Archive for July, 2008

A new whitepaper that Microsoft researchers are set to present at a conference next month sheds more light on Microsoft’s back-end cloud infrastructure.

Welcome, dear blog reader to a new weekly post here on Zuneinsider: So HOT Right Now: what the Zuneinsider Editors are Listening to (right now). So here goes:

• Justin is currently rocking out to Used and Abused by Danger Radio, saying, “I love the energy and catchy hooks.”


• Rob: Excited to download the season 3 premier of Sci Fi’s “Eureka” tonight. I have been downloading and watching a few of last season 2 episodes and have also been listening to the Eureka podcast hosted by the show’s star Colin Ferguson on my Zune, who I got to meet at Comic Con last week and he is a great guy. On the podcast side, I am watching the new “The Gong Show with Dave Attell” video podcast from Comedy Central.


• Matt has Ratatat’s new album LP3: “I love the entire album, but ‘Falcon Jab’ and ‘Shempi’ are my two favorites at the moment.”


• Cesar: listening to both the new Ratatat (thanks Matt!) and “Does This Mean You’re Moving On?” by The Airborne Toxic Event. They were a favorite at Capitol Hill Block Party last weekend!


• Jessica is currently listening to two albums by Gareth Emery, “the #31 DJ in the world, according to DJ Magazine.” Check out, The Podcast Annual 2007 or Baroque Records Remixes, and if you’re in Seattle he’s coming to Seattle next Thursday! Jessica adds: “My absolute favorite new song from 2007, ‘Off the World’ by Martin Roth and Alex Bartlett, appears on ‘The Podcast Annual 2007′ album. It gets my vote for the perfect dance track – strong beat, catchy melody, and epic breakdowns.”

Ok, enjoy the recommendations and have a great week everybody!

Microsoft has put out a call for more Internet Explorer (IE) 8 beta testers via the IE Blog this week.

A few weeks ago, a few folks on the Zune team made a trip out to NYC for the Latin Alternative Music Conference. LAMC, as I had noted in my last post, LAMC is the only major conference geared toward Spanish-language alternative music, now in its ninth year. As top-level sponsor, Zune put on a few different shows, including the Celebrate Brooklyn show, featuring Brazilian Girls, Chicha Libre, Ticklah:

And Zune presented the Pepsi Blue Carpet Bash, featuring Tony Touch, Raul Campos (KCRW), Toy Selectah, DJ Zuzuku (a.k.a Blanquito Man) & Candice Cannabis, DJ Bitman vs. DJ Raff. We had a line halfway around the block to get in!

Zune also put on a booth at the show floor, educating show attendees about Zune, Zune Social, and Zune Marketplace.

The panel I participated in: BLOGUEANDO: How Latino-oriented and indie music blogs and bloggers are helping artists connect with new audiences and brands was a lot of fun! We talked about music, how to get started as a blogger, and what resonates with bloggers talking about Latin culture and music.

And lastly, I sat down with July Igntion artist Ximena Sariñana for a quick interview about technology and her involvement with Zune. Check it:

For more on Ximena:

On July 30, Microsoft began rolling out a new home page for Live Search and is making available another update to the test version of its Live Mesh collaboration/synchronization service.