GiGiAUT

More thinking...

2010-04-23T17:35:00.002+02:00

I've been doing some thinking and making notes of day to day things I hear about in the news and other forms of media in general, and I think I want to start writing a little more now.

My ideas, my theories, my thoughts all put into words and shared with anyone who's interested in seeing the world from my perspective. Following in the footsteps of my idols, I just think some things need to be brought to light and thought about by people other than myself.

Ad lucem.

My analysis on Apple and ARM rumour.

2010-04-23T06:01:00.003+02:00

I was reading my tech updates yesterday and came across an article that Apple was thinking about buying Processor manufacturer ARM. Why they would do this is simple. Now there's level of the playing field, but then there's also closing off the playing field and not allowing your friends in to play with you.

If Apple takes over ARM, that would probably be the end of them producing CPU's for other mobile phone manufacturers like Motorola, HTC and the like. Excuse my french, but if this is true, Apple is a big pu**y. I've been checking the amount of Patents these guys have been filing. They want to put a patent on just about everything so that nobody else can use "their" technology. On the other hand, if ARM is smart, they won't sell to these spoiled brats. How is that good for business? Go from supplying multiple clients to only one exclusive client?

Did you know an Icon based GUI on any Operating System (Windows, Linux, Android, etc) was patented by Apple? Or they at least tried, it's a bit late now. I'll be damned if you ever catch me with anything from them now, be it software or electronics.

Well done Apple though. If you can't beat the other team, buy the ball park and kick them out. And you fanboys complain about Microsoft...ha!

My Lexicon

2010-04-18T10:42:00.002+02:00

My Personal Lexicon: My theories, ideas and terminologies analysing the modern world.

Just a collection of the things I think about. A basic analysis on the world around me and the people in it, my theories on what I would call phenomenons, and some terminology I use to categorize/understand behavioural patterns. I'm not a Psychology or Philosophy student, these are just thoughts of mine. They may/may not be correct/offensive/thought provoking, but I apologize in advance if I do step on any toes.

Distorted Motives:

Motives that were conceived with positive objectives in mind, but which have now become unclear or misled due to various influences. Negative factors are a big influence, such as greed, jealousy, M.A.D. and revenge as may cloud the subject's judgement or motives, leading them to commit selfish acts of violence - verbal or physical -, or various other acts considered to be morally wrong and socially unacceptable.

Seasonal Branding Phenomenon:

A Phenomenon that creates pandemonium during various seasons of the year due to commercialism. This Phenomenon manipulates the mindset of the average human being for a certain period of time, ultimately convincing them to acquire as much as many tangible objects as possible relating to the given season. These objects are usually branded, modified or manufactured specifically for the given season in order to attract attention and potential buyers. This usually occurs at three main points during the year (Valentines Day, Easter, Christmas/New Years) in much of the Western world, and some parts around the globe. However, there is the possibility that this Phenomenon can occur more than thrice a year, for example, any large sporting event(s) that involve most of the global community, either as spectators or participants. Avoidance of this Phenomenon can lead one to be seen as socially awkward.

M.A.D:

Modern Attention Deficit. This occurs mainly among people under the age of 25, most being in the 12-19 years old group. It can occur however, at later stages in life, or continue from an earlier stage. Very different from Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, this involves more the social status of a person rather than their own attention span. As the subject may feel bored, rejected or unnoticed, they will try to find ways of averting the attention of others towards themselves in order to feel socially accepted/loved/appreciated/needed/functional. An influence of Distorted Motives, M.A.D. may cause the subject to exhibit potentially self endangering behaviour or acts seen by many as socially/morally unacceptable, for example, public indecency or performing various "stunts". In certain cases, the subject might have been threatened or abused at some point in their life, be it verbally, physically emotionally, which could lead them to doing the same to others. Certain situations may become endangering or life threatening to by standers or people/animals in the same vicinity as the subject.

Human Refinement:

....

*work in progress. I still need to refine some of the topics and make them clearer while adding and expanding more*

E-Mail

2010-02-07T05:22:00.000+01:00

Wow

Really Sorry but....in all honesty....

2010-02-03T18:28:00.000+01:00

Oh yes this is gonna be a mean one. I'm sorry but I just have to get this off my chest. Call it sour grapes, call me a grump, whatever. But...hear me out.

These Facebook Fan Pages have destroyed the whole fabric of this social network. Yeah yeah I know, I have one, but it has a purpose. I don't give a flying squirrel what happens when you eat a pack of M&M's and take a dump or what you do after you go to bed. I think it's stupid and pointless creating the groups first of all, but joining them is even more pointless.

Why am I pissed? I'm trying to build a career but does anyone give a shit about someone genuinely making a page to share his creations with the world? NO! Do you even check your groups you joined now and again or do you just join them for the sake of joining them and showing off to your friends that you like having a coffee in the morning? It's stupid, it's senseless, and it's become an annoying thorn in my side because everyone is in the habit of joining stupid things, and the real stuff just gets glanced over and left.

I ask time and time again for feedback (Murray I hear you on that one mate) but it's pointless. If you don't give a shit about my project, don't make me happy by becoming a fan.

This whole stupid network has lost it's purpose and the amount of douchebaggery (yes I just made that word up. Go on, make a fanpage for that) and stupidity has grown rapidly over time. I'm sorry, but I'm even closer to closing my account. If it wasn't the only way to communicate with friends (how many can I even call that?) and relatives far away, as well as managing my music project, I would have left the moment stupid fan pages started popping up and revealing the percentage of complete and utter idiots on this network.

And just like MySpace before, this place has been overrun by scum. It's a free world though, you have the right to do what you want, and that means the right to delete you from my account if I feel your level of intelligence isn't worth the space on my list. Please note, I've gone from 340+ contacts to 60, so you KNOW I'm serious!

Again, yes I'm sour grapes....and maybe a bit of a bigot....

Testing

2010-02-01T05:53:00.003+01:00

Just testing to see if my SoundCloud widgets work. For the ones that didn't know, everything to do with Gigitsu will now be posted on http://gigitsu.blogspot.com apart from this widget.

Gigitsu - Surrealism by Gigitsu

Reshaping Our Society

2009-11-02T18:54:00.003+01:00

I urge you to read the entire document through and write comments if you feel it necessary. I
m open to all forms of criticism.

A couple of months ago, a concept was brought to my attention. You're probably going to criticise me for having no life at all, or assume that I've lost my mind and that I'm part of some cult. None of this is true. I just ask, where are the thinkers in our generation, and the next one. Have we all become so obsessed with superficial things?

Being a follower of the Zeitgeist movement, a project of theirs sparked my interest. If you have never heard of it, Project Venus is basically a concept that aims to reshape our society for the good. This got me thinking, because I myself have doubts about our future and how things will turn out if we keep letting things go the way they are now.

Taking recent events in Austria into account, when did it become right for one or more teenagers to hold a taxi driver at gunpoint? Sure, there have always been criminals, but when minors start falling into this sort of lifestyle, shouldn't something be done? Should we not question why this is happening? Within the space of one week, three taxi drivers have been help up at gunpoint or threatened with a knife, all of the perpetrators being teenagers.

I go back just a couple of months, still in Austria, when a fourteen year old was shot dead by police, and his seventeen year old accomplice wounded. The pair had broken into a supermarket at 2:25am and there is still debate whether they were shot out of self defence, or whether the police officer that opened fire was “trigger happy”. When did it become normal for fourteen year olds to even be out at this time of the night? Have parents become too lenient on their children?

The next question is, who do we place the blame on? Who is responsible?

As an atheist I will be honest and tell you that I don't believe in God. I don't believe that praying day and night will lead to society changing for the better. I don't believe in divine intervention. How many Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and the like, have prayed for the safety, protection and anointing of their people? Countless I'm sure, but have we seen much change, if any? Have our lives and our society not continued to spiral to the point where teenagers are now criminals? I do not believe anything has happened. I believe their efforts ultimately in vain.

Should we not be responsible enough to stand up and do something? Are we really so incapable and lazy? Why do we find it necessary to pass the blame onto someone else and assume THEY will do something? We are all responsible. We are the only ones who can do something.

I'll start of with the parents of this younger generation. I have personally seen many pay no regard to disciplining their children. This in turn leads to the children believing that they have the upper hand, and that they will always have their way. Many parents are far too concerned with either themselves, or with work. Instead of looking after their children, spending time with them, teaching them the fundamentals that build up a healthy society, they would rather earn more money or pamper themselves. I do understand that there is global economic hardship, and that some families do require extra income to survive, but there are some that give in to greed.

Their disciplinary measures are reflected in the schools where some children easily refuse to learn. They would rather play the class clown, the so called “badass”, or spend their time indulging themselves with different forms of media. I don't have a problem with a child owning a game console or mobile phone, as long as they are disciplined enough to know that there is a time to learn, and a time for leisure. If a parent has no interest in the education of their child, are they really worthy of being called a parent? If your child comes home from school, refuses to do their homework and heads straight for their room to lock the door and entertain his or herself, shouldn't you show the slightest bit of interest how much they are actually learning, BEFORE the school calls you in regarding you child s progress?

Is it right to spoil a failing student with all sorts of materialistic gifts? When your child has done wrong, should you just sit back and watch them continue to do the same thing without trying to stop them and teach them that their actions are wrong? How will they learn otherwise? Who else is going to teach them? The school? How can the school teach them when they have absolutely no discipline in their own home, when the concept of discipline has fallen through the fingers of their guardians and is no longer attainable?

I move on to the media. In the 21st century, it's impossible to escape this entity. We are surrounded by televisions, computers, cellphones, multimedia players, and the giant of them all, the Internet. While it is still largely impossible to censor the internet or even enforce an effective form of restriction in order to shelter minors from certain things, the other forms of media can be censored. I'm sure we have heard of the Censorship Board and many other institutions that carry out the same tasks. When you buy a DVD or computer game, there are clear markings throughout the inlay that state the minimum age one must be, or maturity level, before they are allowed to purchase, view or use the product. The titles that contain more violent, morally and sexually explicit content are clearly designed for young adults and older. And yet parents, other family members, and even the stores allow minors to purchase media containing such content. Not only this, but they blame the publishers and the creators when their children begin to imitate what they have seen.

A few months ago a German software company was banned from selling their games within the country due to a school pupil gunning down fellow schoolmates and teachers. Everyone knows that this is not the first time this has happened. And this is definitely not the first time a video game publisher has been held accountable for releasing a game containing violence. But people fail to see that, yes, they did design such a product, but no, it was not intended for minors, and no, it should not have been sold to minors. The creators and publishers only go as far as designing and releasing the product to the market. They are not responsible for who buys it, because they clearly state on the cover, in plain sight, who the product is intended for.

Again, I bring this down to discipline from the parents. They are the one's allowing, maybe even indirectly as well as directly, their children to purchase these articles. I look at all aspects of the media industry. While DVD's and videogames carry clear ratings, what about the music industry?

I don't mean to put them on the spot, but when did it become normal for artists, if we can even call some of them that, to release songs containing lyrics that are: Degrading to women, degrading to other cultures, not as such condoning but rather nowhere near discouraging the use of drugs and/or alcohol, being promiscuous, the use of foul language and the glamorising of violence? I'm sure you'll agree with me that substance abuse is one of the biggest problems among the younger generation, but the problem of promiscuity and all round moral is an issue in itself.

Albums do in fact carry a warning that the music does contain explicit content, and again, people ignore this. In fact, I believe that record labels have become so obsessed with making a profit, that they target anyone and everyone to buy their music, regardless of age or maturity level. I myself have stopped buying and listening to certain types of music because I totally disagree with the content. I find it offensive that someone should be able to make money and become an idol, when the message they preach is mostly sexist or violent. No, they might not condone this sort of behaviour, but they have managed to glamorise it and have done NOTHING about discouraging it where the younger fans are concerned. I'm looking mainly at what the Hip-Hop and Pop genres have become.

If I recall, when Rap and Hip-Hop first came onto the scene, they had nothing to do with being sexist or violent. They were created as a way for people to get a message out there, a story of their hardship and growing up in a ghetto. I still respect Tupac Shakur, because he did send out a message. He knew that the violence wasn't right, he didn't condone men being sexist towards women and objectifying them. But the more recent artists have use these as devices to make their way in the world and gain fame, fortune, and a global group of blinded followers who idolize them. And again, parents have sat back and allowed their children to idolize these idiots, rather than themselves. What happened to wanting to grow up like daddy, or daddy being your hero? All this next generation want is fame and fortune without really understanding the amount of hard work, talent and skill needed to achieve it. They don't even know the real price of such a lifestyle, because all they're been able to see are the glamorous parts of it. They driven by greed for material wealth and attention.

And we could bring the greed for attention back to the parents, AGAIN! As I said earlier, some parents are either far too concerned with their own well being, or with earning money. The children come home and have nobody to talk to or give them attention, so they look for other ways of attaining it.

I could continue to go on,but in conclusion, I hope you have read this through and I want you to ask yourself these questions and think about them. What is the next step? Who should take it? The answer is literally under your nose. If we as parents, or prospective parents, or one day will be parents, take it upon ourselves to try and teach our children the fundamentals, protect them from the wrong kinds of influences, and be attentive to them in that they are well disciplined and in turn, well educated, WE could reshape our society for the better.

For those of you that want to forward this on to friends and family or keep print a hard copy, I have uploaded the PDF for you to download at the following links.

Mirror 1

Mirror 2

My top tips for safe and secure browsing.

