Nine Inch Nails - Free At Last

After numerous complaints about his record label’s practices, Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails has been released of its contract. Recently Trent Reznor was quoted in the press as being quite angry that the new NIN album was being sold at a higher rate in Australia because statistics showed a lot of fan-base who would be willing to pay more for music. Incidentally, Trent was pissed.

Now he’s free.

(via NIN.com)

hello everyone. i’ve waited a long time to be able to make the following announcement: as of right now nine inch nails is a totally free agent, free of any recording contract with any label. i have been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very different and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a direct relationship with the audience as i see fit and appropriate. look for some announcements in the near future regarding 2008. exciting times, indeed.

exciting times, indeed - I couldn’t agree more! What with this and Radiohead’s unique “pay-what-you-want” album… these are signs of the times to come with the music industry.

(via Gizmodo)

If two of the biggest acts in the industry can see the digital writing on the wall and totally embrace it—that the old way of doing business is broken—why can’t the labels? What Radiohead and NIN are showing is that the business model “of the future” feared by entrenched interests isn’t arriving some time in the horizon. It’s touching down now.

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Squirrels Love Cheetos

Living proof. Who can blame them?

Photo taken at Busch Gardens in Florida.

George Lucas talks Indy / Star Wars TV

Check out TV Guide’s 2-part interview with George Lucas on many of his upcoming ventures. Part 1 covers his thoughts on Sean Connery missing in action in the new Indiana Jones film and his appearance in a documentary based on big name directors from the San Francisco area while Part 2 covers both of the upcoming Star Wars television debuts (live-action and the 3D cartoon - The Clone Wars) and his thoughts on the evolving television industry.

Here’s an interesting clip from Part 2 about how Lucas plans to roll out the live-action Star Wars series.

TV Guide: And how are you going to produce this one? Are you going to film a certain number? Are you going to have a deal with a network before you go ahead with filming?
Lucas: No, we’ll do it just the same way that we’re doing the animated series, which is we usually write a whole year first, and then we’ll start shooting, and then we’ll shoot the whole year and then once we’ve got [something to show], we’ll see where we can put it. We’re going to do a hundred of them, too. [It should be] easier [to place] than the animated one because it’s live-action.

TV Guide: So you’ll film before you get a commitment? Or how will that work?
Lucas: Well, we’re doing these before we get a commitment, so we’re just doing them on the faith that we’re going to [sell them]. I mean, we’re doing them ourselves, so we can finance them, we don’t need to have a commitment of any kind. We’re simply going to sell them.

TV Guide: Will you be looking for a network like an HBO to say, “We’ll take all hundred”?
Lucas: Yeah, but they probably won’t do that. [Laughs] Somebody might, but usually what they’ll do is they’ll take 13 or 26 and then see what happens and they’ll take the next group.... If that group doesn’t work, then we’ll move to another place. Lucasfilm is basically acting as the production company.

TV Guide: Yeah, but usually a network will commission a single pilot off a script or pick.... Well, you know the process.
Lucas: Right — but I have enough confidence that this is good, and I’ll make it really good, so I’m not too worried about that part of it. And if worse comes to worse, I’ll end up with a lot of library product. [Laughs]

I can’t wait!

Say Hello To My New Wife

She’s a hottie!

Old News Is No News

AppleInsider spoke a tad too soon on a response to the iPhone price fiasco based on another Steve Jobs interview prior to his Open Letter (i. e. Blog) to all iPhone owners.

No biggie… Just thought the contradicting headlines were humorous.

Apple Pissed Me Off, Then Gave Me $100

I had almost finished typing up a rant about losing $200 of my barely 2 month old iPhone investment (after Apple announced a $200 decrease in price at yesterday’s event) when I see a nice letter from Steve Jobs assuring me that Apple is still my friend.

To all iPhone customers:

I have received hundreds of emails from iPhone customers who are upset about Apple dropping the price of iPhone by $200 two months after it went on sale. After reading every one of these emails, I have some observations and conclusions.

First, I am sure that we are making the correct decision to lower the price of the 8GB iPhone from $599 to $399, and that now is the right time to do it. iPhone is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to ‘go for it’ this holiday season. iPhone is so far ahead of the competition, and now it will be affordable by even more customers. It benefits both Apple and every iPhone user to get as many new customers as possible in the iPhone ‘tent’. We strongly believe the $399 price will help us do just that this holiday season.

Second, being in technology for 30+ years I can attest to the fact that the technology road is bumpy. There is always change and improvement, and there is always someone who bought a product before a particular cutoff date and misses the new price or the new operating system or the new whatever. This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you’ll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon. The good news is that if you buy products from companies that support them well, like Apple tries to do, you will receive years of useful and satisfying service from them even as newer models are introduced.

Third, even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone, and even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price. Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.

Therefore, we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. Details are still being worked out and will be posted on Apple’s website next week. Stay tuned.

We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers. We apologize for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Apple.

Steve Jobs
Apple CEO

Thanks, Steve.

September 5.

I’m really showing off my Apple Love lately, but I cant help it. Apple continues to win me over with every new product announcement. Tomorrow they will reveal their latest with a special event subtexted ”And The Beat Goes On...” Here are my (completely uninformed) predictions so that if I’m right I can have some minor bragging rights.

Touch iPod

Every is claiming this and I think its time that we finally get a widescreen iPod and the touch screen ala iPhone is the natural control scheme for it. This is going to be the big announcement of tomorrow and should give a nice little jump to Apple stock (AAPL).

