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New Year, New Music

2010-01-12T23:51:00.002Z

Happy New Year! Here's a round-up of the music I've been recommending this week on Twitter.

For Everyone

Tycho: Coastal Break - Fine 3Hive recommendation led me to this trancey-dancey electronic track, which is very good.

Brooke Fraser: Albertine - One of my favourite artists has made one of the best tracks on her excellent second album available. It has rhythm, passion, melody, intelligently personal and challenging lyrics as well as beauty and is an essential download.

For UK Readers

Amazon UK downloads are paranoically restricted to UK IP addresses regardless of account status

Corinne Bailey Rae: It Be's That Way Sometime - A typical relaxed lounge-feeling track from her, good download.

Hot Chip: One Life Stand (Joris Voorn Dusty Flower Mix) - Full of juicy bass and electronic goodness, thoroughly enjoying this one.

For US Readers

Amazon US downloads are restricted to verified US account-holders

Lou Rhodes: There For The Taking - Beautiful new track from Lou Rhodes, who you'll recognise as the voice of Lamb but whose new solo direction is a foundation for 21st century folk.

The Middle East: Blood - Despite the unpromising names, this is a charming and strong track that's worth the download.

[Note that these links and offers are highly likely to corrode over time]

For your safety and comfort...

2009-12-27T18:51:00.010Z

There is only one way to make air travel secure, and that is to take security seriously and prioritise it above all other factors. We should learn from the most secure flights to date - operated by the US military for select trips to the Caribbean - and upgrade measures so that the antics of the Underpants Bomber can't be repeated.

In future, all passengers aboard planes must:

Wear secured headphones for safety education and approved entertainment throughout flights, so that passengers cannot communicate with each other for co-ordinated attacks. It's possible Apple or Sony might sponsor these, reducing costs. This measure will also reduce incidents of unlicensed use of music, especially as people cross market boundaries, so maybe the RIAA will support this.
Travel blindfolded. This prevents any awareness of location or time and ensures no targetted use of devices. This additionally defeats attempts to benefit from unlicensed movies, so MPAA sponsorship for the blindfolds is possible.
Travel naked. This reduces opportunities for concealment of devices, although security staff will still need to use powerful scanners pre-boarding.
Undergo sensory disorientation pre-travel, so that passengers do not know where they are seated or what the time is. This could be combined with the blindfolds and headsets.
Travel in limb restraints fastened to the seat. In addition to protecting against unexpected turbulence, this will prevent any attempt to operate devices. Airlines could consider tube-feeding so they don't lose revenue from in-flight paid catering.
Require a pre-flight "hotel night" where they spend 12 hours before boarding naked in solitary confinement under observation. This will eliminate the possibility of devices being ingested. Boarding will only be permitted with evidence of defecation.

There are huge cost-savings achievable for the airlines here, as well as potential new revenue opportunities and sponsorships such as those indicated. The pre-flight "hotel night" will naturally be charged extra, the need for in-flight entertainment systems is eliminated since no-one can see, hear or operate them, on-board toilets and galleys can be removed and replaced with extra seating and on top of all this far fewer staff are needed and training can be reduced. Ryan Air has already field-tested some of these, I gather.

In addition:

Flights must operate to unpublished departure and arrival schedules using undocumented routes. This has the added benefit that flights can no longer be late.
Business class passengers benefit from loin-cloths during boarding and in-flight sedation so they are less impacted by security measures. They can also purchase use of video goggles instead of blindfolds.
First class passengers benefit from anaesthesia and are boarded on stretchers. Choice of approved drugs available pre-boarding.

All for your safety, comfort and convenience, of course. Relax, sit back and enjoy the flight!

If Naomi Klein is right, capitalists have been waiting for the Underpants Bomber. Let me know when you spot them. The hour is at hand for the Underpants Gnomes.

December's First Crop

2009-12-06T10:46:00.002Z

Here's a round-up of the music I've been recommending this week on Twitter. It was a busy download week and I have thrown away a load of other tracks that I didn't like as much as these. Signs are that there will be many Christmas-themed tracks in the next two weeks, plus I just downloaded three full sampler albums (of which more next week) so the sampler season is upon us again.

For UK Readers

Amazon UK downloads are restricted to UK IP addresses regardless of account status

Eliza Doolittle: Police Car - Laid back chill-jam that's Lily Allen in all but name. ***

For US Readers

Amazon US downloads are restricted to verified US account-holders

Jeb Patton: The Music Goes On - Tasteful piano-led lounge jazz, a good choice if that's your thing (it is mine). ****

Ingrid Michaelson: Sort Of (Live) - Piano-and-vocal angsty love song from capable female singer-songwriter. She's like so many other artists I enjoy listening to, yet I can't bring myself to love this for some reason. ***�

The Little Heroes: Say I'll Be Gone and Common Ground - Two decent soft-rock tracks by a promising band - I'll be watching out for them. ****
Christmas tracks abound. If they are your thing check daily on the 25 Days of Free page (worth bookmarking if you do).

