Author Archive for SandraPage 28 of 30

The Semantic Web = Shit Has Meaning

published
on November 7, 2007
by
Sandra
in technology and web 3.0
. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

So, I signed up to be a beta tester for this upcoming website called Twine after reading about it on Slashdot. Apparently I am not the only one who thinks that the Semantic Web idea is HOT, as their welcome email said I was one of tens of thousands of requests they’ve gotten.

As demonstrated in the comments section of the Slashdot article, this technology (and Twine in particular) has its critics. But, for the time being I’m going to remain optimistic, since I like the idea of organizing a bunch of my stuff in one place. Without actually having to do it myself.

There is plenty of speculation about what Web 3.0 might entail. Mashups? Artificial intelligence? Customization? 3D? And the Semantic Web concept of a “web with meaning” seems to be a main ingredient.

For more on what a Semantic Web would entail, click here. As the tutorial explains, it’s about the relationship between things and the properties of things, rather than just links between web pages. The Semantic Web uses RDF (Resource Description Framework – a markup language for describing information) to allow computer programs to aggregate information. So, basically, you let the web do some of your thinking for you and organize information pertinent to you, your interests, and your contacts in an easily searchable way. Tim Berners-Lee, the WWW pioneer, puts it nicely:

“If HTML and the Web made all the online documents look like one huge book, RDF, schema, and inference languages will make all the data in the world look like one huge database.”

Technology Review gives a nice little breakdown of how Twine aggregates information (emails, YouTube videos, web searches etc), analyzes, tags, and sorts it into categories, and also uses social networking to collect information gathered by others in a user’s network. Based on research done in fields like natural-language processing and machine learning, Twine purports to be “one of the first mainstream applications of the Semantic Web.” An early tester of Twine recounts his experience here.

Nova Spivak, the CEO and founder of Radar Networks (makers of Twine) also mentions some other cool up-and-comings in the same space on his blog, like the “new semantic search engine” called True Knowledge. He says “True Knowledge is about making a better public knowledgebase on the Web — in a sense they are a better search engine combined with a better Wikipedia.”

Though the Semantic Web seems to be catching on rather slowly, I think it has huge potential. We will surely see more and more applications of the concept as people witness the advantages of leveraging technology that understands the meaning of the information it finds, collects, and shares for you. On the Semantic Web, shit has meaning.

Find Live Music. Easier.

published
on October 23, 2007
by
Sandra
in music, startups, and technology
. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Most of us like a good live show once in a while. Though I’ve never been fanatical about concert-going or following any one band around the country, I do get surprised every time I go just how intense the experience can be. Whether it be a jazz trio in a smoky lounge, a jam band in a beer can littered park, or a punk show with a leg-breaking mosh pit, each experience has its charms.

Music festivals can be awesome because of the sheer number of bands you can catch in one place! Coachella, for example, which I got into for free twice – once as a rep for Han Vodka and once as part of the Jack Johnson team while I was working for Oniracom – was amazing in that regard. Frustrating though, because you can’t be in like 12 places at once. I guess hanging out while Jack Johnson and G. Love warmed up in their trailer was worth missing a few bands for though…(Yay for backstage passes!)

But ya. Seeing the band(s) you love live and sitting amongst other blubbering wide-eyed fans definitely has its merits. When I saw Pink Martini live a few years ago, I think I cried through basically the whole show. Gotan Project and Thievery Corporation had me dancing at the front like a total psycho*.

These days, though, I rarely take the time to keep track of who’s playing, where, and when. Luckily, there are a host of websites which can do that for you. JamBase is one. They’ve been around since 1998, but I was reminded of them recently, when another MixMatcher and I attended the SF New Tech meetup in San Francisco. JamBase was one of the featured presentations and after seeing them in action, I realized that they can make concert-going for us lazy busy people more feasible. Their comprehensive tour date search engine of over 40,000 bands should be a good start anyway. Other goodies include in-depth reviews, networking with other fans, listings of shows in your area etc. Check em out.

Obviously, they are not the only player in their field. One contender, which I found on TechCrunch, is the new startup Songkick. It helps you find the cheapest concert tickets – definitely a winning idea in my book. You can also track shows and blog posts about your selected entertainers, and there is a recommendation engine, which is “not generated from the user base, like Last.fm, or through careful analysis like Pandora.” Another alternative is LiveNation, which claims to be the “world’s largest live music company”.

