May 26
I found this video at http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=11601 of this crazy plane landing in Honduras. “Don’t be afraid”? Yeah right! This is crazy!
May 25
May 20
Three pigs get kicked out of their parents house, one builds a straw house, one builds a log house, they both fall down, the two pigs seek shelter from the big bad wolf in the third brother’s brick house, they all live happily ever after: We all know the story of the three little pigs. It’s moral is supposed to be that if you work hard instead of being lazy and get things done right the first time, you too can live happily ever after. But is there a better, hidden moral?
I think the true moral to the story of the three little pigs is that if you’re smart, you’ll realize that it’s more economically efficient to live off you’re siblings’ wealth than to earn you’re own. Think about it. That first pig was actually the smartest. He just saw a random man with straw and asked for some to make it look like he was doing something. He didn’t even have to pay for it or do much manual labor. Pig #1 just threw a quick hut together and relaxed in the shade while his other brothers worked. Easy. Then when the big bad wolf came and blew his hut down, it was no big deal. He ran up to his brother, knocked on the door of his strong brick house, and ended up fine. He lived happily ever after, too- but he didn’t have to do anything.
So the next time your parents kick you out of the house and tell you to build a brick house, even though they know that would be impossible because you’re a pig with no thumbs, just say nay. Build a straw hut instead while waiting for your older, stupider brother to finish his brick mansion.
May 05
Microsoft has obviously been pretty busy lately with all the Vista stuff, but they’re “Center for Information Work”, or CIW, just showed off this revolutionary desk. The CIW’s job is to research and experiment with ideas for the future, and this desk is a perfect example of their progress.
Although there are only 2 in existence and each probably costs over $5 million and they will most likely never be mass-produced, this is pretty cool. As the man in the video demonstrated, the piece is a little temperamental and doesn’t always work as intended, but it is a great demonstration what modern technology is capable of.
It is possible to make many of those super-high-tech, really shiny, semi-transparent computers that we see in the movies, the only problems are A: that they would cost way more than anybody beside Bill Gates himself can afford, and more importantly B: that we have not yet developed the kinds of software that are needed for those kind of things.
Mainly developers have been focusing on plain old mouse and keyboard programs, maybe even touch screens. Only groups like the CIW are looking to the future and trying to create new methods of interface. The truth is that it’s going to take something like a new kind of mouse or a new method of manufacturing that makes things cheaper before mass-manufactures like Apple, Toshiba, or HP will be willing to try a FutureDesk-like product. Just look at what the iPod did for music, or what the Wii is doing for gaming. The world is going to have to see more radical ideas like that so it can slowly step towards the future of computing.
Read what Microsoft has to say at: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/ciw/default.mspx
May 01
youGoogle, weGoogle
Yesterday Google announced that it planned to changed the name of its “Personal Homepage”, which lets you choose content to add to the Google main page, to “iGoogle”. They won’t change the entire Google website, only give the “Personal Homepage” section a shorter name.
As for the name itself, the “i” in the new name seems to not be in an Apple-style random naming, but mean “myself”. If you ask me, I think it’s remarkably similar to Yahoo’s “My Yahoo”, which has existed for awhile. Think about it: “My Yahoo”, “iGoogle”. Similar, eh?
Google seems to lately be becoming a sort of internet Microsoft. In the days of “Web 2.0″, what enthusiasts like to call the current age of the internet- where websites are driven by user-generate content and pushed by big companies with huge wallets like Google, Microsoft, and AOL- many websites are making what’s called “rich web applications”. The idea of these applications is essentially to have a desktop quality program that works over the web. Google seems to be leading the razor-edge of this trend. They are constantly making new services, including Google Docs and Spreadsheets, orkut, Google Maps, and now even YouTube.
I see a great future for Google. Today anyone with a free Google account can log into iGoogle to check the latest news, their email, the weather, and so much more. I predict that within 2-3 years there Google will become partners with a major phone service like Verizon, Cingular, or Sprint, to allow us to check voicemail and send text messages. And, as GPS-like technology will most likely be standard in any cell phone by that time, Google Earth Mobile will let us receive real-time traffic data and webcam feeds while on the road. Google will soon be an even more important part of our everyday lives.. even more than it already is.