[Note that these links and offers are highly likely to corrode over time]

Thankful for Free MP3s

2009-11-28T11:02:00.001Z

Once again, here's a round-up of the music I've been recommending this week on Twitter.

For Everyone

Valleys: Tan Lines - Elemental shoegaze, whispered female lyrics, native-style drumming - what's not to love? ****

For UK Readers

Amazon UK downloads are restricted to UK IP addresses regardless of account status

Ghostape: Many Stars - All this electronic chill track really has going for it is that it's free in the UK. Messy but OK as part of a larger mix. ***

For US Readers

An excellent selection on Amazon US this week for Thanksgiving, I recommend you try all of the 4* and 5* tracks.

Amazon US downloads are restricted to verified US account-holders

Debbie Davies: Percolatin' - Excellent blues/rock'n'roll guitar, love it. *****

Sheva: The Closest Thing - Just the sort of thing you'd expect me to like (strong female voice leading musically rounded soft-pop-rock ballad). ****

Mulatu Astatke: Mulatu - It's common for jazz musicians to produce a self-titled track as a defining signature. This interesting, syncopated and varied track seems an excellent introduction. ****

Deleted Waveform Gatherings: The Doorway - Like an extract from some 70s prog-rock, and as such I quite like it, despite the slightly tacky synth effects. ****

System And Station: Love Etc. - Promising rock but a touch shouty for my tastes. ***

[Note that these links and offers are highly likely to corrode over time]

Bumper MP3 Crop, One Or Two Ripe Fruits

2009-11-22T23:19:00.002Z

Here's a round-up of the music I've been recommending this week on Twitter.

For UK Readers

Amazon UK downloads are restricted to UK IP addresses regardless of account status

Phantom Limb: Last Chance Saloon - Pretty good line-dance-country with a supple, dusky female lead. ****

For US Readers

Amazon US downloads are restricted to verified US account-holders

Jonas Sees In Color: Loose Threads - Gentle yet rocky ballad reminds me of Vertical Horizon. ****

Annie Little: Fly Me Away - Twee meets oompahpah with a little coconut percussion thrown in for fun. Maybe seeing the Kindle ad would help? ***

Lissie: Little Lovin' - Angsty female singer-songwriter starts as a ballad and ends as a stomp. Not bad. ***

Kirsten DeHaan: 1984 - Breathy stylised female vocals over pulsing guitar track. Can't decide if it's pretentious or interesting. ***.

Na'Shay: My Mama Ain't Home - Shiny female R&B swing love song like a million others. Sweet, charming, harmless, instantly forgettable. ***

Dragonette: Pick Up The Phone - Tame, derivative & seemingly manufactured rebel-woman rock. ***
Finally, you can get $3 credit to spend on MP3s on Amazon US - only valid until November 30 so go now.

[Note that these links and offers are highly likely to corrode over time]

Starting November With Some Free Music

2009-11-13T11:42:00.002Z

Here's a round-up of the music I've been recommending this week on Twitter.

For Everyone

The long-running compilation by Mercedes-Benz has reached edition 29 - Mixed tape.

For US Readers

Amazon US downloads are restricted to verified US account-holders

Amazon is giving a credit for one free song by any CMA Award nominated artist. Take a look at the details.

Visqueen: Hand Me Down - Sounds like it ought to be a track from a Suzie Quattro tribute musical, but still pretty good. ****

Flyleaf: Again - Sounding like Evanescence with Avril Lavigne on vocals, this is actually a pretty good girl-leads-heavy track. ****

Alberta Cross: Leave Us And Forgive Us - Somewhere between Coldplay and Snow Patrol but without the vocal strength. ***

[Note that these links and offers are highly likely to corrode over time]

Music to brighten a bad week

2009-11-07T21:16:00.001Z

Here's a round-up of the music I've been recommending this week on Twitter.

For Everyone

UltraChorus: 3Hive has links to two rather good free tracks of throbby "bubblegum pop", worth looking. ****

For US Readers

Amazon US downloads are restricted to verified US account-holders

Excellent sampler from Brushfire Records starts with a deliciously slouchy Jack Johnson track and goes on with a relaxed Saturday vibe. *****

Kings of Convenience: Boat Behind - Great Kings track, charmingly retro with the rhythm of the oars on the guitars. ****

Audra May: The River - minor-key ballad with a travelling rhythm, guitar & snare. Good track. ****

Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble: Semi-Detached - Deliciously spacey, Philip Glass-inspired new music fusion track. The bass heartbeat and twiddly (technical term) instrumetals complete it and make it one of favourite tracks of late. *****

Barlow Girl: Hello Sunshine - Pop music wannabes from the "Contemporary Christian" twilight zone. Sorry, this track lacks the energy and conviction to succeed with people lacking other motives to listen. ***

Clare & The Reasons: Oooh You Hurt Me So - Twee girlpop with retro feel, may be worth a try if you need more twee in your life. ***

[Note that these links and offers are highly likely to corrode over time]

Another Friday, Another Music List

2009-10-30T15:19:00.001Z

Here's a round-up of the music I've been recommending this week on Twitter.

