I’ve always been a huge Richie Hawtin fan, so it comes as no surprise that I loved every minute of this interview. I particularly enjoyed hearing his thoughts on the future of DJ’ing and how we must experiment with our tools to improve and develop new ones. Although Technics Turntables were considered to be the “standard” for DJ’ing 10 years ago, the technology is changing so often that it would hinder progress to claim any one tool as standard today.

“I think as people who are just looking at the equipment about what it does…but it’s not about what the equipment does, it’s about what you can do through that equipment. That’s where the soul is.”

Check it out for yourself:

When it comes to holiday shopping, many of us freeze at the mere prospect of trolling a mall with hundreds of others in search of that perfect and unique holiday gift. Particularly when it comes to tech toys, why scour the shelves when we can make our purchases online at the last minute instead? I don’t know about you, but I love shopping in my PJs – and have the items delivered directly to my doorstep!

Whether you’re shopping at home or in the mall, for yourself or someone else, here are five ideas guaranteed to satisfy the music lover in all of us.

1. The Portable Player, a.k.a. The Boombox

If you’re looking for a dock for your iPod or iPhone, the On Stage IV from JBL is your match. The portable speaker system plays music from your device while simultaneously charging it. It travels easily and packs a punch for it’s small size.

If you can hold out until January, TDK is back in the game with the TDK Boombox, an excellent reinvention of the classic ghetto blaster. Both a two and three-speaker option will be available (the third speaker hosts a dedicated sub-woofer!). The boombox comes with USB support including input for a USB stick, AM/FM radio, and RCA, minijack, and ¼ inch inputs. Settings have illuminated touch controls with two oversized aluminum knobs for volume and radio tuning support. How cool is that!?

However, if you prefer to keep it real with an authentic ghetto blaster, never fear! EBay has an excellent selection spanning different styles and decades.

For some, it’s more important to ditch those bulky D batteries and play it green. The recycled boombox makes an excellent stocking stuffer or gift exchange item (and it ain’t too shabby at $18 a pop).

2. USB Turntable

These days, it seems that turntables are on the up or out depending on how you look at it. Before you call sacrilege, check it out: the Crosley turntable features wireless streaming, a radio transmitter, and a USB hookup for easy analog-to-digital transfer. The tiny platter and wireless transmitter make it a great candidate for spinning your vinyl on the go.

Crosley CR6002A-BK Revolution Portable USB Turntable

3. Panasonic AV Room Headphones

Because everyone needs a fun and funky pair of ‘phones.

Headphones from Urban Outfitters

4.  Apple iPod Touch (4th Gen with Camera)

The ultimate in portable multimedia players. The latest iteration of the iPod Touch makes it a snap to stream online or terrestrial radio, sync your music library, and watch music videos.

While it is a splurge (starting at $229), this is probably one of the best portable media players you can buy.

For those who’d like to save their hard-earned scratch, Sandisk’s Sansa Fuse plays music and video and even has a built-in FM radio.

For more, check out PC Mag’s guide on finding the best MP3 player.

5.   The Sonos S5

The Sonos S5 is the big kahuna for in-home music entertainment. The system comes with five integrated speakers powered by separate digital amps, allowing you to play different songs in different rooms of your house. The system wirelessly streams music from your iTunes library, in addition to Internet radio stations like Pandora.

The other night was quite windy in here Santa Monica. It was 4am and I was wide awake and totally spooked.  I randomly posted how I was feeling to Twitter and noticed shortly thereafter that other west-siders were awake and acknowledging that they felt the same way.

This exchange comforted me somehow. It made me feel less neurotic about being freaked out by something so simple as wind.

It’s scary to think that everything I post is on record somewhere, but to participate I realize – like in a real world relationship – that it helps to open up.

I noticed that after posting more opinionated tweets or describing certain situations that my number of followers dramatically increased.  Offering up stuff I was working on, like  DJ mixes, helped too.

Make the experience personal and memorable and people will follow.

Just like the real world, the Twitterverse is full of amazing individuals who love to share their creations, thoughts and opinions.

Get to know your tweeples. Send them messages, read their blogs. You’ll become flattered by the types of people who follow you, and become inspired to offer more.  It makes participation more meaningful than communicating aimlessly in an anonymous online world.