ModifiedLogic

When I heard about Muxtape, I thought it was a cool idea. Upload songs and create a mixtape that you can share. I knew I wanted to make one, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted my theme to be. It’s not like you can only make one (one per email address), but I couldn’t think of a good idea.

With all my reminiscing about Nirvana and the 90’s, I decided to make a Muxtape that is comprised of some of the best cover versions of Nirvana songs.

The Muxtape, aptly named, Best Nirvana Cover Songs has a little bit of everything. There sure are plenty of Nirvana covers out there in recorded land, but I truly believe these are the best. Check it out.

Even at its most basic level, its name, the iPhone is very deceiving. The iPhone is clearly not a phone. Let me explain what I mean.

About a year ago, I still had a cell “phone”. It was a Sanyo Katana and I only used it when I needed to make or take a phone call. Fast forward to last fall when I was researching the iPhone. It had been out a few months and I had been learning more and more about it. The more I learned about it, the more I knew I wanted it.

From the moment I got it into my hands, I knew that what I had considered a cell “phone”, even smart “phone” had changed forever. Had the iPhone never existed, I would have purchased a Blackberry Curve, but I had used a Blackberry before. It could still be considered a smart phone, but there’s no way it could have changed my life like the iPhone did.

So if the iPhone isn’t a phone, then what is it? It’s a part of my life. It’s a life tool. In the six months I’ve had it, I’ve used it for things that I had never done with a device. Sure there are devices out there that do many of the things the iPhone does, but not with the interface and design the iPhone offers.

During my house hunting the past two months, I was constantly using a GPS to navigate through neighborhoods I had never been to before. It turns out that the GPS didn’t have the info on some of the addresses. When this was the case, I mounted my iPhone on my universal mount in my car and hit up the Google map application. Using the route from current location feature, I was able to find the places the Garmin GPS couldn’t.

Before the iPhone, there were times that I would forget my cell phone every once and again, but I would remember my iPod or vice versa. Since I got the iPhone, I NEVER EVER forgot it. Subconsciously I knew that if I forgot it, I wouldn’t be able to listen to music on the way into work, I wouldn’t have a tool to help me navigate, I wouldn’t be able to use twitter, get my email, take notes, and oh yeah, make or take calls.

The iPhone simply puts my life into my pocket. Yes other devices could kind of boast the same statement for other people, but the truth of the matter is, for me, the iPhone offers an interface that makes everything so easy and seemless. The iPhone has blown many minds and jammed itself into A LOT of hands. It’s a clear winner. Now we are on the verge of the new storm of Apple rumors, the 3G iPhone, and many iPhone users have only gotten to experience their iPhone for under a year.

When it comes to technology, I hear statements such as:

“I don’t remember what it was like without email, and I don’t want to”

“I don’t remember what it was like before the internet, and I don’t want to”

And then I add a couple of my own:

“I don’t remember what it was like before Twitter, and I don’t want to”
“I don’t remember what it was like before the iPhone and I don’t want to”

And my newest one:

“I hope the 3G iPhone makes me forget about the iPhone I have in my pocket”

If there’s any device that could do it, the 3G iPhone is the only one I see on the horizon.

Technorati Tags:
Apple, iPhone, hardware, cellphones, phone, gadgets

About a week ago I was looking for a Ping.fm beta code. With none in immediate site, I used the form on their website to try and swindle one. I got an email from Sean over at the Ping.fm team giving me an invite code and said that I could spread it around as well so…here it is.

I also chose Ping.fm as one of my top "5 Betas You Might Not Be In" on my Lockergnome blog, The Modern Geek

code: pingbeta

When I found out that Radiohead was doing a remix project for "Nude", I knew I definitely wanted to create something that I could contribute. I got into remix mode tonight and made a tune that I call The Clip Hop Strip Mix. I cut apart all of the loops that were offered and tried to make a collage of little interesting pieces of music. I didn’t use the drum loop and just programmed my own drum parts.

