Coldplay Will Viva La Vida In Your Town, Probably

Although it's not any sort of epic transformation, the half-the-title-track to Viva La Vida or Death Will Come Before This Album Title Is Over, posted earlier this week, is at least a good cut and successful rut-buster. Who knows what the rest of the record holds as far as that's concerned, but while Chris Martin has little to no skill when it comes to naming things (see: album titles, children), you can be sure he is well versed in the use of multiple screens and stage lights to achieve an overdramatic aura. So if you want to see Coldplay's sparkly new Eno-isms translated for the arena -- and if you live in Japan, Europe, or North America -- 2008 is your lucky year: it is World Tour Time. If you can't make it to the free shows (which, btw, you can enter to win now), here's how to help make the lads a little richer via these confirmed commitments for the North American leg of Falsetto '08:

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Foxy Brown Pleads Guilty To Menacing Neighbor

NEW YORK (AP) - Rapper Foxy Brown has pleaded guilty to menacing a neighbor with her cell phone last year. She avoided jail based on time already served.[...] Read more!

Read The Full Article:
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2008/05/09/foxy_brown_pleads_guilty_to_me
nacing_nei

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New Caribou Video - "Irene"

Before "Handsome Dick" Manitoba lost his mind and threatened to sue Dan Snaith a few years ago, the Canadian electro psychedelicist was named after one of his homeland's provinces. Now, splitting the difference, he's named after an animal that resides there. Fuck you, "Handsome Dick." Anyhow, the Natural Geographic friendly video for Andorra's "Irene" splices together footage of other furry, feathered, scaled, slimy, and ribbed (yes, ribbed) creatures who you might come across during a hike or swim.

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Caribou Video - "Irene"

Before "Handsome Dick" Manitoba lost his mind and threatened to sue Dan Snaith a few years ago, the Canadian electro psychedelicist was named after one of his homeland's provinces. Now, splitting the difference, he's named after an animal that resides there. Fuck you, "Handsome Dick." Anyhow, the Natural Geographic friendly video for Andorra's "Irene" splices together footage of other furry, feathered, scaled, slimy, and ribbed (yes, ribbed) creatures who you might come across during a hike or swim.

UPDATE: Sorry, not new after all! But we hadn't seen it, so maybe you haven't either? Either way, it's worth a watch again because it is Caribou and therefore awesome.

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Britney Spears Supports Former Manager On TV Show

Britney Spears surprised the contestants of new MTV reality show Rock The Cradle by turning up for the season finale - in support of her former manager Larry Rudolph.[...] Read more!

Read The Full Article:
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2008/05/09/britney_spears_supports_former
_manager_o

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Mariah Carey Steps Out As Mrs. Nick Cannon

Mariah Carey and rapper/actor Nick Cannon stepped out together for the first time as husband and wife when they hit the Time 100 party in New York City on Thursday night.[...] Read more!

Read The Full Article:
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2008/05/09/mariah_carey_steps_out_as_mrs_
nick_canno

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Whitney Houston Dazzles With Rare Live
Performance

Whitney Houston has taken her first step toward a career comeback with a well-received live performance at a charity ball in London. In a bid to prove she has put her troubles behind her,[...] Read more!

Read The Full Article:
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2008/05/09/whitney_houston_dazzles_with_r
are_live_p

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R. Kelly Assistant Accused Of Bribing Witness In
Child Porn Case

An assistant allegedly working on behalf of troubled R. Kelly has been accused of bribing a witness in the R&B star's underage sex case. The "I Believe I Can Fly" hitmaker is currently awaiting trial on 14 counts of child pornography,[...] Read more!

Read The Full Article:
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2008/05/09/r_kelly_assistant_accused_of_b
ribing_wit

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Mac OS X 10.5.2: Music and Audio Problems on
Apple Laptops (Or Blame AirPort)

Apple’s "point" releases — those seemingly-harmless updates you get automatically in Software Update — do sometimes break stuff. I tend to ignore the updates until I’ve had a chance to confirm they’re okay. Case in point: it looks like 10.5.2 can result in glitchy audio on laptops.

