She Ringtoned Me With SCIENCE!

Thomas Dolby pops up in articles because he writes and records cell phone ringtones for a living. I'm happy he makes good money creating musical haiku but I remember when he was a new wave wunderkind, writing "New Toy" for Lene Lovich and recording his one great album. Now he creates the annoying bleeps and bloops that precede dimwit A telling asswipe B all about the funny thing that just happened.

Thomas even teaches the SCIENCE! of ringtones:

~ So You Want to Create Ring Tones: Attend a Thomas Dolby Workshop ~

"Composing Polyphonic Ring Tones" workshops provide musicians and ring tone vendors with the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of composing polyphonic SP-MIDI ring tones for the latest Nokia phones, including the Nokia 3510, 7210, 3650, and 7650.

In the latest of these one-day workshops presented by Headspace, Thomas Dolby explains the SP-MIDI format and covers sound banks, polyphony, the MIP message, conversion tools, and techniques for using your favorite MIDI sequencer to make the best-sounding polyphonics. The workshops also address copyright law and business issues relating to ring tones.