Stream Your Music from Your Home Computer to Your iPhone (For Now)

Simplify Media allows you to listen to your home music library from anywhere (including your iPhone), and, while I think this is a service with amazing potential, I’m sure that I’m not the only one who thinks this application is doomed. Mashable certainly seems to agree. We could be wrong—after all, my friend Leslie wrote about the service last year, and it’s still around—but I think the release of an application for the high-profile iPhone is going to be a nail in their coffin, if not several nails.

With Pandora on the verge of extinction, I’m constantly looking for ways to discover new music. I think Simplify Media’s ability to let me share music libraries with up to 30 friends could be one way to do that, but I hope that it’s not dead and gone before me and my friends get the chance to really try it out.

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iJustine Has Nice Apps

PHOTO: The Winnies 2007 2179.jpg by luismi1985 on Flickr CC BY

Internet celebrity iJustine has five screens worth of apps on her iPhone, and it’s really something that you have to see to believe. I have only two screens worth of apps at the moment (Twitterrific, Facebook, AIM, Last.fm, Remote, Pandora, PhoneSaber, Tap Tap Revolution, and Recorder, in addition to the standard issue apps) and even I find that excessive at times. But five screens? I wouldn’t know where to look for anything. I really wouldn’t.

In other Apple news, a man said by one insider to be as demanding as iJustine’s hero Steve Jobs has been placed in charge of the company’s shaky MobileMe service. Apple vice president Eddy Cue is now heading up the MobileMe team, writes Apple Insider.

Those who are familiar with Cue know him for managing the iTunes Store to resounding global success, but he was also a force behind .Mac and the ever popular Apple Online Store. “It’s the not-sexy part of the company, but it’s the guts that make all of the sexy front ends actually work,” says von Rospach, who crossed paths with Cue during his years of managing Apple’s email lists.

Cue’s teams have long been self-contained, von Rospach adds, spending most of their time in “uncharted territory,” implementing technology that never existed before on large scales “under really scary conditions.” Over the years, he’s earned the respect of Steve Jobs by delivering projects on time, to specification, all while keeping “the darn thing(s) a secret” in the process.

As a MobileMe user, I can only hope that the faith this “insider” has in Cue will eventually be rewarded. MobileMe has run pretty flawlessly for me, but I know it’s probably only a matter of time before it once again crashes hardcore, as it did at launch. When it does crash again, I’ll be very interested to see how swiftly and how decisively Cue takes action. 

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An Unhealthy Obsession With Her Mac (Video)

Meleah Rebeccah Hawthorne has an unhealthy obsession with her Mac, and now she’s sharing it with the whole world. Together with photographer Jen Rinaldi, Ms. Hawthorne has put together one of the funniest odes to Mac obsession that I have ever seen. My friend Leslie mentioned that this video might be coming soon during our trip down to Boston Media Makers a couple of weekends ago, and Tweeted about it yesterday, but today was the first time I was able to get a few minutes to check it out. And believe you me, it’s worth your time.

Set to the song “Happy Together,” the clip (available in Quicktime, if you can’t see the YouTube version above) is a montage of photographs featuring Meleah and her Mac sharing a candlelit dinner, among many other special moments.

If you like it, Digg it. Then, when you’re done watching, let us know in the comments what a video of you and one of your own obsessions might look like.

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Unboxing My iPhone 3G (Video)

I had every intention of making a more interesting unboxing video upon the arrival of my iPhone 3G, but that just wasn’t meant to be. Then, I had every intention of taking the video I’ve embedded above and making something more interesting out of it. That wasn’t meant to be either. And so, this is what we’re left with: quite possibly the sleepiest, most all-over-the-place iPhone 3G unboxing that you have ever seen. Enjoy!