Native Instruments has an official statement out on the problem, but according to them, this issue can affect software from other vendors, as well:

User feedback and internal testing indicates that recent changes introduced by Apple in Mac OS X 10.5.2 can cause audio dropouts and similar problems on Macbook/Macbook Pro computers. This issue is not limited to NI software in particular, but applies to performance-criticial music software in general.
Therefore, Native Instruments currently cannot guarantee the proper operation of its products under Mac OS X 10.5.2. If possible, users should refrain from upgrading beyond Mac OS X 10.5.1 until further information about this issue becomes available.

Now, I will say this: I am frustrated with Apple’s OS upgrade approach — and I think on any OS, media support is the most vulnerable area.

It’s not uncommon for changes to Mac OS and QuickTime, changes that have significant effects on third-party developers, to show up in these point updates. I talk to developers regularly, and I know they are regularly caught by surprise. That seems unnecessary — especially given Apple’s otherwise sparkling OS record. Users are encouraged to automatically update their systems, so presumably those updates should be critical bug fixes and security updates only. Bug fixes in one place can introduce bugs in another, of course. But that’s another reason third parties need to have their hands on this changes sooner, with better communication about what’s happening, so issues get fixed before, not after, an OS gets released.

By and large, I think Apple deserves the credit it gets for the quality of the OS and Core Audio. And responsibility lies equally with third-party developers to test as aggressively as possible; I can’t say whether they’re using builds as soon as they get them, because I don’t know. But of course, on any operating system — Linux and Windows, as well — music/audio (and video) are the areas most often affected by these kinds of subtle problems. On any OS, improving communication between OS developers and application developers, and increasing the amount of testing and quality control on changes impacting media playback could improve the experience for everyone.

In the meantime:

• I suggest, as always, avoiding system updates until you’ve verified compatibility, particularly if you have a machine you’re using for critical tasks like live music performance.
• We’ll keep an eye on this issue here on CDM and let you know when we hear more.
• If you are using 10.5.2, let us know your experience — and I imagine it’s possible, as with all of these kind of issues, that you’re running 10.5.2 on a MacBook/MBP with no problem at all.

And you may even want to avoid upgrading to Leopard from 10.4 until you’ve verified compatibility with your tools. Native has another statement out, this one apparently vendor-specific, that suggests RTAS issues with NI software on Pro Tools. I’m still running 10.4 on my Macs here, just because it’s doing it’s job, and it remains a fantastic OS. I know plenty of people equally happy with 10.5, but it’s worth some research.

See full NI details on Leopard here:

Compatibility with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

And stay tuned.

Updated: Is Airport the Problem?

Well, there’s a reason I ended this headline with a question mark. The update in question may actually be an Airport update, not an OS update. From our first comment:

Rather than this being a 10.5.2 problem, it could be a separate issue with Airport software. I’m running 10.4.11, and since a recent software update I have to turn off my Airport card when doing audio stuff.

This was suggested to me by Ableton, who say this is a common problem.

As far as 10.5.2, there aren’t direct changes to Core Audio (as I said, the point is that audio performance is vulnerable to changes elsewhere). 10.5.2 has some specific AirPort changes:

* Improves connection reliability and stability
* Includes 802.1X improvements.
* Resolves certain kernel panics.

About the Mac OS X 10.5.2 Update

Lest you think this can fuel your latest OS war argument, there was recently a similar issue involving networking and audio performance on Windows Vista. This stuff is really incredibly delicate.

I’m not sure about 10.4.11; that update doesn’t mention AirPort, and it came out in November. I’ve been running it without incident, as have others. There was, however, an AirPort Extreme Update released on March 27 for Intel machines running 10.4.11. I don’t want to implicate something without evidence, but if anyone with these updates can let us know what your experience has been, that’d be helpful.

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Track Where Your Fans Come From, Free

Brad Sucks, the (despite the name) well-loved Internet musician, has been blogging and releasing tools he’s building to make his online music life better. This one is especially nice: it’s a simple, open source script that connects mailing list sign-ups to Google Maps. Armed with this information, it’s easier to see where your fans are. (Image at right seems to suggest at least a one-person gig offshore of Nigeria, but you get the idea.)

Brad’s Mappy Email Signup Release

Early data is really interesting already. Of course, you need to have more than, say, five fans, but now’s a good time to start. I’m revamping some sign-ups around CDM, so I hope to try this here soon.

Previously from Brad: the brad sucks digital download store, which hooks you up with your own Amazon S3 and PayPal-powered online music store.

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