Archive for October, 2010
Are you currently looking for a means of boosting your MLM success? If so, you are making a wise move because you always want your MLM system to expand in popularity and deliver more revenue to yo… More information: click here
Glenn Kelman / Redfin Corporate Blog:
One in Five Facebook Employees Has No Imagination Whatsoever — Whoa! Shocking news, guys. An engineer left Google for Facebook. The great Lars Rasmussen, creator of Google Maps and Google Wave, quit Google Thursday to join Facebook. This has, admittedly, happened before.
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Alexandra Hudson / Reuters:
Turkey lifts its ban on YouTube: agency — (Reuters) – Turkey has lifted its ban on video-sharing website YouTube as material deemed insulting to Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk has been removed, Turkish state-run news agency Anatolian reported Saturday.
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As promised, my guest on Ask a VC this week is James Chan of Neoteny Labs, an early stage investment firm with operations in Singapore. Chan isn’t some banker-fied expat, he’s a “son of Singapore’s soil” as he phrases it. He was educated in the system, served his two years in the army and got a scholarship to study in the US, part at Carnegie Mellon University and part at Stanford.
That scholarship came with a hefty price: He had to come back and work for the Singapore government for six years or pay hundreds of thousands of Singaporean dollars to get out of it. Yeesh, those are some strings, Pinnochio.
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Reuters – International Business Machines Corp is in advanced talks to buy network security provider Fortinet Inc , Bloomberg reported on Friday. More information: click here
How could you not enjoy Halloween, the best time of the year to dress up in a creative Halloween Outfit? Most of the time , the grown-ups turn into better characters than the kids! Everyone can get in on the celebration whether you buy a cheap Halloween outfit or design a costume yourself. Be creative, and put your imagination in gear .
Costume Accessories and Makeup can be an easy way to lower the expense of creating your own costume. Be sure to address safety concerns when choosing a Halloween mask since you need to be able to see, hear and breathe well . A bit of spooky makeup or wig can fix that issue by eliminating the use of a mask.
Use a bit of that dreadful out of style eyeshadow or that paper-doll white foundation and you have all the basics for a great monster outfit , or geisha girl. As long as it isn’t expired, most children can tolerate face makeup; just don’t forget to sample a small area first since you would hate if you ruined trick-or-treating because your little monster couldn’t tolerate his face!
Halloween Horror Masks are necessities if you plan to spook the crowd plus, you can’t go wrong with a classic mask. The old favorite horror masks like a Jason mask, or Freddy Mask are excellent picks , or choose from the top 10 masks for the season. Theoretically, spend a little on a mask and you have an costume accessory for the next time you dress up, or change it up by swapping with a neighbor the next time you dress up .
Kids Costumes, toddler Halloween costumes, or even a plus size cheap Halloween outfit can be sewn with what you have around home . You can save a bundle if you sew your own baby outfits and infant costumes. There are some cute, easy ideas out there. Learning to sew a costume is an easy enough project that is very forgiving. Imperfections in your sewing are easily overlooked on a Halloween costume you sew since it is supposed to be all in fun , right?
Make it family fun this Halloween by outfitting the family in coordinating cheap Halloween outfits. How about dressing the Mad Hatter and Queen of Hearts to accompany Alice in Wonderland? For couple costumes how about the characters from Avatar to dress up like Jake Sully and Neytiri. The list goes on from Disney character costumes to politician costumes.
Don’t forget to add some Halloween party supplies for the Halloween party. With the many choices of Halloween decoration ideas, and props you can plan a super Halloween celebration. How about keeping down the cost with some Halloween ice trays? Think what you can do with some plastic spiders and orange food coloring in ice trays. Sounds pretty gross but a perfect Halloween mood setter! Set the mood with a spooky sound machine and light show or the less expensive option of a cd player with a scary music disc. Keep the fun alive !
You have made the decision to make your own beats on the computer. It may not be so easy to find a beat maker that you like that doesn’t cost the Earth and is also simple to use . The majority of beat makers are quite expensive to buy and ease of use isn’t a priority. In 2008, a music sequencer arrived on the market that enabled you to make your own beats on the computer with easily that doesn’t break the bank. Sonic Producer is that product.
Sonic Producer beat maker has become one of the worlds best loved mixers and even today, its sales are still increasing. Why then has this beat making software become so popular?
Well, Sonic Producer is a powerful product that works incredibly well. However, it’s contenders are left trailing because of its ease of use. There is nothing to download because the action takes place through a members area. You will find the members area to be a real gem because apart from having all of the tools and features that make Sonic Producer so versatile, you are able to swap beats and instrumentals with other members that can inspire you and lead you down all sorts of unexpected musical paths.
