The new dueling game systems are also dueling on the traveling demo scene. The Xbox contingent is traveling to 33 cities with two 53-foot semi’s and a “humongous inflated dome”. Nintendo’s GameCube is playing up an exclusive elite angle with their Cube Clubs. GameCube launch: November 18th. Xbox: November 15th. I think I’ll go find something that plays Pong. Just Pong.

Ahhhh, 600 toy balloons filled with helium take a man 11,000 feet up. But, I wonder, where are the balloons now?

The NY Times has an update on the relocation of TV broadcast antennas since the collapse of the twin towers. Some stations had already installed expensive digital TV equipment at the WTC, which is, of course, now gone. And audience share is being lost, especially at WNET, the city’s public television station. They have halted on-the-air fundraising since one-third of their audience can no longer receive their signal. Stations have formed a coalition to find alternatives. The best solution would be to build a new standalone antenna tower and locations are being discussed. Empire State Building executives are working quickly to give broadcasters an alternative. Meanwhile, my parents are getting used to their limited choice of CBS or CPTV.

Inspired by Iron Chef? Try out some Reverse-Engineered Iron Chef recipes (via Backup Brain)

Microsoft’s store in Sony’s San Francisco Metreon complex is closing and will be replaced by a non-Microsoft-centric tech emporium. One article says the reason for the closure was lack of business, with both companies deciding it wasn’t worthwhile continuing the endeavor. Another hints that Microsoft’s upcoming release of the Xbox entertainment console, a direct competitor to Sony’s Playstation line, had a lot to do with the agreement that the store “sort of became not-a-fit anymore.”

Panasonic’s new line of PianoDesk pianos have some interesting gimmicks: a slide-out keyboard which saves space, the ability to record to popular music file formats, a USB port, and “give an e-mail recital” (which appears to be marketing-speak for “send the recorded files to your friends and family”). I’ve seriously considered getting a Yamaha Silent Violin so that I can practice without disturbing anyone (actually it’s less disturbing to me when I know no one is listening!). I don’t have room for even a space saving piano, though.

Interesting music news: the NY Times is reporting that James Levine will be taking over the Boston Symphony Orchestra after Seiji Ozawa steps down. Levine is familiar to most from his very visible post as artistic director of the Metropolitan Opera. He is going to have a very busy schedule as he will continue in all his Met duties and take on the BSO and summers at Tanglewood. But it looks like he won’t have to travel abroad as much to get those other prestigious conducting opportunities.

Thanks everyone who sent me pointers to pop-up ad elimination software. I try to keep my browser “clean” since the product I work on runs in one and I don’t want conflicts, but I will take a look at whether some can operate unobtrusively.

Researchers at Boston University created an interesting study that proved that subconscious learning is possible. Subjects performed a letter-naming task with seemingly random moving dots in the background. One in twenty dots were actually going in the same direction. These subjects were then given the task of identifying dots moving in a pattern or recognizing if two were traveling in the same direction. Those who had unconsciously observed a specific direction during the letter-naming task were better at picking out dots moving in that direction. The conclusion is that attention is not absolutely necessary in order to learn things. But I think everyone can agree that concentration makes for much more effective learning. It was also noted that advertisers would be pleased to hear about the study. Sometimes I get the feeling that advertisers are behind the funding for much of the psychological research taking place these days.

The San Jose Symphony, which I have actually donated money to in the past few years, suspended operations this past week and is planning to restructure in order to survive. The musicians will be paid up to October 19th, and I wish I could have my donation back to give to the musician’s emergency relief fund instead. Living in this area on a musician’s salary, even supplemented by teaching and other gigs, has got to be difficult enough without losing your symphony wages.