This list will cover remixes for Chrono Trigger, one of my favorite RPG games of all time, but one thing to keep in mind is that you can enjoy this music without ever having played the game. Maybe you’ve never even heard of it. That’s fine. Music is music, right? And even though these songs are based on video game tracks, that doesn’t mean they sound like video game music. Trust me on that.

“Subterranean Opus” [Creeping Through the Sewers]

I wasn’t sure whether to sort this list in best-first or best-last order, but I’m so excited to write about this song that I think I need to start with the best. “Subterranean Opus” is a track that caught me completely off guard. I have a playlist of many OCRemix songs that I listen to on a somewhat regular basis, but before today I’d never heard of this song. Boy, I was really missing out.

“Subterranean Opus” was composed by Zircon, who just happens to be one of my favorite electronic composers. I had no idea that he started his career remixing video game songs but, looking back, it makes sense. You have to listen to this song and get at least to the 1:25 mark. That’s when things start to bump and sway with a beautiful mixture of hybrid orchestra touched with a Spanish flavor.

This song sits at the top of my list – not only for Chrono Trigger but all OCRemixes in general – for the high quality sound and the skillful rearrangement that injects many different musical styles while maintaining the heart of the original.

“Wind Scene Concert Paraphrase” [Yearnings of the Wind]

Here’s another song that elevates an original track up into the heavens by revitalizing it with the soul of a new genre. Based on “Yearnings of the Wind,” which you might also know as “600 A.D. Wind Scene”, “Wind Scene Concert Paraphrase” is one of those tracks that brims full of emotion, passion, and energy – even though the song itself is quite soft and mellow. It just feels alive.

It just goes to show that you don’t need an orchestra of instruments to create beautiful renditions. “Wind Scene Concert Paraphrase” is just one man on one piano creating sophisticated music using nothing more than creativity, hard work, and love. He was able to infuse the original wind song with a jazzy feel that warms the heart and relaxes the muscles.

“Dream of Zeal” [Corridor of Time]

Every good video game – just like every good movie – has that one tune that always pops into your head when you think of it. Most of the time, it’s the theme song. If I were to mention Harry Potter, I think we all know which song you’d be thinking about. Similarly, when it comes to Chrono Trigger, “Corridor of Time” (which you may know as the “Theme of Zeal”) beats out all other tracks as the iconic theme.

There are dozens of “Corridor of Time” remixes available on OCRemix and many of them deserve high praise. But in the interest of not flooding this article with more than one remix of the same track, I chose “Dream of Zeal” to represent.

It captures the essence of the original while adding a new layer of life on top. The sound samples may not be the best, but you have to consider that this remix was released nearly four years ago. Even still, it’s held up to time well and remains as one of my favorite Zeal remixes.

“Far Away Memories” [Outskirts of Time]

This remix of “Outskirts of Time” has such a homey, comforting quality about it. The choice of samples and the actual rhythm-melody combination evoke some real imagery – as if I’m strolling through a sunset countryside on a long, empty road. “Far Away Memories” is aptly named and I applaud the composer for creating such a fresh take on the original track.

“Behind the Sealed Door” [Sealed Door]

When you name a song “Behind the Sealed Door,” you inherently charge the composition with an aura of mystery. Smartly, the composer allows this mysterious feeling to pervade this remix and I think he did a great job in maintaining the original track’s soul while taking it in a whole new direction (compare it to the original “Sealed Door” and you’ll see what I mean).

There’s a dark and haunting quality to this song that I love and it’s balanced with a strong rhythm that keeps it from delving too deeply into somber territory. The piano is both light and gloomy – an interesting paradox – which provides further balance. Around the 1:30 mark, there’s a transition that incorporates a notably bright Final Fantasy melody, but it eases back into the eerie around 3:17.

Conclusion

Music is inherently subjective so there’s no doubt that some of you will read this and disagree with me. That’s fine with me. If I had the time and space, I’d expand this list to ten, fifteen, or even more songs because there are just so many Chrono Trigger remixes on the OCRemix site and they’re all lovely.

If there’s a Chrono Trigger remix that you think belongs in the top five, please share them in the comments! I’d love to hear your thoughts.

The post Looking For New Music? Here Are 5 Of The Best Chrono Trigger OCRemixes appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Note that name your price albums can be downloaded for free by entering 0 in the price field. That said, we strongly recommend you to donate a few dollars for music you enjoy!

You are welcome to submit your music, send suggestions with free albums you have discovered, or request genres I haven’t covered in a while. For all Sound Sunday related inquiries, please contact Tina @ this domain.

Andrés Correa – Un Lugar

Genre: alternative, latin, folk, pop, rock, jazz

Andrés Correa is a singer-songwriter and guitarrist from Bogotá, Colombia. His music is a unique mix of folk, pop, rock, and some of his tunes melt completely into jazz. Very relaxing and laid-back music.

Un Lugar (English: a place) is a free download from Bandcamp.

Sant Gatxo – Llum

Genre: alternative, indie, rock

Sant Gatxo from La Vila Joiosa, Spain delivers energetic indie rock with popular melodies. The six-piece band is committed to the social reality around them, which is reflected in their lyrics, as well as in their stage performances.

Llum (English: light) is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

La Teoria del Caos – Selftitled

Genre: indie, rock

La Teoria del Caos hail form La Plata, Buenos Aires Argentina. The selftitled album is their debut.

La Teoria del Caos (English: chaos theory) is a free download from Bandcamp.

UN PLANETA – Selftitled

Genre: alternative, indie, noise, pop, post rock, shoegaze

Un Planeta is another band from the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Originally a trio, they added a fourth member to better design their sound. The selftitled album released in 2012 is also their debut.

UN PLANETA (English: a planet) is a free download from Bandcamp.

Morbo & Mambo – Selftitled

Genre: experimental, rock, stoner, afrodub, afrobeat, dub funk

This shall be the last band from the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Marbo & Mambo don’t want to be associated with any one genre. They claim not to make afrobeat, stoner, dub, or funk, but all together. This makes for a fascinating mix indeed.

Marbo y Mambo (English: curiosity and mambo) is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

EP: Holden Avenue – Wybierz Droge

Genre: alternative, punk, rock

Holden Avenue is quintet from Wroclaw, Poland. Their powerful and melodic punk rock, with hard rock guitar elements, has earned them numerous awards at festivals and band competitions.

Wybierz Droge (English: choose the way) is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Humlow of Pizza Killers – Selftitled

Genre: hardcore, acoustic, punk, rock, ballads

From the banks of the Yenisei river in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, this quartet creates a panic among their audiences. Some songs start harmless enough, with acoustic pop-rock melodies. You could almost think this was lovely mainstream, until the Russian punk vocals cut in and the instruments pick up speed and intensity. Fantastic album to relief some steam.

Humlow of Pizza Killers is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

XAXAXA – Siromašni i bogati

Genre: indie, punk, rock, post-rock

XAXAXA (HAHAHA in Cyrillic alphabet) is a band from Skopje, Macedonia. With Siromašni i bogati the trio released its sophomore. In their songs Vasko, Nenad, and Dzano address unfair differences between people, imposed social norms, and carelessness of those in power. To allow the interested listener a full immersion in their songs, the band provides English translations of all lyrics. Allos XAXAXA to take you into their world, despite all superficial differences.

Siromašni i bogati (English: the poor and the rich) is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Bernays Propaganda – Zabraneta Planeta

Genre: alternative, indie, rock, punk, post punk

With this band it might finally seem like I ordered the albums not only according to genre, but also according to location. This is not the case, but purse coincidence. May I introduce: Bernays Propaganda from Skopje, Macedonia.

From the album page: “Signature new wave/post-punk sound with strong danceable basis, delivering firm drum beats accompanied by thick and groovy bass lines, upon which layers of noisy and disharmonic guitar chords are played, though less funky and broken as before. Add more of that strong and remarkable female voice shouting political lyrics over catchy atmosphere and bursts of energy, and there you go – 9 new songs, 9 new stories, 9 new manifestos calling for radical changes. Bernays Propaganda once again outdid themselves, presenting us with material that shows how a band can reach full songwriting and arranging maturity while losing none of the basic postulates of the philosophy they grew up on.”

Zabraneta Planeta is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Martas Asinis – Ceturtais Albums

Genre: alternative, indie, dance, lo-fi

Martas Asinis is the works of Filips Derums of Riga, Latvia. Filips is also a member of several Latvian indie rock bands. In this project, however, Filips and his two band members produce progressive dance music. The indie rock influence of course shines through.

Ceturtais Albums (English: the fourth album) is a free download from Bandcamp.

EP: Zessho x Kerberos – Remixed EP

Genre: beats, hip hop, rap

Japanese rapper Zessho remixed by Kerberos with classic sample-based beats.

Remixed EP is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

And More…

Enjoyed one of these albums? Pay it back and share this article or the albums you liked. If you really appreciated a particular album, please donate to the respective artist, so they can continue releasing great music.

