Photo of the Week: I took this photo of Red Sox on the gates of Fenway Park while visiting Boston this weekend
for TECH cocktail Boston.
Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 09.09.2007
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
My iTunes Data Widgets Now Sharable
iTunes has been offering personalized recommendations within the iTunes application for quite sometime and I have found them to be very accurate and helpful. I have often discovered new songs that I like within the recommendations and downloading them quickly for instant gratification. iTunes has started to role out syndication of personalized music data as My iTunes Widgets, making it easy to share your music interests.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
One Llama For 'Fun' Music Discovery
One Llama, a product of six employee Champaign, Illinois-based startup One Llama Media, leverages audio analysis, search and discovery systems to offer a place for music lovers to discover, listen, share and buy new music. Though in the music discovery category, One Llama differs from Last.fm, Pandora and MyStrands by focusing more on search result technology rather than community aspects of music discovery.
One Llama's users interface design is fun and light. Users can search for new music by song or artist and search results are returned in a flashy cluster experience (shown in the screen-shot below) that reminds me of Visual Thesaurus or Quintura.
Users can create playlists on their own or One Llama will create a playlist with recommended songs that are similar to a song or songs you have identified. One Llama created a quick list of recommended songs based off of one song I liked. I was then given the option to share, save or buy these tracks or the playlist. I have shared the list below as an embeddable widget but you can also share it directly to Facebook.
If you like a song you can purchase is on iTunes or Amazon. One Llama also offers an iTunes plug-in which links the web to your desktop music making it even easier to find and purchase the songs you just discovered on One Llama.
In talking with Director of Product Development, Amit Sudharshan, a recent graduate of University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, he explained that:
"One Llama believes finding music should be a 'fun' experience that people should be able to discover, enjoy and share."
As a music lover myself, I would have to agree. Currently, One Llama uses collaborative filtering to offer up song and playlist recommendations but Amit mentioned that audio signal extraction technology is coming very soon. This will enable One Llama to offer music search technology which uses collaborative filtering to recommend songs that people usually play together as well as signal extraction technology to recommend songs that sound alike. One Llama recently partnered with EMI and APM to power their search and find songs that "sound like" other songs within the APM library.
Sticking with it's 'fun' mission, One Llama shows its lighter side by allowing users the ability to personalize their llama avatar. My llama avatar is shown to the right.
Bottom-line: One Llama offers an innovative music search and discovery technology that is fun and easy to use. I had fun using One Llama and I think you will too.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
LinkedIn Going Open?, Yahoo Gets New CEO, Supernova 2007 Wrap, Fox Chooses Brightcove, MyStrands Cashes In, E-Learning 101 & Human Role In Search
Photo of the Week: I checked out the view from Vista Point and snapped this photo while in San Francisco this weekend.
Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 06.24.07
LinkedIn Opening Platform
AllFacebook.com reports a rumor that LinkedIn is considering opening their platform to developers.
The role of humans in Google search
Matt Cutts talks about the role of people in Google search.
What's Wrong with Web Work?
Obvious drawbacks of web work that we don't always mention.
Welcome Jerry, Yahoo's new CEO!
Bradley Horowitz gives his perspective on the new Yahoo CEO.
Chumby: One Year Later
It was announced a year ago at Foo camp, and the company gave out about 500 of the first generation devices. What is Chumby doing a year later?
What happened at Supernova? (for those of us who weren't there)
Jeremiah Owyang has aggregated some of the Supernova happenings from the past week for those that might have missed it.
e-learning 2.0: All You Need To Know
An overview of e-learning 2.0, including the leading web apps and sites in this niche, and predictions for its future.
Chris Pirillo on OPML
What is OPML? The simplest explanation is that it's a bundle of RSS feeds that can be ported into and out of an RSS reader.
Best Slideshows Creator I've ever Tried
Vuvox is an online service that can enable you create personal, collaborative & emotive slideshows using your own digital media to include video, photos, music and text.
Fox Picks BrightCove For Online Video
Fox Entertainment Group have announced the selection of online video provider Brightcove as the single online distributor of Fox network television programs.
MyStrands Raises $25M in Series B Funding
MyStrands, the social recommendation music site, has raised $25 million in Series B funding.
Startup Mixology: Tech Cocktail's Guide To Building, Growing & Celebrating Startup Success by Frank Gruber
