Articles by Michael Anderson

Music Diary Quickie: Billy Franks – Euphoria

As I have said, one cool thing about doing Music Diary Reviews is the contacts with various music folks, from established artists to young upcoming players. But one item came in a round-about way through Judie the other day that simply screamed out for me to check it out. If that sounds ambiguous, it is intentional – we had no idea if it was going to be good or crap! Here is the message Judie got: Free Billy Franks (Your FourSquare Friend) Compilation Album Download As I am relatively new to FourSquare, I thought I would offer all my new…

News & Features

GD Quickie: Take a Moment to Remember the 25th Anniversary of the Challenger Disaster

Generally speaking, having ‘do you remember where you were when ___ ‘ moments tend to mark tragedies rather than triumphs. And that is certainly true today. I remember that I was completing a Master’s project and contemplating whether to head to work or become a permanent student and living in the fraternity house in January of 2006. We had moved the big TV to the living room in anticipation of the Super Bowl, and a bunch of us were huddled around to watch the Challenger launch. It was a light scene, quickly becoming confused and then quiet when it became…

Music Diary, News & Features

Music Diary Notes: Spotify Signs With Sony; the Economics of ‘Music Monetization’ and Their Likely US Move

I recently wrote about my hands-on time with music streaming service Spotify, and had previously written about the contract wrangling that has so far kept the service EU-only. Now we have some news that points to the possibility of a US launch sooner than later … and also some sobering reality about the financial aspects of streaming media in general. Spotify Edging Closer to US Launch On the ‘good news’ side, Spotify has just signed a deal with Sony to allow Spotify to work in the US. How big a deal is this? Well, all you have to do is…

Editorials, Game Diary

Sony Unveils New Handheld Called ‘NGP’, Brings PSOne Classics to Android, and Makes Promises I Bet They’ll Break

As expected, during a 1AM EST press event, Sony unveiled the next generation of its portable gaming systems, called the NGP, or PSP 2 for short. I have attached full press release, but let’s walk through some of the details: 5″ OLED 960 x 554 Screen – also multitouch capable Multi-touch rear panel Quad-core A9 Cortex processor Dual analog sticks Accelerometer, gyroscope, compass Normal array of speakers, microphone, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc Yet another new proprietary storage format Of course, having the love/hate relationship I do with Sony … I have some opinions. Largely this seems like the PSP 2 they…

Music Diary, Reviews

Music Diary Reviews: Haven’t I Heard You Before?

Welcome to another edition of Music Diary Reviews! In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been on a bit of a tear since the new year, converting all of those hours listening and taking notes into actual music reviews! 2010 was an interesting year for music, because while there were a number of very good releases, the sales numbers were awful and folks were talking about reissues that put the new releases to shame. And that is my focus this time – reissues. While I have stated that my reviews would be rank-ordered from now on, that is only partially true…

Music Diary

Music Diary Notes: Spotify Hands-On … Yeah, It IS That Good!

Last week I got an invite to Spotify, allowing me to join the service that so many across Europe are so excited about using. Of course, getting from ‘invite’ to ‘account’ required doing stuff that while not illegal, was nonetheless not something I would regularly choose to do. Basically I acquired a British ‘accent’ for a little bit in order to get my account created. My initial impression was completely positive. The desktop client installed quickly, launched instantly and quickly logged in my account and pulled in my local iTunes info. From there I was encouraged to search for stuff…

Game Diary, Reviews

GearGames Retrospective: Dungeon Lords (2005, RPG)

As I recently announced, I have started switching my Netbook Gamer series to a more broad-based look at games called ‘GearGames Retrospectives’. I have already done a couple before making the transition official, including the ongoing ’50 Games That Defined The Decade’ series and the look back at Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. But for now let’s start the series officially a little closer to home with a game that I have already written on rather prolifically: Dungeon Lords. You can read my review, my review of the Collector’s Edition (required to get the final patch), my original review, a lamentation,…

Music Diary

Music Diary Notes: “Save Your Soul, Turn Off Your Gadgets”

Keith Jarrett was a great pianist of some renown before ‘The Koln Concert‘. But with that 70 minute solo recording he created one of the great works of modem music … and he did it all on the spot, fully improvised as he sat at the piano. It is a thing of beauty, and while Jarrett still performs improvised solo concerts, he has gained fame for the demands he exacts on his audience. In fact, just last weekend he walked off stage during a performance at Carnegie Hall … and it certainly wasn’t the first time. The culprits? Coughing and…

Editorials, Game Diary

Android Market Is Only as ‘Open’ as Google Allows

Loads of people from Apple haters to Apple fans have expressed displeasure at the sometimes seemingly arbitrary way that the iTunes App Store will reject apps. And for good reason – it is one thing to disagree with written and universally applied rules, as those are for the App Store owner to develop and enforce. But when the rules are vague and randomly applied … then it is correct to complain. Which brings us to the Android Market. Last week the Android Market got the popular Flash ‘game arcade’ Kongregate, bought last year by GameStop: Kongregate has been a popular,…

Gear Bits

Borders Appears on ’10 Most Likely to Disappear in 2011′ List

Carly Z has written quite a bit about ailing Borders, including a recent look at why Barnes & Noble shouldn’t buy them. Turns out she was prophetic, as a DailyFinance article today listed them as one of the 10 most likely companies to disappear in 2011. Here are their thoughts: The large bookstore chain is almost gone already. The only question remaining is whether it will be dissolved or sold to a related retailer like Barnes & Noble. It appears Borders has little choice other than to go bankrupt, given its debt and cash-flow situation. Two ominous signs for the…

Editorials

Texting Women Falls into Fountain … Ashamed? Of Course Not – She’s Suing the Mall!

