Darren Hemmings
By Day: Founder, Motive Unknown - a strategic digital marketing consultancy. Also Head of Digital Marketing, [PIAS] Entertainment.
The Daily Digest - Tech/Apps News- My Personal Twitter Stream
- My Last.fm Music
- The Mr Trick & Wrongtom Radio Show
- My Flickr Photos
- Contact
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Posts
- Feb 06, 12
Whether you were sad to see MegaUpload bite the dust, aren't keen on the alternatives, or just want to use your own domain name and hosting service to share your files, you're in luck! Here's a simple way to set up your own killer drag-and-drop file sharing service with existing software and some co
. - Feb 06, 12
It seems like every advance in digital music brings with it a debate about whether the latest format degrades quality in exchange for convenience. This was true when CDs first came onto the scene, and it's probably even more true today with MP3s and their digital audio brethren. Heck, even the adven
. - Feb 06, 12
Guest post by Robb McDaniels, Founder and CEO of INgrooves. It's a format change – that's why it is stoking so much fear and anxiety in the marketplace. The ability to "access" your media and stream it to any device, anywhere is simply the logical progression of technological development that has
. - Feb 06, 12
Just John points us to a recent Reddit thread, in which a rather basic suggestion is made for how Hollywood could do a much better job killing movie piracy: by offering something better. It was summarized with the following graphic: Or, basically, create a service that doesn't limit people and offer
. - Feb 06, 12
Streaming-music-service-slash-social-network Rdio new Android app is pretty damn excellent. In addition to support for Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0), the app now includes Network Activity, User Profiles, New Releases, Album Charts, and recommendations based on listening habits. If you've had a chance to
. - Feb 06, 12
GlobalWebIndex, one of the world’s most detailed global insight studies into consumers’ online behaviour, has released the findings of its latest research which highlights both new and continuing trends in the way consumers access and use Web-based platforms. GlobalWebIndex 6 (GWI.6) analyses key c
. - Feb 06, 12
Twitter did not crash and the Super Bowl became the most tweeted sporting event in history, averaging more than 10,000 tweets per second. That wasn't all that surprising: continued growth of the social network, not to mention tablet and smartphone technology that make it easier to tweet while watch
. - Feb 06, 12
In the weeks after Internet users and some of the web’s biggest companies rallied around to fight SOPA’s approach to curbing online piracy, filesharing services of all stripes have taken a thrashing. First Megaupload was shut down and its flamboyant owner charged, then the Swedish courts ruled that
. - Feb 06, 12
BTjunkie, a popular BitTorrent search service, has been ‘voluntarily’ shut down by its operator(s). In a goodbye message, BTjunkie writes: This is the end of the line my friends. The decision does not come easy, but we’ve decided to voluntarily shut down. We’ve been fighting for years for your righ
. - Feb 06, 12
Now that Facebook is preparing the biggest tech IPO in history, it is possible to compare its financials and potential market value to Google’s when it went public. At first glance, all of Facebook’s numbers look bigger. Its pre-IPO revenues of $3.7 billion in 2011 are more than two and a half times
. - Feb 06, 12
A decade ago people were truly amazed to find out that they could download entire movies using BitTorrent. At the time substantial online video simply didn’t exist, and BitTorrent was an eye opener which has since become the movie industry’s biggest worry. As one of the older torrent sites around,
. - Feb 06, 12
David Cohen / All Facebook:89 Percent Of Ad Agencies Used Facebook In Q4 — Facebook continued to dominate the social media advertising sector in the fourth quarter,with 89 percent of agencies planning to incorporate the social network into their clients' campaigns, unchanged from the third quart
. - Feb 06, 12
While Google has endured criticism for biasing Google+ content in its new “Search Plus Your World” features, Bing has been surprisingly shy about pressing its social search advantage. Especially considering how much Microsoft usually likes to publicly poke Google. In fact, Bing is now the only sear
. - Techmeme: What is the mystery “entertainment device” Google is testing? (Stacey Higginbotham/GigaOM)Feb 06, 12
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:What is the mystery “entertainment device” Google is testing? — Google is asking the Federal Communications Commission for permission to test a mysterious Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled “entertainment device,” in employees homes in four U.S. cities. So inquiring minds
. - Feb 06, 12
Discovering music has become easier thanks to services like Pandora and Spotify. It seems that everywhere you turn on Facebook, you’re shown a new track someone is listening to currently or a new music video on YouTube. While all of these services provide instant and on the go music recommendations
. - Feb 06, 12
Well this is mildly terrifying: according to a new Pew study, the Facebook privacy mode a lot of us rely on for photos and status updates is, on average, anything but private. Time to reconsider your settings, everyone. More »
. - Feb 06, 12
All that plastic was supposed to save the music industry! Instead, it's now melting down the balance sheets of companies like Viacom...
