Go Speed Racer, Go!

The F1 circus finally hit Europe this weekend with the Spanish Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton managed a solid 3rd place but once again those Ferrari's were faster! Watch some highlights here.

Hyde Street Studios Under The Wrecking Ball

Wally Heider's classic San Francisco recording studio, Hyde Street Studios will soon succumb to the wrecking ball. In the name of progress & condo development, this studio, founded in 1969 and with a client list including some of the greatest names in rock will be no more. I liked this picture best, a classic API with outboard gear (and that sure looks like a Telefunken mic in the background) from around the early 1980's.

Hillary, Do The Math Please!

Slate has a very cool delegate calculator. You can manipulate the numbers from forthcoming primaries & these are added to the existing totals for each democratic candidate. For purely scientific purposes, I gave Ms. Clinton 60% of the vote in every upcoming poll (10% more than her "runaway" victory in PA). Guess what, she still lost by nearly 100 delegates. If you know the Clintons could you please forward this to them? Thanks.

Starbucks - still got it wrong?

Less than spectacular earnings warnings coming out of Starbucks show that returning CEO Howard Schultz has a fight on his hands. However, blaming McDonalds & Dunkin Donuts for the company's woes is not going to fix anything. I don't believe that Starbucks customers are leaving in droves to buy their lattes at the fast-food counter, to paraphrase Bill Clinton, "it's the commoditization stupid." Generic stores filled with pricey bric-a-brac, the switch to super-automatic machines (which removes any differentiation) & third party locations with poorly trained staff & lackluster product have all served to undermine the core brand. At least Schultz is trying to remedy this but it may already be too late. The $4 latte genie is out of the bottle & I'm not sure if he'll fit back in there again?

Update : when you enter the search term commoditization into Google, the 4th hit (after dictionary definitions) is Starbucks!

Timeless

I first heard Dire Straits wafting into our high school class from the music room downstairs. It was an "ah-ha" moment that prompted a race to Terry Atkinson's classroom to find out what this great music was. We listened to the newly released debut from beginning to end that dreary English day and I was hooked. By the 80's the band had descended into MTV fodder but re-visiting the first album shows how timeless it was.

Tim Robbins - "Pornographic Obsession With Celebrity Culture

Far from delivering a speech on Content Creation Opportunities, actor Tim Robbins used his time as the keynote speaker at NAB to deliver a scathing attack on the US media. Ad Age has posted a 6 minute audio highlight here. Describing the media as an "abyss" he demanded a greater accountability from our broadcast sources & decried the goal of revenue over all other considerations.

Well worth 6 minutes of your time.

America's Top Model

My daughter has me hooked on Tyra Banks' reality show America's Top Model. Our favorite is Brooklyn based tough girl, Lauren. Not only does she attack every task with gusto but even did the same with her thumb! Claiming that she can kick the butts (OK something else) of any of the girls on the show, she's a nice antidote to the typical portrayal of women on TV.

Thanks to Jezebel for the link & set the Tivo for Wednesdays 8/7c.

More Woes For American Airlines

Still reeling from the grounding of it's MD-80 (just an old DC-9 with a different name) fleet AA is being hit with more labor unrest. Incensed over the awarding of $40M in bonuses to top executives, the workforce is taking action, including a clip on CNN where a recently commended flight attendant used her awards forum to lambaste her employers. Disgruntled employees have even set up a website to share AA horror stories. By comparison, American's feel-good "We Know Why You Fly" site has no feedback forums or even a Contact Us link!

But help could be coming soon for the frustrated traveler in the form of new regulations that require airlines to financially compensate (up to $800) bumped passengers. This should curtail the industry's practice of overbooking flights & then denying boarding to ticketed flyers. I've always hated this practice since it generally targets the lowest fare/least status passengers first. These tend to be the non-frequent flyers, often the elderly, who are totally bewildered by the situation & as I've witnessed, reduced to tears.

You Sold The Optimized Desktop Value

In our business we get to see some pretty, ahem, interesting corporate videos but I think this little ditty for a Microsoft internal meeting takes the Oscar! Watch if you can stand it.

