Objectives: increase monthly streams on my Spotify artist page so I can get picked up by Spotify algorithms better. Which in turn means I get on even bigger playlists which in turn means… er… profit?

Did it work?

Yes, but with massive caveats. I got onto lots of playlists and my monthly Spotify plays went from under 10 to over 2,000. I have yet to be picked up by the big Spotify algorithms though.

I've heard somewhere that you're not an author until you've had two books published. If this rule also applies to music then I guess I am now officially a musician, or something. Wretched Saints, the music project I am involved with, now has its second single out. It's called "I Am Become Death" and you should be able to find it here:

• on Amazon;
• on Apple Music / Itunes;
• on Deezer;
• on Google Play;
• on Soundcloud;
• and on Spotify.

Meanwhile, we're working on our next song, arguing over silly design details on our website and trying to figure out what all those audio mixing knobs do and how they can make music sound better.

I have just learned that a song from my music side project Wretched Saints, which doesn't even have a website yet, is now out on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/track/5x2uix7nbFyuBVf9az8PyE?si=Wx-6J3Y5SaWQFYZMSkwimw

If you're not a Spotify user, here's an older version of this song on Soundcloud:

They tell me the song is also available on Itunes and Deezer but I don't use those services so what do I know.

In a ruling by United States District Judge Thomas P. Griesa in the United States District Court in Manhattan, Grooveshark parent company Escape Media and two of the company’s top executives were found liable for infringing the rights of the labels on a grand scale.

So, sadly, this may spell the end of Grooveshark, the only music streaming service I know of that doesn't suck. Bummer.

Suppose I could offer you a choice of two technologies for watching TV online. Behind Door Number One sits a free-to-watch service that uses off-the-shelf technology and that buffers just enough of each show to put the live stream on the Internet. Behind Door Number Two lies a subscription service that requires custom-designed hardware and makes dozens of copies of each show. Which sounds easier to build—and to use? More importantly, which is more likely to be legal?

ふくいちライブカメラ: A live webcam overlooking the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Few things warm the heart quite like a goofy publicity stunt. P.T. Barnum once had an elephant plow a field. German phone manufacturer Gigaset is right on Barnum's wavelength. Animals get attention. In this particular case, the animal is a chatty British Gold Macaw on Facebook.

OK, let's review. We have a parrot. We have Facebook. Put the two together in a live-chat format and you get people from around the world jawing with a bird over the Internet's most popular social-networking site.

...

The parrots will be on duty until the 9th of May between 3 a.m. and 1 p.m. PT. There are a few simple rules. Be patient. Don't swear. He won't answer questions about his personal life, but topics such as biscuits and chickens are OK.

Follow the YokosoNews (in English), NHK World TV (also in English), and NHK GTV (in Japanese) Ustream channels on a single page. (Cacophony of audio? Use the mute button, Luke!)

TBS TV live on Ustream.

NHK live on Ustream.