One of the most heavily impacted industries by computers is the music industry. The methods of producing and selling music have changed more in the past 30 years than they have since the beginning of time. From the creation of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) and virtual synthesizers to the sampled recording of real live instruments, composers are now able to purchase software and produce realistic sounding instruments without the need for a big recording studio and many hired players. These instruments are often recorded note by note many times at different microphone positions and different articulations. Then, the audio is packaged with programmed software, often known as a VSTi (Virtual Studio Technology Instrument), that lets the composer input his/her own notes and have an output of sound that resembles a live performance. These sampled instruments have become such a standard that they can be heard in most popular songs in most genres. Composers and producers do not have the time or funding to record a live performance of every single instrument no matter how far in the background it is, so the cheaper way is to use software. The business of selling sampled and synthesized virtual instruments has become big enough that there are entire big companies dedicated to programming and selling this kind of software to music creators around the world. EastWest, for example, is a company dedicated to making all kinds of virtual instruments, and although I could not find their yearly revenue, they have spent hundreds of thousands on creating their most recent libraries sampling orchestral string and brass instruments. For a software that only sells to a specific number of professionals, they are spending quite a lot on perfecting the art of making a computer produce the sounds you would hear in an acoustic performance. For a professional, the prices of these products being in the thousands does not come close to the higher price of hiring an entire orchestra, so EastWest do realize the importance of what they're investing into.
The real issue here is how this will affect performers and musicians. When people stop noticing the difference between sampled software playback and live performance recordings, why would even the richest composers bother spending money to record performances for something like music for a trailer or a TV show? Being a musician could very well be one of the rarest jobs in the future, and I highly doubt someone that has spent their entire life mastering an instrument would be happy spending every single day playing the same note 50 times to make the perfect sample for a software where his playing won't even be remembered. Like any movement in technology, virtual instruments have their after-effects. The opportunities they open for programmers could be the same number of opportunities they close for musicians. Even bands and live performing artists rely somewhat on virtual instruments in one way or another during performances. As a matter of fact, some companies, such as Eareckon, have created software made especially for use as a host of virtual instruments during live performances. More recent genres of music, such as electro, techno, etc. rely on 1 person controlling a previously arranged sequence as a DJ on his/her computer during live performances, rather than having live players performing on synthesizers. With the core of music moving closer to a single workstation and further from the hands of the player, it is unpredictable how the most culturally-influenced things like music will be affected.
Thursday, 5 April 2012
Monday, 2 April 2012
Google on the Road
It's been almost 2 years since Google first announced their work on a self-driving car and now they're making a move on it and partnering with Toyota. The new self-driving car features cameras and laser tracking hardware that reads movements and objects on the road and detects exactly when to signal, turn, accelerate and brake. It was presented earlier in 2010 as an unfinished experiment, but it was very capable of driving safely then and it still is. Google and Toyota have not set an exact date to put it into production or a price, but it is very possible that this technology would be safe for consumers to use by 2014 or 2015. Google and Toyota did say that they do not plan on replacing the driver with a machine, because the driver is still fully liable and responsible for what the car is doing. A driver would need to step in place and take the wheel at any time if the car seems to be making a mistake. They also do not want to take the joy of driving away from those who enjoy it. However, it may be much easier to set the car on self-drive during a 50 minute drive through a busy freeway at 8 in the morning.
The impact this has on the industry means putting a lot of responsibility on the companies themselves. Any error in the code operating the car and people will die. Cars would not only have to work together, but be able to detect sudden changes on the road very quickly even if the color of a certain object is not bright or different enough to detect. It would also mean more costs to fix these cars when a problem does occur. The move to digital and computer-operated cars means more work for the mechanic and possibly more of a need to send parts back to manufacturers. This will also create a fear from buying used cars, due to them always having older chips that may fail more easily, similar to the risks of buying used computers. Do-It-Yourself fixes will also decrease, meaning less control for the buyer and more for the company. however, the pros of having self-driving cars do out-weigh the cons. It is possible that accidents may decrease by almost 50%. Human errors will always be more than computer errors in most cases, so it will be more accurate in stopping potential accidents. These cars may even be programmed and used in film stunts to get a perfect shot at planned points on the road at certain speeds. I am one of the people looking forward to this, and I do hope that Google and Toyota live up to their word on keeping the drivers in control and simply giving them the option to access this technology.
