Take the following devices and try and work out what they have in common.
1) Nokia "throw away" PAYG phone
2) Apple iPod Touch 3G
3) Apple iPod Classic 160 6g
4) Minirig portable boombox
5) X-mini portable speaker
6) Garmin GPS
And the answer is they all charge from +5v, 500mA. But they almost all use a different charging cable and/or a different sync cable.

In fact in total, I need 2 Sync cables and 4 charging cables to handle all of that. How did it come to this? This is why there is an EU directive that all such devices should be abble to be charged via Micro-USB socket. Except that the only device that has one of those is the Nokia and that can't charge from USB. And Apple only support this directive in their latest phones via a Micro-USB <-> Lightning connector. Even though I hate it, I do kind of understand why Apple does this and why they think they're special. And of course they can get away with trying to get you to spend extra money on genuine Apple accessories. But what's everybody else's excuse? And that's before we start adding in Android phones, iPads, tablets and other devices that charge from 5v but need more current than the standard USB 500mA. Or the new USB 3.0 connectors.

Can we please just sort this all out because I'm sick of it.

1) Nokia throw away PAYG phone
No charging via Micro-USB. USB is only for sync. Charging uses their small tip as opposed to the old 3.5mm large Nokia tip. Their nominal 5v charger is actually 6.5v. They'll happily charge from 5v but then won't report charging complete, battery full. 

2) Apple iPod Touch 3G
Will charge from any old USB charger with an Apple sync cable. But won't charge from a custom charger aimed at supporting Apple's enhanced USB not quite standards aimed at supplying > 500mA

3) Apple iPod Classic 160 6g
Will only charge from an Apple charger with a normal USB sync cable. But will some times charge from other people's chargers depending on the smarts of the charger and of the cable. Won't charge from a Computer or USB hub unless the computers is on.

4) Minirig portable boombox
Requires it's own USB lead as they use a 6mm plug.

5) X-mini portable speaker
Charging and line in/out on a mini-USB. Hooray! Except that the built in audio jack lead always breaks, so you need the combined USB-Jack lead or a jack to jack AND a USB-mini-USB.

6) Garmin GPS
Charging on a mini-USB. Hooray!

This rant is because I've just bought this 4 port USB charger, to discover that while I only need to carry one plug, I still need a pocket full of leads. Grrrr!
http://www.portablepowersupplies.co.uk/portapow-quad-usb-uk-us-eu-mains-charger/

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http://retromaniabysimonreynolds.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/why-he-no-longer-gives-away-his-music.html
The problem here is that I can't see the connection between music obsessives discovering that you can obtain music for free and exploiting that fact;  and a movement trying to work against the exploitation of interns and freelancers by for-profit organisations.
Follow the links to http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/05/digital-economy-work-for-free

Bruce Sterling is fond of saying "what happens to Musicians will happen to everyone". The theory being that Musicians discovering that there is no money in the game for 99.9999% of all players is just the bleeding edge and everyone else will be discovering the same thing about their niche in quick time. But maybe this is just recognising that most art is an activity with no monetary value and always has been. If we still think it has value to our lives and society as a whole, then we need to find some other way of compensating it's creators than simply putting a monetary value on it's content.

As for education loans, endless internships, going the extra mile, free freelancers, and all the other euphemisms, it's economic slavery, no? By all means leverage a bit of free work or barter into a longer term contract, but if you consistently use people's willingness to do this to keep your costs down, then go to hell.

So are you still buying stuff from Amazon? I know, I know, it's just so convenient.
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Is hate too strong a word? Because I'm beginning to hate Dorna.
- The joke that was the 2 year experiment in CRT
- Giving the UK rights to BT Sport. And probably destroying the Eurosport commentary team in the process. While excluding a whole range of potential fans which may even include Virgin cable which is half of the pay per view/subscription audience. 
- And now beginning to destroy WSB in the guise of trying to save it.
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Apparently it's not just car manufacturers who feel the need to re-invent the bicycle when designing a vapourware e-bike concept.

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Yay! Coffee will cure all your ills! And if you wear boot-cut or flares it will make you wear straights.

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No need to worry. Carry on regardless because that's what you will probably do anyway. This is just some parts of your government showing a rare case of realism and planning for an uncertain future. And it ain't looking pretty.

They're talking about 2040. But maybe they really mean 2020. Don't want to worry people too much. And although the paper is from the MOD, the analysis is from a Guardian Doomsayer.

http://www.nafeezahmed.com/2013/06/shock-uk-ministry-of-defence-report.html#more
Energy, environmental crises, imminent peak oil, food, water shortages, and sustained recession through to 2040 will create internal unrest. Says UK MOD.
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A (re-)found cultural object from 1976 and my deep and distant past. The USA's Bi-Centenary should have been a celebration but was also a very confused time for America that was just post Vietnam, Nixon's impeachment, Gas crisis and rationing, Altamont, Hendrix. Jimmy Carter was the counterpoint but most of the USA hated him for that. The president of guilt, not catharsis.

The whole Spirit - Spirit of '76 album has this wistful, stoned, blissed out - smacked out feel to it with loads of echo, reverb and phaser guitar. It feels to me like a lament from the Hippy-Boomers for lost opportunities. A reflection of the times. This opening track combines and merges America's other national anthem with Dylan's iconic "Times They Are A'Changin". Except it's not an angry warning the way it was in 1964 so much as sad and dazed and confused.

