Narrow Buildings Around the World

Skinny Buildings don't look as good as super models.

Johathan Coulton

The music of Jonathan Coulton reminds me of the days I stayed up late listening to Doctor Demento. His music is fun, and refreshing.... ummm... kind of like a coke! So, go over to his website and download a few of his free songs and decide for yourself. Also click over to YouTube for a music video.

810 zone table tv / computer crashed

810 zone restaurant has these near computers at every table. The patron can play games check out the news or watch TV. Not at our table though. Appears a system file for the computer crashed.

Future Crayons and Other Stuff

You got to love the new crayon color names. My favorite is soylent green. Check out more fun 'Future Artifacts'

Air Conditioned Clothing.

I'm not sure if you've been to Arizona in August, but it get &@!!# hot! In my baked state I purchased a neck tie/scarf with gel sewn into it to help keep cool and amazingly, it worked! Ironically, if some of these products were on sale... I might have bought them too... just to stay cool.

• Gel Hat
• Outlandish Clothing
• Cooling Neck Tie
  

Test of text blogging.

SiFi Building

Designing a building can be easy or it can be a bear. It depends on how descriptive the client can be with how they want their building to look like. I can just imagine the owners of these buildings coming into the architects office and making laser sound effects while playing a CD of star-trek music.

Digital Artist Glossary

Working with digital files, especially 3D models, incorporates a set of vocabulary which must be understood to communicate effectively within the industry. The Digital Art Guild has put together a good glossary of the professional language.

Fast Food Reality Test

Photos of fast food in their marketing shots and reality shots. Yikes!

WebCams and Google Maps mash-up

Webcam mashup to Google maps. Scroll around the map and see where webcams are located. None in the Kansas City area.... at least none from this website. But you can find some Kansas City cams here.

You Tube Full Legth Movies

YouTube has 2 new sections, TV Shows and Movies. Not bad! They even have the 3 Stooges.

YouTube adds a "Shows" button to its main navigation bar, showcasing dozens of officially-licensed TV shows and movies, even if most of them are more than a decade old.

10 rules for buying Apple Products

40 texture tutorials

To Dell, or Not to Dell

What was the question? Oh ya, Dell. A good friend of mine purchased a Dell laptop and... well... has had nothing but grief with the dang thing. See the problem is this.... I own a Dell laptop (Precision M-6300 and before that an M-90) and have heaped praise onto Dell for their great American customer service people and durable computers. she took my recommendation and purchased a Dell... and hates it.

I think the problem exists in how we both purchased our computers (and the issue with Dell itself). See I purchased my laptop from the small business side and purchased additional tech support. I think she got her's from the home section of the website. I knew that the home side had extra software (junk-ware) loaded onto the computer, but I didn't know the tech support was different.

I can understand why the company does this. In order to compete for the low priced laptops, certain things must be cut back. However what I don't understand is why this difference is not disclosed before the computer is purchased. I'm certain that many people would pay a little extra in order to get a higher quality customer service experience.

If you have advice or help, surf over to her site and offer any advice.

High Speed Trains for the USA

President Obama has proposed building high speed train system in the USA. This really is a great idea. Not only will it create jobs designing and building the system, but will create long term jobs for the operation of the network. The tangential jobs will spring up around the train stations.

60 years ago no one would have understood the modern highway system which we now consider normal. 60 years from now I don't think anyone would understand an America without a train network. Too bad most of us wont be around to appreciate the long term plan.... but our children will thank us.

Rendering with the i7 processor.

Free MP3 Music From Amazon

A large selection of good free music from Amazon. Log onto your Amazon account and enjoy their music.

Who owns what on TV

Mergers from the past decade have not diversified the media (for the consumers benefit) but rather consolidated the networks. It's no wonder how come all the stuff on TV looks like the other stuff on TV. Ahhh.... progress.
Who Owns TV

Glass Sink Cool... ish

Whoooooow... will you look at that. It is so cool, so contemporary, so.... well.... a pain to clean. Really, just because you can have a glass sink, doesn't mean you need a glass sink. I mean, just after one use, it will need the Windex treatment.