New to Sound Sunday? Past editions of Sound Sunday are available here.

Are you using ifttt? Check out these recipes for receiving notifications of new Sound Sunday releases to GTalk and Pushover for mobile devices. Thank you @Vampie!

Feel free to get in touch with me [tina at makeuseof dot com] to share free material, suggestions, and feedback or simply add your comments below.

The post Music is Global: 11 Free MP3 Album Downloads [Sound Sunday] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

As well as the usual user-generated content that fills up most video sites these days, Funny Or Die is also home to some original content, much of which is exclusive to the site. Even better this content is often of professional quality and includes appearances by famous actors, comedians, or other celebrities.

Not everything on Funny Or Die is worth watching, but there are some Web series that will likely have you guffawing with laughter, if guffawing is your thing. I personally prefer to titter. Or even LOL. What follows are five Web series that justify the existence of Funny Or Die, and though some of its one-off videos are also worth watching, it is these series that make it one of those rare sites you should bookmark.

NB: All of the following videos should be considered NSFW and viewed at your own discretion.

Raaaaaaaandy

Raaaaaaaandy is a Funny or Die Web series in the mockumentary style. It tells the story of the titular Randy, pronounced “Raaaaaaaandy” for no particular reason, a stand-up comedian gaining notoriety thanks to a cameo in the Judd Apatow movie Funny People.

Randy is actually Aziz Ansari, a real-life stand-up comedian, and the whole thing is a well-formed parody. Not that everybody seems to get that, perhaps because Ansari isn’t all that well known. Regardless, Raaaaaaaandy is funny and clever, and more than worthy of your time and attention.

Acting With James Franco

Everybody knows James Franco is the man, right? He’s a great actor, he’s been in some great movies, he’s a hit with the ladies, and he’s funny too. The only thing that could make him any more of a hero would be curing cancer. But as that’s unlikely, he’ll have to stick to giving acting lessons to his brother.

Acting With James Franco is a very fitting title for this Web series, as it literally consists of James Franco giving acting lessons to his real-life brother Dave. Thankfully he doesn’t need acting lessons so the whole thing is just an excuse for some easy laughs. And the laughs will come easy when you watch this show.

Drunk History

Drunk History shows what school would be like if all the teachers lectured you while liquored up to the eyeballs. It would be a mess; facts and fiction would combine to form a new reality, and chaos would ensue. However, we would all have happy childhoods laughing at our elders for being drunk idiots.

This is the work of Mark Gagliardi, who gets drunk (supposedly on a whole bottle of whisky) and then recounts a moment from history. His words are recorded and then acted out by famous actors and comedians. The first episode features Michael Cera, with Jack Black and Will Ferrell making appearances later in the series.

Don Cheadle Is Captain Planet

Captain Planet was a real show, and still is now thanks to continued syndication. It’s a lame animated show that is clearly pitched as edutainment, teaching kids about environmentalism while supposedly also entertaining them. This live-action version is much, much better.

This Captain Planet features Don Cheadle as the titular superhero, though whether he’s actually a hero or not is the question. He has the power to conjure trees from thin air but enjoys turning humans into trees instead. Well, you would too, wouldn’t you?

Between Two Ferns

We’ve saved the best until last, with Between Two Ferns being an unmissable Web series for anyone who know their actors. Between Two Ferns features Zach Galifianakis (from The Hangover) as an interviewer who puts his subjects at ease with an odd mix of boredom and vitriol.

The title comes from the fact that the interviews take place between two ferns, and on a set that resembles something from the 1970s. Which is, I suspect, the idea. Some big-name guests have appeared on Between Two Ferns, including Natalie Portman, Ben Stiller, and Bruce Willis.

Conclusions

If any of these Web series has made you laugh then I, and the people who actually created the shows, have done their jobs. If you watched them all and are still sitting staring at your computer stony-faced then it may be time to think of undergoing a sense of humor bypass. But just to make sure there is no non-surgical hope, check out these original YouTube comedy channels before signing any formal agreement.

What do you think of Funny Or Die? Which of these series particularly tickled your funny-bone? Is there another Funny Or Die video you feel deserves a wider audience? As always we’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject at hand in the comments section below.

The post 5 Funny Or Die Web Series Worth Watching appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Note that name your price albums can be downloaded for free by entering 0 in the price field. That said, we strongly recommend you to donate a few dollars for music you enjoy!

You are welcome to submit your music, send suggestions with free albums you have discovered, or request genres I haven’t covered in a while. For all Sound Sunday related inquiries, please contact Tina @ this domain.

EP: THE DEADSTATION. – Episode 01: Like Peering Into The Deepest Ocean Abyss.

Genre: progressive rock, hard rock, power metal, progressive metal

Picking up where we left last week, we are starting into this edition with a progressive metal band from Boston. From their Facebook page: “THE DEADSTATION is a finely-tuned mixture of heart-stopping vocals, progressive riffing/drumming, epic orchestral elements, and pitch-black ambiance. (…) They present their work to listeners as “episodes” from a fictional dystopian TV channel called “The Deadstation”, with each song title representing a different scene from that episode.”

Episode 01: Like Peering Into The Deepest Ocean Abyss. is a free download from Bandcamp.

EP: Tetrafusion – Horizons EP

Genre: alternative rock, progressive rock, avant-garde, metal, progressive metal, jazz

From their Bandcamp profile: “Tetrafusion is a Louisiana-based progressive metal band established in 2006. The band’s mix of complex, technical metal blended with a highly-intellectual melodic structure offers an eclectic brand of progressive rock and metal pushing the edge of contemporary music today.”

Horizons EP is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

EndAnd – Mechanics & Energetics of Stilt-Running

Genre: alternative, rock, experimental rock, hard rock, hardcore punk, noise rock

From their Facebook page: “Disarmingly human and emotionally charged noise/garage rock from the heart of Brooklyn, New York, EndAnd have been gaining feverish word-of-mouth lately thanks to the release of the uncompromising Adventures of Fi in Space, which saw the band getting recommended by publications such as Large Hearted Boy and Those Who Dig.”

Mechanics & Energetics of Stilt-Running is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

EP: Totem Provoc – Selftitled

Genre: punk, rock

The members of Totem Provoc discovered each other at a cultural center in Piracicaba, Brazil. Clandestino was the space where they started to experiment and founded Totem Provoc. The band band seeks a universal sound that gives rise to a gloomy and sensual energy. Mission accomplished.

Totem Provoc is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

The Dead Ends – Mind Your Head

Genre: alternative, indie, rock, emo, grunge

This three piece alternative rock band formed in 2009. With roots in Auburn, Alabama and Nashville, Tennessee, they currently reside in College Park, Maryland.

Mind Your Head is a free download from Bandcamp.

Beaumont Livingston – Heavens & Fantasies

Genre: rock, desert rock, psychedelic rock, stoner rock

Stoner Rock straight from Italy. “Brilliant fuzzy guitar tones buzz around your head like a swarm of bees angry because you fucked with their hive. The cymbals crash and ride as the underlying rhythm spews you into the psychedelic vortex of riff-filled glory.”

Heavens & Fantasies is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Across Tundras – Electric Relics

Genre: americana, drone, rock, psychedelic rock, blues, progressive rock

From the album page: “Electric Relics is our humble offering placed at the crossroads of past, present, and future tense. Age-old energies and 3 phase electric power intersect to reveal hidden truths of bygone times, modern mysticisms, and sound the alarm for uncertain days to come. We walk through this shadowy land in search of a spark to light the fire and illuminate the depths of consciousness.”

Electric Relics is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Grey Gordon – Sleepless

Genre: indie, acoustic, folk, pop, punk, emo

From Grey’s Facebook page: “I picked up a guitar and wrote some songs. Demoed them. They weren’t bad. I’m still playing them, plus some others.”

Sleepless is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

The Stormalongs – …they call me Destruction

Genre: alternative, rock, rock & roll, garage rock

From their Bandcamp profile: “The Stormalongs began like a mythical tale: they came from deep within the woods, and learned to forge their rock from pure inspiration. Years later, these talented young men convened in the urban sprawl and laid their fire down. The sound of human thunder slamming against the walls of modern life.”

.?.?.?they call me Destruction is a free download from Bandcamp.

EP: LAMBS – Selftitled

Genre: rock, rock & roll, stoner rock, psychedelic rock, shoegaze

LABS is a summer psych rock band from Cambridge, Ontario. LAMBS is their remastered 2013 demo EP. From their Facebook page: “For those of you who have already downloaded, thank you for the love and support! It means so much when you go for something different and people respond to your creative vision. Download the professionally mixed and mastered version by Kevin Carafa (Recording Engineer) now. What a difference a separate set of ears can make, it definitely has a larger, warmer feel with improved clarity. (…) Thanks for sharing & thanks for listening!”

