Razor Flower Media

Interactive Objects

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 08:37:00 +0000

What is Arduino?

Arduino is a tool for making computers that can sense and control more of the physical world than your desktop computer. It's an open-source physical computing platform based on a simple microcontroller board, and a development environment for writing software for the board.

Arduino can be used to develop interactive objects, taking inputs from a variety of switches or sensors, and controlling a variety of lights, motors, and other physical outputs. Arduino projects can be stand-alone, or they can be communicate with software running on your computer (e.g. Flash, Processing, MaxMSP.) The boards can be assembled by hand or purchased preassembled; the open-source IDE can be downloaded for free.

Reactable (Tangible Music Interface)

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 08:03:00 +0000

Reactable

About the instrument

The reactable is a collaborative electronic music instrument with a tabletop tangible multi-touch interface. Several musicians share the control of the instrument by moving and caressing objects on a luminous table, allowing them to create complex and dynamic sonic topologies in a kind of tangible modular synthesizer or graspable flow-controlled programming language.

The reactable hardware is based on a translucent, round multi-touch surface. A camera situated beneath the table, continuously analyzes the surface, tracking the player's finger tips and the nature, position and orientation of physical objects that are distributed on its surface. These objects represent the components of a classic modular synthesizer, the players interact by moving these objects, changing their distance, orientation and the relation to each other. These actions directly control the topological structure and parameters of the sound synthesizer. A projector, also from underneath the table, draws dynamic animations on its surface, providing a visual feedback of the state, the activity and the main characteristics of the sounds produced by the audio synthesizer.

TENORI-ON (Tangible Music Interface)

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 06:22:00 +0000

*	Push the start button and see it.

Introduction to the Sackner Archives

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 04:18:00 +0000

The Sackner Archive of Visual and Concrete Poetry

See the doucumentary: Concrete!

Also see their site: History

Ruth and Marvin Sackner founded the Archive in Miami Beach, Florida in 1979. Its initial mission was to establish a collection of books, critical texts, periodicals, ephemera, prints, drawings, collages, paintings, sculptures, objects, manuscripts, and correspondence dealing with precedent and contemporary, internationally produced, concrete and visual poetry. The antecedent material had at its starting point, Stephane Mallarme ’s poem, “Un Coup de Des” (Cosmopolis, 1897). The historic examples included works with concrete/visual poetic sensibilities from such twentieth century art movements as Italian Futurism, Russian and Eastern European Avant Garde, Dada, Surrealism, Bauhaus, De Stijl, Ultra, Tabu-Dada, Lettrisme, and Ultra-Lettrisme.

The initiators of the contemporary, international, concrete poetic movement included Oyvind Fahlstrom (1953), Eugen Gomringer (1953) and the Noigandres Group, i.e., Augusto De Campos, Haroldo De Campos, and Decio Pignatari (1955). The Sackners collected their works as well as those of subsequent poets and over the years expanded the scope of the Archive to include unique or small edition artist’s books that integrated text and image or consisted of experimental typography. They added examples of typewriter art and poetry, experimental calligraphy, correspondence art, stamp art, sound poetry, performance poetry, micrography, assembling periodicals, ‘zines,’ and graphic design as well as conventional poetry and prose written by concrete/visual poets and artists in the collection. Further, they collected experimental typographic, text and image works from such contemporary art movements as Fluxus, Transfuturism, and Inism. They included experimental fictional and non-fictional books with uniquely designed layouts such as Raymond Federman’s “Double or Nothing,” Alasdair Gray’s “1982 Janine,” B.E. Johnson’s “House Mother Normal: A Geriatric Comedy,” Avital Ronell's "The Telephone Book," and Mark Z. Danielewski’s “House of Leaves.” Pre-twentieth century examples of pattern poetry were added to the Archive such as Rabanus Maurus’ “Liber de Laudibus Sanctae Crucis” (1503) and Publili Optatiani Porfyrii’s “ Panegyricus Dictus Constantino Augusto ” (1595). The Sackners collected manuscripts, sketchbooks and letters written by poets and artists including Ian Hamilton Finlay, Bob Cobbing, Dom Sylvester Houedard Tom Phillips, William Jay Smith, Jean-Francois Bory, Jake Berry, and F.A. Nettelbeck among others. The Archive evolved into a word/image poetic and artistic resource rather than a restricted collection of concrete and visual poetry. In March 2005, the Sackner Archive moved from their house in Miami Beach to a two story rental apartment in Miami . The floor space of the two dwellings is comparable but the layouts very different. In the house, books were displayed in two large li braries. But with limited space to display books and much greater wall space in the apartment, artworks dominate the view.