Feature Guesses:

• Wi-Fi with mobile iTunes Music Store access for on the fly music purchases and downloads
• Internet Radio and/or streaming music from desktop iTunes available over WiFi
• However, no MobileSafari or other internet uses (no GoogleMaps, no YouTube, etc)
• PIM (Personal Information Management) Software Suite — iCal, Address Book, Notes. Works pretty much like iPhone
• 80gb & 120gb options, full hard-drive (not flash-based) which likely means a slightly thicker form-factor than the iPhone
• Beatles iTunes announcement (finally) but no one really cares… (Why now? The final press release from The Beatles ended with “When the spinning stops—that’ll be the time to worry, not before. Until then, the Beatles are alive and well and the beat goes on, the beat goes on”
• New availability of an iPod pre-loaded wth entire Beatles catalog (the Yellow Submarine)

iPod Nano “Fatty”

There have been a ton of photos of the new iPod Nano that have surfaced on Engadget and such that shows a new shorter iPod Nano. Though it is technically smaller (it looks as though 1/3 of the height has been removed) it just looks “fat” to me. If these photos are accurate (which a lot seems to suggest they are) then this should be the only remaining iPod with a click wheel.

Feature Guesses:

• Complete change to the UI, much more visually appealling
• CoverFlow
• Now supports video
• Full iPod Game support

iPhone

The iPhone is just barely over 2 months old and you can bet Steve Jobs’ has quite a few tricks up his sleeve to unveil for this guy. The release of Leopard (Apple’s new Operating System, to be released Oct/Nov ‘07) will bring some of the big updates to the iPhone but I still think a couple things will be announced here.

Feature Guesses:

• Ringtones available for all iTMS purchased (i.e. DRMed) songs
• Games. Not the same iPod games but seperate games designed specifically for the iPhone’s touch interface
• If WiFi and mobile iTMS happens on the iPod, it should also appear on iPhone. If not, it won’t
• Apple’s first brand new native iPhone app… perhaps iChat?

One More Thing...

I believe this event will have an infamous “one more thing” announcement. What this will be I’m not entirely sure but believe it will be game-changing.

Apple announces their own record label and promoted with several prominent artists - John Mayer, Jay-Z & Beyonce?

Apple announces their own movie studio in association with J.J. Abrams and will begin releasing episodes of a new show available only on iTunes?

Apple announces…

Oh who am I kidding… I have no clue, we’ll find out tomorrow!

Ten Industrial Design Trends You Can’t Ignore

Forbes posts it’s Ten Industrial Design Trends You Can’t Ignore.  Kind of a weird “list” as it’s actually not a list but a series of photos outlining the trends with captions.

I find the Focus On The Other 90% item pretty interesting, as a focus shifts from the more flashy/cool/trendy designs commonly seen in the U.S. to the undeveloped 90% of the world such as Africa. Back to the roots of design, simple function for the betterment of life.

And of course, a trend highlighting the iPhone…

Simplexity
Steve McCallion, executive creative director of Portland, Ore.-based industrial design firm Ziba Design, says there’s a trend toward “simplexity,” products that have many functions but are approachable, ergonomically correct and easy to use--like Apple’s iPhone. The baby boomers have also propelled simplexity; as the generation ages, the need for easy-to-use, at-home medical equipment becomes greater. Ami Verhalen, director of industrial design at Madison, Wis.-based Design Concepts, says that in-home health care will be a huge driver for product innovation in the upcoming decade.

On a side note, the Forbes.com “In Pictures” photo browser leaves a lot to be desired.

NBC = Dumb

So today it was revealed the NBC has declined to renew it’s contract with Apple for 2008. This means you will no longer have the convenience of purchasing new Heroes or The Office episodes on iTunes this coming season at the stock price of $1.99 per episode. The crying starts… now.

The reason for the change? According to Apple NBC wanted to raise the price to $4.99 per episode and Apple (rightly) refused to do so. If you’re doing the math that means NBC wants you to pay roughly $120 for a standard 24 episode season. Ho-ly crap. NBC is freakin insane to think anyone would pay so much! That’s 3-4 times the cost of purchasing the physically DVD set when it’s released. Apply that math to music and they’d be asking $6-8 per song.

Ludicrous.

Anyone with a brain knows what this means for the future of NBC watching habits.

While ABC, CBS, FOX and the like happily receive some nice little income off their show purchases from iTunes, NBC heads back to the 90s with zero income and lots of illegal downloading.

NBC’s new motto: Hope you have a good bittorrent client...

Tips and Tricks for New iPhone Users

Just came across this fantastic list of iPhone Power Tips. A decent list, I’m most excited about Tip #14 though I ave yet to try it out for myself.

14. Kill GSM Buzz
If you experience a buzzing sound using an iPhone cassette adapter for your car stereo, such as Monster’s iCarPlay - which claims to be iPhone compatible but doesn’t appear anywhere on Monster’s website, www.monstercable.com - Gizmodo offers a low-tech solution: aluminum foil. Yep, just take a little bit of Reynolds Wrap and wrap it around the cable closest to the iPhone. This eliminates the need to switch to airplane mode - which is a viable solution, but sends incoming calls to voicemail.

If the aluminum-foil-wrap-trick does the job this will solve my number one complaint with the iPhone, incredibly annoying GSM noise which interferes with speakers when attempting to use the iPod function of the iPhone.

One tip that they failed to mention is the period-slide trick. Many have complained about the keyboard requiring 2-3 keystrokes to type a period and think that the period should have been included on the main keyboard. But there is a sweet little workaround. If you place your finger on the .?123 button and, without lifting your finger, slide your finger over the period and then left from the screen, you get the period and are returned to the home screen all in one quick motion. After some practice this becomes a second nature quick tap-slide maneuver. This also works with any other symbol but the period is the easiest and most useful.

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