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New Flaming Lips song features Siri on vocals

New Flaming Lips song features Siri on vocals:

Siri has been getting around lately. When she's not guest starring on popular sitcoms, she's apparently lending her vocal talents to the music scene. The Flaming Lips have produced an experimental song (embedded below) called "Now I Understand," which features both Siri and Erykah Badu as vocalists.

This isn't the first time Siri has been part of a musical collaboration. Just a few days after the iPhone 4S launched, musician Jonathan Mann (perhaps most famous to Apple watchers for the Antennagate song that Steve Jobs actually played at a press conference) posted his own duet with Siri.

To my ears, all these musical experiments show is how far we have to go yet before computerized voices sound truly human. Siri does a much better job than the Mac voices of the mid-1990s did on songs like Radiohead's "Fitter, Happier," but the voicing still sounds very artificial in a musical context. We're still a long way from the vibrant, natural tones of 2001: A Space Odyssey's HAL 9000 and his rendition of "Daisy, Daisy."

Then again, with so many human singers over-utilizing autotune and starting to sound more and more robotic themselves, perhaps all we're seeing with Siri is the next step in a weird human/machine convergence in the music world.

[via Electronista]

New Flaming Lips song features Siri on vocals originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wisconsin settlement funds from Microsoft being used to buy iPads for education

Wisconsin settlement funds from Microsoft being used to buy iPads for education:

Wisconsin plans to use settlement funds from Microsoft to buy 1,400 iPads for educational use. The almost $80 million in settlement funds came a result of claims that Microsoft was overcharging consumers for software.

The iPads are being paid for with $3.4 million from the funds. With Apple’s educational discounts, the schools should be able to purchase each iPad for around $479 each. They plan on initially purchasing 600 this Spring with plans to purchase an additional 800 in the Fall.

The settlement averaged out to around $85.09 per child. Not all schools chose to spend their share of the money on iPads. Some chose to spend the money on other media including smartboards, laptops, and other technology equipment.

State superintendent Tony Evers is scheduled to release a statewide digital learning plan next week. The district’s director of technical services, Bill Smojver, thinks the iPads are going to be a significant transition for education.

“This is the most significant transition point for having digital learning at the optimal level,”

Apple’s recent education announcement was met with enthusiasm by Smojver, who thinks it’s a significant development. He still believes the schools will proceed cautiously when it comes to replacing traditional media with electronic versions.

There are currently around 50 school districts in Wisconsin currently implementing iPads according to Minnestota-based technology consultant, Naomi Harm. While some schools are going to experiment with students actually having access to the iPads, some are going to allow teachers access to implement them in planning and record-keeping.

iBooks Author has given authors an easy way to put together digital textbooks. iBooks 2 gives those authors a huge marketplace for distribution. Leanna has already stated that she believes this is only the beginning for iPads in education.

Source: Wisconsin State Journal via AppleInsider

#OccupyMINDS Slogan Contest/West Coast Tour

Slogan Contest/West Coast Tour:

Just finished up my West Coast Tour, posting 120+ signs between Seattle and San Diego and looking forward to doing it again. This time I'd like to focus on climate change and am asking your help finding the right slogans. Slogans should be short, smart, fit well into a rectangle and look good in traffic. Winner gets a thousand dollars and has their message displayed alongside freeways up and down the west coast. Second and third place winners, if they're good enough for the freeways, will receive 500 and 250 dollars respectively and have their messages posted as well. Original work is preferred but not mandatory, and apart from the right to post them publicly, I will make no claim to winning entries as intellectual property. Send entries to freewayblogger - at - yahoo - dot - com. Deadline for submissions is March 15th.

Los Angeles

(Signs posted on latest tour. Click on cities for more.)