great big geek

We Can Rebuild Him!

2012-01-26T06:00:00.000-04:00

It's a long story...

...typing with one hand is no fun, so excuse me if I didn't feel much like writing. The good news is that I now have my sling off (after 9 days in hospital and 8 weeks at home), I can raise my arm enough to reach the keyboard, I've started physiotherapy to build on the range of motion, and yes that is my x-ray.

Google Tweaks Search Algorithms To Be More Timely

2011-11-04T07:02:00.001-03:00

Information travels across the wire so quickly these days that Google has decided to make some changes to it's search algorithms to place more relevance on more recent results.

“Given the incredibly fast pace at which information moves in today’s world, the most recent information can be from the last week, day or even minute, and depending on the search terms, the algorithm needs to be able to figure out if a result from a week ago about a TV show is recent, or if a result from a week ago about breaking news is too old,” said Amit Singhal, a software engineer who heads up Google’s search-ranking team.

One can assume that the move is an attempt to keep up with the pace of social sites, like twitter, which often produces news about global events while they are happening, and much sooner than traditional media channels. The big question is, as always, how trust worthy is the information and what weight will Google assign to which source in order to provide us with the best results.

Source: Globe and Mail

Galaxy Nexus With Ice Cream Sandwich

2011-10-19T06:59:00.000-03:00

Is it a pure coincidence that my first gen Android phone (htc dream / g1) is experiencing battery issues right now? I mean, I love this phone and while I know it's a bit old school right now, it has been 'old faithful'. Even given the opportunity to upgrade I choose to pass the Samsung Galaxy on to my wife while I hung on to my dream. Of late however, I've been experiencing some battery issues that have caused me to think that in the world of mobile 2+ years is a long time. And now this:

Coming to Rogers I hope!

2011-10-18T07:39:00.001-03:00

Which geek among us hasn't been intrigued by the concept of levitation? I recall spending copious amounts of time as a child, attempting to cause one magnet to hover over another only to have one of them flip and smack into the other in a tight bond, or be propelled away wildly. I think that is partially why I find this video so fascinating:

I Didn't Know We Had A King

2011-09-30T07:31:00.000-03:00

It's been a while since I went on a rant here, and while I am a bit lost for words these days I'd like to simply offer up these two videos for argument sake:

YouTube in 3D

2011-09-20T07:24:00.001-03:00

I hadn't realized this until seeing this YouTube API Blog post this morning, but YouTube has been working on 3D video with support for the LG Optimus 3D and NVIDIA 3D Vision, and now for Samsung 3D TVs. The technology allows you to view the content with support for red/blue glasses as well as the latest 3D televisions.

I've not yet invested in 3D TV myself, not sure I could get used to it, so I've not tried this yet but I do think there is a pair of those red/blue glasses around here somewhere! Here is a sample from YouTube, if you have the glasses let us know what you think! Is the quality worthy of investing in 3D? Is this what tips the market into buying into 3D?

Google Wallet

2011-09-19T12:37:00.002-03:00

Being a huge Google fanboy and also a Seinfeld fan I just couldn't help but post this one.

Looking forward to seeing how Google Wallet works!

ps. hope to get back to a regular post regime soon.

Why You Need To Be Active On LinkedIn

2011-09-09T07:37:00.000-03:00

My Webbeat.tv pal Pelpina Trip talks to Mike D. Merrill about LinkedIn and why it's important be on this social network - Webbeat.TV 157. Very informative interview!

Follow @webbeattv, @pelpina, @mikedmerrill, @greatbiggeek

Yet Another Meeting

2011-09-09T07:14:00.000-03:00

I discovered a new web service recently via a clever YouTube video that was circulating via my Twitter pals. In all honesty I can't really tell you how it works just yet as I've only just signed up and it's tough to have a meeting by yourself. Yam, short for Yet Another Meeting, is a collaborative tool for conducting meetings and sharing notes and docs, similar I suppose to Basecamp or even Google docs and spreadsheets, but perhaps with a little more emphasis on the user experience.

Portal 2 Portrayed In Live Action

2011-08-24T07:15:00.000-03:00

Came across this little gem via Google+ this morning. I'm a huge fan of the Portal franchise and this is a very well put together short film depicting the Portal theme. Check it out:

Motivation, In Someone Else's Words

2011-08-23T20:00:00.001-03:00

Over a year ago I went on a rant about what motivates us and it felt really good to get that out there. I had just started a new job and was basking in the fulfillment I was getting from my new work place, and rallying my former work mates to open their eyes to what was happening around them. I'm very happy to say that I feel the same today, maybe more so, than I did then... I love my work.

So it is with great interest that I read this Fast Company blog post which reiterates some of what I was feeling, except mine was from the employees perspective, even if I didn't say it or didn't say it as eloquently. What I find really interesting is that the author viewed the same great RSA video as I had and that he has chosen to heed the advise found within. Kudos to you Harish!

Batman The Dark Knight Rises - Batwing Filming

2011-08-15T08:17:00.000-03:00

Here is a short video of the filming of a chase scene between Batman, in his Batwing, in pursuit of a yet unknown (to me) bad guy! Interesting, one can assume that the scene will be accelerated and there will be a bunch of "touch ups" but it's pretty interesting to see the work in progress.

The End of Facebook?

2011-08-12T08:55:00.000-03:00

Anonymous has posted an interesting message to the world that they plan to take down Facebook on November 5th, 2011.

Interestingly, November 5th is also Guy Fawkes Day. "Wintour introduced Fawkes to Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate King James I and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne. The plotters secured the lease to an undercroft beneath the House of Lords, and Fawkes was placed in charge of the gunpowder they stockpiled there. Prompted by the receipt of an anonymous letter, the authorities searched Westminster Palace during the early hours of 5 November, and found Fawkes guarding the explosives. Over the next few days, he was questioned and tortured, and eventually he broke. Immediately before his execution on 31 January, Fawkes jumped from the scaffold where he was to be hanged and broke his neck, thus avoiding the agony of the drawing and quartering that followed.

Fawkes became synonymous with the Gunpowder Plot, which has been commemorated in England since 5 November 1605. His effigy is burned on a bonfire, often accompanied by a firework display." (wikipedia)

Is The Internet Changing Our Memory?

2011-07-17T09:33:00.000-03:00

A recent study by Columbia University professor, Dr Betsy Sparrow, suggests that we are relying less on our memory of a subject and more on our memory of where to find the subject matter. "I don't think Google is making us stupid - we're just changing the way that we're remembering things... If you can find stuff online even while you're walking down the street these days, then the skill to have, the thing to remember, is where to go to find the information. It's just like it would be with people - the skill to have is to remember who to go see about [particular topics]." says Dr. Sparrow.

I'd argue that we've been doing this since we've been able to read and write. We may have faster access to information these days but prior to the internet there were libraries, filing cabinets, and subject matter experts. Don't you agree? Am I missing something here?

Source: bbc.co.uk

Google+ Project - A Rival To Facebook?

2011-06-29T07:15:00.000-03:00

Ever since Google announced that it was shutting down Wave there has been a lot of speculation over it's plans to release a Facebook rival. For a very lucky few, in Google tradition, the wait may be over.

Google has announced The Google+ project which aims to allow us to get social but in a more orderly fashion. Google+ seems to provide users with a mechanism for categorizing friends into logical groups via "circles". The idea being to put up walls, as we do in real life, and share certain information with certain groups (circles) of friends.

“In real life, we have walls and windows and I can speak to you knowing who’s in the room, but in the online world, you get to a ‘Share’ box and you share with the whole world,” Bradley Horowitz, a vice president for product management at Google is quoted as saying by the NYtimes.

There is a lot of "who cares?" discussion out there but this is one blogger who is anxiously awaiting a Facebook alternative. I've never really embraced Facebook, though I do have an account and have maintained a quiet presence there. Living a more controlled existence is very appealing to me. I've got better things to do than play Farmville or to know what achievement you've unlocked, thank you.

Anxiously awaiting my invite.

FBI Targets Hosting Company In Seizure

2011-06-22T07:18:00.000-03:00

A hosting company based in Switzerland, with servers in Reston Virginia, found itself the target of an FBI seizure which left a number of clients looking for answers. According to a story in the NYtimes, DigitalOne's chief executive, Sergej Ostroumow, said in an email to one of it's clients that “This problem is caused by the F.B.I., not our company. In the night F.B.I. has taken 3 enclosures with equipment plugged into them, possibly including your server — we cannot check it.”

