Exploded Nintendo Wii t-shirt (above) $23 incl. shipping

Viva la revolucion: Sean Mort’s Gaming Revolution T-shirt

T-shirt Monthly is a t-shirt subscription: one t-shirt a month for six months $200

Fairlight Computer Music Instrument (CMI, the first digital sampler) logo t-shirts $18.40–$31.40 +$5.69 shipping

Future Audio Workshop Circle synth (above) $199

Disco DSP Discovery Pro virtual analog/Nord Lead 2 emulator $199

Rob Papen Predator lead synth $179

Rob Papen RG (Rhythm Guitar) $179

FabFilter Twin2 synth $169

LinPlug Octopus dual matrix synth $129

Rob Papen SubBoomBass $119

Loomer Aspect semi-modular synth £65.00

Wusik EVE 2 (Electronic Vintage Ensemble) synth $99.95

Image Line Toxic Biohazard hybrid synth $99

NuSofting Modelonia physical modeling synth $75

NUSofting Combosister transistor organ $55.95

NUSofting Microrock Pro physical modeling synth $55.95

Koblo Vibra2000 poly synth $29.95

• Pretty Monsters: Stories – terrific contemporary fantasy and modern fairy tales, by Kelly Link
• The Best of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet – collected shorts from the underground contemporary fantasy zine, edited by Kelly Link
• Ice Haven – each character is fixated on someone else, by Daniel Clowes
• Dream Country (The Sandman, Vol. 3), Season of Mists (The Sandman, Vol. 4) – more about the King of Dreams, by Neil Gaiman
• Shortcomings – longing and confusion, by Adrian Tomine
• Queen & Country: The Definitive Edition, Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3 – great action and espionage series, by Greg Rucka
• I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets! – vintage cosmic weirdness, by Fletcher Hanks
• The Best American Comics 2007 – another great collection, this one edited by Chris Ware
• Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth – the seminal work, by Chris Ware

• Listening: Monolake in the morning, Biosphere in the afternoon
• Watching: My Neighbor Totoro, Dark City (Director’s Cut), Thieves Like Us, Quiet City
• Reading: The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll’s House, Coraline, Stardust by Neil Gaiman
• Drinking: Starbucks Serena Blend Organic Coffee, Xingu Black Beer, Red Stripe Lager
• Playing: Circle Synth, AAS Modeling Collection, iZotope Ozone 3

• Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
• Akira, Vol. 1
• Elektra: Assassin
• Ghost World
• Michael Chabon Presents. . .The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist, Volume 1
• Watchmen
• Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
• Batman: Year One
• The Hard Goodbye (Sin City, Book 1: Second Edition)
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1
• The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
• The Best American Comics 2008 (The Best American Series)

I’ve been using Intua BeatMaker for about a week now on my iPod Touch. It works well as a mobile sketchpad for writing simple tracks of beats and patterns. The user interface took some getting used to, as features are split up between Home, Pads, Sequencer and FX screens. There’s a noticeable lag when switching between screens as well. Sample kits and exported audio can be transfered to and from an iPhone or iPod Touch using their file transfer utility BeatPack. It’s easy to drag samples from my computer into a set and then transfer it over, although I had to add the ports (3131) to my Firewall to get a connection. There are two audio effects busses, but the choices are a bit meager: synced delay times are only divisible by 1/4 notes (e.g. no 1/3, 1/6, 1/12), three-band EQ and a simple bit-crusher. I’ve already exported a half dozen sketches for use in Live, so I’ll be posting some of the results in the coming weeks.

UPDATE: here are some sample exports: 001, 002, 003-8-bit, 005-hard (MP3s).

I’m lovin’ my recent birthday present from my wife: a shiny new iPod Touch. It’s quite a step-up from my 2nd gen iPod (which served me well for six years, despite its monochrome display, bulky form, dwindled battery life and lack of a dock connector).

