Genius is basically worthless. Sigh.

September 15th, 2008

I had such high hopes. I wanted so much for it to be cool. But as usual, iTunes DRM ruins everything.

So, the new iTunes upgrade has this seemingly cool sidebar called “Genius.” Genius downloads your library, uploads it to iTunes, and then suggests cool music you might like that you don’t already have. Also, when you click on a song, genius can generate a playlist of 25, 50, or 100 songs in your library that are similar to that song.

Sounds cool. So I tried it. My Dispatch “Bats in the Belfry” playlist (click to view) kicked ass. Then I started to try other songs… and began to notice that Genius kept recommending songs I already have.

Turns out that Genius doesn’t recognize about 80% of the songs that I have in my library that are not iTunes bought. Because of the aforementioned iTunes DRM limitations, I almost never download from iTunes… so that means most of my library is not even recognized by Genius. I can’t make playlists from those songs or incorporate those songs in playlists. Bottom line: this pretty much devalues the entire program, and I will probably turn it off soon.

I even tried to change the info attached to a song to “trick it” to think it was an iTunes song with no luck. Surely iTunes can come up with a smart “tag” system to figure out which songs match their iTunes coding. Playlists only exist within a user’s own library, so I don’t see how this would botch the system.

The positive:
Curious to see what suggestions it would give me for my High School Musical tracks, Genius did share with me that there are two new HSM3 singles I was unaware of. … But then I found them online for free.

Also, I got this exciting recommendation while I was listening to Cher today:

—–
Currently listening to: Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins
“I’m in love with illusions, so saw me in half”

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Michael Phelps on SNL

September 14th, 2008

Michael Phelps was adorable last night as he hosted SNL’s season premiere… but I would have to say that Tina Fey stole the show as Sarah Palin in the opening skit (alongside Amy Poehler as Hillary). At first glance I thought it might actually be Miss Alaska herself, but I was thrilled to see Tina (who makes much funnier jokes).

It looks like NBC is pulling as many videos from YouTube as they can, but in case you missed it, here’s the official video -

Palin and Hillary SNL skit

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Wordpress App(s) of the day

September 10th, 2008

I finally upgraded my wordpress to 2.6… it took zero time using a really great plug in called Wordpress Automatic Upgrade. It essentially does all the work for you (backing files up, etc.), you just click “Next” after each step completes. Cake.

Another module I installed today is Twitter for Wordpress. I don’t think I’ll use it to update on my day to day (that’s what facebook statuses are for, people), but I’m toying with the idea of using it to micro blog on this site. You’ll see the posts coming in in the first side bar under “Quick” (get it? with the Q?).

In case you were curious, other plug ins I’m using on this site are FlickrRSS and last.fm recent tracks (currently experimenting with this one as well).

Speaking of what I’m listening to lately, starting this week I’ll blog about my ACL picks and playlists. So keep watching, because I’ll be looking forward to your suggestions!

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Why I’ll be watching the VMAs tonight.

September 7th, 2008

3. Britney

I’m not going to lie, I’m intrigued. Especially after the disaster that was her last VMA performance. I mean… leave Britney alone.

2. Kanye

Kanye, after losing video of the year two years in a row, swore he’d never be a part of the VMAs again… but he will be. Tonight.

Kanye’s backstage flip out (thanks Inside Edition!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-631TgPP2s

1. The Cast of HSM3

You know where my heart really lies. With Zac.

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Blogs I like

September 6th, 2008

In case you were curious, below are some of my most favorite blogs in my Google reader. Enjoy, and let me know if you think I left anything out!!

Business in the Front - Web Design, User Experience, Web Marketing… all those work-type things

Presentation Zen - Garr Reynolds talks about professional presentation design. He also recommends great books like the manga-style career guide The Adventures of Johnny Bunko.

Think Vitamin - Online magazine dedicated to all that is Web 2.0.

Matt Cutts - Matt Cutts works for Google and addresses things like SEO tips, new Google features, and answering user questions about Google. I like Matt because he’s really personal and transparent about what he does at work.

AdFreak - I’m obsessed. Updated several times a day, AdFreak highlights great Ads - traditional, viral, video, print, international… anything interesting will get highilighted here.

Party in the Back - Miscellaneous things that bring me joy

Blog me. - My roommate Kay’s witty chronicles of her free spirited life… and no it’s not just because she occassionally mentions nice things about me.

Inside Facebook - Read about the latest development updates from the good people at Facebook. Why? I love the inside scoop.

Ken Jennings - You’ve heard me talk and talk about how much I love Ken’s book, Brainiac. His blog is witty, funny, and provides great trivia.

Stuff White People Like - Not only are they usually dead on, but the articles make me laugh out loud like no other.

Word of the Day from Dictionary.com - This is where I learn myself some new words.

I Can Has Cheezburger - Cats + Adorableness = Purrfection.