2009-10-18T20:15:00.004+02:00

First off, I want to commend Microsoft for pulling Internet Explorer as their default browser in the European version of Windows 7. In my honest opinion, IE was only a good friend when i had no other friends. Now I'm no expert in the field, but i have some knowledge of web browsers. I've been experimenting with new ones from as far back as Netscape and the Neo browser. I remember K-Meleon which was another Mozilla browser.

Currently I'm running Chrome for quick access and videos because its so fast, and FireFox for extra features like RSS feeds and bookmark synchronization. The security in Mozilla based browsers is the best in my opinion. So here are my top tips of what to use.

1: Choose a browser.

Kick IE to the curb. I've had this computer over a year now, and very seldom used IE. I only needed it occasionally when a piece of software was directly dependable on it or didn't recognize that FireFox was my default. However in that short time of usage, there seemed to some sort of "bombard Gigi with useless toolbars" conference because I've never installed anything into the browser, and yet it takes at least 5 minutes to load up because so many toolbars have found their way into it.

If you're looking for performance, I hear Safari is the one to go for. Its based on the Mozilla engine, widely compatible, and I've used it on many occasions and I can honestly say the interface is beautiful. Load time is excellent but I've never really monitored how fast it loads web pages. As with most good browsers out there, it supports Tabs and Tab-Tearing, so you can pull a tab into its own window. It does get a little sluggish now and again when you have a few tabs open with streaming content. Even on my 2GB of RAM and dual-core.

Another excellent browser for performance is Google's Chrome. Although the browser lacks features (Safari is pretty basic too), it has all the basic things you need and maybe one or two extras the others don't have. Load up time is excellent and I've made it my default browser for that reason. As with the other Mozilla based browsers, the security is excellent. The popup blocker works to some extent, but the browser will automatically show a red screen when you're about to view an unsafe page. You do have the option to continue to the page, although I wouldn't recommend it.

My final choice here, which I will write about in more detail than the others, is FireFox 3. I've been a fan since the first release and I have been using it ever since. For most of my Internet experience, FireFox has been my default (until recently when it became too bloated and sluggish in the loading department). Not just because it was secure, but because it did load faster than IE and as far as i can remember, IE was the first one to support add-ons. And these add-ons are the reason I still stay close to FF.

2. Get FireFox.

Also Mozilla based, firfox supports a wide range of features. Add-ons, plugins, skins and with a few tweaks, you can make it even more useful. Think of it as the swiss army knife of browsers.

3. Get FireFox Add-Ons.

I've discovered a host of Add-Ons for Firefox. I've been using this computer for about a year and a half now, and never ever had a problem with it. I only recently started using a software firewall and yet, i've never had a problem with viruses and malware. The only viruses i've had are the ones i purposely downloaded. I've never had to restore windows from a backup, and never had to format my drive. Knock on wood!

The following add-ons are highly recommended by me and are all FREE.

WOT (Web Of Trust). This is an add-on which is sort of based on a small social network. You can participate if you want, or just use the add-on. What it is basically, is a rating system. The WOT members surf the web and give the different websites ratings in four categories. Child Safety, Trustworthiness, Vendor Reliability and Privacy. If a website is deemed unsafe, WOT will automatically block the website with an overlay displaying information as to why the website is unsafe. Again, you have the option to continue to the page, but this is not recommended. You can get more info here. WOT Demo
Ad-Block Plus. If you get sick of those ads that show up on all the sites with flash animations, this is the perfect add-on. Most of those ads display false messages telling you that your computer is infected. To the average person, this looks legitimate and they end up downloading what they believe to be an Antivirus or cleaner. This is just a piece of malware to turn your computer into a bot and/or steal your personal information stored on it. You have the power to block these ads, and entire domains so that non of their ads show up. You can even block any content you want. And you always have the power to disable the blocker and removed items from the black list if you make a mistake. When you download this add-on, make sure you subscribe to one of the servers so your black list is kept up to date with what to block.
This last add-on beefs up FireFox's popup blocker. Yes Popups makes the built in popup blocker more aggressive. NO website is able to open a popup unless you whitelist it first. This can easily be done by clicking a link on a site, waiting for the bar to show up informing you of a blocked popup, and clicking the options button where you can select the option to allow popups from that domain. This is recommended for websites you trust, because Yes Popups is so aggressive that it will even block you from opening links if they try to open in a new tab. You can always turn it off and remove sites from the white list if you do make a mistake.

These are basically the only three security add-ons i use with my FireFox, and like i said, I've never accidentally downloaded and installed malware, trojans or anything of the sort.

4. Get an anti-spyware program.

There are a few out there, and the best I've come across so far are Lavasoft's Ad-Aware and Spyware Terminator. Please note that these ARE NOT alternatives to an Anti-Virus. Some Anti-Virus programs have malware removers built in, but a few don't, and this is for the people that don't have that feature. Ad-Aware comes in a very basic package that you can only scan your computer with and clean. If you want the background monitor, you need the full version which will cost you a bit. It is a good program though.

Spyware terminator is free and this one actually does give you the option of installing their own antivirus to go with it. I've never tried it out though because I'm happy with Avast Home Edition. Spyware Terminator also gives you the option to immunize your web browsers against certain bugs and loopholes in the browsers and your system. This will prevent your browsers from launching malicious code in the background.

You also have the option of using the Real Time Scanner, which works in the background. A useful feature, however it does get annoying at times. It basically monitors every action your computer makes. If it deems something unsafe, it notifies you and asks how you would like to proceed. If it is a program you purposely launched, it is added to the database and you will never be asked again. If its something you didn't launch, just click the block option and it will be blacklisted and never allowed to run. You do have the option of changing the levels of security. Disable does just that, the monitor is turned off. Allow mode, which i would only recommend when you're installing software from a secure source, i.e. a retail CD or a trusted piece of software from the official website. Game mode will allow you to play your games without the interruptions, and Normal mode prompts you for every unknown action.

As with all security programs, updates are frequent and scans should be run just as often. Again, you have the option of editing you white and black lists.

5. Avast! Home Edition.

I remember going out and paying 50 Euros for Norton Internet Security 2007. Not only did it slow down my entire system and hog my resources, but it let a piece of malware through MSN which destroyed my system. This was two years ago, and since then I've never touched anything with Norton on it again. I've never paid for an antivirus since then either.

Avast! comes in two versions. Home Edition and Professional. The Home edition will cost you nothing, and you'll get all the features you need PLUS a licence key that's valid for one year. And when it expires? Just renew it or, if you're feeling generous, pay for the Professional licence. This will unlock small extra features like a Script Blocker, PUSH Updates, the ability to store scan results and a few more other things. I still say Home edition is fine for everyday use.

6. Firewall.

Most Routers have built in firewalls, and company networks too. But sometimes an extra bit of protection does help, and the Windows Firewall doesn't cut it. I'm using COMODO Firewall. Another free program. Just like Spyware Terminator, updates are frequent and it will prompt you about every action you make if it finds it unsafe. Unlike Spyware Terminator that only prompts on local actions (starting of programs and services without connecting to the Internet or network), it does it's job of monitoring EVERY connection you make to the Internet. Every time a program tries to access a port or an outside I.P. address tries to communicate with a port, you will be notified. Its up to you to decide what's safe, but the program will help you if you don't know. As for security levels, it's much the same as Spyware Terminator, with the addition of Safe mode which will prompt for absolutely everything, and Training mode which learns which actions to allow. Network and Local actions have separate security levels, so you can adjust them independently.

7. Don't download just anything.

There are so many programs on the internet that are available for download, and most seem to good to be true. If you don't need it, don't download it. Theres countless weather applets, so called spyware removers, and little gadgets to add to your desktop to make it look fancy, but so many are full of malware and trojans. Instead, Google the software first and see what comes up. If other users deem it safe and reliable, go ahead and install it. This method has saved my skin countless times.

You can get more info on these programs by visiting the following websites:

Remembering the greats, part THR33

2009-10-08T18:03:00.003+02:00

I'm one day late with my post but I can explain. Whether I actually want to or not is a totally different question. And now without further ado, we can begin part three.

This first one might not be trance, but I thought I would start off with a big track from...well 12 years ago. 1997 was the year and Bellini came out with something that was sure to get you on the dancefloor, and/or going to Rio De Janeiro. Samba De Janeiro. I wanna learn that dance too (Don't hate me). These guys are going by the name of Paffendorf now, and I can guarantee it's not the last you hear of them from me. ;)

As promised the other day, I bring you another track with Janeiro in the title. Solid Sessions, the name of the track, and 2000 is the year it was produced and released in. Another song telling an interesting story (which you can find out more about by clicking the link). A big big tune from back then, being remixed in 2002 by the likes of Armin Van Buuren and more, and again in 2006 by 4 Strings. I will feature the Van Buuren remix later on as it was also pretty spectacular.

Now this next one I'm sure EVERYBODY has heard of at some point. And the remix I'm including here is probably one of his best to date, if not THE best. Delerium, a Canadian band formed in 1987 (that was a good year, I know one other good thing that came out that year. Take a hint) as a side project to Front Line Assembly. Sarah McLachlan lent her vocals to the group and together they produced Silence. The track recieved airplay in 1997 but was only released in 1999. The track was then remixed by Tiesto, and in my personal opinion, I think this was one of the biggest trance tunes ever. And this, ladies and gentlemen, IS the track that actually got me hooked on trance for life. You remember it like your first kiss, or your first love, and really, the way I feel about this song is no different. Above & Beyond remix to follow later on.

Almost at the end of this edition, but here's another personal favourite and love of mine. Going back 13 years to 1996, we have Chicane with Offshore. Probably their best dance track, but I have a couple others coming later that are pretty much on par with this. Offshore is a true Ibiza anthem, and I enjoy both the dance and chilled out versions. Disco citizens also did a really excellent remix of this (another alias of the man behind Chicane, Nicholas Bracegirdle).

And once again we come to the end of this post, and I hope I leave you again with another cracker of a track. A german duo by the name of Cosmic Gate released their first single in 1999. This was not a very well known track, and they only became widely popular after their release of Fire Wire, but Exploration Of Space still gets my heart pumping. Oh by the way, ever heard of Nic Chagall? I'm sure you have. Nic Chagall is an alias of Claus Terhoeven, one of the faces behind Cosmic Gate. Over the years they've racked up quite a few remixes for various artists including, Oceanlab, Safri Duo, Ferry Corsten, and more recently, Markus Schulz.

More classics to follow. Tomorrow night we might even have a friday night pack to get you off to a good start this weekend. Lets see how things go ;)

Remembering the greats, Part Deux.

2009-10-06T17:40:00.018+02:00

Extra points to anyone who picked out the movie reference in the title. But onto business, and believe me I have some hammers for you today. This first one is an amazing track. It might not be Proximus/Adiemus but I can guarantee you it's on that level.

Coming from around 1999/2000 (the best years of trance in my opinion), Finished Symphony was produced by Mike Truman and Chris Healings, a.k.a. Hybrid. The British duo had the Russian Federal Orchestra perform the symphony, blending it with progressive breakbeat, trance and house. I think it's a moving piece, and the chilled version without the breakbeat is just as effective.

The next one coming out from the same time, not really a moving track but it was one of the one's that got me into the genre. Actually I think the first dance/trance CD i ever owned was a compilation and this was one of the mixes. (Anyone remember the E.S.P. mixes? It was on the green one, forgot what volume or whatever, please let me know if you do). Some kicking bass and smooth piano, here's Limits by Marco V. and Benjamin.

I'm trying to work on a 5 per post system, so it's not stopping here. Something newer, and pretty massive by my favourite Trance/Dance group ever. Yes, it's Oceanlab. One year after Jono Grant, Tony McGuinness and Paavo Siljamäki (a.k.a. Above & Beyond) linked up with Justine Suissa, they released this massive track. I find the original to be pretty moving, but the remix by Ferry Corsten was also pretty big. I'd post both but I'm gonna favour the original. The video is pretty awesome itself.

Now this next one i first heard on the Deeper Shades of Euphoria mix cd in the form of Solarstones After Hours mix. Very chilled and laid back, with intriguing lyrics and vocals by Carla Werner. The original is not much different, but with a more breakbeat feel. Out of 2002, featured on DJ Tiesto's In Search Of Sunrise vol. 3: Panama, here is Paul Oakenfold's Southern Sun remixed by Tiesto. There's actually an interesting story to this track, listen and you'll get the idea...or just look a the Wikipedia page.

And last, but certainly not least, a bombshell from Blank & Jones. I KNOW you will love this one. A very uplifting energetic piece with a very chilled out break. The climax in this one (not that kind but has similar effects) is amazing. I get shivers everytime (see, I told you it's similar). From 2002, here's Watching The Waves, with a trippy video to double the effects.

Hope you loved this post and I'm sure there will be many more for you fanatics. If you didn't, too bad, I'm still gonna do this just for the enjoyment of digging up classics. I've got more lined up for tomorrow, so check back again. Just a teaser....does Solid Sessions ring a bell? ;)

I'm off on a major trip now seeing as that last one got me in the mood.

Remembering the greats.

2009-10-05T20:51:00.003+02:00

OK so I've remodelled the blog just a little. I think the bright pink and purple and all that was getting a little tacky. And maybe the sidebar was full of junk too...i don't know. But my new logo (I use the term loosely because I've been using it everywhere else for quite a while) is up at the top now, and I think it looks better....but that's beside the point.

I've been surfing youtube and wikipedia-ing, etc etc for a couple weeks now and I'm stumbling upon some really old trance and it's all really good stuff. So I'm deciding to start a segment on here called "Remembering the Greats" or something....I will work on the name.