Some Resons to Explore POD Options

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 05:04:00 +0000

There are many different reasons for utilizing Print On-Demand (POD) options so it really depends on what works for the situation at hand.

One useful strategy for emerging writers and artists is to use a POD service to create a prototype that could then be used to market an off-set edition by a publishing house.

Some of the POD options work well for a few reasons:

1) They let you have complete creative freedom.

2) They give you direct access to the means of production.

3) They manage the printing, shipping, and distribution of the book.

4) There are no "overruns" or inventory to maintain.

5) Most providers offer ISBN and UPC services.

6) Worldwide marketing is available through Amazon, Websites, and Listing Services.

7) You can reproduce the same content through multiple channels and different types of media.

I also checked out the "Visionary State" book by Chronicle Books in San Fransico and it looks like a nice production. Their website says that they produce 175 books a year in a few genres, including art books. They have some interesting books for a small press.

Here is a link that describes how to prepare a submission for their publication.

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??? iPod DJ mixer ???

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 07:59:00 +0000

WHAT IS THE NEXT PHASE OF EVOLUTION FOR DJ MIXERS??

"....Lets just have a one piece device that mimicks a dual set of transport controls and a mixer. give the mixer a few extra channels of input and an effects loop as well. Then have *each side* of the transport have 64MB-128MB-ish of RAM AND a file browser. Then add a USB Mass Storage port on it... then you could plug in whatever you wanted. an iPod shuffle. an iPod. a Zen Micro. a freaking flash card reader and some 16MB Smart Media cards you have laying around. a USB hard drive. it wouldn't matter. it would just be storage. the file browser is on both sides of the transports. load in songs per side... load in playlists per side. whatever.

the songs are then loaded from storage into the buffer. you could even do multiple songs per side similar to what some of the newer CD decks do. have looping. have pitch control. and with 128MB RAM per side... that's a 12min song uncompressed ... you wouldn't even be forced to use MP3 if you didn't feel like it. DRM'd tracks might pose a problem without neccessary licensing arrangements. but there are plenty of places you can get high-rate MP3s of dance music legit and DRM-free. or buy the CD. record from 12". etc etc etc."

And let's not forget the Lemur Audio Controller at JAZZMUTANT !!!

"The Lemur is a top of the range control surface for audio and media applications, that breaks from the prior art on several grounds. Its major innovation consists in its brilliant modular graphic interface concept and its exclusive multitouch sensor technology. The continiously growing palette of configurable graphic objects enables you to design made-to-measure interfaces by using the free available JazzEditor. This endows the Lemur with the unique and protocol independant capacity to adapt its behavior according to the application you are controlling: sequencers, modular synthesizers, virtual instruments, VJ software, 3D animation tools and light control."

Music industry offers deal to small Webcasters

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Thu, 31 May 2007 03:46:00 +0000

By Anne Broache

http://news.com.com/Music+industry+offers+deal+to+small+Webcasters/2100-1027_3-6185836.html

Story last modified Tue May 22 13:48:54 PDT 2007

Facing an outcry over imminent royalty fee increases for Internet radio operators, the music industry body that lobbied for the changes has attempted a peace offering.

SoundExchange, the nonprofit group that collects the fees on behalf of hundreds of major and independent record companies, said on Tuesday that it would give "small" Webcasters the option of paying "below market" royalty rates on the songs they play--that is, by keeping the required royalty rates essentially the same as they are under a 2002 law called T

"The net result of this proposal is that small Webcasters would be guaranteed no increase in royalty payments for 13 years, from 1998 to 2010," SoundExchange general counsel Michael Huppe said in a statement.

Webcasters that fall in the "small" category would be required to pay 10 percent of all gross revenue up to $250,000 and 12 percent for all gross revenue above that amount. Those rates would hold until 2010 and be retroactive to 2006, SoundExchange said.

It was not immediately clear what the revenue cutoff would be in determining which businesses qualify as small, and SoundExchange representatives did not immediately respond to requests for clarification.

Either way, a coalition called SaveNetRadio, which is composed of Webcasters, listeners and artists, said the idea of offering privileges to companies that keep their revenue below government-set caps would stunt the growth of smaller firms and gut the Internet radio industry. The group also argued that by broadcast radio standards, even the largest Webcasters, such as the Internet radio divisions of Yahoo and AOL, would be considered small broadcasters.

