R&D Blog - April 2009

Mashups

Think you've got a great new idea?  R&D's Erich Hugo says you might want to check your sources

"Nothing like the sun."  Those words were written in the 17th century by William Shakespeare, and in 1987 they were sampled by Sting when he released an album by the same name. The album was critically acclaimed by the music industry and the public in general still rates this as probably his best album.

In 1989, an unknown white boy rap artist Robert van Winkle, better known as Vanilla Ice, sampled a baseline (even more diffuse than lyrics) from a song called "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie.  He released it as a mashup called "Ice Ice Baby".

Choice Limits Choice

R&D's Erich Hugo on "choice-iness", or how new tech avenues make us choose away

And so it has come to pass. I have actually closed a tech avenue by choosing an alternative product which gives me alternative choices. And it makes me feel lost.