Weekend Recap: I Hate Technology. Long Live Technology!
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a nerd. Always have been. I’m a tech junkie, but only in the years that I’ve owned an iPhone have I realized how dependent my life is on technology. Most musicians in today’s world are slaves to modern gadgets, and this became all the more apparent to me this past weekend. My journey into tech purgatory started on Thursday, with my teaching job at the Popakademie. I was armed with all the tools I normally use to do my job: laptop, iPad, audio interface, microphone. My students are preparing for their semester exams (each student must perform a 45 minute live looping set using only their voices and a “loop station”, either hardware or software based), which require loads of tech that...
2009: What I Learned, What’s Ahead in 2010
2009 was an interesting year in many ways, especially in the worlds of politics and entertainment (my two favorite subjects). We witnessed the passing of entertainment legends like Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze and Les Paul; the resurgence of Jay-Z and dance music; the rise of Lady Gaga and the fall of Tiger Woods; iPhone, Facebook and Twitter mania; the rise of the internet as a primary news source coinciding with the rapid decline of newspapers and print publications. America witnessed it’s first year with a black president, followed by an unprecedented effort to discredit, demean and delegitimize him from the political right-wing. Revolution in Iran, pirates in Somalia, diplomacy at work in North Korea, a global recession and an escalation...
Smartphones: 21st century Tamagotschis?
If I ever needed proof that the smartphone is quickly becoming the 21st century’s version of the Tamagotchi (those widely popular and extremely annoying “digital pets” from the 90′s), I found it on Saturday while waiting to catch my train back home. On a beautiful, warm, bright Saturday morning, I was shocked and intrigued by just how many people I witnessed (myself included) hunched over, faces buried in the tiny screens occupying the palms of their hands. Based on my very unscientific observations, it’s quite easy to tell which type of current smartphone people are using: - If they’re hunched over while flicking with their left or right index finger in different directions, or sporadically rocking from side to side or forwards and...
