Despite being a programmer by trade and a musician by hobby, I never would have conceived of this project to use musical cues to represent structural elements in computer programs. The idea is to create auditory clues to how a program is executing so the programmer can actually hear the logic progress. Not surprisingly, “false” statements use a minor key, while “true” is major. The system, dubbed Caitlin, was Paul Vickers’ PhD project which is available online, including the contents of the accompanying audio CD. The hope is that bugs in programs can be more easily located through auditory means. Their experiments showed that the added sound did help undergraduate computer science students with debugging. I’m not sure how it would work for more complex systems, with multithreading and other asynchronous event handling, but I suppose problems could be broken down into smaller trains of logic which can then be debugged with aural help. It’s an intriguing concept.

Wired News ran a three part series on Clear Channel communications this week. The first article focused on Clear Channel’s growing control over regional radio markets, as they have snapped up station after station, sometimes circumventing the eight station limit in a market by taking over control but not purchasing. In San Diego they rule the airwaves with 14 stations and have even taken over five stations in Tijuana, Mexico, where they don’t have to conform to any U.S. rules but have English speakers in range. The second article discusses new technologies that allow DJs, often not from the local market, to program shows ahead of time. A five hour show can be recorded in 45 minutes. Clear Channel owns the technology it uses, the Prophet digital automation system. That the name sounds like “profit” has to be intentional. With fewer DJ openings through consolidation and time shifting, will there be more quality or just more blandness? At least there is always the need for local traffic and news.

The final article covers Clear Channel’s future as their dominance is not going unnoticed by politicians. Despite reporting a large profit, their stock is down because of the bad publicity. Republicans deregulated to Clear Channel’s benefit and won’t likely reverse that growth, but Wisconsin Democrat, Senator Russell Feingold has proposed a bill to stop payola and put limits in place. Clear Channel’s response was to point out that the film and record industry are much worse when it comes to having a few companies dominate an industry’s profits. There’s no question to me that they stand on shaky moral ground, but they are abiding by the letter of the law. If advertisers continue to buy into it, local radio will be as regionally varied as your neighborhood shopping mall of national brands. At least you won’t have to leave your familiar local station behind when you travel. (Also noted, via MediaNews: Clear Channel ended legal wranglings with an industry magazine critical of its activities by buying it out.)

The National Academy of Engineering has done a fine job creating Engineer Girl!, a site to educate girls about careers in engineering. An explanation of the process of chocolate manufacturing covers chemical, mechanical, civil, computer, electrical, environmental, and industrial engineering. It takes a lot of science to mass produce chocolate! Other engineering disciplines are listed with encouraging descriptions. A companion site for parents, teachers, and mentors describes the myths that discourage girls from pursuing engineering careers and offers advice for encouraging them. There is a lot to delve into with these sites, including links to external resources.

Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet’s “The Juliet Letters” is one of my favorites to listen to over and over. It didn’t fit any radio niches, though the divorce ditty “Jacksons, Monk & Rowe” got some airplay, but I had a hunch that it was treasured by many as a fascinating and tuneful departure from the norm. The performance of it I attended at Davies Symphony Hall was packed and very well received. I recently ran across what amounts to a chronicle of a wonderful reaction to this work, written by Teller (as in Penn &) for The New Yorker. There are two versions of the article, the second is an equally entertaining longer draft. I found much to relate to in Teller’s experience of getting to know the album and his musician friends’ dissection of the inspirations for the motifs. There’s always more to uncover in the interplay of the string arrangements or the wry lyrics. And I wish I could see them perform it again. Perhaps I should invest in the score or sheet music.

Repair work on space shuttle Atlantis will begin next week and it could fly as early as September 28. The cracks that were found in the metal liners inside liquid hydrogen pipes will be welded by a team that was “hand picked during a ‘Superbowl of welders’ for the critical job that requires the steady hands of a surgeon.” Imagine having that on your welding resume. Endeavour is up next for similar repairs, but Columbia, the oldest shuttle, has a different type of metal in the cracked parts, so NASA is doing further investigation.

Combining the creativity of traditional arts and crafts with new technologies leads to fascinating new jobs and products. Typically the technology is a tool that helps composers to create modern music, architects to design complex buildings, or textile designers to map out intricately woven patterns. But more and more often the technology is part of the result, electronic music, a kinetic sculpture with sensors, or, in the case of International Fashion Machines, a tablecloth with electronic embroidery that lets you play Jeopardy. The field of e-textiles is not much of an industry yet, but research is continuing with the hope of more government funding in the future. Imagine the military applications of dynamic camouflage clothing.

You always wanted to dance like Michael Jackson didn’t you? OK, maybe not. But maybe you’d like these glow in the dark stepping stones for your front walk. Even if you can’t be like Mike, you can pretend he was there. Too bad they don’t automatically turn on when you step on them though. (There’s matching edging too.)

A top winner in the Home Arts clothing division at the Santa Clara County Fair was a wired vest with green and red LEDs, the three buttons reading “2, 4, 6”. This was a signal that we were still in Silicon Valley despite the surroundings of homemade jams, flower displays, and many wonderfully designed and stitched quilts. The bobbin lace demonstration was fascinating since I had never considered how it was made. I have crocheted lace, but never seen the setup of pillow, bobbins, and pins that are the tools of a bobbin lace maker. Over in the livestock area we saw pig after pig after pig. After a while, the pigs, most were sleeping, started to look the same, as did the sheep. But the goats were full of character and spunk as they stuck their noses out between the bars, hoping for food. And the cows? Cows are big. And the ones bred for beef are even bigger.

Digging through the mass of Flash at Gem.net reveals many sparkling jewels. The site is funded by Swarovski, the crystal company, and a gem distributer. Learn about the 62 carat Rockefeller sapphire that was purchased and repurchased by a father and his son multiple times at great profits. It was most recently sold at auction for $3.1 million and it sure looks like a million bucks with its brilliant blue clarity and clean lines. Read about the jewelry designed for Lord of the Rings and visit a pearl farm in Tahiti. Dig even further to see what gems you uncover.

I been noticing for T-Mobile everywhere. It sprang out of nowhere, unlike mlife which announced itself with annoying regularity before revealing it was just an AT&T; cell phone marketing ploy. But where are T-Mobile’s roots? Well, it used to be VoiceStream, but was renamed in California and Nevada. Soon it will be renamed everywhere else too. Doesn’t it seem like wireless providers change their names constantly? Pacbell Wireless is now Cingular. GTE Wireless is now Verizon. There was a flurry of changes around AT&T; Wireless’ investments. Most of those rebirths were the result of mergers and acquisitions, but the fancy new naming keeps the companies fresh in the crowded marketing space. Do wireless phone consumers gravitate more towards new names promising new technologies rather than knowing who is tried and true in the market? Since every company has its share of dropped calls and bad coverage areas, a makeover is probably a better tactic than keeping your name and promising experienced service. Oh, and WorldCom’s wireless customers, a money-losing venture for the bankrupt company, are being sold to various bidders.