When you are fresh from university and start working as a freelancer you still have to learn all the pitfalls of the freelancing world. Below are the most common lies companies use to freelancers. Whenever you hear these statements your ‘radar’ should go off.
1. “Do this one cheap (or free) and we’ll make it up on the next one.”
2. “We never pay a cent until we see the final product.”
3. “Do this for us and you’ll get great exposure! The jobs will just pour in!”
4. ” On looking at sketches or concepts: “Well, we aren’t sure if we want to use you yet, but leave your material here so I can talk to my partner/investor/wife/clergy.”
5. “Well, the job isn’t CANCELLED, just delayed. Keep the account open and we’ll continue in a month or two.”
6. “Contract? We don’t need no stinking contact! Aren’t we friends?”
7. “Send me a bill after the work goes to press.”
8. “The last guy did it for XXX dollars.”
9. “Our budget is XXX dollars, firm.
10. “We are having financial problems. Give us the work, we’ll make some money and then we’ll pay you.”
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James Patten and Ben Recht have developed the Audiopad, a multi touch screen that transforms motion into music. On the touch screen different parameters can be controlled be by dragging and resizing which directly influence the music you hear.
With traditional DJ sets and mixers the feedback is purely led lights that switch on or off while the audiopad also gives visual feedback on the touch screen. In our opinion this makes mixing / creating music is more intuitive as you don’t only have audible feedback but also visual feedback.
How does it work? (from the audiopad site)
Audiopad has a matrix of antenna elements which track the positions of electronically tagged objects on a tabletop surface. Software translates the position information into music and graphical feedback on the tabletop. Each object represents either a musical track or a microphone.
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Our colleagues at Popsci have written a nice article about products that combine two functions into one new product. Such products are called hybrids and some are more successful in combining functions then others. Some examples from the Popsci site.
Examples
- Refrigerator and tap
- Air freshener and security camera
- Aromatherapy burner, speaker, AM/FM radio and LED light
- Washing machine and toilet
- Mirror and radio
- Shower and tanner
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