April 25, 2008

Web Fun

Bored at home over the weekend? Check out a few of these sites:

Twine - labeled as a knowledge networking site, it is part of the semantic web movement to further integrate our life with technology... as if we need that...

Deezer - if you've been using Pandora or some other internet radio site, this is a fun one to try. Best feature I've found so far is the ability to create your own playlists and not being limited to the same songs over and over like Pandora tends to do.

Viewzi - difficult to say much here. You must register for the site and wait for your invitation to join (like Twine). I haven't been invited yet, so there isn't much to comment on. However, it is interesting to consider what an alternative to google might look and function like.

Vimeo - like YouTube, but better. More interesting content and higher quality videos. Some pretty eclectic stuff on here.

Last FM - another fun music site. My favorite part of the site is the "similar artists" section. It provides a long list of similar artists, but ranks them in order of how similar they are to what you were listening to.

cleanhotdry - if you like coffee, you'll like this site. It's a very new blog coming from Vancouver. Sounds like they have a vibrant coffee scene there and the writers seem very informed. Hope they update often.

Audio Visualization

I've recently become interested in the concept and creation of audio visualization. When we listen to music, it can stir emotions or memories that translate into images. In its most basic form, this resembles Windows Media Player and its various moving images to accompany your music. The video below is much like that. Points of inflection are shown by brigter lights or a larger image, while softer moments have softer images.

However, I think the concept can be expanded upon to produce something that resembles a hybrid of what's below and a more traditional music video.