Update - MS claims the video was "just a spoof." As my teens would say, "yeah, sure, right!"

Sprint Broadband Card - Very Happy I Am

I've been using a Sprint broadband card for about 3 months now & am generally very happy. A recent technical problem had a Mac-savvy CSR call me back and even leave me his personal e-mail in case I had future problems! This week they released the Mac client for their SmartView software, the GPS is a nice feature and here it is, showing quite accurately that I'm typing this in the AA Admiral's Club at LAX!

Mic Technique 101

"Mr. Presenter, you have a choice of mics, you can either have a handheld or go to the lectern."

"Thanks, but I'd rather use neither!"

Sorry about the bad cell-phone picture but I had to capture a priceless moment. Yes, he is actually delivering a presentation here. Needless to say it wasn't real loud in the house.

Steve Berlin & Paul Simon, no love lost!

Steve Berlin, producer & member of Los Lobos has an article on JamBase, all good stuff that gets really interesting on page 3 as he relates his experiences working with Paul Simon, here it gets ugly fast -

I have plenty of recollections of working on that one [Graceland]. I don't know if you heard the stories, but it was not a pleasant deal for us. I mean he [Simon] quite literally – and in no way do I exaggerate when I say – he stole the songs from us... The guy was clueless... He's the world's biggest prick, basically.

Story via Lefsetz.

Rockin' Orchestras

According to the Guardian, certain classical works are too loud for new, stringent EU regulations.

The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BR) said it had little choice but to drop the world premiere of Swedish-Israeli composer Dror Feiler's Halat Hisar (State of Siege), from a concert because it was "adverse to the health" of its musicians.

Apparently Wagner would be in violation too!

Torch Down-Under?

The Guelph Mercury has an excellent piece today on the possible fate of the Olympic torch after San Francisco:

This year's Olympic Games were supposed to be Communist China's coming-out-party, and the torch route is even more ambitious: 21 countries on all six inhabited continents. But that includes Australia, and I really wouldn't send the torch there if I wanted to preserve China's dignity.

As England is the spiritual homeland of irony, so is Australia the world capital of mockery, and by the time the torch gets there (if it ever does) the Australians are going to feel challenged. It was burning underpants in 1956; what might it be in 2008?

Since the so-called thug escort is already banned from Australia this could be some fun viewing!

British Claim Torch Escorts Are "Thugs"

British papers are in an uproar that the guard for the Olympic flame was comprised of officers from China's People's Armed Police. The same PAP that has been crushing dissidents in Tibet. Obviously the British are not too happy at scenes of foreign paramilitaries fending off demonstrators on London's streets. Described as "thugs" by former gold medalist Lord Sebastian Coe in todays' Daily Telegraph, the Australian Premier has already said that his country will be providing their own security without the dubious help of the PAP.

Are these same officers on the streets of San Francisco today? From this picture it would appear so.

Olympics & Tibet

Free Speech. We got it, they don't.

China's Perfect Pricing Storm?

Actually, I hate the "perfect storm" phrase, however as this Slate article points out, China's cost of production may be reaching just that. A combination of high energy costs, organization of the work force & shortages of labor combined with the weak dollar means that customers will be paying significantly higher prices for Chinese goods in the near future. And there are no other countries waiting in the wings to pick up the slack. India is the only alternative with a labor force to match China but they have problems of their own.

Better buy that $699 TV before it's too late.

Google Ad Words

Apparently Google ad-words cannot discriminate between a post favorable to a product & one that is critical. I guess the word "Hummer" was all it needed to post this link although I don't think I'll be headed up to Michigan anytime soon.

Hummer Compact Coming?

According to the Dallas Morning News GM's Hummer division is looking to re-invent itself as the smaller, more efficient Hummer. Sales of the preposterous H2 are down over 50% in the last 4 years as obviously the supply of fools prepared to drive one of these is dwindling. Best quote from the article "No one saw all of these changes coming. The segment five years ago was very strong. I don't think anyone could have foreseen all these shifts." Apparently Toyota, must have some kind of clairvoyance on their side?

All in all, inane statements like this sum up all that's wrong with the US auto industry. Is it really that hard to predict that a $60K, 12mpg SUV might not have strong, sustained sales? What are they teaching in MBA classes today anyway?

