December 29th - Free Press
IF you think the web is a big waste of time and all the videos on YouTube are of cats doing weird things, kids doing things they shouldn’t and video blogs about stuff you don’t care about, you may want to watch some of the Technology Entertainment and Design (TED) talks from this list. Touching on a wide range of topics, TED talks are usually fun, inspiring and informative. Add the TED app to your smart phone or stream the videos on demand to your computer and check out offerings from Try Something New for 30 Days to Three Things I Learned While My Plane Crashed.
TEDx Manitoba is set for Feb. 9. You can watch all the talks from last year’s inaugural event online.
Arcade Fire — Sprawl II
LAST year, Montreal’s Arcade Fire dazzled web viewers with their Google Street View-powered video for the single We Used to Wait that pulled on your childhood heartstrings. For their sequel, they’ve produced an interactive piece for the track Sprawl II that uses your web cam to control elements of the video. Another interesting way to get people to take notice of the band and feel connected to the music.
THE video wizard behind the Filmography project, a mega-mash-up of movies from the past year, is back with his new instalment. Packing 230 clips from 2011 into a glorious mélange from the past 12 months, Hollywood gets carefully stitched together in ways you probably never thought possible. Essential viewing for any movie lover.
No mega spoilers, so don’t avoid watching it just because you are worried major plot points might be revealed.
Top 5 Online Music Trends for 2011
WHILE the music industry is scrambling to keep up with the different ways people are consuming music and changing the way they interact with digital media, there were a number of important trends this past year. Cloud storage became a hot topic, with major players like Google, Amazon and Apple all offering up their own solutions. Social discovery and increased social integration of music into Facebook and other social networks is also impacting how we listening to music and find out about new bands.
The way some music tools recommended music to users also improved in 2011. While music algorithms are nothing new, better integration and improved matching seem to make all the difference. Although Canadians are shut out from group listening services like Turntable.fm, you’ll see more services pop up that have these type of features. The past 12 months also saw a trend toward more effective mobile music creation with apps such as Garage Band, iMaschine and some of Korg’s virtual digital workstations all breaking new ground on touch devices and mobile phones at rock-bottom prices.
