Sunday, May 20, 2007

Rare, I know, but...

I have to give credit to Verizon (phone company?? Gasp!) or Motorola or whoever it is that came up with the new phone they were advertising the other day on TV.

It's the one with the girl who used to be a 'music gatherer' but now she's a 'music hunter'. Know the one I'm talking about? It's only been the last few weeks that the commercial's been on, but basically the phone can detect songs that you may only catch a snippet of. The commercial shows a girl in a clothing store and she hears a song she likes on the speakers in the store. She holds up her phone, pushes a button, and the phone tells her on the display screen the artist and song title (as well as the opportunity to buy and download the song to your phone, if that's your bag). Pretty neat, huh?

Ironically enough, I was telling Michelle about this neat new device while we were at Old Navy (a clothing store: coincidence?) this week, and then not a few moments later a song that I wasn't familiar with came on over the speakers in the store. It was a good song and I thought it sounded like a band I like (Splender), so I came home and searched to see if they had a new album out.

Well, they didn't, but thankfully my guess of what the song was called (it's "Ruby" by Kaiser Chiefs; the chorus says "Ruby! Ruby! Ruby! Ruby!") helped me find it and d/l it on iTunes. But had the song been called anything other than "Ruby", I would have been out of luck.

Hopefully I can rely on my wit to help me figure out mysterious songs for a few more years but I admit that this may be one of the cooler features I've ever seen on a phone. And maybe, just maybe, Verizon may have two more people join "The Network."

10 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

That song by the Kaiser Chiefs is my jam of choice right now Brad!

10:26 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was just thinking about this same issue the other day with respect to how the internet has changed our lives. It seems all you need to do anymore is catch a single phrase froma song, go back & google it, and a few minutes later it's yours. When we were kids it would have been unheard of. The other day I was researching some topic that I was foreign to, and every 2 minutes I turned to wikipedia to clear up some terminology I was unfamiliar with. Incredibly, I got through the entire page and understood it all! I have a conversation with one of my buddies quite often where we discuss the sociological effects of the internet, and I think it's really anyone's guess. I wonder how many of the "kids these days" rants (that our generation will voice) are sourced in behaviors learned from the internet, instant messaging, etc. Our generation is a pretty unique one in that we experienced this communication/information explosion only in our late teens. I think the GenX vs. Gen(whatever is after us) comparison will be very interesting.

Anyway, on a side note about technologies that are way too long in coming: why can't we have a headunit with a usb interface at the front for a usb datastick. The sticks have been around for years now; is it that hard to integrate? I know there are a couple models out there, but this should be standard on every HU since they gained the ability to play mp3s!

5:33 PM  
Blogger Brad said...

great minds think alike, Laura!

Anonymous, I agree with you that's it's fascinating how much different the internet has made our lives in the last 10-15 years. Who knows where it will go next?

Not sure about the USB interface, I guess I'm just a techno-idiot. The one thing I want to know is: why didn't they have those cool McDonalds play areas when we were young enough to play on them???

10:10 AM  
Blogger steven said...

please tell me that's romero's "dawn of the dead"...

12:27 AM  
Blogger Brad said...

I dunno, the one made in the 70's? You recommended it!

9:49 AM  
Blogger steven said...

oh ok...yeah, the old one. it rules.

1:40 PM  
Blogger Brad said...

yeah, the whole mall thing was pretty interesting.

10:39 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Donnie Brasco is one of my all-time favorite movies ever of all time. Ever. After seeing Pacino dominate the scene in Godfather & Scarface, it was awesome to see him as a two-bit gangster whose life has gone nowhere and yielded nothing to really be proud of. It's so sad when you realize partway through that he's a joke within the mob (as opposed to the illustrious gangster he paints himself to be at the outset), and that his one major "break" turns out to be a dud too. I really really like the storyline, the cinematography, and above all the acting. Pacino & Depp's facial expressions really speak volumes; there's so much to think about in terms of character psychologies.

Serpico was pretty decent, but I didn't get emotionally caught up in the storyline. And while I'm opining on movies: the Bourne Ultimatum was a great action flick!

8:37 AM  
Blogger steven said...

300 *****

well, at least some things never change... :)

3:10 PM  
Blogger Brad said...

Habib,

How did you see Bourne already?? You seem to have become quite the movie hound!

Steve,

You know I'm a sucker for 'sword and sandal'!

10:07 AM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home