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.

1. Workflow One involves using Ableton Suite in a somewhat traditional way—probably the way most people use their preferred DAW. I sketch out beats, synth patterns and basslines with clips in the session view to record an arrangement before editing, mixing, mastering and rendering to produce a finished track. This may be done all-at-once or over multiple sittings. More recently with Max for Live I’ve been able to add step sequencers, generative devices and random/ probabilistic elements for added variety, but it’s still a pretty straightforward approach. Many of the pieces in my Sequenced set on Soundcloud are the result of this workflow.
2. Workflow Two also involves working in Ableton Suite but geared towards live performance and improvisation. This method centers around various monome-enabled instruments for writing and mixing on-the-fly: obo, polygome64 and press cafe from Stretta‘s monome suite as well as raptor, bound, Flinn, and mm4lr factor heavily in this method for my live performances. Since M4L devices don’t always generate and/or save automation data, I tend to record an audio mix of these live sessions. My Unwind and live sessions from last year are the result of this workflow. UPDATE: I thought to add that while I do use numerous clips of beats and synth patterns, mostly from work I’ve already composed (aka stems), they’re more for backup, and the focus of this mode is on creating new material on-the-fly. By design, every live session is different.
3. Workflow Three departs from the above and centers around using the Density granular synthesizer and Pulsaret instruments to explore sound particles and drones, non-sequenced rhythms and the diversity of organic and synthetic timbres. With this approach, I appropriate tone colors from anywhere—strings; flute; toy piano, bells and cymbals; vinyl records— as well as basic sound waveforms to build up microsound-scapes, which I then take into Ableton to edit, arrange and build compositions. I usually add processing effects such as resonant filters, grain delay, reverb and EQ to help the mix gel. My recent microsound releases and side-project, The Silent Stars, are the result of this workflow.

Each workflow has its strengths, and they all depend on what the situation calls for. Of all the DAWs I’ve tried, Ableton has the best mental model for how I like to work. I feel I could make some improvements to Workflow Two, but it is still very rewarding and leads to some fun live sessions.

Arc: New Music Controller in Video, Detailed Q+A with monome Creator Brian Crabtree.

Alexandra Lange: What Should Food Look Like?.

TUAW’s Daily App: Strange Rain.

Urban Archaeology: North Brother Island – Riverside Hospital.

The Ambiguity of “Open” and VP8 vs. H.264.

Stuxnet Worm Used Against Iran Was Tested in Israel.

Four Loko Recycled Into Eco-Friendly Fuel.

That Spunky Sound 0.12 particle synthesizer.

Philip K. Dick: A ‘plastic’ paradox. Sneak peek at an upcoming Philip K. Dick film, Radio Free Albemuth.

Steven Frank of Panic Software fame, on the next phase of computing.

Quieting the lizard brain.

The “My” water bottle from Stelton.

Researchers in Japan have shown that a slime mold can design a network in a day that is as efficient as one developed by humans over many years: the Tokyo rail system.

Imagine that instead of having just one wireless carrier, your phone would constantly search for the best connection. An algorithm on your smartphone would assess signal strengths, and balance that with roaming costs, and decide when to switch from one carrier to another.

Humor: Laugh at those quirky, Unhappy Hipster (mostly from the pages of Dwell, it seems).

This DIY interface (YouTube) is impressive, but it just seems like buttons and sliders replicated on a touchscreen. I’d like to see such devices make use of true multi-touch gestures, such as pinch/expand, twist/rotate, 2/3/4-finger swipes and so on to control sound. Instead of yet another controller app (e.g. a bigger version of TouchOSC or an affordable Lemur-clone), I’ve been wanting to use musicmaking apps optimized for the mobile experience—perhaps a basic version of Live (incl. Impulse, Simpler and Analog instruments with a handful of essential midi and audio effects) or Propellerheads Rebirth for writing tracks. Something that could work as a standalone audio sketch pad, with the ability to transfer projects to the desktop version for further work. I started putting together a mock-up using screen grabs from Live before coming to a realization:

Rather than merely porting existing software to mobile versions, it’s important to examine the mental models that dominate the desktop. Most of the more popular audio suites are based on the recording studio-in-a box model, where the signals (midi info, audio from guitar, voice, synth, drums, whatever) are fed through a virtual mixing desk, using inline and outboard effects and processors, to be recorded in loops or longer segments before being placed in an arrangement to mix-down and master. Apple’s Logic Studio, Propellerhead’s Reason, Steinberg’s Cubase Studio and others are variations on this mental model.

Ableton Suite is my weapon-of-choice because of its flexible, on-the-fly, semi-modular approach that can be adapted to varying needs: looseness vs. precision, improvisation vs. control, performance vs. planning. Plugins and updates bring new instruments and effects, and endless routing and importing options make Live an audio ourobouros. Max for Live builds on this, with new resources for generating, shaping and routing signals, but Live’s clips>tracks>session>arrangement>mixdown>master>render model is still a largely traditional structure (albeit for me the best-of-all-possible-worlds for composing, performing and recording). Max is another side of this spectrum, where building blocks can be created, changed and arranged as needed in a virtual instrument/studio.