"Under government-set revenue caps, Webcasters will invest less, innovate less and promote less," SaveNetRadio spokesman Jake Ward said in a statement. "Under this proposal, Internet radio would become a lousy long-term business, unable to compete effectively against big broadcast and big satellite radio--artists, Webcasters and listeners be damned."

SaveNetRadio's members include Yahoo, RealNetworks, Live365, Pandora, SomaFM, the Small Webcasters Community Initiative and 5,800 artists.

Popular Net radio services like Pandora and Live365 would likely be considered "small businesses" because of their staff sizes, but it's unclear whether they would qualify for the offer, particularly if they continue to grow.

The move comes as Internet radio operators, ranging from small commercial Webcasters to National Public Radio to Clear Channel, have been battling a U.S. Copyright Royalty Board decision issued in March. The CRB has so far declined to revise its ruling to those groups' satisfaction, prompting some opponents to indicate plans to take their gripes to court.

The new rules, which are scheduled to kick in July 15, call for rate hikes of 0.08 cents per song per listener, retroactive to 2006, climbing by 30 percent each year until they reach 0.19 cents per song in 2010. All channels would have to make a minimum annual payment of $500.

Those increases may not sound like much, and SoundExchange maintains that the board's decision is a fair and reasonable way to ensure that artists are properly compensated. But opponents of the new rules say they would result in payment increases of 300 percent to 1,200 percent, which they argued could cripple smaller Webcasters.

Now on News.com

What does CBS want with Last.fm?

The Webcasters have also attracted allies on Capitol Hill. Members from both parties in both the House of Representatives and the Senate have introduced nearly identical bills that would align the rates required of Internet radio stations with those paid by satellite, cable, jukebox and other digital-radio services. The politicians have said they fear that leaving the CRB's decision as-is could stifle the growth of Internet radio services.

SoundExchange, for its part, said its offering came at the urging of a letter on Friday from Reps. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) and Howard Coble (R-N.C.), the leaders of a key House panel that deals with intellectual-property issues.

Berman, a veteran congressman whose district includes Hollywood, has established himself as an advocate for more stringent copyright laws over the years, most recently endorsing the creation of a new lobby alliance composed of groups like the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America.

SoundExchange executive director John Simson said he remained concerned that the small Webcasters that have protested the most loudly against the new royalty rates have not been complying even with the existing payment requirements.

"The artists and labels are acting in good faith today, giving small Webcasters a break," he said in a statement. "In return, they expect the integrity of their music and their copyrights to be respected."

Complying with copyright laws

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Thu, 24 May 2007 07:00:00 +0000

Excerpted from ShoutCast FAQ from WinAmp

Musical compositions and sound recordings are creative works that are protected by the copyright laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) and other countries. Under U.S. law, the owner of a copyright has the exclusive right to (and to authorize others to) reproduce the work, use parts of the work in a new creation, distribute the work in whole or in part, and to publicly display or perform the work (including on web pages and through webcasting). With few exceptions, it is illegal to reproduce, distribute or broadcast a sound recording without the permission of the copyright owner. It is your responsibility to comply with the copyright laws when you become a webcaster.
There have been recent amendments to the copyright law regarding webcasting of sound recordings. These new provisions allow webcasting under the terms of a statutory license, as a way to help webcasters get permission without having to go to each sound recording's owner. The statutory license, however, has strict requirements that you must follow. Some of these requirements include the payment of license fees, limitations on the number of songs from the same album or artist that may be played in a three hour period (called the sound recording performance complement); a prohibition on publishing advance playlists; and a requirement to identify the song, artist and album on the website. There are other requirements as well. The Recording Industry Association of America provides quite a bit of information on copyright law as it applies to webcasting, and both ASCAP and BMI have created license agreements that they are willing to grant to webcasters that they believe conform to the provisions of the new copyright rules for webcasting. For additional information on the statutory license and other aspects of webcasting, please visit the following sites:

The U.S. Copyright Office
The Recording Industry Association of America - particularly http://www.riaa.com/issues/music/webcasting.asp
ASCAP - particularly http://www.ascap.com/weblicense/webintro.html
BMI - particularly http://www.bmi.com/iama/webcaster/index.asp

If you are uncertain about what you can and cannot do, we suggest you check with the copyright owner or the owner's representatives (such as through the organizations above), or consult a lawyer.

