Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Subject: Fantastic Music Making Machine.
Mind Blowing Engineering – (Read Story First)
This is unbelievable. See how all of the balls wind up in the catcher cones.
This incredible machine was built as a collaborative effort between The Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of Engineering at the University of Iowa. Amazingly, 97% of the machines components came from Deere Industries and Irrigation Equipment of Bancroft, Iowa - yes, farm equipment!
It took the team a combined 13,029 hours of set-up, alignment, calibration, and tuning before filming this video, but as you can see it was well worth the effort.
It is now on display in the Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall at the University of Iowa and is already slated to be donated to the Smithsonian.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Do Blogs help sell your Music
Study: Blog Exposure Can Triple Sales For Signed Artists (but hey, what about the unsigned artist?)
Science has caught up with what we've intuitively known for ages: there is a strong tie between blogging and sales. A recent New York University study looked a the impact of blogging on music sales for 108 "signed" artists. Here are some of the findings:
- When legitimate blog posts exceeded a threshold of 40 before an album's release, sales were three times higher than for albums that did not generate this kind of buzz.
- When blog activity reached more than 250 posts, sales were six times higher.
- The number of an artist’s MySpace friends also contributed to higher future sales, but had a weaker correlation as compared to blog chatter.
These statistics apply whether an album was released by a major or independent label. Not surprisingly, the study doesn't provide any info on how "unsigned" artists fared. It doesn't even acknowledge the existence of the ever-growing group of artists who are "unsigned" (many by choice) and sell to their fans (in our opinion, the majority of all releases today come from artists who are "unsigned" not to mention there may be a case to suggest the majority of all music sales in the world also come from "unsigned" artists). TuneCore was founded in part because user-generated content about music (like blog posts, reviews) has a stronger, more immediate impact on sales than traditional marketing efforts. Take a look at the then unsigned artist Eric Hutchinson. Eric was blogged about on the (in)famous Perez Hilton blog (http://perezhilton.com/) and within three weeks he sold over 120,000 songs and jumped to #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers Charts (he was not even on it the week be fore!). Another great example is Kelly and his (her?) video for his song "Shoes". From just viral on-line blogging and outlets like YouTube Kelly has sold over 400,000 songs in 5 months.
The A&R people at major labels, MTV, Rolling Stone and other "old" music industry standbys are no longer the "taste makers" they once were. Every artist can now generate buzz on blogs, YouTube and social network, and with TuneCore, turn that buzz into sales.
(Story reprinted from Tunecore.com Newsletter)
Is this the future of automobiles?
General Motors and BMW have been working on a new car. Sure, it looks futuristic. But it has more going for it than just appearance. It’s unlike any other car you’ve seen! This could be the car of the future. I just hope the $10 million price tag drops before then!
(Text from - http://www.komando.com)
EBay Boycott to start Monday
| EBay seller boycott set to start Monday |
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| Activists opposed to eBay's upcoming fee and policy changes are readying for a weeklong site boycott starting on Monday, with buyers and sellers waiting to see if this strike will succeed where past protests have failed |
Friday, February 15, 2008
Microsoft's Paint Program
I always thought the Microsoft Paint Program was a little bit lame. After seeing this video, I guess I need to revisit the programs capabilities.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Wii for Therapy - Check out this article!
Stretching and lifting exercises help the injured regain strength. But the repetitive movements can be painful and boring. So hospitals are using the Wii in physical therapy. Patients become so engrossed in the games that they overlook their Pain.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
eBay in the news - Sellers upset over new rules
eBay continues to push sellers buttons. They seem to be making it more difficult for the newbie to get started selling on eBay. I have 100% feedback rating at ecollectable, my eBay store, so these new rules probably won't effect me. But, it has many concerned. Please read the following CNN report. The report also shows alternatives way's to sell and bank on the internet.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
MOTHER OF THE YEAR!
California a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of triplet tiger cubs. Unfortunately,
due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to their tiny
size, they died shortly after birth.
The mother tiger after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to decline in health, although physically she was fine. The veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused
the tigress to fall into a depression.
The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother's cubs, perhaps she would improve. After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother.. The veterinarians decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment. Sometimes a mother of one species will take on the care of a different species. The only orphans that could be found quickly were a litter of weanling pigs. The zoo keepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tiger skin and placed the babies around the mother tiger. Would they become cubs or pork chops?
why can't the rest of the world get along?
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Do You Ebay?
I have been a seller on eBay since 1999 (ecollectable). eBay has just implemented changes in their pricing structures and some other rules that have eBay sellers upset. Click (article) for story. I have a hundred percent feedback rating, so this rule does not effect me yet.....But basically, if a buyer wants to leave a negative comment about a seller, it will show up on their listings. On the other hand, let's say a buyer has a member that does not pay for an item, the buyer can no longer report this on the buyer's profile. Read the article for this to make more sense. It will be interesting to see where eBay will be at in five years from now as other auction sites catch up. These new auction sites put up by huge companies like Amazon.com, may be more agreeable to both the buyer and the seller.
Hello Everyone,
Welcome to my new blog. I will talk about many different topics. I will express my views and share information that I come across that I feel will be useful, informative, or just plain fun.
Some things may be controversial that you read, but this is an open forum for you to give feedback on your thoughts.
Here are some of the topics that will be posted here:
- Entertainment in and around the Metro Detroit area. There are some issues that need to be addressed on how entertainment and entertainers are perceived and treated by Bar and Restaurant owners. I would like to hear the about the Good, Bad and the Ugly.
- I am a Collector of antiques, and all things collectible, so information on what's happening in those fields will be posted on a regular basis.
- Facts about the Michigan economy
- Environmentally speaking!
- Music
- Magic
Please bookmark so that you can easily get back here. Thanks in advance for your input.
James
