Good day, bad day: January 19, 2012

Apple vows to digitize textbooks, while a young teen is baffled by the vinyl records of the pre-digital era — and more winners and losers of today's news cycle

GOOD DAY FOR:

Singing in the rain
An American musician invents a "singing house" that translates rain, sunshine, and other weather patterns into the appropriate ambient music. [Animal New York]

Impatient fans of Super Bowl commercials
Volkswagen releases a teaser for its upcoming Super Bowl commercial (which will air during the Feb. 5 game). Three words: The Bark Side. [BuzzFeed]

Reinventing the textbook
Apple announces that it will bring full-screen digital textbooks to the iPad in an attempt to make textbooks more engaging for students. [Financial Times]

BAD DAY FOR:

Respecting women
Rapper Jay-Z denies the recent rumors that the birth of his daughter inspired him to drop the word "b*tch" from his lyrics. [Death and Taxes]

Inter-generational understanding
A chagrined, video-camera-wielding dad tries explaining the mechanics of vinyl records to his 13-year-old daughter, who is simply baffled by the cumbersome disc. [The Daily What]

Performance-enhancing undies
A Slovenian Olympic skier comes under scrutiny for wearing a type of underwear that allegedly gave her an unfair advantage during a race in Austria. [TIME]

For more winners and losers see: Good day, bad day: January 18, 2012