Given the seemingly endless number of startups popping up every day, it’s hard to keep track of what’s what. My opinion about startups is generally based on their answer to the question “how will you make my life easier?” as well as secondary concerns like “how pretty is your website?” and “can you keep my attention for more than 30 seconds?” In this regard, JamBase has my vote. For now, anyway.

*My psycho dancing is nothing compared to the thousands of teeny bopper girls I watched morph into screaming hyenas at that one Backstreet Boys concert I got dragged along to years ago…I kept thinking poor chaperoning parents. Yet, oddly enough, many of them seemed just as excited to be there as their 3-13 yr olds. Admittedly, I may have kind of gotten into it too. Just a little.

Beatboxing Flute Loops and More.

published
on October 17, 2007
by
Sandra
in music and video
. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Live looping is pretty darn cool. As is beatboxing flute. Here’s an example of both:

If you like the beatboxing flute concept, apparently this guy is one of the masters. His inspector gadget remix has only been viewed like 8 million times on youtube…no, seriously. 8,795,136 last time I checked. Check out which other song he mixes in at the end.

Not everybody likes the flute though. This one time, at band camp…Anyway. If you’d rather watch a baby laughing adorably at its dad beatboxing, click here.

No. I'm Not Going to Write About Radiohead.

published
on October 11, 2007
by
Sandra
in music
. Closed Tags: , , .

Because everyone already has.

Plus, if you haven’t already heard about the band’s little social experiment, then you probably live in a cave. Or under a rock. Or under a rock IN a cave…Nothing against cavemen or flintstone types. You guys rock. (Pun totally intended.)

But, just in case you seriously don’t know what I’m talking about, click here or here. Or for NIN fans, here…They are almost as cool for being next in line.

Personally, I think this is the start of something big. And who better to lead the way than that obscure little quintet called Radiohead. The music industry is indeed evolving. This guy (who I stumbled across on Slashdot) seems to thinks so too. If your attention span is too short for his whole blog post, here are my favorite quotes:

“…they commenced suing Napster. We [Winamp] were naive to be sure, but we were genuinely surprised by the approach. Suing Napster without offering an alternative just seemed like a denial of fact. Napster didn’t invent the ability to do P2P, it was inherent in TCP/IP. It was like throwing Newton in jail for popularizing the concept of gravity.”

“Convenience wins, hubris loses.”

I don’t think any of us know where this whole consumer-name-the-price and divorce-your-record-label thing will lead, but I dig their audacity and forward thinkingness.

Ah, crap. I just wrote about Radiohead.

Beirut. The City. The Game. The Band.

published
on October 8, 2007
by
Sandra
in music
. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Beirut (Arabic: بيروت, transliteration: Bayrūt) is the capital, largest city, and chief seaport of Lebanon.

Beirut (aka Beer Pong) is a highly competitive drinking game in which players throw a ping pong ball across a table with the intent of landing the ball in one of several cups of beer on the other end. Much time and effort is of course dedicated to understanding the nuances and variations in rules of this beloved frat boy past-time, as seen in the Beirut-Guide, or on the Beer Pong Map (Beer Pong vs. Beirut – What is the game called?) Not to mention classic dramatic films like Beer Fest…

Beirut, it turns out, is also a pretty sweet new band. Check out their MySpace and have a listen. Recommended by a friend whose musical opinion I dare not take lightly, Beirut quickly secured special place in my heart after I heard the first few notes.

This review hits the nail on the head:

“While it may sound like an entire Balkan gypsy orchestra playing modern songs as mournful ballads and upbeat marches, Beirut’s first album, Gulag Orkestar, is largely the work of one 19-year old Albuquerque native, Zach Condon…like a drunken 12-member ensemble that has fallen in love with The Magnetic Fields, Talking Heads and Neutral Milk Hotel”.

At times very cobblestone-streets-of-Paris-à-la-Amélie with hauntingly beautiful melodies and sad accordian, Zach’s wistful vocals bring tears to your eyes. And yet, you can’t help but tap your foot to that dirty gypsy beat.

For more on the rise of this unassuming star, check out Rachel Syme’s review: “How a 20-year-old blogosphere star is dealing with massive hype, brutal flops, and a suddenly awkward name“