Pandora has added classical music to the Music Genome Project, the extensive music database and engine that powers its DIY Internet radio site.
If you were addicted to Pandora before, just wait until you can actually figure out what kind of classical music you like.
The addition is significant as more than any other DIY Internet radio site, Pandora is known for its ability to figure out what listeners like based on a musical genetic code for each song. Nowhere is a song's musical genetic code more relevant to figuring out what you like than in the complexities of classically composed music.
Pandora Classical, as the company refers to the addition, includes a collection of over 10,000 recordings by more than 500 composers spanning the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Modern, and Contemporary classical music genres.
"We think classical music enthusiasts will be delighted by the ability to explore any and all parts of the classical music universe in ways that have never before been possible. At the same time, we hope to make classical music more accessible and relevant to everyone," Tim Westergren, founder and chief strategy officer of Pandora, said in a statement.
In addition to stations based on one artist, listeners can choose to listen to one movement in a piece and then build a station that recommends other similar music pieces by other artists.
For the holidays, Pandora has also added a feature for playing holiday songs exclusively. As with all Internet radio stations, you can never call up an artist and song on demand, but Pandora has found a way to get you close to that. Typing in "Frosty the Snowman" brings up a list of covers of the song from many different artists. Choosing one of those brings up songs that sound like that particular artist, or brings up that artist singing a different holiday favorite. Alternatively, you can also type in the name of an artist and the word "holiday" to get holiday recordings with their sound.
Genetics pioneer Craig Venter took the stage at the Web 2.0 Summit with organizer Tim O'Reilly. What's a biologist doing at a Web 2.0 conference? Talking about how information and biology are converging (and have been for a while).
(Credit:
J. Craig Venter Institute)
Interesting tidbits: Venter's own DNA was sequenced as part of his research. It cost, he estimates, about $70 million. Today it costs only $300,000 to sequence a person's DNA, and the $100,000 benchmark is in sight. It's an information processing problem, he said. In other words, Moore's Law and genetics are tightly tied. It won't be long before your genome--and your likelihood to get various diseases, live long, be athletic, etc.--will be available in a standard medical test.
The implications for medicine, and its evil twin the insurance industry, are vast. Despite the privacy issues, Venter is in favor of transparency in genomics, so that, for example, you'll be able to "Google a date's DNA," as O'Reilly remarked. Scary? Sure. But "a good idea," Venter said. "Especially if you plan to have children."
In other news, apparently we are "weeks to months away" from growing a living, but completely synthetic bacteria in the lab. If you find this terrifying and fascinating, I recommend the novel, The Deus Machine by Pierre Oullette (Amazon link).
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