Tim Berners-Lee is the inventor of a little thing called the World Wide Web. The video above is from the TED conference, where he talks about the Semantic Web. Its very exciting and humbling to hear him speak about linked data and his vision for the next web. Forget EF Hutton, when Tim Berners-Lee talks you should listen. [via TED]
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Flickr clock is an ongoing project. By joining the group, Flickstr's can then contribute their videos and display them on a timeline at the exact time they were taken. The theme here is to capture a "real moment" in time, so don't go uploading lol cats, movie trailers, or your latest slideshow animation, as those will be screened and removed. The more the merrier, so tell all your friends as they are hoping to grab a worldwide snapshot of specific moments in time....reminds me of the Van Halen track.
Zillion TV is yet another startup in the internet TV arena who plans to offer streaming movies and television directly to your tube via broadband connection. The company has already struck deals with major Hollywood studios and TV networks, such as Disney, 20th Century Fox, NBC, and Sony Pictures. What makes this service unique is that Zillion doesn't require you to buy expensive equipment or pay monthly subscription fees. With a minimal activation fee of $50 you will receive the Z-bar, a box that connects your TV to ethernet, and a fancy laser remote, which will give you access to a library of up to 15,000 TV and movie titles. [via CNET]
The underpass of a bridge is usually synonymous with dark and sketchy. However the pedestrian underpass, seen above, located in Amsterdam is quite luminescent. A media architecture collective, called Urban Alliance, created a 24 metre long light installation that interacts with the people that pass through. Very cool! [via Design Milk]
Okay, this has to be one of the most innovative concept designs that I've seen in personal transportation. Designed by Matias Conti, this transformable spin vehicle was configured to provide the rider with numerous options for driving positions. From simple big wheel style position to a more difficult luge style (note how scared the figure looks), the tranformation affects the sensation of the driving experience. This concept vehicle is rear-wheel driven and battery powered. Steering is controlled using body weight and joystick like controls. Dope! [via Gizmodo]
Jaman will be hosting a live stream and Facebook chat for tonight's Academy Awards show. Okay, so I guess I can see how this Facebook feature can be popular. The Oscars can drag on, so what a great way to pass the time, especially if you are at home watching alone. Facebook connect allows you to update your status with witty comments, insightful commentary, general film knowledge, or whatever else you'd like to share with others on Facebook or exclusively with your friends while watching the live show.
The concept isn't necessarily a new one, MTV has been allowing their viewers to post 'shout outs' for years via txt messaging during their programming, for a fee. However, Facebook's experience is different in that it won't be broadcast, it's free, and it's strictly an online experience -- lets hope it stays that way. This trend has proven to be a popular one for mainstream events these days. It first made it's debut during the Obama inauguration, most recently at the NBA all-star game, and now tonight's Oscars presentation...and no doubt we can expect to see this appear in many more future events. [via Mashable]
Let's face it, simple is always the best approach. TinyChat executes this concept perfectly. Finally a site that offers a useful service with no fee, no logins/passwords, and most importantly no worrying about privacy...create your username on the fly and all convo's get deleted when the chat is over. Reminds me of the 80's booze can scene...find a space, make a few calls and instant party. When the party's done you clean up and leave. No one would ever know it happened. That said, TinyChat is so simple and easy it needs to be careful it doesn't become a haven for criminals. [via TechCrunch]
Diddit is the new kid on the block in the social networking universe. If you can get past the design of this site which is at times a tad too busy, it's actually a pretty interesting and unique destination. Diddit is a place to not only keep track of the things that you've done, or are going to do, but it's also a great place to discover new things to do. I haven't signed up yet but it looks like they have some really great information on everything from concerts, restaurants, the arts, to travel information. If anything, I can see this as a really great shared resource.
Congrats to the founders. Guess they can check off "build a unique social networking site"...diddit!
For most people, figuring out which remotes control which device can be quite frustrating. So the idea of having a universal remote is quite appealing. However, you quickly realize you have to figure out how to program that too?! Pressing sequences of buttons and counting blinking lights or going on a website to configure your remote can be a bit too labour intensive for the everyday person. The Digital R50 with it's LCD screen with setup wizard claims to have you up and running in no time with minimal fuss. It even has a macro feature that allows you to control several commands with one button.
It would be nice if someone could invent a universal remote that could also control web interfaces, my iPod/iPhone and Front Row on the Macbook as well.
If anyone out there owns a R50, please email me your review on this product. [via Wired]
The i24R3 wireless multi-room speaker system, despite it's name, looks anything but something related to r2d2. This audio system is pure designer goodness created by renowned industrial designer Michael Young.
Some of the features of this system is a motion sensor that read hand movements to operate functions, multiple inputs/outputs, two step wireless connection, wireless remote, and get this...wireless USB audio transmitter so that you can stream iTunes from your PC or laptop.
