Mckay Multimedia Blog

Multimedia Headlines

2009-05-08T09:18:00.003-07:00

Digital Audio News

2009-05-08T09:18:00.001-07:00

Digital Imaging News

2009-05-08T09:17:00.002-07:00

Digital Video News

2009-05-08T09:17:00.001-07:00

Computer Headlines

2009-05-08T09:16:00.002-07:00

Internet Headlines

2009-05-08T09:16:00.001-07:00

Web Development News

2009-05-08T09:15:00.003-07:00

Social Networking News

2009-05-08T09:15:00.001-07:00

Intenet Service Provider News

2009-05-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

Mobile/Cell Phone News

2009-05-08T09:10:00.001-07:00

Create your own online store. FREE!

2008-10-29T07:24:00.000-07:00

Selling stuff online at a moment is a pain in the backside - you have to deal with building your online shop, getting the products, packaging them, shipping them, dealing with payment options, technical support… But does it really have to be?

Well, thank to a service that was recently launched in the US, all these problems are now a thing of the past. Zlio isn't just the world's most innovative e-commerce service ever launched - it's also pure genius! It allows you to create your own internet store, even if you have nothing to sell! All you need to do is to go to their website, create a store (takes less than three minutes) and fill it with products from their directory (which gives you a choice of over three million products, from most of the internet's top merchants). You don't need to know anything about programming or making websites unless you want to – all that garbage is dealt with by them (and they make your shop look really pretty as well).

Once your shop's up and running, all you need to do is advertise it round (family, friends, your blog…) Zlio even provides all kinds of tools to help you do that. And then, when people log on and buy anything from it, you get a commission from the supplier. But best of all, you don't even need to worry about handling the product yourself – it's shipped straight from the merchant to your customer. All you ever need to handle is the cash!

So next time someone asks you where you got that incredible book/watch/shoe/couch/computer/remote controlled helicopter/etc… make sure you're be able to send them to your ZlioShop and to get your cut on the way! With over 100 000 people who have already created stores with us (some of whom now make over $750 a month!) and over 2.5 million unique visitors a month, you just can't go wrong!

DJ mck Production Background

2008-07-23T14:06:00.001-07:00

DJ mck - My Music Productions
Press the Play icon ( I> ) to start the mp3 player. Use the scroll bar to the right of the track listings to browse all the songs. Visit DJ mck at MySpace for more information about this featured musician.

In addition to my blogging, working, and everyday life, I have over a decade of musical experience that I put to practice regularly. It start out with an ole Memphis electric guitar when I was 12 years old. I upgraded to a Fender Stratocaster. Then after several year of learning the guitar with the help of some lessons and one brief stay as a guitarist in a local group. I had the desire pursue other instruments. My next instrument of choice was piano and percussion in the form of a KORG N5 Music Synthesizer. Learning to play piano and getting used to using MIDI and percussion sequencing had me favoring the Drum and Bass genre of music. Shortly thereafter I acquired two additional synthesizers to increase the number of sounds and MIDI tracks I could utilize with the KORG N5. Naturally I went back to the KORG brand and got two of the early Electribe series synthesizers. They were the ER (Electribe Rhythm) and EA (Electribe Analog).

Now having adequate equipment to produce good music I looked to methods of recording. Quality digital track recorders as expensive as they were then I couldn't afford to record my music properly. So I looked to the handy ole PC. With a little help from an audio cable adapter and Sony SoundForge, I was able to begin to digitize my music and also learn the ins and outs of digital audio editing. Some how that in turn led to an interest in PC based music creation. It started with Propellerhead Softwares Rebirth in conjunction with Sony's Acid Pro Loop Studio. Then when Propellerhead released the extremely powerful Reason with its virtual studio production capabilities, I was hooked. I also dabbled in FL Studio. Shortly following that I even sold all my synthesizers, now viewing them to be cumbersome and obsolete compared to the limitless capabilities of Reason.

