These are all too common, namely Pointless App (Sin Seven) and Treating Everyone the Same (Sin Four). Deliver clear messages, and carve out your customer base.

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New video trailer for El-P's upcoming album 'Cancer For Cure' (due out May 22nd on Fat Possum Records) titled "Drone".

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There are a lot of people out there working on an electic mix of web, building, game, user interface, and other design projects that require a lot of different approaches, tools and techniques. But when it comes to design as a core concept - that is, creating something with a specific purpose in mind - there are often some elements of any design that lack certain attributes. Sadly, those attributes are make-or-break. Let's think about some of them. 

Obvious purpose. 

In order for a design to have a point, it has to have an obvious purpose. You don't pick up a phone and not have any knowledge of what it is or what it does, and you certainly don't log onto partycasino.com only to wonder if they sell sandwiches. If someone can't tell what you've made - ability to discern meaning from its design notwithstanding - then you've fallen at the first hurdle. 

Perceivable Quality. 

A lot of people assume that quality stems from the designs that are the most expensive, or the most complex. Quality matters not a jot unless the person who the design is meant to impress can actually perceive said quality in the environment in which the design will be used. Bring them features that work, that don't try to do too much with too little, that don't break. Show them that the design is solid but modular and can be adapted. Don't be fashionable - just be good. 

User feedback. 

Designs should never be carried from start to finish without any user feedback, and those who think all they need to do is test a design themselves are deluded - you are not a fresh pair of eyes, and you never will be. You are the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain, and thus, the stage will always look different to you, compared to the average adventurer. 

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Getting comfortable with "less-is-more" composition-wise.

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ATL_Final.mp3 Listen on Posterous

The Skinny

I spent some time in Atlanta a few weeks ago & completely fell in love with the Dirty South vibe; the whole scene is just totally unique to that area & emanates pure character & authenticity.

I really tried for that crunky call-and-response/drum machine/super-heavy bassline feel that immediately identifies itself with ATL hip hop.

It's actually for a friend of mine, but I thought I'd post it because I'm pretty stoked about how it came out (& since it's my first time composing a complete hip-hop instrumental of any kind).

Hotlanta occupies my mind a bit :)

- Cover art by Mat Giordano | Grillz image courtesy of Acid Cow

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Google's new privacy policy goes into effect today & a glaring (invasive in my opinion) change is how they will use your information as a logged-in user.

The brass nuts of it is that they are now logging your web history to build a "profile" on you, and using the information to provide you customized search results.

Things you were formerly able to do in relative anonymity on the web are now going to be associated with your name (and face, if you have a profile photo on Google).

It's super-easy to turn off though...just follow these steps:

1. Sign into your account from the Google homepage. Use the dropdown menu under your name in the upper right-hand corner to access your settings. Click on 'account settings'.
2. Scroll down and find the section called 'Services' and you'll see a link to 'View, enable, or disable web history' - Click the words 'Go to web history'.
3. Click on 'Remove Web History'. Once you have done this your history will be deleted and also remain disabled until you turn it back on.

Unfortunately this doesn't stop Google from collecting the already present data, but they will anonimize it in 18 months and won't collect anything further from your browsing history.

Scary shit, Big Brother.

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I wanted to make a presentation I gave this week in Florida at Full Sail University available to everyone in any format you need.

Feel free to download/copy/steal/sell/take credit/use it at your will; just click the "Download PDF" image above.

You can view the presentation online here: Design - Scope - Iterate

A fixed timing version is available on YouTube below. 

Enjoy!

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I'm super happy with how my little home project studio has taken shape, and the amount of different things I can do in the comfort of my house continues to surprise me.

We have an upcoming golf contest happening next weekend at NEPA Connect and needed to get our radio spot done quickly.

So we were able to record our :15 radio promo right at my place, voiced by the talented Kristen Brooks (she did it in one take!)and recorded through an AKG Perception 200 condenser with a bit of MIDI keyboard performance underneath triggered from an AKAI LPK25.

Check it out! 

01_NEPA_Golf_Contest_Promo.mp3 Listen on Posterous

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So after switching to OpenDNS on my home network, I wanted to understand a bit more & organize the devices running in the house.

I snagged iNet on the Mac App Store for free, ran a scan, & can finally see what connects where, how, plus prioritize the connections.

Check it out & get a grip on what's going on with your internet.

Friendly reminder: Remember to spoof your MAC addresses kids!

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You couldn't envision them any other way if they were in the real world.

Check out the complete gallery on Buzzfeed.

Accurately creepy.

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So one of my last touches to my home recording setup was a microphone; I wanted to get something practical & wide-ranging to start, with plans of getting a better condenser later on.