Basically the idea is to find the monster hits from back in the day, so you can also refresh the memory and have a listen. All will be posted here with their YouTube clips, maybe even some extra info behind the song. I find it interesting and I'm sure there's people who want to broaden their knowledge of the genre, some of the songs and the big artists.

Starting off with probably the most emotionally stimulating hit, Mauro Picotto's "Proximus"

This song uses a sample taken from Adiemus for those interested. I've found a video of the original which I embedded below. This piece was also covered by Enya for Lord Of The Rings, but here is a link to Wikipedia with more info on Adiemus.

"Discover" promotional edit online.

2009-08-14T14:05:00.003+02:00

It's been too long since I managed to make any music, even though I've been dying to. But in the past two weeks I have managed to do some work and this is the first complete one. This is just a promotional version, I'm keeping the extended ones to myself for now unless I see some activity generated.

Player is embedded below. Download, listen, comment, but most importantly, ENJOY! :)

Discover (Promo ed...

Keeping up with the @Jonesessessss....

2009-07-28T21:01:00.002+02:00

In my never ending quest for exposure and a larger fan base, I've decided to keep up with the times and get myself a Twitter account dedicated to Gigitsu. And why not? Rather than sign in to facebook to update my fan page, i can just tweet from my mobile when im out and about.

And in other news, in my never ending quest to bring you, the people, some fresh new progressive tracks, I've managed to come up with 2 (now 3) new tracks in one day. I can't wait for friday so i can start putting some production time in and working on these. Demos will be released once i'm happy with them....if that ever happens. As well as those three, i'll be going back a couple of years to when i was still going under the D-Livid alias. I'll be taking a few of those tracks and composing them from scratch with new instruments and effects. I've learned so much more in the past 2-3 years, lets see what i can change and improve.

yeah so i'm full of excitement. Don't forget to tell your friends.... your mom knows already ;)

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

2009-07-19T07:54:00.003+02:00

Right well it's been a while since i wrote anything here and I can explain. I've been really busy travelling, working, sleeping, etc. But other than that, I just haven't felt that inspired lately. Until a couple of days ago.

I'm sure you're familiar with the painting "Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper. If not, I can guarantee you've seen some sort of parody or pop culture reference to it. Google it and you will see. Do it now if you can, then read on after.

Right, so now we know what I'm talking about. Except that painting isn't the one I'll be referring to. A reinterpretation of it, probably almost as famous, named The Boulevard of Broken dreams, has been on my mind lately. In this piece, the characters are replaced by Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, Elvis Presley and James Dean. All well known and loved celebrities who passed on tragically.

My interpretation is much the opposite. The original features the four celebrities, at least three out the four seem to be happy. They were all highly successful, although cut down in their prime as it were. The one i see in my head is a much gloomier feel about it. I'll try to describe it for you.

Imagine the diner. Now imagine it in Hollywood, except it's completely empty. Now one by one, I'll add more modern characters to it. Something we can relate to. Imagine a young girl, tall, skinny, blonde and wearing a leopard skin coat. She is holding a cigarette, seated at the counter with a cup of coffee. A very unsatisfied, depressed, confused look on her face. This is a model, unhappy because she sacrificed her health and body for a dream, and now she is bearing the consequences. Poor health, greed, and a life spent wasting time worrying about the superficial/material things.

The next character in the diner, a young man. His face almost identical to that of the young James Dean. Obviously a very good looking young man. He's behind the counter, busily serving the patrons as they come in. The look on his face makes it evident that he's deep in thought as he makes his way about his job. A young inspiring actor maybe, working the 9-5 shift just to get by while he tries to land a role in a low budget film. We all have to start off somewhere.

Character number 3 is seated at the counter on the side adjacent to that of the young lady. He is slightly askew on his stool, clothes somewhat tatty, large gold chains on his neck and wrists. A very wealthy man, however it's easy to see he has problems. His eyes are red and droopy. His face bears a scar just above the right cheek bone. From behind, the problem becomes clearer as one can see a mirror and a silver tin, just peeking out from one of his back pockets. Someone who made it in the industry, but somewhere along the line lost his way and started a journey down a very dark path.

Now the really sad parts. They might be too much for some people, but i have to be completely honest and open if i want to interpret this in a way that reflects our society as it is today.

Seated eerily close to the young lady, is an older man, probably late fifties to mid sixties. Another successful person, his suit is of a designer label, tailor made to fit his ageing body perfectly. He is the only one inside the diner with a smile on his face, albeit a cheeky one, as his eyes gaze at the blonde. I don't need to go into detail about his intentions, i think the man is fairly transparent enough for you to see them for yourself.

Across the road from the diner, in the background, a red light can be seen. A reference to the real Boulevard of broken dreams, Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

If i could paint, this is what i would paint :)

The Real Cost Of Second Hand Goods.

2009-05-23T11:41:00.005+02:00

Right i know its been a while since i wrote on here but i've been really busy. So for a change, i've taken some time off to sit here and write about something i've been thinking about.

The hidden cost of second hand electronics has been on my mind. I was in the process of buying a new mobile but before i decided what i wanted, i checked out a few reviews and videos, the most noteable here being the "unboxing" videos on youtube.

Sure you may get the second hand mobile, mp3 player, laptop at a knockoff price, but you're not getting the full experience of the purchase. What exactly do i mean? I mean the actual unboxing of the device and seeing it in its raw, unscathed, untouched state, freshly wrapped in the packaging with all the extras that came with it.

A tech fundi like me would probably compare the experience of unboxing to that of child birth. Taking the device out of the box for the first time (i know what you're thinking, and no not that box, i'm talking about the phone and the packaging) and holding it in your hands, fresh, shiny and clean. Something like that new car smell.

With second hand goods, you don't really experience this. It's already been unpackaged, handled, most likely dropped and scratched a few times, and probably nowhere near in working order as it was when it was new. So your iPhone you bought for 300 bucks, might be a bargain, but you're missing out on a 300+ experience the original owner had.

The excitement when you first open the box and see it in absolute perfect condition for the first time is already gone and used on someone else. In this sense, i try to always go for a new device. This is probably why people like to take photos of the unboxing event and videos, so they can preserve that memory. Like a childs first words caught on film, or the first time he/she walked or got caught playing in the mud (i have a pretty memorable pic of a similar experience involving me and my brother haha. i just need to find it).

Really, what i'm trying to say is, theres a lot more that you pay for than the bargain price tag. And that, my friends, is what i believe to be the hidden cost of second hand goods.

Enclosed is a video of someone who just got his hands on the new Nintendo DSi. Have a look, you can almost feel the excitement and joy.

Nintendo DSi unboxing at CrunchGear.

Big F**KING HOUSE!

2009-04-24T16:14:00.006+02:00

An old mix I dug up from Feb 2007.

Featuring, Pharell and Paul Oakenfold, Erick Morillo, Beatfreakz, Mr. Oizo and many more.

You can download or listen to it on eSnips or in the player below.

D-Livid - Big Fuxx...

M0H1T0 has landed!

2009-04-22T00:24:00.004+02:00

It's here, and i'm happy about this one. Got some seriously big tunes in there along with a few new and lesser known ones which i'm sure you will end up liking. 3 or 4 weeks of planning this playlist and now i've gone and selected what i feel are the tunes that make you wanna dance and get lost in the music. One or two throwbacks (Madison Avenue, anyone?) and my three current favourites which i recommend you go and download (pay for it if you can, they're really good). These would be:

David Guetta Ft. Kelly Rowland - Love Takes Over (Samman's 'Boom Boom' Club Mix)
Bob Sinclar Ft. Sugarhill Gang - Lala Song (Tocadisco Remix)
Pussycat Dolls - Jai Ho (DJ Fisun Extended Mix)

But enough about that, how about the rest of the tracks. My favourites have been marked and underlined, i recommend these most of all. Tracklisting is as follows:

Robin S vs Steve Angello & Laidback Luke - Show Me Love vs Be (Hardwell's Bootleg Mix)
Pryda vs Blaze - Precious Pjanoo (Marco Palacios Remix)
The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name (Tom Neville Remix)
Ultrabeat Vs Darren Styles - Sure Feels Good (Soul Seekerz Remiz)
Madison Avenue - Don't Call Me Baby
Kaskade & Deadmau5 - Move for Me (Extended Mix)
Flo Rida Feat Kesha - Right Round (Mark Brown Remix)
Britney Spears - Gimme More (Mike Candys Bitch Remix)
Benassi Bros vs Black Box featuring Sandy Chambers & Martha Wash - Illusion (Everybody Everybody) (Res-5 vs Benny Bennasi "Finale" Edit)
Albin Myers - Times Like These (Club Mix)
Bjork - Hyperballad (Mauro Mozart Remix)
Albin Myers - Times Like These (Club Mix)
David Guetta Ft. Kelly Rowland - Love Takes Over (Samman's 'Boom Boom' Club Mix)
Bob Sinclar Ft. Sugarhill Gang - Lala Song (Tocadisco Remix)
Pussycat Dolls - Jai Ho (DJ Fisun Extended Mix)
Ashlee Simpson - Outta My Head (Dave Aude Club Mix)
Jewel - Serve the Ego [Hani Num Club Mix]
Groove Armada - Superstyling (Kyle Watson Bootleg Mix)
Jesse - Leavin' (MSTRKRFT Mix)
Chris Decay - Hold Tight (Tim Verba Remix)

Download/Listen: http://www.zshare.net/audio/58991740dc57e9d3/
I know i know, its zSHARE and i'm not a fan, but MediaFire rejected the file. Their limit is 100MB per file, zSHARE is 500MB. Looking for a new host...

Old Mixes are online.

2009-04-02T19:33:00.004+02:00

Here's an eSnips widget with some of my old mixes. No need to download, you can listen to them right there. I'll update the page later with links to MediaFire so you can download them from a faster server and in high quality (esnips doesn't like me).

Click to carry on to the eSnips folder.

DJ D-Livid - The Mixes

Holy F***, does he know what he's created?

2009-04-01T16:08:00.003+02:00

Browsing through my usual subscriptions i came across an interesting headline.

"iPod Touch Controlled Mazda RX8"

April Fools joke it most certainly is not, because i used my usual "i gotta see this to believe it" intuition and opened it. I watched the video and was impressed with the concept as a whole, until he described how it worked. And then it hit me..... This man has just hooked up his RX-8 to one serious security system. As you will see in the video, the central-locking, starter, diagnostics and gps are all connected to a computer in the boot, which is hooked up to a 3G modem.

So in a nutshell, he can start his car, unlock it and get information on where it is and what its doing anywhere in the world. Which made me think. Think of the shock the guy who steals this will get when you start it up or cut off the engine for him even though he's miles away. With a few tweaks you could probably cut the fuel pump before he gets too far and use Google Maps on the iPhone to locate it.

I think he should go ahead and patent the idea and sell it to some security company. Kudos.

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Audible Cocktail now online.

2009-03-23T17:03:00.001+01:00

Party time? Get yourself in the mood. Audible Cocktail, 24 hot house tracks back to back, cut, blended and served in one hot download.
If this mix doesnt get you dancing, then i don't know what will.

Track List:

1. Fragma Vs P Diddy - Tocas Last Night (Inpetto Mix)
2. Delerium feat. Sarah McLachlan - Silence (Niels van Gogh vs. Thomas Gold Remix)
3. Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (MSTRKRFT Remix)
4. Pryda Vs Pnau - Baby Bug Stockholm
5. Mark Ronson Feat. Lily Allen - Oh My God (Chris Lake Remix)
6. Lady GaGa - Poker Face (Jody den Broeder Remix)
7. Beyonce - Diva (Karmatronic Vocal Remix)
8. Muzikjunki & Myu Myu Feat. Todd Jordan - True Or False (Kid Massive Mix)
9. Ne-Yo - Closer (Stonebridge Club Remix)
10. Armin Van Buuren - Who’s Watching (Oliver Moldan's This Clogs Are Made For Dancing Mix)
11. Fatboy Slim - Star 69 (Ortega & Gold)
12. R.I.O - De Janeiro (STFU Radio Edit)
13. Hi Tack - Say Say Say (Waiting 4 U)
14. Col Hamilton - Catch it Kill it Scran it
15. Axel Neville Vs Run DMC - It's Like that
16. John Dahlback - Blink
17. Moby - Raining Again (Steve Angello Remix)
18. The Disco Boys Feat. Manfred M - For You (Freemasons Remix)
19. mr. oizo - flat beat
20. Didier Sinclair Ft. Lidy V - Feel The Wave
21. Rihanna - Disturbia (jody den broeder remix)
22. DJ Mujava - Township Funk
23. Kaz James Feat. Macy Gray - Can't Hold Back (TV Rock & Luke Chable Remix)
24. Cunnie Williams Feat. Monie Love - Saturday 2009 (Alex Gaudino & Jason Rooney Remix)

Download here: http://www.zshare.net/audio/57486230e1cd64d6/

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Is Science our new religion?

2009-03-16T13:44:00.002+01:00

Browsing through my favourite blog subscriptions this morning, i came across a post about a hacker that was in a motorbike accident and lost his finger. What did he do about it? Why, he got a prosthetic finger made with a USB flash drive in it, naturally. Although it looks kind of odd, i think its a pretty brilliant idea. Ever needed to send documents or pictures fast but forgot your thumb drive at home? Ever wanted to trade files with someone, be it music (legally people, legally) or videos (again, legally), but didn't have access to a disk you could store it all on? What about some secret documents? Nobody would suspect you of carrying them in your finger, right? (Unless they looked at it properly, the hardware is clearly visible but that can be sorted out)

Is science the new religion? Is technology becoming the most important thing to us? Being a supposed christian (i only call myself one when its appropriate, just to save face, but really, im not) i don't care much for all the religious things. For me, sadly, technology is more interesting. Science is more logical than a book about stories that can't be proven. Take our USB-Finger friend for example. He made the most out of his accident with what? Technology. Instead of just a prosthetic finger that's just, well, a prosthetic finger, he upped the ante and made it even more functional.

