space-time as they propagate. While telescopes can't see Gravity Waves they can see the evidence they leave behind.
The polarization of light waves resulted in a pattern that was twisted and unique to the Big Bang. One researcher stated that they had made an image of of the Gravity Waves and that it "looks like a swirly pattern across the sky." This twisting of light found in the Cosmic Microwave Background is also an implication of Inflation, which is believed to be a brief but rapid expansion of the early universe.
The discovery of Gravity Waves is huge. Some believe that it's bigger than the discovery of the Higgs Boson. In my opinion, it may even one day help physicists explain the existence of Dark Energy.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
HD Music With The Pono Music Player
In September 2012, Neil Young went on the David Letterman Show to announce the forth coming release of his Pono Music Player. Pono is Hawaiian for righteous. The music of the Pono Player is said to be just that. The Pono Player plays192 kHz/24 bit music files that have been taken directly from artists original masters.
On March 12th, 2014, it was announced that Young's Kickstarter campaign had raised 1.6 million dollars in 24 hours after appearing at the SXSW Music Festival. Clearly, Neil Young may be on to something. By March 17th he had raised 3.6 million dollars, and on March 19th his Kickstarter page listed him at 4.2 million dollars.
The big deal here is that the landscape of digital music delivery may be about to change. And, why not? The Mp3 has been king since the late 1990s. And sure, it's been great to be able to pack thousands of songs into a player that could fit into your back pocket. But, the Mp3 was only able to do that because it compressed the music to make the files smaller.
At first, this was done because the early World Wide Web was accessed by using a slow dial up speed of a 56 kbps modem. Music files were compressed by removing a small portion of the audio content, most notably from the higher frequencies. This made music files small enough to stream with little or no rebuffering.
Flash forward, 15 years later, where broadband has become more readily available and because of that, more popular, and you can see that the way is now clear for a shift in technology. Files like FLAC are slowly gaining acceptance and adoption. In fact, Young's Pono Player is capable of playing that file type as well.
The Pono Player sells for $399 and it plays not only 192 kHz/24 bit files, but it can also play AIFF, ALAC, WAV, and of course FLAC files. At this time there is a question as to whether, or when single tracks will be made available, but albums will sell for $15 to $25 dollars. While the cost as listed may be a little higher than Mp3s right now, you've got to believe that at some point, when other companies begin to bring their product to the market place, prices will ultimately become more user friendly.
On March 12th, 2014, it was announced that Young's Kickstarter campaign had raised 1.6 million dollars in 24 hours after appearing at the SXSW Music Festival. Clearly, Neil Young may be on to something. By March 17th he had raised 3.6 million dollars, and on March 19th his Kickstarter page listed him at 4.2 million dollars.
The big deal here is that the landscape of digital music delivery may be about to change. And, why not? The Mp3 has been king since the late 1990s. And sure, it's been great to be able to pack thousands of songs into a player that could fit into your back pocket. But, the Mp3 was only able to do that because it compressed the music to make the files smaller.
At first, this was done because the early World Wide Web was accessed by using a slow dial up speed of a 56 kbps modem. Music files were compressed by removing a small portion of the audio content, most notably from the higher frequencies. This made music files small enough to stream with little or no rebuffering.
Flash forward, 15 years later, where broadband has become more readily available and because of that, more popular, and you can see that the way is now clear for a shift in technology. Files like FLAC are slowly gaining acceptance and adoption. In fact, Young's Pono Player is capable of playing that file type as well.
The Pono Player sells for $399 and it plays not only 192 kHz/24 bit files, but it can also play AIFF, ALAC, WAV, and of course FLAC files. At this time there is a question as to whether, or when single tracks will be made available, but albums will sell for $15 to $25 dollars. While the cost as listed may be a little higher than Mp3s right now, you've got to believe that at some point, when other companies begin to bring their product to the market place, prices will ultimately become more user friendly.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Blu Ray, The Next Generation
On Monday, March 10th 2014, Sony and Panasonic announced that they will be teaming up to develop and then release the next generation of optical media. They are calling the new media the Archival Disc. It will basically be the same size as a Blu Ray disc, but it will be readable for 50 years.