. - Feb 06, 12
This guest post by Mark Mulligan, a respected independent music analyst who publishes the Music Industry Blog, includes the full text and main graphics of the speech he delivered at Midem's Visionary Monday earlier this week. Today I want to talk to you about a concept called Agile Music, a framew
. - Feb 06, 12
Emails, tweets, notifications, text and instant messages, Facebook status updates, Path moments — all these are new tools of communication when taken together are notification hell. These notifications prey on human desire for a dopamine fix. And just as we are over-caffeinated, I think the 21st ce
. - Feb 06, 12
Amid plans for a $10bn share offering, the social networking giant has come under fire for its controversial 'Timeline' feature. Two Observer writers discuss the merits of logging off for good James Silver, writer and journalist I could blame it on the launch of Timeline (Facebook's now mandatory
. - Feb 06, 12
Stewart Baker, the former DHS official whose warnings about how SOPA would wreak havoc on online security were instrumental in convincing many of our elected officials that SOPA and PIPA were half-baked legislative disasters, now has a fascinating writeup for The Hollywood Reporter, trying to explain
. - Feb 03, 12
Path got the second version of its product a lot more right than the first. The well-designed mobile journal app is now one of the most promising attempts to build a more personal and intimate social graph. In the two months since Path 2 launched, it has attracted a million new users, according to
. - Feb 03, 12
I promise, for at least 18 months, to not bring this topic up again. But I do feel the need to report to all you RSS lovin’ freaks out there that the combined interactions on my two posts – 680 and still counting – have exceeded the reach of my RSS feed (which clocked in at a miserable 664 the day
. - Feb 03, 12
Apple is unintentionally censoring rap music and other explicit tracks downloaded using its iTunes Match service — by replacing them with the clean versions of the same songs. According to a report in Cult of Mac — confirmed in tests by Mashable — songs uploaded to the service with explicit lyrics
. - Feb 03, 12
You may be tired of all of the Facebook chatter and stats after the company filed its S-1 paperwork to go public yesterday. Whether you’re FB’d out or not, this might get your attention. Hitwise has pulled some really powerful stats about Facebook’s first month of 2012, and it’s really impressive s
. - Feb 03, 12
The Next Web has been on-hand to get an early glimpse of the plethora of startups emerging from accelerator programmes across the UK and Europe. In the UK, there are a number of hotspots springing up around the country, with the likes of Cambridge’s Springboard and Birmingham’s Oxygen Accelerator l
. - Feb 03, 12
The thoughts of Chairman Bronfman Outgoing media mogul Edgar Bronfman Jr has warned against the Universal-EMI merger – and taken a potshot at Google. Bronfman is stepping down as chairman of Warner Music, which was acquired by Russian entrepreneur Len Blavatnik last year.…
. - Feb 03, 12
The Customer Experience Series is supported by Webtrends, providing the unified, customer intelligence to deliver real time relevance in every marketing campaign, every digital channel. Learn how. Bounce rate is the enemy of every website — it’s the percentage of visitors that come to your page an
. - Feb 03, 12
“Hong Kong, what an awesome place to do business and to host my new phantom persona,” Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom wrote here on TorrentFreak last December. “I should write a book about doing business in Hong Kong, that’s how good it is. People there leave you alone and they are happy for your suc
. - Feb 03, 12
Some Facebook groups now have cover photos, making them more consistent with the new Timeline design. The default image is a collage of the group members’ profile photos, which link to individual profiles. The image is slightly transparent, but colors are restored when a user hovers over it. We’ve
. - Feb 03, 12
Brent Csutoras / Search Engine Land:StumbleUpon Kills Direct Links, iFrames Everything — StumbleUpon, who happens to be one of the more popular and successful social media sites with over 20 million users (doubling from 10 million in about a year and a half), recently launched one of the biggest
. - Feb 03, 12
If you aren't happy with scheduling your Tweets and analyzing the sentiment of your social networking accounts, a new service from Gremln.com is available today that might be a better alternative. The company has been part of the St. Louis-based Capital Innovators startup accelerator/incubator progr
. - Feb 03, 12
Since I get a lot of questions on this.. Here is a slide showing what comes after a free digital music offering ... Google "music like water" for more on this;) www.twitter.com/gleonhard i.mediafuturist.com for mobile updates
. - Feb 03, 12
Japanese electronics giant Sony posted a spectacular $2.1 billion net loss in its third quarter, seeing declining sales in its television business and environmental disasters affecting its operations. Sony noted that sales of its products were down “significantly” because of flooding in Thailand, a