It’s handy to check email, news feeds or the weather from (almost) anywhere, in addition to having music, pictures and movies at my fingertips. Browsing for music and apps without needing my laptop is also convenient, albeit a temptation to splurge (since I buy much of my music from Amazon MP3 rather than iTunes these days, it’s not quite a one-stop-shopping experience).

Some of the free apps I’ve found useful so far: Facebook, Exposure, Evernote, Twitterific, Remote, WeatherBug, Othello, WordPress, BoxOffice, Last.fm, Pandora Radio.

Someday I hope to get an iPhone 3G, but for now the iPod Touch is my perfect PDA.

A project of the Open Source Applications Foundation and led by Mitch Kapor, Chandler was meant to revolutionize desktop PIM software by eliminating the ‘silos’ that separate email messages, contacts, calendar events and to-do tasks and enable peer-to-peer sharing of such information (as opposed to being proprietary and locked-in to a central server, ala MS Outlook and Exchange).

Along the way, Rosenberg delves into the bigger picture of software development by reviewing its history and thought leaders, differing ideas on organization and project management, methods of information sharing and collaboration tools, the open-source and free software movements, contemporary programming languages, modular and object oriented programming concepts, user interface design challenges, coding and quality control issues, and much more.

One of Rosenberg’s main points is that “writing software is hard,” and business leaders, project managers and programmers often make the same universal mistakes in trying to solve numerous recurring problems. The fluid nature of the Chandler project led to turnover in personnel, time constraints, conflicting specs and shifting goalposts. Through compromise and lowered expectations, the early promise of Chandler gave way to a very different product.

Writing a book about a dynamic, no-end-in-sight project posed a problem in the end, and Rosenberg had to wrap up the book before the OSAF team could arrive at a stable, ‘dogfoodable‘ release. Still, his writing is excellent throughout the book as he alternates between the issues of the Chandler project and the larger software industry. It’s to Rosenberg’s credit that he would zoom out right when I was starting to feel bogged-down by Chandler’s constant setbacks. Having read numerous books on computing and design topics, I found plenty of new ideas, undiscovered details and fresh connections throughout Dreaming in Code.

As of this writing, the Chandler project continues to inch toward a stable preview release and its promise of free form personal information management and revolutionary software.

• In the Aeroplane Over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel,
• If You’re Feeling Sinister – Belle & Sebastian
• Transatlanticism - Death Cab for Cutie
• III – Sebadoh
• Pause – Four Tet
• Autoditacker - Mouse on Mars
• 94 Diskont – Oval
• Music Has the Right to Children – Boards of Canada
• Dummy – Portishead
• Vocal Studies and Uprock Narratives – Prefuse 73
• What Would the Community Think – Cat Power
• Either/Or – Elliott Smith
• Quiet is the New Loud - Kings of Convenience
• Chinatown – The Be Good Tanyas

1. Amina – AnimaminA EP (iTunes, Amazon) and Kurr (iTunes, Amazon)
2. Dubmood – Atari-Ska L-Attack (Internet Archive)
3. His Name is Alive – Detrola (iTunes, Amazon) and Xmmer (iTunes, Amazon)
4. Ida – Lovers Prayers (iTunes, Amazon)
5. Keren Ann – Keren Ann (iTunes, Amazon)
6. Miles Davis – The Peacocks (Amazon)
7. Miss Kittin – Batbox (iTunes, Amazon)
8. Pole – Steingarten Remixes (iTunes, Amazon)
9. Ras Amerlock – Farther East (Internet Archive)
10. Samantha James – Rise (iTunes, Amazon)
11. Sia – Some People Have Real Problems (iTunes, Amazon)
12. Various – The Dub Club Night (Amazon)
13. Various – New (dub) Excursion (iTunes)
14. Various – Resume (iTunes, Amazon)
15. Vector Lovers – A Field EP (iTunes) and Piano Dust (iTunes)

• Ghost Stories – Quixoticism
• The Good, The Bad and The Queen – The Good, the Bad & the Queen
• Gus Gus – Forever
• Hem – Home Again, Home Again (EP)
  
