Shawn Yeager

Guilty.

The following might be considered slight spoilers for Inception for who don’t want to know anything about the movie before they see it, so avert your eyes quickly.

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Read the rest of Sujay’s post on the technology behind the film.

Bluetooth Classic

Although it was produced for 30+ years and in quantities of millions, this handset is now a relic…

Technology has progressed and phones are now designed to facilitate ever increasing levels of functionality. As is often the case, with all that is gained, something is lost.

The next revision will employ an accelerometer to allow the user to answer a call by simply picking up the phone, further emulating the original experience.

(via missykelley)

If the IDEO design has the same heft of an original handset, I could absolutely see using one. There was something wonderful about how substantial they use to feel.

Music and Tech Recap — May 2010 Edition

Another insightful recap by Gabriel Nijmeh of this month’s developments in music and technology, including new launches and investments.

What does it mean to be a human?

Jay Parkinson:

I still value what humans have valued for thousands of years. The internet and modern culture won’t ever change my innate desire to be an old-fashioned human being. Our needs just aren’t that complex. We want happiness and authentic connections with people we care about and who care about us. We’ll always value spontaneity, serendipity, and stupidly fun conversations with strangers sitting next to us.

For those of us steeped in technology and constant change, remarks like this are a welcome reminder that the fundamentals of human happiness are largely immutable.

Niche apps and the iPad

Applications like forScore are what interest me most about the developing iPad ecosystem. Sure, mainstream iPhone applications will be enhanced to take advantage of the expanded screen real estate and additional features, but apps that simply weren’t possible before — this, to me, is where the device will truly shine.

Penguin and the iPad

mrgan:

Strong, no-nonsense language from Penguin’s CEO John Makinson:

The iPad represents the first real opportunity to create a paid distribution model that will be attractive to consumers.

We will be embedding audio, video and streaming in to everything we do.

The definition of the book itself is up for grabs.

Asked how he felt about Apple’s 30-percent cut:

This is better than the equivalent print agency model, in which publishers let retailers keep 50 percent.

10 Billion Songs Sold in Less Than Seven Years

iTunes Store launched in 2003, with 25 millions songs sold by year-end. By early 2006 the number was 1 billion. By mid-2008 the number was over 5 billion. 18 months later that number has now doubled. Astounding.

While I’m sure you guys will concoct plenty of things we haven’t even begun to imagine, the things we’re super-excited to see are any completely new ways to visualize your Dashboard content. Check out Tumblr on Boxee for some inspiration.

Developers: We want to build the most robust, unique, and useful API we can, and your feedback is essential. Please pass on your thoughts and requests once you get started!

The Tumblr Staff on their evolving API.

That, folks, is how it’s done; no waiting until it’s deemed bullet-proof to release. Put it out there, let those who are driven to do so kick the tires, then learn, improve, and do it all over again.

The Neo Gramophone: Audio as Sculptural Artwork

The Neo Gramophone is both a throwback and step forward in one, with a polygonal minimal-modernist speaker form which hearkens back to an era of scratchy vinyl audio while actually abandoning the former medium for an updated feature of streaming audio via Bluetooth, complete with hidden subwoofer inside it’s horn speaker housing.