Today EMI and Pink Floyd announced an amazing re-release of every Pink Floyd album including previously unreleased material. I cannot even being to express my excitement and glee. Most important, is the inclusion of the Alan Parsons qaud mix of Dark Side of the Moon – one of the most amazing audio experiences ever. Here is a great interview with Alan about Dark Side of the Moon.

Buckle your seatbelts, this is some serious box set action, never seen before. Amazon has the complete set of albums in pre-sale at some amazing discounts:

Pink Floyd – The Discovery Studio Albums:

Includes all 14 studio albums remastered:

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn; A Saucerful Of Secrets; More; Ummagumma; Atom Heart Mother; Meddle; Obscured By Clouds; The Dark Side Of The Moon; Wish You Were Here; Animals; The Wall; The Final Cut; A Momentary Lapse Of Reason; The Division Bell

Click here to buy from Amazon

 

Pink Floyd – The Experience

expanded versions of classic albums in a Digipak bonus disc format. Included are the original remastered album, a disc of additional material and an expanded CD booklet.

Only The Wall, Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here are getting The Experience treatment.

 

Pink Floyd – Immersion

These are expensive and worth it – for the fan.  The Immersion albums present the complete artistic experience. Lavishly packaged in a sturdy 29cm square box, the sets contain remastered, previously unreleased and audio-visual material, plus much additional content – reproduced memorabilia, brand new graphics, art prints, collectors’ items, lavish booklets and more.

Dark Side of the Moon – This is the one with Alan Parsons Quadrophonic mix(click to pre-order)

DISC 1 – CD 1:

The Dark Side Of The Moon digitally remastered by James Guthrie 2011

DISC 2 – CD 2:

The Dark Side Of The Moon performed live at Wembley in 1974 (2011 Mix and previously unreleased)

DISC 3 – DVD 1, ALL AUDIO:

- The Dark Side Of The Moon, James Guthrie 2003 5.1 Surround Mix (previously released only on SACD) in standard resolution audio at 448 kbps

- The Dark Side Of The Moon, James Guthrie 2003 5.1 Surround Mix (previously released only on SACD) in high resolution audio at 640 kbps

- The Dark Side Of The Moon, LPCM Stereo mix (as disc 1)

- The Dark Side Of The Moon, Alan Parsons Quad Mix (previously released only on vinyl LP/8 track tape in 1973) in standard resolution audio at 448 kbps

- The Dark Side Of The Moon, Alan Parsons Quad Mix (previously released only on vinyl LP/8 track tape in 1973) in high resolution audio at 640 kbps

DISC 4 – DVD 2, ALL AUDIO VISUAL:

-Live In Brighton 1972:

Careful With That Axe, Eugene (previously unreleased on DVD)

Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun (previously unreleased on DVD)

-The Dark Side Of The Moon, 2003 documentary (25 min EPK)

-Concert Screen Films (60 min total):

British Tour 1974

French Tour 1974

North American Tour 1975

Screen films play in stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound

DISC 5 – BLURAY, AUDIO+AUDIO VISUAL

-AUDIO: The Dark Side Of The Moon, James Guthrie 2003 5.1 Surround Mix (previously released only on SACD) in high resolution audio at 96 kHz/24-bit

-AUDIO: The Dark Side Of The Moon, Original stereo mix (1973) mastered in high resolution audio at 96 kHz/24-bit

-AUDIO VISUAL: Live In Brighton 1972:

Careful With That Axe, Eugene (previously unreleased on DVD/BluRay)

Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun (previously unreleased on DVD/BluRay)

-AUDIO VISUAL: The Dark Side Of The Moon, 2003 documentary (EPK)

-AUDIO VISUAL: Concert Screen Films (5.1 Surround Mix):

British Tour 1974

French Tour 1974

North American Tour 1975

-AUDIO VISUAL: Concert Screen Films (High Resolution Stereo Mix):

British Tour 1974

French Tour 1974

North American Tour 1975

DISC 6 – CD3:

-The Dark Side Of The Moon 1972 Early Album Mix engineered by Alan Parsons (previously unreleased)

- The Hard Way (from ‘Household Objects’ project)

- Us And Them, Richard Wright Demo (previously unreleased)

- The Travel Sequence, live from Brighton June 1972 (previously unreleased)

- The Mortality Sequence, live from Brighton June 1972 (previously unreleased)

- Any Colour You Like, live from Brighton June 1972 (previously unreleased)

- The Travel Sequence, studio recording 1972 (previously unreleased)

- Money, Roger Waters’ demo (previously unreleased)

