Archive for June, 2007

Yves Larock

Ministry’s DATA records big summer track is due for release on the 30th July. Very radio friendly and reminds me of Funkstar Deluxes remix of Bob Marley – Sun is shinning that was so popular in October of 1999. On the downside it doesnt have the staying power, it will be big for the summer and forgotten closely after that.

Marks out of 10 – 7/10

Justin Timberlake – Love Stoned

This is gonna be massive. Just what you’d expect from JT but better. Perfect for the club, this will get everyone dancing!

Real video was released on yahoo yesterday today but its not on you tube for you yet. Below is a live version. No release date yet.

Marks out of 10: 10!

The Shapeshifters – Pusher

The Shapeshifters – Pusher is due for release 2nd of July also on Poistiva. Very little to this track, reminds me of a plain girl. There’s nothing wrong with it that you can point out but there’s no reason to like it. If this was their first track it wouldnt sell, but since The Shapeshifters have had a few successes this may get a few plays… definately not by me though!

Marks out of 10: 4

Sunfreakz ft. Andrea Britton – Counting down the Days

This is awesome. With axwell on the remix its hard for them to go far wrong. This is gonna get me in the mood all summer. Very “Beach House” in style and will be another huge summer hit! Released 16 July on Positiva, can’t wait for this to explode. Before vocals made this track soooo much better it was entitled ‘Riding The Wave’. Remixes include Axwell, Henrik B, Funkagenda, Fonzarelli and DT8.

Marks out of 10: 9 1/2

Next generation CD players?

Had a four hour drive home this morning after my gig last night in Derry and for some reason was brain storming whats gonna be the next break through in DJing technology. I got to thinking why CD’s?? I think laptops have lots of limitations and have heard too many stories of them being problematic. Grand for bars but not for clubs. So i came to the conclusion if i was designing the Pioneer CDJ1000MK1111 (CDJ1000MK4), ie. the follow up to the current industry standard Club Decks, i would have a USB INPUT! It makes perfect sense, why bother having to burn off a new CD – even if it is an mp3. If you had a USB key which now days can be huge in capacity, It’d save carrying a ton of weight in the form of CD’s and albums. This would be simple for the guys in Pioneer to include or even Denon in thier next attempt in market dominance. So if anyone from the design teams reads this, consider that this is the next logical step.

Plato

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Had my first offical Plato meeting this evening. For those that don’t know its a networking and support group for SME business owners. Meeting went well and the group seems pretty intelligent. I’m looking forward to the second meeting next month.

Does anyone really need phone insurance??

Had a conversation today about phone insurance. I was recently asked to renew my insurance policy (the first one came free from vodafone as an incentive). I definately won’t be opting for new insurance, even though i had the need to call on the insurance. I just believe that the price is insanely inflated for the value involved. Unless your complusively forgetful or desperatly hate risk and need piece of mind.

Buying from the phone companies direct is at least double what the cost of approaching an insurance agent directly would be. I can’t help but think people just opt in for Insurance as a last minute thought without really giving it much thought. Since you can legally buy a pay-as-you-go phone (subsidised by any network) and unlock it. Is phone insurance really a cheeky way of stealing customers money?

Eircom cut prices

From RTE:

Eircom is to reduce the prices it charges other operators for using its network by around 10% from July following a review by the regulator ComReg.

The cuts are in the Interconnection Call Conveyance Rates, which Eircom charges other phone companies for initiating or terminating calls on its network.

The reductions will mostly affect other fixed-line operators, but will also affect mobile companies, which pay a charge to Eircom for calls to land lines.

Unreality TV

As i type this i’m watching “Badger or Bust” on Sky One. I’m quite into this “Unreality TV”, I find them quite inspiring and usually get idea’s for my projects by crossing over idea’s from other industries into my various projects.

These shows are educational while being entertaining. Ruth Badger’s main skill is sales. And everyone has to sell everyday – even if they dont know their doing it. People need to sell themselves, sell their opinions to their peers, sell their self worth to others. In many ways they make business sexy and encourage others that if people who are that incapable of running a business team can still succeed then maybe by just making a few positive changes at work we too can make major turn arounds.

Irish road deaths down

According to RTE:

“23% drop in road deaths linked to testing. The number of people being killed on Irish roads has dropped by almost a quarter since mandatory breath testing was introduced last July. Figures released by the Road Safety Authority show that there were 80 fewer deaths in the 11-month period since it was introduced. 274 people died on roads in Ireland in the last 11 months, while 354 lost their lives in the previous 11 months.”

CEO of the Road Safety Authority – Noel Brett, who i have a huge amount of admiration for cause he’s a cool guy, seems to be doing a fab Job.

I think when driver training in simulators (one of the projects i’ve been working on for 2 years now) takes off along with the increased measures Noel is putting into place Ireland could dramitically reduce the numbers further.