Lyndsey's X10 Blog

I’m going to SASQUATCH!

What is Sasquatch, you ask? Why, only the best music festival within a 500 mile radius of Seattle this year! Sasquatch is KEXP (public radio. www.kexp.org) and the Pacific Northwest’s answer to a dwindling cool-factor at the Bumbershoot music festival. Many of the bands are local, many more are amazingly talented and well-known, and the lineup appears to be driven by listener support – not promoters and labels. Sound exciting? It will be!

And to usher in the unofficial first weekend of summer I’ll be bringing back reviews of the bands I see there. Naturally, I can’t see all of them due to the fact that there are three stages with performances happening all at once, so don’t crucify me if I can’t bring the review you were hoping for.

Bands I’m likely to see in the lineup:
Rogue Wave
Gomez
Iron & Wine
Slender Means
Neko Case
The Constantines
Common Market
The Shins
Matt Costa
THE FLAMING LIPS (Yes Dave, I’m yelling at your grandma)
Ben Harper
Blue Schollars
Nada Surf
Arctic Monkeys
Decemberists
Matisyahu
Rocky Votolato
Damien Jurado
Queens of the Stone Age
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
BECK (Yes. BECK!!!)

Are you excited yet? Because I am.

In addition to music reviews I’ll bring back the 411 on camping at the Gorge in Washington. For music, the venue is utterly spectacular… unfortunately in the past camping and facilities have not been. Although the Gorge hosts great artists, it has a notorious reputation for cutting corners on guest accommodations. Lets just say that there’s nothing like camping in a rocky parking lot with someone else’s tent three feet away from yours all night. So I’ll also report back on their good behavior. Maybe things have changed.

Hey. If I’m lucky I’ll meet some bands and bring back great stories for you too.

The Gorge Amphetheatre

Topic #2

A bone to pick with my readers:

Hey guys. I know you’re reading this and not posting comments. If one more person walks past my desk at work and snickers something about MySpace they will only lose a limb if they haven’t posted a comment. Capisci?

Post!

Posted by Lyndsey Patterson at 04:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I was the lucky recipient of what could easily be considered the coolest toy in the X10 arsenal: the X10 iParty. It eliminates the need for a docking system by turning your iPod Mini into a remote control that sends music to your home sound system. So if you bought an IPod and were frustrated that you had to buy one of those docking systems in order to use it without earbuds, think again. The iParty lets you listen to your cuts out in the open.

Oh yes kids, that’s right. The world of music in my iPod has finally left my earbuds and made its way to my sound system. Which is fantastic for four reasons:

1) I can never pay attention to podcasts at work. It’s more difficult to listen to news and stories while you’re trying to work than it is to listen to music. (Really, try it. Productivity = Nill). Now I can listen to them while I’m getting ready for work in the morning.

2) My computer speakers are terrible. Even though iTunes are in my computer, and my computer has speakers, listening to music on my computer is like listening to a tin can – or that teacher from the Peanuts movies. Forget it. And lets face it, those docking system speakers aren’t so hot either.

3) iParty makes your iPod into a remote control. The navigation is exactly what you’re used to on the Mini, because it IS your Mini.

4) My web team was jealous that I got one and they didn’t. HA HA.

5) I own a great sound system. Why would I want to waste it because I can’t listen to the music on my iPod with it? Ridiculous.

All in all, it’s a great product. And the nice thing is that X10 makes them for the Mini. A lot of Mini owners felt out of luck when Apple stopped making their version of the iPod, but you can still get great accessories for it at X10.

Although it’s not in production yet, there will be a Nano version of the iParty too, which is the one I sampled. And seriously, it’s a four-star product.

Posted by Lyndsey Patterson at 06:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

So I know you’ve all been waiting for my ruminations on all topics X10, but I want to spend a minute on a little thing the cool kids call MySpace.

What a complete circus.