Speculation is that the seizure is in relationship to an investigation into the hacking group Lulzsec (Lulz Security group) but no one from the FBI would comment. Sites affected by the seizure include Curbed Network, bookmarking services Instapaper, and pinboard. There is no reason to believe that these sites where the target of the raid and Lockhart Steele, Curbed Networks' President told the news paper that “Our servers happened to be in with some naughty servers,”

Google's Search By Image

2011-06-19T09:54:00.000-03:00

Not too long ago I wrote a blog post for Webbeat.tv entitled Website of the day: Tineye which describes the service that allows you to provide an image or image url and tells you where else on the web the image is being used. Tineye will even detect altered images.

It appears as though Google has recently released a similar tool via it's Google Image search. If you navigate to http://images.google.com/ you'll now see a camera icon in the search field, mouse over the image and the tooltip says "Search By Image". Clicking the icon provides a new search field with the options to upload your own image or provide an image url.

I'm a fan of the Tineye service though one has to believe that Google will quickly out perform Tineye with it's capability to crawl websites and gather data more quickly. In either case this is a very useful tool which I am apt to use frequently.

Steve Jobs Pitches Cupertino City Council Re: New Apple Campus

2011-06-08T07:56:00.001-03:00

Here's a video shot yesterday (6/7/11) of Steve Jobs making a pitch to the City of Cupertino regarding Apple's desire / plans to build a new Apple Campus. The campus would occupy 150 acres and house 12,000 - 13,000 people in a single round building.

The Mothership has Landed

McDonald's Creates Interactive Billboard Game

2011-06-05T16:16:00.001-03:00

{EAV_BLOG_VER:fe6495bf329f3ecc}

Using a large interactive billboard and patron's smartphones McDonald's Stockholm created a location based game of paddle ball called Pick n' Play that allowed users to choose a reward and play the game by logging into picknplay.se. Steer the paddle on the digital display using your touch device, last 30 seconds, and the reward you chose was yours. The site provides winners with an e-coupon that was redeemable at McDonald's restaurants.

Expect to see more of this kind of marketing...

Google Serves Notice... Upgrade Your Browser

2011-06-03T07:34:00.000-03:00

In order to push the agenda on HTML5 and cloud computing, Google has decided that it will no longer support older versions of your favourite browser, what ever that may be. In a statement on The Official gmail blog Venkat Panchapakesan, Vice President of Engineering at Google, said yesterday that "...Google Apps will only support modern browsers. Beginning August 1st, we’ll support the current and prior major release of Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari on a rolling basis."

This, in my opinion, is a good thing. Hopefully it will encourage internet users to stay up to date with their software updates and provide developers with a stable road map upon which to plan the development and support of their applications. Of course it also pushes the Google agenda but I've seen far to many users out there still running IE 6!

Google Helps Plan Your Flights

2011-05-30T07:08:00.001-03:00

Google's Inside Search blog has revealed a new search feature that can help make your travel plans a whole lot easier. With Google's new flight schedule feature you need only enter your query into Google search and, if your airport is covered, will be rewarded with the available flights covering your departure and arrival locations. For example, enter "flights from Halifax to Boston" in the Google search field and you'll be presented with the following:

Expand the results and you'll see:

It works very well for major regional airports but less so for smaller local centers where there are fewer direct flights. I think the key here is that it is selecting nonstop flights and not considering connecting flights, at least at the moment. Even so, a quick search can provide you with a lot of visibility into what is available and a few queries strung together will likely give you what you need for planning purposes. Of course seat availability and pricing information is not provided but I'd suggest googling before you hit your favorite travel site so you'll at least know your options of times and carriers.

Awesome Space Walk Photo

2011-05-23T22:11:00.001-03:00

Here is a great photo taken at the end of the extra-vehicular activity spacewalk on Sunday. The photo is of Endeavour's lead spacewalker Andrew Feustel entering the International Space Station (ISS) being outside for 8 hours and 7 minutes, the 6th longest spacewalk in history.

Credit: NASA (photo) | Discover Channel (story)

Zombie Apocalypse Preparedness

2011-05-20T07:13:00.001-03:00

In the event of the impending doom that some are calling the rapture, but I'd to call the Zombie Apocalypse, there are a few things that you should know. As a public service the Center for Disease Control has published a helpful guide for dealing with my scenario and, as they claim, other natural disaster situations.

They suggest the following survival kit:

Water (1 gallon per person per day)
Food (stock up on non-perishable items that you eat regularly)
Medications (this includes prescription and non-prescription meds)
Tools and Supplies (utility knife, duct tape, battery powered radio, etc.)
Sanitation and Hygiene (household bleach, soap, towels, etc.)
Clothing and Bedding (a change of clothes for each family member and blankets)
Important documents (copies of your driver’s license, passport, and birth certificate to name a few)
First Aid supplies (although you’re a goner if a zombie bites you, you can use these supplies to treat basic cuts and lacerations that you might get during a tornado or hurricane)

This is all well and good in the event of your typical natural disaster but I think there are a few things missing and would like to consult Max Brooks Bestseller "The Zombie Survival Guide" for his top 10 lessons for surviving a zombie attack:

Organize before they rise! (CDC's approach works well)
They feel no fear, why should you?
Use you head: cut off theirs.
Blades don't need reloading.
Ideal protection = tight clothes, short hair.
Get up the staircase, then destroy it.
Get out of the car, get onto the bike.
Keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, keep alert!
No place is safe, only safer.
The zombie may be gone, but the treat lives on.

Good luck. My job here is done.

How Do You Stop 1,000,000 Pounds At 200 mph?

2011-05-14T16:56:00.002-03:00

Check out Boeings tests of the 747-8 emergency abort takeoff flight testing via Wired.com:

Here are some impressive stats:

They tested the 747-8 with a take off mass of 443,181 kg.
The 747 had a speed of 200 mph (320 kph) before using just the brakes to stop.
The brakes were 100% worn to simulate worst case scenario.
The plane took about 200 meters to stop.
The brakes heated up to about 1400 degrees C.

Scary fun!

Google I/O Day 1 Keynote

2011-05-11T07:01:00.000-03:00

In case you missed the keynote speech from Google I/O yesterday here is it's entirety. For those who are unsure what Google I/O is... in it's 4th year now, Google I/O is a conference held by Google to introduce to developers what the company has been focusing on and how these developers might take advantage of these products and services. Last year it was all about Android and this year Android will make it into more than phones and tablets, the cloud is more important than ever, plus near field technology, and more...

Slingshot Of Mass Destruction aka Slingshot Of Awesomeness

2011-05-09T12:29:00.000-03:00

I'm not particularly a fan of weaponry, however I am a fan of DIY genious and I think that this fits into that category.

Google Brings Voice Recognition To Your Browser

2011-05-04T07:14:00.001-03:00

If you are willing to give Google Chrome 11 beta release or the current version of Google Chrome Canary build a try you'll find an interesting little piece of functionality supported. Using either of these browsers, a microphone, and some html 5 code embedded in Google's translations page you can dictate the word(s) or phrase that you wish to be translated. No joke... it works well too!

Simply look for the microphone icon in the lower right side of the input text box and click on it, you must have your mic on of course and you are only afforded a few seconds to input your command. If you want to play around a bit you can also go to the sandbox app created by Google. A headset mic might work best but my testing with a desktop mic has produced good results.

Coca-Cola Goes To New Heights To Promote Friendship

2011-05-02T07:55:00.000-03:00

I really like this campaign from a creative standpoint, but I'm a little concerned about what might have happened should someone have gotten hurt. Coca~Cola has always had great marketing but this one strikes me as an interesting one from a viral standpoint.

I'm all for anything that encourages team work, and the incentive here certainly seemed to do just that!

Is The Threat Of "Cyber War" Real Or Are We Being Scared Into Thinking So?

2011-04-28T07:53:00.000-03:00

Ask anyone who knows me well and they'll tell you that I'm a sucker for a good conspiracy theory. No! That does not mean that I believe every crackpot idea that thrown out there, it just means that I find some of the arguments compelling enough to review the supposed evidence and form my own opinions. Call me crazy if you will but I don't take everything that is fed to us through the mainstream media as gospel, there are nearly always agendas at play, and we usually get a slightly biased side of the story, intensional or otherwise. It's just good practice in my opinion to raise a few good questions.

ars technica writer Mathew Lasar has published an interesting article which brings light to a new working paper that suggest there is a real problem of "threat inflation" when it comes to the possibilities "Cyber War", according to the papers authors from the George Mason University Mercatus Center, researchers Jerry Brito and Tate Wakins. While there is always the chance that a dooms day plot exists where our vital infrastructure is at risk, how real is it? and in who's best interest is it for us to prepare for, or be worried about, one?

Love to hear your thoughts.

Open Comes At A Price For Google And Android In China

2011-04-27T07:27:00.000-03:00

Here is an interesting little article that I came across this morning. It seems that 80% of all Android based smart phones in China will be shipped with Baidu, and not Google, as their default search engine. Fact is that being an open platform allows manufacturers to make changes and in China that means no Google for you!