"Some Journeys Cannot Be Put Into Words"

Says Louis Vuitton's new ad featuring Keith Richards. Which journey would that be Louis, the one from Rock God to Corporate Whore?

More Birthdays

Today the town of Hastings (famous for the battle) in East Sussex celebrates 150 years of RNLI lifeboats. Unlike the US Coastguard, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a private charity whose life-saving operations are completely payed for by donations & with some exceptions the crews are all volunteer. Hastings has a beach launched fishing fleet of small boats & between these, swimmers, pleasure craft & the mass of heavy shipping passing through the Strait of Dover the Hastings Lifeboat stays busy.

Apple Hits 21%

According to Fortune Apple's penetration in the homes of American consumers has reached 21% (10% worldwide) with a sales growth of 37% in 2007. Since the rest of the industry is experiencing a downturn these are some pretty impressive numbers.

New Twist, Same Game

Those enterprising & creative Nigerian 419 con-artists are targeting recording studios with their tried & proved same tactics. A band is ready to cut a record, they'll send a deposit check to cover the cost of a translator please return any additional funds to them. And you'll never see them or your money again. Luckily the studio guys have some experience with scammers (nature of the business) and don't seem as likely to fall for this as greedy, unsuspecting consumers!

& Now For Something Completely Different

With the world collapsing around us it's time to inject a little twisted, cynical humor into our lives. I recommend achieving this by hitting the Viz website, paying particular attention to Profanasurus Rex (an online dictionary of all that is profane) & the always popular Top Tips. Beware though, NSFW.

VW Will Know Vot You Vont

How? Well they're asking questions on their website, that's how. Head on over to "find out what the people want." Hey Wolfsburg, maybe the people want a better car?

Why Are We In This Mess Again?

Look what popped up when I went to pay my credit card this month. With April 15th looming the card companies are on an all out campaign to get you to use their products to pay your taxes. Apart from the 2.49% charge levied on all such transactions with the IRS, this seems like a bad idea all around. Americans are already drowning in consumer dept, isn't it deals like making minimum payments on a 20% APR card to pay off the IRS that got us into this financial crisis in the first place? If ever an industry needed re-regulating it's the banks & card issuers.

Happy 90th Birthday, R.A.F.

Founded on April 1st, 1918 as the world's first independent air force, Britain's Royal Air Force celebrates it's 90th birthday today. The RAF's "finest hour" came during the Battle of Britain, 3 long months that Hitler's Luftwaffe spent trying to destroy the RAF squadrons & pave the way for the invasion of Britain. The heroic battles of the young RAF pilots prompted Winston Churchill to proclaim that "never in the field of human endeavor has so much been owed by so many to so few." And few they were; at the onset the RAF could count 1,100 pilots from 13 nations and by the end, 70% of these flyers had been killed or injured. However, this thin line of defense in their Spitfires and Hurricanes overcame the best equipped and best trained air force in the world. The Luftwaffe's plans for unimpeded bombing access to Britain and Hilter's invasion ambitions were thwarted.

Happy Birthday R.A.F!

Ghost Coaster

From flickr, courtesy of Boing Boing, very surreal pictures of an abandoned coaster & amusement park.

Lost In Translation

A consummate go reenforcement scheme so just that no unitary keep company could establish it altogether. Start accompanying a 2nd multiplication of the verbaliser that started the powered-speaker whirling - the JBL EON15-G2 featuring 400 isaac watts of bi-amplified force (300 isaac watts toward low-toned frequencies and 100 isaac watts with a view to high-pitched frequencies). The EON15-G2 is at internal as a briny PA utterer or as a vocal or instrumentate supervise. Then supply a Soundcraft E-8 mixer by the agency of that outstanding British go and features: 8 single-channel input channels positive ii stereoscopic photograph inputs; 2 aux sends, to each one globally switchable pre or carry fader; 100mm faders; Internal force render; Simple wheel mounting options; 3 striation EQ through swept middle banding; Precision, ultra-linear mic pre-amps; True, pro +48V airy spirit force; Individual canalise mutes. To consummate the scheme, a couple of AKG D2000S microphones ar included. These handheld, dynamical, hypercardiod microphones ar at national in a change of go reenforcement applications because of language, vocals and instruments. Rounding come out the scheme ar 4 25" XLR cables to thieve it entirely unitedly.

http://muinstrum.com/pa-systems/

Bye Bye

Clinton Mic Woes, Coincidence Or Karma?

