RickyCadden.com

Why I Love Counting Crows

Ricky — Sun, 20 May 2012 15:47:23 +0000

I’ve been a Counting Crows fan ever since “Recovering the Satellites” was released back in 1996. There’s just something about the combination of Adam Duritz’ voice and their collective musical talent that feels right. They’ve been relatively quiet for a few years, working on a number of different projects.

One of those projects is their new album, “Underwater Sunshine”, which is actually a cover album. They released several tracks from that album on BitTorrent recently – yes, the ‘pirates’ haven’ BitTorrent (if you believe most folks in the music industry). Duritz isn’t the first artist to release content via torrent, and he won’t be the last. His attitude towards it, though, is what really makes me glad to be a fan:

Duritz said that the major labels don’t understand many of the changes going on in the music biz these days. “They are so used to being in control – being out of control must be really scary,” he told me. Labels would continue to pay huge sums of money to promote their music in stores and on the air — a practice commonly known as payola — even though the audience on BitTorrent is much more interested in music than people listening to radio nowadays, argued Duritz: “The future is not just in bribing radio and record stores.”

What a great example of a content creator thinking outside the box about ways to be where his fans already are, instead of trying to force fans to do it the way the band (or label) wants them to.

I’m Excited About Maker Faire Bay Area

Ricky — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:43:39 +0000

This weekend kicks off Maker Faire Bay Area. If you’re not familiar with Maker Faire, you can check out their website here. It’s basically one of the coolest, nerdiest events in the U.S. (and probably the world). I had the pleasure of attending Maker Faire New York last fall for RadioShack, and the community there is just plain cool.

I’ve been asked a few times recently just what’s so cool about Maker Faire (and Makers in general). For RadioShack, they’re some of our most loyal and passionate customers – eager to provide feedback (positive and negative), and eager to see the company succeed. For me, it’s bigger than that. Makers are….making the future. In a time when most people are all about consuming, Makers are creating. They’re creators.

Take this guy – he built a hovercraft out of a DeLorean. Nerdy? Absolutely – the only thing nerdier might be a hovercraft Imperial Starship. However, the important thing is that he’s figuring things out – no doubt he had to solve for a bunch of obstacles to get that thing off the ground.

So, I’m off to Maker Faire this weekend to support the Makers. If you’re in the Bay Area, I *highly* recommend you carve out some time on Saturday or Sunday and come out, even for a few hours. Talk to the Makers – these people are overflowing with excitement about things that they actually designed/created/built by themselves.

Makers also take pride in taking one thing, and making it do things that it wasn’t originally intended to do. They’re very proud to void warranties if that’s what it takes to improve something.

When was the last time you voided a warranty to do something cooler with your gadget?

I’ll be posting photos from Maker Faire Bay Area to the RadioShack Instagram account, and tweeting from @RadioShackLIVE, as well, if you’d like to see what’s out there. If you DO make the trip, definitely reach out, I’d love to meet up at some point!

Instagram Hits Android, Let The Phoneography Begin!

Ricky — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:32:28 +0000

Ever since I had my Nokia 6620 so many years ago, I’ve been obsessed with phoneography (photography using phones). As I progressed from the 6620 to the 6682 to the N73 to my precious N95-3 and onwards, I’ve never really understood why ‘normobs’ would want to tote around a digital camera. Who needs another device to keep charged, worry about, etc?

When I started as the Social Media Community Manager at RadioShack, we already had an Instagram account, and I’ll be honest – I hated it. I wanted to shut it down, but my coworker at the time loved it (she was the one who started it), and so I kept it around. Eventually, I set it up on our iPhone at the office and started exploring the community periodically. Much to my chagrin, I found that it was actually a really cool community.

Of course, there are junkies who spam Instagram, posting ‘photos’ that are basically screenshots of the Notes app on iPhone with random messages, images that say ‘Double-tap if you hate cancer’ (double-tapping is a shortcut to clicking ‘like’, so they’re just gaming for likes) and people who add about 50 hashtags to their images in the hopes that they’ll get on the ‘Popular’ page or something.

However, there are some legitimately interesting people on Instagram. I like to think that my photos are interesting, but I also follow awesome folks like Om Malik of GigaOm, and recently enjoyed his photos from a trip to India.

In any case, you can now use Instagram on Android, which is freakin awesome. I’m ‘rcadden‘ on Instagram, if you’d like to enjoy my photos.

You Could Own An Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device

Ricky — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:57:01 +0000

Since having a daughter, I’ve noticed that I have a renewed interest in toys. Not for her, of course, but for myself. I’ve also played less video games, which is sad. One of my favorite video games is Portal. If you’re not familiar, Portal is a bit different. There aren’t really any ‘bad guys’ to battle or anything, but rather it’s a puzzle game. You’re trapped in a science facility and forced to ‘test’ incessantly. You have to figure out how to get out of various testing rooms using only the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. This ‘gun’ shoots portals – openings that you can place on certain surfaces that you can pass through. Here’s a video to somewhat explain it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk2Wr9a4eQs

In any case, Think Geek is showing a listing to buy an official replica of the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. Unfortunately, it doesn’t *really* shoot portals, since it’s a replica, but it’s still awesome, nonetheless.

From The Space Station: Time-Lapse Stars

Ricky — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:03:22 +0000

In addition to my many, many other obsessions, I love love love time-lapse videos. Especially ones of stars, which is odd because I’ve never really had an interest in astronomy (or astrology, for that matter). Time-lapse is so fascinating because it’s a view of our world that you can’t see with your own eyes – it’s a whole new way to see part of your world.