The website states an early 2009 launch date. [via Design Milk]
Looking for specific items on Craigslist? Rather than visiting daily or sitting on your lunch break hitting refresh over and over again, why not try using Google Alerts to find what you're looking for. [Apartment Therapy]
I was sitting around reminiscing about the infant days of the web. Remember the days before Google came and changed the game forever. Does Excite ring a bell? Maybe you were all about Alta Vista, InfoSeek, WebCrawler, or Lycos....ah yah, Lycos...I was a Lycos guy myself! So I decided to check out Lycos.com and was pleasantly surprised that it was still up and running. Not only was it up and running but I noticed a section called Lycos Cinema, a movie sharing experience, or as their tagline reads "Bringing people together...One flick at a time."
It's an interesting concept. The idea is that you can invite up to 10 of your friends to join you as you watch a movie online. It allows you to chat along side the movie in a clean and intuitive interface. If you feel like meeting new folks you can always join an existing party in the "Social Scene" section and share the experience with others on the network.
There are plenty of pay and free movies, although many of the titles are either older classics, or aren't very recognizable at all...have you heard of Brainiac, Baron Blood, Elephants Dream, or Affair in T'Sien Cha? They do however some obscure documentaries such as Burning Man: Beyond Black Rock, A Tribute to Sam Kinison, and an absurdly large collection of National Lampoon titles.
Animoto has a great way to share the love with your special someone this coming Valentine's day. Save a tree and send him/her a video card.
You've probably heard of the term "cloud computing" floating around more and more these days. It is supposed to be the big trend, but there seems to be varying definitions amongst those in the industry. If you are interested in getting your head in the clouds and learn more about this, then check out the 2 part interview with HP's CTO and V.P of Cloud Services Strategy, Russ Daniels. [via Ars Technica Part 1 & Part 2]
They're at it again at MIT's Media Lab. Students have developed a wearable computer made up of a battery powered 3M projector, webcam, and a web-enabled mobile phone. This device allows the person to project information from the phone to any surface.The cost of this set up is a surprising $350. I won't get into all the details as you can read the full coverage at Wired.
See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.
Playing Xbox on a ridiculously large Panasonic 103-inch by 150-inch plasma screen is off da hiz-zae! Read the full piece and check out the photos on Gizmodo.
There's a good article today in the Wall Street Journal called "Out of Office: Job Loss in the Age of Blogs and Twitter".
There a lot of people these days that have been laid off, looking for
work, or retiring. For some it can be quite a bleak and lonely road
ahead. Thankfully, the internet has really become a source of all
things, ranging from entertainment to social facilitator. The article
points out that online gaming, social networking and movie rentals are
on the rise as people are heading online to escape this doom and gloom
economy.
For the recently laid off or those looking
for work in a downturn economy, the internet has been a great resource
and support network. The days of veggin' on the couch flipping channels
have been substituted by interacting online: searching job sites,
participating in support forums, networking with friends, playing
games, watching movies, and other time-wasters that are available
online 24/7.
If you haven't already visited Crackle.com then you're in for a nice surprise. Previously known as Grouper a user-generated video portal like YouTube that was purchased by Sony Picture Entertainment for a reported $65 million back in 2006. It failed to take on YouTube's rising star back in the day and was reincarnated as Crackle.com in 2007. SPE re-branded Crackle as it's ready-made network for distributing it's original digital content in short form as well as full length programming from it's vast library of content.
This streaming channel has some of the best shows you'll never see on TV...well at least not yet. The short form content is specifically created for your online pleasure with most of their series' running anywhere from 2-10 min episodes. Don't be mistaken here, web content doesn't necessarily mean basement productions, the content on Crackle has high production value on a budget. The writing/editting is tight, actors are recognizable, and most importantly it's bite size and entertaining.
Here's a list of my picks:
The Line: Two best friends, armed with one change of clothes and one simple mission: get tickets to the world premiere of Future Space. They march to the front spot on line and brace themselves for one of the toughest trials of their lives.
The Writersroom: is a black comedy about the trials and tribulations of writing for a Kevin Pollack-hosted late-night talk show. Neurotic scribes squabble and worry about jokes, food, and health care plans.
My Long Distance Relationship: Follow Sam and Samantha, college freshman and high school sweethearts, who with the help of modern technology struggle continue their relationship from Far West University in Oregon and South Southern East State in Florida: as far apart as two people can get.
Star-ving: "Married with Children's" Bud Bundy, David Faustino, is back and bare-assed! David & his whacked out side kick, Corin Nemec of "Parker Lewis Can't Lose", will do anything to get back on top. Nobody ever said that being a short, broke, alcoholic, sex maniac, ex-child actor was easy.
