miniature for mobiles app

it took me years to push this "new" app. no idea why. maybe it is because it became worse than expected (not the app...;), but how people use smartphones etc., it's sometimes stupid and ridiculous, why would I support that? however, the miniatures for mobiles is still a great platform, one of a few which enable you to make sound pieces for public space easily. anyway, today I have pushed the well aged iphone app to the store, let's see how long it takes until it's available...
IOS app (ifon, ipad), Android app

check the radio aporee ::: miniatures for mobiles

95% done...

and it never will be 100%... but here we go!!!

renovation...

after years of hesitation and procrastination... I've started to renovate the radio aporee ::: maps. design (well...), code, databases, everything will be touched. hope to have most of it done by end of the year. stay tuned...

radio aporee ::: ping ensemble

Some notes about a new idea, which potentially can make it into a grown-up project. If you follow the sparse posts here, you know that I have a strong interest in radio, and its possibilities when connected to / exchanging with networks... It's crucial for collaborative in-time adhoc spontaneous etc.pp. (...) radio creation, that the INTERFACE is simple and reliable. Even streaming apps, which are not very complicated to use, once set up, can cause quite some problems and show-stoppers. It needs care-taking and control while operating, aside from additional apps, howtos, manuals, accounts etc.

I've not been actively on any social network so far (don't consider the daily auto-tweeting of new contributions to radio aporee as participation...). BUT now I have created a Telegram account... and a Telegram BOT, which lives on the aporee server. And a group called ping ensemble with already a few members, friends and colleagues. What is it about?

Telegram

ping ensemble circuit and control interface

Basically, it's a bridge from the Telegram messenger to the aporee ecosystem. Means one can send voice messages and sound files directly from that messenger to radio aporee, where it gets played almost instantly (or whatever modes I'll come up with...) Since people are quite used to this sort of interface, it's the most easy way I can imagine, to get sounds from whatever site and situation into radio aporee. We already had a quick test session of the ping ensemble, to test the reliability of the server side, but in fact it was quite a nice radio piece, a bit eclectic and arbitrary, but interesting. Some 50 sound telegrams arrived within a short time, here and there merging with the field recording on radio aporee.

Is it now a "social radio"? ... I don't care. But I do care about the great possibilities which this tool opens. Shared, distributed, locative, readings, meetings, performances, documentary, sound art... Stay tuned for more...

WELT KLANG SPHÄRE / GLOBAL SOUND SPHERE

Kinetic light and sound installation, by Alexander Pospischil

In this extensive installation, various sounds from different locations around the world are selected, arranged, and brought to life through the unpredictable movements of a rolling sphere.

read more at the project's website.

app-free miniatures for mobiles?

Earlier this year, the radio aporee app was blocked on iTunes because I've missed to pay the developer fee, and on Google Play, because I've missed to confirm some longish changes in some terms of service. I'm not a fan of apps anyway, I tend to think web, networking and open standards... But this accidents made me angry. I'd love to escape both of these app-ecosystems, and leave app-stores etc. behind.

So, after this experience I've started to look into HTML5, whether it could replace the aporee app at all. The answer is yes and no... Web apps cannot access local storage beyond some (low) limits, which is bad since cost-saving WiFi syncronisation of sounds before a walk is not possible. Further, IOS safari does not autoplay sounds unless you install the URL as desktop app (didn't know before). IOS also prohibits volume control from programs. But has great HTML5 performance. On Android, all that works, but it sucks performance-wise, at least on older phones, older Androids, and whatever.

So I decided to find the lowest common denominator:

• pure online mode, i.e. all sounds will be loaded over the net
• no fade-in, fade-out, or crossfade, as implemented within the app, only off/on
• stripped down user interface with very few functions

This works, but fails when the network is slow, your phone is old, and for some unclear reasons. But I've made some walks in front of my door, which where promising, sounds loaded quickly over 3G, a few little delays didn't stop the show, GPS worked fine most of the time. After all, I'll decided to continue with the app-store-free web app for the miniatures.

Try it out at aporee.org/mfm/mobile and let me know if it works for you.

SELECT nearby miniatures

PLAY selected miniature while walking

non-geographic topographic maps

75x75 map, 100 learning epoches

On radio aporee, I'm researching the possibility to create non-geographical topographic maps out of the sounds and their meta data. Since it is impossible to create an exact 2-D image of n-dimensional data, we rather try to find tendencies, proximity and clusters of similarity. Distance implies difference, but nearness does not necessarily imply resemblance. Lines and structures between areas indicate divergence, like rivers and mountains separate nearby areas in real landscapes. How meaningful these maps can be depends on the pattern we choose for comparision. Read more...