One Canuck's Radio Weblog

  Tuesday, 5 October 2004

.< 11:43:22 PM >
The Soros blog
Thoughts on the Iraq war and the current administration by George Soros.

Far out. Just wish there were an RSS feed.

< 11:15:53 PM >

The Royal Navy submarine handed over to the Canadians at the weekend has burst into flames 120 miles off the coast of Ireland. [Guardian Unlimited World Latest]

< 11:14:42 PM >

· Bremer: too few troops · Rumsfeld: no al-Qaida link [Guardian Unlimited] 'Paul Bremer, who was America's most senior official in Baghdad until the handover last June, said the US committed two major blunders which compromised the course of events in Iraq: it went to war without enough troops and it did not contain the looting and violence after Saddam Hussein's regime fell. [snip] Mr Bremer's comments are also a belated rebuke to the defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, who overruled his army chief of staff and other military officials by opting for a smaller invasion force, and who famously dismissed reports of looting in April 2003 by saying "Stuff happens" and "Freedom is untidy".

Mr Rumsfeld attempted yesterday to undo the damage from statements made hours earlier, in which he acknowledged there was no connection between al-Qaida and Saddam. "To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two," Mr Rumsfeld told the Council on Foreign Relations .

The statement - a u-turn on Mr Rumsfeld's assertion in September 2002 that the CIA had "bulletproof" evidence of a connection - appeared in line with a new intelligence review that failed to find a connection.'

< 11:08:03 PM >

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday vetoed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate end to Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip that have cost some 68 Palestinian lives. [Reuters: World]

< 11:06:41 PM >

Meanwhile, the U.S. military launched its second major offensive of the last week, sending 3,000 troops south of Baghdad. [New York Times: International] 'His tone was a sharp departure from the more optimistic assessment he gave to the American public on his visit to the United States last month.'

< 11:00:47 PM >

AES 117th Convention Broadcasting Events coordinator David Bialik has developed three compelling panels to apprise radio professionals of technological advances and career opportunities across the broadcast spectrum. ...Read More » [Digital Pro Sound News] 'Saturday, October 30 SURROUND SOUND FOR DIGITAL RADIO'

< 10:57:06 PM >

At the NAB Radio Show, October 6th - 8th in San Diego, Telos / Omnia and Fraunhofer IIS present a novel surround system for HD Radio technology, delivering impressive full surround audio without compromising the stereo signal in any way. This way, both users equipped with conventional stereo receivers and those owning surround receivers will get the maximum audio pleasure while listening to the same radio program. ...Read More » [Digital Pro Sound News] 'The key to the system is that all the pieces of the audio that go to the surround channels are present in the two stereo channels. Additionally, there is an ancillary data channel used for transmitting spatial information. The surround decoder, if present in the receiver, uses this information to move the pieces of audio to their respective positions, recreating the original multi-channel sound. In the system presented, 80 kilobits per second (kb/s) are used for the stereo channels, and 16 kb/s for the surround information.'

From the people who brought us MP3.

< 10:39:33 PM >

Ed Meitner's EMM Labs, the makers of a series of recording studio and more recently audiophile products for high quality music, Super Audio CD and Direct Stream Digital (DSD) production and playback have announced the appointment of a new audiophile distributor and a series of ... [DVD-Audio and SACD News] 'Distribution and sales to the professional and recording industry markets will continue to be handled by EMM Labs directly and their current pro distributors including SADiE in the U.S., ATT Audio Controls in Australia, Canada Promedia in Canada and China, DSP Japan in Japan, Binar Prosound & Light in Russia and J&C Intersonic in Switzerland.'

< 10:26:21 PM >

The Motown Records label of the Universal Music Group has released a new Surround Sound SACD entitled The Marvin Gaye Collection this week. They have also announced the planned in store release dates for the upcoming Surround Sound SACDs by the groups Nine Inch ... [DVD-Audio and SACD News] 'The SACD Surround Sound track appears to feature the same 5.1 mix used on the earlier 5.1 DTS Music Disc (and presumably the DVD Audio edition as well) from the album's credits and a listen to the disc.'

Bizarre. I'm pretty sure the SACD of Let's Get in On predated the DVD-A. Here we have the opposite situation. The article also gives 12 Oct as the release date for a disc I bought last week for $17.99 at HMV. It seems that in Canada we're getting the Mercury Living Presence discs ahead of the US market. Now I understand why I couldn't find any reviews!

< 1:37:50 AM >

Brushed aluminum swept aside as Apple's Mail 2.0 will reportedly sport an updated theme.

For the... [AppleInsider]

< 1:30:55 AM >

Today marks the tenth anniversary of macintouch.com, and we are very thankful for the support of everyone involved. [MacInTouch]

Congratulations MacInTouch. I'm sure I've been reading it since the beginning but it's hard to believe it's been 10 years.

< 1:24:10 AM >

Apple Computer Inc. in conjunction with Audible.com is offering a free download of last Thursday night's first debate between incumbent American President George W. Bush and his Democratic Party challenger, John Kerry. The download is available to users of Apple's U.S. iTunes Music Store. The 90-minute debate focused specifically on foreign policy, and was moderated by PBS anchorman Jim Lehrer. Audible.com's audiobook of the event was created using coverage provided by political cable channel C-SPAN. [MacCentral]

< 1:20:55 AM >

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told invited press at a London briefing that Microsoft would prevail over Apple, Sony and other competitors when it comes to winning the hearts and minds of home consumers looking to integrate computer technology into their home entertainment systems. "There is no way you can get there with Apple," he is quoted as saying by Silicon.com. [MacCentral]

< 1:17:26 AM >

Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes Music Store still isn't available in Canada, but iPods are -- and now Pepsi drinkers can try to win a free iPod, courtesy of Pepsi-Cola Canada Ltd. The company is giving away an iPod every hour for the next twelve weeks -- the contest runs through December 25, 2004. [MacCentral]

Let's hope the music store follows quickly.