. - Feb 03, 12
As the world digests the 200+ pages from Facebook’s S-1 IPO filing, many users are starting to receive a new update on the social network, adapting the way that it displays photos. Facebook is continually testing new features for its users and it often rolls them out to a select number of testers,
. - Feb 02, 12
It looks like Sony’s change of leadership was very much a necessary step. According to the Wall Street Journal [subscription], workings at the company were so disjointed that no fewer than four different groups were working on separate projects to develop a tablet to compete against Apple’s iPad. I
. - Feb 02, 12
Google doesn’t want you to believe everything Microsoft is writing about its privacy policies — especially not in the ads for alternative Microsoft products set to appear in major newspapers. The search giant published a blog post written by policy manager Betsy Masiello, in hopes of sorting out t
. - Feb 02, 12
Legendary rocker Neil Young took his campaign for higher-fidelity digital sound to the stage of a technology conference Tuesday, saying a giant of the industry was on his side: the late Steve Jobs.
. - Feb 02, 12
Spotify and other streaming services were the talk of the Midem conference which just wrapped up in Cannes. During the gathering, U2 manager Paul McGuiness labeled Spotify as nothing more than a “promotional medium”, while Sony’s Denis Kooker claimed that streaming services “do not cannibalize sale
. - Feb 02, 12
Here’s one of the more painful parts of taking a company public: You have to make an honest assessment, in front of the whole world, of all the things that could kill your business. Facebook is no exception. In its SEC filing, as required by law, the company outlined a whopping 35 “risk factors” t
. - Feb 02, 12
This morning, Sweden’s Supreme Court announced that it would not be granting leave to appeal in the Pirate Bay case. This means that the prison sentences and millions of dollars in fines previously handed out to the four defendants will stand. Unsurprisingly, the entertainment and anti-piracy compa
. - Feb 02, 12
Flurry, the San Francisco-based mobile analytics and monetization company, is now supporting HTML5-apps and games. The move comes at a time when many developers are starting to explore HTML5 as an easy way to developer for multiple platforms — although we’ve yet to see a runaway hit HTML5 game. Acc
. - Feb 02, 12
We're all on the edge of our seats waiting for the Facebook IPO to drop. Thankfully, Kara Swisher over at AllThingsD reports that we can all hang out a bit (maybe), because the FB IPO isn't dropping until later today (probably). Phew. The Wall Street Journal proper reports (no offense, AllThingsD)
. - Feb 02, 12
Algorithmic social ranking service PeerIndex has announced that its API (application programming interface) is to be boosted to incorporate ‘topical PeerIndex’ (TPI) scores and category-filtering for developers in vertical markets, including customer-relationship management (CRM), social media monit
. - Feb 02, 12
If you’ve been looking for an easy and stylish way to share your Instagram photos with your non-iPhone owning friends, Jux may have the perfect solution for you. We’ve already taken a close look at what Jux has to offer, and the simple blogging platform has continued to grow since its launch, addin
. - Feb 02, 12
It used to be one of the biggest pains of web development. Juggling different browser versions and wasting endless hours coming up with workarounds and hacks. Thankfully, those troubles are now largely optional for many developers of the web. Chrome ushered in a new era of the always updating brows
. - Feb 02, 12
Back in October, we pondered whether Coldplay’s decision to say no to streaming was a good or bad thing for the UK band. Whatever the right answer may be, the band’s latest album has finally appeared on the music-streaming platform. As Music Ally reports, Mylo Xyloto went live on Spotify some time
. - Feb 02, 12
Social media management dashboard HootSuite is continuing its push out into the social sphere, announcing the release of its Engagement API (application programming interface), which will be accompanied by a wave of new apps. Launched in 2008, HootSuite is a platform that lets users manage multiple
. - Feb 02, 12
Earlier today Sweden’s Supreme Court announced its decision not to grant leave to appeal in the long-running Pirate Bay criminal trial. This means that the prison sentences and fines against the defendants are now final. The Pirate Bay website itself, however, wasn’t part of the trial and will rema
. - Feb 02, 12
Last week, Google trimmed down its privacy policies into a single document to cover all its products, and followed this up with a letter to Congress explaining the reasons behind its new policy. Indeed, its announcement last week brought pretty widespread condemnation, and this has led Microsoft to
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Tweets
- @laurent_fintoni The hair... I just can't get over the hair. OMGWTFLOL etc
- @taniaglyde I'd imagine you can move partitions to extend one (provided there's space). That's what PartitionMagic was great for on PC.
