In the last five years, I've published five books — the first through a traditional royalty publisher and the rest at home. One of the most valuable resources I've had in that adventure is BAIPA, and in 30 seconds, you can see why.

Rick Sammon's blog about photographing thousands of snow geese reminded me of an e-mail I got a while back from a world-champion duck caller. He was looking for a digital audio recorder. Here's what I suggested.

When in Hollywood, as the saying goes, be sure to visit Universal Studios. I just did on an unusually slow day and had a great time exploring how theme-park designers create an immersive experience through clever technology and storytelling.

Watch Moldover deconstruct a toylike keyboard and reassemble it as an innovative musical performance controller.

BoinxTV is a striking example of how digital creativity tools are changing. As our tools begin to work in real time, they become less tools and more instruments. We begin to PLAY them, and playing is the heart of creativity. Can you think of other examples?

Heading out the door to a laptop jam session today, I eyed my chunky little MIDI keyboard, but even it was too big to fit in my backpack. I ended up typing out melodies and chords on the computer keyboard itself. Not very expressive. What you really want is velocity-sensitive, piano-style keys along with pitch-bend and modulation controls.

What's probably the easiest, cheapest, and most flexible way to add an audio player to your site just got a whole lot better. Yahoo Media Player version 2 launched yesterday, adding a bevy of new features, including faster load time and support for several new audio formats beyond MP3.

It's the enduring creative mystery: You're noodling along on your instrument, stumble on an amazing lick or chord progression, and then something interrupts (phone, doorbell, power outage) and you forget your burst of genius. Where DO all the lost riffs and solos go?

One of the cleverest new products I saw at AES last month meets that challenge head-on. The Line 6 BackTrack is a palm-size recorder that's always listening. The basic line-in model costs $99, and a model with a mic (see photo) costs $149.

It's Halloween again, and what better way to set the mood than with a new soundscape album from Mark Greenfield, aka Darwin Chamber? Thanks to intelligent, computer-aided composition, it's much more immersive than the standard serving of ghost moans, melodramatic laughter, and werewolf howls.

You can find some great stories at the Audio Engineering Society show. This one bordered on the legendary: A photographer snatches a $2,500 digital audio recorder from the jaws of death.