Anyways, somehow this dude got footage from the International Space Station and made a wicked time-lapse with it. So, pause your music, make this video full-screen, sit back, and be mesmerized.

Crazy, huh? You’re welcome. If you’d like to see more videos like this, there’s a GREAT time-lapse channel on Vimeo that I would highly recommend.

Everything You Need To Know About SIM Cutting

Ricky — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:34:07 +0000

When the iPhone 4 was announced with a new ‘microSIM’, I’ll confess, I was really annoyed. Leave it to Apple to jack around with a standard that’s been around for years. Turns out, it wasn’t just Apple – lots of newer devices require this minuscule SIM card, including the Motorola DROID RAZR and Nokia’s Lumia phones. One reason I dislike microSIMs is because they disrupt the universal compatibility of the SIM card. One solution is to use a microSIM adapter and cut your SIM.

(Image credit: Wikipedia)

This is quite daunting, given that a wrong snip can render your SIM card useless, which sucks. Always the helpful bunch, AllAboutSymbian put together this incredibly in-depth walkthrough of SIM cards in general, including the various types of cutters/adapters, and tested with various devices.

It’s well worth the read.

Have you cut your SIM, or are you planning to?

Adventures With Yoigo

Why Steve Wozniak Is Awesome

Ricky — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:12:45 +0000

Steve Wozniak is quite an interesting guy. He cofounded Apple. Yes, that Apple. He hasn’t ‘officially’ worked full-time at Apple in decades, but yet he waits in line for the newest Apple device like anyone else. He doesn’t even pre-order, but rather values the experience of waiting outside the Apple store – the stores for the very company that he created. Obviously Woz could probably make a phone call and get 3 iPads delivered to his door, but I love that he doesn’t. What a cool guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATfqKRZ0z-4

So, Woz is getting a new iPad in white with Verizon’s 4G LTE built-in, and a higher storage (probably 64GB). Interesting.

Cinemagraphs Blow My Mind

Ricky — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:45:56 +0000

I’ve already stated that I have a weird thing for really good photography. I also like watching the ‘artsy’ videos I find on Vimeo and such – not necessarily whole movies, but the shorts and sometimes just video clips – a few minutes long here and there. I also recently came across a fascinating blend of the two, mainly being used in the fashion industry, called Cinemagraphs.

You can read the full write-up on Mashable, but they’re somewhat like animated GIFs that litter the Internet, only instead of being crappy and annoying, they add just a small amount of motion to otherwise beautiful photographs. Here are a few examples:

The best part is that you almost can’t even tell they’re moving. It takes you aback for a moment when you catch it, and really pulls you in.

Pure Comedic Genius

Ricky — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 13:50:41 +0000

Perhaps I’m turning into an old man ahead of my time, but I often get frustrated with the lack of quality in today’s entertainment. Very few TV shows and movies these days are worth the time investment, and comedy is one of those. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some quality content out there today, but not much. One of my all-time favorites that I wish I was around to see/hear live was Abbott and Costello.

Abbott and Costello’s most famous bit is likely ‘Who’s On First’. It gets parodied periodically and mentioned in pop culture, but I don’t know if everyone gets it. I’d like to be able to share it with you, so here’s a YouTube ‘clip’ of the original radio broadcast of this famous bit. It’s less than 5 minutes long, so stop what you’re doing, close Twitter and Facebook, click the ‘fullscreen’ button, put on some headphones, and enjoy sheer comedic genius.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6ogFYWUlgA

I can’t wait till my daughter is old enough to appreciate how hilarious this is.

*I fully realize that this is essentially a glorified Powerpoint slideshow on YouTube, of the sort that I’ve publicly said should all be removed. I still hold to that belief, but come on, it’s freakin Abbott and Costello.

The Proper Way To Introduce Someone To Star Wars

Ricky — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:02:03 +0000

Star Wars is an integral part of any self-respecting geek or geek-wannabe’s upbringing, and since I have a daughter now, I have to think about these things. I also periodically come into contact with someone at work or elsewhere who has somehow managed to not see any of the Star Wars movies. The problem arises when I try to come up with the best way to introduce them to this epic series.

There are generally two schools of thought: Episode Order and Release Order.

Episode Order states that you should start with Episode I and move chronologically through the series. There is some logic here, since that’s how they’re named. Unfortunately, this method requires you to suffer through Episode I and still have a desire to watch more, which is nearly impossible and a sure-fire way to lose anyone’s interest.

Release Order states you should watch the movies in the order they were released to the public – starting with Episode IV, V, and VI, and then kicking back to Episode I. This makes slightly more sense, but again, has some major downfalls, the biggest of which is the fact that you would then know that Darth Vader is Luke’s father before you get around to going back to Episode I.

A man by the name of Rod Hilton, however, has finally proposed what he’s calling the Machete Order, and I honestly think it makes the most sense. You can read Rod’s full explanation here.

Machete Order states that you would watch Star Wars IV first, followed by V, II, III, and ending with VI. You’ll notice that Episode I is completely missing – that’s a good thing. It’s easily the worst Star Wars movie, plagued by virtually no plot and the painful experience of Jar Jar Binks having more than about 5 lines.

It also maintains the Darth Vader mystery until the end while still introducing you to Episodes II and III, which admittedly fill in quite a bit of backstory.

What do you think? What order do you prefer to watch Star Wars in?

RickyCadden.com

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