Where There Is No Doctor

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Mon, 21 May 2007 07:50:00 +0000

Hesperian > Open Source Medical Text

About Hesperian

The Hesperian Foundation is a non-profit publisher of books and newsletters for community-based health care. Our first book, Where there is no doctor, is considered to be one of the most accessible and widely used community health books in the world.

Simply written and heavily illustrated, Hesperian books are designed so that people with little formal education can understand, apply and share health information. Developed collaboratively with health workers and community members from around the world, our books and newsletters address the underlying social, political, and economic causes of poor health and suggest ways groups can organize to improve health conditions in their communities. In addition, Hesperian relies on a multi-faceted distribution strategy to ensure our materials reach those who need them most.

Distribution Strategies

Our royalty free "open-copyright" policy encourages organizations to reproduce, translate and adapt our materials for distribution on a not-for-profit basis.
Our price structure allows people in developing countries to buy our books at roughly half of our already low commercial prices.
Our Gratis Fund distributes thousands of free books yearly to health workers who cannot afford even the heavily discounted prices.
Our Translations Fund gives small grants to help organizations translate Hesperian books and newsletters.
Our Creative Education Fund helps grassroots groups develop simple, yet creative educational materials and methods involving women's health.
We publish English and Spanish editions of all our books.

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LibriVox: free audiobooks

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Mon, 21 May 2007 07:40:00 +0000

LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Their goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books. They are a totally volunteer, open source, free content, public domain project.

Check Out The Technical Specs @ viovio.com

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Wed, 16 May 2007 07:34:00 +0000

Viovio Cover Specs:

Their softbound covers are full color, laminated 100# Ultra Gloss Cover Stock, Digital Color Silk - C2S, 90 bright and our hardbound covers are made with high quality .088" binder's board. They have plain white head and footbands and 80# stock endsheets in cream or white, depending on the color of the book's interior text stock. Our soft cover and casewrapped hardcover books offer spine text. Our 11x8.5 die-cut hard cover and our 11x14 wireo books do not offer spine text. Get full details on all the specification at the link below:

Full POD Specs
http://www.viovio.com/wiki/Book+Binding+Specifications

*About Viovio *

Founded in 2005, Viovio offers a creative and easy-to-use photo publishing service that allows users to upload photos or PDFs, create travel blogs, create photo books, and exchange information about their favorite places and memorable adventures. More than just a publishing site, Viovio is an online community designed for photographers (professional and novice), travel enthusiasts, and those who want to combine the two. Viovio’s goal is always to produce on-demand products of exceptional quality with record speed without ever compromising quality, customer service or price. The company offers 200 MB of free photo storage (a capacity that can be upgraded), and perfect bound sizes (8.5x11 and under) that use either interior matte paper 80# Digital color uncoated white, 96 bright, or 100# coated Gloss. All books are printed with a Xerox iG3.

www.viovio.com

RZF Media POD Lists

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Sat, 12 May 2007 08:11:00 +0000

Print On-Demand Book Publishing Resources

Viovio
http://www.viovio.com

Asuka Books
http://asukabook.com

Book Surge
http://www.booksurge.com

Winkflash
http://winkflash.com/books/

LuLu.com
http://www.lulu.com/

Blurb
http://www.blurb.com

Cafe Press
http://www.cafepress.com

International Children’s Digital Library
http://www.childrenslibrary.org/

Mimeo.com
http://www.mimeo.com

iUniverse
http://www.iuniverse.com/

xLibris
http://www2.xlibris.com

Wheatmark
http://www.wheatmark.com

Infinity Publishing
http://www.infinitypublishing.com

My Publisher
http://www.mypublisher.com

Kodak
http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoBookOverview.jsp?flash=detected

Author House
http://www.authorhouse.com

Archive and Support Links

Self-Publishing (Critique)
http://www.self-publishing.org/index.htm

Childrens Illustrators
http://www.childrensillustrators.com/content.cgi/index

Foner Books – The Business of Publishing
http://www.fonerbooks.com/index.htm

Self-Publishing Changes (Blog)
http://www.paulniederer.com/?cat=7

Muse and Inspiration

Stock Photography Exchange
http://www.sxc.hu/

The Open Library
http://www.openlibrary.org/

The Wayback Machine
http://www.bibalex.org/english/initiatives/internetarchive/web.htm

The Institute for the Future of the Book

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Sat, 05 May 2007 08:33:00 +0000

THE MISSION

The printed page is giving way to the networked screen. The Institute for the Future of the Book seeks to chronicle this shift, and impact its development in a positive direction. The Institute is a project of the Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California, and is based in Brooklyn, New York.

