Another Contest

I entered another image contest. This one is supposed to be a boring magazine cover.



The photo on the cover was a Creative Commons image I found on Flickr. Thanks Sklathill!

Hey, any magazine that has watched paint dry has to be boring, right?

Linkin Park, deviantART contest

I entered this contest a few days ago. I miss making images.

Here is one of the entries.

This was the one I made first, but didn't like it.

Not Lonely

I really like the composition of this photograph from the Scooter in the Sticks blog. The last photo of that post, click on it to get the full image.

It goes along with the author's practice of not riding in groups or often with others. If it was just the Scooter, it would seem lonely. The same if it was just the tree, but both together somehow says, to me at least, they are not lonely, just enjoying time that does not include anyone else.

Level Up, Not Grades

This article talks about the integration of games into education.

A professor at IU has decided to not give grades, but you need to level up your avatar to pass the class.

"Games and real life are colliding in unique ways. One professor at Indiana University, Lee Sheldon, doesn't give grades. Rather, students start as a level one avatar and level up through the class based on attendance and performance, like in a role-playing game. And the students' performance in class seems to indicate that the system works."

Interesting idea.

Millions of Dollars in your pocket

Hard to imagine when I was in high school that I would have a computer smaller than some wallets I have owned. Ok, I might have imagined it, but I read alot of Sci-Fi.

Then make an application for that tiny computer that lets me access images from the most expensive and highest quality space telescopes and it just boggles the mind.

Oh, and the application is free.

Truly amazing.

Remediating the Classroom

This seems like such a no-brainer, to update the way knowledge is taught from the knowledge gained over the last...hundred to two hundred years.

I think the perfect solution would be a device with a small screen that could be 'docked' to a larger screen, keyboard and other peripherals as needed. I just don't think carrying around a keyboard and large screen, especially for younger kids.

Such use-cases could be a large touch or stylus screen for art focused lessons, digital instruments for music, the advance of digital microscopes (how cheap are they now?)

With the availability of inexpensive and task specific hardware, it would just need a coherent vision and software to make this possible.

Yes, I am an optimist.

Apple's iPad: Newton the Next Generation

The new Apple iPad is like the Apple Newton, but modern. The only feature I would want is handwriting recognition.

I was glad to see the art application they demoed, but think a dual input (such as touch and pen, like Wacom's graphics pads) would have been killer.

Who owns/controls Media?

When reading, searching and in otherwise trying to gain information/knowledge/ideas on a topic for my telecom class (Twitter: t101medialife), I saw a video (has the feeling of being old, but I think that more comes from production values, such as the hum, and the lack of editing-if I didnt have class and work tomorrow, I could stay up all night and edit it better, but not sure i could remove that hum) of Leah Lievrouw (she starts at 4:24, but video is long).

She talks of media relationships and ownerships and it got me thinking about several things, like who owns media and why is media so hard to 'control'.

I think it is that ideas transfer easily as does data on a network. Places like YouTube combines people watching videos and so data and ideas are transferred quickly and easily from person to person and place to place. But there are so many videos, how do you find something you want, or would even be interested in? Or would be interested in, but not that you are aware of? Aggregation of this media?

Another video I watched discusses meaning by Sonia Livingstone (who seems very brilliant and better video).

The discussion of meaning is not just lying around, but is decided on by the viewer and takes work. The 'Grab and Go' but do we know what we got and have we thought about it?

The meaning production takes place by the viewer (experiencer?) and not the producer.

Those thoughts from each of those videos got my brain going so much I stopped the videos (and I didn't have the time to watch 2 hours of video, need to sleep sometime). I wanted to roll those around, think about them, share them and now I am blogging about it.

Theft used to mean taking something away from someone else, but with digital data, copies are not degraded from the source and do not remove the original. It is funny that this concept which I believe was discussed in at some length in the past is finally starting to have an impact in society.

A quote from the 70's: "There is a viable alternative to the problems raised by Bill Gates in his irate letter to computer hobbyists concerning 'ripping off' software. When software is free, or so inexpensive that it's easier to pay for it than to duplicate it, then it won't be 'stolen'."

[See Copyleft at GNU or wikipedia]

Now, replace software with music and that should explain both music pirating and the success of iTunes. If the cost is too great (hassle, money, time, encumberment), people will start 'stealing', but again, it is not really stealing. The original is just fine and still there.

I would like to blame a mythical accountant or middle manager who wanted to point the finger at something besides their own failings or the failings of the company. They came up with some charts and a spreadsheet and at a meeting said "Look at all the lost revenue. If we had sold the Y copies shared, we would have made X dollars". I assume greed grabbed hold and did the rest.

