Track of the Week: I Need a Dollar by Aloe Blacc

This week’s track is I Need a Dollar, by Aloe Blacc. I first heard this song as the intro song to How To Make It In America, HBO’s new show chronicling the life of two young men hustling in New York City to try to enter the fashion business.

Lyrically great, and searching soulful, the song centers around the coming of bad times and the path towards losing one’s job. It’s acutally a pretty sad song of a man in desperate need of a break. Even though it has a pretty classic soul sound it was recorded Feb 2010, which makes me feel like it codifies the life millions of people must be going through as they lose their jobs or fall on hard times during the recession.

I had a job but the boss man let me go
He said / I’m sorry but I won’t be needing your help no more
I said / Please mister boss man I need this job more than you know
But he gave me my last paycheck and he sent me on out the door

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Flash Player 10.1 on Google TV

I posted over on the Flash Platform blog over work we’ve been doing to bring Flash Player 10.1 to the Google TV.

Adobe and Google are working closely together on a number of different efforts including support for Flash Player 10.1 and AIR across various platforms and devices. One of these new platforms is Google TV, Google’s new Android based platform that brings the power of the web in to the living room. Google TV includes Flash Player 10.1 integrated directly into the Google Chrome browser delivering the full Web to consumers on their television sets. The digital home is a huge step for Flash and it represents an amazing new screen for developers and content creators to bring rich interactive content to the TV.

With support for Flash Player 10.1, Google TV customers have access to the full web. This includes the approximately 75% of online videos and web games that use Flash, the vast numbers of rich Internet applications, and content across social networks. Flash Player 10.1 will support hardware-accelerated video playback and deliver smooth, HD (1080p) quality video on Google TV devices. We’re excited that having Flash Player 10.1 as a key part of Google TV will enable an additional screen for the more than 3 million Flash developers to create content for.

We are seeing widespread interest from our partners in the digital home space and we are working closely with them to include support for Flash. Today, consumers can experience rich Flash-based applications, content and user interfaces in televisions, set-top boxes, and Blu-ray players from Samsung, Vizio, Haier, BestBuy Insignia, and Tivo. Game consoles such as Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3 also feature Flash technology.

Want to see it in action? Check out this video we shot on site at the Googleplex showing Flash Player running on Google TV.

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Track of the Week: Weekend by Black Eye Peas

It’s Wednesday and I’m already ready for the Weekend, this week’s track from the Black Eye Peas’ Bridging the Gap. While typically I’d go on for a while waxing about why I like this particualr track, I think most people probably know this song. I’m going to spend a few inches lambasting the fall of one of the greatest acts in hip-hop.

I remember vividly when I went and saw BEP play  in 2001 at the University of San Diego. Live drum set, real instrumentation, a DJ, no Fergie and one of the highest energy shows I’ve ever seen. At the end of the show will.i.am, apl.de.ap, and Taboo were all outside signing autographs on ticket stubs and milling around. I wonder where my signed ticket stub is these days. I remember hearing BEP on Jurassic 5 and Ozo albums back then, all with innovative sounds and a positive message — very different than typical West Coast / LA rap.

Then came Fergie. And Where Is the Love. And My Humps. And the nail in the coffin, Boom Boom Pow. Look back at their track, Original, with these verses:

Many people can’t be real, so they gotta chase the steel
What the deal? Is it really all about the bills?
What’s the thrill? I’d rather have my soul fulfilled

So sad, that’s exactly what they’ve become.

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