Of course 1976 was also the height of Prog Rock, The Eagles, soft-Alt-country-rock and mere minutes before The Sex Pistols and all that BOLLOCKS. And it was only 2 years before Iran blew up, and the Russians invaded Afghanistan. So the times were decadent, ripe for a change and about to be a'changin in totally unexpected ways.

Oh America; what happened to you? In the words of the last stanza of Burroughs' thanksgiving prayer. "Thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams."



ps. You gotta love a rock star with a name like "Randy California".

pps. Bonus track. Cover of "Like a Rolling Stone" from the same album and in the same style.

He may have been doing finals but still found time to do a May round up mix.
http://whitenoisereview.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/may-roundup-2013.html

I haven't heard all of these, but there's some bangers in there. The blog is highly recommended by the way.
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Already raining then, 
http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/newssite-snaps-portraits
http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/data/image/gf033%20-%20JOE%20RUSH%20FROM%20THE%20UNFAIRGROUND.jpg

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Got my tickets for tomorrow night's Akkord - Navigate launch on Houndstooth, Rob Booth's Fabric label. Looking forward to seeing DJRum again as well.

http://www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?481944
Akkord, DJRum, Eleven8, Wen. 

Here's Akkord's Boiler Room set
http://basinghouse.co.uk/news/akkord-boiler-room/

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Rather better article than usual about batteries and where battery tech is heading. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/28/hot_lithium_ion_batts/
It makes a refreshing change from the usual breathless hype of the (mainly) US tech blog coverage to see some real science and facts in there.

The downside is that game changing battery tech is probably going to stay a permanent 30 years out. While there are a few more cycles of incremental change to be had, it won't give us the factor of 10 improvement we need. The available 20-30% improvement is still useful, especially if the costs can come down as well.

This in turn means that we need to focus on reducing energy needs in battery powered devices as much as increasing the storage capacity. That's a good thing in itself.

And for E-bicycles, I want the lifespan and relative safety of LiFePo, with the size, weight and high current capability of RC LiPo (LiCo) at about a 1/3 of the price. m'kay? 

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Look, a post in praise of the iPod Classic is bringing all these other fans out of the woodwork and people who also want an upgrade and a similar device with much bigger storage. Dammit, Apple, where's my 1Tb iPod Classic! It should be here by now.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/27/irl-ipod-classic-whosounds-tardis-bluetooth-speaker/

There's a small but real market for a portable device with >250Gb (and preferably 1Tb) of storage and a good audio output stage. If Apple won't build it, then who will? I do understand that the iPod Classic probably doesn't sell very well, have good enough margins and so make Apple enough money to justify the work. But that small demand for an iPod Classic update is still there.

Meanwhile are there any alternatives for those of us with very big music collections and the need and want to take it all on the road? 

And no, Google Music (or similar streaming and locker services) is not a solution. We'll hit the 20k track limit, don't want to pay the bandwidth fees to access it and want access to all that music in places where connectivity is hard.
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Damn pesky kids. We would have got away with it, if they'd seen music -  in terms of a dialectic in which there's a series of advances that entail jettisoning previous styles that have been superceded.

http://retromaniabysimonreynolds.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/who-are-you-2013.html

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Thursday night, 30 May, London
http://www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?481944
Also got a ticket for the following night to see Cottam. If I've got the energy.

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Past club music as opposed to future. But as someone who was too old to be there at the time... It's still refreshing to have some happy drunk reveller put an arm round your neck at 3am in 2013 and say "I hope I'm having as much fun as you are when I'm your age".

And the piano looped over and over.

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/rave-video-comments-will-restore-your-faith-in-humanity

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It's still refreshing to have some happy drunk reveller put an arm round your neck at 3am in 2013 and say "I hope I'm having as much fun as you are when I'm your age".

Just try and remember that these are the days (right here, right now) that you'll look back on fondly at some time in the future.

And the piano looped over and over.

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Buzz data is going to be moved to Google Drive according to an email doing the rounds. This comment caught my eye though.

"Bradley Horowitz said at the time that the lessons that Google learned from the products short existence would be used in other services like Google+"

So what features that used to be in Buzz do you wish were in Google Plus now?

1) A tab on profiles listing all my comments
2) An RSS/Atom feed of my public posts
3) Vanity Profile URLs for everyone
4) Auto-import of posts from feeds. But to a separate tab on profiles, not to our public streams
5) Easy Location tagging of public posts when using the desktop web interface.

I'm sure there's more.
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There's an email from Google doing the rounds about the final act for Buzz. Our old posts are going to be archibved to our Google Drive, apparently.
http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/05/25/more-than-a-year-after-its-shutdown-google-to-move-all-buzz-posts-to-its-drive-service-on-july-17/

It's prompted me to go back and re-read my burblings from 2 years ago!
https://profiles.google.com/106416716945076707395/buzz

"Bradley Horowitz said at the time that the lessons that Google learned from the products short existence would be used in other services like Google+"

I wonder what those lessons were. Because there's still some function that used to be in Buzz but is not in G plus, that I miss.

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Good interview with the Ginger Twat, or Tony Carter as he's better known. Familiar to anyone who watches motorcycle racing on Eurosport.
http://www.paddockchatter.com/2013/05/tony-carter-exclusive-2-stroke-passion.html
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How should YouTube - Google Music - G All Access integration work? Given that YouTube is now one of the foremost ways of consuming music and especially very new, preview and obscure musics.

This question was prompted by Last.FM integrating videos from Muzu into their system. 
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/05/21/last-fm-joins-forces-with-muzu-tv-to-bring-90000-music-videos-to-its-internet-radio-service/

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