Scientists announced Monday that they have developed a high-tech T-shirt that turns the strumming of an air guitar into music.

The T-shirt has motion sensors built into its elbows that pick up the wearer's arm motions and relay them wirelessly to a computer which interprets them as guitar riffs, said Richard Helmer, an engineer who leads the research team from the government's Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.

One arm is interpreted as picking chords while the other strums. The "wearable instrument shirt" is adaptable to both right and left-handed would-be rock stars.

"It's an easy-to-use, virtual instrument that allows real-time music making even by players without significant musical or computing skills," Helmer said in a statement.

"It allows you to jump around and the sound generated is just like an original MP3," he added, referring to the digital audio file format.

The shift is a collaboration between CSIRO researchers in computing, chemistry, electronics, music composition and textile manufacture.

Helmer said sensors could be used in the future to reproduce a person in the virtual world so they could get feedback on their actions and improve their sporting techniques.

So far as the yet very quiet forums are claiming, a new app called FairUse4WM can be used to strip Windows Media DRM 10 and 11 (i.e. PlaysForSure, but not WM DRM 9). Yes, yes, we know, we've heard this song and dance before. But before we proceed, let's just be totally clear on how the system works: providers like Napster and Yahoo Music Unlimited provide subscription service for unlimited access to Windows Media DRMed files; stop paying the fee, stop getting access to the files -- but you already knew all this. We tried FairUse4WM and we can verify that it quickly and easily stripped the DRM from our Napster To Go tracks, and made them freely available to play on our Mac (which, of course, has Flip4Mac installed). In other words, it's a simple, apparently lossless, one-step method for making your files playable after you're no longer paying fees on your subscription service. The app didn't work on our Vongo videos, but we can verify with all certainty that yes, Windows Media DRM can now be easily and quickly stripped from PlaysForSure media services. Now watch as Microsoft shuts down the forums and runs damage control in order to prevent an digital media entire platform from collapsing. Click on for a couple more pics of the app in action!

 

http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/25/fairuse4wm-strips-windows-media-drm/

 

 

http://www.riaa.com/news/newsletter/pdf/2005yrEndStats.pdf

 

-         Unit sales are actually up nearly 36%

-         Only a 0.6% loss in revenues

-         Downloaded singles represented nearly 75% of all downloads, and a 3x increase from last year

-         Revenues from subscription services were 7x larger than sales from CD and vinyl singles combined

-         Revenues from mobile services (ringtones, ringbacks, music videos, etc.) represented nearly one half of all digital sales!

 

Hello Everyone!

 

I wanted you to hear about this from me first. The Sheeba store has a new pricing policy.

 

Like many, I'm restless and impatient with living in a world where people are made to feel like shoplifters rather than intelligent peoples with a good sense of balance. I want to treat people the way I'd like to be treated. 'Dumbing UP' (as opposed to 'dumbing down').

 

WHAT ARE SELF-DETERMINED TRANSACTIONS?

 

NOT donations

NOT pay-what-you-can

NOT guilt trips

NOT tests of your integrity

ARE TRANSACTIONS

 

YOU decide what feels right to your gut. If you download for free, perhaps you'll buy an extra CD at an indie band's concert. Or if you don't go with your gut feeling, you might sleep poorly, wake up grumpy, put your shoes on backwards and fall over. Whatever. You'll know what to do.

 

WHAT YOU WILL FIND AT SHEEBA STORE

FOUR choices on pop-down 'buy' button

    1. free (gift from Jane)

    2. self-determined (pay now)

    3. self-determined (pay later so you are truly educated in your decision)

    4. standard (today's going rate is about .99)

 

STATISTICS BAR: You can see what the paying trends are.

GIFTS: You can still send mp3 gifts to friends with any payment choice.

 

EDUCATED DECISIONS

1/ COST OF DOWNLOADING:

* online credit card authorization -about .45/order (not per song); credit card merchants (visa, amex, mc) cost from 1-3% per order; balance goes to artist

* if your order costs $0 (free) these costs are bypassed.

 

2/ COST of CDs:

* about $2.50 to manufacture. This doesn't include training as a musician (ok, so my parents didn't charge me rent for lying on my bed playing guitar), studio time, etc.

 

Things to ponder. Not too long, though. Life is out there waiting.

 

I am making a choice to work this way and take full responsibility for whatever it may bring. You make your own decision and stand by it, too. This is not a guilt trip. Feel no pressure.

 

The most important thing is that the music flow out to where it could bring enjoyment. And THAT is the best thing you could give me.

 

Jane Siberry

www.janesiberry.com

Jonny Evans, 12/14/05

http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?home&NewsID=13358

 

A new potentially serious combination of companies hope to steal a slice of the online music market from Apple's iTunes - MTV Networks and Microsoft have a plan.

 

The two companies have confirmed they will launch a new service - "Urge" - in the US in 2006. The online music service will launch with a catalogue of two million songs across multiple genres, and will be heavily marketed across MTV's broadcasting assets, MTV, VH1 and CMT. These have an audience of some 165 million music fans.

 

Heavy leverage

 

In a move that may interest regulators worldwide (such as in Europe and Korea) who are considering Microsoft's potentially anti-competitive practice of bundling its media player with its OS, the company will integrate the new Urge service within a future version of Windows Media Player.

 

This new digital music service will offer both a la carte and subscription services, as well as access to MTV's video assets.

 

Urge has quickly won the support of at least two major labels. It's interesting that both these labels are believed to be the ones that are applying the most pressure on Apple to offer "flexible pricing" on downloads.