THE BOOK

For the past five hundred years, humans have used print — the book and its various page-based cousins — to move ideas across time and space. Radio, cinema and television emerged in the last century and now, with the advent of computers, we are combining media to forge new forms of expression. For now, we use the word "book" broadly, even metaphorically, to talk about what has come before — and what might come next.

THE WORK & THE NETWORK

One major consequence of the shift to digital is the addition of graphical, audio, and video elements to the written word. More profound, however, is the book's reinvention in a networked environment. Unlike the printed book, the networked book is not bound by time or space. It is an evolving entity within an ecology of readers, authors and texts. Unlike the printed book, the networked book is never finished: it is always a work in progress.

As such, the Institute is deeply concerned with the surrounding forces that will shape the network environment and the conditions of culture: network neutrality, copyright and privacy. We believe that a free, neutral network, a progressive intellectual property system, and robust safeguards for privacy are essential conditions for an enlightened digital age.

TOOLS

For discourse to thrive in the digital age, tools are needed that allow ordinary, non-technical people to assemble complex, elegant and durable electronic documents without having to master overly complicated applications or seek the help of programmers. The Institute is dedicated to building such tools. We also conduct experiments with existing tools and technologies, exploring their potential and testing their limits.

HUMANISM & TECHNOLOGY

Although we are excited about the potential of digital technologies and the internet to amplify human potential, we believe it is crucial to consider their social and political consequences, both today and in the long term.

NEW PRACTICES

Academic institutes arose in the age of print, which informed the structure and rhythm of their work. The Institute for the Future of the Book was born in the digital era, and so we seek to conduct our work in ways appropriate to the emerging modes of communication and rhythms of the networked world. Freed from the traditional print publishing cycles and hierarchies of authority, the Institute values theory and practice equally, conducting its activities as much as possible in the open and in real time.

« home | if:book blog »

The worlds first WWWeb Page! (1991)

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Fri, 04 May 2007 02:52:00 +0000

World Wide Web

The WorldWideWeb (W3) is a wide-area hypermedia information retrieval initiative aiming to give universal access to a large universe of documents.

Everything there is online about W3 is linked directly or indirectly to this document, including an executive summary of the project, Mailing lists , Policy , November's W3 news , Frequently Asked Questions .

What's out there?: Pointers to the world's online information, subjects , W3 servers, etc.
Help: on the browser you are using
Software Products: A list of W3 project components and their current state. (e.g. Line Mode ,X11 Viola , NeXTStep , Servers , Tools , Mail robot , Library )
Technical: Details of protocols, formats, program internals etc
Bibliography: Paper documentation on W3 and references.
People: A list of some people involved in the project.
History: A summary of the history of the project.
How can I help ?: If you would like to support the web..
Getting code: Getting the code by anonymous FTP , etc.

_________

hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html

"On 30 April 1993, CERN announced that the World Wide Web would be free to anyone."

Publishers with Less Than Ten Titles in Print

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 06:26:00 +0000

New from Ingram: Publisher Resources

www.ingrambook.com/new/publishers.asp

Publishers with Less Than Ten Titles in Print

If you are a self-published author or a small publisher, the following companies have established programs to fit your needs. All you have to do is choose the best match. Each company has an established relationship with Ingram, so your books are carried by one of the largest wholesalers in the world while your operations costs and other publishing risks are minimized.

Publishers Marketing Association (PMA)

Education starts Here. PMA is a trade organization with a mission to advance the professional interests of independent publishers by offering cooperative marketing, education and advocacy programs. Visit PMA at www.pma-online.org.

Ideal candidates for PMA are independent publishers and authors who wish to learn more and stay informed about our dynamic industry.

Lightning Source Inc.

Complete Digital Fulfillment. Lightning Source, a subsidiary of Ingram Industries Inc., offers a suite of digital fulfillment services to the book industry. Lightning offers one of the most comprehensive packages of print-on-demand and distribution services on the market today. Visit Lightning Source at www.lightningsource.com.

Ideal candidates for Lightning Source are publishers, large and small, in need of digital printing and distribution services worldwide.

