Beethoven

 Welcome to the new episode of the TNW Podcast — the show where we discuss the latest developments in the European technology ecosystem and feature interviews with some of the most interesting people in the industry. In today’s episode, Andrii and Linnea talk about the ‘Operation Beethoven’ by the Dutch government, founders’ mental health, some Dune: Part Two trivia, world’s oldest actively developed web browser, and more. Here are the stories and things mentioned in the episode: The <3…

On the opening night of Bob Dylan‘s 2024 tour, a fan reportedly got under his skin by screaming out, “Play something we know.” The fact that he followed the heckle up with a brand new arrangement of “When I Paint My Masterpiece” that echoed Irving Berlin’s “Puttin’ On The Ritz” (or possibly “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” by the Four Lads) is surely coincidence since such things are worked out in advance, but later in the night he did pull out a surprise by covering the 1956 Jimmy Rogers song “Walking By Myself” for…

Blackbird and BeethovenBlackbird, you are the Beethoven of songbirdsbut when I hear this, the metaphor summonshis bust and I can’t recall your call.How many musicians, blackbird, are deaflike the percussionist who taught herself to hearwith parts of her body other than her ears,who performs barefoot to hear the music better?If I’d known more about vibrations, blackbird,how we hear with our hands with special nerve cells,known that hearing, blackbird, is an audio-tactile experience,with both senses tuned to environmental…

Inside the wood-panelled auditorium of one of Tokyo's most prestigious concert halls, 24-year-old Kiwa Usami presses just one index finger to the piano and summons the colossal swells of Beethoven's Ode to Joy, accompanied by an orchestra and choir.Usami, who has cerebral palsy, was one of three musicians with disabilities performing Symphony No. 9 with the Yokohama Sinfonietta at Suntory Hall on Thursday using an artificial intelligence-powered piano. To assist players, the "Anybody's Piano" tracks the notes of the…

Image: Apple TV+In what’s become a holiday tradition (and in the wake of free viewing windows for the Peanuts Halloween and Thanksgiving specials), A Charlie Brown Christmas will be streaming free on Apple TV+ on Saturday, December 16 and Sunday, December 17.Zillow Says You’ll Buy Your Next House With… AI? | AI UnlockedIf you’re an Apple TV+ subscriber, of course, you can watch it any time of year, but non-subscribers will need to take advantage if they want to watch the special free of charge. First aired by CBS on…

You and Alex Lifeson had already been friends for years when Neil Peart joined Rush in 1974. How did you succeed in making him feel an equal part of a trio rather than the drummer in your band? bertramWhen Neil joined the band, we immediately discovered that we had a lot in common. Our sense of humour; he loved Monty Python’s Flying Circus. He loved The Lord of the Rings and so did we. A lot of the bands we liked were similar – he was big into Cream and Ginger Baker – and the commonality stood us in good stead when just…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Skull fragments, presumed to be from Ludwig van Beethoven, have returned to Vienna, where the legendary 19th century German composer was buried, experts said Thursday. US businessman Paul Kaufmann donated the fragments, which he inherited, to the Medical University of Vienna where researchers will…

Dall-E, Beatoven, and Midjourney - these pun-filled and poetic-sounding applications have suddenly become household names in the last year or so, along with ChatGPT, which is perhaps the most popular. Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) has captured the imagination of individuals and businesses alike – enabling (artificial) creativity at a scale which was largely unheard of. Text, images, music, videos, 3D printing – you name it and these applications are capable of producing fairly impressive outputs (although they…

Nearly 200 years after Ludwig van Beethoven died, a team of researchers has managed to sequence the German composer’s genome from locks of his hair, revealing surprising details of his health and genealogical history. Chief among them: Beethoven had inherited genetic risk factors for liver diseases and was infected with hepatitis B; taken alongside the composer’s alcohol consumption, these likely contributed to his death at age 56. The team’s research is published today in Current Biology.“Our primary goal was to shed…

NEW YORK —  Nearly 200 years after Ludwig van Beethoven’s death, researchers pulled DNA from strands of his hair, searching for clues about the health problems and hearing loss that afflicted him.They weren’t able to crack the case of the German composer’s deafness or severe stomach ailments. But they did find a genetic risk for liver disease, plus a liver-damaging hepatitis B infection in the last months of his life.These factors, along with his chronic drinking, were probably enough to cause the liver failure that is…