This remix is just sic. It makes me happy, and glad that commercial music hasn’t gone to the dogs yet. Then again, how can you not love the creative marriage of Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett?!?

So most people I know should now see Google Buzz in their gmail sidebars. For some, it might not mean much, for others.. it might mean a little bit too much. It doesn’t really matter, because I hope I have an idea that perhaps could make Google Buzz matter.

The press tips Google’s latest product as sort of a social network involving your Google profiles. Valleywag sounds out that automatically adding various Google profiles could be a breach of privacy and Hutch Carpenter talks about ideas bringing people closer together. Do any of these things matter? Perhaps. If you’re still thinking that Buzz is exactly like Wave.

Buzz is a sorta of hybrid social network x lifestream. No in fact, it’s so much closer to Facebook, the only difference is that it automatically pulls your interactions on the web into the buzz-feed. Not that it’s important right now, we already have enough online maintenance of our other profiles.

This is important when you want to combine Google’s greatest strength, Search with your social network.

Am I saying that Google should make our searches public? Heavens! I hope not! But I think they could make SOME of our searches public, and share it with our Google Buzz friends, or those that we allow.

The Idea
Think about it, Google has gone as far as automatically making us follow people, and have people following us, pull our web activity into a stream. It shouldn’t be un-doable to have a “Crowdsource” button on the main search page, that makes that particular search public.

And what if you only want to share with colleagues? Well, Twitter has lists, it shouldn’t be a problem for Buzz to implement the same feature.

Getting things done faster
Admit it, we’re voyeurs, that’s why we’re on Facebook, Twitter or reading blogs. But that’s exactly why being able to check out someone else’s search history is mindblowing. I’m leveraging on that innate nosiness that will allow us to help our Google contacts in their searches, if they allow it (By hitting the would-be Crowdsource button).

With this, and the building of the Google social network, it will be so much easier and more effective to collaborate, especially when we’ll be “wasting time” on Google Buzz

Source: Apple

Aftter yesterday’s Apple Keynote, the news is out, and it’s official. The rumoured Apple Tablet, the iPad will stand in the gap of the iPhone and the Macbooks markets. Acting as Apple’s version of the netbook, but because they’re Apple, they turned it into something closer to a Kindle. On steroids. I’m excited, it’s got a 9″ form factor, retails from USD$499, 3G connectivity options and will ship worldwide by June 2010.

I will admit, when I was watching the Keynote and they revealed the iPad, I was rather underwhelmed. I mean, it looked like a glorified iPod Touch, twice the size of one in fact. That’s it? New way to surf the net, experience your media content, applications will be bigger and better, pay for more crap on the iTunes store.. bla bla bla.. What’s so special about it?

Then, they unveiled three things that sealed the deal for me.

1. The iBook application. It’s basically Kindle + Amazon. ’nuff said. iMerlion has noticed that Singaporeans may not get an iBook store in Singapore, and that would be a bummer if they don’t sort it out by the time it ships. But if it does happen, it changes the face of publishing. I still like books, but I wouldn’t mind a magazine subscription through the iPad.

2. iWork for the iPad. This is big, this is HUGE. At first, I was shocked that the iPad was going to try to battle the netbook market without OS X. Then this, an iWork application. It runs like a light version, it’s more than enough for presentations, it’s beautiful. And then it hit me, who needs fraken OS X when you’re not running heavy duty programmes, and little flecks of genius from the application community? In fact, bigger software companies will have to sit up and take notice, of developing some really great apps that will run on this entirely new device (but with the infrastructure of the iPhone.)

This is big big news. To me, iWorks represents what kind of computing power (courtesy of their signature A4 processor. If the chipmakers can’t deliver, you made your own damn hardware!) is in the iPad. It’s no longer a glorified iTouch, or a Kindle wannabe. It is an App MONSTER. So get ready, Apps will be wayyyyy bigger than you can ever imagine. As a musician, I want to see companies like Reason and Ableton acknowledge that the iPad has the potential to be a musical instrument / controller and actually create music sequencing applications, live video controllers.. the possibilities are really that endless! Things like the Lemur Sequencer or the Korg Kaoss Pad!

3. 3G Connectivity. I know that constant connectivity to the net will make the iPad a truly ubiquitous mobile device. Apple knows that too, and they know people hate the sole distribution of Apple products bundled with a telco service. So they’ve gone one step further. For all iPad 3Gs, the data plan is pre-paid and not locked into contract. This is mindblowing, and could change the way services are sold to the masses.

Steve is right, I cannot wait to get my hands on one of these! The cheapest iPad is USD$499 w/o 3G + 16GB Flash Memory and the most expensive is USD$829 w/ 3G + 64GB Flash Memory.

I’m hoping to get the latter because I know the applications are gonna be bigger and better, and being able to have a content delivery system that’s constantly updated from the source. That’s priceless.

To all the nay-sayers, that it’s not a netbook, or it’s just a Kindle, or it’s a glorified iTouch, in my humble opinion, you’re missing the point. Simply, the iPad is a mobile device that stays connected to the web. It is an electronic magazine (Would love to read Flyp Media on it, or create an app.), a netbook (that runs on apps created by the community), a presentation device (imagine doing a budgets presentation to your CTO in a coffeeshop and not a stuffy boardroom), a musical instrument (Drum sequencer.. etc) or a media controller (Video DJs anyone?). In fact, it can be whatever you want it to be, because you define what the iPad does for you.