Hilliary's been having some mic problems both on Good Morning America & the campaign trail. Bad luck, or do some recent reports of staging companies getting stiffed by the HRC Campaign have something to do with this? From Politico : a pair of Ohio companies owed more than $25,000 by Clinton for staging events for her campaign are warning others in the tight-knit event production community — and anyone else who will listen — to get their cash upfront when doing business with her. So Mrs. Clinton joins a long line of deadbeat promoters, party planners & bands who are happy to run once the gig's over & the bill's due?

No F1 This Weekend

Sunday April 6, F1 hits Bahrain. Expect a fast one and see if Ferrari can break Schumacher's 3 year old track record.

Can AA be any worse? Apparently so!

In an effort to "better serve their passengers" (and presumably keep Richard Branson in the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed) American Airlines is suspending all direct service to London's Gatwick Airport in favor of the nightmare pictured above, namely London Heathrow. The absolute boneheadedness of this move is further illustrated by the spectacular opening of Heathrow's new Terminal 5. According to the BBC up to 20,000 bags are stranded at the new terminal & British Airways has had to cancel 100's of flights, those that do leave are often doing so without passengers bags! Is that the sound of ice clinking in the Tanqueray & Tonics over at Virgin Atlantic I hear?

More Music Industry Floundering

From Wired, another wonderful crackpot idea to "save" the music industry. Warner has hired industry veteran Jim Griffin to push through a proposal that a $5 tax be levied on all internet access which would enable users to download unlimited music at their pleasure. Seems like a good idea on paper except for the millions of ISP customers who have no interest in Madonna's new song & would rather swap pictures of their grandchildren. Since this will be a live rail to any politician who dares touch it I presume this will go away about as fast as the Ringle did.

Huge Studio Photo Archive

After an interesting discussion on the forums at RetroThing I was guided to this thread on the Steve Hoffman Music Forums. People have been posting photographs of studios & sessions dating from the 1920s through the late 1980s. Some of the shots are classic including the one's above from Ronnie Lane's mobile studio in which I assisted with a number of projects including the first all-digital audio TV broadcast for the then fledgling HBO. The rest of the pictures are truly a treasure trove of incredible facilities & equipment.

Former Colony Buys Crown Jewels

Motoring crown jewels that is. Somewhat ironic that India's Tata automotive group has acquired both Jaguar & Land Rover from Ford. Originally bought for $5.2B the brands will now net Ford $1.7B in cash, now that's depreciation for you. Ford claimed that they "would invest the proceeds from the sale in quality and product development" and maybe build some cars we'd like to buy?

100 Most Beautiful Cars Of All Time?

At least as judged by the British readers of The Daily Telegraph. And before you get your knickers in a twist, no the Volvo P1800 was not #1. Just wanted to tease.

Apple made me do it!

The end of a long story is that I have an 8GB iPhone. Now being the happy owner of a far superior product for communication purposes (the Nokia N95) I had been using my iPhone as an iPod happily. Last week it wanted to install an update (1.1.4) which effectively locked me out of the unit unless I authorized it onto AT&Ts network. A quick call to Apple's tech support confirmed that without an active contract on AT&T the iPhone will not function at all. Sorry Apple I thought I actually owned this device, silly me, apparently I'm only using it at your pleasure.

Some heavy Googling turned up a lot of information on hacking (or jailbreaking) the iPhone but most was pre-the latest update. Then I came onto this gem of a Wiki. 10 minutes & a small amount of geek'ness later I am back in possession of my iPhone-Pod with a bunch of new features to boot & no $ to AT&T. Hey Apple, this is what customers do when you trample on their rights, get used to it.