China is a huge market as we all know but it is also one that Google has had it's challenges with as government censorship and heavy handed policies have not been kind to the search giant. In fact, in March of 2010 Google.cn (China) started to redirect all of it's search queries to Google.com.hk (Hong Kong) after much debate over the blockage of YouTube and allegations of Chinese hacking. See Wikipedia's Google China page.

I wonder just how much business Apple does in China and what that represents when comparing authentic Apple product to counterfeits or knock-offs?

RockMelt - Everyones Favorite Social Browser Goes Mobile

2011-04-21T07:23:00.000-03:00

The social web browser RockMelt, which is based on Google's Chromium engine, is extending it's reach with a real-time synced browser for the iPhone/iPad. TechCrunch's Eric Schonfeld speaks with RockMelt's Co-founder and CTO Tim Howes in the following video, explaining the features and benefits of the mobile app.

Hey Tim... android please!

Portal 2 Releases With Even More GLaDOS Abuses

2011-04-20T07:14:00.000-03:00

Though I've not yet played Portal 2, the much awaited and cleverly promoted sequel, I did run across a list of the top 5 GLaDOS insults courtesy of The Globe and Mail's Controller Freak (Chad Sapieha). As I understand it these are merely from the first six chapters, and so there are likely to be more AI generated abuses slung at you as you progress further into the games torturous mazes. Here they are as reported by Chad:

1. Science has now validated your birth mother’s decision to abandon you on a doorstep.

2. Well done. Here come the test results: “You are a horrible person.” That’s what it says. We weren’t even testing for that.

3. Remember before when I was talking about smelly garbage standing around being useless? That was a metaphor. I was actually talking about you. And I’m sorry. You didn’t react at the time so I was worried it sailed right over your head. That’s why I had to call you garbage a second time just now.

4. I honestly, truly didn’t think you’d fall for that trap. In fact, I designed a much more elaborate trap further ahead for when you got through with this easy one. If I’d known you’d let yourself get captured this easily, I’d have dangled a turkey leg on a rope from the ceiling.

5. He’s not just a regular moron. He’s the product of the greatest minds of a generation working together with the express purpose of building the dumbest moron who ever lived.

GLaDOS you are a riot! You've inspired me to resurrect an old AI project of mine...

The Star Wars Band

2011-04-15T19:34:00.000-03:00

I'm a sucker for Star Wars. Came across this video while surfing around the Staff picks channel on Vimeo and thought that you might like it as well.

star wars band: the Salteens from patsevc on Vimeo.

Well done Salteens!

Google Launches Messages For Japan Site To Convey Solidarity

2011-04-12T07:26:00.001-03:00

Over the course of the past month since the massive earthquake and tsunami caused unthinkable damage, loss of life, and continued concern by the global community for the people of Japan, Google has bore witness to countless messages of hope and prayer for the residents of the battered island nation. In order to aid people of other nations in sending their condolences and support, Google has unveiled messagesforjapan.com which will translate any language into Japanese, provides a single communication point, and an opportunity to aid in the rebuilding efforts through financial contributions.

Source: The Official Google Blog

Google Patent Bid Chosen By Nortel As Starting Point

2011-04-05T07:15:00.000-03:00

Former Canadian Tech Giant Nortel, now in bankruptcy, has selected Google's $900 million bid for it's patent portfolio as the “stalking-horse bid," or the starting point at which other bids will be measured during the auction of the portfolio.

Kent Walker, Senior Vice President & General Counsel for Google posted on the Official Google Blog that the bid is an attempt by Google, "... a relatively young company..." to build it's patent portfolio because "... a company’s best defenses against this kind of litigation is (ironically) to have a formidable patent portfolio, as this helps maintain your freedom to develop new products and services."

Mr. Walker points to Google's stand on patent reform "...which we believe will benefit users and the U.S. economy as a whole."

The Heart Of The Dragon

2011-04-01T13:07:00.000-03:00

Gmail Motion! Stay In Shape While Sending Email

2011-04-01T07:07:00.001-03:00

It's time for Google to unveil another great new program, and what an awesome one it is! Check it out, now you can control gmail with your body:

Beyond the incredible technological advancements there are only a few easy moves required to learn and you'll have the side benefit of getting in shape while you send and read your mail.

By the way Google, I'm still not happy about be overlooked for the Google Copernicus Hosting Environment and Experiment in Search Engineering (G.C.H.E.E.S.E.) program in 2007!

Messenger Sends Back First Image of Mercury

2011-03-30T07:31:00.000-03:00

NASA scientists have received their first images of the planet Mercury captured from the orbiting Messenger probe. Messenger is equipped with two cameras and other sensing equipment which is hoped to shed light on the planets make up and history. The first photo, number 1 of 7500 expected to be sent back to Earth over the coming year, makes Mercury appear as though it is our own moon; baron and pocked by many collisions.

The mission website provides a great deal of information regarding the mission, the scientific portion of which will begin on April 4th.

The Challenges Of Being Social In A Time Of Unrest

2011-03-28T07:31:00.000-03:00

What is a website to do when it's become a platform for public outcry and organized opposition? When you are a social site that is being used by both government supporters and reform activists alike you have some tough decisions to make.

Flickr, it seems, has found itself at the center of an ethical quandary. The photo sharing giant owned by Yahoo has taken down photographs uploaded by an Egyptian blogger and human rights activist because the photos violated their terms of service. It seems that Hossam el-Hamalawy posted the head shots of Egyptian State Police officers to Flickr in the hopes of making his countrymen aware of their identities and keeping them out of the new post revolution government. The problem is that el-Hamalawy did not take the photos himself but rather gained them through a raid on a State Police headquarters by revolutionaries. Flickr removed the photos saying that el-Hamalawy did not take them himself and was therefore not the rightful owner, this is a violation of their terms.

While I sympathize with the plight of the Egyptian people and understand fully what Mr el-Hamalawy was attempting to do in identifying figures known to be associated with a corrupt regime, I don't think it is Flickr's place to act as middle man in a political debate. They did the only thing that they could do, stick to their terms of service. Perhaps Wikileaks would have been a more appropriate platform for Mr. el-Hamalawy's cause.

Thoughts?

Source: NYTimes.com

Listen To Biz Stone Explain How Twitter Was Named

2011-03-27T15:46:00.000-03:00

Having an entrepreneurial side, I always love hearing how others founded their projects or the thinking behind their brands. While checking out a new service that I've discovered called Audioboo I came across this recording of Biz Stone talking about the naming of Twitter. Enjoy!

Listen!

Don't Forget The Milk!

2011-03-26T14:26:00.000-03:00

Here is a very cool web app that has a lot of potential in it's simplicity. Think about your "honey do" list or just simple notes that you no longer have to email to yourself from the office... I expect we'll see more features; perhaps secure logins?

Sock Puppet Theatre

2011-03-21T07:19:00.001-03:00

The guardian.co.uk is reporting that the US military has contracted a Californian corporation to create software which would allow military personnel to create and maintain multiple online persona, up to 10 identities each, based all over the globe. In other words a single person would maintain, monitor, and distribute comments to and from 10 online personalities, sock puppets, in order to spread propaganda misinformation.

Centcom spokesman Commander Bill Speaks said: "The technology supports classified blogging activities on foreign-language websites to enable Centcom to counter violent extremist and enemy propaganda outside the US." Claiming that none of the interventions would be conducted in English as it would be unlawful to "address US audiences" in such fashion. Interventions would be conducted in Arabic, Farsi, Urdu and Pashto.

While it is very noble of them to strike English from their vocabulary, if you've followed any of the coverage coming out of the recent unrest abroad, you'll have undoubtedly noted that many if not all of the media outlets are heavily relying on Twitter and Facebook accounts of the situations on the ground to report the "news". What's to say that the news being reported to us is not coming from Centcom?

Interesting, scary, and not surprising all at the same time.

Hacking Your Own Jumbotron

2011-03-15T20:57:00.000-03:00

I'm thinking that I found myself a diy project! Junkyard Jumbotron is the brainchild of Rick Borovoy, Ph.D. and Brian Knep at MIT's Center for Future Civic Media. I do believe that I have all of the required parts and I'll post my own video if it all comes together. Check out the video below, all you need to know is there.

Junkyard Jumbotron from chris csik on Vimeo.

Warner Brothers Testing Movie Rental Market Via Facebook and App Store

2011-03-09T07:02:00.000-04:00

Warner Brothers said on Tuesday that it would be making Heath Ledger's final film appearance, "The Dark Knight", available for rental via Facebook using Facebook Credits as the payment mechanism.

“This is definitely a test,” said Thomas Gewecke, president of Warner Brothers Digital Distribution, in a telephone interview.

