YouTube will now allow you to edit metadata while uploading, and while they're at it, they're increasing the file size limit to 1 GB (previously 100 MB). It looks like video length will be held to 10 minutes (same as before), so I think we're seeing the Google making their first steps into high quality content streaming.
read more | digg story
This is pretty exciting as they also just increased the quality of their audio compression. Looks like I might have to take a look at YouTube again for sharing audio samples...
YouTube Amps Up Audio Quality
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Fox Finally Supports Digital Copy. Is It Too Little Too Late?
An interesting development in buying movies?
I'm watching TV, and I keep stumbling over commercials for 'What Happens in Vegas', a movie I have NO desire to see, but something strikes me as interesting. A large part of the ad campaign hovers around the support of Digital Copy, allowing people who purchase the film on DVD or Blu-Ray to transfer it to their computer and to their iPods.
That's HUGE!
Ok, now I'm curious. It's almost like Fox is listening to how fans of their films are wanting to consume content.
When I buy a film, I want to watch it where and how I want, not where and how the studio tells me I can watch their product. My movie purchasing has almost been completely curtailed by Netflix viewing, and the slow push into hi-def media. I just don't seem much reason to continue investing in a "library". Especially as most of the ways I want to watch movies I've purchased (Personal Media Players, my phone, my computer), technically make me a criminal according to the DMCA. If a studio were to support MY media habit (as opposed to making me a criminal for wanting to buy their stuff), I would be MUCH more inclined to purchase their movies.
Well there's NO way in hell I'm buying 'What Happens in Vegas', but I'm kinda stoked and more than a little curious, so I head over to the Fox Store to see what other movies they might have up with Digital Copy.
There are five.
FIVE!?!?!?
That's it. You get your pic of AVP, AVP2, Jumper, Juno, and Hitman. That's it. That's not really supporting customers. That's throwing a couple movies out there to say that there are viable alternatives to file sharing movies, but still trying to lock customers into purchasing discs, and having to re-purchase content for different formats.
What could be an incredible sales tactic (getting cranky-pants geeks like myself very interested in purchasing movies on Blu-Ray), is little more than a PR gesture constructed to combat the legalities of how media is consumed today.
Lame.
I think that's what's really frustrating me. I WANT to buy movies. I WANT to watch movies where, when, and how I decide. There is SO MUCH MORE MONEY to be made by opening up how consumers can use content, but instead studios seem more interested in trying more restrictive locks on content. It's like a wet bar of soap. The harder you squeeze, the faster it splurts out, until people get sick of bar soap and move over to liquid soap (how's THAT for following through on a metaphor, LOL).
For the time being I'll stick with Netflix I guess.
I'll probably skip over Blu-Ray.
No one seems concerned with selling me things I want to buy.
P.S.
Scott Kirsner has a great editorial over at Hollywood Reporter, discussing the current state of legit movie downloading versus file sharing movies. It kinda ties into what I'm talking about here. Studios are losing tons of potential revenue, but still REFUSE to support a business model their customers created. We're showing them this is how we want to do business. We've led them to their own salvation. We've dragged them kicking and screaming to water, but the stubborn horses wont take a sip...
From Scott:
I'm watching TV, and I keep stumbling over commercials for 'What Happens in Vegas', a movie I have NO desire to see, but something strikes me as interesting. A large part of the ad campaign hovers around the support of Digital Copy, allowing people who purchase the film on DVD or Blu-Ray to transfer it to their computer and to their iPods.
That's HUGE!
Ok, now I'm curious. It's almost like Fox is listening to how fans of their films are wanting to consume content.
When I buy a film, I want to watch it where and how I want, not where and how the studio tells me I can watch their product. My movie purchasing has almost been completely curtailed by Netflix viewing, and the slow push into hi-def media. I just don't seem much reason to continue investing in a "library". Especially as most of the ways I want to watch movies I've purchased (Personal Media Players, my phone, my computer), technically make me a criminal according to the DMCA. If a studio were to support MY media habit (as opposed to making me a criminal for wanting to buy their stuff), I would be MUCH more inclined to purchase their movies.
Well there's NO way in hell I'm buying 'What Happens in Vegas', but I'm kinda stoked and more than a little curious, so I head over to the Fox Store to see what other movies they might have up with Digital Copy.
There are five.
FIVE!?!?!?