Many years and tracks later I decide to again take a peak at the hardware side of music creation. That being what got me started in the Drum and Bass genre I missed the hands on touch. The progression of synthesizer technology was also impressive. Going back to the brand I had so much success with was a natural decision. So I knuckled down and went with a KORG EMX (Electribe Music Creation Station). It was similar to old Electribe but ten times as powerful. KORG had combined the drum machine capabilities of the ER with the tone generation of the EA. With an added bonus of vacuum tubes for all the warm from tubed Gain. The mp3 player at the top of this article has a large variety of tracks I have created with the KORG EMX and PC production software (Reason, FL Studio, SoundForge, Acid Pro). Enjoy and stop by MySpace Music to purchase a few tracks if you like it.

Techno DNB Dance Music Videos

2008-07-23T14:05:00.001-07:00

DJ mck - Wild

DJ mck - Lethal Force

DJ mck - DA

DJ mck - Nathan

DJ mck - Slip Stream

Prodigy - Spitfire

Dieselboy And Tech Itch - Atlantic State

DJ RAP - Bad Girl

Aphex Twin - Come to Daddy

Aphrodite - Bomber Style

FREE Online Flash Games

2008-07-23T14:04:00.002-07:00

Super Mario - Click on Mario to Begin

Click Here to OPEN in new window

Tetris Game - Click Play to Begin

Click Here to OPEN in new window

Sonic Ultimate - Click on Start to Begin

Click Here to OPEN in new window

Matrix Rampage

Click Here to OPEN in new window

Training Targets

Click Here to OPEN in new window

Raiden X

Click Here to OPEN in new window

FREE Wallpaper for your Desktop Background II

2008-07-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

Brought to you by:

(all images are 1280x960 resolution)
All images and photographs © Nathan Mckay

Instructions for use:
Click on the image you wish to use for you for your desktop background. The image will open in a separate browser window. Then right click on the image and select "Set as Background" if using Internet Explorer or "Set as Desktop Background" if using Firefox. If you are using another web browser not mentioned, right click on the image and select "Save Picture as...". When the image save dialog box appears click the desktop icon and then click save. The image will then appear on the desktop where you can then set it as your desktop background.

Psychedelic Backgrounds

The Matrix Backgrounds

FREE Wallpaper for your Desktop Background

2007-04-23T12:14:00.001-07:00

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3D Landscape Backgrounds

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How Technology Influences Elections

2007-03-15T22:22:00.000-07:00

From smear campaigns to voting computers; multimedia and technology are an integrated part of the political system of every government in every country in the world and becoming more integrated all the time. It takes marketing campaigns, complex audio/video setups for live debates, and in some cases even electronic espionage to get elected. Election tampering and voting machine vulnerability is also a concern as technology assimilates more of the tasks previously assigned to people or machines. What will become of our society as these things effect change on so called democratic systems of government? Last I checked propaganda is a bad thing in a Free Democracy but that doesn’t seem to be regulated anymore if ever. After all, it’s the government that produces the propaganda. As did the NAZI party of Hitler’s Germany use propaganda effectively in that era to cow the naive German public. Everybody knows how that turned out.

When it comes to government elections the most obvious yet simple way that multimedia and technology has an effect is through the television and ad campaigns. I think the marketing of politics is a dangerous thing for democracy though. This is because marketing is just persuading someone to like what you want them to like. If you think about this concept for a moment it doesn't take long to see what I am getting at. The message you are getting through the marketing of politics is an image created out of what the politicians want you to think. So when you do that with politics you basically end up with corporately run government, which we currently have. By this I mean it's corporate in the sense that the image or ideal that politicians seek to create for their audience is that which large corporations have been creating for decades. The idea of the utopia or perfect world that America supposedly once was. Personally I think America has always been the way that it is now. It has always been a cultural melting pot and not this ideal image that you see in a 1950s propaganda reel. Remember this when you see or hear the next political commercial and you will see or hear what I mean.

After all the marketing, campaigning, and ads you still have the elections themselves. These are also strongly influenced by technology. Especially since the introduction of voting computer consoles in some places. Being an aficionado of computer security and vulnerability, I know that any and every computer system or network, no matter how secured, can be breeched in some way. That said, what I have researched about the voting machines currently being used is a bit alarming to say the least. From the sound of things these machines are as user friendly to tampering as a Playstation to a ten year old. Especially to someone with computer hacking knowledge. Not to mention that there are also many reports of these machines being stolen, tampered with, or at the very least poorly secured. I can't neglect to mention that these are only the preliminary stages of voting computer integration into government elections. What I don't understand is, why this is happening? If you can get a receipt at the ATM when you make a transaction saying exactly what you have in your bank account after the transaction. Why can't they do the same with the voting computer consoles. After all an ATM system is run with a computer network. It is literally that simple.

