29
Apr

The Pure Awesome That Is Ronald Jenkees

Ronald Jenkees improvises on a keyboard over his own beats. The guy just oozes talent. His personality and body language is a real contrast to all those posing wannabe indie rockstars out there who all look like they would rather be somewhere else. He obviously loves what he’s doing and isn’t afraid to share that fact with the world.

Actually, more than one youtube commenter has called Jenkees the “saviour of the music industry”. Of course, youtube is renowned for its enlightened and erudite commenters, so this is fairly significant. Seriously though, that’s a big call - even for youtube. But once you see him play, you might not think such comments as hyperbolic as they appear.

Awesome beat on this one:

Piano of “All of My Love” by Led Zeppellin (just to prove he’s not relying on keyboard delays or sequenced music to create his sound):

More here.

11
Apr

Cuteness Overload

08
Apr

Mariachi Vargas - Violin Huapango

Absolutely fantastic:

08
Apr

twitter

http://twitter.com/davidppp

01
Apr

Web 2.0 Haikus

Via Andrew Chen:

Viral marketing
Friends who spam you all the time
Aren’t really your friends

Just raised some V C
Social websites make no cash
Google can’t save you

Techcrunch Valleywag
Techmeme Mashable and more
Why work? Just read blogs

Fickle teenagers
Herded ruthlessly for cash
You got an invite

Lack of retention
Viral loops are not enough
You just jumped the shark

10
Mar

Slacker

Been busy so no updates.

Also, decided to take the week off from any lifting due to pulling a neck muscle. Just running everyday last week, and I will probably continue running this week too. Back into a 12-week lifting program after than with a goal to be squatting 300 pounds by the end of it.

Finally, it seems that my post entitled “Woosh Wireless Sucks” is now on the first page of results when you google “woosh wireless“. Judging by the comments I’ve been receiving on that post, Woosh still have not sorted out their issues.

23
Feb

Ideas Dump #2

Copied and pasted from my local wiki.

Disclaimer: these ideas were quickly jotted down and probably sounded a lot better when I wrote them. It’s unlikely I’ll be working on any of them. Anyway, have a read, let me know what you think…

Browser Audio Dashboard 

Multi-person constant-audio and interactivity application for browsers. NOT like Skype - this is more like some of the WOW plugins that provide virtual collaboration environment around a shared activity. I believe this idea was inspired by Joi Ito.

Life Choices - Your Alternative Life

Not sure if this is a startup, but…this is a service that records your life choices and then offers you a look at the alternative life - or lives - that your unpicked choices might have lead to.

You enter some initial status information, as well as your personal goals. The site then generates several possible future choices based on this information (using, say, an expert system or some training data). You pick a choice - what you think you’ll do next. The site makes a note of this and then, say, 10 minutes later, offers another choice.

Example: you set your status to “I’m at home surfing the web” - the system offers the choices: Call a friend, go out to a bar, go to the gym, go for a walk, keep surfing the web. Just throwing this out there - could modify the possible choices based on what you’ve done in the past.

The site maintains a record of your choices, but it also shows a record of choices you didn’t make. By using the life choices of other users on the site, it can shows what your particular unpicked choices may have led to - your alternative lives. It can also show what other people did when in your position. Get your friends on board and when you reach an impasse, ask your friends to make a choice for you etc etc.

Downside: Lots of graph manipulation. Privacy hell? How is this valuable?

Project promotion and management platform for hobbyists

It would be awesome if there was a service that allowed hobbyists to promote and manage their projects. It would be a service that allows hobbyists to setup and promote projects, and describe exactly what they are doing and the kinds of people they want help from. It also allows the hobbyists to manage their projects as they go along. Others could browse projects in their areas of interest and then get in touch with people doing something cool.

Not quite a volunteer service, not quite a recruiting tool, not quite a todo list, not quite a social network, but a combination of all of those into something new. Making money: could such a platform work for virtual corporations?

A Property Management Company That Doesn’t Suck #2

The Problem: I’m trying to lease a property to live in. Been looking for about two weeks week. My budget is only, ooh, about $20,000 PER YEAR. Despite this, I’ve received, so far, replies from about 10 to 15% of the companies I have contacted. None of them seem particularly enthusiastic to help me (”We’ll let you know in a week” etc etc). This seems kinda weird, doesn’t it? I mean, if I go into a restaurant I can get served (usually) right away. The waiter/ess is (usually) happy to be there. The food is (usually) very good. I’d say about 90% of all restaurant transactions leave me feeling pretty damn happy. Why is that spending $20 is a more satisfying experience than spending $20,000?

DIGG for entertainment - not based around mindless link clicking: 

  • Deals with games, video, images, slideshows, as well as the usual links and the like. There is also a game that backs up and improves user engagement with rewards and additional administration rights.
  • Valuable because none of the current link tools really offer good game embedding. Can possibly offer payment to producers (via mochi ads).
22
Feb

Lifting Log 22 Feb

Bit of a milestone today.

Back Squat:

  • 1×12 60kg
  • 1×8 70kg
  • 1×5 80kg
  • 1×5 85kg
  • 1×5 90kg
  • 1×5 95kg
  • 1×1 100kg

100kg. Just one rep though.

 Romanian Deadlift:

  • 1×12 40kg
  • 1×8 70kg
  • 1×5 80kg
  • 1×5 85kg
  • 1×5 90kg

Highly likely I’ll be deadlifting more than my squat in a couple of weeks.

Shoulder BB Press:

  • 1×12 Bar
  • 1×8 20kg

Just to see what it was like. I’ll be doing these on monday instead of the DB press or military press.

Pullups:

  • 1×12 MS16
  • 1×5 MS14
  • 1×5 MS13
  • 1×5 MS12

Slowly getting there.

4×12 Crunches.

5 mins bike.

21
Feb

Lifting Log 21 Feb

Continue reading ‘Lifting Log 21 Feb’

19
Feb

Lifting Log Feb 19

Continue reading ‘Lifting Log Feb 19′