Lately, I started to feel a growing interest for Design and that’s how I “discovered” Ambidextrous. I am considering getting a subscription to this magazine. So I decided to sample a few articles. This is how I came to read Keepon Dancing, a very interesting article on Keepon, a nice little robot with social interaction abilities.

Notice how simple its seems.This extremely simplistic design is engaging as shown by research conducted with children. According to the article, written by one of the two Keepon developers, Keepon is able to direct attention around a room and express simple emotions through bodily movement.

Beatbots.org, the “official” website, features a number of videos showing Keepon in action. I should admit that I have been flabbergasted by the demos. I’ve also learned from the article that Keepon starred in a Spoon Music video. See it dancing to Don’t You Evah. According to a post in BoingBoing:
the robot (...) extracts extract the pulse of rhythm from music and move its silicone body in time.

Before you reach out for your credit card, I’d like to inform you that Keepon is not commercially available. Otherwise, the compulsive buyer in me would have tried to get one and conduct some social interaction experiments in the workplace :-)

I moved recently to a new location with my little family. While preparing the boxes, I was surprised to find a dusty box full of magnetic Music tapes in my basement. I was like a little kid opening a gift holding big promises. It contained all the magnetic tapes I brought with when I left Morocco to come to study in France. At that time, my Sony Discman I used to have for a few years was completely broken so I took only my Sony Walkman, a few CDs and as much tapes as I could pack.

Many of them have special memories associated with them. The Al Corley original tape was a gift from a cousin of mine. I craved Square Rooms. You are not dreaming ;-) ... My Musical taste is eclectic, I told ya! I also found a ZZ Top Eliminator original tape. This one was a gift from my brother. It is so beaten up that I didn’t dare putting it in my Technics tape player. Dirty Dog was one of my favorite songs in the nineties. I remember very clearly that the tape broke several times and I had to ‘fix’ it using nail polish :-p



But the tape that I cherish the most is my very first one! Yes, I still have it. It’s a Sony CHF 60 minutes tape my brother bought for me in 1986, when I was a mere 12yo boy. It was recorded using Dolby (woot!) and contains the Breakin’ movie’s awesome soundtrack. At that time, Breakdancing was all hype in Morocco. I used to practice with some friends all the rather basic figures: Turtle, Back Spin, etc. And of course, the movie that was on everyone’s mouth and that every kid on the block was trying to copy moves from was Breakin’! (released as Breakdance: The Movie in Morocco). It features a very affable trio of dancers -Kelly, Ozone and Turbo-. Turbo moves was particularly spectacular to my kid’s eyes. I have extremely sharp memories of Turbo’s Broom Dance:



And here is the first battle:



Of course, things have changed over time but not necessarily for the best (heck, where are the power moves?!?):



Supertramp got it right. It was the best of all times ;-)

La semaine dernière, je suis allé boire un verre avec des amis au Baroudeur, un bar bien sympathique dans le 11ème à Paris (il est situé plus exactement au 1, rue Faidherbe). L’ambiance y était chaleureuse. Les enceintes diffusaient de la bonne musique, plutôt Jazzy. A un moment, un morceau de bon Funk se lance. Ca ressemblait beaucoup à une chanson de Soulive d’il y a quelques temps mais il manquait certains ingrédients habituellement utilisés par ce groupe, un je-ne-sais-quoi de différent.

Renseignements pris auprès du serveur qui est allé voir sur l’écran de l’iPod servant ce délicieux mets auditif, le cuisinier se nommait The James Taylor Quartet. De retour au bercail, je me mets à la quête du cuisinier dans le cyberverse (ça fait tout de suite j’étale ma science non ?) et je tombe sur une page de Wikipedia qui m’apprend que c’est un groupe Anglais formé par le sieur James Taylor qui officie au Hammond. Un bon nombre de leurs disques (tous ?) sont disponibles chez eMusic. J’ai pratiquement tout pré-écouté avant de télécharger un album de 2001 intitulé Message From The Godfather dont les sonorités ressemblaient beaucoup à ce que nous avions pu écouter au Baroudeur. Mes oreilles sont en ce moment entrain de se délecter de ce Jazz Funk classieux et efficace.



Voici quelques autres liens pour explorer l’oeuvre musicale de ce groupe très sympathique :

• Site officiel
• Page MySpace

Imaginons que vous deviez envoyer des dumps de trafic réseau à un partenaire/fournisseur/whatchmacallit et imaginons que vous avez besoin de nettoyer ces traces d'éléments identificateurs (oui parce que vous vous ennuyez et vous n'avez rien trouvé de mieux à faire de la journée à part faire votre paranoiaque de la sécurité). Et là, vous vous dites ... Mais comment faire ?

