A Critical Tool, Discontinued

February 1st, 2010 § 1

I recently learned that my most important bar tool has been discontinued. The OXO 2oz Angled Measuring Cup will be no more.

Image from www.liquorsnob.com

In my short time in the cocktail world, this single tool has been the cornerstone of my drinks. Aside from the great ergonomics and top view measuring lines, this little guy facilitates two key concepts required to make great cocktails.

  1. Measured amounts of ingredients
  2. Consistency – with this tool each drink you make is the same as the previous drink

I can use other shakers, strainers, muddlers, and spoons to get a drink made, but without this measuring cup, I have no idea if I just poured a 1/4oz of Benedictine or not. The Pegu Blog has a post rallying supporters of this great tool and I hope it is successful. That said, I bought an extra tonight if OXO chooses not to bring it back from the dead.

The Next Nintendo? The Rise of Smart Phone Gaming

January 24th, 2010 § 0

This was a recent post I wrote for my graduate program’s blog, Flip the Media.

——–

For years, Nintendo has ruled the mobile gaming world, first with the Game Boy, then with the DS Lite. After an amazing run, though, the torch is being passed. Not to another gaming company, but to smart phone makers Google and Apple.

Over the next decade I believe smart phones will be where most gaming innovation will happen. The market for smart phone games is booming. A recent New York Times article reported that games make up more than half of the billion downloads from the Apple App Store. The App Store has about 15,000 games for the iPhone, and the Android Market has about 3,000 for Google Android devices.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Soon the Next Music Revolution Will Be Upon Us

January 19th, 2010 § 0

My Tweetdeck client has been going hog wild today with people talking about the Rock Band Network. Very soon, a public beta will start and when it does start, it will be the beginning of a music movement. Interactive music is the next frontier for bands to tackle.

I believe in this so much so, that I started my own company, Grybo Productions, to provide a service to bands and labels to get their music into the Rock Band video game. Sure you will have purists crying out that music isn’t about some video game and to that I say, “so what.” This is just another avenue that bands can use to get their music out to a new audience. Every single band produced CDs when they became popular, and those same bands released their music as mp3s, and so too will they release their music as “playable” video game songs.

The fact is I love my vinyl records. I love my CDs. I love my mp3s. I love my Rock Band songs. The Rock Band Network is the most forward thinking music distribution model since iTunes. While I have a lot of issues with the “single” song iTunes strategy, the fact is that people who love music, and I’m talking about the people who love finding new music, love digging deep into catalogs, always find ways to enjoy music. Everybody I have talked to has been excited about the the idea of interactive music even if there are no hard business numbers to suggest just how much money it will bring in. Even for hardcore music lovers who love listening to their German imports on green marbled wax vinyl, this is a good thing.

It is an exciting development in digital music to say the least.

The Call of Duty

January 14th, 2010 § 0

Everybody has a blog these days. You’re supposed to. I could go all hipster and participate in the analog comeback (which I do by loving my vinyl rig) and just use my mobile phone for all communication and information gathering, but I don’t know if I have that much irony in me.

Instead, I’m going to start this mommy blog. I figure it is the best chance I have at gaining any sort of significant traffic. Hopefully, it won’t matter to my stay-at-readers, that I’m a) not a mom and b) male. So along with the latest solutions to mommy problems, I’ll share my thoughts on technology and cocktails. They are actually surprisingly similar and I hope to establish why as I write more.

To get this party started on both fronts.

Japanese Cocktail (published 1862)

2oz cognac
1/2oz orgeat
3 dashes Boker’s Bitters

After a couple of those, I might just be tempted to do this.