And He Blogs

The video above just cracks me up. And no Alan, I’m not switching to cat diaries 24-7. I found this video while exploring rooms at Hive7. I walked through many doors and found some neat new stuff. I liked this virtual world. People tell me it’s like Second Life, but I don’t know much more than what Martha has told me. I know that Rachel is also into it.

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Originally uploaded by everymosquito.

It’s pronounced “RAY-zee-stunce”, and it’s making Apple very “UHN-ah-pee”. The French government has decided to open up all of the online music stores so that no one company can dominate France’s music download market. How unhappy is Apple? So much so that it has made a statement that the French are supporting “state-sponsored piracy”. Hyperbole, Non? Did I just hear Gardner emit one of those evil laughs?

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one red paperclip

Originally uploaded by kylemac.

If it’s not on your radar already, it’s time for another crazy Internet story about someone with a wacky idea. This time it’s a gent from Montreal who started with a red paperclip, and his quest is to do “up trades” eventually trading for “a house, or an island, or a house on an island”. The point of all this is to follow the story about people that Kyle meets. He says he’ll go anywhere to trade for the right thing. Thanks to Alan Levine for stumbling across this.

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Microsoft is showing their self-deprecating side with a video that can now be confirmed that Microsoft actually created. The “iPod Box Parody Video”, follows another video entitled “Bill Gates Goes to College” that is available at ifilm. The “Napoleon Dynamite” parody was shown at PDC2005.

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The President is in central New York today. That’s not big news. What is big is who is greating him at the Rochester Airport - Jason McElwain. In a story that is so incredibly upbeat, that it is hard not to tear-up, Jason did something amazing. While it is hard to link directly to the video, I’ll just tell you to watch the video report from Steve Hartman (who is always great) entitled “Autistic Teen’s Hoop Dreams”.

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I grew up in a very safe town in central New York State. About the only danger we had was getting a blizzard that would dump 3 feet of snow and have 50 mph winds along with it (I experienced that a couple times). I never experienced those really dangerous things that are in everbody’s top ten of dangerous things, such as tornadoes, and major earthquakes. I never saw a rattlesnake, or a scorpion, or a black widow spider except in picture books and museums . . . until yesterday. Ultimately it’s not very exciting I guess, but imagine my shock to see the little guy gal in the picture above while cleaning out my garage. Immediately my heart began to race, and I instinctively went to grab my digital camera. The white styrofoam may not have been the ideal background, but I got a passable shot of the distinctive red hour-glass on the belly of the beast. There are other spiders that resemble black widows, and I have seen them and wondered whether I had seen my first. However, after this encounter there can be no doubt.

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The Theater 435 class is having a great time. As evidence, I submit the above picture. Just a few of my favorite stories so far are of finding the van at Epcot, the subway ride, and the Philip Rose talk. You know, you teach “your” kids a few things about blogging, and you send them off into the world, and look what they come up with. Blogging like pros!

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Flickr photo by Hagge.

No this isn’t about how to fold your computer. At a staff meeting today, I casually mentioned that a device called an Internet Tablet (specifically the Nokia 770) was being tested by one of the UMW faculty in my building. Steve Gallik teaches a Histology class in the Jepson Science Center, and he currently uses tablet PCs. He wanted to test the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, which, at $350 is considerably less expensive than a tablet PC. So he bought one. I must say it’s pretty cool and has loads of potential, but it has a little ways to go to being great.

I was also seeing this Origami Project buzz on the Internet, as Microsoft does its best Apple impression and doles out teasingly small bits of information on a new device. I remember when corporations introduced products weeks, months, even years in advance and then you waited for it to hit the store shelves. Not any more. We now wait for the product announcement with the proverbial bated breath. “They’re keeping it a secret so it has to be great.” With Apple’s latest announcement (a computer update and an iPod boom box) a monumental bore, and an apparently crushing disappointment to faithful Apple-nuts, I’m hoping that we are near the end of the product announcement mystery date phase of the consumer electronics industry. I know, I know, I did express some excitement for the Mac Mini, but that’s coming from a HD Geek. Hardly your average consumer (yet?). However, I digress.

Microsoft has apprently shown the “Origami PC” to a few folks at BlackBoard World. Yes, THAT BlackBoard, which means that the product has at least a little bit of educational emphasis to it. Here’s what one mobile PC website had to say.

I’ve been told from a very reliable source that Microsoft unoffically showed the origami pc yesterday at BlackBoard World to a select 50 customers of Blackboard – among the software to be included from day one: GoBinder and Backpack. He also confirmed that they will announce it on March 9 with Intel. Considering GoBinder and Backpack and the BlackBoard markets ( all centered around students), you can start to see who Microsoft’s target market will be with this new device, and why they would use this opportunity to give a “sneak peak”.

from GottaBeMobile

Which leads me to the conversation that I had with Dr. Gallik today about the Nokia Internet Tablet. He said that while the small device passes the test of displaying his Digital Histology Lab Manual, he still prefers the tablet PC because of the screen size. While the small form factor is cool, the tablet PC better allows him to read the dominant element of his manual, which is text. He concluded by saying that maybe something that is sized in between the tablet and the Nokia would be ideal. Is the Origami going to be that ideal device? C’mon Microsoft. Tell us already.

Quick UPDATE: I’ve been following links all over the place and should mention this extra link at GottaBeMobile about “What’s already out there?”.

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In yet another chance to blog about some Google video, here is an entry at the College MovieFest site. You can also watch the QuickTime version. This movie and the concept of all the movies at CMF gives me yet another place to gobble up my free time.

UPDATE!: The students in the “can drive 55″ video make news.

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You all remember Sony’s bouncing balls video right? Go take a look if you don’t. Anyway, I’m very conflicted by this video above. I’m reminded of the joy that I felt when seeing 250,000 colored super balls bouncing down a San Fransisco street. Though some might see a game advertisement, I see American soldiers in Iraq, and my feelings turn to sadness . . . until the very end. Maybe this is the soldiers jumping for joy because they’re leaving!!!???

On a tech note, this also shows off a very cool feature from Google Video called “put on site”, where you can embed any Google video, hosted on their site, onto your site (any video that isn’t from their “pay for play” section).

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