Sony and Panasonic will work on the disc together but plan to release the new disc separately in 2015. The first discs will have a capacity of 300 GB, with 500 GB and 1 TB discs to follow later. Current Blu Ray disc capacity is 25 GB.
The two companies expect to achieve the increased capacity by giving the discs three layers on each side and by making uses of multilevel recording technologies. Sony and Panasonic are aiming for the professional market for application, such as film and music recording. They also believe that the disc will be most suitable for Cloud storage.
The discs will not need any special storage considerations and will be free from temperature and humidity concerns. It's 50 year lifetime is longer then most hard drives currently in use, and it will be more durable then magnetic tape storage cartridges.
Sony and Panasonic are not currently considering the Archival Disc for home or consumer use, however, with enough consumer interest, who knows what the future may hold.
Sony and Panasonic will work on the disc together but plan to release the new disc separately in 2015. The first discs will have a capacity of 300 GB, with 500 GB and 1 TB discs to follow later. Current Blu Ray disc capacity is 25 GB.
The two companies expect to achieve the increased capacity by giving the discs three layers on each side and by making uses of multilevel recording technologies. Sony and Panasonic are aiming for the professional market for application, such as film and music recording. They also believe that the disc will be most suitable for Cloud storage.
The discs will not need any special storage considerations and will be free from temperature and humidity concerns. It's 50 year lifetime is longer then most hard drives currently in use, and it will be more durable then magnetic tape storage cartridges.
Sony and Panasonic are not currently considering the Archival Disc for home or consumer use, however, with enough consumer interest, who knows what the future may hold.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
CarPlay
In July 2013, I posted a blog about Apple's big move into your car. At that time I mentioned that The intended device would be a digital dashboard possibly called iDash. What was also announced by Apple at that time was the release of it's iOS in the car. That system, called CarPlay, was rolled out on Monday March 3rd, 2014.
CarPlay is set to premier in high end vehicles such as the Ferrari, Mercedes Benz, and Volvo with General Motors, Ford, Honda and others adding the new system down the road. CarPlay's interface is designed to sync with your iPhone 5 or can be accessed by pressing and holding down the control button on your steering wheel and accessing SIRI.
CarPlay's main screen sits in the center of the dashboard and mirrors the iOS design, with the exception of larger icons for better viewing. There are fewer icons than iOS, but those available include, navigation, iTunes Radio, phone, and messaging. Also included are third party apps from Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, and Beats Music. Other apps will be added at Apple's discretion.
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CarPlay is set to premier in high end vehicles such as the Ferrari, Mercedes Benz, and Volvo with General Motors, Ford, Honda and others adding the new system down the road. CarPlay's interface is designed to sync with your iPhone 5 or can be accessed by pressing and holding down the control button on your steering wheel and accessing SIRI.
CarPlay's main screen sits in the center of the dashboard and mirrors the iOS design, with the exception of larger icons for better viewing. There are fewer icons than iOS, but those available include, navigation, iTunes Radio, phone, and messaging. Also included are third party apps from Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, and Beats Music. Other apps will be added at Apple's discretion.
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Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Legal Tender
On February 25th, 2014 the Bitcoin exchange in Tokyo, Japan, Mt Gox collapsed. Bitcoin is a form of digital currency that has been in use since 2009. Bitcoins are used to pay for regular purchases of goods and services, in place of cash. Bitcoins are paid for with real money, such as dollars, euros, etc. Bitcoin value had gone as high as $1,151 in December 2013 before falling to $418.78 after the Mt Gox exchange crashed.
