jay-z

Jay-Z, Gwen Stefani to star in Windows Phone 8 ads?

If you're going to ensure that your new Windows Phone 8 is going to be respected as the only machine with which to be seen, you don't want has-beens holding them in ads.

You want Jay-Z, not Jay Leno.

And so the rumor is that Microsoft has employed not merely Jay-Z, but one of the queens of dressing-up and occasionally singing -- Gwen Stefani -- to implant its phones into the cool side of human brains.

According to the Sun, these fine aspirational figures will be thrust forward any minute now to bend your mind.

They are to … Read more

The 404 1,140: Where 99 problems is still a lot of problems (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Artist encourages Apple to "Think Different" with Steve Jobs action figure sculpture.

- Man mistakenly sexts entire contact list, lands in jail.

- Jay-Z helms star-studded Barclays Center opening.

- Today is the 30th anniversary of the first CD sale in Japan...Steve Guttenberg reflects.

- Key set available for $150 on eBay provides an all-access pass to NYC.… Read more

Jay-Z, are you reading me?

Sadness and hope often hold hands, but the latter can never decide whether she can make the former happy.

This story is either sad or strangely hopeful. Either way, it's also missing a couple of facts.

For this is the story of David Johnson, who believes that Jay-Z reads his emails.

In a moving telling to BuzzFeed, Johnson says he has sent at least 262 e-mails to Jay-Z and that he believes Jay-Z is reading them.

At least, he thinks he's sending them to Jay-Z.

Johnson, who once campaigned mightily to get a chance in the NBA -- … Read more

No potty-mouth lyrics for iTunes Match

I've got 99 problems but a glitch ain't one.

Right now, that's more than Apple can say. The company is trying to fix a glitch that has resulted in iTunes Match filtering out explicit lyrics from what appears to be a small number of rap songs, according to the blog Cult of Mac.

Instead of hearing Kanye West's "Power" or Jay-Z's "Can I Live" the way they were originally recorded, the iTunes Match streaming service will only deliver profanity-free sanitized versions.

While parents might appreciate this kind of malfunction, there are … Read more

The 404 893: Where we never rub another man's rhubarb (podcast)

The world's most expensive 3G iPad 2 is up for purchase on eBay with a "Buy it Now" price of $620,000...and it comes with a 1:1 replica of the Batmobile featured in the original Tim Burton movies.

On today's episode of The 404 podcast, we'll about the original Batmobile design and get to more stories, including Beyonce setting Twitter records with her pregnancy announcement at this weekend's VMAs, 260 mph paintballs causing problems for plastic surgeons, and a Dominos pizza location on the moon. We also choose sides in the Chris Brown vs. Jay-Z feud!

The 404 Digest for Episode 893

Beyonce's VMA fallout sets record at 8,868 Tweets per second. Beyonce and Jay-Z's baby already has a Twitter page. The original Tim Burton Batmobile is up for sale on eBay. Paintball shot ruptures woman's silicone breast implant. Dominos to open first generic pizza store on the moon.

Episode 893 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

The 404 878: Where we don't give a truck about freeze (podcast)

Jay-Z and Kanye West unleashed their collaborative album "Watch The Throne" yesterday, but how did they keep it from leaking before the release? We'll tell you on today's episode of The 404 Podcast.

We'll also tell you where the new Star Trek amusement park is being built, why parents should download the first iOS app built by the FBI, and who's to blame for the four-car pileup that included Google's first driverless vehicle.

The 404 Digest for Episode 878

Duh: Facebook use and narcissism correlate in teens. How Jay-Z and Kanye West kept their new album from leaking. There's going to be a Star Trek amusement park--guess where? FBI releases child ID iPhone app. Finally, the first Google autonomous-car crash. Has Starbucks had enough of laptop loungers?

Episode 878 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Skullcandy Roc Nation Aviator headphones review: Jay-Z-approved

Skullcandy continues to pursue its youthful listening-device niche with the Aviator headphones, a collaborative effort with Roc Nation, a music publishing and entertainment company founded by hip-hop mogul Jay-Z.

The Roc Nation Aviators are the first set of headphones we've seen from Skullcandy with a subtle aesthetic--the rest of the company's offerings redefine the meaning of words like "bulky" and "overbuilt," but the Aviators bring an elegant flavor to the product lineup with three color choices (Black, Brown Gold, and White) that feature a pliable leather headband and light branding on the silver connection … Read more

Top recording engineers explain why music sounds awful

I attended a fascinating panel discussion, "Behind The Glass: Audio Production in the 21st Century" at the Audio Engineering Society convention in New York City on Sunday.

The panelists were all prominent record producers and engineers: Tony Brown (Elvis Presley, Emmy Lou Harris); Jimmy Douglass (Jay-Z, the Rolling Stones); Dave Hewitt (Simon and Garfunkel, U2); Ryan Hewitt (Avett Brothers, Red Hot Chili Peppers); George Massenburg (Linda Ronstadt, Lyle Lovett); Ann Mincieli (Alicia Keys, Whitney Houston); and Russ Titelman (Stevie Winwood, Eric Clapton). These people know from where they speak!

Moderator Howard Massey led the panel through a discussion of the problems facing the record industry, with a primary focus on sound quality. Massey co-authored (with Geoff Emerick) my favorite Beatles book of all time, "Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles." He also has a new book coming out, "Behind the Glass, Volume II: Top Producers Tell How They Craft the Hits" a collection of interviews with top record producers and audio engineers.

It seems like the main problem comes from record company pressure to make perfect recordings. Vocalists' off-pitch and out-of-time singing is tweaked with Auto-Tune; music-making is largely technology-based. That is, technology has replaced musical talent, and singers like Britney Spears were cited many times as to where it's all headed. Not so musically talented, her music has to be patched together in the studio. There's not a lot of there there.

Jimmy Douglass talked about the overuse of dynamic range compression, admitting that since most music is listened to over crappy computer speakers or cheap earbuds, compression is required to make it sound acceptable. Sad, but true. … Read more

Major music exec admits to being an audiophile

Every year, the major record companies produce more miserable-sounding recordings. I'm not surprised by this. The labels know most folks listen to music with iTunes or streaming audio, and sound quality is a low priority for most music listeners. My weekend poll is ample proof of that.

Lyor Cohen, CEO of recorded music for the Warner Music Group, cares about sound, at least at home. He admitted, in so many words, to being an audiophile on the pages of the September 20 New York Times Sunday magazine. The media has been alerted! It's like learning that a fast-food bigwig is a wine snob.

Cohen was Run-DMC's road manager in the 1980s, and he now works with Jay-Z, Madonna, and the Beastie Boys. In the article, Cohen said his hi-fi is his "favorite possession." The Clearaudio turntable pictured in the article is a very high-end German model that "won a gold medal at a consumer technology convention a few years ago." … Read more