Archive for July, 2008:
Muxtape, Annwn, iTunes
One thing I really like about this newfangled Web 2.0 is how easy it is to upload large things. Back in the old days with the crappy modem-centric infrastructure where a 60 MB hard drive is top-of-the-line, there would be no way for me to upload a bunch of songs for people to listen to. Here it is, my “muxtape“, which is a collection of my favorite music all available online. This doesn’t include music from one band, though, because all their stuff is freely available according to my next paragraph.
This also lets amazing but non-existent bands who have already sold out of every single one of their albums to share all of their music online. Annwn, one of my favorite bands ever, is one such example. They have a marvelous song about Anne Bonney that you really should listen to if you like pirate-related music. And, even now, I still discover new, awesome things from them like a cover of Matty Groves that I am downloading now.
Also: somehow, the idea of being able to buy a song on the iTunes music store completely escaped me until yesterday. Sure, I still like to buy whole albums, especially since most artists I like tend to put out good albums instead of merely good songs; but sometimes I just want one song from one album, despite how good the artist’s other songs are. This was the case with Ed Miller. I really like two of his songs (Prince of Darkness and The Devil Made Texas) but not enough of his other stuff to warrant buying two albums. So, iTunes to the rescue!
Subscribe to the comments for this postiPhone 2.0, Numeracy 0.0
Even though I don’t have an iPhone and I can’t upgrade my iPod Touch’s firmware yet, I’ve been poking around the new iPhone app store to see what apps are in store for iPhone app store users. One of the first things I found, thanks to the alphabetical ordering of apps, is ACTGratuity from Houdah Software. It’s a $0.99 app that basically calculates the tip for you.
Before we lament how people can’t do a simple “what’s 20% of x” calculation in their heads, let me remind you that the iPhone comes with a nice, built-in calculator software. In fact, one of the nice things about iPhone 2.0 is the fact that its calculator has improved! So, basically, this is a one-dollar piece of software that, according to the company, “minimized the number of taps” because it “calculates as you type”. Sure, there is some value there. If you were going to use the iPhone to calculate a tip, five taps is probably better than ten. The scary fact, though, is that there are probably people who need it. What are we doing wrong? What can we do to fix this? Can we blame Bush and No Child Left Behind? Blah blah blah. Insert standard “our kids don’t know math” cried here.
Their other iPhone product, ACTCurrency, which does currency conversion, is a much better reason for automation. However, there are plenty of free alternatives to that on the iPhone store but thanks to the app store’s sorting algorithm they appear much later on the page.
One final iPhone-numeracy-related thing: before ACTGratuity comes the app Abacus. There’s just something very, very wrong with the fact that you can turn your iPhone into an abacus for merely 99 cents. What’s next? iPhone sand that you can do geometry on?
Epsilon Red Riding Hood
From 101 Analysis Bedtime Stories, a wonderful paper on, well, 101 analysis bedtime stories, comes the tale of Epsilon Red Riding Hood. So little, it’s hard to quantify her!
Check out the other 100 stories too. Some of them are real (ha, real, get it?) kickers.