- @sydlawrence Bloody slow though. Blimey - it'll be morning when this one's done!
- @sydlawrence @lastfm Well yeah... which is why I'm puzzled no one has yet. Well, not with a simple, idiot-friendly web interface anyway ;-)
- “Matilda” by ∆ is my new jam. ♫ http://t.co/njFdiLup #thisismyjam
- @Spartz @chrisaylen Feels like something I'd pay about £20/year for tops, but nothing more...
- Does anyone pay for LinkedIn Premium? £5.95/mo seems a bit much given what you get. Guessing I'm not the target user?
- Hoping this link will work - ITV are looking for a Head of Digital Marketing: http://t.co/rzIFXDRB Could be a good one for someone...
- @stuartdredge Ahhh yes... OK fair enough then.
- @stuartdredge What could possibly have warranted that poll? Is someone looking to launch a "stop in for a quickie" hotel chain?!?
- "Google Cloud Print: It's Actually Awesome, and Here's How to Set It Up" http://t.co/ljQc29xk <-- Handy! Never even knew of that feature
- @jamesjammcmahon No.
- @steoreilly Sure it was and good on Hypebot for calling them out... just think there's a faint whiff of pot/kettle about that piece ;-)
- Even better was what followed: "Turned out it was bloody M People - how inappropriate is that?" *irony detector explodes somewhere*
- Oh shame: because I've not verified my age I'll no longer be able to follow @smirnoff, who I never followed to begin with. #twitterspam
- "Bashing is easy & gets pageviews" http://t.co/oodc825S I can't help but think they've been guilty of this before w/Spotify & others though.
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Recent Tracks
- Children of the Grave by Black Sabbath
- Iron Man by Black Sabbath
- Susie-Q by James Burton
- Down by the River by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
- Summertime Blues - Studio Version by The Who
- I Can See For Miles by The Who
- My Generation by The Who
- Roll Over Beethoven by Chuck Berry
- Maybelline by Chuck Berry
- Johnny B. Goode - Single Version by Chuck Berry
The BandDavid BowieSavoy BrownSufjan StevensTommy GuerreroAfghan WhigsNeil YoungTalking HeadsGroundhogsMr. OizoKate BushMichael Nesmith & The First National BandWashed OutDepth ChargeTony ScottStephen StillsAlt-J (∆)Grateful DeadDavid CrosbyJ.J. CaleDisney CharactersEnter ShikariMiles DavisVan MorrisonThe Rolling StonesDarlene LoveLindstrømCast - Phineas and FerbDr. JohnThe RonettesQueen & David BowieChuck BerryCrosby, Stills & NashAce FrehleyCrazy HorseThe WhoThe CrystalsORANGE HILL PRODUCTIONSVan HalenStereophonicsJeff BeckCannonball AdderleyBlack SabbathElectric SixFleetwood MacThe Jimi Hendrix ExperienceCreamKissJoe CockerNeil Young & Crazy Horse- 7 plays
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- Garden by Groundhogs2 plays
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Posts
- Jan 20, 12
Bah – our good fortunes couldn’t last. In a curious turn of events, Fly53 have been forced to move out from their premises that also doubled as our seedy Soho studio. As such, we are now sans-studio and therefore cannot currently do the show unless we find a new home for our setup.
So: if any people out there can offer two rambling buffoons space for a small studio setup (and we mean TINY – broom cupboard size) with access to some ADSL for live streaming, then please do get in touch: trick@rhythm-incursions.com
It may be that Fly53 find new premises in London and still have space for our ramshackle rig. Otherwise, we need your help dear listeners!