Warner is also testing “App Editions” for “The Dark Knight” and “Inception.” Rather than gaining access through iTunes, consumers download a free app, which then allows them to buy the movies for unlimited streaming. “This platform allows us to experiment with an early version of what you might call a ‘connected movie’ — the ability for us to offer new extras over time as updates,” Mr. Gewecke said. “We think that is a great way to add more value to the digital ownership experience,” he added.

Of note is the fact that 23 countries do not have access to the iTunes video store, so the App Editions provides Warner with a mechanism to sell it's films in those markets which include China and Russia.

Source: NYTimes

Gmail Bug A Good Lesson In Preparedness

2011-03-02T07:46:00.000-04:00

Expect the unexpected... even if you are Google. Sometimes as software developers, regardless of how much you've done to mitigate risk, code goes out the door that has unexpected results.

Over the weekend Google's Gmail team "...released a storage software update that introduced the unexpected bug, which caused 0.02% of Gmail users to temporarily lose access to their email." The trouble is that even with all of the redundancy built into their data centers, the bug deleted all online copies of the affected users data, which meant that the team was forced to restore from backup tapes. This is a time consuming process, especially when dealing with 0.02% of mail held by Gmail.

While those of us who have had to deal with these hair pulling ordeals can understand and sympathize with the development team, most users will not. Rest assured that the backup and recovery strategy has accomplished what it was intended to do. If anything, this is a valuable lesson in backing up data. What's your strategy? If your laptop took a tumble would you be able to recover?

Canadian Cabinet Ministers Can Expense iPads

2011-02-23T07:21:00.000-04:00

Even though Canadian Members of Parliament have taken a stance against the purchase of iPads, Treasury Board President Stockwell Day has allowed cabinet ministers and senior public servants to expense the cost of the devices.

Day, an avid user of the iPad, says that a pilot project in his department has proven their cost effectiveness. “I just think they’re wrong on this one,” Mr. Day said in an interview. “MPs will account for the equipment that they buy.… They need to look at it again from the point of view of efficiency and cost saving.”

According to the Globe and Mail, Mr. Day's pilot project came at a cost of $20,530.69.

NDP MP Pat Martin is quoted as: “Why are we forced to use a horse and buggy when everybody else has got state-of-the-art equipment?” he asked. “I kind of resent that. If it’s good enough for cabinet ministers and senior bureaucrats, it’s good enough for MPs.”

BTW: According to the article, Stockwell Day has admitted to playing the odd game of Angry Birds on his iPad. I wonder if the tax payers covered the download costs? Then again, I can't disagree with his logic as I have all but abandoned paper in favor of my iPad as well.

Demo Slam Finalists

2011-02-17T07:50:00.000-04:00

Last fall Google asked it's users to use Google products in creative ways and to submit there projects in video format for a contest known as Demo Slam. Today Google has launched demoslam.com to allow you to view and vote on entries by comparing 2 at a time in pools of 16. It's a single elimination type event and there are some very creative people out there who have gone to great lengths to prove they're the best. How do you get Maria Sharapova to make an appearance in your slam anyway?

The Experiment That Has Never Ended

2011-02-15T07:17:00.000-04:00

With IP addresses becoming more and more precious, as we reach the 4.3 billion network address limit, Vint Cerf the man in charge of making the decision 30 years ago says “We had no idea it would turn into the world’s global communications network.”

“It was 1977,” Mr. Cerf said, in an interview last week. “We thought we were doing an experiment.”

“The problem was, the experiment never ended,”

At current estimates we will run out of IP addresses within the next 12 to 18 months and the transition to the new system, Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), is well under way. However, the current IPv4 and the new IPv6 are incompatible and there is some concern over how to transition from one to the next. In response Yahoo, Google and Facebook, whose combined traffic is more than a billion visits a day, have agreed to participate in a trial run on June 8, named World IPv6 Day. The participants are hoping that this experiment will shed some light on potential gotchas.

“I almost wish we could train the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to come to people’s houses to help out with this,” said Mr. Cerf, now chief Internet evangelist at Google. “This is not just about adding extra numbers,” he said. “It’s a different system.”

Sounds like June 6th is a day to circle on your calendar, or perhaps June 7th...

Source: NYTimes.com

Building A Database For The Robots

2011-02-11T07:11:00.000-04:00

European scientists have taken it upon themselves to create a network of databases that future robots will use to to share information about the world... our world... their world? According to Fastcompany.com "They will, if all goes as planned, use the network to store and retrieve information about objects, locations (including maps), and instructions about completing activities. Robots will be both the contributors and the editors of the repository."

The EU-funded RoboEarth project will ensure that each robot's experiences are saved and made available to the others to search and expand upon in a communal learning experience similar to what we humans know as the internet. May I just say that I love robots!

Google, Facebook, and Others Rumored To Be Shopping For Twitter

2011-02-10T07:50:00.000-04:00

According to the Globe and Mail, Google Inc., Facebook Inc., and other interested parties are conducting low level talks with Twitter regarding an acquisition. These talks are said to give Twitter a street value of about $10-billion, nearly 3 times the valuation placed on the company when it raised $200-million in investor capital in December.

Citing a Wall Street Journal report the Globe and Mail say:

Despite the valuation, the report said Twitter’s executives and board were working on building a large, independent company.

“People familiar with the situation said the company believes it can grow into a $100-billion company,” the WSJ said.

Regardless of the valuation I'd rather see Twitter go solo, or at least not sell out to Facebook! Unfortunately I don't have any say in the matter, and the guys with the money will usually come out on top in these things.

US Military Capable Of Restoring Internet Access

2011-02-07T22:06:00.000-04:00

If a government intent on thwarting a social uprising of it's populous choses to cut communications, such as Egypt's early response to the recent demonstrations, the U.S. military could conceivably restore services in order to maintain internet access an inviolable human right.

John Arquilla, a leading military futurist tells Wired that while it might not be that difficult of a challenge technically for the U.S. military which "has a great deal of expertise on rebuilding communications network, but that's ... very different when the government is interested in resisting," Arquilla says. "This is far less an engineering problem and far more a political one."

It makes total sense that a country facing internal strife might consider such an action as a hostile act, especially if perpetrated by a foreign power. I guess it really should not surprise anyone that the technology already exists, and as an average citizen I am finding some comfort in the fact that does.

Joining The Livid Lobster Blog Team

2011-02-06T08:46:00.000-04:00

I am very pleased to announce that I have been accepted to be a blogger for Livid Lobster. Specifically I am writing for webbeat.tv but may also appear in geekbeat.tv or onemansblog.com. If you are unfamiliar with these sites, I encourage you to check them out now. The mere fact that you've found my blog indicates that you have an interest in the type of content that you'll find at these sites. WebBeat and GeekBeat also, and more importantly, have video shows associated with them and hosted by the wonderful duo of Cali Lewis (GeekBeat) and Pelpina Trip (WebBeat). Here is Pelpina's most recent show for your viewing pleasure:

Be sure to follow my posts there and please keep coming back to greatbiggeek! If you've got a story idea please email me greatbiggeek@gmail.com or reach me via twitter @greatbiggeek.

Japanese Rap Duo

2011-02-04T07:19:00.000-04:00

I've never been into gangsta rap, I think I was born a little too early to "appreciate" this style of music, but here is a trending YouTube video from Japan that made me sit back and realize just how small this world is becoming. I laughed a bit at the bubble wrap, the bling, the Marge Simpson hair, and Playboy bunny logos. What really bowled me over was the fact that no good gangsta rap video has ever been made with out at least the flash of a piece, er... gun, or whatever the kids are calling them these days, and this video takes the prize in that department. As a geek I did appreciate the iPhone and pimped out Segways :)

Google Hotpot Unleashed World Wide

2011-02-03T07:35:00.001-04:00

Google is bringing Hotpot, it's new recommendation service, to the world after a limited release back in November. Hotpot basically allows you to rate restaurants, cafes, hotels and the like so that when you or your friends are searching for such venues Google can provide "trusted" results. The Google special sauce is based on your likes, your friends likes or properties that are similar to those that you or your trusty friends like. Access to the service is made available via the web (google.com/hotpot), google maps (maps.google.com), or your android phone.

Keep an eye out for those Unicorns!

Egypt's Last ISP Goes Silent

2011-02-01T06:53:00.000-04:00

Wired's Threat Level blog is reporting the last-standing Egyptian ISP has been shut down prior to today's million man march. "the Noor Group, believed to be the last Egyptian ISP in operation, had provided access to the aviation, banking and financial sectors — including the Egyptian stock market."

“They are completely unavailable at present,” security research firm Renesys wrote of the ISP.

The question now becomes is the efforts of the Mubarak regime to silence communication due to it's desire to stop an organized opposition or is it aimed at stopping news from getting out of the country? Let's hope that this does not breakout into wide spread bloodshed. I hope that neither side sees violence as the solution to this situation.

