Well, maybe not you, but definitely me. Microsoft, never to be outdone by Apple, is set to open a hoity-toity, sip-your-latte-with-your-pinky-up X-Box boutique on November 1 in Omotesando, which is exactly half way between work and my home in Tokyo. Two subway stops away from either end of my daily commute. More info at Kotaku. The X-Box was a complete bomb here, BTW.
I can’t wait to see how long it’ll take me and my video camera to get kicked out.
From BBC News, not Weekly World News. Start humming Louie Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World,” then begin reading.
There has been a small outbreak of “zombism” in a small town near the border of Laos in North-Eastern Cambodia.
The culprit was discovered to be mosquitoes native to that region carrying a new strain of Malaria which thus far has a 100 percent mortality rate and kills victims in fewer than 2 days.
After death, this parasite is able to restart the heart of its victim for up to two hours after the initial demise of the person where the individual behaves in extremely violent ways from what is believed to be a combination of brain damage and a chemical released into blood during “resurrection.”
And here’s the clincher. Doesn’t every horror movie start out this way?
Cambodian officials say that the outbreak has been contained and the public has no need to worry.
General Ary Serey had this to say, “We have obtained samples of this new parasite and plan to learn how it starts the heart and other major organs of the deceased. We intend to use this to increase the quality of life for all.”
Update: Arrrh! I’ve been punk’d by the BBC. That’s what I get for surfing the blogosphere at 6am and not paying attention to the date of the story (April 1.) Those bastards! Paybacks are hell…
Guess whose podcast just got added to the iTunes directory.
Finally podcasting gets the shot in the arm it needed to break into the mainstream.
Let me tell you, it’s not easy to type and do my Victory Dance at the same time. And no, I won’t videocast it because the dance must be done stark naked, except for the nipple tassles and special little bow tie. (Hey, my dance, my rules.)
I really screwed up the RSS feed today, but it’s fixed now. Sorry if your aggregator is showing a bazillion copies of each post. You might have to resubscribe or reload.
Here are the new RSS feeds:
Podcasts Only: http://feeds.feedburner.com/hfj_podcast
Videocasts Only: http://feeds.feedburner.com/hfj_videocast
And of course, the previous feed still works the way it always did. It carries audio, video and blog.
Oh dear. The poopcast is at the top of the podcast feed. We can’t have that, so it’s going bye-bye.
Update: Please let me know if they stop working again. Looks like I uncovered a bug in Feedburner.
When marketing trumps engineering on determining the release date of a product, Bad Things Happen. And when they decide to force users to install software they don’t want, users get mighty angry. Oh man, I’m having flashbacks about the enormous multinational hellhole I used to work for. (Actually, it wasn’t that bad. Just sometimes.)
Here are some links that’ll enable you to downgrade to iTunes 4.9 and run QT7 at the same time.
iTunes 5.0 problems? Download iTunes 4.9
iTunes 4.9 for Windows (The provied link in pcdoctor-guide.com says 4.9, but it’s really 4.7.)
Download the Standalone QuickTime Player (thanks, Centrax!)
Update: iTunes 4.9 can’t read some file or other that iTunes 5 writes. Have fun rebuilding your frikkin’ library…
I’m still busy as hell. Bossman is very serious about having a disaster recovery plan, and I agree so I’m not complaining. Meanwhile, I still have my regular workload to keep up with and my normal duty of fixing stuff in the office when it breaks. Waking hours=working hours these days. Things will get better soon.
I’d like to start featuring indy music from Japan. That’ll make it easier to put out shows since I can fill ’em up with content I don’t have to make myself. So far I’ve only played three bands, and you can’t buy their music online from overseas.
I want that to change. If I’m going to play music, ya’ll out there should be able to buy it and the money should go into the artists’ pockets.
Apple is accepting applications from indy artists so their music can be bought via iTunes. (Let’s hope the system works better than that for submitting podcasts. I’ve had absolutely no luck getting HFJ into the directory.) Problem is, the application form is in English only.
Ideally, I’d like 1) to help Japanese bands with the language barrier so they can get their music onto iTunes and 2) become an iTunes affiliate to make it worth my while. Knowing Apple, it’ll be a bitch to set up, so we’ll have to start any way we can.
First step: Is there an independent artist out there who’d like to fill out the iTunes application? Please let me do it for you. I’ll make a Flash tutorial as I fill it out, like I did to show how to subscribe podcasts in iTunes. I’ll make the tutorial available here in both English and Japanese, and also let anyone post them whevever they like. It would be nice if people who benefit from the tutorials would let me know so I can feature their music on my podcast and link to their music in the shownotes as an iTunes affiliate. But even if I can’t make any money, I’ll still make the tutorials and play their music with permission.
Sorry for the lack of updates. Busy busy busy.
Last week I did a podcast/videocast at the new Apple Store in Shibuya. Had I not forgotten my iRiver at the office over the weekend, I would have put it up. I have the rest of this week off, so it’ll be up soon.
Two new and cool things to show ya’ll:
YouTube.com allows you to upload and share video clips similar to how Flickr.com lets you share photos. I’ve been playing with it lately. It downgrades the quality of uploaded videos quite horribly, but for non-technical people on dialup accounts (i.e. parents and grandparents) it’s easy to use. The RSS feed isn’t iTunes compatible, but that hardly matters to Mom. All the videos I put there will be G-rated.
So yeah, I realize I’m all over the place. Like fungus. That’s how we spastic people with short attention spans work.
Good Lord, they couldn’t have picked an uglier font. Didn’t anyone at Apple bother to check what it would look like on a PC before going live? That looks like the font that was used in MS DOS. The characters are so enormous that 90% of the titles are cut off. You have to hover your cusor over every title and wait for the pop-up to appear to read it. The titles of Japanese podcasts look better in the US directory.
And it’s #1 fatal flaw? Herro Flom Japan still isn’t listed. No wonder this podcasting thing hasn’t really taken off yet.
Oh, and 90% of the songs cost 150 yen, the other 10% are 200 yen. That was expected, really. CDs here go for between US $25-30.
For those of you who like the Herro Flom Japan videos to the point where you don’t care if they tell a story or not, I’ve made a new RSS feed called The Herro Flom Japan Video Clip Chumbucket.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/hfj_videochum
Sometimes I put some effort into making a video, but when I get home I look at it and I don’t think it’s good enough to send out to 400 people, but at the same time it’s a shame to just throw it away. From now on, I’ll throw those videos into the chumbucket.
I’ll try to keep them free of f-bombs because I know they’re popular with the kids, but I won’t guarantee it. I’ll rate them in the description that shows up in iTunes.
What can you expect to see in these videos? Whatever. Just stuff.