For UK Readers

Amazon UK downloads are restricted to UK IP addresses regardless of account status

Jack Johnson: If I Had Eyes - Typically syncopated, guitar-led ballad from a live performance. Easy on the ears. ***
Once again not Music, but you may be interested if you liked the look of the Chill Pill travel speakers I mentioned a while back. Amazon Vine sent me a LINX B-Tube to try. It's a USB-charged bluetooth stereo speaker system in a 6" steel tube, which also has line-in. Sounds quality is tremendous, and when used with a cellphone it doubles as a great speaker-phone with echo cancellation. Battery life is surprisingly long (on the scale of a couple of days from one charge) and it comes with USB cables (as well as charging from a normal Nokia charger too). I've been travelling with it the last two weeks and I love it. Mine was free but at �15 I don't think you can go wrong.

For US Readers

Amazon US downloads are restricted to verified US account-holders

Great Lake Swimmers: Pulling On A Line - Still producing reliably comfortable folk/pop, this track follows in earlier footsteps and signals another workmanlike album. ***

Boozoo Bajou: Same Sun - Deliciously laid-back female lounge vocals, love it ****

Rodrigo Y Gabriela: Hanuman - Energetic flamencoesque instrumental track will have you dancing around the room stomping your feet ****

[Note that these links and offers are highly likely to corrode over time]

Reptiles

2009-10-29T18:38:00.005Z

Several years ago, we had the chance to visit a crocodile farm in Queensland, Australia. There were several highlights, not least the chance for the children to hold a crocodile - a very small one, of course, with its jaws taped shut. Even with one that small, the frisson of terror remained and the children all laughed nervously for the camera.

We noticed as we walked round the farm that many of the crocodiles had signs on their enclosure saying where they had been captured, and telling a story about where and why they had been caught. This was where we discovered an additional use for a family dog that we'd not previously considered - to check whether water holes are safe for swimming before your children do. Most of the stories were not for the squeamish. But yes, crocodiles do indeed eat dogs - regularly it seems.

Chickens and Evil

Does that make crocodiles evil? They certainly have a look to them that might make you think so, but another of the demonstrations at the farm was very educational. A zookeeper (dressed in typical Steve Irwin style, khakis and shorts with an Akubra) showed just how small a pool a crocodile needs. Standing next to what looked like a dirty shallow garden pond, the keeper took a long pole and attached the carcass of a chicken to the end.

Holding it over the muddy, empty pool, he allowed it to briefly touch the orange surface. Instantly, a gigantic crocodile appeared from nowhere. With a single, lightning-fast move, it took the chicken in its ample jaws and rolled with it in the water before disappearing under the surface again. After gasps of shock, the audience stood in nervous silence, grateful for the fence between them and the pool and wondering how the keeper could stand so close. Who would have thought such a tiny pool could hold two metres of hungry crocodile? It was easy to see what had happened to all those dogs.

Reptiles and Instinct

After the demonstration, the keeper took questions from the audience, standing on the bank near the crocodile and giving the impression of a lazy familiarity with it. One question asked how long he'd been doing the job and how well he knew the crocodiles. He replied he'd been giving this demonstration four times a day for over a decade. He said he had a good understanding of how the crocodile thought; mechanically. He was under no illusion that he had a relationship with it.

Each time it took the chicken was a single instance of predation. He was sure that any time he got too close, it would grab and roll with him rather than the chicken. So he didn't; that lazy familiarity was actually a carefully observed respect, established through training and years of experience. He advised to never, ever believe that a crocodile was a friend.

Just Reptiles

Crocodiles are not evil; neither are they good. They are just reptiles, dealing with their hunger. To call something "a reptile" is not a value judgement; quite the opposite since reptiles are demonstrably amoral and mechanistic. Millennia of evolution have developed in them the speed and skills to sate their hunger, and they act and react out of reptilian instinct. Despite their evil looks and repellant behaviour, they are just being reptiles, doing what reptiles do. Working with them is not a matter of relying on their goodwill. It's all down to understanding their instincts - and learning to stand in the right place.

And that's what I mean when I say a corporation is just a reptile.

[Also posted to my OSI Blog]

This Week's Music

2009-10-24T01:33:00.003+01:00

Here's a round-up of the music I've been recommending this week on Twitter. Best of the week are the two jazz tracks.