I don't mean to offend anyone, but while most would resort to prayer for the healing of someone, scientists are working on other methods. Just look how life expectancy (in the developed countries, sadly) has increased since the dark ages. A man who was once blind is now almost able to see after being given an eyeball. Sure he can't see clearly, but its a start. An eye transplant! Did you ever imagine it?

What I'm getting at is, could science be the beginning of the end of religion? I feel everyday less and less people believe in whatever God or whatever faith they have, especially the younger generations. It just doesn't seem to fit in the world anymore. A book thousands of years old is starting to show its age. Personally, i've never heard a story about someone praying for sight and then having it restored. If i did, i would be very skeptical about it. And here is a man who i'm sure didn't pray, but hey, he can almost see. And why is this so important? Because we can PROVE how he was able to see. We know the methods and techniques implemented into restoring his sight.

Call me sacrilegious but the truth is the truth. So i put it to you. Lets have a debate. Will science take over as an alternative to religion? Comment please cos its really made me think seeing more and more stories about how technology is changing and shaping our lives.

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Highly recommended. Plus! and Discovery.

2009-03-06T13:14:00.001+01:00

A special post for the MSN freaks out there. In my honest opinion, Windows Live Messenger or MSN as it's commonly known, is one of the few things M$ has done right. Being a fan from nearly the beginning, I've watched it evolve, the latest WLM 2009 or version 14 being my favourite. But for those of you still on 8 and above, here are two add-on's that can make your favourite IM much better.

The Plus! add-on.

For the people that just want to add a little bit or a lot more spice to WLM, this is a great add-on. The Plus! add-on lets you customize variable aspects of WLM. From basic functions such as custom notifications for specific contacs, transparency of the windows, skinning capabilities to give the interface a custom look and feel, and my favourite, the display name colouring. If i'm on your contact list and you see a bunch of odd symbols, you need Plus! to see my name in all its glory ;)

One of the more advanced features of Plus! is that it allows you to download various scripts for the program. These are small add-ons that allow you to do a multitude of tasks. My favourite being the Screenshot sender which sends a contact a picture of what's on your display. There are so many scripts, i don't know where to begin. Chances are, if there's something you want to do with your WLM, there's a script for you somewhere.

The Discovery add-on.

I find this one to be a sneaky add-on. I won't reveal all the features because i like to use some of them ;)
But basically, it allows you to customize the notifications box, see when someone has opened a conversation window to chat to you (even before they've sent the message. gives you time to run away) and an encryption system for your messages. It may not be as customizable as the Plus! add-on, but it has some very useful features that Plus! doesn't have.

Personally i have both installed, but i'm in the process of trying out the new Discovery2 add-on for WLM 2009. So far my Plus! add-on is giving me grief with my display name styles. Other than that, Discovery2 is still in the Beta phase, so i'm expecting trouble ahead while they complete it. But if you're still on the older WLM, don't worry too much about upgrading yet.

Not again....

2009-03-05T01:07:00.001+01:00

Yes i know i bitched at you all for bitching about facebook changing its layout, but i'm not gonna bitch this time. While i do like the current layout, and always have, i'm not sure if i want it to change. If it does, so be it, so is the game of life. The only thing in this world that remains constant is change.

The reason behind this new layout is that facebook is attempting to take a swing at twitter. Now, i understand its all about market share and business and blah blah, but really? I like facebook because its FACEBOOK. I had twitter, ended up deleting the account after a month cos i didnt see a point if i could put my status up on facebook anyway.

Just saying, i have mixed feelings about this new layout.....leaning more towards the negative.

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Ummm.....so i guess i'm evil?

2009-03-04T11:48:00.001+01:00

Bored out of my mind, i decided to do a google search for "am i evil?" and i found a quiz. Well i took it and the result didn't really surprise me, given the fact that the past few nights i've dreamed about some pretty weird but what i think is interesting stuff. Mostly mafia related dreams, blood, guns, me getting shot a couple of times and being a hero. A sign? I should damn well hope so. It's my destiny :D

So here's my quiz result. And while some of you might think whatever, i don't. It pretty much hits the nail on the head....squarely.

How evil are you?

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R.I.P....I Knew You Well (sort of)

2009-03-03T15:31:00.001+01:00

Excuse the headline, i just wanted your attention for a bit. I thought mentioning a death was enough to catch a persons eye, and i'm sure it worked, didn't it? Funny how people are so inquisitive that as soon as they see R.I.P., they need to check who it was that passed on.

But thats beside the point....or is it? I reckon it could soon be R.I.P. or Pieces for our dear old friend the Magazine. Just my theory, its probably not so. And why do i feel this way about a good friend of mine? Well.....paper is so 20th century (unless you live in a 3rd world country, sorry :[ ). Over the past couple of months i've been seeing countless headlines about the big boy in the e-book industry, The Kindle 2. Being the successor to the original Kindle, also a best seller, these could mean the end for paperback and hardbacks. But more about that further down. For now lets concentrate on a more main stream assasin to the beloved magazine.....The Internet.

If you live in a third world country (sorry again) then you probably don't use the internet that much. As for me, i can't live without it. I have broadband at home, a 3G modem i carry with me on trips out of town, and then my cellphone package has 3G too for when i'm nowhere near my laptop. It's become a way of life, and i feel it might replace our old friend the magazine. Why exactly?

Firstly, with a magazine, you get your monthly, weekly or bi-weekly issues. What this means is that you pretty much have to wait between 7 and 30 days to see what's new and newsy in the world. Nice. But not in my case however. I've become accustomed to getting hourly feeds of whats new. And instead of paying whatever one pays for the latest issue of their favourite mag, i get it for free. Let's take for example my favourite blog, CrunchGear. The guys at Crunch are forever posting articles on new things they find and any reviews they've done. That means as soon as its posted, i get a little ícon flashin in my web browser that notifies me about any new articles. With RSS and Atom feeds, the world of online news has become a whole different ballgame.

The downside to this is that you can't exactly take your laptop everywhere. This is debatable though, with the introduction of mini-laptops (netbook is a term i don't think we're allowed to use anymore, and i'm behind Psion on this) and internet enabled mobile devices, i.e. iPhone, iPod Touch, etc. Right now it might seem a little bit odd to just pull out a mini laptop anywhere and get online, but its a growing trend as mini-notebooks are already selling faster than laptops. Again the downside here is battery life. A magazine can be whipped out at any occasion and read, a notebook would depend on how much battery you have left and if you have any network, be it Wi-Fi or 3G. Each has its pro's and con's. But i'm pretty sure the only places we're going to see magazines anymore is 3rd world countries (i'm really really sorry for picking on you guys) and waiting rooms, or at the salon. I mean, its not like you're going to whip out your Kindle or Eee while you're getting your hair done, right?

Now lets look at E-Book readers in general. What makes E-Book readers better than traditional books? For a start, you can store as many books as you like on the internal memory, which is probably the biggest selling point. Instead of carrying a suitcase full of books, you just need one E-Book reader the size of a traditional book. Ok maybe its a little bit bigger. But compare one oversized device to 10 thick paperbacks and you get the point right? Not only does it serve as an e-book reader, but it plays mp3's too! So you can listen to some classical music while you site by the fire with your Kindle (actually, could this be where they got the name? Ha). Or maybe surf the internet while you're there, check your mail, go to the amazon store and download one or two more bestsellers, do some research, whatever you want. Heck, why read even. As far as i know, one of the controversial features of the Kindle 2 was the text-to-speach converter.....which pissed off publishers because E-Books and Audiobooks are two different things sold separately. It's since been killed off.

The drawback of this technology however, is that E-Ink (Electronic ink) is only one colour for now. So as far as magazines go, this is a no no....unless you don't mind looki....nevermind. But for newspapers and such, well, then we might be onto something. If i remember correctly, NewYork Times is already selling e-book readers and subscriptions. This would result in a cut down on production costs as they wouldn't need to use as much paper as before, everything will be done electronically.

I reckon it's only a matter of time before we see more and more people using MID's (Mobile Internet Devices) willy nilly on the streets. I'm actually enjoying reading the latest headlines on the way to work and on long journeys with the train. The end is nigh ;)

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The IM Rant....Apologies in advance :)

2009-03-01T13:50:00.001+01:00

I've been wanting to write this for a while. I just couldn't gather my thoughts and clarify them to make it interesting. You might not think its interesting, but unfortunately i do. First of all, apologies in advance if you read this and take offence. That's not my aim. I just thought its funny to take note of some peoples chatting behaviour.

READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. IF YOU TAKE OFFENCE YOU CAN'T TAKE A JOKE! DON'T COMPLAIN!

Number One. The L337 chatter and the hipster. Annoying as fuck because you can't understand what the hell they type. Yes you may be the R0xx0r but you're a DUMB455 too. Maybe there's something in the water, or maybe even global warming, but this generation of teens are on their own planet. Maybe its just me, but seriously, when did we start speaking in algebra? What happened to vowels? What happened to proper spelling?

I saw an article on the BBC website about this. Or in hip talk, "sw n rtcl on d BBC site bt dis". Send me a message like this, be it on facebook, msn or sms and you risk deletion ;)

Number Two. The dramatic typer. I could say I might be one...but not really. And did you see that...what i did just there? Thats the only reason you could consider me a dramatic typer. I love my three periods (don't be stupid). And my quick little additions in brackets also add a bit more fun into what you're reading. Like a sarcastic remark or private joke whispered on the side or behind someones back....only its on your screen. But you get the picture, right?

We're entertaining. The other type of dramatic typing i absolutely LOATHE is the type that leaves you wondering if the person on the other end has some sticky keys (could be for a number of reasons....lets not get into that). You site there typing away with someone and then you gets thisssssss. What the fuck, honestly? Or you get this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As far as i know, in any language, one exclamation point is enough to get the point accross.

But then i have to rethink this because there's uneducated people that don't know when its appropriate to use the exclamation point. You use it to express emotion people! Like what i did here! and there! Maybe two is enough to really show you mean business. But 130? Even question marks. 130?? Two is enough to really make it dramatic. As for the extra letters...you're retarded sorry. Either clean your keyboard, or learn how to type like a descent human being....please.

Number Three. The Capitalist. You probably already know this, but when typing an article or message, capitals equals SHOUTING. And you probably already knew this, but its bad manners to SHOUT. If you find yourself being ignored, it might have been the fact that you "shouted" at me for no reason. If you got a keyboard problem, you should get that checked out....likewise if its because of OCD. Oh, accronyms are allowed to be in capitals.

Number Four. The Blind One. This one will probably offend some people but like i said, thats not my aim. Take it as a joke. The main characteristic of a pest is that they're unable to differentiate between an "away", "busy", "in call", "out to lunch" and "online" status on various instant messengers. This can lead to conflict when the question "why are you ignoring me" pops up.... Well lets have a look at the reasons behind this shall we.

Away according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary is defined as follows:

1: on the way : along <get away early>
2: from this or that place <go away>
3 a: in a secure place or manner <locked away> b: in another direction <look away>
4: out of existence : to an end <echoes dying away>
5: from one's possession <gave away a fortune>
6: steadily onward : uninterruptedly <clocks ticking away>
7: by a long distance or interval : far <away back in 1910>

You get the picture right? Lets take a look at busy.

1 a: engaged in action : occupied b: being in use <found the telephone busy>
2: full of activity : bustling <a busy seaport>
3: foolishly or intrusively active : meddling
4: full of distracting detail <a busy design>

Am i getting the message through? The rest are pretty self explanitory. SO on that note, if my status is set to "away", please don't assume i'm sitting right there so you can IM me and expect a reply. And if i'm "busy", it probably means i've got better things to do, or i'm tied up :)

And last but not least. Number Five. The Pest. I know alot of people, if they even read this far, will most likely take offence. This is the person that feels they HAVE to IM you if they find you in their online contacts. Most of the time without reason, or even valid topic of discussion. The opening line "whats up" comes to mind. Once you see the "whats up" pop up on the screen, you know the conversation might as well be considered dead. Rather than "hey how are you" or "hey what are you up to", they choose "whats up". With the first two, you can at least give a straight forward answer and elaborate, just to get conversation going. With "whats up".....what are the possible answers? "Nothing?", "Not much?", "The sky?", "My d***?" (sorry).

And when i stop replying messages you know its because you've either bored me to death or because i've found something better to do. Or i just don't have anything more to say.

Again, don't take offence.

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Facebook Connect now working.

2009-02-20T19:37:00.003+01:00

I've managed to get my facebook connect up and running on my page. Now you can use your facebook account to comment and subscribe to posts. Also i suggest getting Firefox 3 or the Flock browser if you want to subscribe to the threads easily. The best would really be flock as it has a dedicated RSS function that flashes whenever theres new posts.

Instructions for Facebook connect are as follows:

1. Click the facebook connect on the comments box.
2. Click connect with facebook when the button appears, and allow facebook connect to access your profile like you do with any other facebook application.
3. Type in your comment and post it.

Note: This works on any site that has this feature. Of course if you have a Disqus account, you can use that, or you can just post an Unclaimed comment.

