Blue.
No surprise here...
The Invisible Bicycle Helmet | Fredrik Gertten
High Tech Grandparents
Seven in ten seniors own a cellphone, and one in three online seniors use social networking sites such as Facebook.
Happy 62nd!
I love the title of his autobiography: iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It.
Cool by judicial decree
A British judge ruled Samsung's Galaxy Tablets do not infringe on any of Apple's designs for the iPad.
Samsung, however, may have mixed feelings about this decision.
According to Judge Colin Birss, Samsung's Galaxy tablets are not cool enough to be confused with the iPad or violate any of Apple's design patents.
He had to change his FB status...
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. Your time is limited so don't waste it living someone else's life."
Engineering Management: Why are software development task estimations regularly off by a factor of 2-3?
... there are two pieces of legislation [SOPA and PROTECT IP or PIPA] currently pending that we, and others like us, believe seriously threaten the internet. I wanted to take some time to delve into the text of both of these bills, and outline their potential consequences as I am able to understand them. As you can imagine, this is a complex issue, and as a result this is going to be a complex post.
OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW.
Apple unveiled it on this date in 2001, and released it a couple of weeks later, on November 10.
It was created under the code name "Dulcimer," and was presented a few months after Apple released iTunes, its program to convert audio CDs into digital files.
The original iPod had a five-gigabyte hard drive, and Apple founder Steve Jobs declared it would put "1,000 songs in your pocket."
The name was inspired by a scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey, which included the line, "Open the pod bay door, Hal!"
One of a kind
"He's selling magic; everyone else is selling technology."
--John Sculley, former Apple CEO on Steve Jobs
"We're here to put a dent in the universe."
--Steve Jobs, entrepreneur and inventor (1955-2011)
Here's to the crazy ones.
"People sometimes have goals in life. Steve Jobs exceeded every goal he ever set for himself." ~ Steve Wozniak
Apple's secret is in our DNA.Why are so many of us addicted to Apple products (and yes, I mean literally addicted)?... The answer, I think, lies in mathematics and our own DNA.
Today is the birthday of Sergey Brin co-founder of Google. He was born in Moscow in 1973.
The company's motto is "Don't be evil," and Brin once said, "We want Google to be the third half of your brain."
"Obviously everyone wants to be successful, but I want to be looked back on as being very innovative, very trusted and ethical and ultimately making a big difference in the world."
Swarmbot!
Google is changing the way we remember.
The good news is our dependence on Internet searches isn't necessarily shrinking our cerebral cortexes or making us forget where we put our car keys. Instead, it's changing the way our brains organize and retain information.
Since the advent of search engines, we are reorganizing the way we remember things. Our brains rely on the Internet for memory in much the same way they rely on the memory of a friend, family member, or co-worker.
The research suggests we forget things we're sure we can find on the Internet, and are more likely to remember things we think we can't (probably very little these days).
Furthermore, the research says, we are better able to remember where to find something on the Internet than we are at remembering the information itself.
"Go door..."
On this day in 1977, the Apple II computer went on sale, and the era of personal computing began. Developed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, it was the first successful mass-produced microcomputer designed for home use. It came standard with 4 kilobytes of memory, game paddles, and a demo cassette with some programs on it. Most people used their televisions as monitors.
The Apple II sold for about $1,300; today that same money will buy you an iMac, with 4 gigabytes — one million times the original amount — of memory, a sleek backlit 21-inch monitor, and a 2.7 gigahertz processor.
Why not a RED one???
The iphone is now available in white.
Already there is a controversy that it may be slightly thicker than the black model.
The new Joe and Rika Mansueto Library at the University of Chicago houses cutting-edge facilities for preservation and digitization of physical books, as well as a high-density underground storage system with the capacity to hold 3.5 million volume equivalents.
Computer beats humans!
"Watson", a huge mainframe computer, has defeated the two top Jeopardy champions after a three-day contest. The scientists who designed the computer had to program it to understand the puns, double meanings, and convoluted logic required to succeed on Jeopardy.
