Speaking of PG, today’s Times Magazine looks at the next wave of television ratings technology.

In the course of his brainstorming in the early 1990′s, Kolessar and his colleagues came to the conclusion that the best way to capture an individual’s media exposure was to bury a unique, repeating, inaudible digital code in the audio tracks of every radio or television channel in the country; the P.P.M. would recognize that code.

So Kolessar began to work on psychoacoustic masking, which places a signal just beneath the frequency of whatever is being transmitted. As Kolessar and his team worked through years of frustration, they discovered that the masked code’s frequency could not be too low (where it would run into technical problems) or too high (where it would bother dogs and cats). Nor could it even modestly compromise the audio quality of a show or a song. “We used ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ for a while for our tests, but then I just couldn’t take it anymore,” Kolessar said. So he switched to “Don’t Give Up,” the Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush duet from Gabriel’s album So. The song is an intricate work of sonic architecture (of some 26 separate tracks, according to Kolessar), which made it a challenge for the engineers. Kolessar led me into Arbitron’s sound studio to listen to what his team came up with after a decade. He cranked a recording of the Gabriel song through a pair of $20,000 speakers and switched back and forth between coded and uncoded versions. “You can’t tell the difference,” he said.

Sorry no psychoacoustic masking on this one, but feel free to enjoy on $20k speakers.


Bonus:

Don’t miss Big Willie’s scene-stealing role as Jesse in this summer’s Dukes Of Hazzard movie. On set he spent his downtime getting stoned in his trailer and giving Jessica Simpson pedicures (not really).

Comments (20)
  1. What they need is Arbitron on a funky funky jeep…

  2. thanks for the rarepg link. i am loving it.

  3. memememe  |   Posted on Apr 11th, 2005

    Jessica has been used and abused, and either doesn’t know it, or doesn’t care.

  4. Puddin'  |   Posted on Apr 11th, 2005

    When, oh when, are ribs poking through ones flesh going to be considered unattractive by Hollywood? Do they bar that girl from the catering table?

  5. matthew  |   Posted on Apr 11th, 2005

    listening to compressed music on $20,000 speakers sounds a lot like compressed music on normal speakers.

  6. Zelda  |   Posted on Apr 11th, 2005

    Ever notive how when they show some young sexy starlet in an evening gown, everyone raves about how sexy and glamorous and elegant she is….then stick her in a bikini to see just how thin she is, and we’re all horrified about her ribs sticking out and seeing her spine through her freaking chest??

  7. dallapozza  |   Posted on Apr 11th, 2005

    honk shhhhh… honk shhhhhh…

  8. Nocturne  |   Posted on Apr 11th, 2005

    Cocaine’s a helluva drug!

  9. Jake  |   Posted on Apr 11th, 2005

    I think she is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen,,,damn woody just from this pic

  10. mike  |   Posted on Apr 11th, 2005

    Hey if you have it flaunt it and DAMN does she have it…WOW

  11. “feed me”… classic…

  12. fuckin nasty jessica is. Dumb and ugly. What the hell is wrong with society.

  13. Vitaliy, Ukraine  |   Posted on Apr 12th, 2005

    Take a look at the prime minister of Ukraine
    http://www.obozrevatel.com/news/2005/4/11/6864.htm

    she is 44,
    stunning

  14. mary  |   Posted on Apr 12th, 2005

    that is sickening! i thought she had a healthier figure than that. if you want to screw santa’s little helper, go to town!

  15. A ratings system that transmits itself through audiotracks is a technically “sound” idea, but people are forgetting how this neglects the closed-captioning dependent community. How will shows like “American Idol” and “TRL” fare without their key demographics being accounted for? Not very well, that’s how.

  16. Grimmone  |   Posted on Apr 12th, 2005

    Her father is totally creepy. He was interviewed in some magazine and made a comment about Jessica’s breasts and how they are real. Everytime I see him on TV or read an interview with him I totally get a real creepy feeling.

  17. she looks waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy to thin YUCK

  18. loveanddeath  |   Posted on Apr 12th, 2005

    my peeps, stop being so ridiculous. It is obvious to everyone but YOU that Jessica Simpson is inhaling. My body probably does the same thing when I inhale and I am 116 pounds. If yours doesn’t it means you are fat.

  19. follow my link for more jessica rumors.

  20. ryan  |   Posted on Sep 5th, 2006

    u need to show more of yourslef

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