Jetpack for Learning deadline extended

Do you have a great idea for a Jetpack or Firefox extension to help support learning online? Would you like a chance to attend an intensive Jetpack design camp in Austin TX and stay over to attend SXSW Interactive? Then you have less than a week left to send in your submission for the Jetpack for Learning Design Challenge. To give you a little more time to prepare your submission, we’re extending the deadline for submissions to midnight (Pacific time) on Monday, November 30. If you’re in the US please relax and enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner before you send in your submission, and no matter where you live feel free to take time this weekend to polish it. ...

2009-11-25 · 1 min · Frank Hecker

Explore the skies in the Jetpack for Learning Design Challenge

It’s now less than three weeks until the November 27 submissions deadline for the Jetpack for Learning Design Challenge. To get folks excited about the challenge Richard Milewski has taken Sean Martell’s great Jetpack design and put together this awesome promotional video that takes the Jetpack for Learning concept into the third dimension of Second Life. Thanks, Richard! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxin2fDNnHg&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0]

2009-11-07 · 1 min · Frank Hecker

Announcing the Jetpack for Learning Design Challenge

We invite you to help turn the open Web into a rich learning environment and explore new possibilities for using Firefox add-ons to support learning online, by participating in the Jetpack for Learning Design Challenge sponsored by the Mozilla Foundation with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation as part of its digital media and learning initiative. We’re looking for designers, educators and software developers who want to turn their innovative ideas about learning online into working prototypes in the form of Firefox add-ons. We’ll help you refine your designs and teach you how to create Firefox add-ons using Jetpack and other Mozilla technologies. Participants creating the best prototpes will be invited to the Jetpack for Learning Design Camp and the SXSW Interactive conference in March 2010. ...

2009-10-26 · 3 min · Frank Hecker

Some kind of a party

A while back my copy of iTunes saw fit to present me (for the first time?) with a “party playlist.” I honestly can’t imagine any party that would have this as a playlist, but the bizarre randomness of it all intrigued me and prompted me to present the unexpurgated list to the world (with comments where appropriate and links to eMusic downloads where available): Eve Beglarian, “Far Off Country (Four),” performed by Maya Beiser, from Almost Human. I like this album but have a bit of aversion to spoken-word accompaniments to classical tracks, like those here. Neutral Milk Hotel, “Two-Headed Boy Part 2,” from In The Aeroplane Over The Sea. This album is legendary among people who know it, but I have to confess I feel more admiration for it than love. Mogwai, “I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead,” from The Hawk Is Howling. I’m a major Mogwai fan, but on first listen I thought this was relatively minor Mogwai. I’ll have to give it another try. Arvo Pärt, “Nunc dimittis,” performed by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, from Da pacem. I’ve been a big Pärt fan ever since picking up Litany (based on a recommendation in Wired, oddly enough). Tristania, “Angellore,” from Widow’s Weeds. An experiment on my part in venturing into the “melodic metal” arena; not bad, but I’m still not that interested in metal. M.I.A., “Fire, Fire,” from Arular. I was dining at Fatburger, which features a free jukebox with a net connection, when someone played “Paper Planes” from Kala. I decided to reciprocate by playing “Galang Galang” from this album. Eve Beglarian, “Far Off Country (One-Two),” performed by Maya Beiser, from Almost Human. iTunes put two tracks from this album onto the list; I have no idea why. Dumptruck, “Better Of You,” from For the Country (not on eMusic). In my opinion this is one of the best non-country country albums ever recorded, right up there with Meat Puppets II. The Fall. “An Older Lover etc,” from Palace of Swords Reversed (not on eMusic). I have lots of Fall albums; this is one of the better ones. Johann Johannsson, “Englabörn,” from Englabörn. I like Johannsson but don’t recall liking this album as much as IBM 1401: A User’s Manual. Amiina, “Saga,” from Kurr. Another Icelandic production, not in the league of Bjork or Sigur Rós, but well worth listening to. Team Dresch, “Hate the Christian Right!” from Personal Best (not on eMusic). The Butchies have their charms but are no substitute for this band. Supposedly Team Dresch have reformed and are (maybe?) recording a new album; I always worry about this sort of thing but am definitely looking forward to it if it ever happens. The Wedding Present, “I’m Not Always So Stupid,” from George Best Plus. I listened to this album only once; it was a bit too much of its time for me. Super Furry Animals, “Patience,” from Rings Around The World. Another album I listened to only once, and need to try again. “Bocuma,” Boards Of Canada, Music Has The Right To Children (not on eMusic). CollabNet didn’t really take off as a company, but I have to say that my co-workers there (who recommended this to me) had great taste in music.