For UK Readers

Amazon UK downloads are restricted to UK IP addresses regardless of account status

Hawke: Everything Is Happening At The Same Time - Inoffensive dance/electronica. ***

For US Readers

Amazon US downloads are restricted to verified US account-holders

The New 5: New York Hotel - Good jazz track, with enough melody to be pleasing and enough syncopated modernity to be interesting. 8 enjoyable minutes of music. ****

Ben Allison: Fred - More pleasing jazz. Creative brass-led and lyrical instrumental ballad. ****

Rusty Anderson: Where Would We Go? - Buskerish singer-songwriter ballad. ***

The Duchess & the Duke: Hands - Strummy/twangy semi-acoustic ballad with added cheesy organ and mournful lyric. ***

A Bad Think: Long WayTo Go - Simon & Garfunkle-ish guitar-led ballad but with reflective female vocals. I quite like it. ****

[Note that these links and offers are highly likely to corrode over time]

A Remarkable Reversal

2009-10-20T17:58:00.004+01:00

It was a surprise to see Richard Stallman's signature on a letter to the European Commission calling on them to block the acquisition of MySQL by Oracle with its proposed acquisition of Sun. The surprise wasn't primarily because of that position. Clearly we are all concerned, and clearly there is scope for free software advocates to differ in their conclusions, as the intervention by leading European free software lawyer Carlo Piana shows. I have my own views on the acquisition as well, which I hope one day to be at liberty to share openly¹. But the direct subject of the letter was not the surprise.

For many years, Stallman's advocacy of the GNU General Public License as the vehicle for creating software freedom has been a familiar and regular refrain. He has been happy to largely ignore other attributes of the open source communities that surround the various free software commons, and rely purely on the provisions of the cleverly-crafted license to promote software freedom. Amazingly (although not incorrectly), the letter describes that view as "naive". Following the lead in fixating on licenses alone, OSI differs only in trusting more licenses than just the GPL to be the "it's OK" indicator, even after a decade of experience.

The letter's arguments imply that the dual-license model used by MySQL is the origin of the potential loss of freedom its authors fear. This model involves a vendor having aggregated copyright ownership of the free software commons at the heart of a particular open source community. While every other member of the community is bound by the terms of the open source license governing the commons, the copyright-owning company is free to do pretty much as they please with the copyright, making it available under whatever commercial terms it wants, in sub- and super-sets of function and packaging.

Those terms can even include clauses that restrict the freedom of community members who choose to buy from the company - I have for example seen commercial terms that include "no fork" clauses preventing customers working on or with any version of the code apart from the one the company supplies. While commonly used in combination with the GPLv2 as the community license, dual licenses with GPLv3, LGPLv3, the Affero GPL and even with weak-copyleft licenses such as CDDL are all easy to find. The license makes no difference to the actions open to the copyright holder, who is not bound by it.

Dual licensing is everywhere in commercial open source. So the letter from Stallman is a surprise because it's the first time I have really seen him acknowledge that the license alone can be no guarantee of software freedom. It takes more - including community governance, trademark and copyright ownership and administration, the percentage of core function in the commons - as partial indicators of software freedom. They need to be taken together to get the full view.

In my previous postings, I've compared "open source" with "organic", called for an expansion of the definition of open source to embrace more "inputs" and proposed drafting a "Software Freedom Definition" and creating an "Open Source Audit" scorecard to help people identify the key software freedom characteristics of vendor product offerings. My goal is not to have some nannying organisation passing judgement on open source communities, or the companies that work in them. Rather, it is to expand the number of indicators available to us all of basic open source hygiene, so that when we choose to work in any imperfect community - and they are all imperfect in some way - we are aware of the issues and have handholds when we decide to address them. Transparency and truthful labelling is the key to intelligent choice and advancing freedom through informed compromise. The alternative - the One Approved Distribution - works for almost no-one.

It seems that this is an initiative whose time has come. I'd love to see Stallman and the FSF join in taking action to broaden the definitions, now that it's been admitted that the license alone is no guarantee of software freedom and that we must consider more factors in reaching a conclusion on its promotion.

1: As a current employee of Sun Microsystems and a Sun shareholder I'll not comment for or against the transaction with Oracle. Please also note that nothing said here is necessarily the position of Sun Microsystems. Also posted to my OSI blog.

Some More Good Music

2009-10-17T14:00:00.003+01:00

Here's my round-up of music recommendations for the week.

For Everyone

Tom Waits will send you the first 8 tracks of his new album in exchange for any working e-mail address (I love Spam Gourmet!) Not my taste at all, but some readers may be fans.

They aren't free, but you may like to explore the "album" I have put together of Imogen Heap's Rarities and B-Sides. I realised I had accumulated a wide selection of very good collaborations by her and decided to put a page together collecting them.

