loft405.com

Ever since I was a kid playing Test Drive on my computer I’ve always wanted one…

Weather, slightly overcast and cool.

Location, Parking lot of Babies R Us. He had some baby stuff to return. Looks like his 9 mo old is the new baby, so that’s why he’s selling his old baby.

1993 Lotus Esprit SE
4 Cylinder Turbo, 267HP
VIN: SCCFC20B8PHF60229
Mileage: Just under 15k
Asking Price: $23.9K

Appearance
It is indeed red with black leather interior. Leather was clean and nice, as expected the driver side bolster showed signs of moderate wear. The window felt/seals were loose. Wood dash surround was cracked in a couple spots. Stone chips peppered the lower front valence, as well as some scratches and nicks in the gel coat were visible in a few places around the car. Inside the wheel wells were also well warn. Overall from a distance the Esprit looked clean, with a little cleanup up it would have sparkled a bit more. Engine was dry, no leaks. It was dirty, some screws were missing around the engine cover. Both front and rear hatches stayed up on their own. He had an HKS blow off valve installed “to extend the life of the turbo.” Spare tire was mint. Both gas cap doors were operational (I didn’t know you could fill it up from either side, interesting.) Wax residue and buildup on the exterior rubber, again with some clean up it would have improved alot.
(more…)

**UPDATE 10/11/07**
It looks as tho Oasis, Jamiorquai and Madonna have followed suit! WOW Its no longer a matter of when but how fast the music industry will fall… we’ll listen and see!

Original Post
Music, musicians and their songs are a controversial commodity these days. The RIAA just recently fined some woman for sharing music online, the first of this sort. And now Radiohead and NIN have left their respective labels to pursue music promotion and sales themselves. Could this be yet another evolution to Music 2.0?

Music 2.0, how its delivered: Myspace, Podcasts, iTunes

Indie artists have been flooding the online cloud.
More than ever the amateur and yet-to-be-discovered artists are grasping the tools of the internet to share their talents (or lack there of) to the online community. Weekly, I get seemingly random friend requests on Myspace from up and coming bands. I click on through and some of them are actually good! It looks like they may be onto something as some successful mainstream musicians are following suite and becoming independent again.

Heyyyy its MikeyBoy here!
Just 4 years ago podcasting through crude RSS feeds started hitting the online airwaves. Recording and posting these sound/music clips is very easy, anyone with their home computer can do it. 4 years later this phenomenon has grown into a full commercial commodity. The simplicity of creating and popularity of listening to these podcasts creates, with continuing momentum, the perfect vehicle for everyone from the garage band artist to the multi platinum artists to get their creations to your ears!!

Full circle, mainstream again.
The most popular podcast harvester out there, iTunes, this software makes acquiring these podcasts and songs even easier. Apple has recently teamed up with the coffee-walmart of the work, Starbucks. Through this partnership, $.99 and theclick of a few virtual buttons on a touchscreen handheld device your ears are activated with sound waves from just about anyone.

Congratulations Mr. Trent Reznor, welcome to music 2.0.

Ok, so I’ve succumbed to the pressure of technology and cracked open the box. This is the FIRST piece of apple hardware I’ve ever owned. I’ve managed to stand firm ever since working in the Quadra lab in the UCSB MCL, fighting off any temptation to own an Apple device. That was back in 1995. Its now 2007! Times have changed, and evidently, so have I. Mikey is now the proud OWNER and content USER of the iPhone. Overall I’m impressed with it, very impressed with it. Maybe this is the same feeling that the Gen1 iPod owners felt, maybe its different. None the less it is a great piece of hardware, and a great application of current technology. Although the software is somewhat limited, the interface is revolutionary by its use of multi-touch technology and virtual keyboard. I won’t do a review as there have been many-many-many done already so I’ll just express my dear satisfaction and contentment with said device. Thank you Steve, you are cool. Haha.