Craig.Carlen[Online].com

Microsoft’s Photosynth is ready for Primetime

Craig — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:54:51 +0000

Back in April I blogged about a project from Microsoft’s LiveLab coined Photosynth. At the time it was a preview of what they had planned - well Photosynth is a ready for primetime player and from what I’ve been able to tell, unique within the photo-manipulation category. I’ve not had a lot of time to play with it as of yet but for the photobug this tool looks amazing and presents people with a totally new way of expressing themselves whether it be their vacation, selling a home, showing off their new landscaping project - anything you could do or say with a pitcure or pictures just became 1000% more functional as well as more fun.

Now I just need to get over the idea this bit of cool software engineering came from Microsoft. Hey - at least Apple didn’t create it.

The web to come…parts 3 & 4.

Craig — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:31:26 +0000

Adaptive Path has completed their series I’ve been following on their Aurora concept.

Part 3:

Aurora (Part 3) from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

Part 4:

Aurora (Part 4) from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

You can also view the entire video here.

The synic in my says with the likes of Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, Amazon and Google around, something like this just won’t happen. But I would love to see it happen. Full integration of software with hardware all while working within the framework of our lifestyles. What a great idea!

Right now most things involving computing is proprietary. For example: Apple’s OSX is proprietary to the Macintosh PC. If you don’t have a Mac, then OSX won’t run properly if at all (and you’d be breaking the OSX EULA). If you’re a heavy gamer, then you’re using a Window’s based PC. The newest games for the most part run the best on windows-based systems - again, a proprietary union of software and hardware. Even Linux users find themselves with ‘distros’ that work better with certain pieces of hardware. In short, the computing world is proprietary.

Aurora and ideas like it go against that grain. And I can only hope it succeeds.

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Post tags: Adaptive Path, Aurora

The web to come…Part 2.

Craig — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:09:24 +0000

Adaptive Path has posted the second video in their Aurora concept.

Aurora (Part 2) from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

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Post tags: Adaptive Path, Aurora

The web to come…

Craig — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:32:14 +0000

I remember when I first got on-line - it was before the World Wide Web was common place; Telnet and Gopher on the other hand were. After about two years of playing around on what is now commonly referred to as the Application Layer of the TCP/IP Model (still sans a ‘browser‘), I was invited to be a part of Microsoft’s beta testing of their new Microsoft Network. I had previously dinked around AOL and wanted no part of that - even then AOL was full of chats and message boards that proclaimed nothing more than “type 1 if you think _____ is ______“. (To this day I still cannot fathom anyone paying hard earned money for the horrid service.) Microsoft Network was to launch with the release of Windows 95 - which I also beta tested (before the Windows 95 preview program that upset so many MSN users at the time).

Needless to say, the WWW is vastly different from those days 13 years ago. Microsoft Network was predominantly thread-based navigation - major interest areas with multiple subtopics that created various points of discussion. That was not the WWW. While working for Microsoft Network I discovered the Mosaic web browser and got my first real taste of the WWW. That feels like a lifetime ago considering what’s found on the web today. We’re already getting small glimpses of the future of the web - IPv6 is the first real indication of that. The current internet layer protocol - IPv4 - is quickly running out of available addresses. But the number of IP addresses IPv6 will be able to provide (2¹²⁸ BTW) is the sort of stuff most of us really don’t care about. As long as the address that is typed in the address bar brings us to the place we intend, we’re happy. 99.9% of us really don’t care about the how’s, where’s, and why’s behind how it all happened. What we do care about is the usability of the interface we’re using to get all of that accomplished. Right now, my preference for that interface is the FireFox browser coupled with about a dozen and a half add-on extensions that allow FireFox to do so really cool things - most of which are important to me. Others prefer other browsers like Opera, Safari, Konqueror, or even Internet Explorer (although I’ve yet to figure out why anyone purposely uses Internet Explorer…but that’s for another blog entry).

Recently Mozilla Labs (the creators of FireFox) initiated the Concept Series and invited developers to dream about, inspire, and design for the next generation of the web. The first itiration of that is Aurora from Adaptive Path:

Aurora (Part 1) from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

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Post tags: Adaptive Path, Aurora, IPv6, WWW

Good TV isn’t always what it implies…Something Good.

