Whatever happened to Karaoke? Well, it seems to have gone online. There are a number of Karaoke sites available (some paid, some free). Most cater for teenagers and include taking a video of the performance which can be uploaded. Some just select Youtube videos and don't show the lyrics. Karafun is one of the best, with songs in many styles spanning the last hundred years or so. It is subscription only but for a few dollars you can get a 48 hour licence, which is long enough for any party (why else would you want Karaoke?).

This book is about the earliest part of recording history, and covers the period of recorded music from the birth of the phonograph in 1877 up to the emergence of radio in the early 1920s (hence the reference to Marconi). The book is particularly about the start of the record industry, and is subtitled  "The First Thirty Years of Recorded Music". This period begins around 1890, when record sales got a foothold. 
The focus is on the music artists and repertoire, genre, and how the phonograph shaped music culture, rather than the development of the invention itself (the technical and business aspects are well covered in Roland Gelatt's 'The Fabulous Phonograph, and Oliver Reed's 'From Tinfoil to Stereo'). Half of the book is dedicated to detailing particular recordings according to genre.

An article by Ray White. Worth reading.

Apple have announced the new Mac Pro that will be available later this year. It is a new design in the shape of a tube (quite small too - it is only 10" high). This allows for better cooling, which enables quite a leap in performance.

http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/

A new site with information about NZ music is now online. It is a work in progress, but already has a lot of information on artists, bands, record labels etc.