We used to miss too many shows -- we'd hear about them after tickets they sold out, or worse, read about them in the Globe the day after. Maybe even in the Metro (oh, the shame!)

So we wrote a program to download all the area club listings daily, search for bands we liked, then send out email. That's Tourfilter. And it's not just for us, it's for everyone (chances are, we're in your city or coming soon).

In short, Tourfilter has tools to:

* Track as many bands as you can think of and send you an email when a show is announced.
* Combine your friends' calendars into one place.
* Listen to tens of thousands of MP3 and RealAudio tracks by bands with upcoming shows.
* Browse recent music blog listings, organized by band.
* Get show updates via RSS and iCal.

Since Ticketmonster's "email upcoming shows" function NEVER works, I think I will become a big fan of tourfilter. PLUS iCal support! HELLS YEAH!!!

tourfilter = about damn time

Ahhh corruption. How you serve our interests so well.

Worker in case against Dow Chemical returned to Nicaragua

Anthony Wilson, the music mogul behind some of Manchester's most successful bands, has died of cancer.

If you've ever listened to Joy Division, New Order, or the Happy Mondays, (or listened to white pop music for the last 15 years) or you've ever been to a rave or club in the last 20 years, you have this man to thank. He literally helped found a whole genre of music, but impacted culture in incalculable ways. For a great primer, see 24 Hour Party People.

Anthony Wilson dies from cancer, or my friends, we are getting older...

To put this guy in office...

Part 2 is here.

What just might make me register to vote

k wrote:
This is already awesome, but even more, i want this with a 12 hour cycle.

This is way cool. It would be fun to deconstruct some pop tunes and visualize them with this technique.

RE: whitney music box var. 0 - chromatic - 48 tines

The Canadian ownership group also alleges Bettman directed Predators owner Craig Leipold to focus on closing a deal with William "Boots" Del Biaggio III, who is the front man for a group trying to bring an NHL team to Kansas City.

"We were advised by Mr. Leipold that the commissioner had found out about the existence of the negotiations and ordered him to immediately cease any further communications with us," Balsillie's legal representative, Richard Rodier, told ESPN.com this week.

In a series of e-mails obtained by ESPN.com, Leipold and Rodier discuss Bettman's alleged involvement in the breaking off of negotiations between the two sides and the commissioner's uneasiness with the prospect of a deal being signed between the two parties.

Here we go. The Preds aren't leaving Nashville. And since the Canadian Conspiracy thought they had this wrapped up with a bow on it, now they're reacting with much anger and vigilance.

Bettman accused of steering Predators sale talks

In a statement Thursday, Jim Cicconi, AT&T’s senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs, said Mr. Martin’s proposal was an “interesting and creative balance” that would not change the business models of AT&T and others. He said Google would now have to “put up or shut up.”

“If they are serious, they will be able to bid and test their model in the marketplace against the business models of companies already enjoying widespread consumer acceptance,” he said.

There's no question that part of Google's strategy is to be a last mile player. Whether this is by design or by threat is up for debate. I myself am marveling at this, since I spent a good 5 years trying to wrestle control of the network from the telcos. Unfortunately, the Telecom Reform Act of 1996, which spurred the largest infrastructure build out in US history, didn't have enough support at the FCC after Bush took office in 2000. This allowed the CLEC that sprang up after 1996 to flounder and die. Even the mighty AT&T fell. Now all we have is another oligopoly that replaced it and no real competition. Oh and higher prices. All of the CLEC's took the risk and created the roadways which are now generating an estimated $41B a quarter in revenue.

I like Google's chances of arresting this revenue stream from the oligopoly. They are not dependent on the oligopoly itself to generate their cash flow like the CLEC's were. There's much less ability to throttle their growth. But my advice to Google is that you will need all of those PhD's to make sure that you don't get outfoxed. Ma Bell is a mean and cunning adversary.

Google Set to Bid Billions for Airwaves

In PBS's epidose of Frontline entitled "Spying on the Home Front", a good primer is developed for anyone who is interested in just one example of how the executive branch has ram shod over the Constitution and used every IT trick in the book to help them do it. If you haven't seen this episode, you need to watch it and think long and hard about the next time you use a credit card, do a search online, or browse alt.binaries.pictures.preteen. If you are already up to date on this topic, I still suggest you watch the episode for some interesting interviews. There's even additional footage that should make up anyone's mind about whether Al Gonzales is a slimeball or not.

Ironically, I'm not in the infosec biz, not even tangentially, but I counted no less than three people in this program that I know personally. Cindy Cohn, from the EFF, who was very helpful to us at the Tennessee Digital Freedom Network when we resisted some MPAA injected legislation back in 2003. Jeff Jonas, who's now at IBM, but had developed some of the best pattern recognition software in the world which we've used in health care claims analysis. And my good ole friend Steve Bannerman, now at Narus, but formerly at Apple Computer back in the day. Such a small world, even more painfully obvious after watching this program.

Bin Laden is laughing and so am I

Faulty fax, mistaken as threat, prompts evacuation of stores

Having formerly been a resident, I can gladly say that people in Boston are stupid.

Faulty fax, mistaken as threat, prompts evacuation of stores

'Star Wars' name, ballplayer, or Thai food?

excellent

Quiz: 'Star Wars' name, ballplayer, or Thai food?