For UK Readers

Amazon UK downloads are restricted to UK IP addresses regardless of account status

Seasick Steve: That's All - Live sampler track of the grungy blues rocker. ***

Way Out West: Ultra Violet - Good, throbbing drum & bass dance track

For US Readers

Amazon US downloads are restricted to verified US account-holders

The Swell Season: In These Arms haunting folk duet. ****

Lights: Saviour - Yes, that's the correct spelling despite being a US track. Ambiguous love-song in child-like vocoded voice with pulsing, running electronica backing. Curiously compelling. ****

[Note that these links and offers are highly likely to corrode over time]

Free Tracks Around The World

2009-10-09T22:21:00.005+01:00

Here is my free and recommended music roundup for the week ending Friday October 9th.

For Everyone

Absolutely wonderful music video of Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie, with charming stop-frame and a great, gentle ballad. Free stuff worked for Oren; I bought the album.

For UK Readers

Amazon UK downloads are restricted to UK IP addresses regardless of account status

The Raveonettes: Suicide - Rocky little number as a sampler of their new album, pretty good, and it breaks the drought for UK free tracks.

For US Readers

Paper Bag Records 2009 Sampler is a good download.

Erin McCarley: Pitter-Pat - Likeable acoustic ballad.

The Raveonettes: Last Dance - A different track to the one the UK can listen to, but actually better - soothing rock.

The Lily Allen Mentality

2009-10-03T22:40:00.004+01:00

Here's my Free MP3 summary for the week.

For UK Readers

I wish there was something to report, but in the UK the Lily Allen mindset (that's the modern, airheaded version of the Metallica mindset for those of you with any history) is so strong among music promoters that the very idea of letting you listen to anything without paying for it first is anathema. This is the real reason they are in trouble. The only people who get to listen to new music are people who are willing to take the risk to download it in the face of the witch-hunt, or pay speculatively based on breathless fanboyism. The rest of us just keep listening to our back catalogue...

For US Readers

Meanwhile, there's no shortage of free tracks and sampler albums over in the US. Clearly promoters over there are discovering that letting people hear an artist can easily lead to selling more of their music.

Amazon US downloads are restricted to verified US account-holders

Black Whales: Books On Tape - Pretty routine if gritty-ish soft rock, with enough energy to make it worth a try. ***

Mike Keneally: Inhale - Despite the heavy opening this is actually another ballad. Pace is rather slow and style treacly, lyric delivery a bit strained, not really to my taste but not bad. ***

The Maldives: Tequila Sunday - The nasal intonation, fiddle riffs and the pedal steel confirm that this scratch-band rock number is from a "country" group, but it's actually quite rocky otherwise. I went to give it 3 stars and surprised myself by wanting to give it a 4th. ****

The Ryko - Flash of Light Sampler is excellent and worth downloading in its entirety. *****

So is the Verve Vault Rhythm, Strings and Cool Breezy Jazz Sample, which has some of my all-time favourite jazz classics on it and is would have been worth paying for (well, apart from the fact I have all of them already!) *****

As a footnote, the Celtic Sampler I warmly recommended a few weeks ago obviously is worth paying for as Amazon is now charging $8.99 for it!

Free Music For Both Sides of the Pond

2009-09-25T08:12:00.001+01:00

This week's selection of music fetishes as posted to Twitter, aggregated here for your delectation, delight and convenience. Americans should get the Neko Case track, Brits the David Grey track.

For UK Readers

The Amazon UK store only allows downloads from IP addresses in the UK.

Chill Pill Speakers - I borrowed a pair of these from Norm Walsh at XML Summer School so people could hear the audio. They are tiny, yet manage to create a huge and complete sound. They have retractable cables and rechargeable batteries. So desirable I instantly ordered a pair.

David Grey: First Chance - sounds just like David Grey, so if you like that you'll probably enjoy this track. I do.

Animal Kingdom: Silence Summons You- perfectly pleasant band, I'll be watching for other stuff by them.

For US Readers

The Amazon US store only allows downloads by customers with a US-based account.

Chill Pill Speakers - see above, the reviews give more detail on the US Amazon site and the speakers are substantially cheaper.
Rufus Wainright: I Don't Know What It Is - Live performance of a likeable if rather plodding ballad. Rather over-orchestrated so that he gets a bit lost in all the instrumentation, but he has a great voice and this is a worthwhile download. I gather this is a bonus track not on his new CD.
Anti- Fall Sampler - pretty variable sampler. There's a splendid Neko Case track, Magpie to the Morning, and The Swell Season are good with In These Arms. The venerable Brazilian band Os Mutantes with Teclar aren't bad and I quite liked Jason Lytle with Rollin' Home Alone. The rest - well, I listened so you didn't have to!
The Apples In Stereo: The Bird That You Can't See - bouncy buzzy pop with a retro tinge, as you'd expect from them.
Kate Walsh's Acoustic EP is still available free for US download (although curiously the individual tracks aren't). Get it now if you haven't already.

