ViewQuotes September 20, 2006
Posted by Al Castle in : Puter Stuff, PRWeb, Squirrels, Insider, Web Design & Dev , add a commentEvery now and then there will be some sort of feature or page on one of the PRWeb family of sites and services that I’m going to write about. It’s part of my “Insider” series of posts and I recommend you follow along as you just might catch glimpses into the magic of PRWeb.
Awhile back on a cloudy NorthWest weekend afternoon I wrote the algorithm for PRWebs Quotables. They’ve been a great feature and we’ve received some excellent feedback on them. I just rediscovered this afternoon while working on a completely different cloudy NorthWest weekend project that I had created an extension of the Quotables which never was finished.
However, before continuing I feel that we should first define Quotables, as some of you especially those of the journalistic persuasion continue to refer to them as “pull quotes“. A pull quote can be defined as selected copy of an article, usually enlarged and set in another font as part of an article. And that is correct in the same way calling a lion a cat is also true.
Quotables are cousins of pull quotes and can be defined as: A portion of copy which is automatically selected via a computer algorithm and whose contents may change or rotate based upon the full content of quotable material per viewing. They are set apart in a large font with alternate color from the copy and are hyperlinked to a URL. They could also be referred to in the brief and somewhat vulgar terminology of “Web 2.0 pull quotes” or even “PR 2.0 pull quotes” if you were trying to explain them to a dim witted child who was keen on buzz phrases.
Several sites online have pull quotes, to my knowledge no one has copied me yet to create Quotables and if they did I’m sure our rabid team of attack ninja lawyers would go Mortal Combat on them. Now that we realize that “they’re just pull quotes on steroids”, we can progress to an incomplete, unlinked to and new page on PRWeb - ViewQuotes.
They idea was going to be similar to ViewNews, another lens filter, or way to see what’s happening on the PRWeb newswire. By taking images out of context and forming them into a collage users were able to ignore PR speak and click on whatever caught their fancy. ViewQuotes, once it’s picked up and dusted off, will strive for the same effect. Quotes taken out of context are probably going to be pretty interesting. I may decide that they are not worthy of public release beyond those who read my blog and know of the link.
We’ll just have to wait and see.
Privacy On A Stick September 19, 2006
Posted by Al Castle in : Puter Stuff , 2commentsThe good folks at Hacktivismo have unleashed Torpark - a portable web browser based upon everyones favorite Mozilla Firefox, the news is fresh out via PRWeb. This portable browser can be run from a USB stick thus making it more convenient and safer when using another persons computer ( friends or public ) to access websites as it leaves no information on the host computer. I haven’t tried Torpark out yet, but the original portable browser allowed you to keep your bookmarks and saved passwords with you.
Additionally Torpark offers a layer of anonymity via what is known as The Onion Router (TOR). A secure connection between you and TOR are made, at that point you are hopefully using a secure connection to an online service as normal, such as when logging into your gmail account or financial institution.
You can read more press releases from the Cult of the Dead Cow via their cDc news feed at PRWeb. I’ve also spotted this press release on Yahoo! News and via Google News.
Head Squish September 16, 2006
Posted by Al Castle in : PRWeb, Squirrels , 3commentsLong lost footage taken in an airport coffee/bookshop in Detroit where David’s head is squished by an unknown assailant.
Audio Hijack September 16, 2006
Posted by Al Castle in : Puter Stuff, Must Listen, OSX , add a comment
I recall using the Pro version, briefly during my early days of trying to Podcast with Skype. At the time I was focused on Podcasting and quickly forgot about this software. Having rediscovered it I felt a post was in order.
Rogue Amoeba has a Universal Binary for OSX called Audio Hijack. This snazzy piece of software allows you to record any audio coming through your Mac, including streaming music from Flash applications, DVDs, Real Player, snagging sound bites from Podcasts and so forth, into an AIFF file on your disk.
(Note: Such usage may be illegal depending upon the licensing of the audio in question. I defer to your own judgement.)
This program also has quite a few extra features including unattended scheduling and some simple yet handy scripting to automatically convert the recorded file to MP3 (using iTunes) and perform other similar tasks. The software which includes a fully functional demo mode only costs $16 for the license. Additional products including a PRO version are available from the Rogue Amoeba website.
My first trial usage of the software leaves me reaching for my credit card. Great work guys.
Lady Gaga September 10, 2006
Posted by Al Castle in : Squirrels, Must Listen , 5comments
While writing my post about Carbon Leaf I stumbled onto Lady Gaga at a site called PureVolume. She has a retro pop sound that made me first think of Pink. I listened to “Beautiful, Dirty, Rich”, you can hear the attitude in her voice and lyrics, with the rhythms flowing around you and the piano she plays - brings it all up a level. You realize that this kid has sweet skills.