That's it. You get your pic of AVP, AVP2, Jumper, Juno, and Hitman. That's it. That's not really supporting customers. That's throwing a couple movies out there to say that there are viable alternatives to file sharing movies, but still trying to lock customers into purchasing discs, and having to re-purchase content for different formats.
What could be an incredible sales tactic (getting cranky-pants geeks like myself very interested in purchasing movies on Blu-Ray), is little more than a PR gesture constructed to combat the legalities of how media is consumed today.
Lame.
I think that's what's really frustrating me. I WANT to buy movies. I WANT to watch movies where, when, and how I decide. There is SO MUCH MORE MONEY to be made by opening up how consumers can use content, but instead studios seem more interested in trying more restrictive locks on content. It's like a wet bar of soap. The harder you squeeze, the faster it splurts out, until people get sick of bar soap and move over to liquid soap (how's THAT for following through on a metaphor, LOL).
For the time being I'll stick with Netflix I guess.
I'll probably skip over Blu-Ray.
No one seems concerned with selling me things I want to buy.
P.S.
Scott Kirsner has a great editorial over at Hollywood Reporter, discussing the current state of legit movie downloading versus file sharing movies. It kinda ties into what I'm talking about here. Studios are losing tons of potential revenue, but still REFUSE to support a business model their customers created. We're showing them this is how we want to do business. We've led them to their own salvation. We've dragged them kicking and screaming to water, but the stubborn horses wont take a sip...
From Scott:
"Citizen Kane" and "The Godfather" top the American Film Institute's list of the greatest movies ever made. James Cameron's "Titanic" still holds the record for biggest box office take, and "Annie Hall," "Star Wars," and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" are part of Roger Ebert's personal pantheon.Scott Kirsner: Hollywood Classics Ignored Online @ Hollywood Reporter
But almost a decade after consumers began legally downloading movies on the Internet, none of those titles is yet available for digital purchase or rental.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Dave Matthews Band Saxophonist, LeRoi Moore, Has Passed Away
Is it me or has this month been a little brutal.I was a HUGE DMB fan in college. This actually stings a bit.
From wiki:
Moore was injured on June 30, 2008 in an ATV accident on his farm outside Charlottesville, Virginia, breaking several ribs and puncturing a lung[citation needed], and was hospitalized at UVA for several days. Jeff Coffin, the saxophonist from Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, stood in for Moore on subsequent tour dates. Though released several days later, Moore was re-hospitalized in mid-July for complications related to the accident.read more | digg story
On August 19, 2008, the official Dave Matthews Band website reported that Moore died of complications from his injuries in the ATV accident. The following statement was released on the band's website:Dave Matthews paid tribute to LeRoi on August 19, 2008 at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA after the first song "Bartender." "We all had some bad news today," Matthews told the sell-out crowd. "Our good friend LeRoi Moore passed on and gave his ghost up today and we will miss him forever." Fans then shouted Moore's name in tribute.We are deeply saddened that LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of Dave Matthews Band, died unexpectedly Tuesday afternoon, August 19, 2008, at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles from sudden complications stemming from his June ATV accident on his farm near Charlottesville, Virginia. LeRoi had recently returned to his Los Angeles home to begin an intensive physical rehabilitation program. [4]
News Sound Bites - RIAA Sucks?, Groove Shark Competes With Pandora, VOLTRON!!!, and More
Hey all! Some cool links for you to check out!
Relativity Media is going to take a '300' style crack at a live action Voltron! Could Robotech be far behind?
Lifehacker has the skinny on audio editor WavePad. They compare it to Audacity, which is a pretty high mark to be comparing things to.
Steve Guttenberg over at the Audiophiliac has a great editorial up about how expensive audio equipment isn't as expensive as you think.
New Media Gear takes a look at the Olympus LS-10 Portable Recorder. They seem pretty positive on it.
In the wake of internet radio imploding, GrooveShark is adding a Pandora-like player to it's P2P service.
In other "crappy music industry" news, it looks like record labels aren't happy with music being used in games. Oh sure, they're happy to reap the rewards of greater exposure for their artists, they just want more money for doing ... well ... nothing ... I guess.
And in even MORE music industry news, has the RIAA shut down Muxtape? Better stick with Mixwit for now.
Relativity Media is going to take a '300' style crack at a live action Voltron! Could Robotech be far behind?