[Note that these links may corrode over time. Part of a series]

Good and Free For Back-To-Work Week

2009-09-05T12:43:00.009+01:00

Just in time for Labor Day weekend for some of you (and a patch of light at the end of the first week back after the holiday for the rest of us), here's this week's pick of the freebies and goodies. Get them while they are hot, they are sure to go away after a while.

For UK Readers

These are free from the Amazon UK MP3 store. Amazon UK won't let you download unless you are connecting from a UK IP address, regardless of your account status.

Kate Walsh Acoustic EP - three lovely acoustic versions of tracks from her new album. The charming-n�if-style gets wearing after a while so I'll take some convincing I want the album, but this EP is definitely recommended. This just showed up on Amazon US as well.

Thomas Dybdahl I Need Love Baby, Love, Not Trouble is a good track but isn't grabbing me like his earlier stuff.

The Sargent House Sampler is a real mix, with some decent tracks between - uh - less good ones. My highlights were tracks 1, 5, 7 and 12, especially that last Red Sparowes one which brings to mind The Engineers. This selection is also available from Amazon US.

For US Readers

These are all free from Amazon US MP3 store. Amazon will let you download from anywhere, but only people with a US address and credit card can do so.

Four Quarters 20/20 World Vision world music sampler. Every track has something good to offer, well worth the download.

Constance Amiot Clash Dans Le Tempo and Ceumar Feliz e Triste from the Putumayo Digital Sampler (which is not bad but is unlikely to get on my playlist).

Banda da Boca Samba de Bahia (from a sampler that I listened to so you didn't have to) is delightful, made from group vocalisations.

Dolores O'Riorden The Journey (Cranberries lead singer) off her new solo album. I like it, but then I like The Cranberries.

Kate Walsh Acoustic EP - see above. Very cute.

Sargent House Sampler - see above. I can see me buying more Red Sparowes...

It's not music but it's too good a deal to ignore - Cory Doctorow's excellent book Little Brother in hardback for the price of a cheap paperback. It's a modern polemic about digital freedoms, set in San Francisco and intended for children but a good read for everyone.

Free Tracks For August

2009-08-28T12:23:00.002+01:00

Here are the (legal) free downloads I've recommended this month, roughly in order of preference.

For Americans

Celtic Summer Sampler
Jeff Beck - Blanket with Imogen Heap on vocals
Brazilian Music Sample
Eternal Baroque Sampler
Ziggy Marley - Walk Tall (featuring Paul Simon)
Luaka Bop Orinoco Sampler

For Everyone

Radiohead - These Are My Twisted Words (single)

No idea how long those links will still lead to free tracks so apologies if you missed them...

United Breaks Guitars - A Marketing Case Study In The Making

2009-07-16T14:26:00.004+01:00

To my surprise, I've found quite a few people who have missed what I think will become one of the classic case-studies in customer management and PR in the web age. It stretches back over a year and involves a talented Canadian folk musician, Dave Carroll, and the story of his trip with his band to perform in Nebraska.

The band was forced to check in their guitars as luggage, and used strong hard-sided cases for the purpose. While in transit at Chicago flying on United Airlines, passengers saw United baggage handlers tossing the guitars across the tarmac with abandon. The United crew on the plane did nothing to help him and it was in Nebraska that he was finally able to check his $3,500 guitar, only to find the neck broken. Dave tried for over a year to get some explanation and compensation from United, but got a final "no" at the start of 2009. His parting message to the United representative was that he intended to write three folk songs about the experience.

Good to his word, Dave and the band created a folk masterpiece - a wryly humourous song with a catchy, pacy guitar tune and a great hook - and recorded it to their usual production quality. They also engaged a video producer and produced a funny and watchable music video. The whole package appeared on YouTube last week and is reaching record viewing figures already. It's so good I went looking for a way to buy and download it - Dave is now selling the MP3, hopefully briskly.

Before long, this phenomenal take-up caught news attention and the video appeared on the US news channels, including CNN and Fox. In each case the reporters sided with the underdog and applauded the song. The manufacturer of Dave's guitar also jumped in, posting a nice video discussing how to get your guitar mended and suggesting United didn't know the rules when they forced the guitars in the hold.

After all this attention, United finally decided they might have a problem. They called Dave and offered him compensation. He responded by saying he wasn't interested in that any more - United had the chance to say that all last year and didn't. He told them that if they wanted to pay money, to give it to charity. United picked a music charity and optimistically posted on Twitter that the matter was now sorted - nothing to see folks, move along.

If only. Dave has posted a short video on YouTube where he says that song two is even better than song one and should be ready in August. I've not seen anywhere that United has responded on YouTube yet, and I suspect their unhappiness will only get deeper until they embrace the situation rather than trying to "solve" it. This one could run and run, and when it's done I think every corporate marketing team will use it as a case study.