The question, in this geek's mind, is whether or not we have a basic human right to these services that we've come to enjoy and rely on? Is what Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak doing by cutting off access to these services any different from what the White House might do in a similar situation given the fact that there has been talk of an Internet "Kill Switch" legislation for several years now, and which is apparently being reintroduced soon.

Google And Twitter Team Up For Egypt

2011-01-31T19:56:00.000-04:00

According to The Official Google Blog Google, Twitter, and SayNow (a Google acquired company) have worked together to get a new voice to Twitter service up and running for the folks in Egypt. With the Mubarak regime taking down internet access and cellular service in an attempt to quell protester organization through social sites, the companies felt compelled to do something to help the people of Egypt.

We worked with a small team of engineers from Twitter, Google and SayNow, a company we acquired last week, to make this idea a reality. It’s already live and anyone can tweet by simply leaving a voicemail on one of these international phone numbers (+16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855) and the service will instantly tweet the message using the hashtag #egypt. No Internet connection is required. People can listen to the messages by dialing the same phone numbers or going to twitter.com/speak2tweet.

We hope that this will go some way to helping people in Egypt stay connected at this very difficult time. Our thoughts are with everyone there.

Kudos to these tech giants for putting their collective heads together for such an important global cause, in such a timely fashion!

Kudos to these tech giants for putting their heads together and doing something quickly to aid in tis cause!

Is Flickr On The Bubble At Yahoo?

2011-01-31T07:19:00.002-04:00

I have a Flickr Pro account for which I pay $25 annually and it gives me great piece of mind. Not that I believe that I am the next Annie Leibobvitz (gender aside) it's simply that I have had a photo disaster. I now find that having more than a backup on a usb drive allows me to sleep at night knowing that I am fully protected on and off site. Most of my photos are set to private and that's the way I want it. For many very good photographers Flickr is the only choice on line, but for most internet users Facebook is rapidly becoming the spot where you upload and share your photos.

This increase in photo sharing via Facebook, combined with Yahoo's recent layoffs and shedding of other web services and properties has caused for much discussion regarding the fate of Flickr. The nytimes.com has quoted Jordan Rohan, an analyst with Stifel, Nicolaus & Company as saying “The Internet is starting to rotate around the axis of Facebook — not everything, but everything social,” Mr. Rohan said. “Yahoo and Flickr don’t really have the gravitational pull that would make Flickr the axis that they once imagined.”

Doesn't sound promising for Flickr yet I believe that they will remain relevant and apparently so does Yahoo: “Is Yahoo committed to Flickr?” Blake Irving, Yahoo’s product chief, wrote in a message on Twitter. “Hell yes we are!”

LinkedIn The Social Network For Business Networking Files For IPO

2011-01-28T07:05:00.000-04:00

In the good ole days a businessman's social network meant a lot of "pressing the flesh" and if you worked your network just right there might be a payoff. In today's world business folks are making connections by reaching out to their online network, mostly via LinkedIn an 8 year old Mountain View, California based social network for grown ups (and by grown ups I mean anyone who has, wants, needs a job, sales, or an introduction from an acquaintance or colleague... past or present).

Yesterday LinkedIn filed papers with the Securities Exchange Commission regarding it's intent to make an initial public offering (IPO). According to it's filing LinkedIn managed sales of $161.4 million in the first nine months of 2010 equaling profits of $10 million. I guess you could say that a down economy is probably not a bad thing for growing a user base for a service like LinkedIn, and a turn around will do it a great deal of good as 41% of it's revenues come from it's "hiring solutions".

What will make this one an interesting IPO to watch is that it's coming in advance of some other expected offerings and will undoubtedly test the waters and set investor expectations.

The Fun Theory

2011-01-26T07:42:00.000-04:00

Here's a little extra this morning. You have to check this out!

2 Minutes Of Nothing

2011-01-26T07:24:00.000-04:00

From Alex Tew, the guy who sold 1 million pixels for a buck a piece on the Million Dollar Homepage, comes a new project that simply asks you to do nothing for two minutes. "Just relax and listen to the waves," and "Don't touch your mouse or keyboard." reads the text on the site http://www.donothingfor2minutes.com/, in the background is an ocean vista with the sun peering through the clouds and the sound of waves. Also on screen is a countdown timer set to 2:00, if you are impatient and move the mouse or click on screen the timer turns to a nice red "FAIL" and the exercise starts again. Unfortunately my attention span this morning would not allow me to wait out the two minute exercise so I can't tell you what happens when the clock strikes zero but I can tell you that there is a lot of chatter on techcrunch's comments and that Alex Tew himself is weighing in "I did this project just for fun. Some folks should try and stop looking into things too much :)"

I guess if you've made a million dollars in four months and have plenty of time on your hands a website that plays the sound of waves and counts down from 2:00 makes a lot of sense... why didn't I think of that? Perhaps the fact that I haven't made a million dollars is my stumbling block?

Volvo Testing Automobile Train Concept - SARTRE Project

2011-01-25T07:16:00.000-04:00

Volvo and a handful of other companies are testing a system known as SARTRE (Safe Road Trains For The Environment) which would allow commuters to line up behind a lead vehicle and create an autonomous train, well autonomous for everyone but the lead vehicle. The benefits are said to be environmental, in safety, and in productivity / time savings as the riders in the trailing cars can leave the driving in the hands of the lead vehicle's operator and focus on other tasks.

I'm in awe of the technological achievements displayed in the following video, and at the same time have a bunch of questions and concerns, many of which the researchers are already considering as demonstrated.

Will It Send?

2011-01-24T07:08:00.001-04:00

A very small, 30cm-long, satellite is going to be sent into orbit by a team at Surrey Satellite Technology Limited of Guildford U.K. The satellite is going to be powered by a smartphone using the Google Android operating system, though the precise make and model have not been disclosed.

SSTL project manager Shaun Kenyon says "They come now with processors that can go up to 1GHz, and they have loads of flash memory. First of all, we want to see if the phone works up there, and if it does, we want to see if the phone can control a satellite." The company's goal is to find an inexpensive, off-the-shelf solution that can aid in lowering it's cost of design and development.

"We're not taking it apart; we're not gutting it; we're not taking out the printed circuit boards and re-soldering them into our satellite - we're flying it as is," Mr Kenyon explained.

"And, in fact, we're going to have another camera on the satellite so we can take a picture of the phone because we want to operate the screen and have some good images of that as well."

You see Apple? This is why an open platform is far superior to your closed model... just sayin.

Wanting To Get Back To It's Roots Google Turns To Page

2011-01-21T07:09:00.000-04:00

Google has announced that chief executive Eric Schmidt will be returning the position to co-founder Larry Page whom he had taken the reigns from a decade ago. Schmidt will remain executive chairman of Google that has grown from a pre IPO valuation of $27 billion to $200 billion at markets close yesterday. The handover will happen in April.

“One of the primary goals I have is to get Google to be a big company that has the nimbleness and soul and passion and speed of a start-up,” said Mr. Page in a telephone interview on Thursday.

Eric Schmidt wrote in a twitter post: “Day-to-day adult supervision is no longer needed.”

Google, it seems has become less agile and less attractive to first string engineers and executives while Facebook and Twitter have become the places to work and have threatened growth at Google. I have to say, speaking from experience, that work at a startup is far superior to getting bogged down in stagnant products and the bureaucratic thinking that seems to take over as companies grow and age. No doubt, Mr. Page has gained a great deal of education observing Mr. Schmidt over the years and I'm betting that we see some new and exciting things from Google.

Beating Traffic With Substitute Drivers

2011-01-20T07:53:00.000-04:00

Living where I do, it is hard to fathom the type of traffic that would cause hours of delays. In China however, the population of 1.3 billion is rapidly acquiring vehicles, and the capital city Beijing has tied with Mexico City in a 2010 IBM study of the worlds worst traffic jams.

So what is a time conscious or impatient driver to do if they are stuck in one of the worlds worst traffic jams? Place a call to a car service. Huang Xizhong is quoted by Yahoo as saying "those with urgent dates or business meetings to go to, and those who have flights to catch and can't afford to wait in a traffic jam for too long," and thus his company employs substitute drivers to wait in traffic on your behalf while another driver on a motorcycle zips you through the congestion in a so called "traffic jam rescue".

Seriously! You can't make this stuff up folks...

Starbucks Larger Size And Payment Via iPhone

2011-01-19T07:34:00.003-04:00

Not only has Starbucks introduced the Trenta, a super sized drink some 300ml larger than a Venti (U.S. stores only at this time), but the company has also "today announced the launch of mobile payment in all U.S. company-operated stores, allowing customers to pay for in-store purchases with select smartphones."