 

Expect ‘flexible pricing’

 

Both Clive Davis, chairman and CEO of BMG US and Lyor Cohen, chairman and CEO of US recorded music for the Warner Music Group spoke up to support the new service.

 

Curiously, MTV was long felt by many in the music industry to be in possession of too much clout when it scored a home run in music video broadcasts. BMG has now merged with Sony outside Japan, and strong industry rumours suggest Warner may even have plans to merge with EMI.

 

Combined with Microsoft the grouping appears a mighty one.

 

Warner's Cohen said: "With Urge, MTV Networks is again at the forefront of revolutionising where and how our combined audiences across the globe can connect with the music and the artists they love."

 

Van Toffler, MTV Networks Music Group president described Urge as a "psychic concierge", and promised all manner of personalisation, recommendation and music discovery features for users of the Windows-only service.

 

Jason Hirschhorn, the company's chief digital officer, told the Associated Press: "We think the iPod has done a great job. Our aim is not to switch people from iTunes and the iPod. We need to concentrate on where there's going to be a bigger market."

 

A bigger market? iPods account for 75 per cent of music player sales, and iTunes for 80 per cent of legitimate downloads. The focus on future market trends suggests that Apple's enemies in the space hope to use that company's success as a trailblazer, in a similar way to that in which Apple familiarized the planet with a graphical user interface in the eighties.

 

Michael Gartenberg, vice president of Jupiter Research isn't certain the plan will work: "The biggest paradox is the people who are most likely interested in an MTV-branded music experience are also probably the demographic that has the highest interest in the iPod," he said.

 

Additional details of the new service will be unveiled in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

 

Game sound effects in many ways can be more readily identifiable than music. Just as the legendary hum of the lightsaber and scream of the TIE fighter have solidified their position world culture, consider how important the sound of a chaingun is in a first person shooter, or the sound of footsteps in a sneaker such as "Thief" or "Metal Gear Solid". What sounds stick in our minds the most for being both effective and unique?

 

10) Contra "Death", Konami

In Contra, a player dying sounded more like a cybernetic android shutting down than a man hit by a bullet, but the sounds overall being over the top and camp allowed for such a technique. When you died, the sound hit you like a fist and writ itself into history as one of the most memorable sounds of failure in video games.

 

9) Crystal Quest "Level completed", Patrick Buckland / Casady & Greene

Crystal Quest was one of the first games to use extensive samples for all its sound effects. Released in 1987 it used the Mac classic to the fullest with its 8 bit mono PCM capability. The sound for completing a level was a shout of glee (or ecstasy, as some have interpreted it), that made you laugh each time it happened.

 

8) Wizards and Warriors, "Mug of Ale", Rare

This original NES game took itself quite seriously and played out like a decent incarnation of the age old "knight rescues the fair maiden" tale. In the midst of this game is a sound that both perplexes and amuses with absolute originality. When acquiring a mug of ale, the player receives a point bonus as well as a sound that chromatically arpeggiates upwards, resulting in a very bizarre sound effect. If you sing the words "mug of ay-ay-ay-ale" at the same time as the sound occurs using the same pitches you end up with at least a few minutes of delightful amusement.

 

7) Doom 2, "Double-barreled shotgun", Id Software

The sounds in the original Doom were well done for the most part for a game of its caliber, but none distinguished themselves the way the double-barreled shotgun did in the sequel. After acquiring the weapon you felt more powerful than with almost any other gun, even the BFG 9000. Indeed, it would be years before a sound would yield such satisfaction with a first person perspective shooter.

 

6) Super Mario Bros. "Jump", Nintendo

When one thinks of jumping one doesn't immediately picture a sound pitch bending from a low pitch to a high one. Even though the sound repeats more than a thousand times before the game is completed, it never seems to get repetitive. It also symbolizes the main activity of one of video games' most memorable characters.

 

5) Defender, "Spawn", Williams

Williams / Midway games of this age in the arcade used a very advanced sound system and their titles show it, from "Robotron" to "Joust". Defender's flanged ship materialization was unique amongst arcade and home games alike and generated a layered sound quality that had not yet been heard. An honorable mention that used a similar technique was the Robotron sound when advancing a level.

 

4) Counter-Strike, "AWP", Valve

Counter-Strike blew us all away with its weapon sounds. There's no argument to the fact that the weapons were far more visceral than any FPS that had been released yet, and in addition to the fact that the weapons caused far more damage (almost realistic damage), the sounds themselves became more frightening to hear. The AWP sniper rifle was oft used as a powerful one shot kill weapon and its sound made that very clear.

 

3) Gauntlet, "___needs food, badly", Atari

This could mean one of four players, the Elf, Wizard, Warrior, or Valkyrie, was in serious trouble and needed food to restore health. Though technically this is voice and not a sound effect, it was generated through synthesis using a chip called POKEY by Texas Instruments. Similar ones were used in the Speak n' Spell. This sound, like no other, made you worry that you were close to death.

 

2) Zaxxon, "Wind", Sega

The first cool ambient sound ever was used in Sega's Zaxxon. The sound of wind in space of course doesn't exist in reality, but in this title it sets an extremely barren and foreboding mood.

 

1) Pac Man, "Death", Namco

Perhaps the sound most identified with in popular culture, the death of Pac Man is synonymous with failure and much like the Contra death sound made no bones about telling the player they had lost miserably. The sound is used in commercials and films and nearly everyone recognizes it, game player or not.

 

 

 

John Borland, CNET News.com, 12/9/50