Now subscribing. If you click the options button highlighted in the picture above, you get a small list of options like the one below:

Click "This Thread" where subscribe is, and you get a dialog (in Firefox) like this:

Just select where you want the link to be shown and then click add. When you open your favourites menu, it should be there as a menu with the RSS feeds icon. Put your mouse cursor over it and you'll see all the most recent posts.

No i want to see more page views and a few comments before i bother upgrading again with FeedBurner. OK?

*edit* How is the new wide format looking? Sorry if you're on a small screen, i had to make everything wider because i hate it when Blogger cuts half my pictures out. I'm loving the fact i can see the full frame now even.

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Updating my blog. It's the 2000's people.

2009-02-20T11:03:00.002+01:00

Over the next couple of days, due to a surplus in boredom and lack of fun things to do (half the people are gone away, it looks like i'm alone again this weekend) i'll be updating my blog. Its one of the geekiest things one could possibly do, but i've got nothing else to do.....well, other than watching or playing Star Trek, which is probably worse (don't you dare comment).

Its going to be a painful process, pulling apart my HTML and editing the source code, adding new stings of code, etc etc.....just know its a fucking job and a half. If you don't know what source code is, there's your answer just how difficult it is.

What will be new on my blog. Well for a start i've already edited the layout so my colum is a little wider. I need to get my pictures to fit in perfectly. I had to edit last night because i embeded a photo from my deviant-art account and it was overlapping my navigation menu on the right.....yes blah blah blah i know.

SO, coming soon, maybe new logos, more pictures, more gadgets and the big one i'm trying to work on....Facebook Connect. so you facebookers can log into my blog and comment....and stuff. and share. and whatever.

Watch this space ----->

*edit*

ok so this is proving rather difficult. i managed to get disqus working on my comments which was no biggie, but disqus won't let me use my facebook connect app i made so you can post with your fb account. I'll find a way to work it eventually. Other than that, look for feedburner and socialtwist capabilities coming later. i'll get there eventually....i will.

The New Green Revolution.

2009-02-19T20:27:00.002+01:00

Global warming blah blah blah, fossil fuels, methane gasses, mmhmm. If you have a TV, or Internet, you know what all this is about. Actually, i'd only forgive people cut off from "civilization" for not knowing about this. And i'm glad you know about thinking green, and more power to you if you do, but here's something i was thinking about.

BackTo Source by ~G-Man-Livid on deviant ART

This new "Green" revolution, right? Is it really one big modern day hippie sorta movement, or is it one HUUUUUGE fucking marketing conspiracy designed perfectly to boost sales. Now, don't take offence if you are one of the drones that feeds off this crap. I'm sorry, but i just can't swallow it, let alone tofu.....and if you are one of those drones i know you eat tofu....i know!

See, on one hand i think it is all a good idea. Make energy efficient products to save energy, use biodegradeable packaging for whatever you're selling, use renewable sources of energy where possible, you know the drill. And more power to them. Look at Tesla Motors. Who ever thought an electric car would almost match up to a Lotus Elise (sorry ladies. Just know this thing is fast and its never been possible until now).

And lets not stop there. I mean, everything these days is going green. I've seen designer furniture made from recycled materials. Apparel, jewelery, even a couple of car manufacturers are using recycled plastic for their cars. But are all of them really telling the truth about their products being green.

I'm all for conspiracy theories, so i've thought this one out a little. What if that "green" label on your new plasma is just a "green" sticker that cost them what, 2 cents (i don't know production costs of green stickers) to make, but will cost you an extra $500 (evidently i don't know prices of plasmas either) when you buy it. Now you might like this, being a hippie and all.

You go home feeling all happy, with that "oh boy i'm so cool. i'm doing something for mother earth" look on your face. You plug that sucker in, fire it up and enjoy your new 54" (yes?) picture. Meanwhile, that thing is chewing electricity just as much as the next plasma which was $500 less and didn't have the green sticker..... Ok so maybe this doesn't happen, but who even checks? Right? RIGHT?

So we've covered the good, and the conspiracy (the bad). Now how about the ugly. The hippies. Yes you twits that buy something just because its "green", and no i DON'T mean the colour. Pay attention. It could be a dash of tall poppy syndrom (more about that condition later) but i just don't like you for buying something "green" for the image you get walking down the road with your "green" packaging, containing your "green" device. Its like South Park and that episode when everyone bought a Hybrid Car.

You smug bastards haha. Honestly, if there's more people like me out there (and i'm sure there are), we couldn't give two shits if your new phone is green or not (because if we did, you green people would accuse us of polluting the earth cos one shit is enough). I just wanna know how much, what it can do, and how good it looks.

Ahhhh i just love my rants. I think i'm gonna start posting more rants.

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Become a fan on Facebook.....do it....NOW!

2009-02-13T13:46:00.004+01:00

I decided it was about time that i made myself a fan page on Facebook regarding my music workings, and for those interested, the Gigitsu fan page is now up and running.

I will try to keep it updated with new mixes, as well as work on uploading older ones so you can all have a listen and view the track listings. So far the only functioning mix on the page is the Why-Not 2009 re-edit that i dropped yesterday.

Pirate Radio, a more urban set, is already listed in the Discography section, but is under construction. I spent about half an hour last night putting in the track listing, because 35 tracks is alot for a CD. And guess what? I put my hand on the wrong place on the stupid touchpad and managed to refresh the page, ultimately erasing 30 minutes of work, leaving me with RSI and a slight case of tourettes.

I'll go back tonight and do it again when i have time. Its an old mix but i think its one of my best yet.

Link to the fan page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gigitsu/51764044470?ref=mf

Why-Not 2009 Remixed, redone, refixed......just go get it already.

2009-02-12T15:45:00.007+01:00

So i went back and redid the mix because i was unsatisfied. And now....i am satisfied.

Go and download this new version, and tell me if you are not entertained. Because if you aren't..... i shall make a new one. For this is SPARTAAA!!

Track List.

01. The Killers - Mr Brightside (Thin White Duke remix)
02. Lady Gaga feat. Colby O'Donis - Just Dance (Digital Mode Freaky Remix)
03. R.I.O. - When The Sun Comes Down (Spencer & Hill Remix)
04. Britney Spears - Circus (Junior Vasquez Club Circus)
05. Klaas - How Does It Feel (Club Edit)
06. Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (MSTKRKRFT Remix)
07. Reflekt - Need To Feel Loved (Adam K & Sosha Vocal Mix)
08. Peter Gelderblom - Waiting 4
09. Pussycat Dolls feat. Missy Elliot - Whatcha Think About That (Wideboys Club Mix)
10. Live Element - Something About You (Live Element Remix)
11. Kylie Minogue - Love At First Sight (Dancefloor Killa Mix)
12. Muzikjunki & Myu Myu feat. Todd Jordan - True Or False (Kid Massive Mix)
13. Pryda vs. Pnau - Baby Bug Stockholm
14. Nelly Furtado - Say It Right (V1R00Z 2009 Remix)
15. Lake & Leger vs. Britney Spears - I'm A Slave 4 U (Mishary's 08 Mash-Up Remix)
16. Mark Ronson feat. Lily Allen - Oh My God (Chris Lake Remix)

Link: Download & Listen

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The E-Table....what the fuck am i smoking?

2009-02-12T11:01:00.005+01:00

Really, i don't know what i was on when i thought of this. Only now that i've spent hours cursing and swearing my laptop, coming to a point where i was just short of hurling it accross the room, all because of this DAMNED Table, I realize its bullshit haha.

The E-Table concept. Probably already one somewhere out there, and if i did my homework (did a google search) i would probably know this. HOWEVER, this one is mine.

A simple steel frame with a pine workspace....and whats this? A screen? Ok, so this is how i got the idea. I was walking through a cafeteria sometime last week and i noticed alot of magazines scattered about on all the tables. Me being a fan of minimalism, i decided that clutter does not go with the beautifully designed room i was in.

My solution, for the business men on their lunch breaks? Simple. Far fetched but it could work right? A table with internet access and a small console just in front of every place. Expensive, yes. Risky, yes (what if theres a clumsy clot that spills his coke all the time....the liquid kind).

But practical, no? Grab your lunch tray, fill it up, sit down at a place and read news articles while you eat. Heck, check your e-mail while you're at it. Maybe even pop on your bluetooth headset and listen to some music, or watch the news! Or watch something....preferably not porn.

My basic rendition of the E-Table.

Just out of curiosity.

2009-02-11T07:31:00.003+01:00

Now i'm not the type to sign up for accounts and profiles on social networking sites in the hopes of finding "Mrs Right", or at least someone to date. I think i might still be too old fashioned for that. But what i did do about 5 minutes ago was just out of curiosity.

I found out about a website called YumBunny, the slogan "Who looks good with you?". This intrigued me. So, as one would do, i investigated further and visited the website. My gadget is at the bottom of my home page. Vote for me?

The purpose of this site is Matchmaking, basically. You upload a photo of yourself, answer a few questions about yourself, and then you get paired up with people that other users vote on whether or not you look good together.

I'm not sure if the idea is going to work that great because its not so easy to tell if a couple looks good when one has a picture you can barely see them in. Plus there's no feature for adding your location, yada yada yada, long distance, blah blah blah, sexual predators?

We'll see. I should really stop being so pessimistic about these things :)

Vote for me? I'm curious to see who i would look good with and if i really agree with the outcome too.

*edit* I just realized i too can vote for who i look good with. This could be a problem cos, ha, i don't care if i look like a vagabond (which i don't), I'm gonna vote yes when i think the girl is cute and/or pretty. (I just voted no on a total minger.....shallow much? LOL!) But really, think about the other scum out there that might be taking this seriously....bad. Let's see what happens.

*edit 2* I noticed theres a few asian girls and just my luck, they seem to be geeks. YES YES and YES. Someone actually had Star Trek listed in the likes. How perfect can you get? Beautiful and a geek. (I'm not being sarcastic. i really like where this is going)

*edit 3* It's bullcrap. I removed the gadget from my blog. I knew it was crap haha.

Gigitsu shall rise again....

2009-02-05T19:04:00.001+01:00

Music never stops. There's always going to be something new and something better. For this reason, i'll be making some time on sunday to re-do my Why-Not 2009 mix and perfect it....but wait, theres more. Oh yeah and i mean literally. I think i'm in the mood to start gearing up for a second mix.

And what shall i call it? Concussion anybody? Yep, "Concussion" shall be the name, cos thats what i got last time i wanted to go out to a club and dance to some thumpin good house. Hopefully this won't happen to you, but i am trying to aim at creating the same side effects once you're done listening to it.

Keep checking if you even give a shit, cos this one just might be massive, BWAY!

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Why-Not 2009 House Mix

2009-02-04T08:25:00.001+01:00

I've re-uploaded the mix onto another server where you can listen to the file without having to download it. I would use my esnips account but they've been a little funny in the past because my files are always large and there's copyright issues there.

So hit the link, sit back, relax and turn up the bass cos here it is again, Why-Not 2009 mixed by Gigitsu.

Track List.

01. The Killers - Mr Brightside (Thin White Duke remix)
02. Lady Gaga feat. Colby O'Donis - Just Dance (Digital Mode Freaky Remix)
03. R.I.O. -$ When The Sun Comes Down (Spencer & Hill Remix)
04. Britney Spears - Circus (Junior Vasquez Club Circus)
05. Klaas - How Does It Feel (Club Edit)
06. Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (MSTKRKRFT Remix)
07. Reflekt - Need To Feel Loved (Adam K & Sosha Vocal Mix)
08. Peter Gelderblom - Waiting 4
09. Pussycat Dolls feat. Missy Elliot - Whatcha Think About That (Wideboys Club Mix)
10. Live Element - Something About You (Live Element Remix)
11. Kylie Minogue - Love At First Sight (Dancefloor Killa Mix)
12. Muzikjunki & Myu Myu feat. Todd Jordan - True Or False (Kid Massive Mix)
13. Pryda vs. Pnau - Baby Bug Stockholm
14. Nelly Furtado - Say It Right (V1R00Z 2009 Remix)
15. Lake & Leger vs. Britney Spears - I'm A Slave 4 U (Mishary's 08 Mash-Up Remix)
16. Dean Coleman feat. DCLA - I Want You (Andrew Bayer Remix)
17. Daft Punk and Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You

Download Or Listen

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The next generation social network by us, for us.

2009-02-02T17:37:00.001+01:00

I've put a lot of thought into this idea, and i really feel i might be onto something. Many of you may know about MP3.com. For those that don't, MP3.com is a website dedicated to promoting music, much like MySpace Music. Independant and signed artists are given profiles and are assigned a certain capacity of space on the server where they can upload their music and share it. There are also forums and other means of promoting music on the site, and while i agree with the whole concept, i feel it might be too mainstream for the "little guy". Not only are these communities very large, but independant artists are competing with big names in the industry for page views, listens and downloads.

My proposal to you, the independant artists, whether you only make the music as a hobby, or whether you are really trying to break into the market, is that we can come together and form a smaller, more focussed community, designed by us, for us. The significance of this would be that we won't have to contend with the big names. Rather, we would create a social network allowing us to help build each other. Artists can upload their music to a server for others to hear, and maybe even collaborate on a global scale. John Doe somewhere in the USA can upload a basic song or the samples of one, and someone else in europe can then download those files and mix them. The final product will be a collaboration between two people on two different continents.

For the DJ's, another idea i had was to sort of set up a system almost like the big names in the Trance industry. DJ Tiesto and the boys from Above and Beyond have their own record labels, and when they do their mixes, they use tracks from their own labels. Not only is this convenient, but they avoid any problems regarding copyrights or acquiring the rights to mix the music, as well as boosting the popularity of their smaller, lesser known artists.