Ah well, it does look neat. Does it look like $4,000 to you?

Zombie Survival Test

Take this test to see if you can survive a zombie attack. It short and funny (like one of my roommates in college). Apparently, as I don't own 200 guns and drive a tank, I have a 41% chance of surviving a zombie attack. Bummer!

Also take a look at an earlier post regarding zombie survival.

Free Creative Commons MP3 Music from Wired Magazine

Documents to Go for the iPhone

I just received an email that Documents to Go (software to put Excel, Word and PowerPoint files onto the iPhone) will be released in May. I've very excited for this release as keeping these files on the phone will be a great business benefit.

Here is a copy of the email:

Thanks to all who have been waiting patiently for the arrival of Documents To Go for iPhone. The next time you hear from us, it'll be to tell you that Documents To Go is available for your iPhone and iPod touch in the App Store!

When will that be, you ask? Early to mid May. And trust us, there are some very exciting things about this app that we haven't let out of the bag yet. We hope you'll agree it's worth the wait!

If you haven't seen them, there are some great screenshots for you on our Facebook page (while you're there, become a fan!). And as always, you can stay up to date on our iPhone plans and all the other goings-on at DataViz with our Office Mobility Blog!

Sincerely,
The Documents To Go Development Team

Camping with the Basics

Spring is trying its hardest to push away the winter, and that means more time outdoors... and possibly camping. As every boyscout knows, be prepared... but what is the core basic things one needs for a campout? Remember, Shelter, food, water, fire (in which ever order makes you happiest). Also, 'modern' items like a flashlight, compass, twinkies, bug spray, gameboy, and a hot chick. can help pass the time and make the day more entertaining. (your mileage may vary).

1. Wired has a nice article on the basic items to take with you when venturing out into the woods.
2. Les Stroud always has great advice for extreem camping.
3. REI has those modern conveniences for us weekend campers.
   

Send an E-Card with EcardSphere

Need to send an e-card to someone? Birthday, Anniversary, Sorry I forgot our Anniversary? Take a look over at EcardSphere.com It works very simply... just create the card (image, envelope and inside text) and they give you a hyper-link to your card. Copy and send the link. You don't have to give them any of yours or the receptions email info. Simple, a nice concept and easy to use. Here is a card I made... just for you.

Segway and GM team up - Oh God!

Segway, a company known for high design, and GM, a company not known for ANY design capability have formed a partnership to create the next segway... the Puma. A low speed (35mph) intercity, long range (200 miles) device.

It does sound feasible as the technology does exist, however it is a mater of implementing. The two companies do have things the other needs. First, Segway brings the technology for a 'green' vechicle, and GM offers a production scale and marketing machine that segway could only hope for.

Seriously, GM could show one of these off in every showroom nationwide. They could offer them as fleet vechicles for urban comutes (deliveries, metermaids, postal, cops, etc.) and they brand the name into parts of the market not interested or even aware of such vechicles. Segway brings the proven technology and the design prowlis that so lacks over at GM (really... the first design meeting must have gone like this... Segway artists all dressed in black stride into the GM design studio to find a bunch of snotty three year olds with crayons. One stumbles over and holds up a crayon riddled crumpled paper and says, 'I drewed car!'.... One hour later the segway designers were hitting the bottle... and crying.... and updating their resumes.)

We will see with time how well the partnership goes and if the vechicle demand is there. Two major things will determine if it flys, 1st the price of gas and second the price of the vechicle. The first must be high, the second low. If the opposite, then it will just be a plaything for the rich.

Ahhhh Shala is too cute.

Focus

Feeling overwhelmed, overloaded, and/or lacking focus?

Lifehacker put together a great summary of strategies for freeing up time and maintaining focus. Its a good read, but probably, not the last thing to read... especially if you're battling to get more done with less and less time.

“In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do. The worst thing you can do is nothing.”
Theodore Roosevelt