I ended up getting a Blue Snowball USB and I absolutely love it.

So naturally, to give it a run I record demon-talk vocals to get a vibe.

deep.mp3 Listen on Posterous

The quality is incredible at long or short ranges, and has settings for vocal recording all the way to the other spectrum of recording environmental noise.

If anyone has recommendations of a decently-priced mid-range condenser mic (phantom-powered, etc.) please post in the comments. Cheers!

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I will disclaim this with two things:

1. I am not a good baker. Anyone can do this.
2. I attempted this for a New Year's Eve party & messed it up, so I kind of needed to prove I could do it without botching it again.

Here we go!

Ingredients:

• One puff pastry sheet
• One egg
• Flour (for dusting)
• Extra sharp cheddar cheese (approx. 1 cup)
• Thyme
• Basil
• Sriracha sauce
• Hot sauce
• Salt & pepper

Pre-heat oven to 375° F before you get started.

Flour your surface, spread out the puff pastry dough sheet to a square (to the best of your ability), beat the egg with some hot sauce & a tablespoon of water in a side dish (I used Sriracha sauce, with a dash of Ghost Chili sauce, made with bhut jolokia pepper), then brush the dough side with your egg mix.

Grate cheese (fairly fine) evenly over the puff pastry sheet. I used Yancey's Fancy XXX Yellow Extra Sharp Cheddar for this. Sprinkle about a half-tablespoon of thyme, teaspoon of basil, some salt (my go-to is Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt) and fresh ground pepper over the cheese.

Roll lightly with a rolling pin to blend the ingredients into the puff pastry, reshape the dough into a square (if it got screwy after the rolling pin), then slice even strips (about an inch to an inch & a half wide) with a pizza slicer.

Twist & roll each of your strips, then lay out on a parchment-covered baking sheet. I prefer AirBake insulated baking sheets for even, non-burned oven-cooking.

Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes, take out of oven and flip/move each piece to ensure an even bake, and return to the oven for an additional 3-5 minutes.

Original Herbed Cheese straw recipe on Gojee.

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This was one of the highlights of the entire film for me, and I'm stoked Blur uploaded it for everyone to see independently.

The story behind how it happened is really cool, too.

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Ingredients:

• 2 to 4 long Serrano peppers
• Clove of garlic
• Wedge of Manchego cheese
• Extra Virgin olive oil
• Creole seasoning (pref. Tony Chachere)
• Salt & pepper

Been a while since I posted a recipe, but I cooked these up rather quickly tonight & thought I'd share. They are super-easy & fun to put together.

Cut the lids off your peppers & slice them longways, coring them after you are finished (leave some seeds for taste).

Shred your Manchego wedge & dice up that garlic clove.

Coat a pan with olive oil. Toss in your diced garlic and heat it up on medium heat until the garlic starts to sizzle. 

Lay out your peppers in the pan after the garlic sautees for a few minutes and cook, covered, for 5 to 7 minutes or until the garlic in the pan is brown & the edges of your peppers look a bit toasted.

Remove from heat and drain your oil before moving forward (trust me; I burnt myself plenty doing this), and don't rub your eyes (done this before, also).

Turn down heat to a 2 or 3, place pan back on heat then stuff the shredded cheese in with a fork, lining each pepper with your Manchego.

Sprinkile lightly with Creole seasoning (I swear by Tony Chachere's Original Creole), salt (I use Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Salt) & fresh ground pepper.

Serve hot with a glass of red, and enjoy!

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IMG_2435.MOV Watch on Posterous

Guys, the baby is afraid of burps.

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That pretty much says it all.

More pictures over at Holy Taco.

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Well here it is: My first attempt at composing electronic music that I might almost consider a complete song.

Feel free to download & use it for anything you'd like. Steal it, snip it, cut it, whatever. Please don't untag the mp3 though!

Just enjoy it :)

01_My_Headache.mp3 Listen on Posterous

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Trying to figure out some new audio software (Studio One 2 - Artist Edition) in my home recording set up. 

Mixdown Listen on Posterous

These are NOT LAYERS OF LOOPS; I assembled each piece, note, bass drop, & effect from some fabulous onboard gear from Presonus, Voodoo One, & Ueberschall, all triggered with an AKAI LPK25. 

I hope to get much more fluent in composing electronic music for a 52-week project I'm starting in the new year (anything beyond recording guitars is completely foreign to me, so bear with me).

I guess this is :52 seconds of the beginning of my journey.

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It's actually pretty dead-on. Get your own here - http://visual.ly/twitter

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Pretty self-explanatory; classic album covers re-imagined with kittens.

Let's face it. It needed to be done.

Check out the full gallery here.

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