Lifehacker has the skinny on audio editor WavePad. They compare it to Audacity, which is a pretty high mark to be comparing things to.
Steve Guttenberg over at the Audiophiliac has a great editorial up about how expensive audio equipment isn't as expensive as you think.
New Media Gear takes a look at the Olympus LS-10 Portable Recorder. They seem pretty positive on it.
In the wake of internet radio imploding, GrooveShark is adding a Pandora-like player to it's P2P service.
In other "crappy music industry" news, it looks like record labels aren't happy with music being used in games. Oh sure, they're happy to reap the rewards of greater exposure for their artists, they just want more money for doing ... well ... nothing ... I guess.
And in even MORE music industry news, has the RIAA shut down Muxtape? Better stick with Mixwit for now.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
News Sound Bites - Mic Stands, Reverb, Theremin, and MORE!
Some cool stories that caught my eye this week.
Mary McKitrick takes a look at the M600 Universal Microphone Mount, and seems pretty positive on it.
What's that ringing in your ears? It could be reverb, and AudioTuts has an awesome post with FIFTEEN FREE REVERB PLUGINS! Go get your echo on!
So I wasn't so stoked about the Sirius/XM merger, but it looks like we might finally be getting dual format radios compatible with both Sirius AND XM.
So it's a speaker.
And it's round, so you can roll it around, so that's cool.
Does this make a speaker worth $21,000?
I've been constantly trying to find good places to host audio (right now I'm using Humyo). No one really seems that interested in it. Video? Sure bring it on, but free audio not so much. Apparently there have been complaints about the compression used on Youtube, so they'll be improving the audio quality of Youtube videos. Could this be the answer to free media hosting?
And speaking of Youtube, what do you MEAN you've NEVER heard the theme to Super Mario played on a theremin!?!?!
Well here you go:
Mary McKitrick takes a look at the M600 Universal Microphone Mount, and seems pretty positive on it.
What's that ringing in your ears? It could be reverb, and AudioTuts has an awesome post with FIFTEEN FREE REVERB PLUGINS! Go get your echo on!
So I wasn't so stoked about the Sirius/XM merger, but it looks like we might finally be getting dual format radios compatible with both Sirius AND XM.
So it's a speaker.
And it's round, so you can roll it around, so that's cool.
Does this make a speaker worth $21,000?
I've been constantly trying to find good places to host audio (right now I'm using Humyo). No one really seems that interested in it. Video? Sure bring it on, but free audio not so much. Apparently there have been complaints about the compression used on Youtube, so they'll be improving the audio quality of Youtube videos. Could this be the answer to free media hosting?
And speaking of Youtube, what do you MEAN you've NEVER heard the theme to Super Mario played on a theremin!?!?!
Well here you go:
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
News Sound Bites - Revision3, Engineering, Earthquakes in LA, Audiobooks, and More...
Hey All,
Just some fun links for you to check out.
The LA Times has a great look at up and coming media giant Revision3. I'm a HUGE fan of the "network", even if I did just recently pick a fight with Tekzilla.
AUDIOTUTS has a great tutorial on processing vocals for musicians. Totally worth a read for you VO folks as well, especially if you ever have to engineer or produce your own content.
So I was REALLY close to the earthquake that hit CA yesterday, and it was quite a jolt. To hear a special report from Loony Tunes News (courtesy of Bob Bergen) CLICK HERE.
Wired's Listening post has a really funny (and frustrating) article about how Hell Is Other People's Music.
Sound on Sound is reporting on an update to Reaper, a great little audio suite that I would put up with programs like Audacity and Traverso.
Not Just Voiceover has a great vid up of a narration session with audiobook virtuoso Scott Brick. It's so much fun watching you guys work...
Part Three of Bob Souer's interview with Voice Over Xtra has just been posted, so head over and check it out. Here are parts one and two if you're a little behind.
Just some fun links for you to check out.
The LA Times has a great look at up and coming media giant Revision3. I'm a HUGE fan of the "network", even if I did just recently pick a fight with Tekzilla.
AUDIOTUTS has a great tutorial on processing vocals for musicians. Totally worth a read for you VO folks as well, especially if you ever have to engineer or produce your own content.
So I was REALLY close to the earthquake that hit CA yesterday, and it was quite a jolt. To hear a special report from Loony Tunes News (courtesy of Bob Bergen) CLICK HERE.