ABC News video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nYhKD8leAg
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References:
- Richard Blackden, "Google technology allows Toyota car to drive itself," The Telegraph, March 1st 2012; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/9117119/Google-technology-allows-Toyota-car-to-drive-itself.html
The impact this has on the industry means putting a lot of responsibility on the companies themselves. Any error in the code operating the car and people will die. Cars would not only have to work together, but be able to detect sudden changes on the road very quickly even if the color of a certain object is not bright or different enough to detect. It would also mean more costs to fix these cars when a problem does occur. The move to digital and computer-operated cars means more work for the mechanic and possibly more of a need to send parts back to manufacturers. This will also create a fear from buying used cars, due to them always having older chips that may fail more easily, similar to the risks of buying used computers. Do-It-Yourself fixes will also decrease, meaning less control for the buyer and more for the company. however, the pros of having self-driving cars do out-weigh the cons. It is possible that accidents may decrease by almost 50%. Human errors will always be more than computer errors in most cases, so it will be more accurate in stopping potential accidents. These cars may even be programmed and used in film stunts to get a perfect shot at planned points on the road at certain speeds. I am one of the people looking forward to this, and I do hope that Google and Toyota live up to their word on keeping the drivers in control and simply giving them the option to access this technology.
ABC News video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nYhKD8leAg
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References:
- Richard Blackden, "Google technology allows Toyota car to drive itself," The Telegraph, March 1st 2012; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/9117119/Google-technology-allows-Toyota-car-to-drive-itself.html
A Very Educational Post
It seems that the internet has brought forward new crowd-sourcing opportunities for educators. www.thefreeuniversity.com is a new website that has grabbed my attention. The site is still under construction, but it seems they have plans to create a full open source area for lectures and texts to let people interested in learning any subjects to have the opportunity to simply search for it and watch a few lectures. MIT has been doing a similar thing for a few of their courses for years, where they record entire lectures and upload them to websites, such as YouTube or their own website, which can be found at http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/. However, MIT does ask for donations to keep the service up and running, which surprised me that a university as big as MIT was having trouble funding the recording and storage of lectures. That is why thefreeuniversity.com may be more successful in collecting more full course lectures, since they do plan on being community-operated.
There are lots of places on the internet that offer free lectures and tutorials aside from universities themselves. YouTube itself has become a big source of educational how-to videos and academic tutorials. There are even people that are able to make somewhat of a living from posting free tutorial videos about various subjects, such as Khan Academy, thenewboston, patrickjmt, and the list goes on. I've found many of these free tutorials helpful while studying for university subjects myself. This process doesn't threaten the existence of big institutions, yet it helps people become more educated and well-rounded. I've certainly learned a lot more by researching random topics on the internet, than from taking breadth requirement courses at U of T. Self-motivated learners are definitely the best future professionals, which is why it's becoming increasingly important to become dedicated to a single field. Technology is what's closing that gap between self-motivated learners and professionals. Wikipedia would not be as successful without the support of those that are motivated enough to share information and fund the website. Online degrees are still too early to become credible enough, but in the future, there may be a good amount of variety from one type of university to another that people are judged by their skills, not their location of study.
There are lots of places on the internet that offer free lectures and tutorials aside from universities themselves. YouTube itself has become a big source of educational how-to videos and academic tutorials. There are even people that are able to make somewhat of a living from posting free tutorial videos about various subjects, such as Khan Academy, thenewboston, patrickjmt, and the list goes on. I've found many of these free tutorials helpful while studying for university subjects myself. This process doesn't threaten the existence of big institutions, yet it helps people become more educated and well-rounded. I've certainly learned a lot more by researching random topics on the internet, than from taking breadth requirement courses at U of T. Self-motivated learners are definitely the best future professionals, which is why it's becoming increasingly important to become dedicated to a single field. Technology is what's closing that gap between self-motivated learners and professionals. Wikipedia would not be as successful without the support of those that are motivated enough to share information and fund the website. Online degrees are still too early to become credible enough, but in the future, there may be a good amount of variety from one type of university to another that people are judged by their skills, not their location of study.
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