I’ve been advocating Spotify for some time now. As an audiophile of eclectic tastes it certainly suits me to have their enormous music collection at my fingertips and as a very late convert to the world of the iPod, the transportability of my settings and playlists supplemented my lack of a portable music player nicely for quite some time.

If you have not tried Spotify out, stop reading this post and go download it. It will change your view on digital music, or at the very least help you find your new favourite band.

For those still with me, the latest news is that Spotify have submitted an iPhone application to Apple’s App Store for approval. Allegedly only available to premium subscribers, those paying Spotify £120 a year for free access to all music with no adverts, the application is demonstrated best by Spotify themselves.

Spotify iPhone Application demo

The question that seems to abound on the ‘net is whether this application will be approved by Apple …

The approval process for the App Store does allow Apple to disbar any applications that are too similar in function to applications that are already being supplied with the device, ergo there is no point writing a new mail application, or a new calendar, unless you can deliver something markedly different. Will Apple use this clause as a reason to bar Spotify’s application, a clear competitor to its own iTunes platform, or will it simply see it as another strong horse in the App Store stable?

Only time will tell, and we should know the result in the next few weeks.

Personally, I am routing for Spotify. Not only are my tastes wide, but they change. £120/year for unlimited music seems fair, that’s less than the cost of an album a month. There are a lot of albums I would try out on a scheme like that, but far less that I would buy for £10 on the off chance they make it into my permanent rotation.

In the meantime, I’m back to my Richard Cheese playlist.

As the “tech” side of the blog is heating up, and there is a good chance that there will be a lot of Drupal posts over the coming months, I thought it would be worthwhile linking to this really cool video from Ping Vision

What is Drupal? … in 57 seconds | pingVision.

They definitely explain Drupal faster than I can, and it is a lovely example of some kinetic typography at the same time.

Listened to Kryptographik Episode 30 today, featuring Barry “Nuge” Nugent of Geek Syndicate and Fallen Heroes fame. Barry talks candidly about his creative process, the joys and perils of self publishing, and his TV deal for Fallen Heroes.

A fascinating episode, well worth your listening time.

Down the Tubes have put up their short review of issue 1 of The Dark.

Their opinion?

“we’re pleased to report it’s some of Chris Lynch’s best work to date, complemented by some suitably moody art from Lundeen. The story is complex but well realized, with plenty to get you thinking and wondering just what will happen next.”

Read for yourself here: downthetubes.net news blog: Markosia Dances out The Dark.

For some time I have been plauged by a slow (3-4 minute) startup window for Firefox.

I have tried numerous fixes suggested online; switching of automatic updates for extensions, clearing down cache and history, even a re-install; but nothing worked. As the problem got progressively worse, my workaround became to start Firefox and then, whilst I waited for it to grind into life, to start Google Chrome and use that to check Facebook, Twitter, etc. Not exactly a fix, but at least I didn’t have to sit and wait as my HD rattled away and Firefox limped onto the screen.

However, I have now found a fix and, as I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere else, I thought I would share it for any others affected by this particular problem. I had archived this post as a draft, but after hearing others complaining of the same issue I thought I would post by solution.

My particular set up of Firefox is Firefox 3.5, on Vista Business, with XMarks, Firebug, and SEOQuake extensions (the essential tools of one of my trades!). I am also a bit of an RSS addict, and it was herein that lay the rub.

Somewhere in the combination of having an extensive list of Live Bookmarks and having an extension that syncs my bookmarks to the web (XMarks) lies a rich vein of process and network hungry action. Starting up Firefox seemed to necessitate a mass update of the Live Bookmarks and this may, or may not, have kicked off a lot of sync activity in XMarks.

My process of deduction here is by no means scientific, with the exception of having empirically tested this theorem by moving my RSS feeds to Google Reader.

My bookmarks are now Live Bookmark free, XMarks seems to be winking away a lot less in my Firefox status bar, and the browser now starts up just as fast as it ever did. Not Chrome fast, but still, a lot lot faster.

So, if you are having the same issue as me with a similar set-up, feel free to try this fix out.

If my next birthday party does not feature a Sith plus Storm Troopers MC Hammer dance routine, questions will be asked.

YouTube – Vader Dances to Hammer You Can’t Touch This Dance: Star Wars weekends 2009 Disney.

Just click the link for pure joy.

The guys over at Sidekick Cast are the first take to take advantage of our reviewer’s preview, and have given The Dark four stars!

When I started the first issue I thought ‘Ok this seems like your standard dark avenger vigilate superhero story with a nice little sci-fi premise for the powers’. I was wrong. The main protagonist reads like the bastard love child of Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne with a hint of the tortured soul of Frank Castle. The idea of information as a weapon is taken to it’s literal conclusion in this story and although it may seem like the stuff of science fiction I suspect Lynch has been flicking through the pages of The New Scientist as liquid information is one of the next big steps in digital information transfer. This is very much on the fringe of science-fact.

By the end of the book everything I thought I knew had been turned on it’s head and I was totally sucked in.

It’s great to see the book already going down well, and hopefully people reading the review will be inspired to pick up that all important first issue.

You can read the complete review here: http://www.sidekickcomicsuk.com/blogs/blog4.php/2009/07/19/the-dark-descends-on-markosia

Thanks to guys at Sidekick Cast!

The first official press release for my new comic book mini-series “The Dark”, with AAM/Markosia, was despatched today.

The first issue should be available digitally from August, with the remaining four issues out by the end of the year, with a graphic novel version in the works shortly after that.

There is a preview version online that you rate and comment upon:

http://www.thedarkcomicbook.com

Read the rest of this entry »

Monkeys with Machineguns are supporting the Born Free Adopt A Monkey campaign and have just, through a concerted cereal eating campaign, adopted Lucky.

Lucky was found in a town close to Lake Malawi. Passers-by saw him tied to a tree in a market in the centre of a rubbish pit and called the sanctuary. Even though he was well fed, he had not been looked after properly. The rope and chain that tied him to the tree was too tight and dug into his skin. The team took him straight to the sanctuary, freed him from his rope and chains and within weeks, his injuries healed.

After four weeks in quarantine, Lucky joined Buddy’s troop.

Soon, he’ll be joining a new family which will be released into the wild in November 2009.

This is a fantastic and very worthwhile campaign – all you have to do is keep eating cereal and posting the codes online to continue to adopt monkeys.

Once you have registered your codes, you can download a large picture of your chosen monkey and a PDF of an adoption certificate.

Not satisfied with the hearty dose of monkey-love they received at the Bristol Comic Con, the punishment gluttons of Sidekick Cast have been at it again!

This time, they’ve “gone all intimate” with my fellow monkey Stu.Art as a guest Sidekick in their regular podcast. There are some wise words spoken, some shameless pimping committed, and my name is taken in vain at least three times.

So, if you want to hear what Stu is like without me there to restrain him … Click here to listen to Sidekick Cast Episode #21