Wired's Listening post has a really funny (and frustrating) article about how Hell Is Other People's Music.
Sound on Sound is reporting on an update to Reaper, a great little audio suite that I would put up with programs like Audacity and Traverso.
Not Just Voiceover has a great vid up of a narration session with audiobook virtuoso Scott Brick. It's so much fun watching you guys work...
Part Three of Bob Souer's interview with Voice Over Xtra has just been posted, so head over and check it out. Here are parts one and two if you're a little behind.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Voice Over News Sound Bites - Mics, Bob Souer, Stephen Fry, SAG & AMPTP, and more...
Couple quick stories I think you'll dig...
David Houston has written a great FIVE PAGE story on getting into voice over. It's posted up at Helium. Go read it!
I've been very excited by RODE releasing the NTG-3, a $700 shotgun mic to compete against the MKH416, and Ty Ford has a CRAZY in depth comparison between the two. Does RODE have what it takes to unseat the Senny? Found via VOMicTest.
VoiceOverXtra interviews Bob "The Man" Souer (nickname mine). If you've read anything about VO blog-wise, you've probably read Bob. He's got a great out look on this business, and is quite possibly one of the most gracious writters I've ever met. Check it out for some nice insight!
I've just recently found the gloriousness which is "A Bit of Fry and Laurie", so I was mega-stoked to here that Stephen Fry has just signed on to do Fable 2. Woot!
Lastly, Hollywood Reporter has released the transcripts of the SAG/AMPTP negotiations. Interesting stuff...
David Houston has written a great FIVE PAGE story on getting into voice over. It's posted up at Helium. Go read it!
I've been very excited by RODE releasing the NTG-3, a $700 shotgun mic to compete against the MKH416, and Ty Ford has a CRAZY in depth comparison between the two. Does RODE have what it takes to unseat the Senny? Found via VOMicTest.
VoiceOverXtra interviews Bob "The Man" Souer (nickname mine). If you've read anything about VO blog-wise, you've probably read Bob. He's got a great out look on this business, and is quite possibly one of the most gracious writters I've ever met. Check it out for some nice insight!
I've just recently found the gloriousness which is "A Bit of Fry and Laurie", so I was mega-stoked to here that Stephen Fry has just signed on to do Fable 2. Woot!
Lastly, Hollywood Reporter has released the transcripts of the SAG/AMPTP negotiations. Interesting stuff...
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
News Sound Bites - Random stuff today...
Alfred Molina and Sir Ben Kingsley sign on to Prince of Persia movie. Movies based on video games make me twitchy, but at least we know two things wont suck about the film...
LATimes Blog, has a neat post up about the musical score for 'The Dark Knight'. I'm so stoopid 'cited for this flick!
Congrats to the cast of The Simpsons! Deal negotiated without Fox execs (jerks) threatening to replace them (they're just voices right), like in 1998 when they hired casting directors to replace voices (or how Tress MacNeille's roles showed up in my hands before The Simpsons Movie). You're now paid ALMOST HALF what you're worth!
Missed this story from a couple weeks ago on IO9, about the passing of two great sci-fi soundtrack composers. Bebe Barron who scored Forbidden Planet (AWESOME flick), and Alexander Courage who scored the theme to Star Trek. Great post on IO9, I just find it a lil creepy that the Federation in ST is loosely based on Forbidden Planet...
Zombie musical based on the cult hit Evil Dead? YOU BET! The posters advertising it are HI-sterical too!
LATimes Blog, has a neat post up about the musical score for 'The Dark Knight'. I'm so stoopid 'cited for this flick!
Congrats to the cast of The Simpsons! Deal negotiated without Fox execs (jerks) threatening to replace them (they're just voices right), like in 1998 when they hired casting directors to replace voices (or how Tress MacNeille's roles showed up in my hands before The Simpsons Movie). You're now paid ALMOST HALF what you're worth!
Missed this story from a couple weeks ago on IO9, about the passing of two great sci-fi soundtrack composers. Bebe Barron who scored Forbidden Planet (AWESOME flick), and Alexander Courage who scored the theme to Star Trek. Great post on IO9, I just find it a lil creepy that the Federation in ST is loosely based on Forbidden Planet...
Zombie musical based on the cult hit Evil Dead? YOU BET! The posters advertising it are HI-sterical too!