LAMBS is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

EP: The Blue Stones – Selftitled EP

Genre: alternative, blues, rock, soul, garage rock

From their Facebook page: “The Blue Stones are a blues/rock/alternative duo from Windsor, Ontario, Canada. (…) Our goal is simple: To provide accessible material to a large demographic while continuously striving to create innovative, original, and enjoyable music that we are passionate about.”

The Blue Stones EP is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Deep Elm – Sample Our Bands

Genre: alternative, indie, emo, rock, post rock, punk rock

From their Bandcamp profile: “With nearly 200 releases in its discography, fiercely independent Deep Elm Records continues to build a better label – one that operates for glory, not gold. We see our label being about people coming together, meeting, singing and sharing that experience with each other…those are the times that we remember forever. It’s about the power of music and the bands that create it. Indie ’til death…”

Sample Our Bands is a free download from Bandcamp.

And More…

Enjoyed one of these albums? Pay it back and share this article or the albums you liked. If you really appreciated a particular album, please donate to the respective artist, so they can continue releasing great music.

New to Sound Sunday? Past editions of Sound Sunday are available here.

Are you using ifttt? Check out these recipes for receiving notifications of new Sound Sunday releases to GTalk and Pushover for mobile devices. Thank you @Vampie!

Feel free to get in touch with me [tina at makeuseof dot com] to share free material, suggestions, and feedback or simply add your comments below.

The post 12 Free Music Albums: The Rock Edition [Sound Sunday] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Today, we’ll take a look at a few different designs for DIY tablet mounts; vote for your favorite in the comments, and I’ll try my best to actually make it, along with full instructions and build photos. Choose wisely!

Swing Arm

A simple, extendable arm design from Tom Gaurmond that uses lengths of 1″ timber with bolts to allow movement; holding the iPad is a fairly pricey mount with a ball and socket joint, but this could perhaps be swapped out for something cheaper.

I like this design, but would need to think of an alternative to screwing it into the wall; an upright timber frame would solve this, but perhaps not be as stable, and would certainly add to the cost.

A similar design is featured here with a built-in charging cable and more solid timber, though it’s not clear what it attaches to at the other end. A nice, matching dark color finish on the wood gives this the professional edge.

Vote “swing arm” in the comments to choose this design!

Swivel Arm

A practical and professional design by Roey Leon – though very little DIY is involved  - that can be easily moved to a variety of positions. It uses an old drafting table lighting fixture and iPad mount bought from eBay, then screws directly to the wall.

There’s quite a few downsides to this design. Unless you have an old swivel light sitting around, this is going to be pretty expensive to source as new; and then there’s the iPad mount part which will presumably be new too. Added to which, not all of us are happy making holes in the wall.

Vote “swivel arm” in the comments to choose this design, but I doubt if it’s feasible on a tight budget, in which case commercial options would be best.

Headboard Boom

A simple “boom” design from eHandyMan which nestles over your headboard, extends and slants down. All parts are fixed, so there’s little chance of things randomly falling. The only weak point here appears to be the bungee cord which holds the actual tablet; I won’t know how weak this is unless we actually try building it – it might be worth integrating a more solid wooden frame than we’ve seen elsewhere in this round up.

This is my personal favorite for a few reasons. First, it’s at a DIY level I think any of us can handle, with standard parts I can grab from any hardware store and no complex wood cuts that you’d need specialized tools for. Second, it’s 100% DIY – there’s no “buy a tablet mount on eBay” steps here, so it’s probably also the cheapest.

Vote “headboard boom” in the comments for this design.

Headboard Easel

From Eduino77, this is a slightly more complex version of the fixed design above, apparently inspired by an artists easel. Affixed behind the headboard (we could easily adjust that), a single thumbscrew nut and bolt allows it to be angled in various positions. The iPad is held in place with a close-fitting wooden frame at the top and bottom.

I like this design too, though the flexibility adds some complexity to the wood cuts needed; and I’m not entirely confident about the wooden clips – it seems like the iPad would slide out or get scratched.

To vote for this design, enter “headboard easel” in the comments.

Hybrid

A number of other designs I found (but without decent photos) make use of a cantilever bracket / wall mount, typically used for LCD televisions and monitors – such as this one from Amazon.co.uk for around £12. It might be interesting to combine one with a wooden frame behind the bed, or epoxy glue a cheap eBayed iPad mount.

Anyway, vote “hybrid” to see what I can come up with, but this is more of an open design option.

Buy one instead?

In case you’re wondering on the commercial side, StandzOut offer a flexible, telescopic iPad holder that would also be suitable for a bedside; it retails for $99 with free US shipping.

Anyway – the choice is yours. Let’s try to keep it as cheap as possible though, and at a level we could all manage. I’m certainly no expert DIYer! Remember to vote in the comments, and add your own suggestions and ideas. Here’s a summary of your options:

• Swing Arm
• Swivel Arm
• Headboard Boom
• Headboard Easel
• Hybrid
• Give up, James can’t possibly do any DIY 

Image Credit: ShutterStock, iPad in bed

The post 5 Awesome DIY Tablet Mounts For Bed: Vote For The Best And We’ll Build It appeared first on MakeUseOf.

The business card is a ubiquitous sight in any business meeting. The first documented use of them can be tracked to Japan in the 15th Century. These formal royal announcements, known as ‘meishi’, were distributed amongst the local community as a sign of a potential visit. The use of cards as formal announcements was later adopted by aristocrats in 17th Century France.

However, the formality behind these announcement cards was dropped when tradesmen of London used them amongst their clients as multipurpose advertising. Some were used as pocket maps showing the location of their stores. Others were used as personalized invoices for their trade.

These practices have differed little in the 21st Century although there’s a lot more to the modern business card than just text and pictures. Although a great card design can capture the attention of others, your business card can be so much more – it can be the key into your business and its unique personality.

Here at MOO.COM, we adore the business card and the endless potential they have, from colour, to texture, and shape. With this in mind, here are a few of our ideas to help create the ideal business card for your business.

The Pocket Portfolio

If you are an artist, a photographer, or even have innovative products to sell, grabbing your customers’ attention is key. Rather than simply sharing your name and contact details, your business cards can become an ideal portable portfolio or showroom. This approach can guarantee that your intended audience sees your work in its best light and see what makes you stand out from the crowd.

Making a Game Of It

“Gamifying” your business cards can be a great approach to your marketing strategy, especially if you run a small shop or restaurant. This approach instantly taps into your customer’s natural curiosity. A common practice is to turn your business cards into a loyalty card – encouraging customers’ regular purchases with stamps. A completed card can be traded in to receive a reward, be it a special offer or discount on one of your products.

A Tracking Tool

Technology company Perch offer discounts for their CMS platforms by using multiple fronts on their business cards. They can distribute them at various technology events. Using multiple fronts to your own business cards in this way also makes them track able – by giving your potential customers a different card you can keep track of which codes have (or haven’t) been reclaimed, and match them to the event at which you gave these cards out. It’s real-world ROI tracking in action!

Adding a New Dimension

It can sometimes be challenging to communicate on paper, especially if your business works in sound, animation, or video. For example, if you are a freelance filmmaker, your business card should be able to communicate your camera skills and have a show reel of your past projects.

If you think creatively, you can add a whole new dimension to your business card by making use of QR codes and augmented reality. These technologies bring a completely new functionality to your business card and can communicate considerably more than just paper and ink. However, these technologies can offer the best of both the real world and the virtual world for your business, and show how your business is stepping into the future.

A simple and quick way to add interactivity to your business card is by adding a QR code. These little black and white marks are infamous now in the modern business environment but can be used in thousands of creative ways. Why not add a little mystery by having it as the only thing on your business card? Your potential clients will have no other choice but to scan the code. This could lead to more content that one humble business card could ever hope to display! It could lead to a secret VIP area with discounts and offers for customers, a competition page, or simply the ‘contact me’ page of your website.

Here’s an innovative idea from French designer Victor Petit; after scanning in his QR code, a YouTube video of himself is loaded up explaining his skills and his interests, really demonstrating a passion for his profession.

Augmented reality (or AR) blurs the line between the real world and the virtual world by allowing users to interact with computer-generated graphics and content in real time. This relatively young technology has made some incredible leaps already and is a great platform for communicating your ideas. However, the best thing about this technology is that you can achieve something impressive with little or no technology background!

The easiest and quickest way to add AR interactivity is with external software. The free mobile app Aurasma (available on iOS and Google Play) can automatically assign video content to the front of your business card. This is achieved by teaching the software to recognize the front of your card and assign the content to it directly. A phone with the software can then scan the image with its camera and display that content almost immediately.

You could use this technology to conduct a presentation to your potential clients with an interactive video, something that is practically impossible when your clients may only have a few minutes to spare. Here’s a great example of this thinking from British design agency The District, showing that a simple piece of paper can have just the same impact in today’s tech-orientated world.

