Ten Albums, Last Fifteen Years (Episode 117)

Jason Tate

So what are your ten favorite albums of the last fifteen years? That’s the question that makes up the main topic of this week’s episode of Encore. The rules are simple: favorite albums, 2001-2015, there can be only ten. We’d love to see your lists in the replies where you’ll find our super-sized episode goes into detail on how we picked the albums on our own lists. This was way harder than I expected. This week’s episode also covers some news on Kanye West and his new album, some first impressions of The Hotelier’s new album, and a discussion around walking into a very anticipated album or band for the first time. Oh, and of course there’s our usual random banter about life and things. We went long on this one to make up for last week! Hope you enjoy it. You’ll find show notes, ways to subscribe, and links to stream and/or download this episode by hitting read more.

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The Brain’s Music Room

Jason Tate

Natalie Angier, writing for The New York Times, looks at how and why we’re drawn to certain music:

Now researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have devised a radical new approach to brain imaging that reveals what past studies had missed. By mathematically analyzing scans of the auditory cortex and grouping clusters of brain cells with similar activation patterns, the scientists have identified neural pathways that react almost exclusively to the sound of music — any music. It may be Bach, bluegrass, hip-hop, big band, sitar or Julie Andrews. A listener may relish the sampled genre or revile it. No matter. When a musical passage is played, a distinct set of neurons tucked inside a furrow of a listener’s auditory cortex will fire in response.

The 1975 Release “The Sound” Video

Jason Tate

The 1975 have released their new video for “The Sound” on YouTube. The video includes real quotes from past critical reviews of the band. Their brilliant new album is also now available on Apple Music. Over the years when writing about music I’ve come across bands that I think are special, that have it, and that find their way into rarefied air in my music collection. This is one of those bands. This is one of those albums. I hope it means as much to everyone that hears it as it has to me.

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“I’m Not Wearing Hockey Pads”

“I’m Not Wearing Hockey Pads”
Jason Tate

Boston Dynamics have released a new video of their robot, Atlas, which can walk on two legs, open doors, stack boxes, and handle being pushed around by dudes with sticks. I had two thoughts while watching this: First, “oh great, like the robots aren’t going to remember this one day.” And two, that maybe I’d been watching too much Humans, because I felt this ping of empathy for what I know is a machine.

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Bill Simmons Announces ‘The Ringer’

Jason Tate

Last week Bill Simmons announced his upcoming new website, The Ringer. Today his partnership with Medium for the publishing of said website has been announced. Edward Lichty’s post about the partnership is filed with PR platitudes but one line in particular set off my bullshit detector:

We eliminate the need for any investment in tech, provide access to a growing network oriented towards meaningful engagement, and deliver constant, always-on innovation from a world-class product development team, whether you’re a single blogger or a large commercial publication — all for free.

I think Medium is a really interesting product and a great environment for hosting medium to long form text — and I’ll continue to recommend it for a certain set of writers. But any company promising this sort of thing for free is really saying for right now. The other shoe drops eventually. I’d recommend a read of David Winer’s “Anywhere But Medium” for the counter argument.

Uber’s Atomic Meltdown

Jason Tate

Eli Schiff, writing on his blog, takes a deep dive on the missteps of Uber’s rebranding:

In general, it is not a great idea to put the brand of a company valued in the tens of billions of dollars in the hands of people who readily admit they don’t know what their own intentions are. Uber tore through and rejected the proposals of half a dozen external agencies and eventually made the decision to rebrand internally.

More on Apple and the FBI

Apple
Jason Tate

More news, and some great analysis, has surfaced over the Apple vs the FBI situation I posted about a few days ago. I’ve rounded up some of the best articles I’ve come across on the subject from a variety of angles.

Rich Mogull, asking if we have a right to security:

The FBI wants this case to be about a single phone used by a single dead terrorist in San Bernardino to distract us from asking the real question. It will not stop at this one case, that isn’t how the law works. They are also teaming with legislators to make encrypted, secure devices and services illegal. That isn’t conspiracy theory, it is the stated position of the director of the FBI. Eventually they want systems to access any device or form of communications, at scale. As they already have with our phone system. Keep in mind that there is no way to limit this to consumer technologies, and it will have to apply to business systems as well, undermining corporate security.

