One of the first web 2.0 type events that I went to when I moved to California was Super Happy Dev House, where I met Vinnie and the other guys from Meetro. At the time that company had as many as 8 guys living and working in a three-bedroom apartment in Palo Alto. It sounds like a totally crazy situation, but whenever I hung out there I found it to be extremely inspiring and energizing - they were passionate to the max about their idea (they still are, but now they have some real office space). Current.tv did a great job of depicting this arrangement and I want to share it with you:
Archive for Ideas
As I was trying to assemble a dance playlist for a recent party that I hosted, I realized the shortcomings of the traditional use of the iTunes rating format: the only songs I rated were the songs that I _liked_ - resulting in a large mass of 4-star and 5-star songs - some of which were not uplifting enough to dance to. Thankfully I found enough danceable ones to make the party a success, but clearly I needed a better way to categorize my music.
After much thought, I have devised an emotion-based rating system. Here it goes:
1-star: Melancholy
These songs are friggen’ depressing, and with no hope of recovery. I was surprised at how few of the songs in my collection really fall into this category, so maybe I need to be more liberal in my categorization. What isn’t a surprise is that most of the songs that fall into this category are either Elliott Smith or Bright Eyes songs: “Angeles” and “Lua”, respectively, for example.
2-stars: Wistful
These songs are actually more depressing to listen to than the 1-star songs because they tend to allude - through lyrics, sound, or both - to things just lost or out of reach. This category seems to be dominated by Stars, Bloc Party, and Arcade Fire: “Lover’s Spit,” “Kreuzberg,” and “Intervention” as respective examples.
3-stars: Stable
Given that most modern music is based on The Blues, these may still be a little depressing, but are generally more soothing to listen to. These songs tend to mix subtle happiness and sadness for an overall “Stable” feel. This is where you start to see some Spoon and The Strokes show up: “Lines in the Suit” and “Automatic Stop,” as respective examples.
4-stars: Cool
Now we get into things that are perhaps danceable and have a generally more active feel. The spiraling bass line and breathy vocals of “Stars and Sons” by Broken Social Scene put that song in this category, and that crazy video-game sounding guitar solo in “Born Under Punches” by The Talking Heads is undeniably “Cool.” “Happy” and “joyous” songs would probably go in this category as well.
5-stars: Indestructible
These are those songs that make you want to dance, run really fast, lift heavy objects, leap tall buildings, etc.. This is where much of my hip-hop collection ends up, with N.E.R.D.’s “Brain” and Dr. Dre’s “Nuthin’ but A ‘G’ Thang” being a couple of favorites; and “Abra Cadaver” (no, not “Kadavy”) by The Hives, and Gang of Four’s “Natural’s Not In It” reppin’ other Genres. The ultimate “Indestructible” song goes - of course - to Spoon with “I Turn My Camera On.”
While there may be some criteria - or even specific characteristics of a song - that I point to to justify my ratings, _it’s music_ and thus this rating system is by no means scientific. I may even rate a song “Cool” today and later decide that it makes me feel “Indestructible” - it may depend upon my mood at the moment I rate the song. I have found the mood-based playlists this rating system yeilds to be pretty reliable. Does it work for you?
My mother recently sent me an article from the February 4th Omaha World Herald entitled Omaha: Creative, but intolerant. Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class, and other related books was the keynote speaker at Omaha’s first Young Professionals Summit. It turns out that while Omaha ranks 11th on the midsize city Creativity Index, and has a “strong technology base” (what?), Omaha ranks 155th on the tolerance scale of midsize cities. Florida(the author)’s research indicates that cities that rank high in technology, talent, and tolerance lead in innovation, and Nebraska’s being the first state to ban gay marriage doesn’t help Omaha out with that third “T.” Business leaders present and future gathered to hear what they could do about this problem.
- Ego Capital
- Value to a user coming in any of a variety of forms, including personal effort, alterations to sense of self and personal worth, or social connections. A user is unlikely to invest Ego Capital if the return is likely to be a loss.
The startups of the late 90’s had the right idea in giving so many things away for “free”, but what they didn’t seem to understand was that if you give your users something, you should in turn get them to do something for you.
I have carried around a notebook for some time now, but the linear format of notebooks has never really suited me. Let’s say I’m out and about – here’s a scenario that may occur if I’m carrying around a notebook:
When a video capable iPod comes out, and you know it will, the concept of a static album cover will soon be outdated. Instead of a still image, short animations or videos will be more appropriate to have flash upon your iPod screen as you start playing an album. Naturally, your iPod will play music videos, too.
So I’m on a business trip in Des Moines at a bar called The Lift (it has Wi-Fi), and it is the first implementation I have seen of iPod DJing. People hand their iPods to the bartender with a fifteen minute playlist on it, and free of charge, he plays each iPod in the order it was received (except tonight, since it’s “Ladies 80’s,” and ladies go first). One of my friends had this idea awhile ago, and we were pretty surprised to see someone was already doing it. His idea involved an automated system though, but that may not be worth it until iPods have Bluetooth or something similar. I told them I was blogging about their bar, and they took a picture of me. It should be included with the other iPod night photos soon.
Cheers!
Have you ever wanted to start your own suburban development, but just couldn’t think of what to name it? Behold the Suburban Development Name Generator (v.1.0). It can provide you with dozens of creative names such as Quail Run, Eagle Run, Huntington Park, Whispering Ridge, Shadow Ridge and many more!
Before the iPod Shuffle came out, I had a vision for the iPod. I thought it would be useful if it included a main unit with large capacity, but had a small part of it that would clip off when on the go. The technology for playing the music, as well as the controls, could go on the small unit. I hadn’t envisioned eliminating the display from the small unit though.
Don’t make me rate all of my songs. Having songs rated is great for enhancing the Party Shuffle, and populating the “My Top Rated” playlist, but rating can be a hassle. Use the power of the Internet, and assign all of my songs an average rating, which takes the average rating of each song from all of the iTunes libraries across the world. Then let me override this rating by making my own rating, which is then sent to the database and calculated back into the average rating for that song.
I’m sure Apple has probably already thought of this and is working on it, but hurry up!
[4:16 PM - Title has been edited to be more descriptive]
[4:16 PM - One more thought]
Imagine the sales potential for the iTunes Music Store to know your ratings of songs, and to know what other songs are enjoyed by people who rate that song highly.
