Yikes. I finally got my Yamaha keyboard (PSR-270) attached to my MacBook so I can play and have Finale transcribe notes. I felt like I was back in WindowsLand.

First, you obviously need the cables. You can get some pretty cheap that go from the back of your keyboard to a USB input on your computer.

But, it turns out you also need a Yamaha driver. Yes, even for a Mac. You can get one here. To install it, just double click on the installation package.

Then you have to run Audio Midi Setup, a file you’ll find in your Utilities folder inside of Applications. (Or just use Quicksilver. Don’t tell me you’re not using Quicksilver! :) Even though it’s got big, attractive icons, it’s a pile of gobbledygook. You should see your keyboard in iconic form and should be able to drag the out arrow to the in arrow of the appropriate awaiting icon, drawing a visible line between the two, but, frankly, I don’t understand the whole thing.

I just know that it eventually worked. [Tags: midi tech_help yamaha ]

1 Comment »

AllVoices is a new site that lets anyone upload an “event,” which in other circumstances might be called a “news story.” The site enables the clustering of bloggage and msm coverage of the event in what looks like a useful way.

I like a lot about it. I just hope it doesn’t become the preserve of yet another homogeneous group, which is exactly what the site doesn’t want to happen.

(It could use tags. [LATER that day: A helpful person from AllVoices tells me that there are tags for user-contributed items but not for ones that the system susses out.] And, at the moment the registration process is broken.)

Tags: allvoices global_voices media news social_tools everything_is_miscellaneous

Be the first to comment »

An ad for Macy’s today in the Boston Globe touted as part of Pride Week an appearance by a lesbian couple who had competed on “Top Chef.” Wow, I thought, it’s great that Macy’s is supporting Gay Pride Week, but it’s too bad they were too gutless to mention the word “gay.”

But, upon checking the url the ad gave, I found that the sponsoring organization, Boston Pride, also just refers to it as “Pride Week.” You have to check the About page to find out that it’s about gay pride.

Sort of ironic to be proud of something you seem ashamed to talk about.

9 Comments »

Tilestack (in beta) runs Hypercard stacks and lets you create new ones.

I happened to have been at Apple’s press launch of Hypercard lo these many years ago, and built a couple of stacks, including one to introduce Interleaf’s gigantic (at the time) text-and-graphics system. Hypercard was a miracle of generativity: Drag and drop, link things up, learn how inheritance works, and, boom, you’ve got a clickable, words and pictures organism. Is there anything more exciting than discovering a new power to create?

(The Internet is Hypercard times gazillion. It’d be nice to keep it that way.)

1 Comment »

A new magazine, WE, is kicking off its live chat series with a discussion with, well, me on Sunday, June 15, 5-6pm German time (= 11am to noon EDT, I believe), live from Hamburg. Ulrike Reinhart, Steffen Bueffel, and Soeren Stamer will lead the discussion. You can see it here.

Note: I arrive in Germany mid-morning that Sunday, so this will be a good opportunity to see my inner crankiness break through.

[Tags: podcasts vidcasts we_magazine everything_is_miscellaneous ]

2 Comments »

Alex Leavitt recorded the DRM zuneral on May 25, at which our old friend, Digital R. Management, the progeny of CD Keys and Read Only Floppies, was given a burial at sea.

[Tags: drm digital_rights roflcon zuneral ]

1 Comment »

Berkman‘s Publius project keeps rolling along. There’s already lots of excellent stuff there, exploring how the Net is constituting its own governance mechanisms and norms. For example, today Peter Suber and Melissa Hagemann discuss open access, science, research, and education. But you can just browse through the topics and be pretty sure you’ll hit on something well worth reading.

[Tags: berkman publius governance ]

1 Comment »

Flyp’s new issue is another example of how mainstream media production values can find a more interesting home on the Web. And in terms of raw content goodness, take a look at the bursting balloon high-speed imagery in the “Maximum Definition” article. [Tags: media flyp multimedia balloons ]

Be the first to comment »

Tanya Schmoller, whose collection of 19th century job titles I blogged about a couple of days ago, pointed me to the beautiful Schmoller collection of decorated papers. Decorated Web pages just don’t measure up.

[Tags: tanya_schmoller books libraries ]

Be the first to comment »

Barack Obama has promised to tear down the stone wall and dense bushes with which the current administration has barricaded the White House. Good. Democracy without transparency is at best assumed.

And, Obama has promised to take advantage of our new connective technology — the Internets and all its associated tubeware — to enable a level of citizen participation undreamed of since our population outgrew the local town hall.

So, how about if the campaign starts now by opening up the vice presidential selection process?

Instead of having potential VPs enter through the back door of some undisclosed location, how about if we get to see some of the discussions? Certainly some conversations need to be held in private, but the traditional black box method leads to the impression that it’s all back backroom deals and ulterior motives.

And how about letting us have our say? An online poll would give the false impression that this is up for popular vote. But the VP selection committee should at the least set up a discussion board where we can engage with one another and with the committee.

Why wait? Let the sun shine in now.

[Tags: politics obama vice_president transparency ]

14 Comments »