Weighing chips
I am sitting in the ruin that is Newark International Airport, waiting to return to Hamburg, my wife and kids, work, well my life. I just took a week off, reconnecting with my past but in some way also my present.
There won’t follow a detailed account of what I did or what I might have learned.
Let’s just say that walking around Brooklyn with the Avett Brothers on the headphones after a very special lunch was one thing I’ll remember for a long time.
Here’s to the future.
Update: Back at home I found this beautiful version of I and Love and You
English Tech: googled jason calacanis ken auletta this week in startups travis kalanick twist uber
by Sebastian
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This Week in Startups – 180: The History Lesson
Like Ken Auletta’s Googled gave the backstory on Bill Campbell and the Google part of early 2000s, these 80 minutes with Jason and Travis Kalanick give you all the backstory of Scour (p2p music, even before Napster), Red Swoosh with Marc Cuban and other internet history stories.
Seriously, if you can’t wait for the Encyclopedia Britannica to update their section on The Early Days of the net, give this a listen.
Bank Simple: I’ve been waiting for this
I just watched the demo for Bank Simple, the start-up that aims to reinvent the way we do personal banking. It is backed by prominent VCs, closely watched and got even more attention when Alex Payne left Twitter to join the Bank Simple team.
I am no economics major, but what I have seen in the demo is enough for me to believe they will succeed. Because they already offer one of the features I am flabbergasted nobody has done yet, and from the looks of it will no doubt offer the other pretty soon. Because they are focused on the customer side, not the “how can we get more money from the customers at a small interest rate to invest it at a high interest rate to make us rich”.
1. (this they have): Have budgets
In online banking so far, you have one (!) big basket. But what if you have quarterly or yearly payments which you want to plan ahead to? In Bank Simple you have something called Goals which let’s you do exactly that: no matter if it is car insurance, vacation or mortgage – make it a goal and you have planned ahead. Your available balance changes accordingly, Bank Simple calls this “Safe-To-Spend” balance. Brilliant.
2. (I want this): plus 3% for saving/health/pension fund
Any time I use my credit card for sums under 500 Euros, I want 3% added that go directly into a cause I specify, e.g. my pension fund. Enough said.
3. (noteworthy): Simple
While I am not so sure I care about the search, the truly revolutionary part is the “send money”-feature. Bank Simple puts all the account data in the background. ‘I want to send money to Adam’ – Done!
Truly, this puts the simple into Bank Simple.
BankSimple Demo from BankSimple on Vimeo.
Review: Groovebug iPad App
Groovebug aims to solve (or help) the issue of musical serendipity in the iPad way. I like this, so I will probably like this, and I get nicely done biographical info on the artist, preplays on music (all the tracks available in iTunes, yes, the app makes money via affiliate), and videos (YouTube).
Groovebug solves the iPad factor very nicely, but has issues when it comes the other two parts. Videos via YouTube can sometimes be very, let’s say, demanding on the eyes and ears. And the important serendipity stuff – I like this, so I’ll probably like that – should be done with one of those music finders that is already out there, e.g. Music Map. I suspect that they offer curated lists at the moment, for suggesting similar artists they have vetted, put affilliated tracks against and chosen appropriate videos for. That makes sense to ensure a good first experience, but has it’s limits. There are most likely more than the 23 bands listed in the genre Nu Metal, more than 21 in Funk Metal. Chances are that I already know the mainstream answers to the trivia question “name a funk metal” band and am looking to expand my horizon.
But, I am hopeful that future updates will solve some of the issues, this could be a fun app for the couch surfing 
Review: Dream Theater – A Dramatic Turn of Events
Update: I’ll raise my score to 8,5 of 10. Why? I have been listening constantly and liking most songs more and more. Still no 10, because I still think that you can hear that writing took place without Mangini. But the album has definitely entered my top 5 DT album list.
