There’s an interesting story from some Steampunk universe in this video.  It’s certainly worth watching. It was created by Ben Lovett, a musician, composer, producer, and artist known mostly for his work in film and TV.

Allow me to introduce you to Doctor Phineas Waldolf Steel.  On the surface, Doctor Steel appears to be a humble mad scientist bent on world domination.  However, upon scratching that surface, what lies underneath reveals his true genius.  Though sufficiently and somewhat clinically described in Wikipedia and other media sources, the only way to truly understand Doctor Steel is to let him speak for himself, and you really should listen to him.

I’m in…  However, despite my clear and obvious motivations, I would like to continue discussing what makes Doctor Steel such an interesting individual.

Finally, something I would actually buy.  Much as I love MP3 players, they’re all too damn tiny.  These MintCube MP3 players are only 2-in x 2-in x 2in; small enough to be portable, but big enough to use on my desk.  The VU meter is cool, as long as it’s actually a real dBm meter.

Via: GIZMODO

There’s a lot of buzz on the popular, tech blogs about the new T-2 amplifier from Neuhaus Labs.  It’s built on vacuum tubes and hand-wound transformers.  I’ve got about 14 years [at the time of writing this post] in the Pro Audio and Video manufacturing industries, so naturally, I was very curious to look at the T-2.  Short answer:  It’s a WIN!  Here’s my opinion.

OMG, this is so funny.  I love these College Humor guys, and this parody of Billy Joel’s “We didn’t start the fire” masterfully captures the modern internet.  Also, I saw Billy Joel’s video debut on MTV back when they played videos.  For anyone over 30, this should be a scary wake-up call.

I remember a world populated with Commodore 64s, VCRs the size of microwave ovens, microwave ovens the size of dog houses, cassette tapes coming in as 8-tracks went out, and you could smoke anywhere (bus, airplane, library, work, you name it).  I’m an IT professional, and the modern Internet is a very scary place.  The future is cloud computing, wireless video and power and everything else, throw-away data centers, and vertical farming.  Whoa, I need to live a life of solitude in my airship as it floats along the air currents high above civilization; kind of like that world in BioShock, but up in the sky…

It’s not SteamPunk, but it should be.  What this guy did is very extremely cool, right down to the vintage “wait a minute to load” program.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum – Guitars (rhythm & lead)
Epson LX-81 Dot Matrix Printer – Drums
HP Scanjet 3c – Bass Guitar
Hard Drive array – Act as a collection of bad speakers – Vocals & FX

Details: James Houston’s Senior Project