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The Secret Lives of Tumblr Teens

Jason Tate

Elspeth Reeve, writing for the New Republic, looks at the secret lives of “Tumblr Teens,” the back alley monetization schemes, and the story of some of the most popular accounts being terminated. It’s an in-depth profile on a faction of the internet, and youth culture, that I seemed to just miss.

Each social media network creates a particular kind of teenage star: Those blessed with early-onset hotness are drawn to YouTube, the fashionable and seemingly wealthy post to Instagram, the most charismatic actors, dancers, and comedians thrive on Vine. On Facebook, every link you share and photo you post is a statement of your identity. Tumblr is the social network that, based on my reporting, is seen by teens as the most uncool.

Grab some pizza, or if you’re my age: a beer, and dive in.

What’s Going on With Apple and the FBI?

Jason Tate

Apple has publicly responded to a court order brought on by the FBI and US government asking them to purposefully break into one of their devices. There’s been a lot written on this subject today, so I’ve rounded-up what I think are the must reads after the jump.

The implications of the government’s demands are chilling. If the government can use the All Writs Act to make it easier to unlock your iPhone, it would have the power to reach into anyone’s device to capture their data. The government could extend this breach of privacy and demand that Apple build surveillance software to intercept your messages, access your health records or financial data, track your location, or even access your phone’s microphone or camera without your knowledge.

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The Story Behind Discovering Gravitational Waves

Jason Tate

Nicola Twilley, writing for The New Yorker, with the behind the scenes look at the scientists that discovered gravitational waves exist:

The fact that gravitational waves were detected so early prompted confusion and disbelief. “I had told everyone that we wouldn’t see anything until 2017 or 2018,” Reitze said. Janna Levin, a professor of astrophysics at Barnard College and Columbia University, who is not a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, was equally surprised. “When the rumors started, I was like, Come on!” she said. “They only just got it locked!” The signal, moreover, was almost too perfect. “Most of us thought that, when we ever saw such a thing, it would be something that you would need many, many computers and calculations to drag out of the noise,” Weiss said. Many of his colleagues assumed that the signal was some kind of test.

SoundCloud Lost $70m in Two Years

Soundcloud
Jason Tate

Cyrus Farivar, writing for Ars Technica, looks at the losses that are apparently piling up for SoundCloud.

New financial records released by SoundCloud show that the company has nearly doubled its losses from 2013 to 2014—those two years combined account for a total of €62.1 million ($70.3 million) in losses. […] With mounting losses, the company’s board of directors wrote that there are “material uncertainties facing the business.”

Apple Execs on ‘The Talk Show’ Podcast

Daring Fireball
Jason Tate

John Gruber has Apple’s Eddie Cue and Craig Federichi on this week’s episode of The Talk Show:

Very special guests Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi join the show. Topics include: the new features in Apple’s upcoming OS releases (iOS 9.3 and tvOS 9.2); why Apple is expanding its public beta program for OS releases; iTunes’s monolithic design; how personally involved Eddy and Craig are in using, testing, and installing beta software; the sad decline of Duke’s men’s basketball team; and more.

The entire thing is worth a listen (and what a coup by Gruber) but I found the part explaining/discussing iTunes to be the most interesting.

More Pineapple Drinks Please (Episode 116)

Jason Tate

It’s coming out late, damn has it been a long day, but this week’s episode of Encore is here. This week we discuss Thomas going on a cruise, some about the Super Bowl and the half-time show, and the internet’s reaction to the halftime show, and some about the commercials. We then tackle the main topic this week: Discussing albums we don’t like in the most productive way, how our feelings on an album may be swayed by someone else’s impassioned defense or take-down of an album, and how this may or may not be related to the new Say Anything album. We finish up with a few questions about long distance relationships, noise-canceling headphones, and Thomas being in early on The Front Bottoms.

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