If you ever use Google, and who doesn't, then you might find some of these commands very useful and if any thing interesting. Give them a try and let me know what you think. The Weather one can be very useful and quick.
Amazing Mac Set-up
In reading Digg I cam across this photo showing a photographers home computer set-up that includes several Macs, one Dell and a slew of flatscreen monitors. Pretty amazing and extreamly expensive set-up.
The "small" monitor in the center is a 23" monitor, while the big boys are 30" monitors. The notebook on the far left is a 12" PowerBook with a 17" PowerBook under neath the 30" on the far left next to the 12" PowerBook. This person is using a Mac Mini as a media streaming device and has a dual G5 hidden away behind that mess of cords. Oh, there is also a P4 Dell for when he apparently just has to go to the darkside.
I look at this set-up and think, people complain about my computer obsession. PLEASE!
Free Holiday Videos (Two Ways to Get Them Free)
I found this new service for on-line videos called 4Flix . They are going to attempt to go head to head with Apple's iTunes music store video collection. While iTunes Music Store offers up short videos, TV shows and music videos for $1.99 each, 4Flix is planning on having full length features at a $1.99 each. Guaging from their holiday collection these may not be the best movies ever made, but then NightRider wasn't exactly TV's best either.
If you are interested in seeing what they have to offer and the quality (be warned it is still best watched on a 5th generation iPod, commonly known as the iPod Video) then all you have to do his go to their site and buy one $1.99 video and then you can get the rest of the holiday videos for free or you can subscribe to an iTunes video podcast and they will deliver one video a day for free. I just got Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (a very old version, but in color) and it looks pretty good considering the age of the original print and the resolution, designed as I mentioned to be viewed on an iPod screen. So check out the article at MacNN and then head over to 4Flix.net. If you do you will be experiencing a taste of Christmas Yet to Come... oh, there is an old Vincint Price TV version of A Christmas Carol available.
Teenage Blogs - Right or priviledge Schools Can Take Away
This is a very interesting Wall Street Journal article about how schools are dealing with the quickly increasing number of students that keep online "blogs" or personal web-sites. On these sites they may talk about fellow students, teachers, administrators or their school in general. As one might suspect some of the postings can have the harsh and possibly rash tone that young people are well known to possess at times. People most definitely mellow with age and experience and schools have since the beginning of education had to learn how to deal with young adults becoming increasingly vocal in their views.
At school there are no second guess that the students can't just say anything they like at anytime they want, the rules become less obvious once the student walks out of the hallowed halls of their educational institution. The question of the day for schools is simple Do they punish a student who posts to a public website via directing posting (as I do here) or through comments on another website, statements that are hurtful, vulgar, offensive or harmful about other students, teachers and so on?
This question is not just one for schools, parents and students but also for the courts. It's a legal question that seems to be dancing all over the legal landscape. Some courts are allowing schools to punish students for off-campus postings, while other courts are awarding damages to students that were punished. The level of vulgarity is less of an issue it seems in these decisions, and more of the rights of schools to protect their charges and staff compared to the rights of the individual, visa-a-vie the first amendment.
My step-daughter to be keeps a personal blog on Myspace as well as one I created for her, so this is a concern for me before I even get to the meat of the issue which is, does she use the site to blast fellow students or her teachers.
The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has posted a FAQ for students on this very issue. The FAQ, which is interesting reading, is available at their website at:
Put The Moon In Orbit
This is very cool. If you have ever wondered about the physics of putting the moon into orbit around our little blue globe called Earth, and let's face it don't we all think about how are moon got into orbit. So, take a look at this bit of web-based programming and see if you can determine what physics are needed to put the Moon in orbit around Earth.
Click Here
To Try It Out
(PS You Need FireFox 1.5 Currently to View This)
But why not use the best browser for Windows...
FIREFOX 1.5
Review of FireFox 1.5
To Try It Out
(PS You Need FireFox 1.5 Currently to View This)
But why not use the best browser for Windows...
