Category Archives: Diario

Fitbit production prototypes in Singapore

I am so excited about the Fitbit Tracker!

Although I haven’t yet received the device, nor tested it (by wearing it 24/7), I frankly believe that it will be a smashing product! And the fact that I will be one of the first to test and wear the device makes it thrilling! Yes, I pre-ordered my Fitbit in early Fall 2008 and have been counting down for its official release.

I first heard about Fitbit at the TechCrunch 50 conference in San Fransisco in September 2008. I then immediately contacted James Park (CEO) and started a conversation about the product. James is a very nice guy and replied me in person. I was (at that time) wondering about their licensing in Europe, whether they were going to sell it overseas and if the website (which the Fitbit integrates to) will be working in Europe. James responded in an e-mail:

Hi Sina,

The website will work outside of the US, but at launch we will not be
shipping outside of the US.

We have to pass government certifications for wireless and product
safety in each country and we are focused on passing the US tests
first. We plan on making the Fitbit available for international orders
a few months after our US launch. We will let you know when that
happens.

best
James

James also wrote a blog post on Christmas Eve ’08 about their trip to Singapore where the Fitbit production prototypes are made, along with the post came some awesome pictures of the assembly line (see Flickr stream above).
According to their previous product launch announcement (and the current Fitbit website), the device will be shipped in Q1 2009. I’ll let you know when I receive my very own Fitbit!

A dissapointing day at the Macworld 2009 Keynote

Phil Schiller just announced their new products at the Macworld 2009 keynote (sorry, but no Steve Jobs this time. Thanks for the time being, Stevie.):

– iWork ’09
– iLife ’09
– 17-inch MacBook Pro

plus… DRM-free music in iTunes (w/ 256 kbps AAC encoding),
and
3G music download over iTunes,
and
iTunes Plus (upgrade to non-DRM on previously purchased songs on iTunes)

Thank you Phil, but not good enough. What happened to the iMac and Mac mini?

Now, heading off to CES in Vegas baby!

Edit [11:17 PM]: Apple Inc. (AAPL) stocks stumbled around 10PM this morning, just about the time where all major products were introduced at the keynote. Now, around 11PM it is going up. As a comparison  HP, Microsoft, Dell and Google all went up until now. Oh yeah, AAPL is keeping up.

Edit 2 [1:05 PM]:  UPDATE 2-Apple disappoints–no Jobs or big news at Macworld

Apple shares slid 0.7 percent, lagging by far the Nasdaq’s 1.7 percent gain, reflecting frustration over the lack of news from the trade conference that had previously introduced the iPhone to the world.

(Happy) New Year, Better Twirls and Web 2.0

Happy New Year!  Feliz Ano Novo! Saale No Mobarak!

The hard rock trooper is here to stay. Nueva York will never be the same again. Goodbye 2000eight and Oi 2009. Thanks to ALL S4S supporters for hanging out in my (our) neck of the woods. 2008 was a “holly molly guacamole” year for all of us, wasn’t it?

1st – the introduction of IAM which has been under development by a bunch of masterminds all around the world since early 2008. The idea of IAM came back in the days when I started with sound modeling.  Great success!

2nd – the EP mixes which has been downloaded by you out there. Thank you!

3rd –  Future development of Sound4Sina, Limited Infinity and other projects I’ve had in mind. Yes, there will be a very intuitive Web 2.0 concept over the website in which I have been working late nights to accomplish. A reasonable time for the public site release will be decided as soon as our team has gathered and planned the future of S4S and LI. I am planning to use a wide variety of Web 2.0 (and Web 3.0) features. I’ve been coding and experimenting with CSS3 (which is not yet fully developed by W3C) and jQuery in my spare time (that means late nights after work). Implementation of Social Media is an essential key for bringing people together. Will be added for sure.

The consistent popularity of mainstream music is a chapter long forgotten. Being an extremely tech savvy person myself, I still neglect a variety of mainstream sources and solitude myself to what I believe is the future of the internet. A subcultural off-peak in technological terms is just about to happen (actually, it already happened). Web 2.0 is a continually evolving “technology” with a progressive interconnectivity infrastructure which is highly embraced by web strategists, thus the technology benefits from a continual content aggregation from users and henceforth not depending on static information input.

So what does this mean?

Well, I reckon the feed aggregation from a wide audience rather than narrowed information input from one source. This is what the general idea of Internet was from the early days. If we consider Internet as a bilateral aggregator, we’d end up with a single arrayed conversation between the source and the audience. Opening up one port, let’s say a comments field; it will give feedback, however only for those that visit that specific post and not the majority of people outside the community. Now, if  a XMPP client is deployed on the site it will not only attract the frequent visitors, but also give notice to the world wide web and let it know that the post about XYZ is available and has been posted.

