creativity/machine

From Gizmodo: Xtreme Mac have announced the upcoming release of a voice recorder that attaches to the ipod video via the dock connector, allowing the user to record at 22khz through the flexible microphone provided or with any mic via the 3mm input. What I really want, though, is a built-in stereo microphone or at least the ability to connect one. Let’s hope this is a sign of things to come.

update: Belkin will start shipping the Tunetalk Stereo in April. The Tunetalk is a stereo voice recorder (with dual built-in microphones and a line-in input) that attaches via the dock connector. It records in 16bit at 44.1khz (stereo) or 22khz (mono). The iPod bible iLounge tested the device at Macworld Expo and seemed pretty positive, even giving it their “best in show” award, apparently. Looking forward to some real reviews on its release, but things are looking up, that’s for sure.

After a lovely, wintry European break, I’m now into the fieldwork I’m doing in the UK as part of my PhD. Spent an interesting day with the capture wales team at BBC Wales, as well as meeting some participants from canllaw online, who will be participating in the train-the-trainers digital storytelling workshop that I’m observing next week.

In one of the many transit queues I was stuck in last week, I got chatting to the guy in front of us. He turned out to be Mark Crick, the author of Kafka’s Soup, subtitled “A Complete History of World Literature in 14 Recipes”:

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to have dinner with Franz Kafka, Jane Austen or Raymond Chandler, this is the chance to find out. Literary ventriloquist Mark Crick presents 14 recipes in the voices of famous writers, from Homer to Irvine Welsh. Guaranteed to delight anyone in love with food and books, these witty pastiches will keep you so entertained in the kitchen that you’ll be sorry when the guests arrive.

With each recipe illustrated with an illustration in the style of an appropriate artist, Egon Schiele rubs shoulders with Hogarth, Matisse and Frida Kahlo.

Mark pulled out his battered doing-the-rounds-of-publishers copy, and I was very impressed - a really innovative repurposing of the arts and a great hybrid publishing idea. On a quick glance through, the way he captures the voices of the authors seems to be very sensitive too.