Mt Gox reported that as much as $390 million dollars worth of the virtual currency may have been stolen. Since Bitcoin was an unlicensed and unregulated currency, authorities are not certain what to do. Meanwhile, Bitcoin investors have lost thousands, if not millions of real dollars.
Bitcoin is the brain child of Satoshi Nakamto who created the virtual currency in 2008. However, it's been said that the Bitcoin was created anonymously, because no one has actually met Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto stopped communicating in 2011, but not before releasing a detailed self regulating concept, and the code for the crypto-currency.
Nakamoto's concept was to establish an organized, non government regulated currency without ties to a central banking authority. It's like Paypal or a credit card, except that no one has to use their name or their social security number. Its use is peer to peer.
Bitcoins can be bought or they can be obtained though a process called bitcoin mining. To get bitcoins, one must program their computer with a particular algorithm. Your computer must run the algorithm until it comes up with the right computation, before anyone else in the world does. If you are fortunate enough to do that, you win a block of 25 new bitcoins. This is a very simplified description of bitcoin mining, because the process of coming up with the right computation can take an inordinate amount computing power and possibly the use of more than one computer.
On Feruray 10, 2014, Mt Gox announced that "a bug in the Bitcoin software makes it possible for someone to use the Bitcoin Network to alter transaction details to make it seem like the sending of coins to a bitcoin wallet happened when it actually didn't." Thus the present state of affairs.
On February 26th, 2014, authorities in the US began calling for a ban on the Bitcoin, citing it as "encouraging illicit activity," and "highly unstable and disruptive to the economy." Because the use of Bitcoin is a peer to peer interaction, it can be used for illegal activities. However, at this time any restriction or ban of use of the Bitcoin will only come through the enactment of new legislation.
What is interesting about all of this, at least to me, is that since the late 1960s, the US has been moving toward a cashless society. Money has become increasingly more virtual, or digitized as we move on into the 21st century. Clearly, the Bitcoin experiment may not prove to be a success going forward, but it may have laid the ground work for the next step in evolution monetary and banking transactions. Undoubtedly more rules, regulations, and oversight will be needed to make the next crypto-currency work.
Mt Gox reported that as much as $390 million dollars worth of the virtual currency may have been stolen. Since Bitcoin was an unlicensed and unregulated currency, authorities are not certain what to do. Meanwhile, Bitcoin investors have lost thousands, if not millions of real dollars.
Bitcoin is the brain child of Satoshi Nakamto who created the virtual currency in 2008. However, it's been said that the Bitcoin was created anonymously, because no one has actually met Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto stopped communicating in 2011, but not before releasing a detailed self regulating concept, and the code for the crypto-currency.
Nakamoto's concept was to establish an organized, non government regulated currency without ties to a central banking authority. It's like Paypal or a credit card, except that no one has to use their name or their social security number. Its use is peer to peer.
Bitcoins can be bought or they can be obtained though a process called bitcoin mining. To get bitcoins, one must program their computer with a particular algorithm. Your computer must run the algorithm until it comes up with the right computation, before anyone else in the world does. If you are fortunate enough to do that, you win a block of 25 new bitcoins. This is a very simplified description of bitcoin mining, because the process of coming up with the right computation can take an inordinate amount computing power and possibly the use of more than one computer.
On Feruray 10, 2014, Mt Gox announced that "a bug in the Bitcoin software makes it possible for someone to use the Bitcoin Network to alter transaction details to make it seem like the sending of coins to a bitcoin wallet happened when it actually didn't." Thus the present state of affairs.
On February 26th, 2014, authorities in the US began calling for a ban on the Bitcoin, citing it as "encouraging illicit activity," and "highly unstable and disruptive to the economy." Because the use of Bitcoin is a peer to peer interaction, it can be used for illegal activities. However, at this time any restriction or ban of use of the Bitcoin will only come through the enactment of new legislation.