If people wanted to pirate and not just get the music they wanted, iTunes (and now other pay music sites) would never be able to compete with music sharing sites.

People want to also play with media the way they want. This leads to more things that make large corporations unhappy and their lawyers very happy (think of all those billable hours). YouTube is full of fans playing with media, not to cheapen, distract or cause problems for the creator, but to express their own like (love seems strong) for that media.

What if the large corporations took the view point that this was free advertising, that more people would be exposed to their products and maybe even be willing to purchase products? Some have, such as Trent Reznor's take on selling music. He sells it and gives it away and makes more than enough to make a profit. Those who are willing to pay for his music get it and those who are not still get it. He even supports people playing with his music and has a site just for remixes of his music. I think more musicians are going to need to take that route. I am not sure how much longer 'rock stars' will be around.

Now, the world is not all rainbows and unicorns and I understand that people need to make a living, but it seems that 'maximizing shareholders return on investment' needs to take a longer term viewpoint than just this quarter or year.

Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid

I am constantly surprised that there are not more reconfigurable (on the fly) computers and am happy that someone is giving it a go. I just wish they had gone futher.

Start with a laptop in a docking station, then take the laptop part with you, then just take the screen. Seems logical and like a good idea.

Where I think they fell down in execution is that there are two separate computer systems that share URLs. Why have two computer systems? With processors that can slow themselves down and even shutdown cores, why make two different computers? Lenovo could have just packed the bottom/keyboard with an optical drive, more ports and a huge battery.

The power use could be tailored to how it is connected. In a docking station, run at full power! Just has the keyboard and extra battery, run at some middle of the road performance. Just the screen, then it could be configured to run a more power saving setup.

Add to that multi-mode screens (sure, the Pixel Qi is the only one now, but I expect some kind of OLED/Digital Ink hybrid to come along soon) and solid state drives and I think a product could be made that could be your desktop/laptop/tablet. As they are all the same machine, a user doesn't have to worry about syncing data between computers.

Maybe the fact that Lenovo's Hybrid uses two different operating systems is a clue to a possible issue? The main computer runs Windows, while the screen runs Linux.

Maybe Lenovo thinks that a purely Linux laptop would not sell, but that Windows7 is not tunable enough for low power to make the tablet portion work well.

Let me know what you think below.

Old Media Still Has Power

Old Media (newspapers, TV networks, etc) still have power, as pointed out by this Treehugger post.

The real question is, for how much longer? When will any newspaper become so unimportant that if they publish an article about something, businesses just ignore it instead of respond to it? Or, will they transform and adjust to currently available technology?

Well, Radio was to have killed Newspaper, but didn't. TV was feared to do them both in, but still hasn't.

Now the internet is supposed to lay waste to all previous forms of distribution? Probably not, atleast not anytime soon. As the more agile of these 'old media' companies start taking advantage of possible revenue-making approaches to current technology (it is not new, the internet has been around for awhile now), they will continue to be relevant. Until the next thing comes out that will destroy all previous forms of media, communication and distribution.

The newspapers, magazines, radio and even TV networks that think that if they do anything other than what they did before they will cease to exist (or not make a profit) seems so strange to some (read young, tech-literati). Looking into history will show you how each of the incumbent adjusted to the newcomer (or failed). Radio adjusted to TV. Radio has even adjusted to the internet (I can find more sources of radio content on the internet than I can broadcast television). Maybe Radio, as an industry, never got into the mind set that it was owed after TV came. It has been adjusting and making changes to try to stay profitable and survive.

As for Newspaper? I am sure that many charts, reports and other business tools keep showing them how much money they are losing. Newspaper seems to have a sense they are owed that revenue, not that they have to produce a product that someone wants. Some have laid blame on the internet for those losses (Rupert Murdoch).

The recent release of two videos shows that some publishers (Sports Illustrated) and others are thinking about how to reproduce magazine content electronically (Bonnier Research and Development). Both of these are a much better response to the internet and widely available internet access than the blame someone or try to legislate protection for your industry against newer technologies.

I hope more companies try to leverage newer technology for their benefit and to make their customer happy. Making your customer unhappy usually leads to bad things (see music industry and file sharing before iTunes Music Store).

A tool is still a tool, even if it is new

The linked to article says nothing new. Like when other new forms of communication became available to businesses, such as telegraph, phone, fax, or email, they are used to do basically the same things.

Communication technology, funny enough, is used to communicate. I dont see anything innovative about these. All of these could have been done with email. They could have been done with faxes, etc. And they were actually done with those earlier technologies.

