devo

Devo invites CNET readers to song study

Get excited, Devo fans. Your chance to have a real say in composition of the 1980s new wave band's latest album is here.

That's because the group is launching a "song study," an online survey where its best fans will be given the opportunity to help it choose which 12 songs from a collection of 16 will make it onto its forthcoming album, its first in 20 years.

The effort is part of Devo's attempt to remake itself as, essentially, the music version of a Web 2.0 start-up. That initiative, which the band announced … Read more

Creativity explodes on Chatroulette

You can play bingo on it. Unknown piano players and rock stars alike can use it to serenade strangers. Bands can announce their albums there. And you can even sell a nightclub's worth of tickets for an evening spent experimenting with it.

What is it? Why, Chatroulette, of course.

For about two months now, people all over the world have been flocking to the site, which offers little more than a way to connect to random strangers on the other end of a Web cam. Built by a Russian high school student, the site launched in November but became … Read more

Devo 2.0, the Internet start-up--take it seriously

AUSTIN, Texas--I've sat through a lot of business presentations in my time as a tech journalist, and I can say with confidence that until Tuesday I'd never seen one that was a fully serious pitch and completely tongue-in-cheek.

And it killed.

The occasion of this ground-breaking proposal was a session at the South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) festival here called "Devo, the Internet and You." Yes, that Devo. The '80s new wave band with the funny hats.

Well, Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale, the band's two leading members, are back, and they're toting a … Read more

Devo on the fate of the world--and Chatroulette (Q&A)

AUSTIN, Texas--The world is a lot like the Mike Judge film "Idiocracy," according to the two leading members of the famed '80s band Devo, who showed up at the South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) festival Tuesday to unveil their new-media plans for a true 21st century relaunch.

But the duo, Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale, also expressed their concern for the planet in a public question-and-answer period at the end of the frenetic, hilarious presentation where they unveiled the full reach of their ambitious Devo 2.0 plans.

Mothersbaugh and Casale--clearly a pair who have spent a great … Read more

'I'm a Mac' music

In the perennial Mac vs. PC debate, the Mac is coming on strong, moving into the No. 3 spot among U.S. computer manufacturers and growing sales eight times faster than the personal computer industry average (according to Gartner). Technical merits aside, those "I'm a Mac" ads are probably having an effect--or, if not, they're certainly entertaining, and occasionally brutal. (I wonder if Apple has any PR people and what they thought of this spot.)

But what you may not know is that the composer of the music in those ads--that happy little loop that you … Read more