The mobile game development company Bouncing Ball turned their business card into a game using AR technology. When their card is presented in front of the camera on either an iPhone or an iPad, a maze is loaded with a small ball inside. The ball can be moved to the final goal when the card is tilted. What could be more perfect for a mobile game developer? Also, if you have an amazing future product, why not allow your potential clients to see an interactive 3D model of it through your business card? The possibilities are endless!

Inside Out

Along with the use of interactive imagery, new technology is being used in everything from toys to identification cards. These innovative objects are based around the use of a chip located inside. One example of these interactive chips are paper-thin NFC tags. These can be inserted into nearly anything, including a business card. These tiny tags can store nearly any information that is revealed to a user simply by using their mobile phone.

For example, on scanning a film poster, a tag can tell a customer’s phone to open its video player and play the trailer for that film. Businesses are already using these tags to store information about their business, providing links to their websites, social networks, and even a direct link to their online shop.

We believe the business card is here to stay, and with the use of these innovative new technologies and clever creative thinking, the print-based business card will stay and evolve for futures to come. No other object can support the communication between business people more and with these new tools, the business card can become an even better communication tool than it is today.

Image Credits: Smiling woman holding a loyalty card against a white background via Shutterstock, Construction worker holding a QR code business card via Shutterstock

The post Rethinking The Business Card appeared first on MakeUseOf.

In fact, Wikipedia can be an important and exhaustive repository of knowledge, helping to demystify myths and explain unsolved mysteries. With a good amount of sources cited, and the evidence stacking up until it becomes overwhelming in its conclusions, urban legends can be explained away on Wikipedia with surprising ease.

What follows are six well-known unsolved mysteries or strange phenomena that have been solved to such a degree that a simple visit to Wikipedia is enough to inform you of the truth. Not all are 100 percent foolproof solutions, but all have been de-mythologized by a consensus of overwhelming evidence.

Gravity Hills

The Mystery: Gravity hills, also known as magnetic hills or mystery hills, are places where the laws of gravity would appear not to exist. If you parked your car on one of these hills and left it out of gear it would appear to travel uphill rather than down.

The Explanation: Gravity hills are the result of nothing more than an optical illusion, though one which suggests nature is trolling us all. When the surrounding landscape is pitched just right and the horizon is obstructed then slight inclines can be mistaken for slight declines.

TL;DR: Gravity hills have more to do with perspective than supernatural forces.

Numbers Stations

The Mystery: Since World War II people have been hearing strange broadcasts made over shortwave radio. These broadcasts consist of nothing but a series of numbers (and sometimes words or Morse code) being read out in an artificially generated voice.

The Explanation: Numbers stations are used to convey messages to spies, with the seemingly random sequence of numbers actually containing messages for those with the key to decoding them. Some criminal organizations are also believed to use them.

TL;DR: Numbers stations are a simple method for sending messages to spies.

Klerksdorp Spheres

The Mystery: These spherical or disc-shaped objects have been found underground in deposits dating back 3-billion years. And yet they have parallel grooves or ridges scored around their circumferences. How could they have possibly got there?

The Explanation: These seemingly out-of-place artifacts look like they’ve been manufactured by intelligent beings, but the uniform shape and lines can be easily ascribed to natural geological processes.

TL;DR: Klerksdorp spheres are natural, and not manufactured by ancient intelligent beings.

Atlantis

The Mystery: The story of Atlantis is one that has been written about for more than 2,000 years. It claims that a naval power based on the island of Atlantis sank into the sea overnight, with explorers having been searching for it ever since.

The Explanation: There likely never was an Atlantis. Instead it was probably a legend borne out of other, older legends or historical events. The latter including volcanic eruptions that wiped out whole cities. Some scholars blame Greek philosopher Plato.

TL;DR: Atlantis is unlikely to have existed; instead being an amalgamation of historical events.

Crop Circles

The Mystery: Each and every year strange concentric circles and patterns appear in fields thanks to the crops being flattened. They have appeared in multiple countries over the past few decades, but the majority occur in England.

The Explanation: While there are some crop circles that remain unexplained, the scientific consensus is that the vast majority are man-made. Natural or meteorological phenomena may account for the others, with extraterrestrial involvement unlikely.

TL;DR: Crop circles are overwhelmingly considered to be entirely man-made in origin.

Bermuda Triangle

The Mystery: The Bermuda Triangle is the name given to an area in the Atlantic Ocean running from Florida to Puerto Rico and Bermuda. It has obtained a reputation thanks to the number of aircraft and ships that have disappeared while in the region.

The Explanation: The total area of the Bermuda Triangle is as much as 1.5 million square miles, and it gets a lot of commercial shipping and flights crossing it. The number of disappearances is no more than anywhere else on Earth.

TL;DR: The Bermuda Triangle is a manufactured mystery built on misconceptions.

Conclusions

At the very least you should now be more informed about the unsolved mysteries or myths included in this list. And you have Wikipedia to thank for that enlightenment, with just a smidgen of help from myself. The next time someone brings one of these subjects up in conversation you’ll be able to hold your own. You may want to hold off telling everyone you sourced your information from Wikipedia though, as its (unfortunate and mostly unfair) reputation precedes it.

What are your feelings on Wikipedia as a source of information? Do you trust the knowledge garnered from the online encyclopedia, or do you prefer to use a different domain for sourcing accurate accounts of people, places, and events? Let us know your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.

The post 6 Unsolved Mysteries Solved On Wikipedia appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Short films can be anything up to 40 minutes long, but most are considerably shorter than that. As can be seen on the best short film channels on Vimeo, most short films are a few minutes long. But there is a new trend emerging for even shorter films… films that last just a few seconds.

These are “short short films” or “micro films” (both of which are terms I’ve just made up), and the very best of them are well worth watching. After all, doing so will only take a couple of minutes at the most.

All About Vine

Vine is a video-sharing service launched in January 2013 by Twitter. It enables people to easily create and share videos of up to six seconds in length both on Twitter and elsewhere on the Web. The app enables this with a simple click-to-record interface, with multiple edits spliced together.

Vine videos can be watched in a variety of different ways, with several ingenious websites popping up to bring the Vine video feed to a wider audience. There are a surprisingly high number of different ways of using Twitter Vine, with those six seconds enabling creative people more than enough time to create something worth watching.

Tribeca Film Festival Vine Competition

The Tribeca Film Festival is an annual film festival held in New York City. It was founded in 2002 and draws in around 3 million people each and every year. As well as recognizing the best actors, documentarians, and independent filmmakers, Tribeca also celebrates short films.

For the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival the organizers held a competition centered on Vine. Everyone was invited to take part, with entries divided into four categories: ‘Genre’, ‘Auteur’, ‘Animate’, and ‘Series’. There was a shortlist of potential winners, with the final selection announced at Tribeca itself.

The Tribeca Film Festival Vine competition was judged by the team behind 5 Second Films, renowned Vine user Adam Goldberg, and film director Penny Marshall. What follows are the best Twitter Vine videos uncovered during the judging process, with the Vine videos embedded being the winners of each category.

Genre

The ‘Genre’ category applied to any Twitter Vine video that fitted into a particular genre, whether that genre was comedy, sci-fi, or western. The Vine videos shortlisted in this genre can all be viewed here, with a reminder to click to unmute.

The winner was @MattSwinsky for ‘LazerAndDonald Close Shave‘. This successfully manages to encapsulate the horror genre into the space of six seconds. It’s atmospheric and spooky, with some great lighting and pitch-perfect editing.

Auteur

The ‘Auteur’ category applied to those Vine videos that stood out for depicting a truly original idea or story, one that showed the filmmaker truly expressing himself or herself. The Vine videos shortlisted in this genre can all be viewed here.

The winner was @KevyPizza for ‘There Is No Sunny-Side to This Story‘. This is a simple idea brought to life perfectly, and it has layers beyond what we immediately see thanks to an analogous nod to wars involving people rather than eggs.

Animate

The ‘Animate’ category applied to all Vine videos that eschewed live-action and instead concentrated on creative animations. The Vine app lends itself perfectly to stop-motion animation. The Vine videos shortlisted in this genre can all be viewed here.

The winner was @JethroAmes for ‘How to Clear Your Garage From a Scary Ghost‘. This is a well-conceived short that plays with lighting and perspective to show off both the power of animation and of the Vine video app.

Series

The ‘Series’ category applied to all Vine videos that told a story over a course of clips rather than just one. For Tribeca it was limited to trilogies, though there is scope to carry on for much longer than that. The Vine videos shortlisted in this genre can all be viewed here.

The winner was Chris Donlon (@creepycrawler) for ‘The Book Beetle trilogy‘. This is a brilliantly animated set of three videos showing a book beetle (?!?) burrowing its way out of its nest and paving the way for an infestation.

Conclusions

I was already a fan of micro films before Vine appeared on the scene, but the Twitter app has undoubtedly helped foster an interest in the form factor. It has also forced creative filmmakers to concoct new ways of condensing their work down to just a few seconds.

