Reactions to story from iPhone Savior

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  The dangers of aural pleasure

  http://www.urbanbohemian.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&fe...
  270 days ago in urban bohemian · Authority: 30

  I defy most people to listen to “Rhythm of the Night” by DeBarge and not find themselves singing along with it by the end of the tune. If you don’t, then you either have no soul or you’re the kind of person that instead sings along to “All Night Long” by Lionel Richie. Generally on my morning walk/commute I listen to whatever I’ve just ripped or downloaded, but yesterday Serge suggested that I add a certain song by DeBarge (not RotN) to my morning listen and I would “walk into work like I’d just won an Oscar”. He was right of course… that is until I sat down and realized that I was at work. Still, I have found that the right music can get one into an excellent state of being for the day, while other choices can take one completely out of reality for a while. I should recognize the power of a good personal soundtrack. There’s an old episode of Bewitched where Endora casts the spell, The Corsican Brothers were hexed by a spell which will work on cousins just as well. From here on out without further ado, what Serena feels, Samantha will too! [which is apparently on YouTube in two parts] There’s a point where Serena’s dancing to some music, and Samantha is at the grocery store and feels the supernaturally uncontrollable urge to shake her ensorcelled booty as well. While I have never had moments out and about where I totally break it down, so to speak, there are sometimes when what I’m listening to definitely has an immediate effect. Most notable is that the do the Naomi Campbell walk portion of “Get Me Bodied” always seems to come on when I’m walking to my spot on the metro platform (nearly every work commuter has a spot) and let’s face it: you’ve got a finite length of floor, lined on both sides with lights, that is essentially divided up into two halves lengthwise — it’s a runway. I don’t follow ANTM or any similar show, but I’m sure I don’t have to do so to know that my runway skills are pretty tight. I have not been known to turn, however. Or at least not that I’ll ever admit. So the biggest danger for me is not being run down by a car while wearing my headphones, but instead just actin’ a fool in public. Of course I’m usually so in the zone that I don’t notice & don’t care. So what’s on your personal soundtrack? I don’t mean those random iPod memes, but what songs do you put together on a playlist or can automatically select that are really your songs? I’ve had a bunch of them over time, but I’ve never put them all together. I think it might be time to start. On a completely random side-note, I’ve removed the BlogRush widget from my sidebar/pages. I honestly can’t see or understand exactly what it’s meant to do for me, but I invite comment from any “successful” BlogRush users, or really anyone that can explain what those syndication credits are supposed to be! ShareThis
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  Wired for sound? Be careful out there folks!

  http://studenttabletpc.com/2008/01/wired_for_sound_be_carefu...
  272 days ago in Endless Scholar · Authority: 16

  I’m still mega-busy here (sigh!) but I thought I’d provide a quick interlude to Tracy’s excellent CES 2008 coverage by drawing your attention to an ad campaign that has nothing at all to do with Tablet PCs. Go figure?!? This is one of a number of posters from a road safety campaign, run by the NSW Police Force in Australia, which highlights the dangers of pedestrians being killed while wearing their iPods. I applaud the look of this campaign. The visuals are to the point and they powerfully juxtapose Apple’s familiar iPod advertising iconography. Most importantly though they deliver a reminder to all of us that as much as we love gadget geekness, there are the inherent dangers that come with their use. I think the NSW Police have missed a trick here though. They should also have thrown down a ’smashed to smithereens’ Tablet PC on that empty tarmac (presumably one of those customized by Dell during their 2007 ad campaign for the Latitude) and the student army of tableteers would have extra cause to sit up and take notice. Anyway as it says in the title - be careful out there folks! ::via iPhone Savior
• 

