Well. I've definitely been out of circulation for a while as far as the blog is concerned. It's been a busy couple of weeks (of course!) and I've been tinkering with more Drupal code to get some of the old features from ViaPositiva back online (like amazon reviews of books I've read or movies Cat and I have watched).

In the meantime, though, I switched to a new search engine on a whim. http://www.blingo.com is just a front end to Google's search results, so there's not much to learn. The nice bit is that they give away free movie tickets and iTunes gift cards at random. I signed up earlier this week, and this morning while googling for some code snippets, I won. Wahoo!

Back in the day, the Roland 303 synthesizer helped shape the distinctive sound of rave music and electronica in general. They were flexible, relatively rare -- and expensive. Folks made various 'software 303s' for computer musicians, but most were recordings of 303 sounds plugged into an instrument file.

Then, Propellerhead Software released Rebirth. Instead of using precanned samples, it faithfully emulated the 303's internal analog synthesizer logic -- as well as every knob, slider, and button the original device's case sported. The sound was perfect, and the software took off like a shot. Even I tinkered around with Rebirth's later versions for a while.

In the years since Rebirth's 1997 debut, Propellerhead improved it and launched Reason, a frighteningly impressive and complete virtual electronica studio. It's impressivel, but Reason was always there for the oldschool folks who wanted some 303 goodness with a tight drum machine. Today, Propellerhead has announced that Rebirth's time has come to an end. It's being discontinued, and will no longer be supported... In a gesture of infinite coolness, though, they're releasing it for free download on the net, along with every addon they ever created for it.

Ever wanted to whip up an electronica masterpiece, or just noodle with goofy sounds? Check it out. It's fun. And now, it's free.

Peter Watts' success has been, shall we say, mixed. His first novel, Starfish, netted a "Notable Book of the Year" nod from the New York Times, an honorable mention for John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and rejections from both German and Russian publishing houses on the grounds that it was "too dark". (Being considered too dark for the Russians remains one of Watts's proudest accomplishments, although he remains puzzled by the translation of his book into Italian.) This also marked the beginning of a diffuse cult following of angst-ridden blogging teenaged girls who identified with Starfish's central character.

Amusing stuff on the bio page of writer/marine biologist Peter Watts. What makes it noteworthy? He's released his two books, Starfish and Maelstrom, as free downloads under a Creative Commons license. Writers like Lawrence Lessig, Cory Doctorow, and a number of others are starting to offer their back catalogs for free... Here's to a world where nothing goes out of "print."