I'm more than ready to start this off as a small project. My first step would be to find a domain where i can set up a free social network. Anyone that feels this is a good idea and feels they can contribute can become a member. From then on i will try to find the best places to host files and share them. The idea is to try and keep everything free. If the network does eventually grow to the point where i cannot manage the administrative tasks alone, i will let the community know and trusted, capable users will be granted administrative privelages to help me keep everything running.

I'm open to ideas and comments. I believe there could be a future in this. Anyone who is willing to help or contribute in the form of ideas or information, or even talent, please email me on my gmail address or send me a message on facebook.

I'm going to make sure this network only includes independant artists. If we gain enough popularity, maybe we could even start producing compilations and selling them. The beauty in this is that every penny will go into our pockets. No agents, no network execs taking a certain percentage of our sales.

Who's with me?

The Windows 7 Experience...thus far

2009-02-01T12:39:00.001+01:00

This might be the OS that brings alot of pissed off Vista users back to M$. And why not? Its a lot more compatible and a lot more stable than Vista. I know this because i managed to get it booting on an almost 4 year old laptop. Yes, i eventually found a guide to install 7 over a network, and suprisingly, given the amount of things i had to do, i had it all set up from nothing within an hour.

So far i can say that even in the Beta stage, this is truly a great OS. On barely 512MB RAM i'm managing to boot up, load a couple apps like msn and firefox and the like, and multitask pretty well. My only gripe? Device drivers. With my laptop being so old, most of the drivers for my Graphics card and Sound card were designed for XP. Although there is a posibility of Vista drivers for the sound card, which might end up working. But i really doubt it.

The graphics card is an Intel 910/915GL or something, which as far as i know has ZERO! Vista support. Nada, nix, nuh uh. I managed to get the latest XP drivers which installed ok.....i lie. After a couple of tries they installed but when i applied my new display settings, the graphics all went garbled and i ended up rebooting to previous config and uninstalling the device. PAIN IN THE ASS! So i tried the older drivers for XP. Installed beautifully, applied my new settings successfully, and rebooted. Everything seemed to be going well. My desktop appeared in full resolution, full colour, all my icons perfectly shaped again. I cannot describe the excitement contained within me at that moment....although it only lasted briefly.

OH YEAH.....i bricked Windows 7....briefly. For some reason, after booting up, the OS decided it didnt agree with my drivers and decided to freeze. Rebooted again, got excited when things started loading, clicked the start menu to open an app.......FROZEN! I lathered, rinsed and repeated a number of times......in vain. Safe Mode FTW.

So now im stuck with a second laptop that has no sound, everything on my screen looks like its been squashed by an anvil, but my MSN and Firefox still work good :)

Of course, i could always just boot into linux when i need to use it for something, but theres just something about booting into 7 and using it that captures me.....is this love?

Tribute to Why-Not

2009-02-01T10:20:00.002+01:00

Early this morning, up before the sun, headed straight for my laptop and headphones. Yes, you can breathe now. The mix should be up by the end of this post and i got one thing to say......The Gigitsu has arrived. Probably not my best mix ever, one or two hiccups in there and i WILL get around to redoing it at some point, but given the fact i havent done this in what, 9 months?

I took mostly new tracks, mostly stuff u wanna go crazy and dance too or just scream your fucking head off. If you want track names or the list, u can email me or leave a comment and i will be more than happy to oblige. If the link is down, do the same thing so i can fix it. But really, i'm happy with what i have accomplished today....to the point i refuse to take of my headphones. I'm making breakfast with them on looking like a neckbrace around my neck. I even got so caught up during the mix i might have shed a few tears cos the tunes were just......aaagh ma gaaad.

It's time people.....is this the year of Gigitsu?

I should fucking hope so. (BTW Why-Not is a club in Vienna that i used to go to alot. Still one of my favourites :)

Gigitsu - Why-Not 2009.mp3

Faquing sheet mayne!

2009-01-30T18:30:00.001+01:00

Apologies comrades. I know i promised a new fresh mix on saturday last week and a few more blogs on Windows 7, but i have a very valid excuse. Let me start off by saying alcohol is the devil!

Friday night last week, i decided to go out and have a good time after a long stressful week....however what started off as a night of heavy drinking quickly turned into probably the worst experience of my life. No bullshitting. After hitting our favourite bar, already drunk after a few bacardi red bull's, i proceeded to intoxicate myself heavily. I'll say this.....Bacardi, Vodka and Tequila, taken one after the other for a good couple of hours is the worst thing a person could do.

I don't know what happened, i don't remember anything, all i know is that the police woke me up on the side of the road miles away from the bar after i had disappeared for a good 5 or so hours. Nobody knows what happened to me. What i do know is i had managed to injure myself to the point my mouth was bleeding and i was suffering from (what i would say) a minor concussion. Not only that, but i didnt know where the heck i was and how i got there.

But i'm fully recovered now, ready to hit the bars and clubs again. AND AND AND! I will work on my mix! So hold on to your socks cos this weekend the Gigitsu will return.

More to come later....

Windows 7, network install.

2009-01-22T20:39:00.005+01:00

On another note, i mentioned i was trying to get my lab rat to boot windows 7 but i didnt have a working dvd drive in it. Well thanks to the boys at the ubuntu forums, i managed to get a guide on doing this. The irony of this? Ubuntu is supposed to be competing with windows.....and i turned to their forum for help....and got it...swiftly. Nah but really, they have sections dedicated to other OS's. I mean Mark Shuttleworth (the Ubuntu Founder) even complimented M$ on Win7.

Right now i only had time to test if i can get into the setup from my network, and i did. Tomorrow....or saturday (sometime before the mix....maybe even during?) i will run the whole thing through and see if it "takes" on my old piece of shit :)

I'm dying to use the OS but seeing as its a Beta, and given the problems Vista had....its not touching my lappy top unless its contained in a virtual machine. I'll write back with results.

P.S. If anyone else wants the guide i'll put the link in when i WIN!

The Modern Art of Gigitsu.

2009-01-22T20:39:00.001+01:00

Its almost the weekend again and i've spent countless hours listening to all the house i have. Good news people. Saturday night should hopefully be the night the next mix hits the interweb. Provided i don't end up devestated after FAILING another mix. I mean come on, what happened to my skill? Has anyone even heard my shit?

Off topic, sorry. So Saturday 24th January 2009, a fresh house mix. I don't walk around with my headphones blaring to damage my ears y'know. Im studying. Every bassline, every hook, every intro and outro. Some careful planning has gone into throwing this set together and by Jeebus i think we got a winner here. As for a killer name.....we'll see.

For now, get your asses through my posts to find my old mixes and have a taste.....then come back on saturday....or sunday......hopefully. Mmmkay?

I sarque at mixing :(

2009-01-18T20:50:00.002+01:00

I'm sitting here devestated after trying to mix up at one fresh DJ set. As it stands now, i sarque cos i been out of the game for a while. Tried mixing both sets and i realised i've lost my touch :(

I was really hoping this would be the weekend i drop a trance mix and a house mix, but i guess not.

However....i refuse to give up on my first love. I shall be back! And when i return, two new mixes from Gigitsu (formerly D-Livid). Its by time i resurrected the aSyLuM!. Still, my old mixes are good. Just a little stale.

One last thing. Is there NOBODY out there who wants to go collab on a couple trance and house traxx? I'm overworked and underpaid (as one is) and i really want to work on something in my free time i do have. Ideas are sorta there but like i said, im totally out of it at the moment. Help?!

Windows 7, mmmmm. (I'm not a traitor, i swear!)

2009-01-18T12:21:00.002+01:00

I'm not a traitor. I bashed Vista at every opportunity. It was like that geeky kid at school that tries too hard to be "one of the group" and ends up embarassing himself. Getting picked on constantly because he thinks he's "cool", but really, you're a dumbfuck. Thats how i felt about Vista. I've had more than my fair share of insults and rantings about Vista. Yet, i've always refused to touch the OS. After my XP SP2 went sour, i got onto Linux which turned out to be great, but lacked a couple of things i needed. But thats another story, and the bottom line is i came crawling back to the hate/love relationship with XP (now on my SP3). Vista had turned out to be worse, so i avoided it like the plague. I have used it though (i can count on one hand the amount of times) but only to help out a n00b getting a network set up or something.

But i think i might change my mind about Windows now that i've managed to get 7 up and running. My experience so far has been suprisingly easy and smooth. Although MS said you need a minimum of 1GB RAM, i made a virtual machine with 700MB RAM, 32MB Video, and a 17GB virtual hard drive. Amazingly, the OS installed flawlessly on the first run and i havent had a problem since then. Although i only use it now and again, im still not confident enough to install on my actual laptop. But i am contemplating......I have a "lab rat" on the sofa with about 512MB RAM (apparently enough to get the OS working. *shock*) and everything else i need to get 7 up and running. Its tempting. The only thing holding me back is the shoddy DVD drive which might deny me access.

First thing i noticed was the KDE like taskbar. When i got into using it, i actually relized its more of a cross between the KDE taskbar and the dock in OS X. Funny, but a nice touch. Windows did need something a little different in that area i think. Mac and Linux have docks and Windows was still playing with the tabbed sorta taskbar? But so far the OS seems to run smoothly, even on a virtual machine. If my lab rat decides to behave so i can install the OS as a host, we'll see what its really all about. I think i can see the beginning of a new friendship :)

Screenshots so far (only 2 for now sorry. more soon when i got time)

Microsoft.....smart smart smart (i'm not a traitor!)

2009-01-18T11:56:00.003+01:00

Windows 7. That's all i can say. Ever since i heard about this about a year ago, I've been curious to find out what it would be like. And now, i have. Thanks to microsoft releasing a Beta version last week, i decided it was time i went and got a copy for myself so i can get a first hand look at what its all about. Originally limited to 2.5 million downloads by Microsoft, i tried to be one of the first to get it by staying on the Microsoft site on the release date. I got bored and gave up, but i was lucky, and somewhat pleased when i found out the limit had been removed, due to the amount of downloads and people wanting to try it.

Honestly, i find this very cunning on Microsofts part. As far as i know, this is the first time Microsoft has released a Beta version of Windows to the general public. But i see what's going on here. Oh yeah. Windows Vista, terrible. I'm sure they recieved many many complaints about Vista. And why not? The OS did suck (poor english, sorry). In some circles, people are even comparing Vista and 7 to the Me and 2000/XP. Why? Windows Me was a huge flop. I bet half of you never even heard of it, right? I almost got it but i stuck with 98 (back in the day). Some say, Me was a test. Wherever Me failed, Microsoft would make a not and fix it. I reckon thats the reason XP is still going strong. In the same sense, i have heard of Vista being referred to as another "test". It was to prepare for Windows 7, but this brings me to my next point.

Lets take Linux for example. There's so many free distros out there and the plus side is that the support for them is excellent. Maybe they do lack in terms of hardware support, but Ubuntu has built a community to aid anyone having problems with the system. Join a tech support chatroom, or post a topic in the forums stating your issue, and someone will reply with a solution (not always the case but i have always fixed my system this way). There are also Beta versions of Linux, and these help with the final product. Any glitches are reported by the users, and the developers make sure they are ironed out and fixed by the time the final version is released. Do you see the plot coming together now?

Release a free Beta, let the people try it, they can complain (because its a beta), make note of their issues, fix them, release the final retail version and it should do fine with most of the problems fixed, right?

Smart!

The Ringwatch Concept....by Gigitsu

2009-01-12T20:43:00.002+01:00

Maybe its not as flashy as the Tokyo Flash watches, or LG's new "Dick Tracy" like watch, but i think its an interesting concept. It's probably been done already but i don't know this, and to me, i came up with the idea myself.

Basically, its a watch with a completely black face, and two rings that light up. How you tell the time is by looking at the part of the ring thats shaddowed. I'm trying to figure out a way to make this work but as it stands, my idea is to have an analog watch in the background somewhere. The hands are what shadows the rings. I'll figure something out. Maybe a nice touch would be an OLED display in the centre? Or maybe the whole damn things could be OLED and the rings and stuff are digital? Or we could have a string of LED's around there and the one that indicates the time shuts off to make a black spot?

But you get the concept right? An hour or so fiddling with Fireworks and i managed to make this....

P.S. The Flock was being an ass and not publishing my post.

The Future?

2009-01-08T19:07:00.001+01:00

As the geeks of this world are well aware, CES is in session. This being the Consumer Electronics Show held annually in Las Vegas, for those the normal people out there. Although I'm nowhere near the USA, i am following closely on the whats new and newsy in the world of consumer electronics. While reading the articles from the CrunchGear site (there's actually a team there i believe. A couple of them are attending with laptops, cameras, etc. so the articles are pretty much posted as it all happens. nice) i came across a Netbook by EMTEC (Yes the guys previously known as BASF. If you grew up in the 90's you would remember the name because they manufactured blank cassettes for your stereo and VCR) that has a very interesting little feature. This little laptop doesn't have a built in HDD or SSD. Oh no, its a little more personal than that.

It features a G-Key, which is simply a USB disk that you slip into the device. What's so unique about this? Well for a start, your entire operating system, documents, settings, pictures, music, etc. are all stored on this little gadget. OK maybe not fancy, its just a bootable USB drive with Mandriva Linux with a persistent configuration.....in English, its just Linux on a USB drive set up in a way that the USB drive acts like a normal HDD. You, YES YOU, can even make one yourself, as i have done many times in the past.

