Author Archives: brad

Following the recent wake of cheaters, someone has discovered a reusable key that you can use to download as many free songs from iTunes as you want.

That’s right, folks. The algorithm has been cracked and the store is wide open.

Here’s the code:
8UYM0R30V4L71N3

Leave a comment if you caught the reference.

I know I said I wasn’t going to talk about Frequency much on this site anymore, but… oh, well.

I nailed it!

I fixed the stupid frickin’ bug.

In Frequency 1.6 for Windows, when you went to edit a post, it would come back with no line breaks. Really quite annoying.

Took me the longest time to figure it out. I wanted to release it weeks ago, but I just couldn’t figure out this bug, and it was too big to let it go.

But now it’s fixed. So I’ll wrap up the docs and ship it out Tuesday.

Why Tuesday and not Monday?

I don’t know. I just have a good feeling about Tuesday.

Besides, Monday will be my sixth anniversary at Etown. I started on February 23, 1998. That was a Monday, too.

Six years. Ugh.

Please join me in welcoming Josh to truetech.org. His new weblog can be found here.

Disclaimer: I bear no responsibility for anything he might say or do. 🙂

The iTrip, inexplicably, is working this morning.

Last night, the little red light would come on, but it utterly failed to broadcast.

And if you shook it, it made a jingly kind of sound.

This morning, it doesn’t make noise when you shake it.

But it does broadcast to my car radio again.

iAm rather sad. iDropped my iTrip getting into my car as iLeft work today.

The light comes on, but the iTrip no longer broadcasts anything but static.

iAm quite distressed about this. iSuppose iNeed to call Griffin to find out about the warranty, but iHave a feeling they won’t be inclined to do much for me, and iReally don’t want to buy another iTrip.

iAm done writing the iStuff now.

On a semi-related note, here’s a question for you wire-heads. In my 2003 Saturn VUE, I have the stock CD player (no cassette, just CD and AM/FM). I know nothing about how everything fits together, and my only experience in installing car audio is when I was in high school and carried a boom box on the passenger seat of my 1986 Escort L so I could listen to tapes. Anyway, here’s the question. Would it possible to install a simple cassette deck in addition to my CD player? There’s definitely room beneath the CD player, but I don’t know how everything’s wired together. How difficult would such a job be? Would I be better off calling Saturn?

The reason? Well, if I had a cassette desk in the car, it would solve two problems. First, I wouldn’t need to replace the iTrip, since I have several CD-cassette adapters that I could use with my iPod. Second, I still have a bunch of tapes that I can’t really listen to anywhere.

Thoughts? Comments? Smart remarks?

On second thought, keep your smart remarks to yourself. I know I’m a doofus, and I don’t need to be reminded of that.

Wow! Check out all of the RSS feeds that Apple has! That’s very cool.

I think RSS is great technology. As Dave Winer, with whom I often disagree, says, it’s good enough: HTTP was good enough, as was HTML, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with RSS, clearly, because it works, demonstrably.

I’m helping Dave to overcome some of his, well, issues. He had four Pepsi caps’ worth of credit stored up in iTunes, and he asked me to help him choose the songs. I took the opportunity to address his problems as well.

His music library now includes:
1. Dope Nose by Weezer from the album Maladroit
2. (They Long To Be) Close To You by Barenaked Ladies from the album One Amazing Night
3. Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head by Ben Folds Five from the album One Amazing Night
4. All That That Implies by Michael Penn from the album Resigned

I feel better about this already.

Jen really disliked the bass line, but not because of its MIDI-ness. The sound was actually quite convincing. Software instruments have come a long way.

She didn’t feel that the bass line fit well with the guitar line. And she’s right. Which is why it was only ever temporary to begin with.

We’re going to try to record her actual bass line (the one she wrote) this weekend. Hopefully we’ll be able to record the full song, except for vocals. I still need a mic cable or two for that.

Busy weekend, come to think of it. Friday night (which is actually later today at this point) is our non-Valentine Party. Saturday I want to finish up the Frequency 1.6 docs and revamp the Frequency website (now on bradrhine.com — have I mentioned that?). And I’m hoping to add a validating Atom 0.3 feed to tangelo as well.

I did some tweaking to the song I posted a few days ago. I replaced the abominable lead guitar track with something that’s slightly more passable. I also changed the effects on it and added a bass line. Don’t tell Jen that I used a MIDI bass line. It’s only temporary – she’ll record the final bass line.

You can listen to it here.

1. What is your favorite word?
tangelo
It even looks nice.

2. What is your least favorite word?
Irregardless.
Although technically, it’s not a word! Bill, I’m looking in your direction.

3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
Seeing people respond positively to work that I’ve done.

4. What turns you off?
Stupidity. And arrogance.

5. What is your favorite curse word?
Frickin’
Which isn’t much of a curse word, I know, but I’m trying not to swear anymore. If I had to pick a real curse word, well, let’s just say it rhymes with bunt. Nasty word.

6. What sound or noise do you love?
The sound of my daughter sleeping or singing.

7. What sound or noise do you hate?
Oboe. It’s just nasty.

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Musician.

9. What profession would you not like to do?
Aside from my current one?
I guess professional wrestling.

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
“Well done, good and faithful servant.”