The company's press release states:

To experience mobile payment at Starbucks, customers just need to download the free Starbucks Card Mobile App for select BlackBerry smartphones, iPhone or iPod touch mobile devices. More than one-third of U.S. Starbucks customers use smartphones, of which nearly three quarters use BlackBerry smartphone or iPhone mobile devices. In addition to the mobile payment capability, the app allows customers to manage their Starbucks Card account, check their card balance, reload their card with any major credit card (iPhone users can also use the PayPal feature), check their My Starbucks Rewards status and find a nearby Starbucks store with the store locator feature.

Customers can pay with their smartphone by holding their mobile device in front of a scanner on the countertop and scan the Starbucks Card Mobile App's on-screen barcode to make a purchase. Customers have successfully adopted this technology in test markets in Seattle, Northern California, New York and more than 1,000 Starbucks in U.S. Target stores.

I fear nothing good can come of this... :)

You can download the app via www.starbucks.com/coffeehouse/mobile-apps

I Can Haz Your Millions?

2011-01-18T07:05:00.000-04:00

Cheezburger Networks the company behind I Can Has Cheezburger, Fail blog, and Engrish Funny has announced a $30-million round of funding from venture capital firms Foundry Group and SoftBank Capital, amongst others.

The company plans to use the money to beef up staffing and take the blog network into "new directions" according the Mathew Ingram's GIGaom post. This only goes to prove that all of those Jr. High School teachers were wrong when they said "...nothing good will come of this" or "...you are headed for a life as a garbage collector!"

Is Your iPad Changing Your Television Watching Habits?

2011-01-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

It seems that I am not alone in my iPad / TV watching habits and my transition away from the big screen to the one I can hold in my hand. As reported by Kit Eaton, Fast Company, a new study is showing that reading online is cutting into prime time TV watching. I for one am finding that the iPad accompanies me in front of the television as I catch up with email, search IMDB to find out who that actress is and where do I know her from? In my case, I am also short circuiting TV altogether at times by downloading and enjoying commercial free episodes from itunes or audio books from Audible. If it weren't for the other members of my household and perhaps live sports in HD, I'd probably scrap my cable subscription all together in favor of downloaded content to my iPad.

Truth is that my iPad is much more convenient, I can take it with me to my favorite chair, which isn't even in a room with a television, and it remembers where I was when I shut the device off. In my experience interruptions are also less frequent as their is less desire to interrupt someone when they have their ear buds in.

What are your findings?

Spam Took A Holiday But Did Anyone Notice?

2011-01-13T07:03:00.002-04:00

Riva Richmond of the NYTimes Bits Blog declared yesterday that "Spam Is Back". It seems that a spam network of malware-infected personal computers known as Rustock, and believed to be linked to Russian based criminals, stopped sending spam on Christmas Eve. but resumed activities on January 9th at about 7:00 p.m. EST.

Symantec says that the activity is mostly of the pharmaceutical variety promoting an online service called Pharmacy Express. Monday, Rustock was estimated to have sent 19 billion messages representing about 28% of all spam on the internet.

The reason for the quiet Christmas break is a mystery but Matt Sergeant, senior anti-spam technologist for MessageLabs (Symantec) says “My guess would simply be Christmas vacation,” and “Perhaps they went somewhere to spend some time on a beach and decided to shut things down for a while.”

I currently leave have 3 main e-mail addresses, 2 of which are gmail accounts and the 3rd I use very carefully. As a result, I rarely see any spam get through. Google does a great job of catching spam to it's gmail service and so I didn't notice any change in my inbox. You?

Taking Android Fandom To A New Level

2011-01-12T07:08:00.000-04:00

If you are an Android fan you've probably come to love the little green robot that is the face of the Google Android OS. If you are an Android fan with some DIY skills and some time and materials on your hands you build yourself an Android shaped beer cooler! I commend dacavy75 for his Android building skills and thank him for sharing the process with the world via YouTube. Are you taking orders?

Job well done, you are my hero!

cnet's Best of CES 2011

2011-01-11T07:16:00.001-04:00

If you were unable to attend the Consumer and Electronics Show (CES) this year, be sure to check out cnet's best of show video to see their top picks in a number of categories such as prototypes, auto, gaming, home theater, PCs and Laptops, etc. Hosted by Molly Wood and Brian Cooley, and presented by Natalie (Delconte) Morris. Be sure to watch for the prototypes and do a little google searching for the products... very cool stuff.

Oh!, and they have tablets too.

Samsung's Connected Refrigerator On Display At CES

2011-01-10T07:15:00.000-04:00

Mashable has found one of those connected devices that I was hoping to see mentioned in the CES reporting, in this case it's a Wi-Fi enabled refrigerator from Samsung. The options discussed, while they do have some neat factor, are missing the Wow factor for me. It just seems like a lot of computing power and bandwidth usage to leave a note or search for a recipe. I do like shiny new technology but I'm not sure they've convinced me that the additional cost here is going to want me to replace my fridge magnet. You be the judge:

More Pockets!

2011-01-08T15:20:00.001-04:00

I love Scottevest apparel and now there is even more to love with the Expedition Jacket. 37 pockets worth of gadget carrying glory and no need for a backpack any more! Check it out:

The Revolution Plus might be a better pick for us Canucks but regardless this clothing is beautifully functional and totally a geek necessity. Consider this an unbiased and unsolicited Great Big Geek product endorsement.

Asteroid By Parrot - Android Device For Your Car

2011-01-06T03:04:00.001-04:00

Check out this CES report by Andy Walker of Buterscotch.com... it's android in your car baby!

What Does CES 2011 Have In Store For Us?

2011-01-05T07:26:00.000-04:00

According to CNN's Mark Milian (love that name) we can expect Tablets, Tablets, and more Tablets, as well as Smartphones, 3D TVs, connected appliances, and of course video gaming. Some 80 new tablet devices will occupy the booths which is no surprise. The most interesting concept for me, one that has been around for some time but only now seems to be maturing, is the connected appliance. It seems that cell carriers are behind the latest push along with the more traditional Wi-Fi offerings. I am anxious to learn of the ways in which the industry choses to employ this technology. It's apt to be an easing in process where we get alerts via sms or twitter, but there are possibilities here that go well beyond "the toast is burning"... look for a wrap up post after the news starts hitting the wire.

New Floor Washing Robot From iRobot - Scooba 230

2011-01-03T15:39:00.000-04:00

iRobot has just announced a new addition to it's Scooba floor cleaning robot line. The Scooba 230 is smaller in circumference but a bit taller from what I can gather. The smaller base allows it to maneuver into tighter corners such as around toilets, where it's really needed. I'm liking what I see from the 230 and it is time to replace my 1st generation Scooba...

iPhone Let You Down In 2011?

2011-01-02T10:17:00.000-04:00

It seems as though the iPhone has had another clock related issue resulting in non-recurring alarms not functioning after the stroke of midnight on January 1st 2011. Many Apple related message boards and twitter posts are showing frustration amongst iPhone owners. The following is a post from a thread on Apple's own support forum:

Hi,

I'm really quite annoyed Right now with apple, my iPhone alarm didn't go off meaning I was late for everthing, what the heck is the matter with it?

I understand there is some sort of glitch due to the new year 2011? Does anyone know how to fix this as I need my phone to wake me up,

Thanks in advanced,

Sam.

It doesn't appear as though Apple officials have posted a response to this however one user suggests:

It will be fine tomorrow, or set a recurring alarm instead.

Don't you have a regular alarm clock?

My Android device is working just fine thanks :)

New Jersey Mayor Turns To Twitter During Snow Storm

2010-12-30T14:12:00.000-04:00

Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Cory Booker used his twitter account (@corybooker) during this years “Snowpocalypse,” to let his constituents know of the city's progress in road clearing and to thank those who were pitching in to help others through the storm. Booker helped deliver supplies and shovel walkways in order to keep his city moving and it's not the first time... last year he came to the aid of an elderly man when the 65 year old's daughter tweeted his plight during a New Year's Eve blizzard. Talk about having your finger on the pulse of your community! Thanks Mayor Booker, you are an inspiration.

Source: mashable.com

Man Facing Charges For Reading Wife's E-mail

2010-12-28T10:15:00.000-04:00

A Michigan man is charged with felony computer misuse charges after using the family computer to view his wife's gmail account in order to verify her affair with another man.

According to the Globe and Mail "Privacy law writer Frederick Lane tells the Detroit Free Press the law typically is used to prosecute identity theft and stealing trade secrets. He says he questions if a wife can expect privacy on a computer she shares with her husband."

Leon Walker who faces trial on the charge February 7th calls the case a “miscarriage of justice.”

It will certainly be interesting to see how the law interprets this one...

