We Saw a Chicken …

Tag: iphone

  • Chirp is a thing

    Chirp is a new annoyance, a way of sending links and stuff via audio. Sounds like it’s doing it via MFSK, and is only sending the ID of the link on Chirp’s server, as there’s not much data sent. Here’s what the spectrum plot looks like:

    This is what it sounds like: test chirp [mp3].

  • mildly impressed by shazam (and soundhound)

    I’m a late adopter of Shazam, which is a semi-magic music recognition service. I just gave it a ten song shuffle from my collection.

    Shazam matched:

    • LLL — Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter
    • Puppet Master — Marissa Nadler
    • He Woke Me Up Again — Sufjan Stevens
    • At The Bottom Of Everything — Bright Eyes
    • Derelict — Beck

    Shazam found no match for:

    Shazam was completely wrong about:

    So: 50% hit rate, 50% miss — and one false positive. Adequate.

    Karl recommended I try SoundHound. It matched:

    • LLL — Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter
    • He Woke Me Up Again — Sufjan Stevens
    • Religious Songs — Withered Hand
    • Caney Fork River — Old Man Luedecke
    • At The Bottom Of Everything — Bright Eyes
    • Derelict — Beck

    Soundhound didn’t match:

    • Puppet Master — Marissa Nadler
    • Reuben — Rafe Stefanini
    • Appetite — Mount Eerie
    • Setting Forth — Flashman

    So it knew about Withered Hand and Old Man Luedecke, but didn’t know about Marissa. About the same; maybe slightly better.

  • lolcobol

    The bloke standing behind the console looks like he’s working an iPhone – in 1959!

    (actually, it might just be a cigarette; see the open pack of Luckies by Grace Murray Hopper’s right elbow.)

    Image nicked from the NMAH | COBOL – COBOL online exhibit.

  • 18 things I’d rather have than an iPhone

    In response to Jill’s post to fegmaniax:

    1. Batavus Personal Bike
    2. Lagouille pocket knife
    3. The Muppets Series 2 on DVD
    4. a better film scanner
    5. a Bill Rickard banjo
    6. Danelectro guitar (like Syd’s)
    7. “Unicorn Power” t-shirt
    8. duplexer for my inkjet printer
    9. titanium spork
    10. a ream of Blue Angel printer paper
    11. A4 feed tray(s) for my printer(s)
    12. Sumo Lounge beanbag
    13. silent Mini-ITX motherboard
    14. bluetooth GPS
    15. Fixpencil
    16. Vivitar 285HV flash gun
    17. Pelican case for the RB67
    18. nylon-strung old Harmony banjo.

    I was trying to get to 100, but I guess I’m not that acquisitive.