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Add one part satire to two parts sincerity. Sprinkle on a couple of rants. Stir liberally.
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Daily Blah FAQ
Who are you?
I'm the newly-appointed Future editor at Business 2.0 and the former San Francisco correspondent for Time Magazine.
Wow, so does this mean everything you write reflects Time Inc's opinion? Or do you perhaps have some sort of standard disclaimer to the effect that it doesn't?
Naturally, the opinions contained in this blog are not those of my employers. In fact, some opinions may be the polar opposite of my employers. Some may be the same, for all I know. Hey, it's not like I ask my employers their opinions about everything in the news, okay? Let's just say that if this were a Venn diagram with one circle marked "my opinions" and the other one marked "my employers' opinions", there would doubtless be some overlap. But neither I nor my employers are able to pinpoint exactly where that overlap is.
What is this Daily Blah thing?
An experiment for a column I wrote about blogging back in December 2001. All these years later, I haven't been able to kick the habit.
If it's called Daily Blah, how come you don't ... hey, wait, you're writing every day!
See? Told you I'd try harder.
Mister, you talk funny. Are you one of them furrners?
Why yes I am, as it happens. I was born, raised and educated in Great Britain. I've been living in the U.S. since 1996 and identify as British.
I say, old chap, you forgot the "u" in "colour."
No I didn't. I may identify as British, but I am also an American journalist writing for an American audience about mostly American issues. These two different sides of me are a constant source of tension. Nevertheless, Daily Blah will adhere to American English grammar and spelling.
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Daily Blah for... Monday, January 19, 2004
First Bite of the Apple
Here's my mostly glowing review of GarageBand. Although I loved it, this is a version 1.0 product, and I ran into some weird bugs. More news came from Apple on the one I hinted at in the story: the fact is you can drag digital music files that end with a .mp3 into the program, but it won't accept one that ends with .MP3. Yeah, you read that right; capital letters make all the difference. Apple was quite sheepish about this one. And rightly so. It's a stupid and worryingly PC-like bug. Of course, they promised to fix it in the first downloadable patch.
The Virtual Virtuoso
Apple's GarageBand puts a full-scale recording studio at your fingertips
By CHRIS TAYLOR
Monday, Jan. 26, 2004
Music, as any teen in a garage band will tell you, should be as simple to make as it is to listen to. That hasn't always been the case with musicmaking software though. Turning your computer into a recording studio with programs like Pro Tools and Cakewalk Plasma means splashing out hundreds of dollars and slogging through dense instruction manuals. There had to be an easier way. Now Apple has found it with GarageBand, part of its $49 suite of Mac-only iLife applications released last week. As the name suggests, GarageBand is aimed at amateurs. You don't need to read the manual to put together a pretty professional-sounding tune. You don't even need much talent.
At its simplest level, GarageBand lets you lay down loopsprerecorded short riffs by drums, bass, piano and so on. There are 1,000 loops to choose from on the basic software and 2,000 more on the $99 add-on, Jam Pack. Here's the clever bit: the loops are arranged not just by instrument but also under mood-based headings like "Relaxed," "Intense," "Cheerful" and so on. Click and drag your loops into the score, and they become interactive. You can stretch and splice them like lumps of Play-Doh. In just 10 minutes I found I could intuitively assemble a thumping dance ditty that would not disgrace most deejays' decks.
You can add your own musical stylings by plugging in a keyboard, microphone or guitar. Apple is selling a $99 keyboard that plugs directly into the computer via a USB connection, and a $149 amp for guitar, bass, microphone and keyboards with MIDI connections. There are 50 software instruments in GarageBand and an additional 100 in Jam Pack. You can make your guitar seem as if it's coming through a vintage '60s amp, or your keyboard sound like a surprisingly realistic steel guitar. Select a sound and you're ready to hit the Record button. And if you flub the recording, even with the built-in metronome? Not to worry. Hit the Fix Timing button and your so-so keyboard solo will sound a little more like Ben Folds. Just don't let your piano teacher catch you doing it.
Like any other brand-new software, GarageBand has its bugs. For one thing, you're supposed to be able to use digital music files from iTunes, theoretically making sampling a snap, but most of mine kept getting rejected. And GarageBand hogs a lot of computer memory. Still, these are quibbles compared with how easy it is to create a song with up to 64 layers of loops and tracks. Coolest of all: you can save that work of genius to your iPod. After all, your music should be as simple to listen to as it was to make.
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