Old School Media Takes Note Of Podcast King Leo Laporte

2010-12-27T11:33:00.000-04:00

“It’s not as if I had a plan for all this,” Leo Laporte tells the New York Times. “It just kind of happened. It was almost as if we had this audience that was waiting for the medium to come along.”

Leo's TWIT podcasting empire has been successful in luring away well known tech broadcasters from giants like c|net and racks up combined downloads in the millions per month. The network is said to be bringing in an estimated $4 to $5 million this year in revenues and charges about 3 times the ad rates of traditional broadcasting. This is likely due to the fact that hitting the mark with podcasting is like a riffle shot vs. traditional broadcastings shotgun approach.

If you are new to the concept of podcasting read the NYTimes article. I also suggest that you check out the Podcast section of iTunes, there are some 150,000 regular shows on all topics imaginable from amateur broadcasters and mainstream networks alike.

My iPad is constantly updated with the latest geeky stuff from:

This Week In Tech (TWIT) with Leo Laporte and guests

Net@Nite With Leo Laporte and Amber MacArthur

Tech News Today Video with Tom Merrit

CBC Radio's The Bottom Line with David Sazuki

CBC Spark Lite

commandN with Amber MacArthur

GeekBeat.TV with Cali Lewis

TekZilla with Veronica Belmont and Patrick Norton

No Agenda With Adam Curry (The Pod Father) and John C. Dvorak

Scam School with Brian Brushwood

TEDtalks video some of the best from the TED conferences

A Day At The Movies

2010-12-24T07:27:00.000-04:00

I have a couple of videos to share with you on this Christmas Eve, don't worry they are totally geek related. Firstly, I am probably the last guy on the planet to see Tron Legacy but I intend to rectify that over the holidays... I might even see it twice just to make up some geek cred! Along that theme however comes this great Vimeo video of the Tron Legacy themed skateboard half-pipe created by ENESS a group of Interactive designers from Australia.

Tron Legacy Premiere - A Light Session from ENESS on Vimeo.

Additionally for those of you who are expecting Microsoft's Kinect to adorn your household, take a look at the following YouTube video. It seems a group at MIT decided to hack Kinect and create a Minority Report style GUI which is very impressive... I believe Steven Spielberg himself would be impressed!

Enjoy, and have a safe and happy holiday season with lots of gadgets under the tree.

What's In A Number?

2010-12-22T07:58:00.001-04:00

MATT RICHTEL in the NYTimes Bits Blog points out that the amount of time spent using web based email services is on the decline for everyone but the 55 and older crowd. The data collected by comScore Media Metrix should, in my opinion, come as little surprise to anyone with a pulse. The proliferation of social media sites as a means of communicating has drastically reduced the amount of general chatter that once occupied our in boxes. Many people have chosen to fulfill their need to reach out and touch their "friends" via Facebook status updates and wall posts. I believe that this form of communication is much more of a fishing expedition; if I have 200 friends on Facebook and I post that I'm feeling happy today, or sad, I'm more likely to engage someone in a conversation. Instant messaging, texts, twitter or Facebook posts make for instant gratification, and the generations that are growing up today are less likely to want to engage in lengthy email exchanges. The move to mobile has also had a significant impact on our email habits, and while the numbers are interesting to look at there's little to be surprised by here... unless you are a web based email service who's not had social on your radar, then you're probably too late anyway.

As for the big split between the under 55's and the over 55's, these are mostly the folks who didn't have PC's in their everyday lives until they were pushing 30 and probably didn't have to embrace them until even later in life. It's not that surprising.

More Goodies From Google!

2010-12-21T07:30:00.000-04:00

Google to the rescue once again. This Google fan boy applauds the fact that Google is serving up some more great stuff with word from the Official Google Blog that a new notification is being delivered with your search results.

"We've added new notifications to the results page to warn you when sites may have been compromised, spammed or defaced. We use a variety of automated tools to detect common signs of hacking as quickly as possible, and if we detect any of these we add a new notice right beneath the result title line, “This site may be compromised.” In addition to protecting users, these notices will also help webmasters more quickly discover when someone is abusing their sites. You can learn more in our Help Center article and our webmaster blog post."

The results will look something like this:

Thanks Google!

Facebook Releases Code Prematurely, Takes Site Offline

2010-12-20T07:26:00.000-04:00

For about 30 Minutes the worlds largest social network was offline after releasing code to the public that was not quite ready for prime time. The Facebook blog described the situation as such: "For a brief period of time, some internal prototypes were made public to a number of people externally. As a result, we took the site down for a few minutes. It's back up, and we apologise for the inconvenience."

Wired.com's Sam Gustin says "They're not pleased that they had to shut the website down for 30 minutes," "But it comes with the territory when you have a culture of iterative innovation, they say," he said. "Sometimes code gets pushed out before it's ready."

All of us in the software biz can feel their pain, it's especially difficult when you have the number of users that Facebook has, one can only imagine the financial loss that being offline for 30 minutes brings for a behemoth like Facebook.

Source: bbc.co.uk

Winter Solstice And Lunar Eclipse Tuesday

2010-12-19T10:17:00.000-04:00

North Americans will have the best seats in the house on Tuesday as the winter solstice and a total lunar eclipse colide for the first time in 456 years, the last time being in AD 1554.

The arrival of the winter solstice cannot be seen, but is described as the instant when the Earth's axial tilt is farthest away from the sun, resulting in the shortest day of the year as well as the longest night of the year. The summer solstice happens in June when the reverse is true.

This year the winter solstice begins on Tuesday evening at 6:38 p.m. ET, which is 8:08 p.m. NT, 7:38 p.m. AT, 5:38 p.m. CT, 4:38 p.m. MT, and 3:38 p.m. PT.

NASA predicts that at 1:33 a.m. ET on Tuesday, "Earth's shadow will appear as a dark red bite at the edge of the lunar disk." After aboun an hour, the "bite" will grow to cover the entire moon. This stage, known as "totality," will probably start at 2:41 a.m. ET and last 72 minutes.

NASA suggests the best time to view the event, will be at 3:17a.m. ET, "when the moon will be in deepest shadow, displaying the most fantastic shades of coppery red."

I might be a little groggy at work on Wednesday!

Blogger Not Playing Nice

2010-12-17T07:34:00.000-04:00

I am having great difficulty getting posts out of any length. If you are a regular reader you will have noticed yesterdays post was cut mid sentence. It seems as though Blogger is having fits over the past day or so... I'll touch base with support and hopefully get back on track soon.

Have iPad, Will Travel... Awkwardly

2010-12-16T07:16:00.001-04:00

So it seems that some men are envious of the iPad but are not willing to purchase one because of the difficulty transporting it. I actually lug mine around, in the official Apple case, like a note pad, in my hand and held against my hip but then again I am not very concerned that the device will be recognized by would be thieves. I also don't typically carry too much else into the office and my parking is just steps away from our building.

It seems that in larger cities guys are both more leery of displaying the device openly and more fashion conscious. The New York Times discusses....

Note: This post seems to have been partially lost, I'll come back to it once I locate the link to the NYT story.

Crime Too, It Seems, Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

2010-12-14T07:19:00.000-04:00

This morning I read in this Technically Incorrect post of Norwegian author Anne B. Ragde who publicly spoke out about the amount of money she has estimated to have lost due to piracy of her e-books, apparently about $72,500. "I cannot stand the thought of someone stealing something. I look at Norwegian musicians who have to do live concerts. We have nothing to live on other than the physical product."

She then goes on to say that she buys knock off hand bags because the originals are too expensive. Say what?

Further, her son Jo has outed her for having some 1,800 pirated songs on her iPod! To which she originally admitted, then blamed Jo, and now is promising to delete the pirated music... I'm not about to stand on any soapbox and preach the virtues of good versus evil, but I do think we all need to step back and seriously consider what our values are, and then be true to them, and to ourselves.

The Year That Was - YouTube Style

2010-12-13T07:21:00.000-04:00

The YouTube team has counted the clicks and tallied the views an as of the end of November 2010 this is what the world was tuned into:

Globally, as of November 2010, the most-watched YouTube videos (excluding major label music videos) were:

Justin Bieber took 4 of the top ten major music label video views while Eminem, Shakira, Rihanna, and Lady Gaga comprised the rest of the list. I refuse to link to Justiin Beiber, just sayin!

The most-searched for queries on YouTube during the year:

January - haiti

February - luge

March - eclipse trailer

April - ipad

May - eminem not afraid

June - shakira waka waka

July - double rainbow

August - bed intruder

Can't wait to see the top 10 sporting clips!