Craig — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 04:56:41 +0000

I love good television. Being an aspiring editor/producer I tend to notice bad edits, bad lighting, poorly recorded audio, and other nit-picky things most television watchers don’t pick up on. But even with all the bad, I still enjoy good television.

One of my and my wife’s favorite television programs is Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. You can’t help but feel good after watching any episode. The family that is helped always deserves it and the design team always endeavors to provide the family with a great design. It’s good TV - I’d venture to say it’s powerful TV. And it’s been very good to ABC and the shows sponsor Sears. The show is constantly one of the top rated shows week in and week out and and undoubtedly is a big win for Sears who has not only sponsored the show since it’s inception but also provides the bulk the the products that are featured in each home that is built.

But Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is also flawed TV. A few weeks ago the story broke that a family in Georgia that had received a new home from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and less than 4 years later the home was being threatened with foreclosure. I don’t fault ABC for any of this: the family was given a new home, had their previous mortgage paid off and was given a $100,000 cash gift by the home’s builder. And yet the family felt the need to take out a second mortgage on the home (for the home’s entire value) to start a business - a construction business during a time of economic recession. It seems the family has made a deal with their mortgage company to restructure their loan and will be able to remain in their home after all.

But a few other recipients of ABC’s generosity haven’t been so lucky. And this is where good TV becomes flawed. Think about it for a minute: You take a poor family that does not have the means to fix or update their home and what do you do? You give them a larger home to deal with. A larger home means larger utility bills because - well - it’s a larger home and it will take more energy to heat, cool and illuminate. A larger home also means a more valuable home so their property taxes will certainly go up. Sometimes the homeowners previous mortgage is paid off but often it’s not. So the family that couldn’t afford to fix/update/maintain their previous home now has a larger, more expensive home to maintain. When the production lights are turned off, the cameras are packed away and Ty Pennington and his team of designers head off to their next Extreme Makeover, the family is left in the same financial situation they were in before this all started. And on top of that, they are left with a heftier financial burden. But the television viewing public doesn’t see any of that. Until the burden becomes too much and the families need help or worse, decide to sell the home that was provided for them by ABC.

Just ask Eric Hebert of Sandpoint, ID. Less them 2 years ago he and his family received a new 3,600+ sq. ft. home from ABC. Now he’s selling it because point blank, he can’t afford it. The same hold true for this family. And I stumbled upon this as well - check the last comment left on this blog (which happens to be about this same subject). I remember that episode and also remember wondering how on earth that family was going to make that work considering their riding program for developmentally challenged children (which for what it’s worth I believe is a great program) is not for profit? And although I couldn’t find any news stories to corroborate the comment, I did find that the town of Port Deposit, MD has had two fund raising dinners for the family since their new home was built in October 2007.

This phenomenon isn’t unique to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. What about shows like Pimp My Ride, Trick My Truck, and Overhaulin’? Sure, it’s a substantially smaller scale both in viewership and overall cost, but the recipients are still left with something they couldn’t do on their own. Something they’ll now have to afford the insurance on as well as the increased maintenance.

I’m in no way advocating all good TV fit within a mold that is meant to change lives. But when good TV’s intent is to change lives, then if should be for the long term, not just for ratings. When all the cameras are packed away, good TV needs to stay good television. ABC and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition need to ensure that the people they are giving these huge homes to can afford what they are being given. Maybe some of the money ABC puts into the homes would be better suited to providing long term financial stability for these families. As my Mom is keen on saying: you can either buy a fish for a hungry man and feed him for one day - or you can buy him a rod and reel and teach him to fish and he’ll be fed for a lifetime. Good television needs to focus on more than what we the viewing public sees on the screen. Good television needs to make a lasting impact on lives, not provide 15 minutes of fame.

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Post tags: ABC, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Good TV

Billy Graham on Technology, Faith & Suffering

Craig — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 02:31:06 +0000

Truth be told, I could spend hours on end each day with my web browser open to TED.com. If you don’t know what TED.com is I invite you to take a look around their site. Within the scope of TED is the TEDTalk and it’s premise is simple: Invite a specialist in any given field to speak for roughly a half and hour. Just released this month from the TEDTalk archive is a 30 minute talk given by Billy Graham originally filmed back in 1998. This doesn’t really need any introduction on my part, so I’ll let Reverend Graham speak for himself:

Source

Apple Security…Don’t ask…or maybe you should.

