Naked Meme: What’s on your iPod?
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 9th, 2007A few chapters through The Perfect Thing, it was revealed that one of the factors that made th iPod a huge success was the feature that it could hold your entire library of music. Looking into one’s iPod was almost like baring that person’s soul as taste in music revealed a lot about a person. You’re naked.
So what’s on YOUR music player? It need not necessarily be an iPod that you own, or heck it may not even be a portable music player. Grab your iTunes or equivalent desktop music player and follow these instructions:
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Code Monkey Unplugged Lyrics Chords and Tabs
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 3rd, 2007Songwriter Jonathan Coulton dedicates this song to anyone who has served as a code monkey in a software corporation. The song is great stuff but what really struck a chord was when he performed an unplugged version that turned the entire thing into a ballad.
So yeah it struck a chord, so I decided to transcribe bits and pieces of the song into tabs for all your guitar folks to try out. For reference, this is the plugged in version of the song and this is the unplugged version. He also has a YouTube video up for the acoustic version of Code Monkey.
Some notes on the new 8GB iPod nano
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at October 6th, 2007
After careful consultation with fellow Macheads, I decided to forego my purchase of the iPod touch in favor of the 3rd generation 8GB iPod nano. The reason for the change of heart was mainly because first generation Apple products have let people down. Even if the iPod touch is a remarkable device, you still can’t beat the fact that the new nano is already in its third iteration. I honestly think that the iPod touch and the iPhone are proof of concept experiments that will lead to the resurrection of the Newton II. Hence, these two products have not yet reached maturity.
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Man in the Mirror recorded on a Samson C01U
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at September 18th, 2007The Samson CO1U Condenser microphone has received legendary reviews from tech community groups and audiophiles alike. I have been exposed to using the microphone ever since Vic Icasas lent me one for recording the Mobile Philippines podcasts late last year with Art Ilano and Adel Gabot.
After months of mental debate on whether I should be getting one, I finally decided to bite the hook, as I also found it useful for singing duets with Boogie and recording acoustic music – apart from its more suitable use as a podcast microphone. For current Samson owners, it would be wise to download the SoftPre application to configure the microphone to suit your needs. The microphone retails for P3,890.00 and is sold in all Audiophile stores. This is the recommended piece of equipment for those who wish to take their audio recording to the next level, without the burden of a hefty budget.
The complete recording set includes the microphone, the stand and the spider mount which retails for a little less than P5,500. You can actually forego the spider mount but I suggest getting the solid base because it only costs P420.00. You can also utilize your Make and Do skills to create your own pop filter using an old pair of stockings and a shirt hanger.
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Without further ado, here is my rendition of Man in the Mirror, originally written by Michael Jackson. This version is arranged by Tuck Andress. Please pardon the mistakes, as I was having a hard time playing this piece on a classical guitar (it’s much easier to play this on a steel string folk guitar as the fret boards are smaller). Or maybe I’m just rusty.
Price drop for remaining stocks of Apple iPods
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at September 11th, 2007
This is just a heads up – the old iPod models are selling like hotcakes in the Philippines. To give you an idea of the price drops, iStudio prices point to P12,900.00 for the 30GB iPod and P18,xxx.xx for the 80GB model. This is a huge steal for consumers who have been wanting to buy cheap, but brand new.
Last word was that the 30GB model is already sold out at iStudio in Bonifacio High Street, The Fort. Check out the other Apple official dealers for prices and availability. The new 2007 line of iPods will be out this coming 28th of September.
How to do a soft sell for a product
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at September 9th, 2007This video came out about a year ago as an advocacy campaign to promote Philippine tourism. As it is the dawn of the “ber” months and the holidays are fast approaching, I’d like to encourage the foreign readers of this little blog to visit my lovely country for the holidays. The beaches and food are to die for. 
Do you see the 3 second plug at the end? That’s how you do a soft sell.
Talking points on the issue of DRM
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at August 30th, 2007
The Nokia N81 … not to be confused with the “Nokia iPhone” … at least not yet
Very interesting points were raised during the talk on Nokia digital music forum today. A lot of DRM issues were shed to light as well as new developments in the music industry. Most of these insights come from Sandy Monteiro who is the SVP for Digital Music, Universal Music.