Doing a quick Google search shows several pages that discuss how to use email for business, but you have to go back a page or two before you find them, as the idea of using email for business is kind of expected or taken for granted by most now.

So, technology is a tool. I hope at some point we will polish communication technology until it because so well understood that it will be like a hammer. Sure there are specific types of hammers, but everyone seems to understand what a hammer is for. Ok, there are some that may not know what a hammer is for, but if they see it used once or twice, it will become apparent what tasks you could use a hammer for.

What will this highly polished communication tool be like? Some weird combination of email, tweets, texts and instant messenger.

Or, it could be like Google Wave.

Too many places

Wow, there are just too many places to update, put info and otherwise try to help others who know me, knew me, or for some reason think they want to know me, to find me.

There is my MySpace page, my Facebook page and this blog.

Then there are places like Classmates, Reunion.com, and even my old geocities (now yahoo) webpage.

And of course, I can not forget about my twitter feed and LinkedIn networks (not sure how to provide a link, cause you have to be signed in, etc).

Oh, then there are places that have an entry for me because of something I did, like my freelance writing for RPGs found here.

Wish someone made a way to keep them all up-to-date at once. Or at least easier than going to all these different webpages and logging in a dozen times.

Blowing the dust off.

It has been a while, but in my defense, I have been busy. Working full time, taking classes, two kids in high school...

Well, they are excuses.

Hope to get back to commenting on things, giving my view.

Until the next post...

Standby Power

Pulling the plug on standby power

So, many of devices use more power when on standby than we thought. I am all for letting the consumer know about what they are buying. I also like the idea of minimizing the amount of power that a device uses in standby mode.

I think though that California laws go a little too far. The scientist, Alan Meier, thought that standby mode of a watt (1 watt) was a great target to shoot for. California takes this idea and then goes beyond, with 0.75 watts by next year and 0.5 by 2008.

Hello? The scientist who has been pushing for awareness about this issue did not ask for something this extreme. So why would California law makers go this far?

I would like to see a listing of the power consumption when in standby and when in 'normal use' listed. Then consumers could decide which product to buy. This way if there is some feature that a company wants to offer that takes the standby power consumption above 1 watt, then the consumer can make the decision for themselves if that feature is worth it.

LDJ

technorati tags: environment, green, california, technology, power

Music License

RIAA: Who are the Pirates?

This article takes a little bit to get to the meat, but once it does, it suggests something I have said in the past, "Why does the music industry just not make what you purchase a license and let you select the format you want to recieve the content associated with that content."

What do I mean? If you bought a 'license' for a group of songs from your favorite artist. Then you decided that you wanted them on CD and as MP3s? The music label, as they would be providing the MP3s, could put a digital fingerprint in the file that lets them know who's license it is. Finding the sources for piraters would be SO much easier, and most people would not need to pirate, as they would be able to get music in the format they want and know they could replace it if need be.

Infact, the music label could start a whole side business of processing license transfers. Want to sell your music you dont like anymore? The music industry charges a small fee and transfers your license to whoever you designate. They not only made money on the original sale, but now they are making money on the resale (which they hate now, cause people are selling music and they dont get a cut).

As stated in the article mentioned, they would also make money if you lost your CD and need to replace it. Or, say you are starting to fill up your MP3 player (ie, iPod) and want to make more room on it by having your music in the latest compression format (ie, going from MP3 to AAC)? Do you want to spend the time converting all of your tracks? The music label could provide you with the converted format for a small fee (again, making money on music they already sold). AND they again get to place a digital marker in the file so they can track what the original license was for tracking pirates.

The funny thing is, they could end up having some people spend more money on these services that come after the sale than they would ever make selling them CDs. I also feel, because the choice is with the consumer, the consumer would feel that it is more fair, because they get to decide.

Just a thought.

LDJ

technorati tags: music, RIAA, iTunes

iPod Training

Now, why didn't I think of that?

iPods making in-roads into business world

Macsimum News - iPods making in-roads into business world

I really wish I had thought of this. It makes so much sense. A cheap, portable, product that will let you play video and audio. And with 'Enhanced' AAC 'podcasts', you can even have chapter marks, screen shots, and links to more information with a voice over tutorial giving you step by step instructions.

Makes so much sense. Here I was thinking that DVDs made the most sense for video training distribution. I will have to talk to my clients about this. What an awakening.

Wonder if this will become the default training format? Even if the main training location will be on a PC, the format is fixed, it is flexible (plays on PCs, MACs, iPods, and TiVo's), and there is a massive number mobile training devices out there.

If you are a company wanting to make sure your employees are enthusiastic about training, give them an iPod.

