Jay Haynes

The End of Pro Tools?

I have been using Pro Tools since the mid 1980s when it was a two-track 16-bit 44kHz editor. It has an easy-to-use interface, outstanding sound quality and extreme horsepower for all aspects of audio: editing, recording, instruments.

But the interface is a bit dated and the physical controllers have never lived up to their potential (one higher end version sill has 4 letters to describe each track or edit parameter).

I have always envisioned a controller that would change like a computer screen, but have the tactile feel of a real analog knobs.

It looks like Apple may be working on it.

Olbermann on Gore’s Energy Use

Crooks and Liars setting the record straight.

Energy 2.0

There is a new wave of energy emerging that should accelerate in the next 24 months. It's called efficiency. The really good news is that it produces a higher IRR for the entire value chain. Each element of the value chain (consumer, producer, distributor, regulator) makes more money while cleaning the environment.

Decoupling and loading order priority will start to grow efficiency faster than the need for more energy, based on IRRs that will be higher than other equity, infrastructure or product investments. When this happens, efficiency will explode because there won't be a financially more productive alternative for companies (it will be higher than their ROIC).

Banning the incandescent is just the beginning. All conventional forms of lighting are next.

From the WSJ :

States are considering two major regulatory remedies. The first is "decoupling," in which utilities receive a predetermined profit each year -- thereby separating their earnings from the volume of electricity they deliver.

Here's how it works. A utility and state regulators hammer out how much profit the company will be allowed to earn. At the end of the year, if the utility's actual profit is lower than that amount, the company charges customers to make up the difference. If the actual profit is higher, customers get a rebate.

All of which means a utility's profits won't suffer if it decreases the amount of electricity it delivers through increased efficiency....

Regulators allow utilities to earn a return on their infrastructure spending by raising rates. So, utilities can earn money by investing in power plants, transmission and distribution infrastructure.

But under current rules in most states, utilities can't earn a return on their efficiency spending -- they can only recover the cost. A proposal being considered in California, Texas and several other states would change that.

Apple Buddy

My wonderful girlfriend Hollie and my great friend Kathleen both just swtiched from Windows to Mac. So I thought I would start a group called the Apple Buddies. Whenever anyone switches from Windows, s/he can post a request to have an Apple Buddy walk them through the basics of the Mac (and the iPhone soon).

Here are my favorite Mac tricks that I gave to Hollie and Kathleen. I hope they help others. (Safari, Mail, and others to come).

Command tab. This cycles through open applications.

Command H. This hides the current application. It can be viewed with Command tab.

Command M. This minimizes the window. It can be viewed by clicking on its icon in the righ side of the dock.

F9 shows all open windows.

F10 shows all open application windows.

F11 shows the desktop.

F12 is Dashboard

Command N creates a new document or window.

Command Q quites and application.

Command Z is undo

Command X is cut

Command C is copy

Command V is paste

Command W is close

Space bar scrolls down

Shift space bar scrolls up

Command arrow up is page up

Command arrow down is page down

More to come....

Don't Deregulate, Decouple!

Living in California but growing up in the East coast, I have always felt the difference in attitude about conservation and the environment. I attibuted it to beautiful geography and a progressive population.

But it turns out there is more. California remains the only state that decoupled energy utilities profits from their sales:

California adopted an innovative approach to utility regulation called decoupling so that the utilities' profits were no longer linked to simply increasing sales.

Before then, electric utilities made more money when people bought more electricity. So a Midwest utility gave away energy guzzling light bulbs; in California and elsewhere, electric utilities promoted electric stoves or electric water heaters, appliances that run more cleanly and efficiently on natural gas. In December 1973, Rosenfeld had called Pacific Gas & Electric to challenge a newspaper ad the utility was running that said: "Don't mess with the thermostat. You'll use more gas heating your house in the morning than you'll save overnight." Rosenfeld asked the company's research head if he kept his coffee on the stove all night to avoid reheating it in the morning.

In 1982, the state Public Utilities Commission came up with the decoupling idea that would allow utility profits to grow while sales declined. It set separate targets for utility revenue and electricity usage; excess revenue would be returned to consumers; a shortfall in revenue would be added to the next year's consumer bills. Greater efficiency could boost profit margins. Rates are now reviewed every six to 12 months instead of every three years. (A similar approach for natural gas utilities had been adopted in 1978.)

The power companies quickly altered their focus. Now, Rosenfeld says, the state and the utilities spend $700 million a year to promote energy efficiency. "It's cheaper than building power plants," he says.

And it has worked:

Today the state uses less energy per capita than any other state in the country, defying the international image of American energy gluttony. Since 1974, California has held its per capita energy consumption essentially constant, while energy use per person for the United States overall has jumped 50 percent.

Graphic Confusion

I have seen this before, but it seems to have gained traction recently on digg. The last time I laughed this hard, well it was the last time I learned about what to do in emergency.