here at my work I’m forced to use outlook, even if on a mac. below my list of things I hate and love on it, compared with mac mail:

Things I hate in outlook:

• No bridge with address book app, it has it’s own contact book (like all microsoft apps, it doesn’t play well with others).
• the damned search only covers metadata (to, from, subject and two proprietary microsoft formats), it doesn’t scan the body of the email. just this flaw reduces my productivity in half. (searching who said what and when, for example)

Things I love in outlook:

• right preview pane, makes the layout how it should be: group, subgroup (titles), message.
• write a message, command+enter and a reassuring swoosh tells you the message was sent.

me, last spring. sadly, my way stylish vienese cap was rip into pieces by a co-workers dog.
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tomorrow i’m bringing the cintiq to my work… on a G5, with a lot of work to do, we’ll see how it helps me. it’s lagging on my old powerbook.

screenshot of my audioscrobbler music stats.
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dunno how the algorythm works… all bands above live in my heart, so I assume it’s working properly.
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for those not in the know, audioscrobbler is a nifty music player plugin (be it itunes, WMP, winamp) that sends the name of the songs you’re listening to a database. before you get paranoid, it doesn’t record the filetype, and the resulting database is protected by creative commons.
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after some threshold, the app starts giving you some insight of your music tastes. it’s a mlog, or your music log.

I’ve been looking to my stats, and the music category is the most visited. it was time to automate some functions, so I was searching for how this podcast thing works, and now I got it.
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podcast is a way to automatically download and listen to audio files from the web. yeah, the name says podcast just because ipod brought the technology into light, but you don’t have to own one to use it. any regular connection works (you are online, aren’t you?)
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so, to automatically download and listen to the songs I offer here (and even sync to your ipod, if, if), just follow these steps:
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1. download and install ipodder. it’s free + open source, and works on mac, pc, linux and even pocket pc!
   

2. open ipodder, open the subscriptions tab, and click on the green plus sign.
   
   it will open the add a feed prompt.

3. on the URL field, type http://blog.nonlinearmatters.com/cat/music/feed/ (better yet, copy it and paste there). save.
4. click on the blue button, the check selected feed one.
   
   it’ll download any song I link from the music category, and export it to your itunes.

5. from there, you can either listen it right away or sync the mp3s to your ipod (if, if).
6. and yeah, the ipodder does more than download the songs I show you, but a lot of other nice podcasts out there! II’m still new with this podcast stuff, but two feeds that got me are 2600 [ http://www.2600.com/rss.xml ] and comic geek [ http://www.bryandeemer.com/cgs/rss.xml ].

incomplete, I still gotta write about the songs… the jukebox is working, tho.
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click on the banner below, and you can listen to it.

Amour Electronique

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Defend It

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Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, Daft Punk

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Mirante (instrumental), Tati Quebra-Barraco

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Trashscapes, Ellen Allien

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a lot of emotions I want to share, but I’m not very good with english language. but music is universal, huh? so I decided to share some of the songs I’m most into, five at a time.
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click on the banner below, and you can listen to it. courtesy of soundblox (which I used in zona visser, another project of mine)

800.03, Gab.Gato

this song is so obscure I don’t even have it’s actual name… just 800.03.mp3, and that’s it.
how I feel: a cyborg rechecking its peripherals before a procedure. a subroutine. grey, cold, and monotone. detached and snobby.
also check: the “automatuch”, or something like that. the different voices for different subroutines.
grab it: there’s no way iTMS has it (even google shows meager pages about). and since some other sites offer the mp3, you can download from me too. (control-click on windows, alt-click on a mac)

Aéro Dynamik, Kraftwerk

how I feel: in a happy airport. optimistic. it’s a mantra, you know.
also check: the starry bleeps. the chorus, sinalizing the way.
grab it: iTMS has it, fellas. buy it there, and deDRM it later with jhymn.

In The Future With Machines, FPU

how I feel: a good song for a drag queen to perform. vfull of drama.
also check: the egiptian bg. the lyrics, in fact.
grab it: no digital store around, but cds, still. sorry, folks

Konpyuta, Plastique de Réve

how I feel: archeologists find an ancient document detailing the purposes of computers. historic revisionism, reifying the digital experience. technognosis.
also check: the german/japanese voice. the attention to spell kon-pyu-ta right. like if the desitiny of mankind depends on it.
grab it: nowhere around, so grab it from me. (control-click on windows, alt-click on a mac)

Scorpio, The Fever

how I feel: powerful, but headed to a fall. doomed. scorpio people are short-sighted, you know. feel like placing a bet you can’t cover. pokerface all around.
also check: egyptian bg also. guitars, a thing I don’t usually like, but worked right on it.
grab it: on iTMS. (did I say about jhymn already?)