Monday, March 3, 2008
News Sound Bites - First Week of March
Audioholics test expensive Monster cables against wire coat hanger. I wonder what sounded better?
Trent Reznor to release more music online. Still trying to figure out how to make money on the deal.
Video game revenue overtakes music revenue in the UK. No one's all that surprised...
someaudioguy some audio guy news voice over sound voice acting
Trent Reznor to release more music online. Still trying to figure out how to make money on the deal.
Video game revenue overtakes music revenue in the UK. No one's all that surprised...
someaudioguy some audio guy news voice over sound voice acting
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Free Prompter/Autocue Web App - Cueprompter
Hey all!If you're anything like me, you probably watch a LOT of web content and public access TV. And, if you're anything like me, you probably think to yourself "I could so totally do that", before padding off to the kitchen for another diet Dr. Pepper.
If you would like to start hosting your own web show or just would like the practice, head on over to http://cueprompter.com/ where you'll find a free web teleprompting service. Perfect for helping you bone up on your reading skills.
It runs in a browser, and has variable speed control. There is a text limit to how much can be fed through, but it is quite large, like chapter of a book large. It says the service works best with Internet Explorer, but between IE7 and Firefox 2, it seemed FF was more stable for me. I did have one bug, that no matter what browser I used, I couldn't get the "Mirror" function to work. I guess this means I'll never be able to use this app professionally, but then again, why would I.
It was really just a lot of fun to turn on the webcam and watch how much I move my eyes around while reading. This is good as I really needed something else to be selfconscious about!
A little practice and I might be ready to take on Diggnation,TRS, WallStrip, RocketBoom, Tekzilla, and the West Hollywood Channel 10 Community access local news!
http://cueprompter.com/
I should SO start my own show....
Monday, January 14, 2008
S.A.G. to Dump AFTRA, says "It's not Me, It's You"...
Well, I can't say I'm that surprised.Daily Variety (amongst EVERY other trade publication and news channel) is covering the probable end to Phase 1.
I'm really not trying to pick sides here, but when one guild has twice the members (more than twice when you factor out dual card members), and out earns the other guild by a factor of NINE to ONE, it only makes sense that at some point it'll start to flex some muscle.
As I've written before, I think having the two guilds fighting over the same space only serves to neuter the contracts that come out. The video game contract is a perfect example. Both guilds completely underestimated the potential earnings for video games, and now we're stuck with voice over contracts that actors will never be able to make a living off of. The producers will NEVER renegotiate this contract, as why would they pay more for the same service.
This is also a HUGE disservice to the 40,000 dual card holders that have to work twice as hard to keep up pension and benefits.
The radical in me says it's time for one union, but the realist in me says it's time for a hard-line stance. It's time the members stood up and fought for clear and decided boundaries on what the two guilds are allowed to negotiate.
Having both guilds negotiating 50-50 on everything has only benefited production so far, to the detriment of the 150,000 actors involved.
This is a huge deal for people working in VO. I would highly recommend reading up on Phase 1.
@ Daily Variety
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Top Striking Writers to Launch Online Video Company
Hmmm sounds a bit more like a manifesto than it does a business plan...
read more | digg story
“We are a coalition of top film and television writers and top tech innovators who are dedicated to creating and delivering professionally made content directly to the end user, and who believe in the model of freedom and inclusiveness over the model of control that has been employed by the big media conglomerates for the past 100 years”The point though, is that online, content is king. It'll be interesting to see if they pull this off.
read more | digg story
Friday, January 4, 2008
Antitrust lawsuit against Apple?
Well, when one company occupies such a large percentage of the online audio/video market and hardware market, it's bound to come up eventually...Information Week is reporting on Plaintiff Stacie Somers who filed suit on Dec 31 (Happy New Year?), claiming Apple maintains an illegal monopoly on the digital music market.
Apparently the major point of contention is Apple's unwillingness to support protected media from sources other than iTunes.
The complaint takes issue with Apple's refusal to support the Windows Media Audio format. "Apple's iPod is alone among mass-market Digital Music Players in not supporting the WMA format," it states, noting that America Online, Wal-Mart, Napster, MusicMatch, Best Buy, Yahoo Music, FYE Download Zone, and Virgin Digital all support protected WMA files.The suit goes on to claim that even though the iPod is physically capable of playing protected media from sources other than iTunes, this feature is deliberately crippled in the player's software.