But this actually got me thinking....what if? What if this became a standard? I know that computer motherboards have been able to boot from a USB drive for years now (sooo useful when you have windows and it crashes.....as windows does). Imagine this. You're at the office working on some documents, you feel like listening to a little bit of music, maybe even browsing the web for some downloads or new software. Simple enough, anyone can do that. Now the interesting part. You shut down, pull out your G-Key, clip it back onto the lanyard around your neck (VITAL. These things can easily get lost people.....EASILY....and god knows what you would have on it) and make your way home. As you're making your way through the streets, you realize you forgot to send an important email and it HAS to be done today. Easy. Just pop into an internet cafe or maybe even a Starbucks (I'm dreaming, OK?), unclip your G-Key, slip it in, and there's your desktop on the screen with all your documents, settings, music, etc. just exactly the same as it was in the office. Open your email client (hopefully its Thunderbird....just thought I'd plug another Mozilla app quickly), write your oh so important e-mail, and send. Shut down, unplug, clip on, carry on home. When you get home, unclip, plug in, turn on. Again, your very same personalized desktop in all its glory on your laptop or desktop. Work on a couple docs, listen to your music, maybe buy some software online that you need at work (Office? Please don't).

Simple enough, right? But suppose Junior feels like checking his mail and getting on MySpace. Well, you wouldn't want him to mess up your desktop with his (excuse the french...) crap. Unplug again, and let him put his own G-Key in. Now his desktop will be on the screen, completely isolated from yours. He can download his umm....stuff, viruses, spyware and everything undesirable and crash his system. But yours will remain safe in the palm of your hand, back pocket, bottom drawer, jacket.....wherever.

Are you getting the concept yet? Your personal computer, in your pocket or around your neck, WHEREVER you go. Something to ponder about, isn't it? The simplicity of not having to buy separate licenses for software on two computers that you use everyday (Software companies will NOT like this idea), not having to download music onto a flash disk and then upload to your personal computer when its within your grasp. No chaos when you get home and realize you needed so forward those emails or send those documents, or that a spreadsheet needs to be completed.

If you want more information on making your own G-Key (although it won't be. it will just be a USB drive with Linux on it) then visit PendriveLinux.com. They have step by step guides on how to create Persistent and Non-Persistent installations for a vast number of Linux flavors. Heck, they even have their own. Anyone can do it. If you have any questions, feel free to comment or email me. Address is somewhere on the site.

(P.S. The above screenshot is actually the Pendrivelinux desktop rotating. Nifty, huh?)

Blogged with the Flock Browser

The Scoop....what have i found this time...hmm....

2009-01-04T09:17:00.001+01:00

After scavenging the web for interesting apps, i decided it was time to take a look at the desktop applications for Facebook. Seeing as i already had a couple, namely Flock and AlertThingy, i thought it might be a good idea to see what else they have.

Being overly impressed with the Flock Browser, i had a feeling there might be other great apps hidden in the list somewhere. But first, let me talk about the almighty Flock.

Just over a week into using it now and i can say that Firefox3 has been replaced as my default. I know it doesnt really make sense if you are a computer geek, because you would realize that Flock is just a suped up FF3.....and had i felt like it, i could have done all the modifications myself. BUT ANYWAY, i wanted to try something new. Did i mention its backward compatible with FF3 add-ons? I found out by accident. I checked the Flock Add-Ons page and found almost nothing, so in my last desperate attempt to customize what i could, i resorted to experimentation. With good reason however, because this is after all FF3.

The OpenID integration is superb. No longer do i have to spend hours logging into social networks, navigating through pages and pages of links, and then sitting here for an eternity trying to upload photos, only to find the connection failed and i have to select all 60 photos again. No longer do i have to log into my blogger page just to write a quick post. No longer do i have to check my RSS feeds every five minutes to see whats new and newsy. No longer do i have to make notes about links i want to come back and visit or show to friends. NO LONGER!

I seriously seriously SERIOUSLY recommend EVERYONE to go and get this browser. Now if we could get this with a Chrome sort of concept.....hmmmm.

I should actually get around to writing about some really useful add-ons i found for the FF3 users. IE users, sorry. I don't swing that way anymore. Its all about Mozilla now. And now the Facebook apps.

I downloaded two this morning. Facebook Desktop (who would have guessed?), and Scrapboy. And so far (because i'm spoiled with Flock), i can say that Facebook Desktop is a disappointment. In my opinion. I was really hoping it would have an IM function in it, but its basically the same as my People Sidebar in flock. Displays messages, friend requests, pokes, your status and wall posts. In fact, its pretty much just an app that displays your notifications. Everything you click opens a browser window....nothing is actually happening in the app. Lame. And everytime i start it, i find myself being directed to the facebook site to log in.....what IS the point of this really if im going to open my browser to facebook everytime? The little window isnt even big enough to show my full name, and you can't resize it. Ha...

FACEBOOK DESKTOP CLIENT

Scrapboy looks promising though. I downloaded it half an hour ago and im slightly excited (how sad, right?) to try it out. So far it logs in well, has a PROPER, and i can IM and write wall posts and messages from within the app. More info on this as soon as i've taken it for a test run. Theres bound to be some Gems in there, and with me being the type of person i am, i will find them somehow. Intersting GUI though.

SCRAPBOY

(just noticed GIMP kinda stroked out in this screenshot :S)

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Flock and Me :)

2008-12-27T15:08:00.001+01:00

A couple nights ago i was just browsing the web. I came across some old favorite links in my Firefox and decided to just go through them...just for the fun of it to see what i had been bookmarking. I must have come across some forum (probably Ubuntu, cos it was something to do with Linux....i don't remember my damn self.) and i saw something about a social networking browser. Then i saw that it was based on Firefox3....which was all i needed to see really. A few clicks later i had downloaded it and was on my way to setting it up, which didnt even take long.

Flock is the name of the browser. Its not my favorite, to be completely honest, but i'm using it as much as possible to get used to it. Thus far i can actually say i recommend it to anyone who is a member on a number of social networking sites. Why? I'll try and explain it.

The browser has a feature called OpenID which allows you to simultaneously connect to a number of social networking sites. This allows you quick and easy access to updates, notifications, etc without having to even open the site. So, while your on whatever site you're viewing, just pop open the side bar, change your Facebook status, maybe check your requests (friend, group, application, etc) and you messages, and even check your friends current status messages. Then check what your friends on YouTube have done recently, then onto MySpace, and so on and so forth. All in a sidebar.

The so called Flockbar is currently my favorite feature on the browser. With buttons to pop open:-

the people sidebar,
media bar (pops up at the top of the window to show videos on your YouTube account. either what you added, favorite or anything recently added or favorite. and more),
RSS feeds (in the sidebar),
mail (opens a new tab),
favorites (sidebar),
photo uploader (new window),
blog editor (new window),
accounts and services sidebar,
and a very useful feature... the web clipboard sidebar.

More info on Flock available at the homepage.

Another thing. Its a cross platform browser. So if you're on XP, Vista, OS X or any Linux distro, you can use it.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

As with the iPod before, iPhone shall have a smaller sibling.....really?

2008-12-24T08:39:00.005+01:00

So just the same as the iPod had the iPod Mini, and then Nano, the iPhone will too! Or so it is written. The rumours surfaced a couple of weeks back, but until now there has been no concrete evidence of an iPhone Nano. But is it really true? So far I've seen a case mock-up diagram, and two supposed pictures of what the real thing looks like.....which is a bit confusing considering they look different?

The first photo i saw yesterday is probably just a hoax. But it does look mighty fine though.....probably because it just looks like someone photo shopped a picture of an iPhone 3G and made the "Nano" the size of the supposed case from the mock diagram.

The second picture i saw is actually from the manufacturer of iPod and iPhone cases, XKSN. So this is more than likely the real deal. Somehow not as flashy as the "photo shopped" one but i would still buy one....considering that its going to be sold at $99...or so the rumors said.The big issue with a Nano would be compatibility. The device is smaller, and probably has lower spec components than the 3G and some apps might not function as well. Screen size might also be an issue if the Nano has a lower resolution. But with Apple being Apple, I'm sure they'll work something out. Maybe a special Nano section in the App Store? That should ehm...separate the men from the boys, right?

No blogs for a while.

2008-12-16T19:44:00.006+01:00

Due to time constraints, a busy season and me being sick this week, there have been and might not be any blogs for a little while. Apologies if anyone actually even reads this shit (doubt it but i tried anyway).

For now heres some links to my mixes i just uploaded onto FileFactory.com

Most of them are pretty big but pretty good.

- Big F**king House Part 1 (House mix)
- 138 BPM (Trance Mix)
- Hard Style Nation (Trance Mix)
- Funky House 07 (House Mix)
- Twista feat. Kanye West vs. Trentemøller - Overnight Celebrity vs. Give A Little
- Twista feat. Kanye West vs. Trentemøller - Overnight Celebrity vs. Polar Shift
- Souljaboy vs. Trentemøller - Crank Dat vs. Polar Shift
- Premix 07 Demo

and the big one,

- Whoppa 2008 Demo Mix (a.k.a. Shivers 2008)

I'm a Google Fanboy!!!! Cloud Computing, Android, and yet another Mac Clone.

2008-12-06T10:46:00.007+01:00

So its early, i have things to do but i HAD to write up these first two stories. The fact that i'm a MAJOR Google Fanboy doesn't help one bit. U know when u get excited about Christmas? Thats how i feel right now....and not about Christmas.

Google will now be offering a developement version of the G1 Android phone. What does that mean? NO LOCKS! They will be removing the SIM locks and hardware locks allowing developers to modify the phone as well as create applications for it without the hassle of getting a T-Mobile contract and then bugging them for the unlock codes. Price is said to be $399 with a mandatory $25 registration fee on the Android Market site (where you will be selling your applications you are supposedly developing with your new phone....right). Sorry Apple but i might be changing my mind on getting an iPhone......hmmm.

More from Google. Ever heard of Cloud Computing? If not, Cloud Computing is supposedly the future. Cloud Computing will allow a user to access their personal documents, videos, music, pictures and just about everything else they do with their computer......anywhere! All you need is a subscription to a host server where your files are stored, and a terminal with internet access.
The concept has been around for a while, in some way or another, and i think Google will be the first there. Google already has the capabilities. What am i talking about, you might ask? The Google Cloud OS, naturally. Yes they have it in testing stages already, and to me it looks like it's going to be a big deal. The OS boots in about 6 seconds (yes 6 seconds. i saw it for myself) and consists of nothing but a Chrome Browser window. Don't panic. Theres more to it than that. The chrome browser features a "Mac like" dock at the bottom of the window with shortcuts to common applications, most, if not all of which are web based (e.g. Google Calendar, Docs, Reader, Blogger, Gmail, Youtube, etc.). If you ever used any of the original gOS's such as gOS Space or gOS Gadgets (if you dont know, visit gOS, googles operating system homepage), you will be familiar with the dock.

Obviously MP3 and Video playback is supported (somehow. i havent been able to get my hands on a copy of the OS unfortunately) as well as other normal features like volume control and battery level indicator, which are both integrated into the browser window. Best feature of all is the OS can run on any machine thats x86 based and with 128MB RAM. So dig up your dinosaurs from that closet in the back room and set up a quick access internet terminal? Why not, if you wanna get online fast and just browse and stuff, its worth it. And don't worry about rendering XP (or whatever OS you have on your computer. Mac and Linux included) useless. Cloud has a button on the dock that allows you to boot into your host OS at the click of a button.

I want this.....but rumor has it that the release will be in January. Oh well, another month.

Now you would think with Psystar's legal issue with Apple, anybody making a Mac clone would think about backing off and scrapping their project until things settle. No. Yet ANOTHER company has brought out a Mac Clone. This one being a Tablet version of a MacBook called a Modbook. It's actually an updated version to a previous one they released, but i still dont think now is the right time. And at $2,249? I guess it really is a Mac clone huh.

Now to start saving up for the G1.....fun. Is that model even going to be available in europe? Huh.

Facebook Virus???? iMac Clones and Nokia 5800 is already out.

2008-12-05T16:29:00.002+01:00

First off, apologies. According to Mobility Today, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic was released on October 2nd. Either i read the original article wrong, or CrunchGear had it wrong. As promised, i'm bringing you the tech specs.

Input method is pretty much the same as the iPhone. The phone features an on screen full QWETY keyboard which can be used in Portrait and Landscape modes. It also features a Guitar Pick like accessory that makes for easier typing, as well as handwriting recognition when the phone is used with the stylus that slides out the bottom. Display is a 3.2" widescreen with 640x360 resolution on a 16:9 ratio, naturally.

The interface features a "Media Bar" with shortcuts to the most commonly used media applications such as Video, Music, Internet and so on. Other features are a 3.2mp camera, integrated sterio speakers, a second camera on the face for video calls (this was supposed to be big at one stage but does anyone even use this feature anyway?) and the usual GPS, Bluetooth, 3G, HSDPA and Wi-Fi.

Most important, the capacity of the device. The phone itself comes with an 8GB microSD card but is capable of using a 16GB. Internal memory is 81mb. I think this is one model thats might just turn the tables in the iPhone arena. The fact it's capable of making video clips (up to 90 minutes long depending on the memory card), and the hardware seems pretty jacked up might mean a cheaper and possibly better alternative to the iPhone. Looks are pretty much the same. But still....somehow the iPhone just seems that much more glamorous than anything else out there, doesn't it?

