Category Archives: Pop Tech

This is the first in a series of features focusing on the geek aspects of my life under the category of digital audio.

I have a home based studio powered by a 3.2 Ghz PC running Windows XP. One of my main audio interfaces in the M-Audio Delta 44 4 channel audio interface tied into a 12-in / 2-out Behringer analog mixing board. I use APEX floating plate microphones and Adobe audition software for multi-track audio recording and mastering.

An old friend of mine needed a portable USB interface device that would handle phono inputs from his turntable into his slightly older PC. After a bit a research and phone calls to the good folks at Long & McQuade, I had my hands on the very affordable TASCAM US-100 multi-mode USB audio interface.

The TASCAM’s US-100 bridges a wide variety of analog devices like cassette decks and turntables as well as guitars, basses, keyboards and non-phantom powered microphones into your PC or MAC. The microphone input handles any dynamic microphone (like the SHURE SM-58), or you can plug in your guitar or bass directly into the instrument-level input. Stereo line inputs can be switched to RIAA phono level for digitizing your LP’s from any turntable. A USB 2.0 connection guarantees hassle free playback on any Mac or Windows box, and solid aluminum construction looks like it could survive anything I could throw at it.

The online specs read: The US-100 records in stereo at CD-quality 48kHz/16-bit resolution and includes a free copy of Audacity software to get you started.

Oddly my sample did not come with any software but the fabulous AUDACITY software is readily downloaded along with a veritable forest of plug-ins.

I was up and running in minutes and playing my guitar directly into my PC (and then my MAC Powerbook for good measure) – I then patched one of my favorite semi-pro cassette decks from the 80’s – the JVC DD-5 into the RCA inputs on the TASCAM US-100 for some whisper quiet recording on the PC. Some of my song demos from the 80’s, however banal nowadays, sure sounded sweet through this set-up. And NO, no one is ever hearing those demos!

The TASCAM US-100 has a single balanced XLR and 1/4” unbalanced microphone input, as well as unbalanced stereo RCA line ins and outs. I have been using TASCAM products since the 1980’s (with the venerable TASCAM 144 and 244 cassette multi-track units.) As usual, TASCAM and Long & McQuade have never let me down. Their staff are awesome and no matter where you go in Canada, you are going to be singing the praises of Long & McQuade and Tascam products.

Signed on to Facebook for about 10 days. More out of curiosity than anything else. Twitter has been working out quite well – and not surprisingly.
I mean, Twitter is a very simple thing. You post thoughts and hopefully link to some richer media somewhere.
It works… like you would expect.

But I digress.

I signed up for Facebook knowing full well how dodgy and sketchy Facebook is with peoples personal information. We have always known that Facebook is a data mining center for the folks who pay the execs at Facebook top dollar for every bit of minutia you put on your profile. It’s for sale. You’re for sale. And you can never really delete that information… ever. Never.

I knew that.

I also know that everything you put on Facebook (pictures, content, multimedia) belongs to Facebook forever. Your pictures? Theirs. Your life? Theirs. It is in the user agreement. You have no excuse if you are offended and do not understand this.

I get this.

What I was not ready for was the amount of spam mail that I got that seemed to fit in, puzzle like, and locked fit to every little detail of my personal profile.
What I discovered was: In my “interests” are on Facebook, I have; hiking, skiing, race car driving, helicopter piloting, ballet, etc etc…

And I was soon being buried on my e-mail with shills for hiking, skiing, race car driving and so on. You get the picture.

And I had my “privacy” settings locked down as hard as they could go.

So I should not be surprised that Facebook sells everything on you… and me.
But I was… a little.

But I left. After 10 days. And it’s OK.
Because tens of thousands of people are leaving Facebook daily. Some of these departures are affectionately referred to as suicide pacts – group departure from an online social network that is, oh so obviously… so… yesterday.

The online user base (and the folks at Facebook should pay attention to this) are pretty savvy.
And like old friends who turn out to be con artist scum balls… we eventually clue in.
I did.
And you can too.

If I had an extra 5 or 6 hours a day… to think… and perchance to write, I would have more strange stuff to feed you…
Perhaps more than you would like.
I mean, everything here is written and read (by you) voluntarily.
You can shut if off whenever you want. And never come back.

Which is kind of counter intuitive compared to what we have to deal with in the modern World. Having stuff pushed on us that is. Constantly.

(And)When I talk and write about cafe culture, I often remind my audience that coffee is the number two most traded commodity on the Planet… Oil being first.

But is this supposition entirely true? Are humans not the number one commodity on the Planet? Our minds are bought, sold, pitched to, filled and subjected to rendition on an almost continuous basis. And so much so that we are rarely aware that we are being manipulated?

Some examples: Facebook. Facebook is a data mine for marketers. Explain that to the average user of Facebook and you will get that classic, Dog cocking its head as its master makes a funny noise look.

Television. Everyone knows that 50% of the crap on TV is designed to sell you something, to sanitize something, to perfume something, to put you in a car and get you away from over sanitized and funky smelling stuff.

And if you are Rami Tambello of illegalsigns.ca (the Toronto area rogue spear fighting a winning battle against big visual ad agencies like Pattison Outdoor – who bend the rules for fun and profit…) you know the distance large corporations will go to get their message shoved down your visual cortex…
In Rami’s own words: “Ad agents lie for a living… trying to convince you that a pair of blue jeans will make you sexy… a fragrance will make you desirable…”

So. For liars, breaking the law on a daily basis comes naturally.
And you can almost avoid the visual assault – if you are legally blind that is.

So what’s next you ask? Apparently a technology called Hypersonic Sound (developed by the U.S. Military no less) can actually beam messages directly into your head — and there is no tin-foil hat made that will protect you.
H.S. technology uses ultrasonic beams of narrowly focused acoustic energy that can quite literally be concentrated into an area the size of a bread-box… or a nut house – which is where you will think you are when you experience it.

Which begs the question: What private space is left for we humans? Our brains were once considered the ultimate private sanctuary, a zone where other people can’t intrude without our knowledge or permission – This barrier has been eroded it seems.

Rami Tambello concludes, “There is no distance that advertisers will not go to… to deliver their message or product. There is so much money… profit at stake…breaking the laws of the community, pushing all the boundaries of what is communally acceptable – well, it is part of doing business… all in a days work.”

Yay. Thanks Rami.

In this continuing series on invasive technology in the 21st century, the CoffeeCrew blog will focus on the folly of modern technical wares and how they are not improving our lives.