40 page 27cm x 27cm booklet designed by Storm Thorgerson

Exclusive photo book edited by Jill Furmanovsky

27cm x 27cm Exclusive Storm Thorgerson Art Print

5 x Collectors’ Cards featuring art and comments by Storm Thorgerson

Replica of The Dark Side Of The Moon Tour Ticket

Replica of The Dark Side Of The Moon Backstage Pass

Scarf

3 x Black marbles

9 x Coasters (unique to this box) featuring early Storm Thorgerson design sketches

12 page credits booklet

Wish You Were Here(click to pre-order)

DISC 1 – CD1:

Wish You Were Here digitally remastered by James Guthrie, 2011

DISC 2 – CD2:
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (parts 1-6) live at Wembley November 1974 (2011 mix and previously unreleased)

Raving & Drooling live at Wembley November 1974 (2011 mix and previously unreleased)

You’ve Got To Be Crazy live at Wembley November 1974 (2011 mix and previously unreleased)

Wine Glasses from the unreleased ‘Household Objects’ project

Have A Cigar alternative version (previously unreleased)

Wish You Were Here featuring Stephane Grappelli (previously unreleased)

DISC 3 – DVD1, ALL AUDIO:
-Wish You Were Here, James Guthrie 2009 5.1 Surround Mix (previously unreleased) in standard resolution audio at 448 kbps

-Wish You Were Here, James Guthrie 2009 5.1 Surround Mix (previously unreleased) in high resolution audio at 640 kbps

-Wish You Were Here, Original Mix (1975) LPCM stereo

-Wish You Were Here, Quad Mix (previously released only on vinyl LP/8 track tape) in standard resolution audio at 448 kbps

-Wish You Were Here, Quad Mix (previously released only on vinyl LP/8 track tape) in high resolution audio at 640 kbps

DISC 4 – DVD 2, AUDIO VISUAL:
-AUDIO VISUAL: Concert Screen Films:

Shine On You Crazy Diamond Intro

Shine On You Crazy Diamond

-AUDIO VISUAL: Welcome To The Machine animated clip

-AUDIO VISUAL: Storm Thorgerson short film

Concert Screen Films play in stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound

DISC 5 – BLURAY:
-AUDIO: Wish You Were Here, James Guthrie 2009 5.1 Surround Mix (previously unreleased) high resolution audio at 96 kHz/24-bit

-AUDIO: Wish You Were Here, Original stereo mix (1975) mastered in high resolution audio at 96 kHz/24-bit

- AUDIO VISUAL: Concert Screen films:

Shine On You Crazy Diamond Intro

Shine On You Crazy Diamond

-AUDIO VISUAL: Welcome To The Machine animated clip

- AUDIO VISUAL: Storm Thorgerson short film

40 page 27cm x 27cm booklet designed by Storm Thorgerson

Exclusive photo book edited by Jill Furmanovsky

27cm x 27cm Exclusive Storm Thorgerson Art Print

5 x Collectors’ Cards featuring art and comments by Storm Thorgerson

Replica of Wish You Were Here Tour Ticket

Replica of Wish You Were Here Backstage Pass

Scarf

3 x Clear marbles

9 x Coasters (unique to this box) featuring early Storm Thorgerson design sketches

12 page credits booklet

The Wall – The Greatest Concept Album Ever (click to pre-order)

DISCS 1&2 – CDs 1&2

The Wall digitally remastered by James Guthrie, 2011

DISCS 3&4 – CDs 3&4

The Wall album demos (previously unreleased)

DISCS 5&6 – CDs 5&6

Is There Anybody Out There: The Wall Live (digitally remastered in 2011 by James Guthrie)

DISC 7 – DVD, AUDIO VISUAL

Another Brick In The Wall pt2 promotional video – restored in 2011

Behind The Wall documentary

Gerald Scarfe Interview

Short filmed extract of Earls Court concert featuring animation

44 page 27cm x 27cm booklet designed by Storm Thorgerson

Exclusive photo book

27cm x 27cm Exclusive Storm Thorgerson Art Print

5 x Collectors’ Cards featuring art and comments by Storm Thorgerson

Replica of The Wall Tour Ticket

Replica of The Wall Backstage Pass

Scarf

Prints/Cards of Mark Fisher’s stage drawings

3 x white marbles with design of bricks

9 x Coasters (unique to this box) featuring early Storm Thorgerson design sketches

4-8 page credits booklet

A fantastic Webisode series on funny or die.

When I become rich, this will be the second car I collect, the Ford RS200.

Ford, I beg, with your renaissance and successes with the Focus, please make an updated mid-engine RS200 with the 4 cylinders, twin turbos and 450 BHP!

