OurielOhayon

NO MORE CDS GET THEM DIGITIZED!

 

It has been a while i was thinking about this (good) idea and i recently discovered that a US company dmp3 is providing it.

Imagine you have about 300cds at home. You have just bought the brand new Ipod. You wish to through in it all that music in digital format; in theory it is very easy : you just have to digitize every single disc and then transfer it from your computer to your Ipod. You can do that yourself of course using one of the many mp3 converter programs (like DB poweramp): it will take you about 48 hours non stop (300*10 min/CD = 48h) non including the transfer time from your computer to your mp3 player (even at usb2 speed or firewire add at least between 4 to 5 hours)

And this is where the service provided by dmp3 starts to be relevant:

• they come home, take your cds,
• digitize them (including the full tags of the album and songs so you know what you are listening)
• even provide you with a fully organized library for your computer.
• Finally they provide them to you in a digital format either on DVD or in your Ipod directly.

Saving time and hassles. Cost: all included about 1$/CD (10% of your CD). Is it worth? personnally i think so: having started to digitize my own library i can assure you it is really a nightmare when you have a lot of CDs.

See how it works here. Discovered also though Darrenbarefoot’ blog you can also try Ripdigital competing service

The problem is that those services are only available in US. Logistics is the limit of that brand new service.

My idea was to launch a similar and improved service in Europe through a franchise model in partnership with distribution network. I believe in the relevancy of that service, legal issues are quite limited and market is not small. Anyone tempted?

 

155 000 EUROS FOR THAT??!!!

I just read that someone just purchased the original picture of the “Baiser de l hotel de Ville” by Robert Doisneau for the sum of 155 000 EUROS on a private bid yesterday (the buyer kept privacy,…). It is either too much or not enough.

This worlwide-famous picture originally taken in 1950 is seen everywhere in nearly every house or magazine review: since its publication as a poster it was sold according to TF1 to more than 410,000 copies!

So much so that i believe it lost its original charm and magic. It has become a “product”. Between us you can buy a very nice copy for less than a 100 buck. And i believe it is more than enough for a picture that has become so “common”

Now if you really really like this picture and if you have money aside don t you think that 155k euros is a low price compared to its notoriety. Imagine you will be the owner of the maybe most famous picture in the world for less than 10% of the price of a good Van Gogh! I believe someone made a very very good deal (or a very bad one). If you had that money would you bid for more?

ITALY AND EUROPE

Discover why italians are not like any other europeans here

WILL ACCOONA REVOLUTIONNIZE SEARCH?

Just read about ACCOONA a new web search company that claims will revolutionnize the way we search things over the web. I must say that the frame is impressive: massive round tables, CEO was former COMPAQ CEO, press conference will bill clinton himself (how did they get him?) complementing the invention, non disclosed but numerous distribution partnership worldwide. So what does it bring on the table:

• Artificial intelligence search: meaning that the search engine understands your query and will not limit the results to the keywords you typed. He will suggest also results according to the meaning of the search also
• Super Target: you will be able to give more importance to one word in your request meaning that the results will be more focused on the word that has more importance than another in a specific request

• Quick Profile: It will mix the web results with the Dun and Bradstreet database on millions of companies meaning that if you look to buy for something in the list results you will get all the relevant contact details and profile of the resseller for the product your are searching (website, phone, adress,….)

So is that really going to change things? of course it is too early to say. Accoona makes a little noise about itself (let me say in a kinda arrogant way also). But the company brings real innovation here and hopefullly it will help us knowing soon if we are not missing something important in all the page results we never look at in Google or Yahoo.

 

EVENT: NEW KEITH JARRETT ALBUM

 

Those who love jazz cannot ignore the pianist Keith Jarrett. Each of his new albums are an event in itself. A new solo album “Radiance” has been announced to be released within a month. Composed of 2 cds and 17 totally improvised pieces it has been recorded in a live session in Osaka and Tokyo (Japan). I managed to find a pre-review of this unreleased yet but probably wonderful masterpiece. No pre-release is available yet to listen. But if someone has found something please share…

[update 29/05/05]

I have listened to it several times now and i may express a few impressions. What can i say? When you listen a Keith Jarrett improvisation you can expect 3 kinds of patterns: either pure free improvisation with no melody and harmony “logic”, or ryhtmic bass based hypnotic tunes, or elegiac pieces. In this disc you find all of them. Of course i have a preference for the 3rd kind of tunes which i must say are very beautifull (disc 1 part 3/8 disc 2 part 13/16). But the others are worth even though it is not easy music. 

2 sets of discs totally improvised: be patient, it is not easy to appreciate at the first listenning. Jarrett requires a high level of concentration to be rightly perceived. If you make the effort, you will feel something strange and close. The title? among the dark pieces you will find ray of lights. Like jarrett said: each piece was influenced by the previous one. Radiance is what you find out of darkness.

DON T UNDERSTAND ITALIAN WHO SPEAK ENGLISH?

me neither. discover why here.

PHONE OR PDA? GET 2 in 1

 

If i had to choose just one device i think i would go for the O2 Xda ii mini. I am personnaly tired to have on me always 2 devices (pda + phone ) and not te be able to browse my mail when i want.

Xda min is a masterpiece: a pda + a phone with all the necessary gadgets of today (bluetooth, GPRS, camera, synchronization with outlook, internet browsing). It has an amazing design and is very small. Check out the features, it is really outstanding. Very hard to find yet in europe, and the price is not so friendly (about 800USD) but for sure will drop down soon…

FUNNY

I usually don t read jokes but this one is quite good! Thanks to my friend Jaime

Sadly, Tony was born without ears, and though he proved to be successful in business, his problem annoyed him greatly. One day he needed to hire a new manager for his company, so he set up three interviews.

The first guy was great. He knew everything he needed to know and was very interesting, but at the end of the interview, Tony asked him, "Do you notice anything different about me?"
"Why, yes, I couldn't help but notice that you have no ears," came the reply. Tony did not appreciate his honesty and threw him out of the office.

The second interview was with a woman, and she was even better than the first guy. But he asked her the same question: "Do you notice anything different about me?"
"Well," she said stammering, "you have no ears." Tony again got upset and chucked her out in a rage.

The third and final interviewee was the best of the bunch. Mr.Patel. He was a young Indian man who had recently earned his MBA. He was smart, he was handsome and he seemed to be a better businessman than the first two put together. Tony was anxious, but went ahead and asked the young man the same question: "Do you notice anything different about me?"

Much to his surprise, the young man answered, "Yes, you wear contact lenses, don't you?"
Tony was shocked and realised this was an incredibly observant person.
"How in the world did you know that?", he asked.

The young man fell off his chair laughing hysterically and replied,
"Well, it's pretty hard to wear glasses with no fucking ears!!"

MY FAVORITE T SHIRT

 

Just wanted to share with you. The logo is simple and cool. Brand: guru. Very famous in italy, So famous (consult my note on that brand) that it s start to be forged (GORO!). The price of success??

MORE SPACE ON YOUR COMPUTER SCREEN

 

I just discovered that you have the possibility on windows XP to place on the sides of the screen the windows taskbar, that locates usually and by default at the bottom of the screen. I personnally prefer this new configuration as my screen looks cleaner and leaves me more space when it comes to browse a web page or a word document. Between us it will also make you look like an “expert” to your friends when they see your computer: “hey, how did you do that?”

>> very simple just click on the taskbar and “drag” it to the left or right side of the screen and that s it.