  2008 and acoustic ecology

  http://uber.tv/node/1288
  273 days ago in g-one's blog | über tv · Authority: 1

  After the festive season I have returned to work, and am in the process of putting together a paper about Charmed1 for Computers in Entertainmant2. The design of soundscapes in Charmed was informed by Schafer’s Acoustic Ecology.3 So this week I made my way to the library and borrowed a copy of Schafer’s text “The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World”.4 This is one of the definitive texts on Acoustic Ecology and is an engaging reading. Especially Schafer’s coverage of the history of heard soundscapes from natural soundscapes, to those of farms, towns and cities, pre-industrial to those of the industrial and electronic revolutions… At a time when we are becoming increasingly aware of toxic waste, pollution, and human effects upon the environment, the consideration of/for the soundscape is often missing. In this context it is Schafer's positive approach to acoustic design which I find captivating, and the concepts and principles worth thinking about more seriously (especially in the context of my own work and practice). Acoustic design does not, ... consist of a set of paradigms or formulae to impose on lawless or recalcitrant soundscapes, but is rather a set of principles to be employed in adjudicating and improving them. In addition to the lessons taught by music, these principles consist of: 1. a respect for the ear and voice - when the ear suffers a threshold shift or the voice cannot be heard, the environment is harmful; 2. an awareness of sound symbolism - which is always more than functional signaling; 3. a knowledge of the rhythms and tempi of the natural soundscape; 4. an understanding of the balancing mechanisms by which an eccentric soundscape may be turned back upon itself.5 So in thinking about resolutions for 2008, I have come to the conclusion that I need to pay more attention to my acoustic environment – and work on developing my sonological competence, to regain the “talent of clairaudience – clean hearing.”6 In other words my ability to listen, to clear my ear, to comprehend sound formations, develop a more attuned auditory sense especially in regard to environmental sounds of the world(s) I dwell… In returning to Schafer’s text I have found that many of the concepts introduced in The Soundscape are increasingly significant in the my field of work, broadly interaction design. This is increasingly so as the products of Interaction Design move out of the office and lounge, off the desk top and into the urban environment. The interest in mobile and locative media, urban informatics, ubiquitous computing etc highlights this movement, and the ways these products change our relationship with the soundscape is something that requires attention. Schafer makes the following comments on the state of acoustic design within architecture, keeping in mind he was writing in the 70s, “ The modern architect is designing for the deaf. He has his ears stuffed with bacon. […] the study of sound enters the modern architecture school only as sound reduction, isolation and absorption. Listen to the sound a building makes when no one is in it. It breathes with a life of its own. Floors creak, timbers snap, radiators crack, furnaces groan.” The sound of the iconic timber Queenslander comes to mind as I write this. A common experience of disconnection from the acoustic environment occurs on days when I emerge into the world after working inside my nicely climate controlled building to discover that it has been raining - and I have not even noticed. Several of the tutorial rooms in my building are without windows, and the constant hum of computers and air conditioning masks any sounds from outside. Considering the intersections of architecture and interaction design this suggests to me that Schafer’s work maybe valuable in my ongoing (personal) education as an interaction designer. The consideration of Schafer’s work, in the context of interaction design may lead to interesting questions/problems being posed. For example, how do we design interactions with new technologies that improve the quality of our urban soundscapes, or draw attention to soundmarks? etc etc... This is a topic I will continue to explore and develop over this year. In describing the importance of acoustic design Schafer notes that the “sound sewer is much more likely to result when a society trades its ears for its eyes, and it is certain to result when this is accompanied by an impassioned devotion to machines.” 