08.24.10
Posted in Home at 9:59 am by JohnB
You know sometimes you have those days when you seem to have been working at stuff non-stop, but when you take a step back there’s not much to e seen?
I’ve had a few of those recently.
That’s, I think, one of the reasons my updates here have been less than frequent and today I made the promise to myself to change all of that. There have been more than a few occasions where I’ve had a mental rant about something and come to conclusions which should be shared, there have also been a few interesting things going on in the audio studio which have also been kept secret – no reason either. So here’s the deal, I’ll be updating here more regularly about the non- and semi-work related stuff going on and I’ll also be letting you know about the other projects too.
The Project List:
- Audio interface for iPhone to recording / mixing kit. This will be line-in and line-out from the IPOD interface, I can’t find anything out there some I’m going to make one. The point of this is to be able to take / make calls on the phone in the same way as I do for Skype, Live Meeting and other stuff, I’ll also be able to record calls for interviews etc.
- Audio interface for Xbox Live to recording / mixing kit. Taking the feed which would go to/from the Xbox Live headset connected to the controller and using the desk to drive both the mic input and the audio received from the Live gaming sessions. Same reasons as above really.
- Sell old bike, get new bike. I don’t think I’ve been fitter than when I was riding motorbikes, especially when I had the CR125 and did regular trips to practice tracks. With this in mind I’m going to be selling the Husqvarna SM610 and getting something I can use on and off-road. I’m thinking WR or DRZ at the moment, but it’ll depend on what’s around over the next couple of weeks.
- Update CV. It’s been a while since this document last had a tickle and I think now’s a good enough time to get that sorted out. I’m using iProfile too – kind of an online CV for agencies etc – so I’ll marry up the two and tick that box off!
As you may, or may not, know I’m also writing on a couple of other sites (Hosting Thoughts, Ready-Up) and that’ll continue too, along with the audio work here at Studio 13 for Rogue Productions. Plus the Twitter and Facebook nonsense as well.
Holy crap! With that AND work to do I’d better get started! 
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07.17.10
Posted in Home at 9:57 am by JohnB
I was at a significant keynote speech this week over in Washington DC and during the oration I was struck by a thought.
“This is like being in Church!” I’m not a religious person – I respect those who are but it’s just not my bag – so this was a bit jarring. The speaker in question was very, very good. He knew just what buttons to press, he knew when to pause for reaction, he knew when to repeat point for emphasis, he knew ALL of the tricks. He also knew that his audience were drinking deeply from the corporate Kool-Aid and would lap up the digs at the competition.
This is where the jarring elements came for me. I’ve sat in on corporate keynotes before and they’ve certainly been corporate but they’ve not been ‘religious’ in their approach. By this I mean the deliberate deposing of those they believe are in competition – even those that are not, not really. The most bizarre example of this was a Microsoft Senior Executive who, during a keynote speech, took a stab at Apple and the iPhone4, describing it as “Apple’s Vista”. This of course drew cheers from the assembled congregation but I was simply left with the thought that there had to be a Vista first for that comparison to be made and that a bad version of a desktop operating system which occupies 95%+ of the market is actually a far more serious blunder than the issues which some users are seeing in signal attenuation on an otherwise good piece of hardware – one which can easily be fixed with a simple add-on.
I use both Apple and Microsoft technologies. I’ve already mentioned that I moved away from Windows Mobile to iPhone only this year but that was as a last resort when the – otherwise lovely – HTC TyTN II finally ticked me off. I use OSX and Windows 7 every day of the week and I believe that the Microsoft enterprise solutions are – on the whole – without peer. With this in mind maybe I have a more balanced view of the technology, maybe it’s my belief in using the right tools for the job, regardless of the brand it wears, which allows me to be a bit more dis-passionate about things and therefore a little more cynical about the exhortations and hyperbole which comes from the keynote speeches.
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06.29.10
Posted in Home at 4:56 pm by JohnB
Earlier I was asked by a friend for some tips as she’d just got herself an iPad. I picked on of these little beauties up when I was over in the US about 4 weeks prior to the UK launch so I’ve had a decent run at the thing so far. After I got the question I was wondering hw to approach the answer.. after all I love the iPad and use it for all sorts of stuff but “tips”?
I figured that the best way to provide any sort of guidance was to run through the apps I’ve added on and what I use them for and if I can provide a little inspiration and/or help to others so be it.
- iBooks – Self explanatory really, but I had to get a US iTunes account initially to download this app. It’s now on the UK store too of course. The latest update (as per iOS 4 release) adds in the features which were ‘missing’ when compared to the Stanza application which it is believed iBooks derives from. These features include the ability to mark text and add notes and create bookmarks for later reference. iBooks also supports PDF as a source document so is great for reference material as well as the ePub books. I use this every single night now as I read before I go to sleep.
- Voice Recorder – As a fan of all things audio I was interested to see what (if anything) could be done on the iPad in terms of capturing audio. With the aid of the Samson Go-Mic and a pair of headphones I’m able to record interviews and other audio for later import and manipulation in Garageband.
- Twitterific – One of a (huge) number of Twitter clients out there. I’m Wi-Fi only but when tweeting from events and conferences it’s just the job!
- TapTap Radiation – A simple rhythm game, I just like the music and graphics.
- Pocket Pond – beyond simple yet very addictive. it’s a pond with fish in it, you can splash the water, release and knock down dragon flies and the fish eat them. It’s free… try it.
- Live Messenger – it’s an iPhone App so either sits in the middle of the screen or is HUGE! But if you need to stay connected, it certainly works for that community.
- Skype – Again an iPhone app, but either using the built in mic and speakers or the mic/headphones combo as above, certainly does the whole Skype thing well enough – NOTE: Only on WiFi not 3G.
- iThoughtsHD – A mind-mapping application. I like this kind of note-taking mechanism as it matches how I think. has proved invaluable and well worth the few pounds it cost.
- FryPaper – I like the way Stephen Fry thinks and writes. A must for Fry fans.
- WoW Armory – another iPhone app but useful for WoW fans. now supports the premium services for remote auction management etc.
I’ve also set up a bunch of links on the iPad spaces for various web-sites which are then simply accessed. The above list doesn’t include the built in stuff like Safari, Email, Video, iPod, contacts etc.. because, wel you simply use them. Safari is great on the iPad expecially.
It is worth putting a note here about Videos. I’ve synced up a few audio albums – those in the “Recently Added” auto playlist in iTunes – but video is something different. I have a reasonable DVD collection (let’s call it a couple of hundred titles) but, unlike audio CDs, there is no easy way to get these into a digital format for use on your portable devices. There are a bunch of rights arguments going on and I’m not going to take any particular stance other than the personal one of “I own it so I’m watching it where I want to”. There are a few applications out there for mac and PC for DVD-to-iPad(/iPod/iPhone/etc) conversion. Some are good, some not so much. In getting my collection into digital form I’ve been through a few and I finally landed (via the well loved HandBrake) at RipIt on the Mac. This makes a copy of the DVD playable contents to your local hard drive and now supports the creation of an .m4v file with the results. This can then simply be dragged into iTunes and bingo, synco-magic. For those with an interest “Why RipIt and not HandBrake?” the answer is ARccOS.
So, @alibobbles, I hope this helps!
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