Update August 18th:This one will run & run - part 2 is now live:

Looking forward to part 3!

Goodbye, AdSense

2009-06-10T14:50:00.002+01:00

I got an e-mail from Peter Brown at the FSF recently asking if I'd investigated the new advertising network they are endorsing, AdBard. Since I have seen Google Adsense revenue fall and fall, and since I have increasingly seen advertisements I don't like on my pages, I took a look at it.

It has some interesting features. First, they only accepts sites that support Free software for displaying advertisements. Second, they only accept advertisers supporting Free software, and they give site owners the chance to vote on advertisements. This way the accept/reject decision is transparebt and crowdsourced. Third, they are limiting display to one ad per page.

Those were all attributes I liked, so I am switching Webmink.Net over to AdBard. The topic is always controversial so I look forward to your views!

Where Angels Fear

2009-05-04T16:27:00.001+01:00

There's something awful in the news. It seems �The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey.� That's dreadful � how can the followers of a saviour who was tortured to death be so hypocritical? Is it really true that the more devout an individual is, the less likely they are to respect the humanity of another?

Given my personal experience of Christians (as opposed to the collective abstraction people like to lampoon), that seemed so unlikely, I had to dig a little further. First, let's look at the survey results that CNN has published. According to CNN,

More than half of people who attend services at least once a week -- 54 percent -- said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is "often" or "sometimes" justified. Only 42 percent of people who "seldom or never" go to services agreed, according to the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

So that �more often� in the lede is actually rather dodgy. While it implies that, for any given American, the frequency with which they go to church will be an indicator of their willingness to torture, it's actually dealing with some different sort of statistic. The picture becomes clearer when two further details are observed. First, the baseline for American society is apparently 40%:

People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only four in 10 of them did.

Then it seems that non-evangelical protestants are less likely than the non-religious to support torture:

The religious group most likely to say torture is never justified was Protestant denominations -- such as Episcopalians, Lutherans and Presbyterians -- categorized as "mainline" Protestants, in contrast to evangelicals. Just over three in 10 of them said torture is never justified.

Ah. So that lede isn't correct, then. The indicator is not really �how often the person attends church� - it's �what denominational affiliation the person has�. Members of �mainline� (i.e. non-evangelical) denominations are less likely to support torture than the average American. According to CNN, that is. Who don't link to the actual research just in case you study it yourself.

So let's take a look at the original research as well as the generic, non-religious-based research. Well, actually, we can't as it doesn't appear to be published � there are only interpretations of selected results, with selective quotations provided. The full demographic data of the sample surveyed is not available anywhere I can find it.

What we do discover from the second article though is that these results:

are from a very small sample size, only just large enough to make any statements about �religious people� and too small to talk about anything other than abstract categories;
result from a single question which is framed in a way that eliminates the possibility of the sort of nuanced understanding of ethics any difficult question deserves;
ultimately say more about partisan political views than about religion. Maybe what's going on here is a characterization of �conservative, political� as �conservative, religious�?

So is there anything useful here? Are these grounds for evangelical atheists to once again pronounce the evil of religion? Well, no, I don't think so. I don't think there is really any useful data available on that subject here. Rather, it's been framed as an opportunity for tub-thumping reinforcement of prejudices against red-necks. Big deal.

A Tale of Two Issues

2009-04-10T23:46:00.003+01:00

Two things happened on Tuesday that needed sorting out:

I clicked the wrong link in TripIt and my main account got wiped out as a consequence
I discovered that BusinessWeek had got it into their heads I am on Sun's Board

The path the two issues have tracked as the week has progressed couldn't be more different.

Despite the TripIt issue being a case of user error (albeit induced by bad design!), the folks over there were extremely helpful and took my direct e-mail to the first person I thought of as sufficient indication they needed to engage. I had good, direct communication from an empowered employee who took ownership of the problem, checked in with me regularly to make sure the actions they were taking were OK with me and told me what to expect. I had my main TripIt account re-instated after 48 hours. I even had TripIt's VP of Product, Will Aldrich, show up in blog comments to apologise for the problem happening and to say they are redesigning the UI area that triggered the issue. Great stuff, very encouraging and restorative to my shaken faith - thanks, everyone.

The BusinessWeek issue has been exactly the opposite. Despite it being an egregious error on the part of BusinessWeek that has nothing whatever to do with me and read incredibly badly on their reputation for accuracy, I got something of a brush-off. My report to their editor was forwarded to a staff member who told me (via cut-and-paste text) that I should have filled in a form reachable via a pale grey icon below the fold and on the far right on the erroneous page. Nothing much happened until I sent the same text as I'd sent the editor via that form a day later when I found it. What then happened was a reply saying they would look into the issue appeared from some other company (clearly a supplier). The matter is still not resolved as of the time of writing, and I was just told it could take several days to make their listing match the SEC filings. [Update on April 14: Fixed at 4:25pm]

One of these companies has a great future.