The Tribeca Film Festival Vine competition has proved that six seconds is long enough to create compelling content, with the Vine videos that were shortlisted being spellbinding. Those embedded above represent the best Vine videos created so far, but I’m confident there is even better to come.

What do you think of Twitter Vine videos? Is six seconds long enough to get a message across? Are you impressed with the quality of Vine videos created so far? Let us know your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below, and then why not download the app and create your own six-seconds-or-less wonder to share with us all.

The post The Best Twitter Vine Videos Created So Far appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Note that name your price albums can be downloaded for free by entering 0 in the price field. That said, we strongly recommend you to donate a few dollars for music you enjoy!

You are welcome to submit your music, send suggestions with free albums you have discovered, or request genres I haven’t covered in a while. For all Sound Sunday related inquiries, please contact Tina @ this domain.

EP: Perspectives – DEMO 2011

Genre: punk, hardcore, melodic hardcore

From their Facebook page: Perspectives is a group of friends playing meaningful music with as much as energy as we can muster. We want to make friends and connect with as many people possible.

DEMO 2011 is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Lost In Kiev – Motions

Genre: rock, post rock, post metal, post hardcore

From their Last.FM profile: Inspired by their travels in the songwriting process, the musicians of Lost in Kiev want to remain as free as possible. Since it is impossible for them to stick only to the label “post-rock” to which they are clearly attached (stretched length of the titles, melancholic tracks), they juggle with various styles, from a foggy groovy trip-hop to a heavy post-hardcore via an epic metal.

Motions is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

The Boring – Let The Captain Sink

Genre: hardcore, punk, melodic hardcore

From their website: Here are The Boring, a 5 pieces punk-hardcore band from Colmar, eastern France. (…) We play fast, we scream loud and make crappy jokes! And we’re not satisfied of it. We want more ! We’ll do more ! We’re working more !

music merch
Let The Captain Sink is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Noisefight – Downward Spiral

Genre: punk, hardcore, melodic hardcore

From their Facebook page: The band was formed in February 2010. by young musicians with a desire to develop their ideas and enthusiasm to contribute Croatia and Pula punk-rock scene by their own original arrangements. Noisefight presented themselves to the audience at early beginning, performing on the Festival of “Media Mediteranea” with several other bands. Inspired by music of bands like Bad Religion, Rise Against, Ignite, and similar, are trying to make interesting and creative music and present it to the audience carried by energy and good cheer that are manifested in the texts of original songs.

Downward Spiral is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

EP: The Recovery! – This One’s For The Lovers…

Genre: punk, pop, rock, metal, hardcore

The Recovery! are a heavy rock & Roll band from Glasgow in the UK. The five lads have received rage reviews from several music magazines and radio shows. Tom Aylott (Rock Sound Magazine): Forged from heavy roots, the band manage to intertwine melodic and punk sensibilities under some enviably heavy segments in their stride (…).

This One’s For The Lovers… is a free download from Bandcamp.

polaroids – i still have dreams,

Genre: indie, punk, pop, emo, hardcore, melodic hardcore

New Jersey’s Polaroids play melodic hardcore loaded with energy. The driven sound is contrasted with quieter passages, filled with guitar solos and percussion instruments.

i still have dreams, is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

EP: Gatherer – Postcards

Genre: punk, hardcore post hardcore, post punk

Gatherer is a five piece hardcore band from New Jersey. They are presently crowd-funding their debut album Caught Between a Rock and a Sad Place via an indiegogo campaign. Two weeks left to help an independent band self-release their music.

Postcards is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Lay It On The Line – Crowhurst

Genre: punk, rock, hardcore, post-hardcore, melodic hardcore

From their homepage: We are 4 gentlemen who enjoy making music and have done since we did our first show in 2012. We, so far, a demo, an EP and a mini album and a split EP with Arizona from Belgium as of May 2013. We thank anyone massively for taking an interest in our band.

Crowhurst is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

EP: Loyalist – Train Tracks EP

Genre: rock, metal, metalcore, hardcore, melodic hardcore, screamo

From their Facebook page: Loyalist is a six piece melodic metalcore group from Toronto, Canada. The band started based on the concept of two guitarists, Adrian Hawryschuk and Connor Robinson. The pair began writing material and recording pre-production which served as the basis for the now ‘Train Tracks EP’. (…) With goals in sight, you can expect big things in the future from Loyalist.

Train Tracks EP is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

The Silent Divine – All In On Nothing

Genre: rock, metal, metalcore

From their Facebook page: Arising from the Denver music scene in 2010, The Silent Divine presented to the public their ground-breaking demo; including songs such as Wicked Lies (…) and Fade Away. (…) The Silent Divine has expanded on their sound in every direction, adding life into a genre that has become watered down by carbon copies. The Silent Divine has proved that they are a force to be reckoned with, as their music appeals to metal fans and non-metal fans alike.

All In On Nothing is a free download from Bandcamp.

And More…

Enjoyed one of these albums? Pay it back and share this article or the albums you liked. If you really appreciated a particular album, please donate to the respective artist, so they can continue releasing great music.

New to Sound Sunday? Past editions of Sound Sunday are available here.

Are you using ifttt? Check out these recipes for receiving notifications of new Sound Sunday releases to GTalk and Pushover for mobile devices. Thank you @Vampie!

Feel free to get in touch with me [tina at makeuseof dot com] to share free material, suggestions, and feedback or simply add your comments below.

The post The Amalgamation of Rock, Punk, Metal & Hardcore [Sound Sunday] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

This is a HUGE topic especially considering the international scope of MakeUseOf.com’s readership. I can’t possibly cover all the legal aspects, both criminal and civil, of anything for every country that our readers come from. My focus will be mostly on Canada and the United States, since that is where my familiarity lies. You will probably find that in the Commonwealth countries the laws are similar to Canada.

Criminal Law

What does illegal mean? That seems like a simple enough term, yet people use it in ways that have nothing to do with the meaning. For an activity to be illegal there has to be a law that prohibits the activity. If it’s just a recommendation or even a regulation against it, it isn’t really illegal. If we’re talking about criminal law, then no, I have not found a criminal code that lists selling second-hand software as illegal, specifically.

That being said, a criminal court might find you in breach of a copyright law. I’m not sure exactly how, or if that’s reasonable, but courts can make some pretty out there rulings when it comes to copyright law. I went through the Digital Media Copyright Act and the World Intellectual Property Organizations recommendations. I didn’t find anything explicitly against selling second-hand software. I didn’t even find anything remotely associated to second-hand software sales.

Case Law

I also searched through two well-known Intellectual Property Law websites, Benedict.com and The Intellectual Property Server. My searches on selling second-hand software came up with inconclusive results as well.

In the European Union, apparently it is legal to sell licenses of software you are no longer using. In 2012, Oracle tried to sue UsedSoft for selling licenses to its enterprise database software. C/Net reports:

The rule applies to both physical media and copies of the software downloaded over the Web, according to the court.

The ruling applies to both downloaded software and copies of software on removable media. What does that mean? I can sell you the license and let you download the software, say, from my FTP site. But only in the European Union for certain.

The United States of America seems to have a somewhat more oppressive take on the sale of second hand or used software. They have something called the First Sale Doctrine when it comes to software.  To quote Wired magazine:

The first-sale doctrine is an affirmative defense to copyright infringement that allows legitimate owners of copies of copyrighted works to resell those copies. That defense, the court said, is “unavailable to those who are only licensed to use their copies of copyrighted works.”

What does that mean in plain English? It means, when it comes to software or anything carrying a license to use, no one has the right to sell that license again once they’ve bought it. How does that work for retailers? I don’t know.

This case was a result of a man trying to sell used copies of Autodesk software on eBay. eBay, in my opinion and to their credit, fought this ruling along with the American Library Association. Can you imagine buying a book and not being able to resell it?

The court said that when you buy a book you buy the book – you’re not just buying a license to read the book. Hmm. How does that work for eBooks? The appeals court sidestepped that issue by passing it off to Congress, saying that Congress can change copyright laws, “if it deems these or other policy considerations … require a different approach.”

What if you buy it in the U.S.A. and want to sell it in the E.U.? Who knows?

End User License Agreements

Then there are the End User License Agreements (EULA). EULA’s are a form of contract law. Basically you are giving the software company consideration, your money, for their consideration – the right to use their software. Something of value has to transfer from both parties for a contract to be a contract. Most EULA’s have not been tested in civil courts so it can’t really be said what a EULA can and can’t do. At least not until you are in court with the software company. My guess is they have better lawyers than you and more money and time to throw at the case, so you’ll probably lose.

Adobe has this answer to the question, “Once I’ve upgraded, can I use, sell, or transfer the previous versions of the software?”

