Turning old cassettes into MP3s

First we had a turntable that allows you turn your LPs into MP3s. It was like magic. Now comes an equally killer product: The ION Tape Express Plus, which allows you to rip those old mix tapes from the '70s, '80s, '90s.

I have hundreds of cassettes in my garage that have been sitting idle because I have nothing to play them on (my one outlet, the tape deck in a 16-year-old Ford Explorer, went kaput earlier this year). But beyond that, there are hundreds of songs that I have only on tape that I'd love to save while I can.

Unlike records, cassettes have much shorter life spans, as the data flakes or gets chewed up when tape heads get cranky. So I need to move fast to save some of that old music, much of which has never been released on CD (including recordings by my old band, The Coyotes). And there are a ton of my renowned mix tapes that I'd like to save for posterity. Those things are like 90-minute trips down memory lane, and are priceless in many ways.

So, Santa Claus, can you bring me a tape-to-MP3 device?

Museum of Hoaxes displays long history of fake photos

A sampling of the dozens of photo manipulations on display in the Museum of HoaxesIf you can believe the Museum of Hoaxes, inscrupulous people have beeen manipulating photos since 1840.

The online museum has an illuminating "Hoax Photo Archive" that traces deception in dozens of photos over the past 170 years. Some of the examples are well known, others not so much. And some of the photo manipulation could be considered egregious in attempting to mislead the public for political gain, while other deceptions are minor and relatively inconsequential.

All, however, remind us that what you see might not reflect reality and that journalism ethics is more important than ever in separating fact from fiction and  trusted sources from unscrupulous operators.

Design for change

Check out this inspiring TED presentation from a young woman whose non-profit approach to design is reshaping education in the poorest county in rural North Carolina.

Emily Pilloton is using grants, her own persistance and supportive educators to give students a design-centric educational environment that not only teaches important life skills but leaves lasting evidence of those lessons for the community as a whole to see and cherish.

It's pretty heady stuff to think a young woman can drive this kind of change amid such poor conditions. It shouldn't be surprising, given her TED bio that reads, in part:

"At graduate school, people were starting to talk more about sustainability, but I felt it lacked a human factor," she said. "Can we really call $5,000 bamboo coffee tables sustainable?" Convinced of the power of design to change the world, at age 26 Pilloton founded Project H to help develop effective design solutions for people who need it most.

 I was once told the best design is design you don't see but which makes your life better, easier, more rewarding. This would seem to fit that bill.