Randall Stross writes today in the Sunday New York Times about the fine line between camp and hell when it comes to corporate video.
In it he calls attention to the wonderful internal video made by some Microsoft researchers for a product technology called Songsmith — apparently a “song generator” that one sings into and which then infers from the lyrics what the electro-synth soundtrack should be. It is indeed awesome in its awfulness. Watch the first 30 seconds, get the idea, and skip to the video at the end of this post for its real contribution to society.
The payoff on Stross’ story is the pointer to what some clever souls have done with the Songsmith technology, feeding into it well known head bangers such as Metallica, and my personal favorite, Van Halen. This has made my day, almost as much as the discovery earlier this week of what the acronyms SIaS and FIaT mean in conjunction with Yankee’s owner, George Steinbrenner.
Jesus, this does it for me. For using Songsmith on the Doobie’s “Long Train Running,” I may have to throw away my 20 -shirt collection of tie dyes, wear black silk, and forever swear off Microsoft products.
Microsoft Research SongSmith: “Absolute proof some things really should be taboo.”
thanks for posting this confirmation of my macbook purchase decision.
Weird how MSFT felt compelled to cover that poor Macbook with stickers, hey?