Most of the mobile musicmaking apps I’ve used so far (BeatMaker, 8Bitone, technoBox) shrink this virtual studio to the smaller screen of the iPhone and iPod Touch. They use virtual buttons and sliders for controls, sometimes spanning multiple screens. Several apps, though, show promise for emerging mental models, including SynthPond and Brian Eno’s Bloom and Trope. SynthPond’s affecters, reactors and orbits lend themselves to non-linear, interactive compositions. I imagine it would be a lot of fun to use on the iPad’s larger screen, esp. with new objects for generating, reacting, processing and moving sounds. Eno’s dynamic, generative pieces work well as apps, because they change and evolve rather than remain fixed to a certain textural arrangement on CD or MP3. These apps are systems for composing and generating music/sounds/spaces/moods and point the way for the possibilities of the iPad and beyond. Artists/composers/developers/companies/organizations that rethink the mental models with which we create and experience music will lead the way on these new and future devices.

New DSLR bags from Incase look sweet.

Design your own SIGG bottle at CafePress.

Scientists at Cambridge University have discovered that electrons in quantum-scale wires can break into two smaller particles, called spinons and holons.

The iPhone ecosystem is toxic, says Steven Frank.

Costlier health care is often worse care.

The Function of identity in techno.

Scientists study distinct ecosystem at ocean’s surface.

Get your drinking water from the air.

We love (and wish we could afford) Aether’s jackets.

Design Ignites Change promotes and encourages talented high school and college students across the country to use design thinking and innovation to create messages for, and solutions to, pressing social problems.

Complete Yale courses now on iTunes U.

Eros, a short video by Tom Geraedts sports some awesome motion graphics.

The role of side projects in entrepreneurial success has a rich history in the United States.

A roundup of software art for the iPhone.

Travel in style with Patagonia’s MLC® (Maximum Legal Carry-On) Burrito suit bag.

Worn Free resurrects the coolest T-Shirts of all time.

The Big Picture remembers Apollo 11.

Was Moore’s Law Inevitable? by Kevin Kelly

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

Mark Bittman On Why Food Matters.

Ableton Live 8 and Studio 8 are finally out, so defrost your plastic! Or, you can download the demo (sans save and export, of course) to get your fix like the rest of us po’ folk.

Facebook, YouTube at Work Make Better Employees, says a recent study.

The next green fuel source: algae.

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.

• my wife, Emma
  
• our son, ‘Jack’
  
• Bugaboo Gecko stroller
• Canon Digital Rebel XT SLR camera
• Ceylon Sonata black tea from Adagio
• Bostonian shoes

TV:

• 30 Rock
• The Office

Film:

• The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
• Brick
• The Departed
• Marie Antoinette
• A Prairie Home Companion
  

Books:

• Massive Change by Bruce Mau and Jennifer Leonard
• Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins
• What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry by John Markoff
• A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong
• Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel by Susanna Clarke
  
• Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence by Andrew Juniper
• Cloud Atlas: A Novel by David Mitchell
• The Laws of Simplicity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life) by John Maeda
• Zag: The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands by Marty Neumeier

Music:

• Broadcast – Future Crayon
• M. Ward – Post-War
• Daedelus – Denies the Days Demise
• Isobel Campbell And Mark Lanegan – Ballad of Broken Seas
• Xiu Xiu – Air Force
• Cat Power – The Greatest
• Erasure – Union Street
  
• Nouvelle Vague – Bande a Part
• Ochre – Lemodie
• Sufjan Stevens – The Avalanche: Outtakes & Extras from the Illinois Album
• The Album Leaf – Into the Blue Again
• Juana Molina – Son
• Loscil – Plume
• Max Richter – Songs from Before
• Robin Guthrie – Continental
• Thom Yorke – The Eraser
• Ellen Allien & Apparat – Orchestra of Bubbles
• CSS – Cansei de Ser Sexy
• Hot Chip – The Warning
• TV on the Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain
• The Black Keys – Magic Potion
• ISAN – Plans Drawn in Pencil
• Carbon Based Lifeforms – World of Sleep
• Herbert – Scale
• Bliss – They Made History
• Boards of Canada – Trans Canada Highway
• Isolèe – Western Shore
• Bonobo – Days to Come
• Biosphere – Dropsonde
• Maps and Diagrams – Antennas and Signals
• Bent – Intercept!
• Jolie Holland – Springtime Can Kill You
• Joanna Newsom – Ys
• Hem – Funnel Cloud
• William Orbit – Hello Waveforms
• Band of Horses – Everything All The Time
• The Be Good Tanyas – Hello Love
• Camera Obscura – Let’s Get Out of This Country

Games:

• Lego Star Wars II for PS2
• Quinn for Mac OS X

Software:

• Democracy Player
• Ableton Live
• Native Instruments Reaktor

Online:

• The Ricky Gervais Show podcast
• Google Reader and Gmail
• WordPress
• Netflix
• Flickr

* = I realize not all of these (the books for example) were released in 2006. But, it’s new if it’s new to me. Also, the list grew beyond a few. It was a good year.