A9 and Big Brother: As Amazon's cool A9 search engine adds a yellow pages function that includes photos of storefronts, this flash animation seems a bit more ominous: it starts with the birth of the internet and covers technological developments real and imagined, from Google, Amazon, Blogger, and TiVo, to GoogleGrid and, ultimately, somethiing called epic [8 minute animation]. (Thanks, Don.) And: Speaking of search capabilities, Ben points out a great mapping tool, MusicPlasma, that offers a cartographic representation of musical interests. A clever way to find new music you might like from bands you don't yet know.

Music for January 24: Lin, responding to my gloomy birthday post, suggests I take a listen to a musician described thusly:

He is F.M. Cornog, a low fi solo artist who was homeless and then got an apartment in Queens, NY, found a Tascam mixer and guitar and released 5 albums of some of the most sad music, but pleasant sounding stuff I've heard since the Velvet Underground.

Think the more acoustic stuff by the Cure crossed with a folky dude who likes skating park organs, singing about hookers, pimps and abandoned theme parks. yep, that's F. M. - or Fred.

We emailed a bit back in the 90s, he's still at though, just put out his 5th record. I told him his music reminded me of my year in Brooklyn, looking out the window at a sea of tv antennas, sun shining through alleys, the odd bum shuffling through garbage cans, etc.

he said, "yes, Lin, that's what I'm going for"....

Definitely worth a listen.