Biblio Distribution

A Division of National Book Network. Biblio was formed in early 2001 to provide a new approach to effectively representing books published by small trade publishers by offering warehousing, distribution, sales, and other operation services. Visit Biblio at www.bibliodistribution.com.

Greenleaf Book Group LLC

Nationwide distribution plus comprehensive production and supply marketing
services. Greenleaf Book Group works exclusively with small and independent
publishers to provide a la carte services ranging from editing, interior
layout, and printing to nationwide distribution and marketing to bookstores
and libraries. Visit Greenleaf at www.greenleafbookgroup.com.

Ideal candidates for Greenleaf are small and self-publishers who are seeking
distribution alone or in addition to production services, offset printing,
or marketing.

Other Resources

You may also wish to review the following resource listings that we have compiled for authors and small presses. These are companies and organizations that provide services to help maximize general visibility and selling opportunities in the industry.

Distributors
Publishing Services
Marketing Agencies
Publisher Associations

New RZF Logo

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 05:49:00 +0000

Quality Graphic Design Resources

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 07:45:00 +0000

High-Culture Typography and Design:

www.veer.com

A Tasty Plethora of Free Icons.

www.iconbuffet.com

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Eclectic Flavors in Sound

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 08:12:00 +0000

Music Weblinks

http://the-cookshop.blogspot.com/
obscure, avant-garde, minimalist, experimental. gives nice introductions and synopsis.

http://eldiablotuntun.blogspot.com/
old world-worth checking regularly-daily. never know what gem collection will show up next.

http://time-has-told-me.blogspot.com/
another outstanding folk rock UK etc. lot of rare things. Link List here is very useful.

http://whitenoise2.blogspot.com/
hasn’t posted anything in a while but has a lot of great links, like: Different Waters...

Well, these are a few for a start. There are many many more.

Thanks John!

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Another One of my New Favorite Tools

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 14:02:00 +0000

BACKPACK

This is a great online research & productivity tool!

"It's perhaps the most convincing Web answer yet to the power, flexibility and simplicity of a spiral-bound notebook." -Khoi Vinh

Here are some details:

What is Backpack?

Backpack is a simple web-based service that allows you to make pages with to-do lists, notes, files, and images. Backpack also features a Calendar and Reminders that can be sent via email or to your cell phone at predefined times. Tagging pages makes it easy to group related pages together.

What can I do with it?

A ton. You can keep track of things to do and places to see on your next vacation, plan a home improvement project, organize a wedding, keep track of houses you're considering buying, gather information for a research project, and plenty more.

Private or sharable

One of the great things about Backpack is that you can share your pages with other people. Just click the "Sharing" link on any Backpack page, enter someone's email address, and then they can view the page too. It's a great, simple way to collaborate with friends and colleagues.

Backpack Calendar

The Backpack Calendar lets you keep your schedule online and accessible from any computer. Work, home, vacation — you can get to it from anywhere. You can even share calendars with other people using the iCalendar file format.

Plays well with email

Backpack is best friends with email. You can email to-do lists, notes, files, and images to a Backpack page. You can also have Backpack email you the content from a specific page.

Backpack to go

Backpack Reminders allow you to set up text message and email alerts that can be sent to your cell phone whenever you want. It's a great way to stay on-time even when you're away from your computer.

Try it for free

Sign up for a free account today. Upgrade, downgrade, or cancel at any time.

Are you a developer?

The Backpack API will allow you to build add-ons or hook into Backpack through your own programs.

Into Getting Things Done (GTD)?

If you follow David Allen's "Getting Things Done" system, you may find this article about Backpack and GTD useful.

One of my New Favorite Tools

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 05:50:00 +0000

For all the web denizens who love to archive and collect data references, links, and images, check out Google's new Notebook application for Firefox!

check this link:
NOTEBOOK

It's like having an HTML enabled clipboard that is archived and accessible via the internet!
This is great for research, preparing content for blogs, or compiling online resources.

Here are the details from Google:

> Clip and collect information as you browse the web.

Clip useful information.
You can add clippings of text, images and links from web pages to your Google Notebook without ever leaving your browser window.
Organize your notes.
You can create multiple notebooks, divide them into sections, and drag-and-drop your notes to stay organized.
Get access from anywhere.
You can access your Google Notebooks from any computer by using your Google Accounts login.
Publish your notebook.
You can share your Google Notebook with the world by making it public.

To learn more about Google Notebook, please visit our overview page.