Use the widget below to listen to my remix and if you like it, feel free to vote for it.

UPDATE:

Tonight my remix hit the top 10 on radioheadremix.com, #9 to be exact. Thanks to everyone who voted!

I am a "Newswhore". I don’t know if I made this word up or not, but as I’m writing this, I’m checking UrbanDictionary, and of course, Newswhore is listed, so…no. But anyways.

5. Your favorite site is http://google.com/reader

4. Even though digg has tons of new news items daily, it just isn’t "enough"

3. popurls is your start page

2. You have at least one piece of clothing with something relating to news or rss.

1. You get pissed on april fool’s day, YES I AM PISSED because my gReader and digg are clogged and jammed with fake, questionable, and just plain STUPID stories. how am I going to get my news today Charlay Murphay? dammit!

Pirates of Silicon Valley

I can seriously watch this movie over and over again. And I usually do. I am fascinated with the history of the PC, Microsoft, and Apple, etc. Lately, I have been even more “obsessed”. Since I actually have found Apple “stuff” that I like, I have been more interested on the history of things.

The subject matter of this movie is enough to make any modern geek cheer, but seriously, this was a very very well put together movie with some awesome acting.

The story is based loosely and sometimes tightly on facts, and is a great summary of the history of how things went down between Microsoft and Apple through the eyes of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. The bonus is that Steve Wozniak and Steve Ballmer are the narrators.

I’ve seen this movie in it’s entirety at least 20 times, including when it premiered on TNT back in 1999. The few times I’ve watched it recently made me want to delve even further into all of the history before, in between, and after the events in the movie.

One thing I like to do now is hit up youtube for old Macworld videos including the one in 97 that is portrayed in the movie. Another thing I did was buy the book “iCon: Steve Jobs, The Greatest Second Act In The History of Business” from audible which is an awesome look at Steve Jobs’ entire professional career. It’s a great listen (read). I plan on hitting up Bill Gates’ books soon, but right now, I’m working on getting through iWoz which is about twice the length of iCon.

It also makes this video from last year when Steve and Bill had a little Q & A together super interesting. It’s just fascinating to me.

This movie also makes me reflect on technology and how far we’ve come. I think back to when I used an Apple IIe in grade school and how cool that was at the time. I think about when I got a PC that had a 33mhz processor in it and how cool that was.

I sit here and look at this Macbook Pro and my Vista rig. We’ve come a long way in such a short period of time.

I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Technorati Tags:
Apple, Microsoft, Billgates, Stevejobs

I had been waiting to buy a Macbook Pro for a while. When I finally decided to dish out the cash a few months back, I ended up with a defective ambient light sensor which turned the keyboard into a strobe light. I sent that one back and decided to wait for the Penryn models.

Right around the same time I returned my first unit, I began looking for a new house. Immediately I put a freeze on all spending. Then, I began being teased every Tuesday in February by Apple wondering if the updated Macbook Pros would b coming. Finally, the Penryn models were announced but alas, I was in the middle of a spending freeze.

The hunt for houses has been taking way longer than expected and the other day I decided I have been living without a laptop for far too long. I pulled the trigger and got a brand new unit (15″, 2.5Ghz). So far it’s been great. Right off the bat, I can definitely tell that it runs cooler and the battery is better than the last gen.

The ambient light sensor on this one seems to be working properly but I’m still using labtick to control it. One thing I don’t understand is, this updated model has a new keyboard layout. The on/off ambient light sensor function key is absent. Labtick takes care of this, but when I boot to Vista, I can’t figure out a way to control the backlit keyboard.

The other noticeable improvement is that World of Warcraft runs beautifully. That extra 256mb of memory on the video card is a welcomed update.

Technorati Tags:
Apple, Macbookpro

I know the whole anonymous vs. scientology thing has been blowing up everywhere, but I didn’t expect to see protesters down the street from my house. I snapped these photos on my iPhone in downtown New Haven on Saturday at a red light. They all had funny masks and were yelling for people to honk their horns.