FIREFOX 1.5
Review of FireFox 1.5
Microsoft Office 12 - Beta (First Look)
CNet was one of the lucky groups, I guess they were lucky, to get their hands on the very first public beta of Microsoft Office 12. From what I am reading, this upgrade won't be like the last two upgrades that really didn't offer substantial change or new features; this upgrade will be more like the Office 97 upgrade after Office 95, big changes.
In several of the programs say good-bye to the standard file menu and hello to what they call ribbons. There will be lots of other "visual" changes and one would assume some deeper ones as well. Of course, will this software be worth getting on day 1, or even day 456? The verdict won't be out until probably day 120 of its release.
I will say that it looks like the Windows version of Office may finally get some of the pizazz the Mac versions of Office have had for a few years now, as well as the easier user interface. One can hope anyway.
Check out the review and the slideshow.
PowerBooking In Style
Yes, it may be shameful to write on a Dell how much I want a PowerBook, but alas it is the simple truth. While my 8600 is a good computer and actually operates better than I had anticipated back when I ordered it, just about 1 year ago, it is not a PowerBook. There is no doubt that the PowerBook has had an impact on the design of the Inspiron line of notebooks, as it has impacted every notebook line. If not for the slick lines of the Apple notebook line, notebooks in general would probably still be boxier than they needed to be, focusing only on what they can do and now how they look. Few though take design as far as Apple does.
forgetting for the moment "design," there is the simple fact that I believe the Mac platform to just be better, especially for the creative side. The two areas I enjoy experimenting with are digital photography and digital video. I am still very much a novice at both, but I think from my website you can at least tell that I enjoy working with digital photography, and for those of you that have seen the few movies I put together for friends you know that I enjoy video just as much.
Don't get me wrong, I can do video on photography on my Dell; photography for sure. I have been playing with video on my Dell 8600 recently and the only thing keeping me from doing more is the simple fact I don't have the storage capacity at the moment. That will be something relatively simple to fix though.
The Mac line though, makes doing digital photography and digital video more enjoyable. The full line up of tools that you get with Final Pro Express, far exceed what you get with any of the mid-level video editing programs on the WinTel side of the aisle. Then there are the simple things that come with Mac OS X like iPhoto and iDVD that give the Mac a huge edge over WinTel computers right out of the box.
Going back to design though, a notebook is something that I use all of the time and I want it to look good. It shouldn't be form over function, but form should compliment function. I chose the Dell 8600 because I
was able to add a bit of distinctiveness to it with a selection of covers (a program Dell has since stopped), form does mean something.
The point may be mute though. While our family income is going to jump because of the sale of the house, we still have to save for the wedding and other things that we need to do. While we haven't totally extinguished the idea of getting me a PowerBook and passing my Dell on to Tracy, it is looking less likely.
I have thought about nixing the whole video of the wedding, but I don't think I really want to do that; so I will just have to tackle editing it on this Dell. I will have to do some upgrades, more memory and a huge external drive, but that wouldn't be as expensive as buying a brand new PowerBook. The process will be more difficult, I think, and it won't be as elegant to be sure, but being cost conscious has to be part of being a husband and head of a family. It's not all about me.
The Mac line in general is great, and the PowerBook is fantastic both the 15" and the 17". I love the Macs I had in the past and wish I had never made the jump over to WinTel sometimes. I'm glad I did, or a lot of my jobs would have been more difficult. My personality though does match more the Mac side of things. So here is to hoping that in the near future I will be able to afford a go PowerBooking in style without worrying if doing so will keep me from getting what Courtney and Tracy want. Again, it just isn't about me anymore.
Yahoo Maps
Okay, this is major cool. It's a beta, but a beta that seems to be ready for primetime. Yahoo's stuffy old maps are gone, replaced with a fully interactive flash based map that blows the lid off of what Mappoint and Google have both done. So Check out their site < Yahoo Maps Beta>.
In time the beta site will go away, and you will be able to go to < Yahoo Maps>
Check it out... very cool.
Yahoo updates their maps section and it's all in flash.