What I'm unclear on, and what the article doesn't really elaborate on, is the injury to the consumer.
As for the injury to consumers, the complaint says that Apple's pricing is "monopolistic, excessive, and arbitrary," citing how a wholesale $5.52 price difference between 1-Gbyte ($4.15) and 4-Gbyte ($9.67) NAND flash memory modules results in a $100 retail price difference between 1-Gbyte iPod Nano and a 4-Gbyte Nano.Another interesting point (briefly touched on) is the recent popularity of DRM free music (Sony recently caving for example), and it's unclear what impact that might have on the suit.
If the complaint is with the software, I don't understand what the price inflation of the hardware has to do with that, other than the obvious claim of collusion with memory makers.
Apple of course has no comment.
Read the whole article here @ Information Week
News Sound Bites
Blu-Ray BD profile 1.1, any good? Only two players can use it right now anyway...
Sony sees the light, and drops DRM, is the last major label to do so!
Sirius denied merger, in the red $1.3 billion, subscribers up 38%, good year?
Chuck D wants Def Jam, has 4 point plan to fix it!
Variety: Hollywood discovers Voice Acting more than just "talking"...
CNet slams Washington Post for not correcting RIAA story.
Guardian delivers HUGE collection of niche music sites!
Upgrading your computer monitor might cause DRM conflict in Vista, block Netflix, invalidate other legitimate purchases, only bother paying customers...
Deaf Porn? (via Wired, links on following site might be NSFW)
Avoid "Red Sauce" on your iTunes, buy the real thing instead...
Sony sees the light, and drops DRM, is the last major label to do so!
Sirius denied merger, in the red $1.3 billion, subscribers up 38%, good year?
Chuck D wants Def Jam, has 4 point plan to fix it!
Variety: Hollywood discovers Voice Acting more than just "talking"...
CNet slams Washington Post for not correcting RIAA story.
Guardian delivers HUGE collection of niche music sites!
Upgrading your computer monitor might cause DRM conflict in Vista, block Netflix, invalidate other legitimate purchases, only bother paying customers...
Deaf Porn? (via Wired, links on following site might be NSFW)
Avoid "Red Sauce" on your iTunes, buy the real thing instead...
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
News Sound Bites - First Batch of 2008
IGN gives Dragon Ball Z: Budokai for the Wii an A+ for voice and sound, about a C- overall. I'm currently watching the Frieza Saga just for kicks...
Voices.com has released an incredible "State of the Business" for Voice acting. Read it. Learn it. Live it.
CNet (via Reuters) wants you to host your own talk radio show, over the internet.
The voting is in, and Idolator has finally delivered us their worst album art of 2007.
Gamasutra has a great article on the challenges getting artists and coders to communicate when producing videogames.
The Voice of the London Tubes, Emma Clarke (known for telling passengers to "mind the gap"), was dropped after satirizing her Tube gig. The press surrounding the incident has boosted her profile, and she can now be heard on a popular Sat-Nav.
Yeah I decided to make the entire last story a link. What wanna fight about it?
Voices.com has released an incredible "State of the Business" for Voice acting. Read it. Learn it. Live it.
CNet (via Reuters) wants you to host your own talk radio show, over the internet.
The voting is in, and Idolator has finally delivered us their worst album art of 2007.
Gamasutra has a great article on the challenges getting artists and coders to communicate when producing videogames.
The Voice of the London Tubes, Emma Clarke (known for telling passengers to "mind the gap"), was dropped after satirizing her Tube gig. The press surrounding the incident has boosted her profile, and she can now be heard on a popular Sat-Nav.
Yeah I decided to make the entire last story a link. What wanna fight about it?
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Letterman and WGA Reach Agreement!
He Shoots, HE SCORES!!!
(lol teh cheesie)
This is extremely exciting news! As reported by NYT, Worldwide Pants Inc, the company behind The Late Show with David Letterman, and The Late Late Show with Colin Ferguson has worked out a deal with the WGA.
Read the whole article HERE.
This is my favorite part of the article:
On Friday evening, the leaders of the two writers unions, Michael Winship of the East Coast guild and Patric M. Verrone of the West Coast guild, upped the ante in a letter sent to members. It said the unions would urge actors and politicians to appear on the Worldwide Pants shows and stay clear of the others, which would be subject to even more intense picketing.