On November 8th, I purchsed a HTC HD7 Windows Phone. Since 2003 Ihave used a Blackberry for my personal use. The Blackberry was second to none when it came to emails and text messaging. I am not much of an “app” guy, I just want a simple to use, powerful device. The Blackberry fillind that need until the WP7 devices.

The Hardware
I have read some reviews which talked down the hardware and build quality of the HD7. I, however, have found it to be sturdy, solid and a good build. the device shows little to no wear despite time spent on my desk, in my pocket, on our kitchen counter and various other places.

The Software
I am very impressed with the WP7 OS. It is fast, pretty, engaging and easy to use. I will say that despite the lineage, the ZuneHD OS feels faster. Of course, it is doing less. I am not going to go into too much detail. Much has already been written about Metro. I would like to add my voice of approval and point out some great features I enjoy.

1) The phone backs up to the cloud. This is the most unheralded feature of the phone. All photois taken are uplaoded to Microsoft’s SkyDrive. All contacts are as well. So if you switch devices, there is no need to sync data between devices, or backup. Its truly amazing – even apps can be automatiaclly sent to a new replacement device. I have heard of iPhone backup files that are Gigiabytes in size, takeing up far too much Hardrive space. This is, from all accounts, not a concern for WP7.

2) Sync wirelessly. Sweet. There is really no need to ever hook the WP7 up to a computer. Most apps can be pushed to the device, music, podcasts, etc. can be wirelessly transferred to the device. I have not yet tried to transfer a video file wirelessly yet.

3) I can use the aux jack to turn my care stereo into a speaker phone. No Bluetooth, no pairing, just plug it into the car and it works. The mic picks up my voice very well. I have a loud vehicle and no caller has complained about the background noise. All have been able to hear me.

4) Pinning maps. Search for an address and pin that address to your home screen. Then you can go about your business and that map is available with one click. Quite convenient. With other devices you pretty much have to acquire the map as you are departing and not leave that screen. By pinning to the home screen the map and directions are one click away.

5) Pinning contacts. For quick access you can pin contact information to the home screen. I have my wife’s contact info pinned to the home scren so to text, emial or call her are only 2 taps of the screen: Click her picture then select email, text or call. I do not have to go into the address book, email or some other app first.

6) Speaking of address books, the WP7 addess book is a marvel to navigate. Although you can scrool through your list, the easiest way to naviagete is to tap a letter. This reveals the alphabet laid out in grid form on the phone. click the letter of the name you want to see and you jump right to named with that letter.

I have been asked about the browser, and really, I dont know. I dont really browse on moble devices as everything I need to do on the web on my mobile device is accessible by the app. the Microsoft App Store (Marketplace) has more that 6000 apps so I am covered. I guess it works well. I get 12Meg down from my home WiFi.

There have been complaints by some, only ATT customers from what I can tell, that their phones are sending large amounts of data while the phone is not in use. This is apparently eating into their data plan. I have T-Mobile and I cannot say that this is happening to me. More importantly, this highlights the horrible service offered by ATT – why cant they offer an unlimited data plan? Is it really that difficult? If there was an unlimited plan offered by ATT, then this would not be an issue at all.

Do I think the WP7 platform can overtake iPhone? Who knows. The iPhone is what, 5 years old? It’s interface has hardly changed, if only to get more claustrophobic, and Apple is slow to acknowledge or even address issues – are alarms working yet? But on the other hand, the device is so entrenched in our culture. Does it matter? Not to me. so long as Microsoft is serious and offering a good platform that it will support going forward, I am happy.

In my next post I will discuss what I think Microsoft can do to significantly eat into Apple and Android marketshare.

Tomorrow sees the release of Windows Phone 7. I will wake up early and go buy one. I have selected the HTC HD7. I am very excited, despite the fact I will have to cancel a contract on a phone number and port it to T-Mo. Going through this exercise and my recent defection from Sprint to Verizon has helped me understand just how bad ATT and Verizon are and how reasonable if not fantastic Sprint and T-Mobile are.

To preface, my wife and I were Sprint customers from 2003 until earlier this year. I got suckered into some Droid deal for my wife because her Palm had seen its last day. So we left the amazingly reasonable $120/month everything family plan. We were grandfathered into that awesome price. Verizon promised a near similar price if we switched, so I did. I found out later I got hoodwinked. The price was similar for VOICE ONLY! They charged and extra 9.99 for the second phone and an extra $29.99/phone for data – WTF?! seriously. So I am more than happy to leave. Side note, we have 2 numbers on our plan. I called Verizon to try and see if I could port my number to a different provider (T-Mo) and add a NEW number to my current plan so that I was fulfilling my end of the bargain and I could avoid the early termination fee – no early termination if I am still paying for 2 lines – right? Nope. I got a big fat no, you suck, on that one.