No. Purchasing an upgrade to your product extends your existing license to cover the new version of Adobe software. It does not provide you with two separate licenses for the old version and the new version. For example, if you upgrade from Adobe Acrobat 6 to Acrobat 7, you cannot sell Acrobat 6 to someone else.

If you purchase a new license, rather than upgrade your old software, you are permitted to transfer your old license. That is, as long as you did not purchase the original license with a volume licensing arrangement.

Clear as mud, right? Let’s see what Microsoft has to say on the issue. After over an hour of trying to navigate the Microsoft site to find the EULA for the most recent version of Office, I couldn’t find the EULA. So I took a look at the EULA for my copy of Office 2010. Here’s what I found:

I don’t know where to look from here. But I think they are trying to say they own the software and all I can do is use it. You might be amazed what is actually in some of these EULA’s. Read our article, 10 Ridiculous EULA Clauses That You May Have Already Agreed To, for some laughs and shocks.

Digital Rights Management

In case there is any confusion about who owns the contents of whatever medium it is that you are using, many companies have come up with something called Digital Rights Management (DRM) methods. If you want to get a deeper view of what DRM is, check out the article, What Is DRM & Why Does It Exist If It’s So Evil?

Basically, producers of content try to find a way to make sure that you don’t loan, rent, give, or sell their product by making it fail if you do. I’m not sure how this can be legal if there are used CD and record stores around. But it exists.

The Take Away

Is selling second hand software illegal? I don’t know. I don’t think anyone really knows. It appears like there are a lot of opinions and desires out there, but it also seems that nothing gets answered for certain until the case goes to the courts. That is a really expensive, embarrassing, and time consuming process. Make the best decision that you can. Contact the maker of the software and ask them if you’re really concerned and don’t understand. That’s about all I can suggest.

Image Credit: Criminal Court via gt8073a at Flickr, Gavel and Book via Shutterstock, EULA’s via DonkeyHotey at Flickr, DRM CD via rebopper at Flickr,

The post Is Buying Second-Hand Software Legal? appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Most people approach Wikipedia as they approach Google: they head there with a search term already in mind. But that approach may mean you miss out on much of what Wikipedia has to offer. It boasts entries that are obscure, odd, offbeat, and unlikely to be seen by more than a handful of people. Welcome to the world of weird Wikipedia.

What follows is a list of six people with their own Wikipedia entries. They have been chosen for being interesting, intriguing, and (relatively) important. You may well have heard of some of these people, but I doubt you’ll have heard of them all. Each one has a fascinating background and will likely lead you further down the Wikipedia rabbit-hole.

John Titor

John Titor is the name of a man claiming to be a time traveller from the future. Titor posted to Internet forums at the beginning of the millenium, outlining future events from the year 2000 to the year 2036, which is the time he claims to have travelled from.

Titor detailed the state of affairs in his timeline, outlined the basic elements of his time machine, and made predictions for the coming years. Those predictions were not accurate, leading many to totally trash the claims. But it’s a fascinating story nonetheless.

Stanislav Petrov

Stanislav Petrov is someone humanity should collectively thank. Without him it’s very possible that none of us would be alive today. This is due to Petrov preventing a possible nuclear war by correctly judging that the satellite warning system of the Soviet Air Defence Forces was malfunctioning.

In 1983, Petrov decided not to report an incoming missile launched from the U.S. to his superiors, correctly judging that the report was erroneous. Had he not made this judgment call a missile could have been launched on the U.S. in retaliation, and an all-out nuclear war would have begun.

Natasha Demkina

Natasha Demkina is a rare breed, as she has the ability to see inside the bodies of other people. In other words she possesses X-ray vision that allows her to diagnose people with illnesses. This is all just alleged, of course, but interestingly no one has been able to disprove her claims.

Demkina’s amazing ability manifested when she was around 10-years-old, and people have been seeking out her help ever since. Demkina has travelled around the world demonstrating her extraordinary ability, but now works at the Center of Special Diagnostics of the Natalya Demkina (TSSD).

Roy Sullivan

Roy Sullivan is either the luckiest man who ever lived or the unluckiest man who ever lived, depending on your point of view. Being struck by lightning on seven separate occasions is insanely unlucky, but he survived them all without any serious injury, which is amazing good luck.

Rather unsurprisingly this makes Sullivan the holder of the Guinness World Records record for the most lightning strikes, with his occupation as a U.S. park ranger in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia contributing greatly. In an ironic final twist Sullivan ended up taking his own life at the age of 71.

Wolfe+585, Senior

Wolfe+585, Senior is otherwise known as Hubert Blaine Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff, Sr. But this is just a shortened version of his full name… Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Apollo Wolfe­schlegelstein­hausenberger­dorffvoraltern­waren­gewissenhaft­schaferswessen­schafewaren­wohlgepflege­und­sorgfaltigkeit­beschutzen­von­angreifen­durch­ihrraubgierigfeinde­welche­voraltern­zwolftausend­jahres­vorandieerscheinen­wander­ersteer­dem­enschderraumschiff­gebrauchlicht­als­sein­ursprung­von­kraftgestart­sein­lange­fahrt­hinzwischen­sternartigraum­auf­der­suchenach­diestern­welche­gehabt­bewohnbar­planeten­kreise­drehen­sich­und­wohin­der­neurasse­von­verstandigmen­schlichkeit­konnte­fortplanzen­und­sicher­freuen­anlebens­langlich­freude­und­ruhe­mit­nicht­ein­furcht­vor­angreifen­von­anderer­intelligent­geschopfs­von­hinzwischen­sternartigraum, Senior.

This is, as you may have guessed, the longest personal name ever recorded, comprising of 746 letters. Wolfe+585, Senior was a German immigrant to the U.S., where he became a typesetter. He died in 1985, and is likely to forever be the record holder as the category no longer exists.

Guy Goma

Guy Goma is an ordinary man. In fact, he may be just about the most ordinary man you have ever read about online. However, he gained international fame when he was accidently interviewed on BBC News after being mistaken for someone else. The video of the incident is embedded below for your viewing pleasure.

Goma was a Congolese business studies graduate who had applied for a job in the IT department of the BBC. While waiting to be interviewed for the position he was wrongly identified as technology expert Guy Kewney and interviewed live on air about the court case between Apple Computer and Apple Corps. His reaction to the mix-up was priceless.

Conclusions

I don’t know about you but I feel thoroughly enlightened after learning (more) about six people who I was previously either unaware of or only vaguely familiar with. And if you, like me, clicked on some of the links spread liberally throughout the Wikipedia entries for these people then you’re still discovering new things as we speak.

These are just six of the amazing people whose lives are outlined on Wikipedia, but there are many more. If you have your own to share with the rest of the MakeUseOf readership then please leave a link and related response in the comments section below.

The post Wacky Wiki: 6 Fascinating People On Wikipedia appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Note that name your price albums can be downloaded for free by entering 0 in the price field. That said, we strongly recommend you to donate a few dollars for music you enjoy!

You are welcome to submit your music, send suggestions with free albums you have discovered, or request genres I haven’t covered in a while. For all Sound Sunday related inquiries, please contact Tina [tina at makeuseof dot com].

EP: Frigid – Dust & Debris

Genre: alternative, indie, blues

Frigid is the solo project of Joffrey Dumas. The artist from Montréal writes on his Facebook profile: I was dead but I’m back to life… Under my spell the world is alright!

Dust & Debris is a free download from Bandcamp.

Dirtwire – Selftitled

Genre: electronic, americana, blues

From their Bandcamp profile: David Satori and Evan Fraser met at California Institute of the Arts where they studied World Music and Composition. There they formed The Funnies (psychedelic liquid space funk) then after moving to the SF Bay Area, Evan joined Hamsa Lila (hypnotic world groove) and Stellamara (Eastern European) while David helped form Beats Antique, (electronic) & it became the force that it is… Now Dirtwire!

Dirtwire is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

The Blue Stones – How’s That Sound?

Genre: alternative, blues, rock, soul, garage rock, psychedelic rock

From their Bandcamp profile: Hailing from Windsor, Ontario, The Blue Stones duo provide an edgy blues rock sound with accompanying alternative rock accents. The duo have been featured at Canadian Music Week; NXNE; FAM Fest; Shores of Erie Winefest and Orangeville Blues & Jazz Fest. In the last year, they’ve opened for acts such as The Stone Foxes, Current Swell, Justin Nozuka, Fitz and The Tantrums, Joel Plaskett and more.

How’s That Sound? is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Thot – Remixed by

Genre: alterantive, ambient, industrial, electro, rock, post rock

From thot’s Bandcamp profile: Spreading his universe with protagonists such as electrical thistles, speaking hills or mute windmills, Thot cleverly mixes rock and electronic music, industrial and acoustics sounds, freeing itself from any codes and turning stages upside down.

Remixed by is a free download from Bandcamp.

Lendrone – UNO

Genre: experimental, instrumental, synthesizer, rock

Lendrone are Jorge, Andrés, and Juan from A Coruña, Spain. UNO is their debut album, which was prefaced with a selftitled EP, also available from Bandcamp.