• The Hours – Narcissus Road (MySpace)
  
• Idlewild – Make Another World
• Illinois – What The Hell Do I Know?
• Interpol – Our Love to Admire
• Laura Veirs – Saltbreakers
• Lemongrass – Filmothèque (iTunes)
• Lucine ICL – Podgelism
• M.I.A. – Kala
• Maps – We Can Create
• Menomena! – Wet and Rusting (EP)
• Monta – The Brilliant Masses
• Mordant Music – The Tower Parts VIII – XVIII
• Moss – The Long Way Back (MySpace)
• The Noisettes – What’s the Time Mr. Wolf?
• The One AM Radio – This Too Will Pass
• People Press Play - People Press Play
• Pop Levi – The Return to Form Black Magick Party
• Robin Guthrie and Harold Budd – After The Night Falls and Before The Day Breaks
• The Sea and the Cake – Everybody
• The Secret Handshake – Summer of ’98
• Sia – Lady Croissant
• Sophie Zelmani – Memory Loves You
• Switches – Switches (MySpace)
• The Tuss – Rushup Edge
• Ulrich Schnauss – Goodbye and Quicksand Memory (EP)
• Various – Nouvelle Vague Presents: New Wave

• !!! (Chk Chk Chk) – Myth Takes
• Amandine – Solace In Sore Hands
• Amon Tobin – The Foley Room and Bloodstone (EP)
• Andrea Corr – Ten Feet High
• Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha
• Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam
• Apparat – Walls (homepage)
  
• Architecture in Helsinki – Places Like This
• Basia Bulat – Oh, My Darling
• Bjork – Volta
• The Black Dog – Book of Dogma
• Blackfield – Blackfield II
• Blonde Redhead – 23
• Calla – Strength in Numbers
• Carla Bruni – No Promises
• Caribou – Andorra
• Charlotte Hatherley – The Deep Blue
• Christ – Blue Shift Emissions
• Cinematic Orchestra – Ma Fleur
• Clark – Ted EP
• Client – Heartland
• Cut City – Exit Decades (Myspace)
• Dog Day – Night Group
• Dora Flood – We Live Now
• Erasure – Light at the End of the World
• Explosions in the Sky – All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
• The Fashion – The Fashion (BBC)
• Federico Aubele – Panamericana (homepage)
• Feist – The Reminder
• The Fiery Furnaces – Widow City (Myspace) ="http://www.myspace.com/thefieryfurnaces">
  

• Short Sleeve Stretch Coat Front (my wife said on first glance this looked like a 1970s dentist’s uniform. But, I can pull it off.)
• Short Sleeve Stretch Poplin Shirt (Go un-tucked.)
• Cotton Cargo Pant (Flat front, or die.)

BTW, their shirts run a little large, so I went with one size lower than normal (medium instead of large).

• Clara Hill – All I Can Provide
• Various Artists – Dubstep Allstars vol. 4
• Bark Psychosis – 400 Winters
• Broadcast – Future Crayon
• Corinne Bailey Rae – Corinne Bailey Rae
• Daedelus – Denies the Days Demise
• Erasure – Union Street
• Fink – Biscuits for Breakfast
• Jel – Soft Money
• M. Ward – Post-War
• Peaches – Impeach My Bush
• TV On The Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain
• Xiu Xiu – Air Force
• Michael Brook – RockPaperScissors
• Hem – Funnel Cloud
• Four Tet – DJ Kicks
• Nouvelle Vague – Bande a Part
• Koop – Koop Islands
• Mindel – Daylight
• Ochre – Lemodie

I had long used Verizon Wireless as my service provider, but they’ve been leaving me cold for quite a while: I find their former “Can you hear me now?” and the current “It’s the Network” ads to be annoying; I have no use for the flagship V CAST features which they’re hawking to The Kids; the phones they offer are either overpriced (Palm Treo 700p), limited, unacceptable (Windows Mobile), and/or lackluster to me. On top of all that, I don’t care for their logo, identity and that signature red — hey, I’m a designer, and these things matter. I had similar opinions of T-Mobile, US Cellular, Sprint and the minor carriers in my area.