- Apple did a good job of marketing their “DRM free” music when in reality this isn’t truly the case. Having an artist’s name and title is DRM. The fact that Apple only made the download available in AAC format isn’t truly “DRM free” either. Making it available only in the iTunes Store is also a sign that this is not also truly “DRM free.”
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A new technology is being explored to allow music sharing via Bluetooth or through other means. It involves having the fourth or fifth person paying only a fraction of the cost via wireless sharing (IrDA or Bluetooth) of what the original person had to pay when he or she downloaded the music. This is sort of like a “human Bit torrent” effect. Or the new pyramid scheme for DRM
- In the future, music tracks can be remixed by anyone. Let’s say you have a Frank Sinatra song – you can rearrange the instruments (instead of wind instruments you can use strings) and then upload your version of the song to the Internet. The user community can then download the song and you get a royalty fee. The music tracks that participate in this program have the prior approval of the artists and the record label. Interesting?
These were some of the more interesting points raised for the future of digital music. What do you think?
My closet dancing frustrations are now satisfied by BOOGIE for the Wii!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at August 24th, 2007I have always been a frustrated dancer. When Yapi and I went to look for new games for the Wii before she moves to China, we were adamant enough to scour Greenhills for a copy of Boogie, the new dancing / rhythm game published by Electronic Arts. Boogie, despite the low reviews from GameSpot, is one of the most fun workout games that utilizes the Wiimote and a USB microphone (yes you can sing too!). Though the game has its limitations, EA is definitely on the right direction to coming up with a great rhythm and motion game.
The speaker on the Wii Remote acts as a metronome, and there’s also a visual indicator on the screen to help you stay in time to the music. The more moves you time properly in a row, the higher your score. As your score increases, so does your boost meter. Once you’ve obtained a bit of boost, you can hold down the B button to trigger a series of arrows at the bottom of the screen. If you follow the pattern correctly, your character will perform a special dance move that will net you big points. [read]
Sharm told me I lost weight during the Taste Asia II party. Blame it on the Boogie
Boogie is available at Datablitz for P2,300.00 (the cheapest one I’ve seen at Park Square, Makati). It comes with a Wii USB microphone but any USB microphone can be used for the Karaoke mode.
Market Night at mag:net August 20 2007
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at August 13th, 2007If any of you young entrepreneurs are interested, mag:net cafe at Serendra is having a Market Night event this coming August 20 2007. Gabe Mercado (via JC Media) briefly describes the concept of Market Night:
Market night is a new thing we’re trying out as we’re trying to find a way to showcase more independent young accessories/fashion designers out there — precisely the type of people who make their own stuff and sell out of their own websites.
We pretty much do a lot to promote independent musicians, visual artists, performance artists, writers and film makers but we haven’t done much to promote designers just yet, which is why we thought up of this event.
If there are any independent sellers out there who make their own stuff and want to be a part of this event, let me know!
We are especially looking for handcrafted shirts and accessories that are for guys too. We seem to have a lot of items for women already.
If you are interested in participating, please let Gabe know by commenting in his multiply site.
BUT if you’re interested in grabbing some great finds please come! Talked to Gabe a while ago and he has more that 23 vendors with fashionista accessories! Come one, come all!
The Greatest Sacrifice
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 4th, 2007If you are a musician, you would probably kill me for doing something back in 2004. I was in dire need of cash and I was also in dire need of a portable computer. Back then, a friend sold me a good quality second hand iBook G4, an 800MHz beauty with 2 years of warranty and 640MB of RAM. Built in Bluetooth, built in WiFi, custom made from Apple.
This decision was perhaps a huge turning point in my life, albeit I had not known it to be so at that point because I was young, restless and in need of something to feed my rising geekdom.
And thus, the title of this post, because I gave up something that I should not have sold in the first place.
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1,000+ songs to listen to while blogging
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 2nd, 2006I actually found this site courtesy of my dad who’s been obsessed with YouTube for the past several weeks. The site basically plays a selection from the top 100 songs people loved from 1955 to 1982.
As for copyright stuff, well, gee… I don’t know. Point is, it’s good music. What’s interesting to note is to listen to how our listening has evolved by listening to around five or six songs from each year. This is a social commentary of the worldwide pop culture in the last three decades. Pardon the site, it isn’t Web 2.0-ish at all. But then again, its all about the content, eh?
Listen on here. Hope the site loads for you. It is down sometimes (bandwidth issues?).