We also want to take this opportunity to thank Troy and the team at Fly53 who have been amazing. They put up with our mess in the corner of their stockroom. They threw a swanky party for us. They even got us interviewed by Vice Style section! All power to them; we love the team, we love the clothes and if they get a new spot, we’ll happily return to our roles as errant resident broadcasters.
In the meantime, we need a new home. Can you help? If so, drop us a line!
- Jan 18, 12
This week we pay respects to Jimmy Castor, revisit the jazz fusion debate via some Miles Davis, drop some properly dirty dub courtesy of Bully alumni Carlo, drop large bass with Orange Hill & Hint and argue over whether Savoy Brown is “loose 70s rock” or just funk. Go get some.
- Jan 18, 12
I was going to write a florid description for this show, but our listener @MarianneStephen said everything that needs to be said with this tweet:
“Just turned up & it’s all about zombie porn. That track sounded pretty groovy to me tho. Now some mum jazz (!) – nice one!”
Indeed. If funky country rock, jazz, dub, skiffle, noisy psyche and more all interspersed with inane banter tickles your fancy then this is another belter. Go get some.
- Dec 19, 11
So here it is people: our 2011 Christmas Special. Sporting a Trick in a festive mood and a Tom feeling positively curmudgeonly, we roll out another selection of Christmas-themed treats traversing the lesser-trodden paths that take in anything from the Rhythm & Blues classics of The Debonaires and post-punk of Steel Leg through to the outright creepiness of Pac-Man and straight-up funk of Binky Griptite. Take a listen by the fire with a cup of eggnog.
- Nov 30, 11
Its a stellar selection this week (if we say so ourselves) as we drop old-style beats of the J Saul Kane variety in the shape of Red Ninja, get rootsy with The Band covering Marvin Gaye, check Beck channelling Prince’s slowjams, deliver sun-splashed dancehall with Spice & Pinchers and… just a whole load more. Go get some – this one’s a keeper.
- Nov 23, 11
This week we kickstart with some ’99 DnB courtesy of Ram Trilogy, then tour acoustic sounds courtesy of Violent Femmes, Infesticons and Hopi-influenced jazz, taking in some dark technoid breakbeats courtesy of Porter Ricks VS Techno Animal, 60′s Cali-Valley vibes from Jack Nitzsche and the straight-up beauty of Sufjan Stevens. Go get some.
- Nov 23, 11
Its a belter of a show this week as we tour old-style human beatbox tracks, celebrate Brandy’s finest cut, deliver wub-wub bass classics from yesteryear and discuss just what imagery comes to mind when listening to Scrimshire. As if that isn’t enough we also discuss those glorious lost nuggets of music and movies from the pre-web years and pay tribute to Heavy D. This one’s a keeper, trust us.
- Nov 02, 11
This week we trip through psychedelic oscillators and jazz-punk, the songwriting and production genius of Brian Wilson, The Rapture’s sleigh bells Phil Spector moment, Juke-joint R&B, Moroder-esque arpeggio and the timeless brilliance of one of Trick’s favourite bands: Slayer. 72 shows down and only now do we get Slayer. Shocking!
- Oct 28, 11
For a while now we’ve contemplated a special where we switched from music you may not have heard to music you have quite probably heard a hell of a lot via commercial radio, TV and more. Yes, this is our Pop Special, drawing on anything from 10cc to Fergie to deliver our personal favourites that have graced the charts in the last 50 years. From the glorious production Brian Wilson (laid bare via an instrumental version of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”) to the intricacies of freestyle electro in Madonna’s “Into The Groove”, we tour all that is good in pop. Dirty word? Not here. Enjoy!
- Oct 19, 11
You’re no doubt well aware we like a bit of a chat here at Trick & Tom HQ, so when we’re visited by equally chatty folk, we couldn’t be happier. Or at least we thought we couldn’t until we were joined by Queen Of The Rapping Scene and former Techno Twin, Bev Sage. Yes, add to the chat the accolade of being the 1st ever female UK MC on vinyl, having performed on the Monty Python song “Every Sperm Is Sacred” and an amazing back catalogue of new wave and synth pop, and we really couldn’t be happier. Couple that with Trick delving into the worlds of power and dream-pop and a brief nod to the late great Ari Up and I think you’ll agree this is a proper pearl of a show.
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Syon Park - December 2011