Take THAT Carson Daly! SCAB!!!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
News Sound Bites - Whole ton-o-stuff coming back from XMas
Yeah I gotta bunch, so lets jump in.
Jalopnik told me that Plantronics thinks you look stupid with that BT headset. Put it in the new Plantronics car charger when not in use.
Nokia's crushing on Apple, wants to make sweet music iTunes downloading babies.
Speakers = Sexy? AudioJunkies thinks so, has list of top 15 speaker sets with the curves to compete with your girlfriend.
Blizzard, your favorite WoW/Starcraft developers, are starting a podcast on game development.
In other BT Headset news, Engadget has the scoop on the Adtec AD-HSM10, one of tiniest headsets I've ever seen. I shall call it "the button" (instead of the nonsensical string of letters and numbers - Come on people! Consumers buy NAMES, they buy iPods and Zunes and ROKRs and Walkmans not "AD-HSM10's"! HOW DO YOU EVEN SAY THAT‽‽‽), and be mad that we'll probably never see it stateside.
FreewareGenius lets us know about Tunestor, a free Firefox plugin that automates downloading an mp3, and putting it right into iTunes. I don't use iTunes, so this is useless to me. I'm only writing about it for you, my faithful readers. I'm teh selfless!
Was my post about SpokenText not enough to sate the Text to Speech beast in you? DownloadSquad gives us another TtS to satisfy that "read it to me" urge.
Toon Zone interviews the original Speed Racer and Trixie!
ay-dee-ache-es-em-tenza ... nope still sucks... it's "the button" now ... I've decided!
Jalopnik told me that Plantronics thinks you look stupid with that BT headset. Put it in the new Plantronics car charger when not in use.
Nokia's crushing on Apple, wants to make sweet music iTunes downloading babies.
Speakers = Sexy? AudioJunkies thinks so, has list of top 15 speaker sets with the curves to compete with your girlfriend.
Blizzard, your favorite WoW/Starcraft developers, are starting a podcast on game development.
In other BT Headset news, Engadget has the scoop on the Adtec AD-HSM10, one of tiniest headsets I've ever seen. I shall call it "the button" (instead of the nonsensical string of letters and numbers - Come on people! Consumers buy NAMES, they buy iPods and Zunes and ROKRs and Walkmans not "AD-HSM10's"! HOW DO YOU EVEN SAY THAT‽‽‽), and be mad that we'll probably never see it stateside.
FreewareGenius lets us know about Tunestor, a free Firefox plugin that automates downloading an mp3, and putting it right into iTunes. I don't use iTunes, so this is useless to me. I'm only writing about it for you, my faithful readers. I'm teh selfless!
Was my post about SpokenText not enough to sate the Text to Speech beast in you? DownloadSquad gives us another TtS to satisfy that "read it to me" urge.
Toon Zone interviews the original Speed Racer and Trixie!
ay-dee-ache-es-em-tenza ... nope still sucks... it's "the button" now ... I've decided!
Monday, December 17, 2007
News Sound Bites - high end audio, Telcos given immunity, art of audiobooks, more...
Hey lets get to it!
The Consumerist (through Slate) takes a look at high end audio systems. I think it's funny to do that as most people listen to some form of compressed audio. Even CD's (to an extent) are not full representations of the sounds we hear.
Wired's Threat Level kindly informs us that our government is getting ready to sell us out again, by offering amnesty to Telecoms that spy on us, without the involvements of the courts, on behalf of the American government. Yay! GOOOOOOO WARRANTLESS!!!!
I love reading Katherine Powers' audiobook reviews over at Book World and The Washington Post. This link is out to four more short reviews to check out.
Sound Designers, Puremagnetik has released their Technosphere toolbox. I'll let Sonicstate tell you about it:
If you're looking for even more Voice and Audio news. Check out The Voice Over Times, which I believe just went live today. I've already checked it out, and they've got some decent talent writing articles, and some very helpful content. That is, go check them out AFTER you've finished reading through my archives...
;-)
The Consumerist (through Slate) takes a look at high end audio systems. I think it's funny to do that as most people listen to some form of compressed audio. Even CD's (to an extent) are not full representations of the sounds we hear.
Wired's Threat Level kindly informs us that our government is getting ready to sell us out again, by offering amnesty to Telecoms that spy on us, without the involvements of the courts, on behalf of the American government. Yay! GOOOOOOO WARRANTLESS!!!!
