piano

Remember Merton, the Chatroulette Piano Guy? He’s Still Here!

Peter Kafka in Media on July 6, 2010 at 5:02 am PT

The anonymous piano player who isn’t Ben Folds has been abandoned by Mashable (!), but he’s still making videos. And he’s trying to make a few bucks from them, too. Want to help?

Remember Merton, the Chatroulette Piano Guy? He's Still Here!

Peter Kafka in Media on July 6, 2010 at 5:02 am PT

The anonymous piano player who isn’t Ben Folds has been abandoned by Mashable (!), but he’s still making videos. And he’s trying to make a few bucks from them, too. Want to help?

The Return of Merton, the First Chatroulette Celebrity

Peter Kafka in Media on March 29, 2010 at 3:30 am PT

What’s the half-life of a YouTube sensation? We may get to find out in real time. Here’s the second video from Merton, the guy who became Internet-famous by playing piano on Chatroulette. The clip went up over the weekend, and it may be more popular than the first. Not as much fun, though.

Meet Merton, the Chatroulette Piano Guy (Who Isn’t Ben Folds)

Peter Kafka in Media on March 23, 2010 at 1:14 pm PT

How a guy who likes playing piano like Keith Jarrett became Internet famous in a few days. “I guess that’s why they call it viral.”

Silicon Valley Start-Up Whisperer (And Twitter Investor, Natch) Sacca Speaks!

Kara Swisher in News on May 4, 2009 at 5:28 am PT

Since leaving Google several years ago, where he last worked on wireless spectrum issues, it’s hard to say exactly what role the digital jumping bean who is Chris Sacca plays. He’s not an entrepreneur, although he seems to know all of them in Web 2.0 world and advises 18 start-ups. He’s no longer a big-company exec, although he was one and knows a lot of them too. He’s not a venture capitalist, although he is involved in a private equity firm and invests in a lot of the start-ups he advises, like the red-hot Twitter, and knows those guys too. In any case, here’s my chat with the Silicon Valley gadfly, whom BoomTown has dubbed the Start-Up Whisperer.

Macworld ’09: Garageband "Learn to Play," "Artist Lessons"

John Paczkowski in News on January 6, 2009 at 9:43 am PT

Phil Schiller returns to the stage to explain Garageband ’09. Our team was challenged to help people learn to play a musical instrument and they came through, says Schiller. Garageband now offers a feature called “Learn to Play” which offers not just nine basic lessons for guitar and piano, but “Artist Lessons” from the likes of John Fogerty, Norah Jones and Sting.

Macworld ’09: Garageband “Learn to Play,” “Artist Lessons”

John Paczkowski in News on January 6, 2009 at 9:43 am PT

Phil Schiller returns to the stage to explain Garageband ’09. Our team was challenged to help people learn to play a musical instrument and they came through, says Schiller. Garageband now offers a feature called “Learn to Play” which offers not just nine basic lessons for guitar and piano, but “Artist Lessons” from the likes of John Fogerty, Norah Jones and Sting.