She has ears made of classic-rock, a voice of the 60s, the moves of a Brit-Disco queen, and a heart made of doo-wop and strawberry milkshakes. -from her MySpace page
With “Shake Ure Kitty” playing I started searching for where to buy her album and ran into Rebecca G. Jones of Audio Intercourse and her take on Lady Gaga. She hasn’t posted anything recently, but I like her review.
I’ve listened to all of Lady Gagas music that I can find, on MySpace and PureVolume. There’s very little information about her online, most of the pages refer to the sites already mentioned. One of which states she’s signed with Sony, but I’d assume the music already online could be purchased somewhere, so far no luck finding it.
She’s playing Tuesday in New York and I’m wishing I could be there to check her out live.
Carbon Leaf September 10, 2006
Posted by Al Castle in : Squirrels, Must Listen , comments closed
A must listen to band is Carbon Leaf. An exuberant friend of mine introduced me to them a few months ago and I’ve been listening to them ever since. Open this link up to Toy Soldiers (from Echo Echo) and listen while you read the rest.
Apparently they’ve been about for some years as an indie band, in 2002 the band won an American Music Award (Coca Cola New Music Award) for their independent album Echo Echo. A bit of a Celtic rock, (’lord of the dance’ as I call it) sound is what I first heard from them and I surprised myself by how much I “dug it”. I seriously never thought an electric mandolin would sound good. The talent of the band goes beyond just being able to come up with a rhythmically catchy tune and some good studio magic. The lyrics are refreshing, several songs evoke a shared imagery of having “been there”, while the lead singer Barry Privett puts emotional content behind them - the composition is sublime.
Their first major label album Indian Summer (2004) proved that they have a wide breadth of talent and that the Celtic rock sound I heard is only one aspect in their repertoire of auditory delights. “Grey Sky” and “When I’m alone” (both from Indian Summer) for example proved the band was capable of much more. I’ve seen their albums classified as Folk, Alternative, Rock, Bluegrass, and Blues - trying to pigeon-hole these guys is focusing on the wrong thing, just buy the albums and enjoy the music.
Their latest album Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat is available for pre-order on Amazon due September 12th 2006.
Their schedule of performance dates is available on their MySpace site.
A few websites I’ve found:
The Official Site, The Official Blog, Their MySpace site, Carbon Leaf on Wikipedia, and more images of Carbon Leaf. You can find and buy their music on Amazon and the iTunes Music Store.
If by chance the members or friends of Carbon Leaf read this, get in touch with me by leaving a comment. I’d love it if you guys used PRWeb for your press releases.
Screaming Penguin September 10, 2006
Posted by Al Castle in : Squirrels , add a commentThe imagery of a screaming penguin is absurdly funny. I stumbled upon a site titled “temple of the screaming-penguin“.
The site itself is a mostly pointless “multi-personality weblog”. Really it’s just a collection of other peoples headlines. I give him points for the name only.
Italian Roast September 4, 2006
Posted by Al Castle in : PRWeb, Squirrels , 3commentsA My favorite PRWeb editor called it quits recently due to personal family reasons. Yes I know I’ve told half of you reading this that *you* are my favorite editor. And it’s true in the same way that a parent tells their children that they love them all equally. (It’s a post about Paolo so come on, I have to say he was my favorite.)
PRWeb editor Terry and recent officemate to the resident Italian, spearheaded a going away party and roast to honor the Ego and it’s small orbiting oddly misshapen planetoid called Paolo. (I stole the picture on the left from his personal blog without permission - tough noogies.) Terry made an awesome vegetarian chili, there were other various edibles on the table that I mostly ignored. It looked like quite the spread though. Various employees provided some good content. I can’t recall the details, but I was a bit surprised that Karla unleashed a few funnies.
Andrew managed to capture a bit of the roast on film, before either running out of tape or batteries, I couldn’t be sure. That’s going to haunt him for awhile.
Paolo countered with a beautifully executed roast of his own against his officemates and broke into song with his guitar. It was a tear jerker.
As most insiders to PRWeb know, Paolo was the creative genius for the editors shed - The BrownHouse. In fact most of the things that can be said in praise about Paolo actually can’t (or at the very least shouldn’t) be repeated publicly. Which is for the best as I’m losing interest in this post. Those weird Poncherello shades are freaking me out. I half expect him to start breaking out into the Hoffs hit song -’Jump in my car‘.
So I end this post with a fond farewell and best wishes to you Paolo.