I say this is a revolution, because there is no other product like it out there. Your netbooks are not touch based, so the very way you interact with it is defined by the keyboard and mouse. It’s a Kindle that does everything else, and with the iBooks and App Store, it redefines the way content is bought, delivered, subscribed, published. There has been no retail / media channel of its kind since.. ever! The new A4 chip sets the standard in making a mobile device. I think, this is the first true mobile device. It brings form -> functionality -> connectivity -> community altogether!

And lastly, to everyone who’s making maxipad jokes about the iPad, I’m calling mine Tabi. (like a tablet? geddit? Plus, the friend I’m naming this after probably likes the idea. So I have one more fan instead and ignoring all the haters.) So give yours a name, and save yourself from calling it by its horrible product namesake!

This session of How Things Work features John Maeda’s first two laws of simplicity:

Law Number Two: Organisation makes a system of many appear fewer

I’ve been playing bass for quite awhile, and over the years I’ve been getting into stompboxes. They’re little boxes of electronic magic that can transform your bass’s tone into something else, or totally destroy it. Anyway, I amassed quite a collection, and housed everything into one of these:

That was in 2008, when I was at the height of my stompbox collection. However, as time passed, I realised that I didn’t need such a complicated setup, and when you have less equipment, less things can go wrong too. That’s when I started to strip my rig down to its bare essentials. In the end, I found myself constantly playing with only three stompboxes, and still, I was carrying a large flightcase that had only three stompboxes.

It was because of this observation that I seriously considered making my own pedalboard, in an effort to simplify what I needed to bring for rehearsals and gigs, and to concentrate on playing bass itself.

Cost of project: Less than $20
Materials bought from: Art Friend, Bras Basah Complex, 132 Bain Street
Materials: A block of wood, Velcro, A pair of scissors

Step 1: Lay out your stompboxes, so you can decide how to place your velcro.

Step 2: Stick the velcro (furry side) to the piece of wood like so.

Step 3: Stick the other side of the velcro to your stompboxes. It helps to remove the stoppers from the stompboxes if there are any.

Step 4: Stick your stompboxes to your board.

Step 5: This is additional, but you might want to stick something on the underside of your board to prop it up.

That’s it!

The beautiful thing about this board, is that it fits perfectly into my 13″ Manhattan Portage Messenger Bag, and I can probably fit my macbook in there as well.

The next thing I have to do is probably decorate it. Any freelance illustrators / painters want to give me a hand? I can’t pay much, but maybe we could work something out? I also might have screwed myself because maybe I should have primed the wood first.

If you would like to feature artwork on my board that will be seen when I play live shows, please email me at litford[at]gmail[dot]com

Who: Mathilda D’Silva
Day: OMS Creative, Creative Director
Night: Singer . Musician

Mathilda is a friend from university, and one of those rare talents who has the voice of whiskey soaked dark chocolate in the vein of soul greats from the 70’s. Her joy for singing and performance stem from her great love for music and sharing it with those who are willing to stop and listen.

You might recognise her from the second season of Singapore Idol, but she’s so much more than what you see on television. I have had the pleasure of watching her perform live, and what enthralls you is the way she immerses her entire soul when she sings, as if it were just for you. We catch up for the following interview:

What is the relationship like between your daily professional pursuits, and your nightly artistic ones?
My day starts at 5am and I must admit I’m a stickler for punishment. This manic schedule started when I began my company OMS CREATIVE in 2008. Everyday is a mixed bag of shenannigans, I helm a radio show, I do voiceovers, I direct and produce corporate stuff and then head home, detox for 15 minutes, get my dress on and hair done and head out to sing.

There is an artistic synergy between all my activities, some of them spill from one into the other. Somedays when I’m doing an interview about semi-conductors I might see something in the parking lot that inspires me to paint. Sometimes being on stage and singing, I see people in the audience and that inspires a idea for an article. Even eating pancakes can inspire me to write a song. So everything sort of…informs each other.

I have warmed up slowly to the idea that as an artist, you must quite simply, make art everywhere you go. Its so strange that in our creative industry, we tend to bemanfucaturing tired, old ideas and we can be some of the most un-inspired people around…always moping about commercialism and its pitfalls. I mean I go to work to sing, to talk to 4 million singaporeans everyday, to play music, to inform, to create shows that just a few months ago, were scribbles on a piece of toilet paper.

How cool is that? I wear whatever I want, blast my music and spend my days as a wordsmith. How many people can say that they pursued their passions to the n-th degree? Most just sell out for a $15,000 handbag or a condo. That thought is what keeps me motivated to “keep on keeping on” even though sometimes I might not even be able to afford my handphone.

What is one love / craft you would like to pursue and be good at this year?
Any friend of Mathilda will tell you that she never wants to do “just one thing.” She sets unattainable goals and has all manner of ridiculous ideas that would tire a prize-winning Olympic skater.

You could say this year is about fulfilling the dreams of the last. I remember being that wistful creature, sitting in office till 10pm, wondering if I will ever travel, learn a new language or dance. Following my one day back-packing musical sabbatichal to Liverpool last year, I realised that somedays you just have to “get up and go.” And that’s what I did. That’s how I got to be on stage at The Cavern Club, singing at the very spot where The Beatles got their first break.

Its amazing where cockamaime ideas, luck and a splash of talent can take you.

I decided to take my artistic life into my hands and silence my inner critic.
This year is about the music actually. I want to start improving my song-writing, my musicianship on the piano and the drums. I have also decided to take up dancing and hopefully I will learn how to dance with a partner and not grind his feet into the parquet with my heels.

Note: This interview was actually supposed to appear in Happyesque alongside other creative individuals this coming Sunday, 31 Jan’10, but I decided to space some of the stories out. Be sure to check Happyesque out this Sunday!

Mathilda performs this Friday at the Esplanade Recital Studio on 29 January 2010.