LDJ

technorati tags: ipod, training, technology

Seeing the Irony

Planet's Population to Hit 6.5 Billion Saturday

And

S.D. House Approves Abortion Ban Bill

Now, am I the only one that sees the irony here?

The human population on this planet is increasing at an ever increasing rate. They say it may taper off, but even so, they are estimating that it will take only till 2012 to make it an even 7 billion. 6 years to add 500 million humans. That is twice what the US was just a few years ago (if memory serves me correct).

Longer life spans, decreased mortality rate, improved medicines and surgical procedures, kind of has made it less likely to die.

Science fiction authors have written about settings where their are food riots. Seems far fetched here in the land of the Golden Arches, but it will happen first in other countries then happen here.

Add to that how I keep seeing farmland turned into housing developments, and it is only a matter of time before the population line on the fancy graph crosses the available food line. That is when the food riots will start.

I know I like to push for moving into orbit, but that is not overnight for the entire human race, and it will take a while before mass production of food stuff can happen in space. So, it can not be said that moving into space will help equalize the population vs available food ratio.

I always liked the saying 'Plan for the worst, hope for the best'.

So in the artical about SD passing legislation about abortions, it makes it a criminal act for a doctor. Wonder if it is a criminal act for the mother? Her sister? Her best friend with a coat hanger?

They are starting a special account for donations to defend this legislation, supposedly already a million has been donated. Wonder how many adopted or foster care children that would help? struggling single parents? Educating young women and men about abortion?

Let's see, 500 abortions a year in SD. $1 million so far. Wonder how much $2,000 would help some woman who is pregnant and considering an abortion?
($1mil divided by 500 got me the $2,000 number above)

I believe a few things when it comes to abortion (this means my opinion):
1- Men have no say in it. Seems harsh, but even as a father of two, I was not the one pregnant. I was not the one that could die from complications of said pregnancy. And any pregnancy can have complications.
2 - It seems like if they wanted to curb the 500 abortions a year, they could setup 500 adoptions. Or maybe provide free daycare for the single parent so they do feel like they have no choice? (cant afford daycare, etc, so had to get an abortion)
3 - The less government has control of our lives, the better for everyone. Less government means less taxes, which for people doing ok, not a big deal, but when you are scrapping just to keep a car running, food in the house, and decent clothes on your children, it is alot of money that goes away and does not come back.

Well, getting late.

LDJ

Cyberwalls - Keeping out the trash?

Just wish I could see what is going on at NewsVine.

I have heard others talk about it, but really I think invite exclusive systems (like Google's GMail) just keeps out some who wanted to use the service.

I still do not have a GMail account, but now I dont want one. I have plenty of other email accounts to keep track of.

I DO want to see what is going on at NewsVine, as I have to go to a bunch of different sites to see the news I want.

I am also interested in their 'Citizen Journalist' concept.

But, guess I am not good enough to use it. Hopefully they will bring down the Cyberwalls and let everyone see.

LDJ

Podcast DNA?

On episode 6 of Inside the Net, they interview Tim Westergren of Pandora Media. He did a 'little' thing called the Music Genome Project. Great idea.

Leo says someone should do that for Podcasting and I have to agree.

A set of tags or attributes that would let people sort and search on podcasts would be helpful for the whole 'community' of podcasting.

Of course, I am not sure what those tags would be or who would be best to determine them, but it is a great idea.

LDJ

Even Cray has fallen for Linux

The power of Linux, in my opinion, is to convince people it is the best thing, even if it is free. Cray (company that makes supercomputers) has set some record with their new computer ('Red Storm') that runs Linux. See story here.

Don't get me wrong, I think it is great and many people have put a vast amount of hours making Linux what it is.

But even an OS that is free and developed for free, many focus on new features over fixing bugs.

I thought that mentality was limited to corporations that add features to try to convince consumers to purchase the latest version for new features. And the companies, for the most part, have trained the consumer to accept buggy software as the standard. Consumers have been brainwashed that new, but maybe marginal, features are worth it.

I want an OS so stable, so reliable, that I do not need to install it on a computer, but that it is stored on chips on the motherboard and new versions are new chips. Maybe it is stored on something as simple as a USB Thumb/Key drive that can not be written over. Or, it could be like BIOS chips, and is plugged into a socket on the motherboard.

Whatever specific hardware that it is stored on, that it cant be written over. This would really eliminate alot of problems with malware, as no changes could be made to the OS.

Now obviously there would need to be mechanism in place to store variables, parameters, and user defined settings. Sure there would be some settings that combined together may result in a hard to use system (ie, all colors set to black), but then you could just boot with the defaults and then correct your settings, and you are back.

Just an idea.

LDJ