UNO is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Rhett Price (w/ Josh Knowles) – Rhett & Josh

Genre: instrumental, pop, rock

From his Facebook profile: I’m Rhett. I play violin and I have HUGE dreams. Rhett and Josh have been busking at the Boston Subway. They have built a following with their violin interpretations of popular music.

Rhett & Josh is a free download from Bandcamp.

Black Chamber – Selftitled

Genre: electronic, instrumental, jazz, jazzy hip hop

From their Facebook page: Black Chamber is a Portland, Oregon-based trio playing music that blends the improvisational sounds of modal jazz with the moods and rhythms of downtempo electronica.

Black Chamber is a name your price download from Bandcamp or free from MediaFire.

EP: Child Actor – Partner

Genre: indie, electronic, pop, r&b

Child Actor is an American indie duo formed in 2012.

Partner is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Mean Deep – Selftitled

Genre: acoustic, indie, electronic, pop, rap

From Mean Deep’s Bandcamp profile: Classically trained sarod & tabla player, palm-wine guitarist, singer, beat maker, percussionist, multi-instrumentalist, producer.

Mean Deep is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

EP: Aural Method – Let Us Face the Evening Skies with Child-Like Eyes

Genre: ambient, inspirational, soundscape, post-rock

From his Facebook profile: My name is Matthew. I play guitar for a living. This is my solo project. I write (or at least direct) all the music you will hear from it. I get friends to play the instruments I can’t.

Let Us Face the Evening Skies with Child-Like Eyes is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

GOLD – Rebirth

Genre: electronic, ambient, synth

From their Facebook profile: Properly claiming a 2012 genesis, the Los Angeles based LEGION OF DOOM collective draws a diverse group of producers closer together with a single creative goal. Spearheaded by founder and prolific musician GOLD, the group cum label began as an umbrella for fellow crafters ATLAS, RVW KOLLVGE, VVDS and Artificial Intelligence to rally under before quickly expanding to encompass a total of 15 members.

Rebirth is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

And More…

Enjoyed one of these albums? Pay it back and share this article or the albums you liked. If you really appreciated a particular album, please donate to the respective artist, so they can continue releasing great music.

New to Sound Sunday? Past editions of Sound Sunday are available here.

Are you using ifttt? Check out these recipes for receiving notifications of new Sound Sunday releases to GTalk and Pushover for mobile devices. Thank you @Vampie!

Feel free to get in touch with me [tina at makeuseof dot com] to share free material, suggestions, and feedback or simply add your comments below.

The post Free Music Buffet: Pick Your Favorite Albums & EPs [Sound Sunday] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

However, before you invest in external speakers, try some quick & easy DIY solutions to significantly improve the sound your mobile produces. These super simple hacks make do with basic household items. Imagine your friends faces when you produce some ace sound with nothing but a salad bowl.

Method

To compare the sound, I first built all DIY speakers I was going to test and marked a spot on the table where I would set them up, with the original speaker being the reference point. The speaker of the Samsung Galaxy Note II sits in the bottom left on the backside of the phone.

I compared sound volume and quality. Quality is described as objectively as possible, but obviously comes down to personal taste. As does the music selection I used.

To gauge the volume, I placed a sound level meter (Android app) at a distance of about 1m and around 30cm above table level. The speaker level of my Samsung Galaxy Note II was set to around 75%. The reference point for measuring the volume is at 2:40 in the song Sun by Two Door Cinema Club. With the phone lying flat on the table and the speaker pointing upwards, the reference volume at this point of the song was 68 dB.

Bowl

The most simple DIY smartphone speaker alternative is a plain bowl. Don’t underestimate the size and material of the bowl itself. I tested several different ones, including a bamboo and a plastic salad bowl, as well as smaller ceramic and metal bowls.

The winner in terms of volume was the medium-sized metal bowl, which was 5 dB louder. Note that amplification increases when the phone speaker faces the bottom of the bowl.

The best quality was produced by the larger bamboo bowl. Compared to the plain speaker, the sound was richer and had gained significant depth. It’s the best quality sound of all DIY speaker alternatives tested.

Summary

Sound Volume: 73 dB (+5 dB)
Sound Quality: richer and significantly more depth

Alternatives: Other vessels you could try are a large glass or vase or maybe a bucket.

Inspiration: Bowl as iPhone Speaker, Glass as Smartphone Speaker

Rolled Up Magazine

This was the most difficult to produce speaker. I used a cutter knife to carve out the slit for the phone. The result was disappointing, both in terms of volume and quality. The gain was only 3 dB, even when turning the opening towards the sound level meter. The quality is definitely much better than the phone lying flat on the table, but it the music sounded slightly muffled, as if listening to loud music through closed doors.

…

Summary

Sound Volume: 71 dB (+3)
Sound Quality: improved, but slightly muffled

Alternatives: Instead of a magazine, you could also take a toilet paper roll or a plastic pipe.

Inspiration: CocaCola

Toilet Paper Roll & Cups

Similar to the magazine speaker, but slightly enhanced is the toilet paper roll with plastic cups on either side. When placed in the right direction, those were clearly the loudest DIY speakers, even though I used very small and thin cups. I imagine the result will be even more impressive when using larger and more sturdy cups. This will probably also improve the quality. The sound was rather flat, with very little depth.

Sound Volume: 72dB / 76 dB (+4 / +8)
Sound Quality: improved, but very flat

Alternatives: Use a longer paper roll and bigger cups for a better quality sound.

Inspiration: Wildfire Creative DIY Smartphone Speakers

Potato Chips Tube

This is definitely the most ridiculously looking smartphone speaker design. To stabilize the tube, I cut off two rings from a toilet paper roll, taped them to the bottom of the tube, and inserted a pencil on either side. Worked much better for me than taping paper clips to either side.

Despite looking and smelling very unique, this was the best package. It wasn’t the loudest speaker or the one with the best quality sound, but it was fairly loud and produced a fairly good sound. And it wasn’t just louder, but actually sounded better without stuffing in toilet paper. Although you could argue that the music gains more of a club sound with the extra layers of fabric reflecting the sound.

Sound Volume: 70 / 74 dB (+2 / +6)
Sound Quality: richer, more depth

Alternatives: You can use any other paper roll or pipe, just seal off one end.

Inspiration: Mashable DIY Pringes Speakers

More DIY Speakers

If you search around a little, you will find many more DIY speakers and variations of the above. One of the most simple ones that only requires a toilet paper roll wasn’t doable with my huge phone. However, you could just roll a sufficiently large piece of paper or cardboard into a horn shape. Others are designed for the iPhone, like the Whirlwind foldable horn speaker or the iPhone SoundFrame. To create stereo sound, you could channel your headphones into a pair of cups.

Verdict

It doesn’t take much to improve the volume and quality of your smartphone speaker sound. However, cheap household items obviously won’t be as good as a set of proper speakers. Nevertheless, testing various DIY speakers is a cool project to figure out what sound you like best.

Have you tried any of those DIQ speakers and which one sounded best to you?

Image credits: Sound Speaker via Shutterstock

The post Making Your Own Smartphone Speakers – MakeUseOf Tests appeared first on MakeUseOf.

The fact is that “geek” has become a catch-all term for a large swathe of people, so whether you’re into video games, technology, comic books, anime, science, computers, the Internet, RPGs, or a host of other things, you’re a geek. And you should be proud of being a geek.

One way you can exhibit your pride in being a geek is to attend conventions. By doing so you’re mixing with your fellow geeks, refusing to hide behind the curtains for fear of being shunned by society. Conventions have grown in number and popularity since geeks entered the mainstream, and there are now plenty of opportunities to attend one or two (or eight) throughout the year.

What follows is a list of geek conventions you should try to attend before you shuffle off this mortal coil. You owe it to yourself and you owe it to all of geekdom. We’ll be keeping tabs on you, and if you fail to attend one of these conventions you may just lose your geek privileges.

E3 Expo

Who: Gamers, game industry insiders, developers, and publishers.
What: Exhibition halls and meeting areas full of new and upcoming video games.
Where: Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles.
When: Late May to early June.
Why: Attendance of E3 is rather exclusive, so you know you’ve arrived when you’re invited.

San Diego Comic-Con

Who: Comic book fans, writers, and artists, as well as actors and cosplayers.
What: Panels, seminars, workshops, and cosplay costume contests will keep you busy.
Where: Primarily the San Diego Convention Center, San Diego.
When: Middle to late July.
Why: It’s been running since 1970, it’s famous, and you’re likely to bump into celebrities.

Dragon*Con

Who: Fans of sci-fi, fantasy, comic books, anime, and/or Asian cinema.
What: The usual panels, seminars, and workshops, plus a parade and musical guests.
Where: Multiple hotels in downtown Atlanta, Georgia.
When: Late August to early September.
Why: All geeks are welcome, making this a veritable smorgasbord of nerdiness.