One thing that I can say for certain is that technology and multimedia are now an integrated part of our culture world wide. How we use it is up to us. Whether we allow it to corrupt our society, politics, and our way of life Or we let technology make things better for everyone with proper use and accountability. It remains to be see what the outcome of this integration will be. I think it could go one of two separate directions. Either we make technology useful and moral. Or we make technology into a force that consumes us with mindless corruption.

Blogging the News and the Blogosphere

2007-03-01T23:45:00.000-08:00

I never could have imagined that something so mundane as a Web log (or Blog as it's popularly known) would turn into what it is now. Then again twenty years ago nobody could have imagined the technology we have now either. Seems like our addiction to computers and technology has migrated to the way we all get news. The regular old tube and radio (or flat screen if your lucky) just doesn't cut it anymore. Since most in the younger generations spend more time on computers then watching TV it was a perfect match for them to start getting there news on the computer too. Blogs were the obvious beneficiary of this arrangement. To me blogs are now the single most influential source of the information in many countries across the globe and perhaps even the whole world.

The reason for this could be that it seems to be the most free and unrestricted form of expression. This gives a whole new meaning to the expression freedom of the press. No longer are we confined to the filtered conservative binds that we get from society and traditional media outlets. This fact has those media outlets worried too. If they can't control the news like they previously have, they lose there ability to control the message that people get which decreases there market-ability to advertisers and hurts their profit margins. As I see it, there is not much they can do about it except conform. Yet, you can leave it conservative to try anything no matter how low they may have to go.

Over the last couple years I have noticed several times that some prominent Republicans from the Senate have held hearings and forums regarding blogs and online communication. Of course conservatives have the same view with this as they do with most things new and unfamiliar to them. They are scared of it, they want to get rid of it, or they want it out of sight out of mind. Their answer to the "Blogging Problem" is to regulate it and control it like government already controls other media. This amounts to suppressing our freedom of speech; our right to speak truth to power and demand accountability, responsibility, and justice from our Public Servants. That's why it is called public service. Funny that politicians always seem to only regulate things that come between them and there power and money. The Conservatives didn't seem to mind as much when taking dirty money from lobbyists or exposing CIA NOCs, but hey that's hypocrisy in politics for you. Still I doubt the Blogs can be silenced now that they have taken deep root in the culture of modern society. This makes them a powerful and influential source of information for years to come.

Accountability in blogging isn't as lacking as one mite think though. Blogs have been shutdown, content removed, and in extreme cases people have even been incarcerated for speeching their mind. Regardless of what some big mouth politician says its not something that's out of control. People can be held accountable for things they post on the Internet if it is just to do so. It's just another form of free speech that shouldn't be regulated by authority as a whole. Every time the voice of the people isn't being heard loud enough, new mediums find a way to the surface of society.

Global Politics, Multimedia, and Propaganda

2007-02-14T14:16:00.000-08:00

Not a lot gets done (or at least heard of) in politics without the media these days. The old times of standing on a soap box and proclaiming your opinion are long gone. You can still do that, but few if any will take the time to listen to some kook standing on a soapbox, talking to himself. Especially when they could go home and sit in front of the stupid box (the TV) to get there information or they would rather zone out with the master vacuum of time the computer and its trusty little side kick the Internet. Getting news these days really depends on what you want to hear too and how you want to hear it.

From this you end up with designer news networks that cater to your point of view before the news even happens. The most obvious example of this to me is Fox News. It is an obvious right wing conservative news network to anybody who watches it and is objective and without bias. Yet they market it as a "No-Spin" form of news, implying that their news is unbiased. Unfortunately for the brighter folks out there, some people actually buy that propaganda as truth and swear by it (gag me). That’s not to say other media outlets are free from this sort of practice. It's just more clearly defined in the case of Fox News. This illustrates the way government and private interests market their politics.

