Everything is a Remix Part 2 (video).

DataMarket launches with international time series data.

25 Years of Digital Vandalism by William Gibson.

Unsolving the City: An Interview with China Miéville.

European robins may maintain quantum entanglement in their eyes a full 20 microseconds longer than the best laboratory systems and Particles can be quantum entangled through time as well as space.

Sustainism Is the New Black.

Dingsaller is a workspace for creating algorithmic compositions on the iPad.

Americans Have No Idea How Much Welfare They’re Getting

Binaural Beats = Synchronize Brainwaves & Alter Consciousness.

Phil Durrant on Reaktor and the Laptop as Improvisational Instrument.

Are Writers Powerless to Make a Living in the Digital Age?

Useful Resources and Tips for Managing Your Virtual Staff.

Composer Howard Goodall takes us on a journey into music’s underbelly, examining the four basic elements that make it work: Melody, rhythm, harmony and bass (video).

A box truck Is just a room on wheels: scenes from San Francisco’s (secret) Lost Horizon Night Market.

Once a rumor, now fact: CIA used modern art as propaganda weapon.

Wikileaks and the Long Haul by Clay Shirky.

Meet the most dangerous man in cyberspace: The American face of Wikileaks.

I have been busy working on new compositions, some of which can be heard in my Recent work set. They continue to feature generative beats, synth patterns and polyrhythms. I’ve also been exploring techniques in granular synthesis, including using the new (and recommended) Density M4L and Pulsaret M4L devices, to explore the world of microsound. I have utilized some aspects of granularity in the past but hadn’t been able to pay much attention to the full scope and theory until recently. I find myself fascinated at the variety and range of tones and rhythms that come from making slight changes to the source material. I also like moving away (at least as an option) from rigid note quantization and the familiar timeline of sequence-based composing. I created a Microsound set with some recent pieces, so have a listen to hear what I mean.

I’ve been re-reading some books by Marshall McLuhan, including The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects and War and Peace In the Global Village. His work is so dense with non-traditional ideas about media and culture, I often have to take it in small doses. I am awaiting delivery of the books Microsound by Curtis Rhodes and Electronic Music and Sound Design by Alessandro Cipriani and Maurizio Giri and look forward to reading them over the holidays. (All links to books above kickback to my Amazon affiliate account.)

Happy Holidays and “Cheers, thanks a lot!”

Flaunt: Designing effective, compelling and memorable portfolios of creative work. Buy the book or PDF.

The doormat, the jerk and the lizard brain.

Livid Instruments’ new Builder is a line of DIY parts that make it easy for users to design their own USB MIDI control surfaces and devices using buttons, knobs, faders, and talkback LEDs.

Shifting Identities: From Consumer to Networked Creator.

NOBY NOBY BOY for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, from the creator of Katamari Damacy.

The Vitesse D7HG is for those who are looking for a great bike for urban commuting at a good value.

Research says users will pay for content online, with a few catches.

Nanoloop For The iPhone.

Consumers get paid to reduce their emissions.

The fifth edition of The Oblique Strategies by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt is now available.

Michael Bay as Generative Art: Explosion Action Painting with oF.

An essay against Situationism.

Open Atrium is a customizable, open-source team portal.

Music Made from a Tree.

Why We Need a Globally-Recognized Unit of “Green”

Managers Embrace Design Thinking, Designers Reject It.

Starting a Design Studio In a Downturn: Part 1: Taking Leaps, Part 2: The First 15 Weeks, Part 3: When There’s No There There

The Old Solutions Have Become the New Problems: The new rules ask, “Who are you? What do you need? How can I help?”

Malcolm Gladwell reviews Free by Chris Anderson.

No Lifeguard On Duty is the name of this beautiful photographic series of abandoned swimming pools by J Bennett Fitts.

The Feast Conference gathers the world’s greatest innovators from across industries and society to empower, inspire and engage each other in creating world-shaking change.

The Forces of User Experience, an expansion on Garrett’s The Elements of User Experience.

“The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hope only makes sense when it doesn’t make sense to be hopeful.” Paul Hawken’s 2009 Commencement Address at the University of Portland.

Open Emu is like having a giant visual performance synth made from the tasty innards of classic games.

When companies try to come up with new ideas, they too often look only where they always look.

What Makes Us Happy?

If you can’t buy it legally, of course you’ll download it: Staggered film releases no longer work in a global economy and are to blame for the rise of pirate websites.

How David Beats Goliath: When underdogs break the rules, by Malcolm Gladwell.

7 tips for a good portfolio.

Glitch Sequencer: Cellular automaton based MIDI sequencer.

Font Squirrel offers handpicked free fonts for graphic designers with commercial-use licenses.

LOST labels for your DHARMA Initiative needs.

Wolfram|Alpha intends to be a global store of information that understands and responds to ordinary language in the same way a person does.

Mega-Regions and High-Speed Rail, by Richard Florida.

Pacemaker is a revolutionizing music player and mixer with all the features you need to deejay anywhere, anytime.

Rare Book Room as an impressive collection of hi-res images of full ancient books,

Experimental Geography Reading List, by Rhizome contributing editor Marisa Olson.

Society doesn’t need newspapers. What we need is journalism, by Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations.

Trees: More than just carbon sinks – How Tree Aid, a UK-based charity, helps poor rural communities fight poverty, become self-reliant and help the environment.

He may seem like Mister Rogers. But in a revealing interview, the travel guru Rick Steves shares his daring views on Iran and terrorism, spoiled Americans and the best places to smoke pot in Europe.