Nice weather makes me feel better. And listen to songs like this:
Author: Stefan Meeuws
Here’s my weather of a killing kind
This June sees the release of the eagerly awaited (by me at least) album of the Tallest Man On Earth. The one time I saw him live easily takes the top spot in my fictional best solo gigs ever chart. Here’s a song he recorded for the Adult Swim Singles Program 2011. And if after watching this, you don’t know what I mean by ‘eagerly awaited’. Well… Then I guess true beauty is lost on you.
I’ll be living alone where the ice snap and the hold clast are known…
Something for the weekend. Amazing and beautiful. In many ways.
TNW: We Need Smarter Push Notifications
I wrote a new blog for TheNextWeb. Click on the image to read it. Or don’t.
Push notifications are one of the key features of today’s smartphones. They constantly feed you information from a variety of services. From Twitter mentions to Facebook replies to e-mails to system notifications: they’re the daily dose for information addicts. And now they’re coming to the land of PC with Windows 8 and OS X Mountain Lion– which is a little worrying. While they’re designed to keep you updated and thus increase your productivity, they’re flurrying nature often does the opposite.
My eye is my sanctuary
This song by Susanne Sundfør takes some plays before it hits you in the face and haunts you for the rest of the day. But believe me, it’s worth it. Can’t wait for the album. Out 26 March 2012.
The joy of books
Beautiful.
Two Dragons
I can’t choose what song to post. First one has the most awesome bass riff. Second one is very catchy. Great folk pop rock from… Estonia? Two dragons of songs in the year of the dragon… From Ewert and the Two Dragons.
Blogging, again
Since 2012 I’ve started blogging again for TheNextWeb. My pieces will mostly be about social media and related topics. I do not claim I am a social media guru, but my favourite type of articles are blogs where I can either a) analyse a strategy or b) comment on how recent developments are going to influence the not-so-distant future on the Interwebs. When I do the latter, people often claim I’m wrong, but the beauty is the freedom of the Internet allows for many scenarios to be possible. I could try to be objective and say “this might happen or this might happen”, but well… That’s not going to make a good read right? So I’d rather investigate one (very) likely scenario and see how that might influence the Internet as we know it.
If that’s something you like, keep an eye on my archive here. There should be something new every week.
Today I checked Google Plus
Today I checked Google Plus. It hasn’t become my go-to social network yet. Facebook has more people I know, Twitter is more fun. I have no need foor Google Plus right now.
I wonder, whether this time next year, it will be one year since I last checked Google Plus.
Why you should try Soundrop on Spotify
Spotify Apps have only been available for less than a month, but I already have a favourite app: Soundrop. Although I am a big fan of the Last.fm app and the improved Spotify Radio (having already discovered several new artists through there – although some tracks pop up there a lot for some reason), I am spending most of Spotify listening habit on Soundrop. Because I’ve been waiting for Soundrop for over a year.
At my previous job we at some point started making “radio” on Spotify. I’d create a collaborative playlist and everyone in the office would subscribe. Then, we’d all add songs we like (or we thought were annoying, to annoy the others) and listen. Because you couldn’t vote for tracks or delete them (well you could delete them but it was against my rules), all tracks would get played. It was a bit like a radio station of your combined music taste.
Soundrop is a bit like that: you have a virtual room that you can join. Then, everyone is allowed to add tracks and you listen to it all. The only difference is that Soundrop DOES have a voting system. Thus, people have to decide whether they think the track you added is good before it actually gets played. Your track may end up in the bottom of the playlist with one vote. But if other people like your suggestion, they’ll vote for it and soon, your track will pop up. You can start your own room but you can also join a room with a certain theme (like Indie Wok).
The addictive part of this is – for me at least – that you have to listen to tracks you normally wouldn’t listen to. As I write this, I’m listening to Say Hi To Your Mom with Blah Blah Blah. Say Hi To Your Mom is one of those bands that I’ve heard of, but never listened to. Now, because other people vote for them, you HAVE listen to them (unless you leave Soundrop) and you might realise that you are missing out. Can you remember those times when you heard a new song on the radio and you fell in love with it? Yea, me neither, but it’s like that. And every now and then a song pops up that you love.
So that’s why you should try Soundrop. Because it broadens your musical horizon, peppered with tracks you already love. And it’s free as long as you have Spotify.
Which you have, right?
Right?