Last week when a video of a woman falling into a fountain at a Pennsylvania mall showed up everywhere, it was interesting … especially since I first noticed it on Windows Phone Thoughts where it was highlighted as ‘Windows Phone 7 Ad Comes True’. Microsoft, you might recall, has a new phone generation out (you are forgiven if you missed it, and the 40 people who bought them will probably not notice), and their commercials show people completely immersed in their phones to the point of missing out on real life. Fortunately, you can immediately see that the person wasn’t…

Music Diary, Reviews

Music Diary Reviews: Welcome to the New Disco Era!

Welcome to another edition of Music Diary Reviews! This time around I look at a pretty broad mix of pop, rock dance & rap music. The title is a bit provocative, but recalling my recent article looking at the state of rock music relative to pop in 2010, it is pretty clear that dance-centric techno-pop ruled the airwaves last year. Listening to stuff like Ke$ha and the Black Eyed Peas really does hearken me back to the disco era of the late 70’s. I wonder if this music will suffer the same backlash as the music of that era? I…

News & Features

Microsoft Released OneNote for iPhone, Free for Now!

When I heard that Microsoft was rumored to be working on OneNote for the iPhone I was intrigued but skeptical. I was skeptical because I have found most of the stuff Microsoft has released on iOS to be garbage, and with their own phone to support I had very low expectations. But since I use Hotmail, have data on SkyDrive with several of the Office Online apps, I was interested in how it would work. And then I saw on BGR that it was available … and for FREE, so it was time to check it out! Here are the…

News & Features

iDOS Back in the iTunes App Store With Important Changes

Remember iDOS from last October? It was a full DOS shell that even allowed you to load Windows and old games and programs you had lying around on 5.25″ floppies! Of course, due to that, it lasted mere hours on the iTunes App Store before getting pulled! Now it is back as version 2.01, with important differences. According to the developer: The biggest change from iDOS 1.0: iTunes file sharing is now turned off. That means you will not be able to install windows nor games from your old disc collection. However, it has quite a lot of new features…

Game Diary, Reviews

PC Game Review: Majesty 2: Kingmaker

Last week when I reviewed Majesty 2 I gave it a strong recommendation and pretty much fawned all over it. I was quite fond of the game when it was released in late 2009, but something happened since then. In order to play the Kingmaker expansion I had reinstalled Majesty 2 on my new laptop and needed to plow through the original again – and I found myself enjoying it more than ever! The mix of the joyfully light-hearted feel and intense challenge was very rewarding, and I couldn’t wait to see what Kingmaker had to offer. The Hype: What…

Music Diary

Music Diary Quickie: After 2 Months, 5 Million Songs, 1 Million Albums Sold

Way back in November, all of two months ago (I know, eons in internet time!) Apple promised a day that would change everything – or something like that. We all knew what was coming, and on November 16th The Beatles catalog arrived on iTunes. There were many who believed that it was too little, too late. The Beatles box set was already out for over a year on Amazon, and millions of copies of their 13 records had sold. Others thought their was a ‘pent up demand’ that would spring forth on release. Within a week reports let us know…

Game Diary, Reviews

PC Game Review: Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim

While I had heard of the original Majesty, I never played it back in 2001 when it was released and never caught up with it. So while fans of the game might have different thoughts based on comparisons with the original, I got to be amazed for the first time at this wonderful combination of city builder, RTS and RPG. Since then, there have been two expansions I have played and enjoyed and a third about to release as I write this. After those other expansions were released I went back through the whole game once more. And I have…

Editorials, Music Diary

2010 – The Year Music Went Pop and Rock Went Poof!

I had already started a post about the numbers showing just how badly live rock music did in 2010, and then analysts started tearing apart the top-selling music charts for the year and found some similar trends. I know, I know, rock is dead … long live rock! But given that the rock industry is very much powered by money, unlike the niche folk / jazz / classical markets which have gotten by on scant scraps for decades, these recent developments are a definite concern. In his article called Rock and Roll (1949-2011), Marc Myers says: According to an article…

News & Features

The Internet Needs to Get a Sense of Humor … LOL

All over the internet yesterday there were mentions of Kanye West tweeting the above in reaction to Britney Spears new single “Hold It Against Me” holding the #1 spot on the pop charts this week. OK … now most normal people, regardless of their opinion of Kanye West (I think he is arrogant, self-important, self-absorbed and with way too high an opinion of his skills) should recognize this as a joke based on his now infamous rude upstaging of Taylor Swift at some generic awards show I can’t recall. Yet all over the place folks are getting their knickers in…

News & Features

Extreme Fanboy (and Fangirl) Alert: Jedi Junkies Now on DVD!

I have written quite a bit about Star Wars, from games to movies to analysis of the prequels. And while I am a fan of the franchise, I would certainly not consider myself a fanboy. And certainly not an ‘extreme fanboy’. But I just got an email about the release of a DVD called ‘Jedi Junkies’, which chronicles some epic fans in their pursuits related to the film franchise. Here are some details: JEDI JUNKIES, the first documentary about extreme Star Wars fans, is now available on DVD effective TODAY, on Amazon. This fun, affectionate documentary profiles some of the…

News & Features

The Real Crime of Wikileaks? Double Spaces Between Sentences!

A few weeks ago I saw a discussion online in a forum about whether you should use one space or two after a period before starting a new sentence. Apparently some folks felt very strongly that one was correct and two was wrong, while others felt very strongly that two was correct and two was wrong, and still others felt very strongly that the other two groups were getting seriously worked up over nothing. But in that same thread today someone pointed out an article at Slate that takes the issue to a whole new level. Here’s a fellow (Julian…

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