Filed under: music | Tags: Daytrotter sessions, free streaming music, indie online music
Daytrotter
I had come across Daytrotter while casually browsing through Chuck Ragan’s music page on last.fm, to say the least I had stumbled onto a wealth of music that made me pretty damn giddy.
I listened through Ragan’s session and immediately wanted more. I clicked through the session archives and discovered a plethora of music recorded over years nearly daily.
Evidently as it turns out, Daytrotter is a recording studio in Rock Island, Illinois, where artists stop for a day to record three or four songs on the spot. All the music is free to download and stream through the site.
The music ranges from indie to folk with artists such as Death Cab for Cutie and Cursive amongst the roll call, to name but two. Probably the most fun I had on this site was clicking on random artists and discovering music which become new favourites as I went on.
Additionally there are artist renditions and short essays of the artists which accompany each session which tend to invoke a grassroots DIY attitude that can’t help but make you feel as though we’re part of a larger overall community of musicians, artists, and those who appreciate it all.
Final thoughts? Words?…Check it out?
Filed under: Technology | Tags: aspire one zg5, jolicloud, jolicloud acer aspire one review, jolicloud alpha, jolicloud alpha2
I had been anticipating the release of Jolicloud since I had heard of it a few months ago. The appeal of a Netbook OS which prided itself in it’s social networking capabilities was refreshing to hear. After waiting for the initial Alpha release of the Jolicloud product I finally had a chance to get my hands on it.
I booted up and at first glance Jolicloud looks very similar to it’s cousin Ubuntu Netbook Remix, actually it appears near identical in the menu layout barring a few minor icon changes hear and there. However what impressed me the most right off the bat was the fact that the wireless internet was already working! In every iteration of my Ubuntu installations on the ZG5 Aspire One, the wireless module was inactive and required extensive work to set it back up. It was a nice surprise to waive that concern with Jolicloud. Even the wireless LED works!
Apps
Another neat little feature I enjoy is the menu icon enabling easy access in controlling the processor to help optimize performance or power efficiency. The OS in addition supports touchscreen (which I believe would work amazing here).
The biggest departure from it’s other Linux cousins is the Jolicloud Dashboard. This aspect of Jolicloud is something akin to the control center where we are able to update the machine, adjust the profile of the user, install new applications, and participate in social networking.
The usual suspects appear with featured applications such as ‘Wine’ and ‘Skype’ in easy installations which literally take one click to apply.
To expand on the social aspect of Jolicloud, there is a feature which displays new users to the OS and a choice to ‘follow’ them similarily like Twitter. This allows users to see what applications have been installed. I admit I havn’t delved too deeply into this aspect of Jolicloud as of yet.
I am not really sure what else to say at this point in time, the system performs beautifully with no crashes or glitches to date and no problems with the initial installation. I definitely look forward to what new features the developers will implement in the beta and subsequently the official release.
Currently Jolicloud is developing and soon releasing it’s own USB boot application to make it more convenient to install it for netbooks.
If you own a netbook I’d give Jolicloud an honest go, now!
Jolicloud Twitter
Jolicloud Website
-Jerry P
Filed under: gaming | Tags: jerryisthinking, microsoft, star wars, xbox avatar, xbox live update
Woke up this morning to play some COD4 before going to work and was delightfully surprised to see a new update on XBOX live, ah perhaps some new network tweaks and improvements. When the console restarted I found there to be a slew of updates pertaining to avatars. Fantastic! I think to myself in the infinite naivety I posess.
Holy Crap! Star Wars outfits! Lightsabers! Gears of War suits! Amazing I thought, I can finallt fully nerd up my avatar with Jedi battle robes and appropriate lightsaber. Oh but wait, hold on. What’s this? Hey…What’s that on the top left there…WHAT? This costs MONEY?
Yes, it’s true. Microsoft has managed to find more ways to fuck me over financially, the piest de resistance? I actually bought The lightsaber because I thought it would look pretty sweet and “hey, it’s just a one time thing, right?”. Here’s the real kick in the balls, it only appears at this point on your main menu screen, so you won’t be swinging around that new lazer sword in your xbox live party. Alas this was part of the accessories, so perhaps outfits and helmets might appear.
However does this monetary aesthetic eye candy update justify costs of up to the range of 500 microsoft points (roughly $7.50)? Congratulations Microsoft, hats off, you bastards. Althought to be fair the updates look VERY nice, but at what cost? I’m sure plenty of people will pony up the cash for these new features.
In addition there appeared to be a new menu option on the avatar screen which is designated for unlockable content, interesting? I havn’t had much of a chance yet to investigate this but perhaps this is unlockable content from avatar games, or perhaps will be a new feature incorporated into existing xbox games. Speculation huzzah!
-Jerry P
Filed under: Personal | Tags: Algonquin Park, camping, hiking, rapidfire068, tjbro
This weekend my buddies and I went to Algonquin Park to go on a little backpacking camping trip on the Highland Backpacking trail, it was delightful.
Truthfully it was a pretty badass hike, I’ve never really been on a long hike before, none at least which procured more than a few hours of my time. The trail Mike (Rapidfire068) and Thom (TJBRO) had chosen was a 35km endeavor which to me for some reason didn’t sound all too bad. Really, I can drive 35km in fifteen minutes, how bad could it be?
We agreed on a Tim Hortons breakfast as our meeting point in Huntsville before hitting the trail, delicious. The beginning of the hike consisted mostly of us vocalising the musical stylings of Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings soundtrack, specifically that which pertains to our heroes trekking the landscape (dun, dun, dun dun dun…)
oh HAI!
Evidently our 17km campsite was much farther than we expected. Turns out the trail was littered with sharp inclines and steep declines, it was pleasant-most pleasant. Eventually we had made it to this lookout where there were two dudes with a dog with no tail smoking pot, the scenic view was enjoyed by all.
After walking through rickety log makeshift bridges/bogs/hills we made it to our site and promptly took a dive in the lake. It was a good night of stew, songs, fire, and wild Sasquatch encounters.
The next day was awesome. I slept well, I pooped, I had coffee, I felt like I could take on the whole empire myself. However to much to our shagrin it wasn’t long into the hike when we hit a storm (which actually made us walk more quickly). For whatever reason the second day of hiking was much better for me barring the soaked shoes/soaks which stressed me out a bit, luckily nothing happened to my feet (this time).
We came, we saw, we kicked that trail’s ass. Finally reaching the end of the trail was a fair amount of awesome, almost as much as the victory food from Wendys.
Being back at Algonquin Park brought back a lot of memories I have from going there as a kid with my parents, I was hit pretty hard with all the nostalgia of passing all those landmarks and signs I considered once as my second home.
(cheese)I really miss being outside like this and really cherished this experience, it’s hard for me to ask for anything more than spending the weekend with a couple of my best friends outdoors.(/cheese)
*Notes:
Thanks go to Thom for his rad water filtering system and letting us use it, we would have probably died if he hadn’t. Mike, thanks for helping me out with my pack all the time haha.
-Jerry P
Filed under: Personal
Been busy/tired from my new job, still love it though. It’s taken a while to physically adjust from working in a labour oriented job. Only thing I really want to do anymore is come home/eat/sleep/back to work.
Will be blogging again, updated the blog roll so check those out.
Cheers,
Jerry P