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Worth Your Consideration 014 - A GF5 Linkdump

I think I’ve been collecting these links since Thursday, and the fact that I haven’t done anything with them since then is probably proof of the fact that I’ve been playing with my new iPhone way too much. Oh well. Better late than never, right? Here are some links worth your consideration:

• Mashable has an article about despamming your iPhone e-mail, which is probably worth it to some people, but seems like a whole lot of overkill to me. Does anyone really get that much SPAM anymore? I thought that almost every e-mail account (any worth having, that is) had some sort of SPAM-protection at the server level. My Google Apps @ Your Domain e-mail does. My Engine Hosting e-mail does. Really, I’m not sure why we should be doing anything this elaborate anymore. Why not just forward everything to a central Google account (why get the desktop and filters on a desktop client involved?) and let their servers sort everything out? That’s what I do, and it works fine for me.
• There will be another Harry Potter book, after all. Sure, it won’t be quite the same as the others, but the announcement that The Tales of Beedle the Bard will be published this December has me more than a little excited. If you watched my 5 Things video the other day, you know that I’m obsessed enough with Potter that I re-read the books each summer. I can’t wait to add another to my collection.
• And, while we’re on the subject of Harry Potter, why not check out this shot-by-shot look at the trailer for The Half-Blood Prince, which I previewed this week. You haven’t seen the trailer itself yet, you say? Well, check that out here.
• In other news, there’s a workers revolt going down in the Mushroom Kingdom and it’s pretty darned funny. The minions of Bowser have some really good points about how they could more effectively fight the scourge of the Mario brothers. The question is, will the big boss listen? Watch and find out. And then, go thank Kottke for pointing the way to this clip.
• Oh, and speaking of Kottke-provided links, check out this list of the top nine songs about masturbation.
• Or, if you’re more of a sports nut, check out 20 Ways to Die Trying to Dunk a Basketball. Though, I must warn you, these clips do nothing to disprove the notion of jocks being dumb. In fact...
• Moving on, here’s the trailer for the first traditionally animated Disney film since 2004. It’s called The Princess and the Frog and it’s supposedly set in Jazz age New Orleans. It features Disney’s first African American princess. And, if you ask me, it looks like it could be pretty good.
• And if you’re feeling like going negative on me after that story ("Disney sux! Pixar 4-eva!” or some such shit), please do yourself a favor and read this Tweet from Merlin Man (found via our good friend Kottke): “Some days, the web feels like 5 people trying to make something; 5k people turning it into a list; and 500MM people saying, ‘FAIL.’” If you don’t like the creative output that’s out there (on the Web, on the silver screen, or wherever), shut up with your fucking complaining and go make something yourself.
• Dan Walsh is someone who does his creating by re-creating, but that’s paying off for him. His online comic strip, Garfield Minus Garfield, (previously mentioned here) is coming to a book store near you, thanks to an understanding and supportive Jim Davis.
• DarkUFO has an embedded version of the latest episode of The Official Lost Audio Podcast. This one was recorded live at Comic Con 2008 (previously mentioned here and here), so it’s definitely worth a listen.
• Anyone who can tell me what instrument Trent Reznor is playing in this photo of a recent Nine Inch Nails performance wins a free Geek Force Five t-shirt (whenever I finally make some). That’s not just a xylophone, is it? It’s something else, isn’t it? In any case, seeing them doing this kind of experimenting on stage makes me salivate over the thought of seeing them later this week in Connecticut.
• Just a couple more… Did you know that Wal-Mart is basically ordering its employees not to vote for Barack Obama? It doesn’t surprise me, but that doesn’t make it any less scary.
• In happier political news, NBC has hired Luke Russert to cover the Democratic and Republican national conventions. I had no idea that the lad had previous experience, but it appears he does, and that this isn’t just a publicity stunt in the wake of his old man’s passing. I think Big Tim would be proud.
• And, lastly, check out Kevin Smith’s interview with Ain’t It Cool News for Kev’s thoughts on Zack and Miri Make a Porno and George Carlin’s performance in Jersey Girl (a performance I praised in my goodbye to George).

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