I signed up for a MySpace account last night and it would appear that - much to my dismay – I’m the last person in the universe under 50 years old to get a MySpace account. Everyone is there. As a matter of fact, I’ve already been asked to befriend three people – none of whom I know. (One of whom I’m sure wanted me to join a cult.) It reminds me of the days when the internet was full of odd-ball sites run by any geek patient enough to learn HTML. There was the guy with the world’s largest ball of string, boffing hobbyist sites, and who could forget the Jennicam (was that an XCam2???). The beauty in this form of communication was the egalitarian nature of web access. Anyone with enough time and gusto could reach out and touch someone on the web. Ahh, the good old days.

Then businesses got savvier and here we are. We go straight to Google for search (44% of searches), straight to Amazon or eBay for small online merchandise, off to Craig’s List for part-time jobs and free furniture, and naturally direct to X10 for home automation. Anyone can still get his or her own web page, but hasn’t the novelty worn off? You pay for that URL, have to keep the thing updated, and when you think about the time and energy you might spend, couldn’t you be getting paid? What if no one finds you? I mean, when was the last time you took a stroll through the second and third pages of search engine results on a random term looking for a cool, undiscovered site? I wish I could say I had the time and creativity for that. The internet just isn’t as equal-access as it used to be. Some even say that pretty soon, webmasters could have to strong arm bandwidth providers for equal access to users.

But not on MySpace. MySpace is completely equal-access. That’s right kids, the web isn’t just for geeks anymore. Total morons, fraternity brothers, hairdressers, your grandmother, freaky people with bad hygiene – literally anyone – can get a MySpace page. What’s interesting about the way MySpace users communicate isn’t the just that we all have access to them. It’s that they seem to think of it as a big romper room where anything goes. You don’t have to know the person you’re befriending or posting comments to. And it’s ok to meet people on MySpace, talk to them online for months, and never actually meet them in person. In fact, much of the communication that happens in this space isn’t what could be qualified as direct communication at all. It comes in the form of generalized postings and spammy blurbs about “how I’m doing” sent out to all of a user’s “friends.” Is this communication? Is it as equal-access as the old web used to be? What do you think?

Ok. I know I sound like that total loser who’s the last person on the MySpace bandwagon, but what are your thoughts? Do YOU have a MySpace page? Have you tried to get the XCam to send feed to it? (I’m STOKED to do that!) Let me know.

What’s this I hear about fighting for bandwidth?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/21/AR2006012100094.html

What the heck is boffing?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boffing

What’s the jennicam?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JenniCam

…and I hate to admit that I don’t know what craigslist is.
http://www.craigslist.org

Get the xCam2
http://www.x10.com/onsale/new.html

Posted by Lyndsey Patterson at 04:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Yes, we do exist!

Although the world of geeking-out over X10 may appear primarily male-dominated, there are a few ladies out here who live for remotes, transceivers and modules. Shocked? Don’t be! I’m here five days a week working out new ways X10 can make our lives more fun.

I just moved into a 1930’s studio in downtown Seattle, and it’s turning out to be the perfect canvas for X10 products. Hardwood floors… exposed brick… and ancient wiring. The place was begging for dimmers, but my walls are plaster, so rewiring the switches could cost me a deposit. (Old plaster crumbles when you remove face plates and start tinkering with things. It’s ugly, and a pain to repair). I spent this weekend outfitting my place with Socket Rockets, Lamp Modules, Slim Lines, and remotes. Now I can at least control lighting.

A lot of home decorating gurus will tell you that when space is small – like 600 sq. feet – lighting can mean the difference between a place that looks cluttered and one that looks polished. Studio apartments need as much specialty lighting as they can get. When I was outfitting my place I got the most bang for my buck out of these:

The best part was the Slim Line I put by my front door. I’m always in a hurry to get to the coffee shop before work in the morning. So I forget to turn off lights. If I catch it on the way out the door it’s just one button to get them all. And everyone who comes in asks what the switch is. They look wired, so it’s impossible to tell that the Slim Line is really a remote in disguise.

What’s the next project? Motion sensors, the xCam, and how to freak out the poor unsuspecting passers-by in front of my apartment building – and get them on video! We’ll see if my super catches me!

That’s all for now,

Lyndsey

Posted by Lyndsey Patterson at 05:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)