Craig — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 04:12:00 +0000

It’s been a long while since I’ve posted anything to this blog. I would attribute that to the new job I’ve been trying to settle into - and I say job because at this point, I don’t exactly consider it a career move.

Enough about that…I want to get right into this. I was reading through some blogs and other sites tonight and came across this little gem: Apple just gave out my Apple ID password because someone asked. Brilliant! I don’t even need to comment - although I will - for no other reason than I really enjoy taking shots at Apple.

I’ve been pondering as of late what it is exactly one gets with the overpriced hardware commonly referred to as a Mac. You see we recently had to replace my wife’s four year old laptop - it died like any piece of hardware can - unexpectedly and out of warranty. The system we ordered is similar in makeup as this top of the line MacBook Pro. Although you’ll need to make some upgrades: upgrade to 4Gig of Ram, and upgrade to the 300Gig harddrive - although the one we ordered is slightly larger and faster. So once the 17″ MacBook Pro is properly configured (including a warranty) it’s exactly 2.3349249658935879945429740791269 more than the new laptop my wife will soon have delivered.

So for the Macaphites who contend that comparable Windows-based systems are comparably priced - go over to the corner, sit there, and take your medicine - because it’s not true. And now it seems that the .Mac service Macaphites willingly pay $100/yr for - a service that you can honestly get for free using a few web-based applications - is prone to a few - well at least one security flaw. Again, I say Brilliant! Just Brilliant!

I suppose with all the recent security updates to the OS X operating system, Apple should have included a few well placed memos on handling security for user accounts.

WOOT! Apple & AT&T screw consumers on ‘cheaper’ iPhone that is $160 more expensive

Craig — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:55:37 +0000

Hey - Everyone - LOOK! The new iPhone is set to hit the streets on July 11th. 3G capable, more overall features and a $199 price tag which is $200 less that the first generation phone. WOOT!

But…and it seems with Apple there’s always a but… …there’s a catch. Your shinny new iPhone will really cost you $160 more than the first generation phone. That’s right, it’s $200 cheaper out the door, but Apple and AT&T have changed some of the rules with their voice/data plans.

Previously, the iPhone set you back $399 with a two year contract with AT&T. The least expensive voice/data plan you could get was $39/month for 450 minutes plus $20/month for the data plan which included 200 text messages. So your total out-of-pocket expense after two years - assuming you stayed within the guidelines of your plan - would be $1815 (not including various taxes and fees).

Well now the 3G iPhone is $199 with a two year contract with AT&T. The least expensive voice/data plan you will be able to get is $39/month for 450 minutes plus $30/month for the data plan plus $5/month for 200 text messages. So your total out-of-pocket expense after two years - again assuming you stayed within the guidelines of your plan - would be $1975 (not including various taxes and fees). Or $160 more than the first generation iPhone.

But what did Steve Jobs say during his keynote address at this years WWDC:

And last but not least — everyone wants an iPhone, but we need to make it more affordable. The number one reason people didn’t buy iPhones is because they just can’t afford it (56%). So as we arrive at iPhone’s 1st birthday — we’re going to take it to the next level.

So either AT&T is back-ending Apple on this and Jobs is clueless - or Steve Jobs is as intelligent as we all think he is and once again Apple is back-ending their consumers. Thanks for that birthday present Steve - next time I’ll take a cake - and stick with Sprint.

Source: Gizmodo

For the Artist in all of us

Craig — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 02:53:41 +0000

I will always be the fist to admit that when God was handing out drawing/painting skills I skipped out of line and ran to the bathroom. I have zero (nada, none, ziltch) artisitic drawing or painting skills. Heck, I have a tough time painting a room a single color…

For those of us that have always wanted to be an artist but found the process painful, uninspiring, difficult, and/or impossible, I present to you Bomomo. Let your budding (but well hidden) artist out - have fun, experiment with the different tools, and ENJOY!

Need I say it again…Wal-Mart is not worth your hard earned money…

Craig — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 02:39:51 +0000

Just a few days ago I posted this - now it seems Wal-mart is resorting to bullying, threats, and illegal detainment…all over 4 bags of sugar.

Now everyone repeat after me…I will not give my hard earned money to the Evil Empire from Bentonville, AR.