F1, back with a difference

Tired of trying to equalize & patrol the various electronic traction control & engine braking systems used by the Formula 1 teams, the organizers wisely removed all driver-assisting electronics from the cars for 2008. 2 races in, this looks like a wise decision that's bringing a lot of drama back to the Grand Prix circuit. This week in Malaysia, the always strong Ferrari managed to get at least one car across the finish line (in 1st place too) after a pretty disastrous time in Melbourne. Strong teams from Mclaren-Mercedes & BMW Sauber should make for a highly competitive season. Then there's Lewis Hamilton, the Tiger Woods of GP who took 1st down-under but struggled to hold onto 5th place in Malaysia. US fans either have the choice of the limited availability of SpeedTV or, thanks to some kind fans, English speaking coverage is readily available on the torrent sites.

$11,000 or $20, you decide

Starbucks has purchased the manufacturer of the Clover coffee maker, an $11,000 contraption that reputably makes the best cup of joe in the World. The idea is that these will appear in "selected" Starbucks outlets & the New York Times sent out a reporter accompanied by a coffee aficionado to sample the product. Reviews were neutral at best although most of the criticism was aimed at Starbucks roasting techniques rather than the Clover. However, towards the end of the article, this little nugget slipped out "Finally, the French presses arrived. The coffee was comparable to that from the Clover, but between assembling and steeping, a cup of coffee in a French press takes close to 10 minutes to make."

So it seems that at least according to this specialist, the only difference between the coffee from an $11,000 machine & a $20 press was the preparation & clean up time. I've been extolling the virtues of my French Press for years, they're really easy to use and can now save you $10,980 which seems like a great deal!

WTF BMW?

Sorry for the all-caps title but it's about time BMW brought their 60mpg 118d (d for diesel) model to the US & wiped the smug grin off Prius owner's faces everywhere. Officially the "World Green Car" with the Bavarian maker's rear-wheel drive penchant for building cars you'd actually want to own & it's not going to be available in the US!

Thanks Wired.

My Kids Have Been Cheated

...out of Saturday night! Reminisce time folks. Saturday night was when you went out to rock out. So many bars, so many bands & you tried to see as many as possible in one night; coming home at 4am with 10 in/out stamps on the back of your hand after a greasy breakfast at the Lakewood Cafe. The Greenville Bar & Grille would be cranking out some rock and roll, it was covers at Rick's Casablanca and blues at the Texas Teahouse. The outlaw country fans were cutting a rug at Whiskey River & you could always catch some hair metal at Cardi's. Maybe you'd finish off with the last set with the nascant Deep Ellum scene at the Theater Gallery or the 500 Cafe.

To quote Blade Runner, "all this in time shall pass" & it has. It makes me sad for the teens & 20-somethings of today that they'll never get to experience a live music scene like this one. Let's face it, MySpace can't possibly be as much fun as a cold Corona on a hot Greenville Avenue Saturday night!

They moved my bed?

They moved my bed?
Originally uploaded by philipbarrett2003

Strange goings on in the yard. How can i sleep with all that noise?

Wot's All This About Then?

Finally settled on a smartphone. After looking at iPhones & Blackberrys I settled on the Nokia N95. I acquired a new one, unlocked of course, from Craigslist and spent the better part of 2 days learning all the features! It will interact with Flickr & Blogger, hence the slightly odd posts below (I'm still learning the Nokia Lifeblog package). All in all an incredibly impressive phone that has many great features (VOIP, 3G, 5MP camera) sadly missing from the contenders.

Goodbye Old Yard!

Goodbye Old Yard!
Originally uploaded by philipbarrett2003

Ready for tear out. The jackhammers start in the morning. Watch this space for developments.

Goodbye Old Yard!

Goodbye Old Yard!
Originally uploaded by philipbarrett2003

Leaves in the pool.

Goodbye Old Yard!

Goodbye Old Yard!
Originally uploaded by philipbarrett2003

Spa ready for removal.

Lifeblog post

Lifeblog post
Originally uploaded by philipbarrett2003

Large Collie enjoys the sunshine while i try out my new Nokia N95!

Lifeblog post

Lifeblog post
Originally uploaded by philipbarrett2003

wtf?

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.