I watched the three nights of this contest and found the shows dull. The competition was set up to showcase the computer. I also noticed that Watson really stumbled several times. Once "he" gave the same answer that another contestant had just failed with, and on the first Final Jeopardy question he chose Toronto as an "American airport".
Despite the obvious glitches, the machine dominated the three days of play. But one of his creators says
I see human intelligence consuming machine intelligence, not the other way around."
The kind of thing an idiot would have on his luggage!
An analysis by Imperva of 32 million passwords obtained from the RockYou.com server breach, showed the insecure practices used by millions of users when choosing their passwords.
123456 is the most common password. 20 passwords not to use.
These Gears Work!
How Watches Work
In honor of their anniversary, Google has a really cool, interactive bouncing ball logo.Check it out Here.
It was on this day in 1998 that Google was first incorporated as a company.
Google was the brainchild of two Ph.D. students at Stanford University, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They designed a search engine with one important difference from all the others: Instead of giving you results based on how many times your search term appeared on a Web page, they created software that would figure out how many times each relevant website was linked to from other relevant websites and sorted those and then laid them out for you, all on a clear, simple screen. Google is now an incredibly powerful and profitable company.
In June of 2006, "Google" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary as a verb.
Cook 15 Things Instead of 4
"The William" stove-top concept isn't bossy like most stove-tops. It doesn't stipulate what size your pots and pans should be, or where and how many you can use.
According to Time magazine, these are the 50 best websites of 2010.
Remember the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series of books? Now there is an iphone app for that.
To surf or not to surf...
Of the two mental worlds everyone inhabits, the inner and the outer, the latter increasingly rules. The more connected we are, the more we depend on the world outside ourselves to tell us how to think and live. There’s always been a conflict between the exterior, social self and the interior, private one. ... In our own lifetime, the balance has tilted decisively in one direction. We hear the voices of others, and are directed by those voices, rather than by our own. We don’t turn inward as often or as easily as we used to.from "Hamlet's Blackberry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age" by William Powers
What I’m proposing here is a new digital philosophy, a way of thinking that takes into account the human need to connect outward, to answer the call of the crowd, as well as the opposite need for time and space apart. The key is to strike a balance between the two impulses.
Whither Verizon? Why the iPhone isn't coming to Verizon Wireless any time soon.
Boulder Valley Schools will power down computers to save money and be kinder to the environment.
An old idea revisited
"Desktop virtualization" is the name for this approach, and basically it means that instead of installing a bunch of programs on each desktop, you run everything on servers in the data center and let individuals pull down the applications they need.
How a Cell Phone Call Works
Via: Cell Phones
Remember floppies?
The Rules
You may own a MacBook, iPhone and an iPad, but you shouldn't just use each anywhere you'd like. There are rules, people. Mac, iPhone, or iPad? Device Advice for Modern Adventures.
Way cool!
A local private school, Alexander Dawson, is going with ipads for its 5th and 6th graders next fall. Lucky kids!
Here is a link to an article about the change.
Happy 55th!
It's the birthday of Steve Jobs, born in San Francisco (1955), who dropped out of college after a semester, went to India in search of spiritual enlightenment, returned a devout Buddhist, experimented with LSD, and then got a job with a video game maker, where he was in charge of designing circuit board for one of the company's games.
He co-founded Apple Computers, and in a commercial during the Super Bowl in January 1984 he unveiled the Macintosh. The commercial was filled with allusions to George Orwell's 1984. The Macintosh was the first small computer to catch on with the public that used a graphical user interface, or GUI (sometimes pronounced "gooey"). In the past, computers were run by text-based interfaces, which meant that a person had to type in textual commands or text labels to navigate their computers. But with a graphical user interface, people could simply click on icons instead of typing in hard-to-remember, precise text commands.
The graphic user interface revolutionized computers, and it's on almost all computers today. It's on a whole lot of other devices as well, like fancy vending machines and digital household appliances and photocopying machines and airport check-in kiosks. And graphical user interface is what's used with iPods, another of Apple's wildly successful products.
Jobs once said, "I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates."
