In the period when Steve Jobs left Apple, did he travel to the future and come back to implement what he saw? I guess only he will ever know, but there is no doubt in my mind that Steve Jobs is not only the smartest man in the world, but also a visionary that has shaped and evolved our culture through his innovations and his seamingly innate connection with the future. Greg Sandoval wrote an article that follows up a archived Rolling Stone interview with the great Steve Jobs from 2003 where he makes predictions on the future of the music industry and the impact of the iTunes store.

I came across this neat iPhone app on Gizmodo. It basically mirrors the mini remote that comes with your MacBook Pro on your iPhone device over Wi-Fi.

Click here to download the Rowmote app.

In terms of personal tech devices I have to say the 16GB wireless flash drive by Leyio definitely has potential. I can definitely see the need for this, especially amongst students but also for general personal and professional use. One thing to keep in mind is that this device is wireless, not to be confused or compatible with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth enabled devices. This product uses ultrawide-band radio which means it needs it's own dongle. That said, it can freely connect and transfer files to nearby Leyio flash drives. The real selling feature for me is that this product offers a USB port so you can connect other flash drives giving this product scaleability.

Definitely a great purchase if you like sharing photos, music, and videos with your friends.

Hmmm, leaving security for a huge event like the Super Bowl in the hands of Microsoft software...is that such a good idea? Let's just cross our fingers and hope there isn't any emergency and they've updated all the necessary security updates, because this just looks like  a hackers dream come true.

And can someone explain to me why the camera person shooting this video is only shooting the other camera person and not the actual screen?? 

Okay, so you have to admit the urge to beef up your friend count was quite tempting when you first signed up for Facebook. Next thing you know your list is over 100 and edging up to 200 when you realize, hey, I probably only have about 30 real friends and of those I probably only regularly see about 10 of them. So you investigate your list and quickly notice that you don't really know most of these people or you haven't seen them in over a decade or longer. You want to remove them but you're worried about offending anyone. 

Looks like YouTube wants to be a player in the Hollywood scene.

Documentary filmmaker Gary Hustwit whose last film about a font face, Helvetica, got rave reviews and a ton of media attention in the 2007 festival circuit. His latest project explores the world of industrial design and the people who create the  objects that we surround ourselves with daily. Objectified is scheduled to premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival in the springtime. You can view the trailer for Objectified here.

I came across this Wired blog posting about video search alternatives to Youtube. Seems to have generated some interest in the community which is resulting in a growing user-generated list of video search site. Check it out!

One of my biggest pet peeves has to be "Geo-Targeting", according to Wikipedia this method is used to determine your geo-location so that a website visitor is delivered content most relevant to them. In practice, they are road blocks to stop you from viewing content based on your region, in my case Canada. So if you are outside of the U.S, and want access to sites like Hulu.com, MTV.com, TheWB.com, etc...download Hotspot Shield. Hotspot Shield hides your IP address so geo-targeting sites don't know where you are coming from. You should now be able to enjoy all the content you want without encountering road blocks!

Earlier today I posted a link to download FREE selections from the Sundance Film Festival on iTunes. I was really hoping one of those selections would be a short film by Last Picture called ASSHOLE starring Gavin McInnes. The trailer is embeded below, and if you want to check out more shorts starring Gavin click here.

After reading an article about Boxee in The New York Times this past weekend, I decided to download the software and try it out for myself. Wow, was I ever pleasantly surprised, in fact I spent the majority of the weekend streaming videos and music on my TV. I've had my Mac mini  connected to my 40" LCD TV for a while now but using a wireless mouse and keyboard just doesn't allow for a smooth experience. Boxee does away with browsers and makes accessing media from the internet seamless.Boxee is a startup trying to break new ground in the way you will consume digital media. I think they are definitely on the right path. Once you install the software (50mb download), currently only available for Mac, Linux, and Apple TV (though a PC version is being tested), it allows you to access, as well as stream media from multiple sources, such as your computer, LAN, and the internet (Hulu, Youtube, Netflix, CBS, Last.FM, Flikr, etc).

My favourite new discovery is the streaming "Animated Music Video" channel on Crackle.com. Sony Picture's next-gen entertainment site. Crackle also offers lots of other great original content as well which I will cover in a future post, so enjoy this for now.

I recently read a book called  "Grown Up Digital" written by author Don Tapscott. He is the bestselling author of "Growing Up Digital" and "Wikinomics". I found this book to be refreshingly optimistic, insightful a great read whether you are a new media professional, or a parent raising "Net Gen" children.