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Want a Hit Rap Song? Hire Rihanna to Sing the Melody!

22-year-old Barbadian wonder Rihanna has one of the most beautiful voices making music today.  Her sound is unique, immediately recognizable, and she is a one-woman hit machine.  Last year, Jay-Z used her on — “Run This Town” — to break up the monotony of the rap with an interlude that was actually melodic and musical.  Rihanna saved that song and gifted Jay-Z a massive hit.

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Amplification Made the Live Theatre the Radio

There was a time in the live theatre when actors did not wear microphones.  Actors were required to develop a strong ability to project their voice in song and dialogue.  It was magnificent to hear a live voice singing with a live orchestra.  Today, the actors wear microphones and, for many Broadway shows, the entire orchestra is artificially amplified because the stringed instruments are playing live from a different floor in the theatre and they watch the conductor via closed-circuit television.

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The Gospel Blues of B.J. Reagon

B.J. Reagon — Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon — is one of those rare SuperGenius talents that cannot be boxed in by mind or musical genre.  Is she a Blues singer?  Is she a Gospel singer?  Is she a Folk singer?

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Make Better Dialogue by Reading it Out Loud

In 1990, I attended a summer camp for children with talent in art — I applied to the writing division and was quite pleased to be accepted. It was a sort of validation that came with the knowledge that somebody that wasn’t extremely biased (my family) actually thought that my writing was better than average. I spent many hours writing and rewriting stories, short plays, monologues, character sketches, and just about any other form of fiction that you can imagine.

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at&t Exploits the Flock by Marking the Spot

If you have an iPhone, you know the new Verizon advertising push humiliating at&t for their lousy 3G coverage is well-earned and deserved. 
Yesterday, at&t released a fascinating app for the iPhone — Mark the Spot — that lets every iPhone user on their network precisely report problem network areas and spotting cellular coverage.  Thank you, Verizon, for pressing at&t into finally doing the right thing… even if it’s three years too late.

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Fun with Google Apps Mobile

If you aren’t using Google Apps Mobile yet on your iPhone, you need head into iTunes and download it today!  My favorite part of Google Apps Mobile is playing with the Voice Search feature.  You speak it.  Google Apps Mobile will find it on the web for you.  Most of the time.  As you can see in the screenshot below, I did a previously successful search for “cochlear implants” — not an easy or expected couple of words to “get” but Google got ’em — and then I decided to speak “Panopticonic”  to see how astute Google was at blending the new with the known.

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Google Voice Goes Live

After a year of yearning, Grand Central is now Google Voice!  The service is quick and efficient and it’s great to finally meet the new interface.

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