In any event as I stated yesterday it should not be difficult to run a cell phone company. There are four things that should be the focus of operations for a cell phone company:

1) provide voice and data connection;
2) offer a simple description of available plan(s);
3) do not require your potential new customer to do math to figure out the cost of the plan;
4) allow users to access your page and easily understand what charges are on their bill.

Verizon fails at this. Sprint succeeds. I am going to give T-Mobile a chance. I have never had an ATT contract, but they fail on 2, 3 and I have heard their connections suck.

Here are some FAIL examples:

ATT FAIL

Note that there is no simple way to determine what the cost of a data plan is. If there is, I would have to do math to know hoe much it costs. FAIL. For detractors out there that will point me to a page on the site where the data is. The fact you have to tell me is proof that ATT FAILED.

 

Verizon FAIL

Same thing as ATT. multiple voice plans AND then a separate table of data plans. Seriously? Do I want talk, or talk and text, then is my phone a feature phone? is it a 3G smartphone. CRIKEY! Fail.

Sprint and T-Mobile WIN

Each company puts forth a straight forward and easy to understand table of charges. They can do this because they have and promote “simply everything” plans – just the kind of plan an overwhelming majority of customers are looking for – they include voice, text and data (I still don’t understand what text is not data). If a customer does not want a smartphone, those customers should get a jitterbug.

The plans on the website are easy to understand, and to top it off, reasonably priced. I am going to get the T-Mobile 500 minute plan. I calculated my average usage over 6 months was 272 minutes per month. Oh, I had to do that math manually because Verizon does not all me to see that with one click. When I was customer, Sprint gave me that on my account page.

 

I cannot wait to get my wife off Verizon too.

It should not be difficult to run a cellular phone system. All you need to do is allow users to make calls and access data (email, text, web, etc.) and then allow the user to easily connect to your web page to access their account, see usage data, see the bill and easily understand what they are being charged for. Sprint does this very well. Verizon fails and is horrible. They get points for the voice and data connection, but their website and bills suck the monkey.

That being said, the Microsoft store at the Mall of America is fantastic. I was truly impressed. The store is beautiful bright and white with a massive video wall for marketing purposes and xbox 360 demonstrations. there are a multitude of hardware partners selling their wares and these are all logically organized by product type. So all net books are together, all desktop replacements are together, all gaming laptops are together. this is in contrast to what I have seen at places like Best Buy where you have to go from one shelf to another looking at essentially the same setup but different builders.

What do the two have to do with each other. Monday I am going to TMobile so that I can use the HTC HD7 – this bad mammajamma. I only pray that Tmo knows how to treat customers. Their plans look good, $99 for unlimited text, talk and data.

 

(Updated with some random shots of the store)

My main source of cardio-vascular exercise is road biking. I love mountain biking, but living in Minnesota leaves much to be desired when it comes to MTB. An important part of CV workouts is tracking your progress. For this I have a Shimano Flight Deck system. Although this is awesome to track speed time, distance, etc. while I ride, it lacks in storing and tracking the data capabilities; I also cant see my ride on a map. For this I use Endomondo. Endomondo takes the workout tracking and implements some social networking features. Specifically, you can use the Endomondo software on virtually any mobile device to track your distance, speed  & time. At the end of your workout the data is automatically uploaded to your Endomondo account, where you can view all important data and map the ride or run:

You can also ‘friend’ people so that you are notified of their workout and progress:

I like the social aspect of the service, and the fact that its free. importantly, its available on *every* kind of mobile device. With the Blackberry its set it and forget it. When I start my ride I enable it, when the ride over I turn it off.

If you want to track your rides and share with other or challenge others, Endomondo is an awesome service. If you join, send me an invite.

The Subaru Impreza WRX is one of the most affordable performance cars available. The STi version is stepped up even further with 305 hp flat 4, 2.5 liter turbo charged engine – standard . in 2010 Subaru release the Special Edition STi which has the same engine, and a highly turned Nurburgering suspension ripped from the JDM Spec C model.

Until last Friday I had a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Now I have the special edition. I am a happy boy. Morries Subaru did a great job putting together a deal.

Last night I checked to see if the Office Web Apps were live. They were not. This evening I went to my SkyDrive and saw a *brand new* interface and all Web Apps live. See below. Hotmail is not yet updated … waiting.

 

 

If there is a video that sums me up, let it be this: