With popularity comes pain. Well ok that was a bit dramatic. What I’m trying to say is as Wire to the Ear continually gains readership as my Google Analytics tells me it does so does comment spam. In fact comment spam here has become insanely high. Most days the site is under a constant attack and Akismet gets bogged down and holds thousands of these spam comments in a cue. This means if you left a message I probably won’t see it for 24 hours. Another “problem” is about 80% of the comments and discussion on these blog posts are happening on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. I’m considering switching to a third party commenting system such as Facebook Connect, Disqus or Livefyre. I have some issues with switching. First, I don’t want to use a system that keeps the Wire to the Ear comments and doesn’t allow them to flow back into the Wire to the Ear database. Years down the road the commenting system may go away so it would be nice if the comments could revert back. I like the idea of Facebook Comments but correct me if I am wrong… that would mean someone would have to have a Facebook account right? I know a few people who do not (like my brother). Livefyre seems nice because it grabs comments from other places and brings them back here. Finally, I dislike the design of most of these systems. Wire to the Ear is super clean and I like it. So what do you the readers think? Should I try a commenting system or just leave things the way they are? After all it’s your comments that make this site fun.
“For the first time ever, bring the conversation happening on Facebook and Twitter directly to your content, where it belongs. Make your site the hub of community activity.” – livefyre
For more info: Facebook Connect, Disqus, Livefyre
This entry was written by , posted on March 29, 2012 at 1:39 pm, filed under Uncategorized. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
My favorite pro-audio magazine Sound on Sound is now available on the iPad. As a print subscriber I wish they would give me a discount (or free) subscription. It will be tough to choose which way I go once my dead tree subscription is over. So far I haven’t enjoyed magazines on my iPad. Maybe the retina display and speed of the new iPad will change that. It’s definitely is nice to have on page audio clips available for a magazine like this. The timing of this release is also good because the FAA is also reviewing it’s policy on e-Readers on airplanes and traveling with a print issue and an iPad starts to get hefty. $4.99 per issue. $39.99 for 12 months.
“The iPad edition contains all the editorial content of the print magazine, enhanced with audio and other interactive media. This is a fully bespoke App, specifically developed to optimise the reading and viewing experience within the e-reader medium — not just PDFs of the print pages, so no scrolling required just to read a column of text!” – soundonsound.com
For more info: soundonsound.com/news?NewsID=14809
This entry was written by , posted on March 19, 2012 at 5:49 am, filed under Uncategorized and tagged iPad, magazine, Sound on Sound. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Today my heart aches and breaks. My beloved cat Zoe passed away this morning. Since the internet is run by cats and Zoe was my best friend I thought it appropriate I honor his sweetness here. The dark blue photo was a regular occurrence when there was a full moon. Zoe would end up on my chest around 3:00AM looking out the window purring. Goodbye Z!
“The domestic cat (Felis catus or Felis silvestris catus) is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal.” – Wikipedia
For more info: wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat
This entry was written by , posted on March 16, 2012 at 10:19 am, filed under Uncategorized and tagged cat, Zoe. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Every time Jeff Minter of Llamasoft releases an iOS game I post about here. I follow what he does like I did a teenager following Front 242. Forget this weeks Midway Classics release. If you want a better than arcade experience buy an iCase and download all Minter’s games. Gridrunner is one of his classics now repurposed for the iPad. It’s a very loud arcade LSD trip. Must have for those who know!
“Here’s another slick shooter from the developer who is rapidly gaining a reputation as the king of retro on iOS. Gridrunner was a much-loved and popular game on the Commodore Vic-20 and Commodore 64 back in 1982. Here the game is reimagined by its original author in the style of an early 1980s coin-op arcade machine. Of course this is a Minotaur Project game, so we ignore the limitations of such old hardware, borrowing just the style but presenting a slick, modern shooter that is a joy to play on iOS.” – minotaurproject.co.uk
For more info: minotaurproject.co.uk
This entry was written by , posted on February 24, 2012 at 7:33 am, filed under Uncategorized and tagged Gridrunner, Jeff Minter, Llamasoft. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
It’s Valentine’s Day so how appropriate is it to explain the greatest love song I ever wrote? I wrote this song for the obsessed, wanting, yearning. I wrote it for those who found fire in another persons eyes. I wrote it for those trapped in one place dying to be in another. I wrote it for us.
“Love sick dangerous blood falling from the sky. I want you everyone must die. Love sick unhappiness I scream into the night. I want you wrong or right. Love sick evilness on my way I lie. I want you everyone will cry. Love sick sickness people can’t understand. I want you I am a sick sick man. Love sick tenderness alone we dance. I want eternal romance.” – The Horrorist
Available: iTunes, Amazon and Beatport
This entry was written by , posted on February 14, 2012 at 7:59 am, filed under Uncategorized and tagged Joyless Pleasure, Love Sick, The Horrorist, Things to Come Records. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
I apologize if you posted a comment and it didn’t go through recently. As Wire to the Ear continues to grow the site is getting hit quite hard by spam. It almost all gets caught by Akismet and some other plug-ins however some of your own comments end up in there too. I’ve noticed a lot of larger blogs either turned off comments or use a third party system like Facebook connect or Disqus. For now I’m going to keep things as they are. I like the idea of having control on my own server. I should point out that most of the comments on each of these posts mostly takes place on my Facebook page with Twitter and Google+ trailing. Anywhere you create the discussion I enjoy it.
“The labeled ingredients in the classic variety of Spam are chopped pork shoulder meat, with ham meat added, salt, water, modified potato starch as a binder, and sodium nitrite as a preservative. Spam’s gelatinous glaze, or aspic, forms from the cooling of meat stock.” – Wikipedia
Here I am: Facebook, Twitter and Google+
This entry was written by , posted on January 31, 2012 at 7:52 pm, filed under Uncategorized and tagged Akismet, spam, WordPress. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
My friend Noah Benzing sent me the first video above of Dan Laskowski and his 1980s Commodore 64 audio software FastFingers. I think Dan himself is the interesting part of this video.
“How did I get into the future?” – Dan Laskowski
photo credit: Matrixsynth
This entry was written by , posted on January 24, 2012 at 2:36 pm, filed under Uncategorized and tagged Commodore 64, Dan Laskowski, FastFingers, Intellevision. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Minitaur Quick Demo from Moog Music on Vimeo.
Could it be a $600 100% analog Moog with MIDI based on the Taurus pedals will be announced at Namm? It seems so!
“The MINITAUR is a compact table-top monophonic MIDI-and-CV-controllable analog bass synthesizer module with a 100% analog audio signal path, based on the design of the Taurus 3 bass synthesizer.” – proaudiostar.com
For more info: moogmusic.com
via Matrixsynth
This entry was written by , posted on January 4, 2012 at 8:10 pm, filed under Uncategorized and tagged Minitaur, moog, NAMM, synthesizer. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
2011 was electric. 2012 will be electrifying! Happy New Year!!!
“There are a variety of popular beliefs about the year 2012. These beliefs range from the spiritually transformative to the apocalyptic, and center upon various interpretations of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar.” – Wikipedia
For more info: survivalguide2012.org
photo credit: Creativity103
This entry was written by , posted on December 31, 2011 at 11:32 am, filed under Uncategorized and tagged 2012, Happy New Year. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
There are numerous Fireplace apps for iOS to keep you warm. However for the modern hipster Ted Martens has created an 8-bit Fireplace for Mac or PC. Commands include: log, match, marshmallow, smore, eat hotdog, fireworks, photo, paper and water
“Type words to interact with the Fireplace or just sit back and enjoy. The logs burn down to ashes in about 30 minutes each.” – tedmartens.com
For more info: tedmartens.com/fireplace
photo credit: ted_martens
This entry was written by , posted on December 24, 2011 at 9:06 am, filed under Uncategorized and tagged 8-bit, Fireplace, Ted Martens. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
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