After the first listen, I was ready to put all my dismay into reviewing this album that I was very much looking forward to, especially since Black Cloud & Silver Linings was the first Dream Theater album in a long time that I really liked. However, after giving it some thought (and some more ear-time), I am not so sure anymore. Some primers: I have been listening to Dream Theater since some time between Images & Words and Awake. From the Awake tour to Scenes from our Memories I have seen every tour, sometimes even caught more than one show. Collected countless live tapes back in the days. Watched “The Spirit Carries on” relieved and fascinated. Favorite albums are I&W, Awake and Scenes from a Memory.
When I read the early reviews and many interviews and two things started bugging me: The constant comparison of the new tracks with older hits, and the fact that they wrote the album without the drummer. Let’s do a quick run-down of the songs before I cast my verdict.
On the Back of Angels – The teaser track. I didn’t get it at first, but after more than 10 listens I think it works quite nice, opening up the ears for what’s to come.
Build me Up, Break me Down – Think Linkin Park meets Dream Theater. It’ll go down as ADToE’s You not me, very radio-friendly. And no, I am not a fan of LaBrie going back to the screaming department.
Lost Not Forgotten – People will say the opening sounds like Under a Glass Moon, and it does. A lot. But then it doesn’t match the variation of the original. After some high-speed wanking the song really starts, and is not my favorite. This song shows the missing red thread of the album, actually the song has not red thread in itself…
This is the Life – This is actually a beautiful song. Great melody that highlights LaBrie’s vocals. Balladesque, not as dreary as Wither, nice guitar solo.
Bridges in the Sky – (Formerly titled The Shaman). I don’t care much for the chorus hookline nor the lyrics I have to say, but basically all this is just build up to a long instrumental section.
Outcry – Finally a guitar riff to my liking. Not quite About to Crash nor Finally Free, but very catchy.
Far from Heaven – A real ballad, no drums at all. Really beautiful melody, I like the lyrics as well as the string sections.
Breaking all Illusions – Great song, including the instrumental section. Long. I like.
Beneath the Surface – Another ballad. Also catchy.
So, what’s my early verdict? I am sure composing without a drummer partly lead to two songs no drums at all and an additional ballad. I like those three songs. I have an issue with the other songs though. Nothing against Mangini’s playing but if anybody had doubts whether he’d be able to fill Portnoy’s shoes he won’t find the answer on this album. Sure he can play it all, but the drum parts are somewhat disconnected in the song structure. They don’t sound programmed per se (although that’s how they wrote the songs, with a drum computer), but I am sure the songs would have sounded much better if Mangini had been part of the composition progress. Many of the songs sound great from Petrucci, Myung and Rudess’s point of view, and then the said “ok, what can we do with the drums here”. Melody-wise and also guitar sound-wise I felt myself thinking about Scenes from a Memory quite often, unfortunately the composition isn’t quite there.
Concluding, this is not a bad album. But it also isn’t the holy grail of prog and “return to DT as it should be”. I’d say 7 of 10 points, and please consider to include Mangini in the composition process next time.
Calendar Week 35
After two weeks with sick days and off days last week proved to be an adventure. I spent Tuesday in Berlin, getting to know the colleagues in our office there and paying a quick visit to the guys at Third Wave. The rest of the week was spent mostly in meetings with just the right amount of actually getting real work done to actually have gotten the right work done.
The team is working super hard and the needle is moving in the right direction. I was really happy Friday night because not only are we doing volume but also quality, with two ideas/projects shaping up which I hope will excite a lot of people as well in the nearby future.
In other news, there is movement on the reading list as well as my “towatch” and “tocheck” list, the latter probably due to the fact that my wife was on vacation for a couple of days. I am really liking Alex Bogusky’s Baked-in, although as always with great advice books, application to an ad agency where you’re not shaping the product for millions but the product for the people who cater to millions is a puzzler in and of itself. That being said, I am confident we will get there as well, after all, I am pretty good at cooking with a recipe and not that bad at improvising too.
