Go Forward, Move Ahead, 2009

Jan 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Remix Editors

SPECIALIZED SOCIAL NETWORKING: BUZZNET

It's not easy to pick winners and losers in the increasingly competitive social-network market. But Buzznet (www.buzznet.com) appears to be a formidable player. In 2008, the Los Angeles-based company generated news headlines through a string of impressive acquisitions, from buying up mega-sites such as Stereogum, Idolator and Absolute Punk to attracting investors such as Universal Music Group. However, what may separate this 4-year-old social hub from the pack won't be an innovative mix of user-generated content and company-generated blog-style editorial. Unlike its rivals, Buzznet is strongly focused on rock and punk. One of its first coups was getting Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz to set up a blog on the band's site, and a recent look at Buzznet's front page uncovered several references to the teen vampire romance Twilight.

No matter how well Buzznet performs in 2009, MySpace will undoubtedly still rule the roost. Among the neon and heart-shaped decorated community, its most popular people — Warped Tour idols such as Jeffree Star — had only 25,000 friends, which can't compare to the hundreds of thousands of friends MySpace's superstar bands will collect. Second place may be a long way from first, but it can still be a profitable and fun place to be. — Mosi Reeves

PREDICTION NO. 10: BIGGER GAMES; BIGGER ARTIST EXPOSURE

Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Grand Theft Auto and SingStar have all helped to layer some bling into the music experience. Instead of listening to “Back in Black,” a younger generation is playing it — and then buying it, seeing it and playing it some more. Expect this story to keep growing in 2009, especially as consumers seek some refuge from the stresses of a down economy. — Paul Resnikoff

DR. SYMKO TO THE RESCUE: THERMOACOUSTIC RENEWABLE ENERGY

The conversion of an energy source into usable power is more than a geopolitical issue; it's a necessary business function. So if somebody said you could take the waste-heat generated from a laptop, stack of amplifiers, mixing console or your Tech-12s, and convert that heat into a sound frequency that produces electricity, would that not be music to your ears? A renowned physicist and his doctoral students have invented two efficient, small, environmentally friendly devices (heat engines) that do just that: a thermoacoustic prime mover and a microelectromechanical system (MEMS).

Dr. Orest Symko, a physics professor and the director of the Center for Acoustic Cooling Technology at the University of Utah, says there are three possible approaches to applying his devices: batteries, capacitors and converters. Symko's thermoacoustic prime mover converts a heat source into a sound wave that consequently pressurizes the inside of a resonator cylinder; the resulting pressure inside the cylinder produces voltage. Dr. Symko explains, “Heat generates sound in a resonator. The resonator is coupled to a piezoelectric device. By stressing a piezoelectrical device, as when a sound wave hits it, it generates electricity.”

With the first test-run in December 2008, Dr. Symko says of the possible market price in either commercial or residential applications: “The devices are quite simple — they have no moving parts — so cost cannot be high, but it would depend on the application. Some applications are for conversion of waste-heat from a nuclear power plant, a computer or other high-powered electronics; from car exhaust; or for a conversion from solar heat. It all depends on the application and the scale of units needing thermal management.” — David Stevens

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