Less than a century ago, the timing of downhill skiing required someone at the top and bottom of the run, each with a stopwatch synchronized to the time of day ... Oh, how things have changed.
Just in time for the Olympics a cowbell app for your i-phone. You simply shake it to "applaud" contestants in frozen Vancouver.(It works for other sports events as well...)
"Call up" a book
A Magical and Revolutionary Device
I think I know what the kids will want for their birthday this year.
Apple: Introducing the iPad
taka-taka-taka-DING!
Cormac McCarthy has written more than a dozen novels, several screenplays, two plays, two short stories, countless drafts, letters and more — and nearly every one of them was tapped out on a portable Olivetti manual typewriter he bought in a Knoxville, Tenn., pawnshop around 1963 for $50.
No Country for Old Typewriters: A Well-Used One Heads to Auction
Ecofont uses 20% less ink to create printed words.This is achieved by putting tiny holes (like Swiss cheese) in the letters. A free download is available here.
Think Diffrent
Today is the 25th Anniversary of the first Macintosh Commercial.
Technology addiction wins out!
Ping!
When you powered up an Apple II, it would make a short beep sound to let you know that it was alive. We thought that the Mac should do something similar, once it passed the diagnostics, sort of like an infant's first cry, letting the world know that you actually made it hereThe Original Macintosh: How the boot sound evolved
Daisy, Daisy
“I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you’d like to hear it I can sing it for you.”Happy Birthday, HAL!
Down but not out
Steve Jobs has a hormone imbalance which has led to questions about his health. But he and the Apple Board of Directors say he will recover and remain in his current position.
Let's call the Pope...
The early days...Apple founders played practical jokes with phones.
Why did they buy a Zune in the first place?
A "Green" Apple
Apple announced that it reduced Apple's packaging volume for the MacBook Air by 50 percent versus the previous MacBook.
Happy 40th birthday, little mouse!
On Dec. 6, 1968, at a conference in San Francisco, the computer mouse was introduced. It was a carved block of wood with two rubber wheels.
Please surrender your BlackBerry.
For years, like legions of other professionals, Mr. Obama has been all but addicted to his BlackBerry ... But before he arrives at the White House, he will probably be forced to sign off. In addition to concerns about e-mail security, he faces the Presidential Records Act, which puts his correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review, and the threat of subpoenas. A decision has not been made on whether he could become the first e-mailing president, but aides said that seemed doubtful.Lose the BlackBerry? Yes He Can, Maybe
Flu Trends
Google Phone debuts on October 22nd. And, it's cheaper (though not by much) than an i-phone.
The little search engine that could
I recall when Apple began giving computers to schools nationwide. It was the beginning of technology's spread, and is the reason why most teachers still prefer Apples today. Now several colleges are issuing iphones to incoming freshmen. Once again, Apple's smart marketing will lead the way.
The college administrators say it's because they want to be able to alert students to campus emergencies, schedule changes, etc. The iphones also include GPS so students can find their way around campus. The iphones can be used to take notes in classes, though professors fear they will simply become a distraction to students, rather than a study aid.
Where's the root beer?
The Papa Johns Pizza chain has mowed a wheat field near DIA to look like a giant pizza, complete with pepperoni. The hope is that delegates flying into Denver for the Democratic National Convention will see it and...get hungry?
Irish for "knowledge"
Cuil (pronounced "cool") is a new search engine created by former Google employees. (try it here).
Got suspenders?
The city of Flint, Michigan has just passed a law against sagging pants.
No Pain. All Gain.
I went up to the Flatirons Crossing Apple Store this afternoon to buy some cleaner for my keyboard and also to attend a workshop on the Leopard operating system which is part of my new computer.
A young man named Elliott did a great job explaining the basics in a non-threatening way. But first he had to show off his brand new iphone!
He was wearing a shirt with the message posted above.
In 40 minutes time I learned quite a lot, and I have now signed up for a workshop on iphotos, which should be helpful, too.
Time to sign off and clean my keyboard.
Click "Start" to shut down
Today is Bill Gates's last day at Microsoft (sort of...)
Bet Ben would like this
Alice is an innovative 3D programming environment that makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web. Alice is a teaching tool for introductory computing. It uses 3D graphics and a drag-and-drop interface to facilitate a more engaging, less frustrating first programming experience.
It's cheaper AND faster
Steve Jobs talks to ABC News about the new iphone.
Virtual real estate is still selling
Though the economy may be in decline, the market for web site domain names is on the rise. Recently Gasprices .com sold for $300,000 and pizza.com went for $3 million.
This past week I purchased a converter box for my old analog tv so that I will be able to continue receiving my broadcasts through an antenna when the big change-over comes in February of 09. I bought a Zenith box from Circuit City, and was able to successfully install it myself (using info off the internet). The quality of the reception is actually better now, and I get a clear picture even on channels that were fuzzy before. The only part I don't like is having to use two remotes, one to turn on the tv and one to access the converter box and change channels. However, it was much cheaper to do this than to buy a new High Def tv for several hundred dollars. I ended up paying $25 after using the free coupon for $40 provided by the government.
A puzzle...
Can you figure out what this Google logo is honoring? I couldn't, but clicking on it revealed that this is the anniversary of the discovery of the laser.
"Bluefire"--what a great name!
Boulder's National Center for Atmospheric Research has a new IBM computer, one of the 25 most powerful in the world. It can perform more than 76 trillion calculations a second!
This is how you make a call...
Teenagers from Amsterdam's deprived neighborhoods are getting a chance to earn some extra cash by teaching the city's bankers, lawyers and diamond dealers how to use their mobile phones.
Be "in the know"
What is a vlog?
600 millions obsolete cellphones are out there
You can recycle old cellphones AND do a good deed at the same time. The Good Deed Foundation will send you a postage-paid envelope for you to mail your old phones to them. Some phones are sold and the proceeds go to help women and chilldren escape poverty or to support climate-change initiatives. The rest of the phones are re-conditioned and given to older adults so they can make 911 calls. It's win-win all around.
Which would YOU choose?
Apple logo stimulates the brain to creativity. IBM logo projects competence and organization.
End of an era
Polaroid will no longer produce film for its instant cameras.
Manned Cloud: A hotel disguised as a flying whale
Bring out the MacGyver in You
What is IT?Introducing the ATAX survival tool.
Its an AX
A knife
A skinner
A wire cutter
A range finder
A compass
An Inclinometer
A clock
A wrench
A hammer
A rescue tool
A survival kit holder
A fire bow bearing
An arrow launcher
A field level
The Queen is a Techie!
Queen Elizabeth sends her annual Christsmas Day message on YouTube. Check out The Royal Channel.
It's Alive!
After much poking, prodding, rebooting, drive-swapping, and finger crossing, I was able to access the data on the old computer drive, format the new drive, and copy everything over. Not only that, but the new drive is about 3 times bigger so I have a lot more space! The lesson learned from this: back up data, then back it up again! AND, when a computer drive starts to act flaky, replace it right away.
Click of Doom
The main drive in our "big" computer at home stopped working over the weekend. I was able to get a replacement drive for a pretty good price, but now I can't access the data on the old drive to copy it over. I have some tools to try, but so far things look grim. I'm still hopeful that it will all work out for the best.
KNOLOGY, INC.
Coming soon--Google's answer to Wikipedia and Mahalo--KNOL.
Help for airline travelers
The Los Alamos National Laboratory is working on a new MRI scanner that could clear liquids in carry-on bags. This would eliminate the 3-1-1 rule currently in effect at airport passenger screening areas (only 3 oz. containers that will fit in a single 1 quart plastic bag).
Insert Quarter
Scratch PacMan by Ben Pettis
Once the page loads, click the green arrow to start the game
Space Egg Calls To Me
Check out the review for the Aptera ElectricHybrid Car - this is the car of the future, available TODAY (or in a year or so for $30,000 and a $500 deposit).
Happy Birthday, Big G!
I was checking something on Google and noticed they had their name decorated as they generally do for holidays and other important dates, but I couldn't figure out what the occasion was this time. Turns out Google is celebrating it's 9th birthday! Learn more here.
iphone test drive
we're at the Apple store trying the iphone. It's very cool. The hardest thing is typing, but I'm sure I can get used to it!