7 Again, I am reminded that interaction design focuses on the visual and tangible (physical) – and this is especially seen in description of the field that situate it at the intersection of Communication Design and Industrial Design. From a post in my archives I found this quote from a wired article about discussing “noise-induced’ hearing loss caused by headphones: Noise-induced hearing loss happens any number of ways, from attending noisy concerts and clubs to using firearms or loud power tools and even recreational vehicles (snowmobiles and some motorcycles are among the offenders). Today, doctors say many people also are wearing headphones, not just to enjoy music, but also to block out ambient noise on buses, trains or just the street. And all of it can contribute to hearing loss. 8 Wrightson provides a description of this world of headphones, where the acoustic horizon is turned inwards, reduced to a point. But it is the concept of an audioanalgesic which I find most engaging. The thought that we use sound to not only mask the lo-fi noise of our impoverished sonic environments, but to also mask our inner dialogue. Sound becomes something that the individual tries to block, rather than to hear; the lo-fi, low information soundscape has nothing to offer. As a result, many individuals try to shut it out through the use of double glazing or with acoustic perfume–music. Music–the virtual soundscape–is, in this context, used as a means to control the sonic environment rather than as a natural expression of it. ... The use of sound as an "audioanalgesic" (Schafer 1977a, 96)–a soundwall to block the unceasing (and often critical) inner dialogue and the uncomfortable emotions the dialogue evinces–provides the illusion of mastery over emotion.9 This week I clipped a post from gizmodo which shows an image apparently from an add screened in Australia about the dangers of wearing headphones in the urban environment – more specifically when crossing the road. 10 The New South Wales Police print advertisements11 show people on the road outlined by a white headphone cables. Obviously listening to loud music on headphones masks sounds from the urban environment, thus reduces our ability to hear dangers. Hearing is a wonderful sense as we can localize sound sources that come from outside the visual field. In one of the final chapters of The Soundscape Schafer discusses silence, and says "if we have any hope of improving the acoustic design of the world, it will be realised only after the recovery of silence as a positive state in our lives. Still the noise of the mind: that is the first task - then everything else will follow."12 Schafer connects the wests negative view of silence to our fear of death, the ultimate silence, which if the add above is to believed can result from a disconnection from the acoustic environment. There will be more acoustic ecology in 2008… For details on Charmed see http://kuuki.com.au/projects/charmed ACM Computers In Entertainment, http://www.acm.org/pubs/cie.html See Kendall Wrightson's An Introduction to Acoustic Ecology for a concise introduction to the subject. Schafer, R. Murray, The soundscape : our sonic environment and the tuning of the world, , Rochester, Vt., Destiny Books, pp. xii, 301 p., 1993 . Schafer 1993 p238 Schafer 1993 p11 Schafer 1993 p237 Source: Wired News: Young People With Old Ears (Associated Press) Source: Kendall Wrightson's An Introduction to Acoustic Ecology The add is also referenced at the following urls, with one asking weather it is a fake or spoof: http://osocio.org/message/nsw_police_department/ http://www.iphonesavior.com/2008/01/road-safety-ads.html http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/2008/01/is-this-hoax.html http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/08/clever-ad-depicts-ipod-deaths-look-both-ways-kids/ Advertiser: NSW Police Department. Agency: DDB Sydney. Executive Creative Director: Matt Eastwood. Art Director: Adam Rose. Copywriter: Ben O’Brien. Photography: Mat Baker. Retouching: Dennis Monk. Schafer 1993 p259
• 