Il m’est arrivé plusieurs fois de me poser la question et à part prendre des traces en PCAP, les transformer en texte et utiliser ce cher sed parci-parlà, je n’avais jamais été plus loin.



Et voilà que PktAnon entre en scène. Cet outil hautement configurable (en XML, vous vous en doutiez car c’est la mode) permet de modifier un fichier de traces réseau au format PCAP afin de répondre à des exigences de pseudonymat (ou de paranoïa pour celles et ceux qui croient encore aux Bisounours).

PktAnon n’est pour l’instant toujours pas disponible en application tierce pré-packagée pour mes OS habituels (FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Mac OS X). Je vais donc attendre un peu avant de le tester. Si vous avez de votre côté réalisé des tests, n’hésitez pas à me faire part de vos impressions.

As a follow-up to my post on Avishai Cohen’s concert, I’d like to share with you on another awesome Jazz artist that also has this blending/generosity power in his Music. I am talking about Christophe Wallemme.

Like Avishai, he is a Jazz bassist/composer/arranger and has a very solid groove. Born in Paris in 1964, his 2006 record Namasté exemplifies the kind of Jazz that I particularly enjoy. That’s why I am planning on attending his October concert at the Sunside, another mythical Jazz venue.

The self-titled song Namasté is a groove summum. I will now step back and let your ears discover this song.

Christophe Wallemme - Namaste EPK


Useful links:

• Christophe Wallemme on Myspace
• Namasté video during a May 2008 concert

It's Saturday 1:26 AM on this side of the not-so-green-anymore planet. I have just came back home. I was at a Jazz concert in Paris. And it was so amazing that I wanted to share my feelings with you right away, before heading to that so-longed-for bed of mine.

Avishai Cohen is one of the most innovative and amazing Jazz bassist and composer/arranger I know of. I heard first of him about 2 years ago in one of my favorite Jazz magazines (Jazzman). They reviewed his 2006 record, Continuo, and gave it very good ratings. As soon as I ripped it on my iTunes library, it was an instant hit and I was literally hooked. Since then, an awesome live CD/DVD (As Is... Live At The Blue Note) and a 2008 record (Gently Disturbed) finished convinced me (as if it was needed) that this is the guy. This is the kind of Music that speaks to my inner self. It represented all what I liked about Music: blending and generosity. Good Music has this particular trait that makes your emotions flowing and put your brain's right hemisphere into high gear mode.

When I learned that he was coming to Paris for a concert at the New Morning, one of the mythical Jazz venues in France, I didn't think much before getting a ticket. A single one. Usually, I ask friends/relatives if they want to come along. But I felt that I needed to live that "snapshot" alone, a communion.

The big day arrived. Friday 18th of July. I had one hell of a week. Physically and emotionally straining. At the end of the day, I was very tired and I doubted that I had enough fuel to go the concert. I don't know how but my feet pushed me forward. Toward the New Morning scene, toward Avishai Cohen and his sidekicks, drummer Mark Guiliana and pianist Shai Maestro.



I arrived there around 7:45 PM. The concert was supposed to start at 9:00 PM. There was already a line. I waited. I was tired. Really tired. Two guys were in front of me in that long line. They started talking about Jazz, Music and other topics I have a sharp interest in. So I jumped in with both feet. I felt that they are made of the same fabrics I was made from. They were generous and have a keen interest in Music. It was a very enjoyable talk. I didn't feel much the long time we waited before entering inside the New Morning. They opened the doors at 9:00 PM. We got good seats and waited for another 30 minutes before the Jazz trio came on the scene.

The words end here. I was completely flabbergasted by these three guys. I took several direct "hits" in the ears, so many of them actually that I don't think I've been to a so emotionally intensive concert in my whole life. They didn't give any warning before taking me from Tired Station to Heavy Energy Street in the blink of an eye. The "hits" were so strong that tears of utter joy kept visiting my cheeks now and then. I was smiling all the time, enthralled by that jaw dropping event. All three musicians were exceptional. But If I should give a "awesome achievement" award it will be to the drummer with no hesitation at all. At three occasions during the two sets they played, he really unleashed his creativity and performed something I've never seen/heard before. He took all the audience with him in a very enjoyable trip. He kind of gave us his hand and told us "follow me in uncharted territory, you'll enjoy the ride. I guarantee it". And we did and we enjoyed behind all description.

After two hours of fantastic Music, I had troubles getting back on my feet and heading home. I kept saying "unbelievable" and I knew that many other people felt the same way. They had that telltale look on their face.

It took me about 1h30min to get back home and here I am writing you. I am still kind of knocked out emotionally speaking.

If you want to try some Music samples, please visit http://www.myspace.com/avishaicohenmusic. Select 11Wives, sit back ... have a good and pleasant trip.

Keep the Music flowing. Let the emotions out. Check for yourselves that we humans can make truly beautiful "things".

Truly yours,