WonderCon

Who: Comic book and sci-fi fans with a penchant for dressing up.
What: Rare comic book/action figure trading, plus preview screenings of comic book movies.
Where: The Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, California.
When: Late March.
Why: To buy a coveted first edition comic or get something signed by one of your idols.

PAX Prime

Who: The Penny Arcade Expo welcomes console, PC, & tabletop gamers, one and all.
What: Panels from industry leaders, booths for indie developers, and lots of tournaments.
Where: Prime is held in Seattle, while East is held in Boston, Massachusetts.
When: There are several PAX conventions; Prime is held in late August or early September.
Why: PAX celebrates gamers and gaming culture, so you’ll feel like you’re coming home.

Penguicon

Who: Mainly Linux users who are active in their communities, with room for sci-fi fans as well.
What: An anime room, folk musicians playing songs from science fiction, live-action RPGs.
Where: Auburn Hills Marriott Pontiac at Centerpoint, Pontiac, Michigan.
When: Late April into early May.
Why: To be part of a small but eclectic mix of open-source advocates (and nerds).

Gamescom

Who: Gamers eager to discover what they’ll be playing in the months and years to come.
What: Stands, booths, and keynote speeches from the biggest developers & publishers.
Where: The Cologne Trade Fair (Koelnmesse) in Cologne, Germany.
When: Middle to late August.
Why: To see hundreds of new games on display outside of North America (which is rare).

Consumer Electronics Show

Who: Industry insiders, investors, and journalists seeking out the next big thing.
What: A huge collection of exhibitions showing off the latest gadgets, products, and services.
Where: The Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada.
When: Each and every January.
Why: As CES isn’t open to the public the challenge of attending is reason enough to try.

Conclusions

These are just eight of the many geek conventions held in North America and beyond every year. There are conventions dedicated to particular television shows and movies (such as Star Trek and Star Wars), conventions dedicated to individual games (such as Quake) and even hacking. Whatever your niche may be, there is a convention out there just waiting for you to attend.

Have you attended any of the geek conventions mentioned in this article? Did the experience live up to expectation? Are there any other conventions for geeks you think should have made the list? Has this article made you more likely to attend a convention in the future? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Maythee Anegboonlap, Chase N., Parka 81, Brookage, SolGrundy, rnicoll, nixternal, egrenouille, Ben Freedman

The post 8 Geek Conventions You Should Attend At Least Once, If Not Every Year appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Note that name your price albums can be downloaded for free by entering 0 in the price field. That said, we strongly recommend you to donate a few dollars for music you enjoy!

You are welcome to submit your music, send suggestions with free albums you have discovered, or request genres I haven’t covered in a while. For all Sound Sunday related inquiries, please contact Tina [tina at makeuseof dot com].

EP: Chase Moore – Shaken Not Stirred – A Beat Tape Of 007 Flips

Genre: beat tape, cover, hip hop, rap

From his Bandcamp profile: Chase Moore is an artist/producer/engineer/battle MC from Sacramento, CA and originally born in Melbourne, Australia. He’s 1/3rd of production team Hippie Sabotage and credits include: Slug of Atmosphere, Raekwon, Rock from Heltah Skeltah, Mistah FAB, Glasses Malone, Papoose, Kid Vishis & more.

Shaken Not Stirred – A Beat Tape Of 007 Flips is a free download from Bandcamp.

BoomBaptist – The Lost Files Vol. 1

Genre: beat, electronic, instrumental, hip hop, trap

From the album page: This is a collection of beats created on my first MPC from 2003-2005. It is the first of a four-part series that progresses through time up until the release of my beat tape in 2009. It is also a thank you for the overwhelming support I have recieved up to this point.

The Lost Files Vol. 1 is a free download from Bandcamp.

EP: The Grammar Club – Bioavailable

Genre: alternative, nerdcore, hip hop, rap

The Grammar Club are Shael Riley from New York and Ty Guenley from Washington. Bioavailable is published under a Creative Commons noncommercial, share-alike license, to be used in non-commercial projects. The band also provided an instrumental version of the album.

Bioavailable is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

MaG – freedom.

Genre: alternative, hip hop, soul, r&b, lyrical, rap

MaG has been around. The rapper from the Bronx toured venues across the country and was featured on BBC Radio and several popular hip hop outlets. This present album is hosted by Mick Boogie and sponsored by RCRDLBL.com. If you enjoy freedom., please share it and help MaG spread his message of hip hop and soul music.

freedom. is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

EP: Milo – Milo takes Baths

Genre: indie, hip hop, computerized soul, folk, glitch hop, rap

From his Bandcamp profie: I write songs for kids who think Spock > Kirk. Or kids who know what I was just referencing.

Milo takes Baths is a free download from Bandcamp.

shamik – Future Passed

Genre: electronic, indie, hip hop, lyrical, pop

From the album page: I have been guilty of getting caught up in my own world without seeing how I can improve. I have thought of dreams and held back because I originally thought they were unattainable. Future Passed represents how I took a step out of trying to fit in and a step into fitting in with my own essence. I hope it resonates with you in some way, or you find inspirations to create something new for yourself. It’s been a labour of love, and it’s only fitting that we give it to you for free. Thank you.

Future Passed is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

LMNO – Overtime

Genre: indie, hip hop

From his Facebook page: Hailing from Long Beach, California, LMNO has emerged as one of the most prolific artists in music today. Introduced to hip-hop in the early ‘80s, LMNO was a firsthand witness to the N.W.A legacy and birth of west coast hip-hop. (…) LMNO continues his daily grind at the studio, having added to his impressive catalog over a hundred songs in just the past two years. With a dedicated fan-base that spans Asia, Europe, and the Americas, LMNO’s conscientious sound influences and characterizes our global music community. He has never shied away from his duties as an artist to speak his mind and record music that listeners react to intellectually, emotionally, and loyally.

Overtime is a free download from Bandcamp.

ProperLyrics – Broken Patterns

Genre: independent, instrumental, hip hop, rap

From the album page: ProperLyrics has a new mix tape entitled “Broken Patterns”. This mix tape has been cooked up for the real hip hop heads that loves music that inspires a generation.

Broken Patterns is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

EP: Kublakai – Lights for the Dark Nights

Genre: independent, hip hop, rock, jazz, rap

From the album page: Kublakai’s EP shedding light on the dark. Continuing his tradition of fun, funny, serious and thought-provoking. This time though, he spends more time speaking on matters of the heart.

Lights for the Dark Nights is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Cookie Monster – GOOD GALAXY II

Genre: alternative, instrumental, ambient, hip hop, soul, rap

From his Bandcamp profile: Cookie Monster Galaxy, a Parisian 20 year-old who composes soulful instrumental hip-hop beats on his own. At the age of 17 years Cookie Monster taught himself how to play piano and at the age of 19 years he decide to create his own album.

GOOD GALAXY II is a free download from Bandcamp.

good neighbour – 13.0.0.0.0

Genre: experimental, beats, folk, hip hop

Artist from Belgrade, Serbia with some awesome beats.

13.0.0.0.0 is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

mikedecline – ALL FALL/miniluv

Genre: electronic, beats, instrumental, samples, hip hop

More great music from my favorite city in the world.

ALL FALL/miniluv is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Keor Meteor – Sociology

Genre: instrumental, beats, hip hop, sampling

From his Bandcamp profile: Currently making plenty noise at Bonafide towers is 27 year old Parisian beatmaker Keor Meteor. Making beats since 2005, the funky Frenchman has not only adopted some of the soul-slicing style of Madlib, Dilla and Premo but also their prolific release rate.

Sociology is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

EP: Pawcut – The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of

Genre: instrumental, ambient, downtempo, beats, hip hop, triphop

Simplicity in the form of music. Simple beats from Germany.

The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of is a free download from Bandcamp.

King Henry – X

Genre: beat tape, hip hop

From his Bandcamp profile: The New Mexico native gathers influence from Madlib to Jamie xx, giving King Henry a style that is constantly changing to encapsulate the current musical trends, while still maintaining his signature sound. From sample based thrift shop hip hop, to big room sound Top 40 R&B and pop, his inattention to one specific style is what fuels his versatility as a producer.

X is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

And More…

Enjoyed one of these albums? Pay it back and share this article or the albums you liked. If you really appreciated a particular album, please donate to the respective artist, so they can continue releasing great music.

New to Sound Sunday? Past editions of Sound Sunday are available here.

Are you using ifttt? Check out these recipes for receiving notifications of new Sound Sunday releases to GTalk and Pushover for mobile devices. Thank you @Vampie!

Feel free to get in touch with me [tina at makeuseof dot com] to share free material, suggestions, and feedback or simply add your comments below.

The post 15 Free MP3 Albums & EPs: Hip Hop for the Masses [Sound Sunday] appeared first on MakeUseOf.