The Aeon-Pharos Project

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 08:27:00 +0000

Razor Flower Productions has planted the seed for a new Interactive Media Service dedicated to uplifting both local and global culture. This is the Aeon-Pharos Project.

Touched by the tragedy at the burning of the Library of Alexandria, we envisioned the light from that fire radiating out, as if it were a ray from the lighthouse Pharos, the beacon at the port of Alexandria. This light, projects out through our time and into the future, encoding a message about the doorway to wisdom, power, health, and love. These are some of the key elements that sustain this light. It is also an invitation to discover ourselves & the world through media & technology, sourcing the Akashik Records.

What is good in human culture that it desires to be preserved?

This is the central question that will grow to become the Aeon-Pharos Project. Please feel free to contact us to give your input on this question. We are still developing our style and approach to encode future manifestations but you have just discovered the seed for further growth...

Welcome to our common future...

Discover your humanity in nature!
Returning to the ever-present now!
Manifest the change you wish to see!

* * *

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 09:53:00 +0000

from: http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/02/how_to_explain_.html

"How to Explain DRM to Your Dad"

"My friend John was trying to think of a way to explain the problem with digital rights management to his dad and friend of ours who don't see what's wrong with it. He compiled a list of examples of DRM-related problems to help people understand what the big deal is with DRM."

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"1. I want to watch an Egyptian movie for my Middle Eastern studies class. But it is region coded not to play on my DVD player, in an effort to stop piracy. Now I have to hack my DVD player and break the law to get it to play. The movie isn't released in the U.S. This is the only version that was ever published. Since it isn't published in the US, and it's for academic purposes, I can rip it make copies for my classmates. That's fair use. But since I have to break the DRM to copy it -- I've broken the law anyway.

"2. My mom bought a phone that was a "music player" from Verizon. The manufacturer (LG) created a great phone to play all sorts of music. Verizon crippled the phone to only play music bought from the Verizon music store. If I hack my mom's phone, that she bought legally, to play music that she legally owns because she bought it on CD, I could be breaking the law my modifying a DRM scheme.

"3. In the Comcast situation, the MPAA and RIAA are leaning so hard on ISPs that they are afraid of legal action. This fear is causing ISPs to do a coast benefit analysis and adopt policies that are halting the development of the Internet. They are turning peoples access off without good reason. I can't sue them because of all the fine print in the service agreement., and if I could it would probably have to be in Delaware. People are using bandwidth to distribute perfectly legal creative commons software. (In this case, Linux.) It's necessary for people to exchange files to develop that software. Comcast infrastructure probably relies heavily on this software. Yet they are blocking it's development because they don't bother filtering out illegal from suspicious. The ISP start blocking "suspicious behavior" and makes life difficult for people like me.... Granted, Comcast is the party at fault in this situation, but I cansend you 100 other links of similar stories. Comcast is terrified of the copyright holders, and the draconian laws that are being rammed through congress and being copied by other nations are insanely unfair to the consumer...

"4. Democracy has been nurtured by the open source community for a while now. It's a combination Video player / RSS reader / torrent downloader. The concept is: I release a weekly/daily video-cast from my server. the first 10 people download from my server -- then the next 1000 people "swarm" download it torrent style. This way, as I get popular, I'm not put out of commission by the cost of bandwidth from one location. It distributes the bandwidth load to the network, where it is easily absorbed. ISPs are trying to block torrents because the MPAA is leaning on them to stop copyright violation. But Democracy isn't about pirating movies- It's about eliminating the costs of distribution. If you can choose from 500 movies available for free via Creative Commons, why watch the blockbuster feature? They are hindering new tech in the name of copyright. It's insane. And all this stuff flies under the radar for the most part.

"5. Microsoft sells a Zune. The Zune shares music, but you can only play that shared music for 3 days because when it's shared, it's wrapped up in a DRM scheme. If I'm in a band, and I release my songs for free under creative commons, and you download it and put it on a Zune -- you are breaking that creative commons licenses. There is no way to tell the Zune "don't protect this one". I don't want to sue my fans for locking up the music in DRM, and I don't have the resources to sue Microsoft for breaking the CC license. But the RIAA can sue 10 year olds."

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"Can anyone think of other examples that could be used to inform someone about the problems with DRM?"

from: http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/02/how_to_explain_.html

!!! Welcome to Razor Flower !!!

noreply@blogger.com (RAZOR FLOWER) — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 09:40:00 +0000

The seed has been planted. Watch me grow...