What is interesting about all of this, at least to me, is that since the late 1960s, the US has been moving toward a cashless society. Money has become increasingly more virtual, or digitized as we move on into the 21st century. Clearly, the Bitcoin experiment may not prove to be a success going forward, but it may have laid the ground work for the next step in evolution monetary and banking transactions. Undoubtedly more rules, regulations, and oversight will be needed to make the next crypto-currency work.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Streaming, Again...
It was reported back in January that sales of digital music had fallen for the first time since 2003. A lot of bloggers have blamed and decried the rise of streaming as the culprit. Some have even suggested that streaming will not survive as a business model. I think that streaming is not the problem at all.
CD sales have been falling since the late 1990s. The Mp3 and the iPod became a sensation at the beginning of the 21st century. Digital downloads rose steadily until recently, when the increase in the use of mobile computing devices gave many an opportunity to sample and then become heavy users of streaming media services.
Any loss of profits by a major recording company, from the sale of music can be absorbed by the parent company that owns it. Independent and DIY artists most likely supplement any loss of revenue with money earned from touring. And of course, if you don't tour, you don't make any money.
I think, and this is just my opinion, once again, the lure of, "free," is making it difficult to sell music. Many potential music buyers are willing to forego ownership of their own copy of a recording, believing in, and feeling safe in the knowledge that they will always have access to the media as long as they have access to the internet.
I think that what has been missing from the discussion of why things have become the way that they are is that there is no thought being given to what one would do if they suddenly were without internet access. Think about it. All those music files stored in the Cloud would be unavailable, hundreds or maybe even thousands of miles away.
I'm not an anarchist. I love technology. But, if something should happen to cause a loss of connection to the web or a prolonged loss of power in general, those who were wise enough to obtain and save a hard copy of anything will be miles ahead of everyone else. It seems strange to me that no one ever talks about that.
Things of great value stored on electronic, internet enabled devices won't be able to provide one with needed information should some mishap make it impossible to retrieve your precious data. A solar flare or an asteroid strike could make life unbearable for an extended period of time.
In the past, music was considered precious, valuable, and worth preserving. In the days of vinyl, many a collector stored away their albums after making taped copies. The belief was that the originals would be worth a great sum of money in years to come. But, should our lives one day be interrupted by some major calamity, those who were wise enough to see the value of owning their own copy of sound recordings, as well as many other items, may quickly discover that what they saved has become not only timeless, but priceless.
CD sales have been falling since the late 1990s. The Mp3 and the iPod became a sensation at the beginning of the 21st century. Digital downloads rose steadily until recently, when the increase in the use of mobile computing devices gave many an opportunity to sample and then become heavy users of streaming media services.
Any loss of profits by a major recording company, from the sale of music can be absorbed by the parent company that owns it. Independent and DIY artists most likely supplement any loss of revenue with money earned from touring. And of course, if you don't tour, you don't make any money.
I think, and this is just my opinion, once again, the lure of, "free," is making it difficult to sell music. Many potential music buyers are willing to forego ownership of their own copy of a recording, believing in, and feeling safe in the knowledge that they will always have access to the media as long as they have access to the internet.
I think that what has been missing from the discussion of why things have become the way that they are is that there is no thought being given to what one would do if they suddenly were without internet access. Think about it. All those music files stored in the Cloud would be unavailable, hundreds or maybe even thousands of miles away.
I'm not an anarchist. I love technology. But, if something should happen to cause a loss of connection to the web or a prolonged loss of power in general, those who were wise enough to obtain and save a hard copy of anything will be miles ahead of everyone else. It seems strange to me that no one ever talks about that.
Things of great value stored on electronic, internet enabled devices won't be able to provide one with needed information should some mishap make it impossible to retrieve your precious data. A solar flare or an asteroid strike could make life unbearable for an extended period of time.