The whole myth about a "liberal media" was created by conservatives and marketed through friendly channels (Fox News) to legitimize their far right wing agendas over the last decade. Even though the vast majority of the country is decidedly moderate, they believed in this nonsense for so long. Why you ask? It’s ridiculously simple. Why do you drink Coke and eat Pringles? It’s all about the marketing. They market their opinions to the audience. If those that want to change your opinion have enough money, are connected with the “right” media networks, and have an agenda; they can change your mind. That’s why it costs millions and billions of dollars to become the President or a Senator in this country. You have to market what you are about on TV, radio, and print media or nobody will vote for you. This is the sort of propaganda marketing we deal with in this supposedly free country. It may be obvious to some and puzzling to others. Either way, that’s what it all boils down too.

The exploding popularity of blogs on the Internet has challenged the traditional media outlets and disrupted the regular flow of government propaganda. News stations and radio are scrambling to keep up with the rapid exchange of news and events that happens on the World Wide Web. Satellite radio has carved nice niche in the scheme of things for the time being, but the power of corporate fueled news is beginning to weaken. What will happen remains to be seen as we continue to watch things play out. I can only hope that accountability and responsibility for Politics in the media will win out.

How much High Definition is too much?

2007-02-06T19:05:00.000-08:00

Is there such a thing as too much High Definition? Short answer: Yes; Long answer: Maybe. Here's how it breaks down. Don't get me wrong I love all things high definition. But lets face it though, paying half a grand for a gaming system when its only capable of a slight improvement in 3D texture rendering and shading, doesn't make much sense. Isn't that the technical equivalent of spitting hairs? Call me crazy but a First Person Shooter on Playstation 2 is just as good in terms of game play as you'll find on the Playstation 3. That's why its typically my practice to wait a year or so after a new system is released for its price to come down off its high horse. But what about the future gaming systems and other multimedia with even greater definitions of clarity?

Blue Ray High Definition (HD) discs are the most recent example I can think of that demonstrates this concept. The Blue Ray audio/video format was promoted as the latest greatest way to watch movies and TV. But after seeing it and comparing it with a DVD, on a regular DVD player, connected to a HD TV with standard A/V cables. The difference is negligible. In fact if you didn't know what you were looking for in terms of comparison or if you had less then perfect vision. You mite not even be able tell the difference between DVD and the current HD media. The digitization of all the music and DVDs we love has created this instance where the multimedia can reach a limit in the users ability to utilize it with their sense as seen in video games and all other multimedia. Eventually video games will become the same as digital media in that improved compression, while maintaining high definition will become the goal of product improvement. Rather then continuing to increase the definition of our entertainment to levels we will never truly be able to notice.

There's going to come a time when our multimedia and technology will have much more definition then our senses can even recognize and appreciate. So then what are we really paying for? Its something that is there but you cannot necessarily see it. An additional step in quality that you'll never be able to experience. Unless we can speed up evolution and force our eyes to see in greater clarity or enhance our hearing to the level of a bats. We are going to reach the limits of our sensory input soon. Maybe then more game designers, film makers, and musicians can focus more on the substance and immersion of their creations rather than the quality of the output.

Using MySpace is Teaching you Technology

2006-09-07T17:57:00.000-07:00

I recently did the trendy thing to do and got a MySpace account just to see what all the fuss is about. Call me slow, but I’ve never been one to follow the fads like some of the other sheep amongst us. Imagine my surprise, finding that in order to customize MySpace, one must possess or quickly acquire HTML programming knowledge to be able to accomplish the personalization of their MySpace. This is an interesting concept, but who knew it would be so popular with modern pop culture. One would think that the very notion of programming would send most youngsters running at one click of the mouse. Surprise, surprise it turns out to be one of the most popular web fads since instant messaging. That just goes to show you that modern society, whether old fashioned folks like it or not, is more accepting then ever to the notion of a complete computerized update of society. They see technological improvements and they want to see it in use.