If you want to create your own beats on your computer, A good set of speakers and internet connection are recommended but not essential. Whatever computer format you have, a mac or a pc or another, it works as well on any of them.
Each of the 16 tracks can be programmed individually with one of thousands of samples. You can upload your own samples too if you want to add unique sounds to the massive library . You can set a unique volume for each track and you can change the overall feel of your composition using th tempo button to change the pace. There are no recording limits to the amount of compositions that you are allowed to create and because of the vast database, every one of your beats will be unique.
Sonic Producer has the ability to make any type of beat, so if you are into house, hip hop, jazz, rock or whatever, it will be no problem, you can use them for other purposes with the mp3 export facility.
Sonic Producer beat maker is a great starting point if you want to make beats on your computerbecause it packs a powerful punch that will keep you glued to it all nightcreating unbelievable beats. Add to its great performance, ease of use and low cost, Sonic Producer is a sure fire winner.
The subject of drum track equalization is a pretty tough one to write about. It’s a bit like smoking about bath water. Generally speaking, subtractive EQ is preferred over boosting–but really, anything goes. I tend to favor hardware over software, but often times a plug-in allows more surgical moves so I’ll use them with drum tracks when necessary. Here are some concepts that I focus on when I approach a mix.
First lets discuss kick drum and bass guitar. This is where you must decide where each element will live. Will the bass carry the low end while the kick drum track provides the punch or will the deep impact of the kick dominate the lows while the bass sits right on top? There aren’t any rules, but I tend to decide who lives where based on the tempo and busy-ness of the bass line. If you have a down tempo number with a slower bass line, it may be nice to have the bass carry the bottom octaves while the kick drum track smacks you in the chest. Conversely, if you have a busy 16th note bass line on a fusion track, the kick may want to live in the basement while the bass surfs the stairs. This is usually my first critical decision when I start a mix and it will set up the way I address the rest of the tracks beyond the drum tracks.
Now lets talk about snare and vocals. How do you get your snare drum track to “crack” with punch and clarity without stepping on the lead vocal? You either have the snare sit above or below the frequency of the vocal. In modern R and B tracks, you’ll often find that the snare drum track sits above the lead vocal, with a lot of the bottom end pulled out. At this point the snare takes on more of a “snap” type quality instead of a “whack”. This leaves plenty of room for the dozens and dozens of vocal tracks that are the norm for this style of music while still providing a solid backbeat. It is common for Rock and Pop settings to have the snare EQ’d slightly below the vocal so that the voice is the brightest thing you hear besides cymbals. This method allows the snare drum track to really “smack” like it would if you were sitting next to it. In this type of situation, I tend to boost anywhere from 100Hz to 250Hz in subtle amounts to give the snare some “weight” and “slam”. Remember, a properly tuned snare will be quite throaty sounding in a good room. The snare drum track should not be without low end. Again, there are no rules, just things to think about as you’re searching for sonic bliss. Often a good ol’ fashioned notch around 300Hz – 400Hz will remove the honk and boxiness of a snare (or any drum track, for that matter) so experiment there. Also, boosting in the 3.5kHz to 4.5kHz range can do wonders for finding the right amount of presence and “crack”.
Go ahead and experiment with these concepts, and be sure to read my other articles on this site. Part six will further address equalization of drum tracks and will focus on toms, overheads, hi-hats, and room.
Now remember, if you need more basic skills to even get going, there’s nothing wrong with turning to computer training so you have the skills to do the job. Or you could always simply get an online sound engineer to do it all for you.
In conjunction with the company’s developer conference, PayPal announced a slew of news and product releases this week, including a new micropayments product and an apps platform for businesses. But tucked away in a release was another piece of news from PayPal that could be huge. PayPal just released a new version of its popular iPhone app that allows users to find businesses near their immediate location that accept PayPal as a form of payment. Launching in San Francisco initially, the feature encourages merchants to attract nearby customers to their stores by posting deals and promotions to the app as an incentive for customers to visit their businesses.
Customers can search by category and location, and find and select stores, services, or special offers. Users can pick up the goods or services in person, but pay the merchant using their PayPal app. Users can also use tags from Bling Nation, a startup that has partnered with PayPal to use the startup’s mobile payment chips to deduct funds from a PayPal account.
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People across the world upload videos on YouTube to promote their products or services as well as for fun. The website attracts as many as a billion visitors everyday! Ensuring that your video is watc… More information: click here