Argentenian firm OpeniMac has pretty much ignored the Psystar vs. Apple legal issue and released their own iMac clone. The company is currently offering 2 machines. The OpeniMac is only $990 and ships with 2GB of memory, 320GB HDD, and a 256MB ATI Radeon HD Pro. The OpeniMacPRO will run ya, $1,710 but is a 3.0GHz machine with 4GB of ram and a 20-inch widescreen LCD. You probably think i'm against Apple now because i've been writing up on alternatives to their products but thats not the case. Like i said, if i had the cash, i would definitely drop some into Steve Job's pocket, no matter the cost. One more thing....the computers appear to be in Spanish only. Hmmm....

According to Cnet.com, there's a new worm virus thats hit facebook. The virus comes as a private message asking the user to click on a link to view what is apparently a "funny" picture of them. The browser then connects to another website where the user is prompted with a message to update FlashPlayer, which is where things start to go downhill.....provided you're not smart enough to look at the signature of the software manufacturer. IE should pick up that the software vendor signature is not valid and warn you about opening the file.

My advice to stay safe, whenever you encouter a situation like this. Cancel or ignore everything, and go directly to the Adobe website and look for your update. That is, if you are using a browser that doesnt recognise the signatures. (i think they all do but i'm not sure. i'm a Firefox and Google Chrome fanboy so those are the only two i use.)

More info on Cnet.com. Link here.

If anyone wants links to the full stories (where available) i'll be more than happy to send them. Leave a comment or send me a message.

iPhone iPhone iPhone.... Some might be glad, some might be meh.

2008-12-04T15:53:00.002+01:00

So my obsession with the iPhone might slowly start coming to an end. I've wanted one since they were released but with the packages the networks offer (and i just got into a 2 year contract. one is enough, i actually have 2 :[ shit!) are a little bit on the pricey side. And for an unlocked device on ebay, you're looking at about 600 euros (some are a little less but that comes off in my books as sketchy. whats wrong with it?)

HOWEVER! iPhone beware because on December 2nd, nokia brought out its N97 with 32GB Storage capacity. Top that iPhone. The device looks pretty flashy, but doesnt really have all the flair the iPhone has...somehow. From what i've seen, the GUI is somewhat cluttered and not as clean as that of the iPhone. Price is about $700 and for now the phone looks to be SIM free (you can use it on any network. no packages, no hidden costs, no contract!). Pretty much, its a 32GB multimedia phone with 5mp camera, 3.5" touchscreen, kick out QWERTY keyoard (makes life a lot easier), supports up to 16GB microSD cards (a whopping 48GB altogether if you have one), and the usual HSDPA, 3G and WiFi. Oh and a GPS. Operating system is Symbian S60 now in its 5th Edition.
A second iPhone killer from Nokia (no news on that yet.) will be the 5800 XpressMusic. This one will be in black with a more iPhone-ish look and running on the same OS as the N97. I don't have specs on it now, but i'm sure i will have them by the end of tonight as i'm running short on time right now.

Back to the iPhone, modders have managed to get the Linux 2.6 kernal to load on it. But thats about as far as it goes. No GUI, no GNOME, no KDE, just the simple command prompt. Hey, its a start. The guy working also demostrated a BootCamp like utility that allows you to choose what you want to do when you turn on the phone. You can either load the normal iPhone interface, or choose a more advanced interface that allows you to get into the hardware and boot the linux kernal. Links will be posted later.

iPhone Linux Demonstration Video from planetbeing on Vimeo.

And last but not least, for the people in America. A $99 iPhone? Yes, apparently WalMart is set to start selling iPhones for $99. Whats the catch? Well, a 4GB capacity and....oh yeah....a 2 year contract (didn't see that one coming huh *sarcasm*).

Still want one? I think i might slowly change my mind. More iPhone competitors and updates coming soon.

Google gets festive, Logitek on a roll, and Apple thinks you're stupid?

2008-12-03T20:36:00.001+01:00

For the people that are using Google Docs, they've stepped into the holiday season with a bunch of templates to get your presentations, spreadsheets and other documents looking more festive than ever. The templates range from Greeting Cards to festive Mailing Labels. I even came accross a Video Card template where you can upload a video and send it online with a pretty border around it.

Something else i stumbled on with my GMail was the introduction of new Themes to change the look of you page. I haven't really had much of a chance to go through them all (i'm using Thunderbird for that, but my Firefox has "Better Gmail 2" to change the look), but it does look promising for the people who are getting bored of the same look. My personal favourite is the Graffiti theme. From what i heard not everybody was so lucky with the themes option. Many people didn't have access to it, but i think its all been cleared up by now. More info on the two later.

Now for Logitek. The days of the mouse may be numbered due to touch screens on all sorts of hand held devices capable of carrying out most computer functions. However, that didn't stop Logitek from making their 1 billionth mouse. I say keep on keeping on cos i personally don't see the end of the mouse coming too soon. I quite like having a mouse. All this touching (hmmm :S....) and rubbing of surfaces (my touchpad) is giving me friction burn.

On the music side, A State Of Trance Collected Extended Versions Volume 3 is now on sale. With christmas just around the corner, all the techno freaks should be happy to find a copy wrapped up and laying under the tree (hint hint....guess what i want :P). I'm sure someone out there is already ripping it and uploading to Rapidshare. (If you are, and you are reading this, drop me a line please?)

Last on the list. Apple and you, the consumer. I'm not sure if any of you heard, but a man is suing Apple for false advertising. His problem? The iPhone 3G (i'm obsessed, sorry.) advert claims the phone is faster than it actually is on 3G networks. Apples response? "Our Ads don't lie, but you're a fool if you believe them." Okay maybe they didnt use those exact words (i think they might have but at least thats what it said on Wired.com, link here) but that is pretty much what they were getting at. Still.....i'm sad to say i WILL remain an Apple fanboy. Not legit of course, their gadgets are still a little pricey for me, but who knows. Maybe one of these days, right? Riiight.

Raising The Dead.

2008-12-02T17:49:00.000+01:00

I thought it might be time to bring back some of my old mixes, so heres the first in the series. This one is an old Hip-Hop/Dancehall mash up i like to call Pirate Radio.

D-Livid Presents Pirate Radio

Go download and listen. Write me back with any comments if you think its good enough. My track for the day is Chicane - Autumn Tactics (Thrillseekers Club Mix). Lyrics are definitely up there with the best vocal trance songs. The tune itself is really awesome. I can't get it out of my head. worth a quick listen.

Otherwise i have not much else to say today. Its a slow week i think.

Going Open Source?

2008-11-26T20:24:00.001+01:00

If you don't know by now what the Open Source Movement is, you don't know much about the computer software world. For those of you that are and aren't, i'll be writing a couple of articles on Open Source software. Whether you're going Linux, or just Open Source on another OS, i'll bring you tips on the best Open Source apps i can find.

The advantage about this type of software is that its absolutely free, and the source code is available to the public which allows anyone to customize the software and make changes to suit their personal needs. It also allows programmers to work together as a community by adding newer features to products or fixing bugs. More information can be found on Wikipedia by searching for "Open Source".

The piece of software i want to talk about today is one that i've found extremely useful recently.

aTube Catcher 1.0

100% free and easy to use, aTube Catcher is a video downloader and converter in one. With more advanced features than most downloaders available at present, i would recommend it to anyone who wants to download videos from a video sharing site (e.g. youtube, megavideo, googlevideo, etc.)

With access to over 150 video servers (including adult ones), aTube is the easiest way to download one or more files without having to open up hundreds of windows. The program automatically scans your clipboard for links it recognizes and adds them into the source field on startup. All you do is click download, and in no time you will have your video (or mp3) on your hard disk. The program features a Queue Manager which allows you to add more than one source link to a list, which the program then uses to download the files automatically, one by one. The Queue Manager also features the clipboard scanner, so theres no need to keep switching windows to cut and paste links. Theres also the Always On Top feature which will keep the Queue Manager on top of any other windows, allowing you to view and edit your links without having to switch back and forth.

One of the most significant features about this program is the video converter. Alot of the programs on the web don't have this feature. aTube even features a useful templates feature, allowing you to download and convert videos to fit just about any form of media. From DVD's and VCD's to MP3 players and PSP's. There is also a mobile phone template included. The templates automaticaly adjust the video resolution, aspect ratio and bitrate to suit your needs. All it takes is a couple of clicks, and you're ready to enjoy your videos on the go.

As well as converting videos directly from the web, it allows you to convert .FLV files to any other format, for those of you that have been using video downloads that don't feature a converter.

With 6 built-in languages, tonnes of useful and easy-to-use features, and codecs to convert to 18 different formats (including 3GP, MP3, MP4, AVI, WMV, OGG and GIF), aTube Catcher is easily the best piece of free software out there when it comes to video downloads.

http://atube-catcher.dsnetwb.com/get-video-software-windows-home/

Elektro mixes....friend, foe or just a bunch of rubbish.

2008-11-24T18:22:00.002+01:00

I'm writing this because of the amount of Elektro remixes I'm hearing lately of songs that should be considered classics. Some of these are Silence (Delerium), Infinity (Guru Josh) and King Of My Castle (Wamdue Project) to name but a few.

If you know your trance, you will know that Silence was probably one of the biggest tunes to hit the scene back in the day. Tiesto made it legendary (in my honest opinion) with his remix of the track, and if i remember clearly, hearing THAT mix is what got me hooked on the stuff in the first place. So to me, not only is it one of the greatest songs of all time, but its also like a starting point, a checkpoint, a whatever you wanna call it. My first taste of vocal trance. My first hit of smack that has kept me coming back. Anyway you look at it, that song probably means alot more to me than any other because of the journey it has set me on.

Enough ranting and getting nostalgic. On to my main point. Are the new Elektro mixes doing these classics justice or are they just crappy remixes being made to bring back the old tunes so they can be more appealing to this new generation of club goer, and in turn make a few quick bucks off the already big name of the original tracks. People that hang around with me alot will be used to this phrase by now....."Fucking marketing!"

On one hand i do actually like some of these tracks. In the case of Silence 2008, i was already cursing and swearing when i heard the first few seconds of it, only to find out its an Elektro mix. But once it got to that "climax", that hook, the part that gives you the adrenalin rush when you imagine yourself at a gig in the crowd screaming your head off......i was hooked. But still, its the principal. Remakes are not always the best thing, and can ruin the reputation of the original, whatever it may be. (In terms of films, i think the originals of Japanese horrors such as Ju-On, etc, are much much better than the American remakes.)

Moving on, Infinity, originally by Guru Josh, now known as The Guru Josh Project, has been re-released. There are two main versions I've heard (besides the original) and i think these two are actually the best so far. Both of them by Klaas. One is just the Klaas Remix, the other one is the Klaas Vocal Edit (same as Klaas Remix, but with some vocals thrown in there). The vocal edit is the one i like most, because i can sing along when I'm shit faced.

God I'm prattling on today aren't i :S

And now, a track i stumbled on a couple of days ago. Armada music has (recently, i think in October) released a 2009 version of King Of My Castle. I'm sorry but i'm forced to be a little biassed here. I'm a big big BIG fan of Armin Van Buuren, and the fact that this song is coming out of his label is good news for me. The song IS actually really good though. I've been a fan of the original since it was first released, even including it in some of my underground mixes i've made. (interested? heres a link for you to hear some of my tunes) I still remember that whole anime music video they had (i actually got banned from watching MTV once because we had visitors over and that came on, and unfortunately my mother saw it and found it quite embarassing. boo!)

Last one i just remembered. Time to slag off a track. Remember Rozalla, Everybody's Free? Well i stumbled on a Dance Nation Remix of that. I really think they completely butchered the track. Ok, well maybe not completely. But the Eifel 65 style vocals they added in there just killed it i think. Why not just let Rozalla sing by herself instead of trying to add in those crappy male/synthesized vocals. Other than that, the instrumental was actually spot on. Gets you right into the groove at the climax. Aquagens remix from a couple years back (i think it was Aquagens) was actually really good though. However, once again, the Global Deejays' Elektro remix killed it sorta. It grows on you i guess (as i just found out)

Enough now. I'll go look around for more tracks to slag off :P

P.S. Words in RED are youtube links.

Motorcycle???

2008-11-21T22:52:00.000+01:00

So i'm trawling Youtube looking for trance videos (as one does) and i come accross a Motorcycle video for As The Rush Comes. I look in the description only to find out that Gabriel and Dresden are the ones behind Motorcycle. I had no idea whatsoever. Banging tune though (obviously, given the fact that Gabriel and Dresden are some of the best out there).

On the subject of my Trance Playlist on Youtube, its about 38 titles strong now and steadily growing. Once its done i'll give you a link to go listen to some of my favourites.

Last but not least, track for the day i feel needs to be Smith & Pledger "Forever (Above and Beyond Remix)"

Superb intro just gets you right into the dreamy/trippy/take me away mood.

Enjoy!

Techno Blog

2008-11-20T08:07:00.000+01:00

Time for a quick blog. I had an epiphany yesterday after i wrote my status about Oceanlab. I know what type of blogger i am supposed to be.

I shall be a Guru lolz. I think some of you need educating a little bit on the Trance/House/Lounge genres......yes im sorry, hip-hop is bullshit.

So hopefully i will be able to stick to this and not get bored of it within the next few days (as one does....namely me).

I know, i know, you might not even give a shit. in which case, please, really, dont. Move on and mind your own business then. Please by all means DONT waste your time writing stupid comments because there is a delete button, so ultimately you would have wasted your time, cos nobody will see ur crap.

Will start off later today maybe with the first publishing. If u like, keep checking. I’m off for now.

Ciao ciao

P.S. Once again i put the Oceanlab “Sirens Of The Sea” link in here because its such a good song and its got me hooked the past two days. (The one im posting is the Cosmic Gate Vocal Mix, the first version i heard and the one thats got me hooked the most)