Monday, March 30, 2009

The Economics of Star Trek


What is the economy like in Star Trek. It seams everyone happily exchange goods without any exchange of currency. Perhaps everyone is embedded with IDF chips. Aaaanyway.... The Zeray Gazette explores the economy of Star Trek by analyzing what life would be like when anything can be replicated and holigrams can offer anything to anybody. His arguments are compelling that society might not collapse (like in the movie Idiocracy) but might just go to the next higher level.

What would it take to condition someone to the point that they wouldn't want to simply spend all their time in the holodeck, running Roman Orgy v1.0? The methods to alter a human's natural desires to the point that they would shun such fleshly delights in order to strive to contribute to society essentially would warp them into something that I wouldn't even recognize as human anymore.

The higher and less obvious: patterns, designs, inventions. Dropping the cost of manufacturing to zero would do for tinkerers what dropping the cost of distrubution to zero (internet again) has done for writers. You wouldn't see stagnation. You'd see an explosion. The internet didn't leave us merely happy that we could finally get free porn and games. Perhaps for the first little bit, but then it turned tons of people into writers and public intellectuals who otherwise would have led private lives. So it would go with replicators. We might be content with the free food at first, but not forever. Soon we'd be giddy about the ability to design, say, our own working model train sets.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Snow

2" we may get 4". Tomorrow it will get above freezing and melt it away.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Sit-com House Floorplans


I chuckled to myself when reading the post by Dan Meth which showed the floorplan layout for popular sit-coms. If only laying out real world floorplans was this easy!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

iPhone 3.0 Wish List


Apple will be introducing the next iPhone durring the WWDC conference held on June 8-12. Yaaaah!

I hope that there are major improvements to the phone. If Steve Jobs called me and asked my opinion, then I would pass on my list of things I would like the next phone to have. Here is my wish-list:

HARDWARE
  • Higher resolution screen
  • 32G of Memory
  • SD card slot
  • Tethering
  • Wireless sync via wifi
  • faster data speeds (4G)
  • 2 speakers (not just the one)
  • Higher quality camera (5mp), maybe with auto-focus & night mode
  • bright led/flash for camera
  • video capability
  • video conferencing capability
  • AM/FM radio
  • Linking to external keyboard

SOFTWARE
  • voice dialing
  • application icon management (moving apps from screen to screen)
  • Find iPhone or Kid/Friend location
  • Remote deactivation if phone is stolen (go back to Apple store to turn back on)
  • GPS image tagging
  • Adobe Flash
  • Better memory management to reduce phone crashes
  • Turn off landscape mode for just ipod or globally
  • More access to modify the different sounds on the phone.
  • Call log with time length
  • Missed call sound notification
  • haptic feedback by just activating the phone vibrator very very quickly.
Steve, if you need clarification on any of these items, please call. I'm in the book.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Free Vector Images

Free vector art and icons from DryIcon

Photoshop Resource Links


Big o' List of Photoshop resources, tutorials, textures, patterns, brushes, actions, etc. Click on the link below for the lists... and schedule the rest of your day checking out all the links...

List 1 - Brushes
List 2 - Patterns & Textures
List 3 - Actions
List 4 - Smörgåsbord
List 5 - Pot Luck
List 6 - The all you can east buffet (man I'm hungry)

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

LOL

Newton vs iPhone


Nice photographic comparison of the Newton Message Pad vs the iPhone. Amazingly, the Newton came out in '94 and the iPhone in '07, almost a dozen year difference in time, yet a quantum difference in technology.

Roughly Drafted did a nice comparison article last year just before the iPhone 2.0 release. They outlined some of the successes and failures of not just Apple, but Palm and Microsoft (which came out with competing products about the time the Newton was retired).

So... some comparisons are way too easy, size, specifications, etc. Others still point out how advanced the Newton is over the existing iphone; Expansion ports (iphone doesn't even have an SD cardslot), peripheral support (keyboards, etc.) and a removable battery.

Still what made the phone a sucess is 1) pocket size & slim form, 2) connection to the web, 3) seamless integration with the apps store, 4) easy of use, and 5) the combination of a PDA, Web, Phone, and iPod all into one device.

This article is written a few months before the iPhone 3.0 release and I'm betting that Apple will unvail a tablet style computer... an iTablet. I'm sure everyone will then compare the iTablet with the Newton Message Pad. Will it have hand writing regognition? We will see.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Shorten Long URL Down to Size


Long URLs are difficult to email as some software will truncate the url when it gets word-wrapped to the next line... thus making it less easy for the recipient. Also, twitter services limit the number of characters making some URLs un-twitable.

Technical Lists Website put together a nice compilations of the services that can shorten a long url down to a tiny url. Lab Rats also did a great video of several url services and the pluses and minues of each service.