I love reading Katherine Powers' audiobook reviews over at Book World and The Washington Post. This link is out to four more short reviews to check out.
Martin Jarvis makes this book a greater pleasure to listen to than to read, his extraordinary vocal characterizations transfusing it with life. Though one of his American accents is a mutinous mish-mash with a will of its own, its bearer is, fortunately, bumped off early on.Ahhhh Classic!
Sound Designers, Puremagnetik has released their Technosphere toolbox. I'll let Sonicstate tell you about it:
Puremagnetik has released Technosphere, a sound design toolbox of over 100 sonic textures and composer effects. Produced from a composite of live field recordings, studio instruments and intensive effect processing, Puremagnetik say that Technosphere brings a unique palette of soundscapes, transition effects and scoring tools to the Puremagnetik catalog.
If you're looking for even more Voice and Audio news. Check out The Voice Over Times, which I believe just went live today. I've already checked it out, and they've got some decent talent writing articles, and some very helpful content. That is, go check them out AFTER you've finished reading through my archives...
;-)
Thursday, December 13, 2007
How did I not catch this! Will Arnett the voice of K.I.T.T. ‽‽‽
Seriously people!How can you all let me miss this stuff???
I had to go to a CAR BLOG to hear about this‽‽‽
Anywho, Jalopnik has the scoop on the new voice of KITT for the resurrected Knight Rider series planned. Of course, because it's a car blog, they're more focused on the fact that the new KITT is a Ford Mustang and not a GM car (the original KITT of course a Firebird). I feel this is missing the point . It's WILL FRIGGIN ARNETT!!!
Seriously, this is really cool. Arnett is a very good voice over performer, and has done a ton of commercial work, not to mention credits in Ratatouille and Ice Age: The Meltdown.
That actually brings up an interesting issue. As Arnett is currently the voice of GMC... ...will there be any fallout over him voicing an autonomous, artificially intelligent, crime fighting Ford?
Read Jalopnik's Post and see pics of the new KITT.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
New Video Player for Some Audio Guy!
Hey all!
Just a quick heads up on a few small changes to the blog.
I finally had the opportunity to check out my readership, and you guys have been really good to me. My numbers have doubled again over the last two months, and you guys are reading me on every continent with internet access. I'm looking forward to even more come 2008, as I'll be adding features, podcasts, contests, and hopefully some guest writers so you don't have to "hear" my voice all the time. ;-)
The first of these changes happened last night. I got rid of the audio player at the bottom, and replaced it with a Youtube video crawler. It's set to troll Youtube for videos related to audio, voice acting, and sound design. It also preloads related videos, so you should be able to hit play and watch several videos in a row.
Also, over the next several days, I'll be messing around with the advertising on the site, hopefully getting it to blend in a little better. Ads are sort of a necessary evil these days, but I'm trying to make sure they don't distract too much. I'm also trying to make the ads more specific, so if you do happen to look at them, they'll be for products and services you guys actually care about. No more writing about Mackie mixers and getting ads for Bob Mackie Barbie dolls!
If you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to drop a comment or email me directly at:
SomeAudioGuy@gmail.com
Thanks, and have a great holiday season!
Just a quick heads up on a few small changes to the blog.
I finally had the opportunity to check out my readership, and you guys have been really good to me. My numbers have doubled again over the last two months, and you guys are reading me on every continent with internet access. I'm looking forward to even more come 2008, as I'll be adding features, podcasts, contests, and hopefully some guest writers so you don't have to "hear" my voice all the time. ;-)
The first of these changes happened last night. I got rid of the audio player at the bottom, and replaced it with a Youtube video crawler. It's set to troll Youtube for videos related to audio, voice acting, and sound design. It also preloads related videos, so you should be able to hit play and watch several videos in a row.
Also, over the next several days, I'll be messing around with the advertising on the site, hopefully getting it to blend in a little better. Ads are sort of a necessary evil these days, but I'm trying to make sure they don't distract too much. I'm also trying to make the ads more specific, so if you do happen to look at them, they'll be for products and services you guys actually care about. No more writing about Mackie mixers and getting ads for Bob Mackie Barbie dolls!
If you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to drop a comment or email me directly at:
SomeAudioGuy@gmail.com
Thanks, and have a great holiday season!
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