Monthly Archives: June 2005

Lawyers have the reputation for holding the “scum of the earth” title since before I can remember. They use our overly complex legal system to make the most money possible, regardless. Recently in Kentucky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane, no –it’s a blog! Blogs have taught lawyers in middle America a quick lesson.

A Kentucky lawyer who has a blog got caught in a trap that his own kind set many years ago. For a lawyer to advertise in Kentucky they must pay a fee, and each time they change or add to that advertisement, the fee must be paid again. This lawyer’s blog is viewed as advertisement, and each time it changed (added a post, someone posted a comment, uploaded a picture, etc…) he needs to pay up. Looks like blogs one upped ‘the man’ yet again, blogs 1, lawyers 0.

I was in New York a couple weeks ago visiting a friend who is a teacher. Watching her class made me wish I was in 3rd grade again. Not because they are care-free, or still small enough to hide underneath a desk, but bcause they already know how to operate OSX. They use the Smart Board.

The Smart Board is a touch sensitive screen hooked up to a computer. The monitor is projected onto the board and it becomes like a computer chalkboard for the class. The picture above is a first grader using iMovie to show her class a project she worked on. I wonder if her mother helped her.

Read up on the Smart Board to find out more of the cool things it does and how going digital helps education.

I read Gizmodo religiously, and I’m sure that you do too. The “5 stages of Intel Macs” comic strip linked by one of my top blogs made me laugh, and cry. I’m an avid Mac AND PC user/fan. I know I know, choose one or the other you all say, well I can’t… I’m bi-computeral. I was excited the minute that Apple announced they’d use Intel chips, with the same enthusiasm basket ball fans had when the 1992 Dream Team was announced.

Most of my Mac friends (who don’t know I own a PC, and should continue to believe so) went through this exact cycle. Check out the comic strip and see what you think.

A file isn’t something that you can pick up, look at, hand to your friend, or put in your pocket. You can put files onto a CD, DVD, flash drive, hard drive, memory card, or other medium that stores files. Files are physically an entity, yet so intangible that people feel they are simply thin air. Qiu, a 41 year old online gamer in Shanghai, China stabbed 26 year old Zhu to death. The 26 year old sold Qui’s virtual sword, acquired in the game “Legend Of Mir 3”. This is a sad story; $840.00 US is not worth a human life. The real issue I grasp from this act is the fact that Qui went to the police first, and was given no assistance.

“Qui went to the police to report the “theft” but was told the weapon was not real property protected by law.” Continue reading →

Each morning I jumpstart my day with three tasks: 1.) get up and visit the bathroom 2.) check my email –my laptop sleeps under my bed so I usually check email while still in bed 3.) watch RocketBoom. You may be familiar with the acts of going to the bathroom and checking email, but RocketBoom may be a new concept to you. As I noted before, they are my favorite Vlog (video blog), and today covered a story regarding podcasting and museums together at last.

In New York, NY at the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) David Gilbert and a few of his students talked about their spin on podcasting, Art Mobs. The idea is to download a podcast from the internet, then go to the museum and listen to that podcast as a museum audio tour guide. Here’s what David had to say:

“What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to get people to take control of their own information consumption. Rather than being passive consumers of media whether it’s television radio or even a museum guide, we want people to realize that with digital technology they can now produce their own news, their own television, their own radio, and even their own audio guides for museums.”

P2P filesharing has been around about as long as the rocks and sand. Getting files for free, whenever you want has been the idea behind the p2p networks. With the iTunes library, more and more people are deciding that it’s not such a bad idea to pay for music. iTunes has polled in as the #2 most popular music downloading mechanism, second to WinMx. Does iTunes think that they have what it takes to be class president?!

I have this ingranted action of wiping my phone’s screen on my clothing right after I make or take a phone call. My greasy face always leaves a nice thin blurry film on the screen. There’s no remedy to this problem, but Phillips decided to add to my greasy screen syndrome by making a touch screen flip phone. The phone features a 1.3MP camera, 11MB of storage, a swivel screen, and a pretty white enclosure. There’s no Bluetooth or infrared which makes sharing photos rather difficult. I like the fact it has a stylus, but am not sure what it’s for. I think that Phillips has the looks down, but the functionality is lacking a bit on this baby. This doesn’t get the LD approved branding, but maybe four or five models down the road this puppy will be h-o-t.

I was chatting with a friend about the Apple decision to partner up with Intel, and she said ‘it’s a marriage of convenience’. The news is littered with articles tracing back and projecting forward on what will happen and how the world will turn due to this merger of opposing forces. I found a couple sites on the net where you can find more details. And no, your non Intel Macs won’t go obsolete when these hybrids hit shelves in 2007.

Some researchers at Columbia have an interesting proposition for you. MusicLab will let you download songs legally and for free if you just answer a few questions related to the songs. None of the bands are really huge though, so don’t go looking for the latest Radiohead album. But apparently they are going to use the data from the study to do scientific stuff, so think of it as a good deed for science at no cost to you. The worst thing that could happen is being exposed to some crappy music. But I’m sure there are some gems hidden in there as well.