what’s next in music – the hypemachine

There are plenty of places to discover new music (Pandora, last FM), but most of that is already from established artists. If, like me, you are a bit of a sad music (train) spotter who longs to know what’s coming next – before it hits the heartlands – then hypemachine is the place for you.

hype-machine-logo

Hypemachine tracks blog mentions of new music;

‘The Hype Machine tracks a variety of MP3 blogs. If a post contains MP3 links, it adds those links to its database and displays them on the front page.’

Some of my favourite tracks have come to me through here.

people power – jinriki

I was blown away by the invention of the play pump – a childrens round about which uses their energy to pump water  – a couple of years ago and the core idea is gathering pace. The most recent application is harnessing human power using revolving doors.. at last they have a purpose. Fluxxlab studio is developing this [via inhabitat]:

 

I’m not having much progress coming up with a decent name for this. The best I’ve got is jinriki which is japanesse for ‘human powered’ (that’s where the name rikshaw came from) I’ve you’ve got anything better let me know!

My Wall Street Journal Podcast

I’ve never liked being called the young futurist, being young (I’m 29, might as well cover that off now) and doing what  I do has downsides. Still most Futurists are 40+ so it has stuck. So how do you forecast the future? I get asked that alot. Give your eyes a break and have a listen to this:

How does a professional forecaster predict the future, and do young futurists have a different outlook from their older colleagues? The Wall Street Journal’s Michael Totty talks with Ben Hourahine, futures editor at advertising firm Leo Burnett in London.