For Mac Users Only
Apple Mania
Seven Things to Consider Before Buying an iPhone.
And a bit of trivia--Did you know that you can't buy an iPhone in North or South Dakota, Wyoming, or Montana? There are
iPhone Launch Day
It's iPhone launch day, and people are lining up in front of Apple stores to be one of the first to buy the little gem. Check out this Flickr set of people in front of the App
Want to drive green? Want to drive fast? Check out the Tesla. It'll set you back $92K, however...
Let there be light
On Wednesday the Canadian Environment Minister (Why doesn't the US have a cabinet post like that?) announced that that Canada will ban the sale of in
Microsoft is Dead
And by dead, essayist Paul Graham means Microsoft is increasingly irrelevant.
Just let me get started already!
Using Even New PCs Is Ruined by a Tangle Of Trial Programs, Ads
The problem is a lack of respect for the consumer. The manufacturers don't act as if the computer belongs to y
Blogger- in-Chief
In today's Wordsmith posting I came across the term "blogger-in-chief" which sounded like a joke to me till I googled it. I found that this is a common position in many lar
April Fool!
New York City proposes a resolution to limit the type of cell phone ring residents may have. This news item ran on NPR this morning in a VERY plausable piece of reporting. Only
DST > Y2K
While Apple may have gotten their patch out without incident, I spent most of the day yesterday working on getting our Windows servers and BlackBerry devices adjusted for the new time change. The patches seem e
Yeah, Macintosh!
The daylight savings time patch which Apple sent to all its Mac users made the conversion from an April daylight savings time to the "early" one today without a hitch. My computer had the correct dst displayed when I turned it on. Good work, Apple tech
Toast
Build a better toaster and the world will beat a path to your... bread?
New name: "Apple, Inc."
I want an iPhone!
January is: Clean Up Your Computer Month
Science is what we understand well enough
to explain to a computer.
Art is everything else.
~ Donald Knuth (Wired, November, 1999)
A Better Nail
What could be more simple than a nail? It's easy to build with, and seems to do well holding things together. That is, until you subject it to severe stress - like the stress from an earthquake or hurricane.
In 1995 a Clemson U
The Power of the IPOD!
A Vancouver, Washington man was rescued after becoming lost in dense forest while out mushroom picking near Corvallis, Oregon. It's not uncommon for people who a
SAX-40
Check out the design on this "silent, green" airplane, a significant change from the tube fuselage plane all airlines currently use.
Happy Birthday, IPOD!
The IPOD celebrates its 5th birthday this month. And everyone from Dick Cheney to the Queen of England owns one. Steve Jobs was asked how he knew it was going to be a success: This is an article from the "Wordsmith" posting I receive daily : <---- ! ----> Automobiles in the 1920s and 1930s did not come with brake lights or turn signals. So people added them. (note, page is image heavy and may be slow to load). The top 25 computer spokesthings.
Reverse Polish A Noun or a Verb? Google is concerned that the name of their company is becoming generic (much like "Kleenex" became the name for all facial tissues). They object to people saying "I googled my date and learned a lot." The company prefers "I did a Google search to find The Evolution of Desktops (well, Mac and PC desktops)
The personal computer is 25 years old Hug a SysAdmin Today is SysAdmin Day! Sales Brochures for Extinct Computers. Dad used to have an Posted by Jason to Technology
Macs Make Me Happy Five Years of Mac OS X. Ars Technica looks at the Beginnings - and Endings - Apple's revolutionary operating system brought half a decade ago.
The Six-Stroke Engine. More powerful. More efficient. Internally Cooled. Coming to an automobile near you?
UPDATE: check this video: Happy Birthday ENIAC Lego MindStorms LEGO announced today an update to their MindStorms System: the MindStorms NXT.
Two Years on Mars Spirit and Opportunity just won't stop; Monday marked the two year anniversary of the probes on mars.