TripIt Destroyed My Account - but fixed it!

2009-04-08T01:42:00.003+01:00

I have been a fan of TripIt right from the beginning when I was in their alpha program. Their ability to read travel booking confirmation e-mails and build me a great itinerary from them is legendary, their iCal feed is the backbone of my calendar and their growing social networking features keep finding chance overlaps with friends.

But today I had an experience that has shaken my faith in them. I sent an itinerary to them from the wrong account and found it must have happened before because I had an account with that ID on TripIt. I went to the profile page to delete the account and just at the final step was offered the opportunity to merge the account into another account. Seemed smart, so I agreed.

What they then did was disastrous. Instead of taking the account I was deleting and merging it into my master account, they did it the other way - deleted my master account and "merged" it into the unwanted one. In the process, they lost all my social network contacts, lost my iCal feed and lost all of my shared arrangements with my various itinerary partners.

I instantly wrote to them about it, but still have no reply. I hope they will be able to reinstate my account (I have heard from people on Twitter who have had the same experience). When they do, they need to immediately disable this dangerous and badly conceived "feature" that keeps harming their most loyal users.

Update Fri Apr 10: TripIt turned out to be marvelous and have now restored both my account and my faith - see my analysis.

Language Synchronicity

2009-02-21T15:16:00.002Z

Just a small outbreak of synchronicity here as I see reported a load of hand-wringing from a UNESCO project:

Some of the data are especially worrying: out of the approximately 6,000 existing languages in the world, more than 200 have become extinct during the last three generations, 538 are critically endangered, 502 severely endangered, 632 definitely endangered and 607 unsafe.

while at the same time we see an illustration of the problems caused by humans speaking multiple languages over in Ireland:

It was discovered that the man every member of the Irish police's rank and file had been looking for - a Mr Prawo Jazdy - wasn't exactly the sort of prized villain whose apprehension leads to an officer winning an award ... "Prawo Jazdy is actually the Polish for driving licence and not the first and surname on the licence," read a letter from June 2007 from an officer working within the Garda's traffic division.

If the mix of living languages causes misunderstandings and probably worse, I'm not sure I buy into the romantic notion of trying to preserve loads more that are falling into disuse. As I recall, Babel was a punishment...

Live, as required, in Sydney

2009-02-02T04:09:00.003Z

I don't know if it was the afternoon start, the problems with her keyboard, or something else altogether. But Juana Molina did not seem pleased to see a room full of people out to enjoy her remarkable and accomplished music in Sydney last Saturday. She seemed elsewhere - had nothing to say, commented condescendingly as if our presence was unwelcome or the venue beneath her, seemed ill at ease throughout the performance.

The music was worth hearing though. I'd not fully appreciated that everthing she does is live, and had anticipated canned loops throughout. As it is, she creates every song live, recording the guitar or keyboard notes in mid-flight and weaving the set-up into the song. My respect for her talent is greater than before - she is clearly someone deeply practiced in what she does.

The incident with the keyboard was also impressive. The one she was using failed and a replacement found. She performed while it was installed, performed while it was configured and loaded (from the floppy disk in her guitar case) and weaved the testing of the new one into the next song. All thoroughly professional.

The sound she makes live isn't as clean and rounded as her recorded sound - that's obviously polished in the studio before the bits hit the disk. Her audience was perhaps muted as well. It seemed to comprise women dragging along bemused partners to experience the happening. Row upon row of alternating nodding and bemused, tilted heads spanned the tent.

Finally the end came. Once the regulation period of suitable applause was submitted, Juana Molina returned for her required encore, delivered it with excellent professionalism and departed, perhaps a little surprised to discover how many of us were actually fans rather than anthropologists. Overall a worthwhile afternoon, but I'm not sure that her inner entertainer really shone through.

The Batman Conspiracy?

2008-12-16T12:22:00.003Z

Just a brief note for those unfamiliar with some colloquial English. Two usages have sprung to mind this week as I have gaped in wonder at synchronicity.

The first word I'd like to mention is "blag", which despite some attempts to borrow it for cheap use related to blogging still means to fool someone into giving you something by eloquent charm and a little dishonesty, as in "he was able to blag a seat in the Senate".

The second usage is "made off", meaning to steal from someone by sleight of hand and evasion, as in the phrase "the thief made off with all my money."

So what's going on with the world when two enormous alleged crimes are allegedly perpetrated by people named after the alleged crime? Are Blagojevich and Madoff actually plot devices in some huge Batman scriptwriter conspiracy? Can we reduce our law enforcement costs significantly by looking for people called "Fraudstein", "J Ripper" or even "Nick"? Enquiring minds need to know.