So, I switched to Cingular. Their ads are on-target (“Raising the bar”); their plans seem flexible and straight-forward (I can add the features I want and pay for others as needed); they had the phone I wanted (Motorola SLVR L7 with iTunes); even their logo and identity feels contemporary and concise to me — great design is about identification as well as features, benefits and experience, after all. Before switching, I read some of the negative reviews, but they seem like the standard complaints every company has to handle. Ordering and transfering my number, activation and adding features were all quick and easy. Their service is great and highly recommended.

• Isobel Campbell And Mark Lanegan – Ballad of Broken Seas
• Hem – No Word From Tom
• Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat
• Jana Hunter – Blank Unstaring Heirs of Doom
• Sarah Blasko – The Overture And The Underscore
• CocoRosie – Noah’s Ark
• Cat Power – The Greatest
• The Books – Lost and Safe
• The Album Leaf – In a Safe Place
• Sebastien Roux – Songs

• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Howl
• The Orb – Okie Dokie Its The Orb On Kompact Disco
• Laura Veirs – Year in Meteors
• Sing Sing – And I
• The Chalets – Check In
• Gravenhurst – Fires in Distant Buildings
• Geniuser – Mud Black
• Explosions in the Sky – The Rescue
• Portable – Version
• Various – Aurora 2

• Enon – Lost Marbles and Exploded Evidence
• New Pornographers – Twin Cinema
• Dining Rooms – Experiments in Ambient Soul
• Bonobo – Live Sessions
• Royksopp – The Understanding
• Esthero – Wikked Lil’ Grrrls

• Emiliana Torrini – Fisherman’s Woman
• Lali Puna – I Thought I Was Over That
• Louis XIV – The Best Little Secrets Are Kept
• Meat Beat Manifesto – At the Center
• Spoon – Gimme Fiction
• Stereolab – Oscillons from the Anti-Sun
• Tosca – J.A.C.
• Prefuse 73 – Surrounded by Silence

• Tracey Bonham – Blink the Brightest
• Fisherspooner – Odyssey
• Four Tet – Everything Ecstatic
• Gorillaz – Demon Days
• Architecture in Helsinki – In Case We Die
• Caribou – Milk of Human Kindness
• Sufjan Stevens – Illinois

The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design by Marty Neumeier. With its brilliant ideas, concise writing, abundant illustrations, modest dimensions and length, this book was nearly perfect for me; wonderful concepts, writing and execution: Excellent.

Gonzo Marketing: Winning Through Worst Practices by Christopher Locke. This book is a continuation of ideas from the seminal Cluetrain Manifesto, which Locke co-authored. In a nutshell: in this internet age, organizations need to take cues from gonzo journalism (which defies the convention of ‘objectivity’); they must connect with their audiences by using real voices to tell real stories, which come from real people: Great.

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout. This marketing classic makes a number of important points about the art of positioning your brand in the mind of your audience; many of the companies and examples seem outdated to me, but the general ideas still ring true: Great.

The Art of Innovation : Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm by Tom Kelley. Filled with anecdotal evidence of IDEO’s greatness but short on any groundbreaking details, this book reads more like a vanity project than a springboard to innovation. An enjoyable, casual read: Good.

• Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
• Fiery Furnaces – EP
• LCD Soundsystem – LCD Soundsystem
• M.I.A. – Arular
• Daft Punk – Human After All
• Alog – Miniatures
• Keren Ann – Nolita

• Lou Barlow – Emoh
• The Bravery – No Brakes
• Doves – Some Cities
• The Go! Team – Thunder, Lightning, Strike
• Iron & Wine – Woman King.
• Lemon Jelly – 64 – 95
• Tegan and Sara – So Jealous
• Thievery Corporation – The Cosmic Game