  Australian Police - Your iPod Will Kill You

  http://coloradoright.wordpress.com/2008/01/10/australian-pol...
  274 days ago in Colorado Right · Authority: 24

  I just wonder how long an iPod lying there would last before somebody picked it up? clipped from shapeandcolour.wordpress.com In a recently launched print campaign, created for the New South Wales Police by DDB Sydney, the message is clear: your iPod will kill you. These ads are clearly ridiculous. If anyone offered me an iPod with headphone cords long enough to wrap a chalk line around someone, I’d save them the trauma of the accident and just murder them for it. What I find most interesting about these ads are that they have an obvious iPod lying next to the corpse. I’m don’t know what Apple’s official feelings might be, but the online fan-geeks are already up in arms over the slandering of the beloved music player. Let’s face it: an iPod is now as necessary as a mobile phone.
• 

  Your iPod may make you roadkill, says Australian ad campaign

  http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/01/09/your-ip...
  275 days ago in Infinite Loop · Authority: 2,213

  Your iPod may make you roadkill, says Australian ad campaign By Justin Berka | Published: January 09, 2008 - 02:45PM CT These days, if you're walking around town, going out for a run, or riding mass transit, you'll probably see quite a few people wearing the ubiquitous white Apple earbuds. But are they dangerous? Aside from hearing damage issues, a number of people have also opined that wearing iPods in cities or while running could get you hurt, since you can't hear cars or horns if the music is pumping. The Australian state of New South Wales apparently subscribes to that view, and recently released an advertising campaign illustrating the dangers of iPods. As you can see, the ads are a bit of a twist on the usual silhouette ads, with those ubiquitous white headphones appearing in the place of the usual chalk outlines for bodies. The message, of course, is that iPods and traffic don't mix, and can even cause you to get run over and fall in a dramatic pose. It's unclear if iPod-related fatalities are a big problem in New South Wales, or if the state is just trying to make people aware of the dangers (and pick up a bit of press as well). I think the argument for this type of warning makes some sense, but as a number of other sites have pointed out, there are plenty of other devices out there that are equally distracting. My guess is that iPods were used in the ads because they're easily recognized, and perhaps also because the ads look a bit like something Apple would make (minus the dead bodies, of course). I'd like to see some numbers from New South Wales about just how big a problem this is. Just make sure you look left and right before crossing the street, kids.
• 

  Why did the iPod cross the road?

  http://www.adamwagler.com/?p=66
  275 days ago in adam wagler · Authority: 1

  Hopefully to get to the other side, but evidently in Australia people wearing iPods are having trouble with the trafiic. DDB advertising agency in Sydney, Australia and the New South Wales Police Force have released a road safety print campaign to raise awareness of the fact that teenagers are dying from crossing the road while listening to their iPods. (iPhone Savior) Visually, think the ads are beautifully done. The play off of a chalk outline with the earbuds snaking around the victim. It reminds me a lot of Melanie Pullen’s “High Fashion Crime Scenes“, which is some amazing photography emitting a sober feeling will viewed similar to these ads. Here are some of the ads from DDB.
• 

  iPods and road safety

  http://technologyinfo.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/ipods-and-roa...
  275 days ago in Technology Info · Authority: 18

  Who says iPods haven’t changed the way the world works? Even governments are aware of the dangers of iPods. Even crossing the road can get you killed. “… in Sydney, Australia and the New South Wales Police Force have released a road safety print campaign to raise awareness of the fact that teenagers are dying from crossing the road while listening to their iPods.” (link) What happened to look both ways before you cross? Isn’t that a universally taught lesson? Next up: iPods with air bags.  I can see the slogan now: “Protect your dumbass with the latest iPod, new and improved, available with side impact air bags.”
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  iPod May Shuffle You From Rolling Stone to Roadkill, Australian Ad Says [RoadKill]

  http://www.wilson-graf.com/w/?p=5233
  275 days ago in www.wilson-graf.com · Authority: 5

  iPod May Shuffle You From Rolling Stone to Roadkill, Australian Ad Says [RoadKill] January 9th, 2008 Jesus Diaz Posted in Hardware News, New Tech | No Comments » A new ad in Australia highlights the dangers of crossing the road with your MP3 player rumbling your inner ear canal at full volume. And of course, it shows the iPod in a new twist of Apple's original silhouettes campaign, now using the headphones cable as a way to draw the place in which a body lies dead. Ah, nothing like a great morbid image to start up a pre-MacWorld wednesday. The ad was created by advertising agency DDB in Sydney, all after the State Traffic Commander, Chief Superintendent John Hartley said: "The NSW police would look at the New York senator's proposal and the impact it may have in twelve months' time," as reported in an article entitled "Alert Sounded on iPod Use" by Asher Moses on February 7, 2007 in The Sydney Morning Herald. Superintendent Hartley went on in that same article to say; "You can't legislate stupidity - if people are stupid enough to do something that's so distracting they can't see cars coming, that's a problem they need to deal with." Sounds reasonable enough, but apparently the problem started to get really serious (yes, a lot of stupid people in the world, it seems) and the authorities decided to warn all those crazy crazy personal media player junkies. To probably be ignored shortly thereafter. [iPhone Savior]

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