Ali Bytes: Bullet-sized strategies for modern living

Michael Arrington recently wrote on TechCrunch that music is the reason that Facebook, the world’s largest online social network, still lags behind MySpace in the U.S. I would argue that Facebook holds its position because of its picture sharing functionality. It’s fascinating how much music and pictures open up new business opportunities on the internet. These are four great examples of websites that have capitalized on our craving for more music.

1. You’ve likely already heard of this site with 1 million listeners daily but in case you haven’t: Pandora’s mission is to “reward the musically curious among us with a never-ending experience of music discovery.” Started way back in 2000 as the Music Genome Project, the site offers a streaming radio that allows you to create “stations that play only music you like.” What’s unique and awesome about this site is the range of music and deep research behind it. They’ve unpacked “the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics.” Not only can you actually listen to music without paying for it, you can also read everything you could want to know about the artist and find similar artists and songs. Now that you’re sold on it, the sad news is that they might have to pull the plug very soon. Last year, the per-song streaming media royalties that Web radio stations pay doubled, resulting in 70% of Pandora’s $25 million in revenue going to fees.
2. TourFilter.com was founded in April 2006 by Chris Marstall, a guy I feel like I’d be buddies with. What I love about it is the incredible simplicity. The minimalist interface offers only a search field and city drop down with the instructions “find concerts in 60 US cities.” Results, which are pulled from more than 1300 venue websites (as opposed to the artists’ schedules like other sites do), appear in a list detailing date, band, club, and city with links to ticket purchasing sites. The about us page says “we used to miss too many shows - we’d hear about them after tickets sold out, or worse, read about them in the Globe the day after. Maybe even in the Metro (oh, the shame!) So we wrote a program to download all the area club listings daily, search for bands we liked, then send out email.” I’d recommend you check it out and sign up for a weekly concert calendar for your city. Oh and for those of you who know LiveNation.com, from what I can tell TourFilter is better.
3. “At MyTracks.com, Indie is our mainstream.” For a modest monthly or annual fee (subscriptions are $7.95 per month or $69.95 per year with student discounts I’ve just discovered), you gain access not to an unlimited number of artists but an unlimited number of song downloads. It’s a great way to discover new music of emerging bands. Unlike iTunes or Lala which allow you to “buy” songs on a restricted use basis, MyTracks is not governed by RIAA so you get full ownership with a major portion of the membership fees goes to the artists. It’s a great site I’d recommend. The only thing I they should reconsider is their value proposition which makes no sense to me: “Think of it as ‘MP3′ TV, minus the TV.” Oh and maybe their right aligned About Us page.
4. I’m mildly obsessed with TuneGlue , a site backed by Last.fm, which is like the visual thesaurus for music. Like all these others, it’s simple: search for a musical artist, click to expand and you’ll see about four to six artists that are similar. You can follow a path you like and the tool will keep making the connections of what music sounds similar. You can also drag thenodes around the screen and click to see the albums by each artist. Then once you find music you might like, you can go plug the music into Pandora and if you like it, look to buy it on MyTracks.

I recently came across this list of words that are the most commonly looked up in the dictionary (according to who I don’t know). I wouldn’t be surprised if this list corresponds to a list of most incorrectly used words. Perhaps you could try using a few of these in a sentence today, or look them up if you don’t know what they mean. And yes, you can attribute this rather pragmatic post to a foible attempt at blog post catch up.

1. Ubiquitous
2. Esoteric
3. Paradigm
4. Serendipity
5. Obsequious
6. Eclectic
7. Dictionary
8. Pragmatic
9. Jingoism
10. Foible
11. Idiom
12. Oxymoron
13. Effect
14. Hubris

For the sixth blog-off with Dudgington Post, the topic is Zucchini Blossoms. Have you ever cooked with these? Neither have I. While I enjoy cooking and eating quality food, when I add up the time and cost (and factor in eating alone usually after 10pm when I get home from school), I often opt for simple, picking up something from Whole Foods or eating out.

There is another dinner option - home cooking in someone else’s kitchen - a concept I first heard about from my former colleague Kevin who gave it rave reviews. Though I can’t promise these alternatives offer zucchini blossom recipes, I would bet you’ll be more than satisfied. Leave a comment if you’ve tried any of these.

1. Founded by chef Harriet Dupree Bradley in 2003 and based in KY, Entrée Vous’ mission is to “set the standard for quality of food in the meal assembly industry” and is guided by the principles of quality, convenience and value. “We’ve shopped for fresh ingredients, chopped, sliced, diced, seared off meats at our stove, blended marinades and simmered many sauces from scratch.” There are 3 ways to enjoy an Entrée Vous meal in one of 17 states they have shops: you can just walk in and pick your meal (”Fresh Take and Bake”), schedule a pick up order, or schedule a cooking session.
2. Interestingly also founded in 2003, by Ruth Lundquist and Darcy Olson in MN, Let’s Dish is now in 11 states with most of their shops in MN, VA and MD. Though they seem to offer essentially the same options as Entrée Vous, they do a handful of things better - at least online: much more clear pricing (an in-store session will cost $100 if you make 4 dishes), short
   videos explaining how it works, a Refer-a-Disher reward program and the ability to buy a gift card.
3. Though Corner Cuisine is a small business based only in Lorton, VA, it offers the same value proposition of the others: “In today’s fast-paced world, providing delicious home cooked meals for your family is not always easy. Now, your busy family no longer has to compromise between time and quality when it comes to dinner.” I couldn’t find out too much about this company except that it is an independent business designed and developed by Lorton residents.

Have you heard of someecards.com? With the slogan “when you care enough to hit send,” this site has brilliantly captured the tackiness that so often characterizes e-communication using the tool that started it all: the ecard.

You can search through dozens of categories including, “cry for help” and “somewhat topical,” and even create your own. I just made this one to try it out and confirmed that it only takes a minute.  Consider yourself warned though: I imagine it could quickly turn into a battle of wit - with yourself.  Here is a sampling of some of the best I read but there are plenty more where these came from.  Which one is your favorite?

1. “Let’s force a jaded wait staff to go through the motions of singing you ‘Happy Birthday’”(send)
2. “Labor Day is a great opportunity to reflect on what you failed to accomplish this summer” (send)
3. “I still haven’t decided why I can’t come to your party”(send)
4. “Sorry your country has won fewer Olympic medals than Michael Phelps”(send)
5. “Let’s takes things to the previous level”(send)
6. “Sorry I spent three seconds reviewing the wedding invitation you spent three months on”(send)
7. “You must be excited to try convincing people you’re excited to move to Brooklyn”(send)
8. “Sorry your outdated religious views dismantled our perfectly fine relationship”(send)
9. “I’m leaning towards voting for the presidential candidate not endorsed by the worst president in American history”(send)
10. “I wish you’d taken the time to Google me”(send)
11. “You’ll never guess what I got you from your registry of pre-selected gifts”(send)
12. “Your Starbucks drink order embarrasses me”(send)