Starbucks on Bowery?

My friend Claire forwarded this news to me from Racked this morning: “Word comes in today — unconfirmed at present, we should note — that Starbucks will be taking over the former Adams Restaurant Supply store on the south west corner of Bowery and Houston.”

This is very, very interesting, and very, very weird. The Bowery (Indaba’s home in New York in case you didn’t know) is one of the most historic streets in the city, and in many ways it’s one of the last holdouts to the encroaching yuppyism and gentrification caused by entities like Indaba (I hate to say it but it’s true). If Starbucks takes over downstairs from Indaba, they’ll be across the street from the new Whole Foods, not to mention the New Museum of Contemporary Art opening December 1st.

Clearly the neighborhood is changing, and I continue to be torn between the definite positives of change like this, and the unavoidable sadness that results when something is irreversibly altered. Part of what I love about living on the Bowery is dissapearing forever, but at the same time the area gets nicer, cleaner, and easier to live in.

Why You Shouldn’t Make Color Copies at FedEx Kinkos. Ever.

I must share my rage this morning. I called our local Fedex Kinkos to ask if they could make color copies, and they said yes, they could. However, 10 minutes later I walked into the store and I was told that no, actually, they couldn’t make color copies. When I asked how this could be, the woman at the counter said, and I quote, “we have to say that on the phone.” That’s right, even if a particular Fedex location doesn’t do color printing, they evidently will tell you on the phone that they do.

Our local UPS store has incredible service anyway, and I found out afterwards that they DO have color printing. So, I won’t be going back to Fedex Kinkos. Ever.

Great talk on digital media, IP law, related issues

Not surprising that Larry Lessig would give a good talk on the problems with and future of intellectual property law, but even though its no surprise I wanted to share. My brother sent me this video (he actually first introduced me to the TED talks – you should check them out, there’s some amazing, amazing talks in there), it’s of a talk Lessig gave at TED in March. Check it out – you’ll be smarter and have a great perspective on things after you do. Not to mention the similarities between Lessig’s thinking and ours here at Indaba – I think I even heard him use the phrase “democratization of music production” – a phrase Dan and I use a lot when we talk about the proliferation of inexpensive, high-quality digital recording technology (actually, we did it here in Les Echos back in August – I’d love to say great minds think alike but I’m not quite that presumptuous – Larry’s a pretty smart guy – just happy to see we’re aligned).

Anyway,  you don’t need anymore of my rambling to appreciate this talk. Check it out, and have a great weekend.

Great talk on digital media, IP law, related issues

Not surprising that Larry Lessig would give a good talk on the problems with and future of intellectual property law, but even though its no surprise I wanted to share. My brother sent me this video (he actually first introduced me to the TED talks – you should check them out, there’s some amazing, amazing talks in there), it’s of a talk Lessig gave at TED in March. Check it out – you’ll be smarter and have a great perspective on things after you do. Not to mention the similarities between Lessig’s thinking and ours here at Indaba - I think I even heard him use the phrase “democratization of music production” – a phrase Dan and I use a lot when we talk about the proliferation of inexpensive, high-quality digital recording technology (actually, we did it here in Les Echos back in August – I’d love to say great minds think alike but I’m not quite that presumptuous – Larry’s a pretty smart guy – just happy to see we’re aligned).

Anyway,  you don’t need anymore of my rambling to appreciate this talk. Check it out, and have a great weekend.

Why You Shouldn’t Make Color Copies at Fedex Kinkos

I must share my rage this morning. I called our local Fedex Kinkos to ask if they could make color copies, and they said yes, they could. However, 10 minutes later I walked into the store and I was told that no, actually, they couldn’t make color copies. When I asked how this could be, the woman at the counter said, and I quote, “we have to say that on the phone.” That’s right, even if a particular Fedex location doesn’t do color printing, they evidently will tell you on the phone that they do.

Our local UPS store has incredible service anyway, and I found out afterwards that they DO have color printing. So, I won’t be going back to Fedex Kinkos. Ever.

South Park Guitar Hero

Two weeks ago, Streeter raised some really interesting questions in the Indablog about Guitar Hero, like, why do people spend so much time mastering this video game when they could actually be learning to play the real guitar? I just wanted to point out that in case you haven’t seen it, the new South Park this week examined the exact same issue. Absolutely hysterical. They parodied Guitar Hero, and even threw in a That Thing You Do moment (cmon – you know you like that movie). I can’t find any longer clips on YouTube anymore since the copyright stuff heated up, but here’s a short one of the guys wailing on their plastic axes.

South Park Guitar Hero

Two weeks ago, Streeter raised some really interesting questions in the Indablog about Guitar Hero, like, why do people spend so much time mastering this video game when they could actually be learning to play the real guitar? I just wanted to point out that in case you haven’t seen it, the new South Park this week examined the exact same issue. Absolutely hysterical. They parodied Guitar Hero, and even threw in a That Thing You Do moment (cmon – you know you like that movie). I can’t find any longer clips on YouTube anymore since the copyright stuff heated up, but here’s a short one of the guys wailing on their plastic axes.