With that in mind it makes sense that the youth of today would be so easily persuaded into technical work. Even if they don’t really see it as that, there is deeper meaning. They simply see it as another form of communication, which is quite obviously what the internet was intended for at first. I believe this sort of transition from less to more technology is progressing and increasing pace and scope. The continued perfection and miniaturization of computers from what they originally were has aided in this transition from high-end corporate usage to mainstream culture. And let’s not forget the modern super-computer gaming-systems like Sony’s Playstation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360. It’s not quite Star Wars or Star Trek, but we do live in an age of wireless data transfer and handheld personal computers. Pretty impressive technology I think.

For instance, more and more of the most sensitive and personal information a person has is being transferred online these days whether directly or indirectly. Such things as Social Security Numbers, financial access information, credit information, family information, criminal records, and even residency. Identity theft worries and panic attacks aside, practically everything if not completely everything about a person can be found online these days if you look hard enough. Have you ever looked on Google or Yahoo for your name before? Even if your name isn’t very unique just add the state or hometown to it too. You’d be surprised to see how quickly you start finding things about yourself that you never had any idea were on the internet. Even information you wouldn’t want online can be uncovered in a search as simple as that previously mentioned. That instance usually occurs as a result of a third party, perhaps even a company or organization inputting data for records somewhere. Unfortunately this can also happen with malicious or more frequently libelous intent like with blogs, myspace, or forum postings.

That also lends itself to the sort of stigma that was attached to computers for several decades and still exists to a certain extent. Technical work was considered that of the brainy super intelligent, lacking muscular physique, person. Thus the terms nerd or geek is used to this day to criticize those with the computer knowledge that “normal” people fear. The type of person that is a technology junky or a technophile has changed dramatically in the last two decades. Now athletes, movie stars, and popular kids are instant messaging just as much as any computer nerd and maybe even quite a bit more.

Reuters did Doctor Photos from Beirut

2006-08-17T14:52:00.000-07:00

With photo alteration all over the world news and blogs these days, it seems that there are more so-called “photo alteration experts” out there then there are professional people making alterations. It comes as no surprise that the now infamous Beirut photographs by Adnan Hajj of Reuters was discovered because any truly experienced photo editing expert could point out the unprofessional way that the photos were modified. More simply, it plain looked faked.

Expert photo editors will tell you that the best modifications in photographs are the ones that only the editor can recognize because they were done so well. The general public shouldn’t even be able to know the difference because the alterations done by someone with true skill and experience is undetectable. For instance, I was asked to edit a photograph for a high level official at work and there wasn’t anything nefarious about it. They just wanted to take someone out of the background of a photo to make it look more like a portrait then some random shot at a public event. When I was done, not only was the official surprised at the seamless look of the modifications, but the man I removed from the photo was baffled by the photo since he had seen the original. His comments were something to the effect that he knew something had changed but he couldn’t immediately identify what. When I pointed out the change he was astonished that he hadn’t noticed. In that is my point.

If modifications are going to be made, they should most certainly be done by someone with the skills necessary to make it look seamless and natural. Otherwise, they shouldn’t be done at all as proven with the Beirut photos. From the public’s perspective, I’m sure there may be some shock in the fact that photos that end up on the News and other media outlets are being modified regularly. This should not be surprising though as public image and perception modification has been the normal practice for decades by all countries and their media outlets. It goes back as far as the origins of video and graphic media. Even the Nazi Party of Germany and Hitler’s own Public Relations officials put extreme pressures on image control and perception manipulation. In fact, in the post World War two era many of the Nazi Parties image control tactics were adopted by the Democracies and other governments around the world. The US is certainly not exempt from this sort of practice. Just look at Fox News or any other news program on a Sunday morning.

Thus we have the media situation at present in the world today where the modification and tampering of news is not so much the issue as modifying the image so poorly that the general public can recognize it. To think that this sort of modification shouldn’t happen is frankly laughable at this point. Propaganda has been elevated to such a high level in recent years with the advancement of technology. It’s foolish to expect that this practice would ever change or to think that only one party or political affiliation is doing the modifications alone. Image manipulation does not go along party lines. In fact it’s one of the few things that still cross all party lines these days. Pushing blame in this issue is just making a political issue out of propaganda and that is a completely different discussion all together and rather ironic if you think about it.