Before: http://lists.econsultant.com/top-10-url-redirection-services.html
After: http://tinyurl.com/24jwve

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Ninja Pirate Zombie Robots - Augh!


I found this hilarious depiction of creature variations over at Creebobby.

How to Survive a Zombie Attack


Wired magazine has great advice for surviving a zombie attack... and as you know... with the thawing of the frozen earth... zombie attacks will be on the rise. If you want more in-depth analysis on strategy, check out Mahalo's zombie site.

Don't get caught unaware, and watch out for the ultimate zombies... pirate zombies!!! Yo ho... aughhhh!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

AT-AT Fun

Series of photos by Nick Drummond who posed toy AT-ATs to act like a family pet. Nice photography work with a touch of fun.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Graph Jam Charts for your next Business Meeting





Some fun charts from Graph Jam. Now try slipping one of them into your next PowerPoint! :)

Auhhhh - Kitty and Doggy are Good Friends

Photos of a cat and dog who are good friends. Cute Cute!

Note: the English Russia website sometimes takes a few extra seconds to load, however is worth the wait.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

New features for iPhone OS 3.0



The good people over at The iPhone Blog noted the major improvements to the iPhone OS. Here are some of them:


  • System-wide Copy and Paste (text and photos)
  • MMS for photos, vcards, audio
  • SMS forwarding
  • Landscape keyboard in major apps
  • System-wide Spotlight Search
  • App Store subscriptions (i.e. subscribe to magazine apps)
  • In App purchases (i.e. buy a weapon in a FPS)
  • Turn-by-Turn GPS Navigation in App Store (bring your own maps!)
  • Push Notification Service for badges, alerts messages, sounds
  • Peer-2-peer service using Bonjour and Bluetooth for interaction and data exchange
  • Access to Dock port for Apps to work with accessories
  • Voice memos
  • CalDAV support for on-device calendar subscriptions
  • Improved Stocks widget, landscape mode for details
  • Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP)
  • iTunes account creation
  • Encrypted profiles
  • Call log
  • Shake to shuffle music (like iPod nano)
  • VPN on-demand
  • Proxy Support
  • Notes sync

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Photos taken from odd angles

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but sometimes this ain’t exactly right. Distance overlapping, positions, and timing can sometimes create a brand new perspective of a photo. Kongkiat.com

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Swiss Air's First Class Sleeper


Check out Swiss Air's First Class seating and sleeper arrangement. Now this is the way to fly on long flights... if you had the money.

...well-lit, spaciously fitted, techno wonderland that we encountered. Clean lines, white paneling and waffle pine detailing all add to the sense of comforting costliness that wafts around the cabin. ... built around a fully sized adult, and not the three and a half foot child that is model of choice for many a space-saving airline. Each personal cubicle comes complete with a full bed, large built-in flat screen and a surprisingly solid partition wall to maintain the highest possible passenger privacy.

Friday, March 13, 2009

iPhone OS 3 Preview


So we just learned that the new iPhone OS will be previewed on March 17th (St. Patties Day) and the rumors are flying! Some of the Rumors are MMS, tethering the phone to your laptop, better app management, background task capabilities, and possibly copy & paste.

This timetable seems to fit with last years time-line. Last year Apple introduced the App Store in March, and the phone in June/July. I'm guessing this would be the same schedule for 2009.

Apple must stay on top of the schedule to combat other manufactures release of good smartphones. YET it is very important to remember the great divide between Apple and other companies. Apple does not listen to the market! Yep, they decide what they want on the phone and only implement it when it works... and works well. People have asked for basic features for the last two years (and phones) and have not got core functionality (quality camera, copy/paste, voice dialing, replaceable battery, etc.). Other venders would hear the outcry and introduce these demands in the next phone.... Apple on the other hand goes at its own pace, and knows what is good for the people.... kind of sounds like the USSR.

Don't get me wrong. I love my iPhone and wouldn't want to give it up, however I would like more versitility, capability, and quality in the phone. We will find out on the 17th what the OS will offer, and sometime in June what the hardware will offer. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Banner Ad Design Tips List


Advice and Tips for creating effective Banner Ad designs, colors, locations, and standard sizing:

Thursday, March 5, 2009

25 Max Tutorials


Nice collection of Max, Vray, and Mental Ray tutorials over at NOUPE

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Photoshop Shapes Collections


More Photoshop shapes collected over at the Hidden Pixel Blog

As you know Photoshop has the ability to have 'clipart' style stamps which can be grouped into a collection, loaded onto any computer and stamped into any Photoshop file.

Of course you can also go to Adobe's website and download shapes from their collection.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Sharpie Rocket

Liquid Fueled Rocket?!?!? With office supplies?!?!? YEP!

Instructables website outlines the process with an easy to follow video. I can't wait to give this a try.... and don't forget the eye protection.