In the past, music was considered precious, valuable, and worth preserving. In the days of vinyl, many a collector stored away their albums after making taped copies. The belief was that the originals would be worth a great sum of money in years to come. But, should our lives one day be interrupted by some major calamity, those who were wise enough to see the value of owning their own copy of sound recordings, as well as many other items, may quickly discover that what they saved has become not only timeless, but priceless.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
The Art Of Album Art
When you buy a download from an online music store, it's not very likely that you even wonder where the cover art for the album or single is. And, with streaming on the rise today, it's possible that you never even think about the cover art.
That being said, when we buy or listen to music online, the cover art is always ever present. While we may not consider it as part of the package anymore, we still use the art as an identifier or locator that helps us quickly find just what we are looking for.
But, for recording artists whose music appears in these online stores, the cover is still a very important part of the music's presentation. In fact, most online distributors, those who are responsible for getting artists' music into these online stores, require that every album and single be posted with some form of cover art. So it is that many recording artists will still try to present their recording with a visual that will have just as much impact as their music.
In the 1950s and 60s, a simple photo of the band or artist would suffice. But, when the Beatles arrived on the scene in 1964, things would change and never be the same. Their coming marked the beginning of an era of creative and artistic freedom that lasted throughout the 1970s and into the 80s.
Many mid to late 60s bands and artists would either conceive or commission an artist to design their album covers. This tradition led to some of the most memorable cover art ever made. However, some album covers like the Beatles Yesterday... and Today, or what became know as the, "butcher block," album or Jimi Hendrix's, Electric Ladyland, proved to be controversial and consequently problematic.
So what does a recording artist do when the visual concept for their music is either mis-perceived or even though innocent, is considered to be risque. Of course, we see this all the time today as some recording artists use a visual that they know will get attention, for no other reason then the shock value.
Things like nudity or acts of violence tend to get noticed in a hurry. There's also the concept that's either so simple that it's cuteness turns the listener off. Or, the concept that's so complicated that the potential buyer thinks that the artist is either being pompous or pretentious.
Getting it right is not always an easy thing to do, especially in an era when Madison Avenue has all but sold everyone on the notion that image is everything. But, I have noticed that there some artists who are trying to keep the art of album art alive. To those bands and artists, major, indie, or DIY, I wish you all good luck and much continued success.
That being said, when we buy or listen to music online, the cover art is always ever present. While we may not consider it as part of the package anymore, we still use the art as an identifier or locator that helps us quickly find just what we are looking for.
But, for recording artists whose music appears in these online stores, the cover is still a very important part of the music's presentation. In fact, most online distributors, those who are responsible for getting artists' music into these online stores, require that every album and single be posted with some form of cover art. So it is that many recording artists will still try to present their recording with a visual that will have just as much impact as their music.
In the 1950s and 60s, a simple photo of the band or artist would suffice. But, when the Beatles arrived on the scene in 1964, things would change and never be the same. Their coming marked the beginning of an era of creative and artistic freedom that lasted throughout the 1970s and into the 80s.
Many mid to late 60s bands and artists would either conceive or commission an artist to design their album covers. This tradition led to some of the most memorable cover art ever made. However, some album covers like the Beatles Yesterday... and Today, or what became know as the, "butcher block," album or Jimi Hendrix's, Electric Ladyland, proved to be controversial and consequently problematic.
So what does a recording artist do when the visual concept for their music is either mis-perceived or even though innocent, is considered to be risque. Of course, we see this all the time today as some recording artists use a visual that they know will get attention, for no other reason then the shock value.
Things like nudity or acts of violence tend to get noticed in a hurry. There's also the concept that's either so simple that it's cuteness turns the listener off. Or, the concept that's so complicated that the potential buyer thinks that the artist is either being pompous or pretentious.
Getting it right is not always an easy thing to do, especially in an era when Madison Avenue has all but sold everyone on the notion that image is everything. But, I have noticed that there some artists who are trying to keep the art of album art alive. To those bands and artists, major, indie, or DIY, I wish you all good luck and much continued success.
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