September - halo reach

October - whip my hair

November - firework

Global Reactions to Leaked Documents - WikiLeaks Saga Continues

2010-12-10T07:53:00.000-04:00

The reactions to the recently leaked U.S. Government cables by WikiLeaks are wide and varied, depending on who you talk to. As one would imagine it's been more than just water cooler talk at the office. The Guardian has compiled a list of global reactions and quotes in the wake of the political storm that has brewed and it ranges from "grossly irresponsible" to calling Julian Assange a "hero".

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls the incident "psychological warfare."

Libian leader Muammar Gaddafi praised WikiLeaks for exposing US "hypocrisy."

While China's Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Beijing hoped the emergence of the cables would not affect relations with Washington.

In Assange's homeland of Australia Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the publication of the cables is illegal, and Assange's actions are "grossly irresponsible" but on the other hand former Prime Minister Paul Rudd said "Mr Assange is not himself responsible for the unauthorised release of 250,000 documents from the US diplomatic communications network. "The Americans are responsible for that,".

Oh how interesting this has all become...

A Little Angry Bird Humor

2010-12-09T08:13:00.000-04:00

Ha!

Twitter A-buzz With The Arrest Of WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange

2010-12-07T07:25:00.001-04:00

Fired up my Twitter account this morning and every other tweet is about the arrest of Julian Assange in London. Here is the Associated Press story: http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_16026/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=6qEaVSwN

LONDON (AP) - Police say WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been arrested on a Swedish warrant.
Assange was arrested at 9:30 a.m. (0930 GMT) Tuesday and was due to appear at Westminster Magistrate's Court later in the day.

The Low Tech Low Cost Solution To Digital TV

2010-12-06T07:27:00.000-04:00

According to this NY Times article, rabbit ears are making a come back! If you are too young to know what rabbit ears are then this might not make a lot of sense to you. Think about an antenna with two adjustable prongs protruding from the top of a base that, "back in the day" would sit on top of your television set and bring in two or three channels. Incredible as it might sound, this is how we consumed our Saturday morning cartoons and Hockey Night in Canada when I was growing up.

Of course today your television won't provide a stable resting place for the old rabbit ears but the primitive antennas are apparently still able to haul in digital TV signals and if you are willing to put up with the flakiness of the device you can save yourself a cable bill. While I've not tried it, I understand that subscribing to Internet service only via a cable provider will also provide a number of "free" channels if you connect the coaxial cable to your HDTV. Oddly enough the channels appear to be different than those offered via subscription, my guess is that they are otherwise filtered out by the provider with your normal subscription though this is only an assumption.

In these tough economic times, the cable providers might wish to take notice and price their services reasonably for the average consumer. Just a thought.

Is The Effort To Hide The Truth More Damaging Than The Truth Itself?

2010-12-03T07:48:00.001-04:00

Until now I've not had much to say about the recent round of WikiLeaks vs. the U.S. gov't. This time around the documents being shared are causing a bit of a diplomatic uproar as damning information regarding U.S. diplomat's impressions of foreign leaders have surfaced. It seems as though the American government is feeling the heat over this leak a great deal more than the mostly military leaks that previously hit the site. In the last round WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was publicly criticized and then a character assassination attempted with allegations of a sexual assault linked to him.

In this round the site has been hit by a DDOS attack, then it's temporary host Amazon pulled the plug, and it's domain name service has just given it the boot. All of this and a world wide warrant being placed on Assange by Interpol. It seems as though the powers that be are more willing to silence the detractors than to fess up. No one should be fooled into thinking that due diligence is not conducted by all nations, in the form of intelligence gathering, and that assessments of personal characters is not routine. Perhaps however the U.S. might wish to secure it's documents, instruct and or teach it's diplomats to be, well, diplomatic in their assessments on paper. While I do not wish to downplay those contents, the act of attempting to silence WikiLeaks and the lengths at which it is going to do so is more damning, at least in my eyes, than the documents themselves. I am sure that there are skeletons in everyone's closet but the U.S. government is going about this the wrong way. Then again perhaps there is more than one government worried about who's closet will be searched next...

Just my 2 cents worth.

p.s. WikiLeaks is still available online, at least for now, at http://213.251.145.96/

Naughty Or Nice?

2010-12-02T06:45:00.000-04:00

If you've been naughty this year it's time to kick the nice into high gear and make a real push to the big day as the Jolly Ole Elf is a mere few weeks away. This year as has been a recent tradition, NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, will track Santa's progress via it's web site. December 1st marked the kick-off of this year’s countdown at www.noradsanta.org. Kids of all ages can play holiday-themed games and get updates from the North Pole as Santa prepares for his big sleigh ride.

Here is a review of his journey last year, courtesy of YouTube.

Tweets Hit The Big Screen At Piccadilly Circus

2010-12-01T07:26:00.001-04:00

Coca-Cola is spreading Christmas cheer via twitter users and a huge screen located at the busy London thorough fare at Piccadilly Circus. Twitter users who follow @cokezone can direct their tweet to @cokezone and have it displayed on the screen for commuters to enjoy. We'll assume that because of the open nature of the tweets that there will be some form of moderation.

If you don't happen to drive through Piccadilly Circus the tweets can be viewed live on the brand’s engagement site, www.cokezone.co.uk/Piccadilly, via a webcam set up to film the sign.

Zoe Howorth, market activation director, Coca-Cola GB, said: "The Piccadilly sign provides Coca-Cola with a unique interactive platform and we're delighted that consumers can use it to spread their Christmas messages this year.

This activation puts our fans at the heart of the activity, allowing them to engage and communicate with people everywhere."

Source: Campaignlive.co.uk

p.s. If you'd like to run your own twitter to screen campaign check out http://screenscape.net (my employer). http://screenscape.net/blog/adding-your-favorite-tweets-to-your-ScreenScape-display

Forget Location... Now There Is Persistent Location!

2010-11-30T07:28:00.000-04:00

If Xtify has it's way check-ins will be a thing of the past, before they even became mainstream... Xtify is ushering in the era of “persistent location,” one in which the user’s location is passively used to deliver relevant information. According to GigaOm's Ryan Kim "Xtify is on the cutting edge along with Placecast and others using geo-fences, a digitally drawn radius around a place, to create a landscape in which our movements trigger offers, coupons and messages from companies we have relationships with."

Xtify CEO Josh Rochlin says “There is going to be growing comfort with passively-derived location that will be an asset to consumers, but brands will need to figure out how to take advantage of location without becoming a nuisance,” he said. “Brands will have to decide what is the proper cadence to message users.”

It all sounds a bit like Minority Report-ish to me, and that's not necessarily a bad thing (at least from this geek's perspective). The promise of these technologies are that they are opt-in and provide fully anonymized user data with no emails or cell phone numbers stored, and that is much more comforting to the average non technical user who's big concern to date with location based services is privacy.

British Police Seek Powers To Close .uk Web Domains

2010-11-29T07:15:00.000-04:00

The BBC is reporting that The Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) has tabled a plan asking for the right to shut down .uk domains if law enforcement agencies deem them to be engaged in criminal activities. The troubling part of the plan is that the officials seem to be seeking the power to shut down sites prior to any convictions. "If you are going to do this, then fine, but it needs judicial oversight," said barrister and IT lawyer David Harris.

"In a world of online retailing, the ability for a police officer to seize any business, whether that is blocking a domain or seizing the servers - pre-conviction or certainly pre-warrant - would be a dramatic change in the relationship between the police and the internet community," said Nick Lockett, a lawyer at DLL specialising in computer law.

My worry is that such a law be used to silence political movements or opposing views in an effort to control the flow of information. Opening this door could have very serious and lasting consequences.

Darth Vader The Face Of Android In Japan

2010-11-26T07:24:00.000-04:00

In a move that only the Japanese would dare, NTT the countries largest teleco has chosen to make Darth Vader the face for their flagship Samsung Galaxy S Android powered smart phone. This sort of goes against the whole Google "Do no evil" motto... though some might find turning to the dark side cool I suppose, and let's face it we all kinda dig Darth Vader anyway. Perhaps they are trying to work the "galaxy far, far, away..." angle? Whatever it is I'm a bit drawn to the ad, so perhaps it's working!

Edible QR Codes

2010-11-25T07:23:00.000-04:00

I have been singing the praises of QR codes since I purchased my Android phone a couple of years back. Those who know me well will attest to the fact that I have business cards that I carry with simply a QR code printed on them along side my blog logo. You need not look far to find one emblazoned on this page...

It should therefore come as no surprise to anyone that I am totally jealous of the folks who thought up and attended the following:

This is one of the best examples of geeky fun that I've viewed in a very long time.

Don't Trust An Angry Bird (May be considered NSFW by some)

2010-11-24T07:01:00.000-04:00

I am hooked on Angry Birds. There, I said it... but so too are millions of others so I am not alone. Apparently some people are so hooked that they feel it necessary to make videos and mashups. Here is my favorite. (Warning language may be offensive to some.)