To all those glued to their computers... Queen Elizabeth II has knighted Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the World Wide Web. While working at CERN, the European Particle Physics laboratory near Geneva in the late 1980's, Berners-Lee developed the architecture of the Internet--the Around the country, thousands of famil It's about time.
An electronics manufacturer has come out with a book reader gadget.
For about $300, one can curl up with this device to read downloadable
books. Even if the novel isn't as satisIt's the 25th anniversary of the PC, and there are a lot of Top 25 lists floating about...But eWEEK Editorial Dire
It was no more powerful than a modern calculator, but the arrival of the original IBM perso
You may think that all a sysadmin does is fix computers and set up monitors. Actually, the role of a sysadmin is much l"The heart of the new system is the NXT brick, an autonomous 32-bit LEGO microprocessor that can be programmed using a PC, or for the first time in the retail
Seen on the web
The Wovel uses your body weight to lift and throw snow and slush. With leverage, the Wovel magnifies your effort. It can double the power you su
Good article on how Apple and Steve Jobs killed off the iPod M
Unfortunately it's another example that FEMA doesn't seem to know what it's doing.
Posted by Jason to Technology
Answer--A measurement for the movement of a mouse, which is approximately 1/200th inch. There are horizontal and vertical mickey counts.
From The Amazing Trivia Facts Calenda
The Domain Name System (or DNS) is what allows people using the internet to type in address names, instead of trying to remember the server's numerical addres
Developed in the 1990's, Boeing is
Ever wonder who invented the smiley? Thanks to some computer archeology, now we know.
There are a few sections of the Great Pyramid at Giza that have not been explored by humans. Small passages, hard to reach places. Scientists hope a small robot called The Pyramid Rover will help them discover
The engine runs on Hydrogen, the car is controlled completly through the stearing wheel. Is this the car of the 21st century?
Clear, easy to understand animations showing how a variety of engines work. Good information; give the animations time to load.
Scientists successfully contacted the satelite on its 30th anniversary. The probe responded over 22 hours late
The catch? DOD do
warning: link activates popups - annoying Yahoo
On October 4, 1957, the Soviet union launched the Sputnik satelite and ushered in the Dawn of the Space Age.
Yahoo News has the story. For some reason they used '+' instead of '@' in the article. 30 years and some still can't get it right.
Sometimes the coolest technologist is among the oldest.
GUI=Graphical User Interface, and is pronounced "gooey"
NASA is gearing up for the next phase of space station construction, while they face huge budget overruns through 2006. They are considering cutting way back on
"Don't forget, tonight is voluntary Blackout Night!!! The Blackout will
occur all over the city from 7:00pm - 10:00pm MST tonight.
The Army has developed a Smart Truck with gadgets straight out of a Bond film. The prototype can, for starters, disable intruders with electric-shock door ha
The Hubble Space Telescope is 11 years old. Space.com has a story on the Hubble's birthday photo and gives some stats on its p
The Global Hawk unmanned plane arrived in Australia 14 minutes ahead of schedule today. It took off from the United States and flew for 23 hours by remote control. The Air Force has
Scientists have released a report on Shackleton crater listing details that make it an excellent choice for a lunar base. After the Inte
It's a cell phone made out of paper! Small, disposable, cheap - and possibly available at the end of the year.
Scientists in Britain have developed a way to make silicon emit light. This doscovery may lead computers that use light rather than electricity to car
Nasa pulls the plug on the replacement for the Space Shuttle.
The Planetary Society (founded by Carl Sagan) will be launching a solar sail at the end of the year, as a proof of concept test. The craft will use the pressure of sunli
Using some high-tech equipment, Scientists are recovering ancient writings recently excavated from a 2,000-year-old Roman villa in the ancient
This Navy site has an amazing picture, and a good explination, of a cloud effect seen when a plane goes supersonic.
So...how much electricity is California using right now?!?
Buying a computer? Know someone who might be? Share this list of ten areas where the truth gets bent by the salesfolk.
IT is coming! IT is coming! But... what is it?
Apple announced two new computers today: the 733 MHz G4 Tower and the very cool Powerbook G4, made out of Titanium.