By summarizing the concept, it will give us the acronym SLATES

1. “Search: the ease of finding information through keyword search which makes the platform valuable.
2. Links: guides to important pieces of information. The best pages are the most frequently linked to.
3. Authoring: the ability to create constantly updating content over a platform that is shifted from being the creation of a few to being the constantly updated, interlinked work. In wikis, the content is iterative in the sense that the people undo and redo each other’s work. In blogs, content is cumulative in that posts and comments of individuals are accumulated over time.
4. Tags: categorization of content by creating tags that are simple, one-word descriptions to facilitate searching and avoid rigid, pre-made categories.
5. Extensions: automation of some of the work and pattern matching by using algorithms e.g. amazon.com recommendations.
6. Signals: the use of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) technology to notify users with any changes of the content by sending e-mails to them.”

I have received e-mails from people wishing to see more content on the website. I hope this post has given you the hint. One very common asked question is why I very often use aliases on my releases. Yes, there is a lack of information out there about us; me and the S4S crew. But let us say it with simple words that our idea is to make music and develop our ideas into artwork. My passion is music, technology and the human/computer interaction. My professional background (what I do for living) is somehow not related to music, but takes up alot of my time. The coin has two sides (you’d say that, wouldn’t you?) – But I see the crossing which people usually forget to mention. There is a slight chance that the unfathomable and infinite side is a loop of sides. Is it possible to see both sides of the coin from one point of view?

Well, that is what makes S4S unique. Depicting artwork into waves. Art is creativity, waves are sounds. Mix this and a rock-steady flock of harmony will surround you.

Happy New Year and may the wise mind be with you! ;-)

TRNSTN 8 – February 31st ’09 // don’t miss it!

Pick-A-Mix: Laszlo – Njiiihahahaa – Mix Set

In a previous post I picked a mix session (Sundeck Silvertejp) by DJ Laszlo. Visited his website (blog) the other day and found out that he had released another awesome session with a bunch of personal favorite tracks. The mix is smooth and starts very downbeat and deep, then find its way to some more progressive tracks. Oxia, John Cutler, Dahlbäck, Leger… and YAZOO! Coincidence or simply a great track? Yazoo – Don’t Go! (yeah, I also mixed it in my latest EP19 Mix). Check it out, I highly recommend this mix. Sonido Electronico baby!

DOWNLOAD [website not available anymore]

Tracklist:

01. Télépopmusik – Love can damage your health (Abicah Soul & Dennis Ferrer Mix)
02. Nufrequency feat. Sarah Nelson – Go that deep (Skylark Vocal Mix)
03. Manuel Tur and Dplay – Deviate
04. Filur -You and I (Trentemöller Remix)
05. Oxia vs. Ginos and Snake – Seven (Sarah Goldfarb Remix)
06. Skylark – Too much information (Manuel Tur Remix)
07. Jon Cutler and Matthias Heilbronn – 640 (JCMH Original Mix)
08. Little Louie Vega feat. Mr. V – Jus dance (Cosmic Ritual Dub)
09. Dennis Ferrer and Jerome Sydenham – Sandcastles (Pete Heller Filter Re-edit)
10. Miguel Migs – Fine what’s mine (Mig’s Yoshi Moody Dub)
11. Son of Raw – A black man in space (Sax mix)
12. Ane Brun – Headphone Silence (Henrich Schwarz Remix / Dennis Ferrer Noizy Edit)
13. Christian Malloni – On our way (Manuel Sahagun Remix)
14. Giano – Wjsd (Fred Everythin & Jt Donaldson Remix)
15. Jon Cutler feat. E-man – It’s yours (David Penn Dub)
16. Skylark – Who cares (Stryke’s Respect Remix)
17. Yazoo – Don’t go (Re-re-mix)
18. John Dahlbäck – Pyramid
19. Sebastien Leger – Bambou
20. Pryda – Rakfunk

Solidarity one, Utopia zero – DEEP bumpy techy house

We had the time of our lives. We’ve been inspired, we’ve been cultivated and we always stay strong. Running for better things to achieve, we find new ways to differentiate from others. Our business culture is about mutual benefits and 100 percent accuracy in our performance. Our strive is to obtain efficacy and making an exponential business growth overseas.

Let’s say I am a part of this cultural ramble. Can I be liable for any fortcoming failure as much as I (indeed) can benefit from the success we are seeing today?

Todays’ mix pick (read: the smash hit) is solely based on my personal (modest) appreciation for the opposite sex behind the X-fader. So hot, and so intelligent – honesty in a “cherry picking” way of (not so randomly) playing a session that is, far far better than “the other” disposable session I was supposed to post.

Footwork opening set for Steve Porter (July 2008)

DEEP bumpy techy house – DJ Aleksandra

[audio:http://www.djaleksandra.com/music/Aleksandra_live_opening_for_StevePorter_at_Footwork_Toronto07_26_2008.mp3]