This is from Mix Magazine. A little computer assembler named Musicxpc has created a recording workstation in a Shuttle XPC chassis.

I have a Shuttle XPC, although not from Musicxpc, and I love mine. While based on the published spec one could build one for a few hunderd dollars less than the retail price of the fully assembled machine, Musicxpc has a few items that add value. Most noteably the system recovery software. Some may not find this to be all that, but for the musician, who doesn’t want to be the IT department, it may be worth the premium.

MusicXPC Professional C3 and C4

M-Audio just released a control surface for use with GarageBand. It’s called the iControl and it looks pretty cool.

iControl gives you total tactile control over GarageBand. You get dedicated transport buttons and jog wheel, eight rotary encoders for track functions like volume or pan, or effects parameters in GarageBand’s EQ or any other AU plug-in. You also get dedicated mute, solo and record-enable buttons. Automatically recognized by GarageBand.

I don’t have a copy of GarageBand, but this caught my eye, as I am always interested in what companys are doing to interface the real world with the digital world.

In these days of digital production and digital audio consoles, and the plethora of other gadgets used in audio, interface design has become an even bigger project than it used to be. In the days of analog gear, the controls were all there because they were part of the electronic circuit. Some of the layout was “designed”, but some of it was the way it was because it had to be for the electronics to work correctly.

Now, designers of interfaces have a different set of choices to make. To take a conception of what is possible in the digital world and translate that to a useable, intelligent tactile control surface, can be maddening. Especially when a particular piece of equipment crosses between different markets and uses.

M-AUDIO:iControl

If you have a weblog you can participate too!

The Electronic Frontier Foundation published a paper on a proposed music licensing scheme that is very interesting. Basically it works in a manner similar to the method venues use to license music (perhaps through ASCAP or BMI). A flat fee which makes it’s way to the artists, writers and copyright holders of the material. It may, depending on contracts with record companies, partially cut record companies out of some revenue, but the creators get their due. It’s a shame that the record companies can’t seem to embrace the electronic distribution model, and truly take advantage of the massive distribution potential of the internet, including P2P.

EFF: A Better Way Forward: Voluntary Collective Licensing of Music File Sharing

Google Secret Lab, Prelude

News about Google is always interesting. It seems that Google has many secrets to keep. It is being reported that Google has a secret sub-domain http://eval.google.com

Click it and you get …nothing. The site reveals itself only if you have the proper login and if you use a network known by Google. Residues of Eval.google are found on the web, but the full content of the mystery site has never been published before.

It is supposed that Google uses this site to allow real people to keep the quality of their results high. It seems obvious that a smart company would real people for quality assurance.

A great new magazine hit newsstands recently. O’Reilly, the same publisher that produces many computer and technology books (the “Hacks” line of books), has launched a quarterly magazine for the DIY geek. Make: The first magazine devoted to digital projects, hardware hacks, and D.I.Y. inspiration. The first issue touches on topics such as how to build a video camera stabilizer (steadicam), How to hack the dog, and Building a Magnetic Stripe reader. There is an article about soldering and desoldering and other interesting hacks and projects. This looks like a beautifly produced magazine, all 224 pages of the premire issue are printed on heavy stock paper. And, unlike other publishers, there seems to me to be a very high content to advertisment ratio. Which is reflected in the $15.00 price tag.

Ok another plug…I picked up Vol.2 the other day. It’s a very well done product. It’s the size of an over-sized Readers Digest, with semi- gloss finish on the pages. I think I counted 10 ads in the whole magazine. Vol.2 has articles entailing rebuilding an Atari2600 chassis into a Linux PC runing game emulator, or PVR software. Once you’ve taken the guts out of your 2600, there’s an article about how to turn it into a portable handheld unit. Plus loads of other cool stuff, lots of pictures, and lots of ideas.

Use this link to Get Make Magazine at 32% off the cover price

MakeZine.com: Current Issue

Finally a useable iPod plug-in for Winamp. I installed it last night and we were off to the races. I haven’t used all the features yet, but it at least allows one to easily move songs onto, and more importantly, if you’ve purchased music from iTMS, off of the iPod and onto the computer. I really love the iPod, I think it’s the best portable MP3 player around. It’s a shame that iTunes is such a resource hog of a program. I had relegated iTunes to just one of my 8 computers, just so I could load up the iPod, but it seems there is no longer a need if I can use Winamp instead. Nice work guys. ml_iPod  Your iPod Just Became Useful

The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell I know I’m not the first one to read this book, but I have found it very interesting reading. Social Epidemiology. It has become sort of a concept book for bloggers.

“How to Win Friends & Influence People” for the new millennium.

I’ve posted about WiMax before, and how the bandwidth that is being set aside for this technology is the same bandwidth the entertainment industry uses. While I’m not happy about the possibility of losing space for wireless mics and other devices we need to have, Intel has announced that it will start to build WiMax hardware. The tricky part is the licencing of the bandwidth from the FCC to operate the equipment.The telcos are upset because they stand to lose a lot of money, unless they get in the game.
Below is a link to I, Cringley’s column on PBS where he talks about this situation. It is an interesting read, but the thought of WiMax everywhere makes me wince for the future of wireless as we know it.

What if Wal-Mart got in the WiMax Business?

I tell my step-son that he has to turn his homework in on time, beacuse thats what is expected in real life. I guess I’m wrong. In 1998 congress decided it needed to be better informed about this thing called the internet, and commissioned a study. 7 years later, the 283 page report has a firm grasp of the obvious. Although not wrong, it’s hardly ground breaking, or contains any speculative insight. At the bargain price of only $1million, which actually is cheap for the federal government, I guess you get what you pay for. CNN.com - Internet study finished — after 7 years.
( UPDATE: 5/30/2005 CNN no longer has the story posted.  So heres a new link to the law that comissioned the report, H.R.3332 and here’s another link to the final report made by the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) entitled Signposts in Cyberspace)