2009-10-17 · 3 min · Frank Hecker

The story of “swindleeeee!!!”

This used to be a page on my Swindleeeee! blog about eMusic; I subsequently moved it over as a page on my main personal blog when I merged the contents of Swindleeeee! into that blog. As part of a cleanup of my main blog I’m now moving it to be a regular blog post, in order to preserve it for posterity. Ever since its founding eMusic has been repeatedly discovered by people who either don’t get the concept (“Hey, where’s Britney Spears?!”) and/or have severe difficulty using a computer and the Internet; these people also often seem to have a fuzzy grasp on such matters as grammar and spelling. And thus on August 11, 2003 (a date which will live in infamy), after experiencing problems with downloading music mrcat first uttered those immortal words, “E Music is SWindle.” ...

2009-10-11 · 3 min · Frank Hecker

Pakman speaks

This used to be a page on my Swindleeeee! blog about eMusic; I subsequently moved it over as a page on my main personal blog when I merged the contents of Swindleeeee! into that blog. As part of a cleanup of my main blog I’m now moving it to be a regular blog post, in order to preserve it for posterity. I found public comments from David Pakman (formerly CEO of eMusic) always interesting even when he was repeating his favorite mantras (e.g., about the futility of DRM, eMusic as number two to the iTunes Store, and so on). Since I often found myself quoting from them, I thought I’d provide links to various of Pakman’s interviews, speeches, and other public comments, both for my own use and as a public service. Now that Pakman has left eMusic I’ll continue to maintain this page as I have time, both as a sort of memorial to Pakman’s time at eMusic, and also because I suspect he’ll have more interesting things to say in future. ...

2009-10-11 · 5 min · Frank Hecker

Should eMusic add streaming?

In two previous posts about my current use of eMusic I discussed my musical jobs to be done and how I might now supplement eMusic with other services in order to optimize the use of my more limited number of eMusic downloads. One of the things I noted is my need to “audition” music prior to downloading it, which naturally leads to the question: Should eMusic create a streaming service to complement its current download offering? As I discuss below, I think it should, but only in a way that is consistent with eMusic’s current value proposition and business model. ...

2009-10-11 · 11 min · Frank Hecker

Now with Swindleeeee!!!!!

It was over six years ago that I first subscribed to the eMusic digital music service, and over three years since I started my blog Swindleeeee!!!!! to provide an outlet for my eMusic-related musings. My posting frequency (never that high) has in recent months fallen off drastically. I either don’t have anything I want to write about eMusic, or I don’t have time to write anything. Rather than have Swindleeeee!!!!! join the millions of other blogs that have dribbled off into nothingness, I’ve decided to give it a dignified exit. More specifically: ...

2009-10-10 · 2 min · Frank Hecker

Disruptive innovation in music

I’m contemplating ending my Swindleeeee!!!!! blog and moving all the old posts over to my regular blog, though that might not happen for a while. In the meantime I’ve started posting some things over at my other blog that might be of interest to anyone still reading this one. The latest one is a long post (over 7,000 words!) on the rather oddball idea of applying Clayton Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation to music. ...

2009-09-06 · 1 min · Frank Hecker

Is eMusic moving away from the health club model?

As all long-time eMusic watchers are aware, eMusic’s business model has always been based on the “health club” model, i.e., the assumption that a certain percentage of customers will pay for but not use the service. In eMusic’s case that corresponds to subscribers who download fewer tracks per month than they’re paying for. The result of these unused tracks or digital “breakage” (as Digital Audio Insider refers to the phenomenon) is that the per-track payout from eMusic to labels was somewhat higher than it would be otherwise. That in turn made distribution through eMusic somewhat more attractive to labels than the nominal per-track pricing might otherwise indicate. ...

2009-09-06 · 5 min · Frank Hecker