We've definitely come along way from the days of the calculator watches and the gaming watches of the 80's. working unlocked mobile watch phone while scrubbing through YouTube for the latest in mobile phone watches. There seems to be a flood of products like this available online and in the works from many of the large electronic companies. LG showed off their watch phone at this years CES show, you can see the video demo here.
I've yet to see any watch phones being sold by local retailers in my hood, but if you're really eager to get one they seems they are readily available on EBay by sellers TradePlanet24 and Go2Gold.
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??
You may or may not have heard of Josh Harris, but as the trailer (see below) for the film We Live In Public states, he is "the greatest internet pioneer that you've never heard of".
I was really excited to read today about We Live In Public a film by Ondi Timoner
which won the Sundance Festival's Grand Jury prize. I remember watching
this project at the time and everyone at work gathering around a Power
Mac to watch as it went live. The video quality was poor, it was
streaming at 160x120px and it was choppy, yet we were all intrigued
with the idea of watching these people live out their lives via live
video cam 24/7.
If you're interested in reading more about the original project from back in the day I found this archived article in Wired from 2000 shortly before they went live with the project, and another from 2001.
I finally purchased a new alarm clock this weekend to replace an
old $10 Radio Shack no-named brand I've tolerated for the past 20 yrs.
Now an alarm clock isn't necessarily something people think about all
the time but I've actually put quite a bit of time and effort looking
out for the perfect one. When you've put up with an AM/FM alarm clock
that played neither AM or FM but rather a static ridden high pitched
steady tone, well, you want the next one to be something really
special.
So I picked up a Moshi - IVR (Interactive Voice Response) Alarm
Clock. It's a talking command-driven alarm clock that has a clean
Apple-esque design (minus the ipod dock). Though an ipod dock would've
been nice, it's actually refreshing that it doesn't offer one. Rather,
there are some other unique features that will entertain you such as a
night light which cycles mood colours and soothing sleep sounds like
birds chirping and water falls. One feature I'd like to see in the next
generation of this product is a wifi an the ability to pull in feeds
such as my Last.fm playlist, local news, and weather...now that would be great!
With
this technology greatly improving over the last couple of years and
continuing to improve in our hands-free culture, I'm hoping to see alot
more IVR and web enabled tech being integrated into household
appliances and lifestyle devices in the near future.
I stumbled across this archived presentation by Jeff Han (a human-computer interface designer) at the 2006 TED conference.
It's quite inspiring when he talks about how computers should conform
to us and not the other way around. Multi-touch isn't necessarily a new
technology, but it is one that is evolving and will eventually be
accessible to the masses as the costs of touch screen monitors come
down, like HDTV's. With the introduction and popularity Apple's iPhone
and the intelligence in it's design of the touch interface, electronic
companies worldwide are racing to get more touch screen gadgets to
market as soon as possible.
One of the big hits at this years CES was Samsung's 50-inch multitouch TV.
The idea that we can free ourselves from the remote control and have a
more intuitive and connected user experience is very appealing. The
idea that the keyboards and the mouse will eventually become extinct as
computers and household appliances become touch enabled. Microsoft has
been working on Surface and I'm told that a company called Troll Touch can integrate a touch system into your Apple cinema display.
Going back to Jeff Han, who's presentation in 2006 went viral on youtube which prompted him to launch his startup Perceptive Pixel which
aims to develop and market the most advanced multi-touch systems in the
world. Check out the demo he has on the homepage just one year later in
2007. Pure dopeness!
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!
i.TV
is one of my favourite iPhone applications. You might think, well
what's the big deal it's just a TV guide right? Wrong. If you're like
me and currently use Rogers you know exactly how painful it can be to
scan the guide on that VCR sized cable box. I'm not sure how it's
possible that a company that has a virtual monopoly on the
cable/vod/broadband business, making billions of dollars can be content
with the service it's providing it's customers. The guide interfaces
for most cable/satellite dealers have horrible usability and sluggish
response times at best. There are no visual cues, poorly written
synopsis, and the longer titles are truncated so you have to guess at
the title.
So along comes i.TV, a great solution...even their ads are well integrated.
When
you first launch this app it will synch up your iPhone via postal code
and service provider to bring you the relevant programming information.
This can take a minute but it's a one time process. The guide is
displayed by title and thumbnail images so you can immediately
recognize what you are looking for, as well as the channel, rating,
reviews and a well written detailed synopsis. If available you can also
view a sample clip or trailer.
i.TV also allow
you to search movies and theatres based on your location using the
iPhone's GPS feature. It also offers tons of great sorting features,
email alerts, reviews, search, share and customizable features (you
need to sign up for a free account). Using TiVo DVR? Then you can set
to record it instantly. Got a Netflix account? Instantly add your
selection to your queue. Now if it can only replace my outdated cable
box...if anyone from Rogers is reading this please please contact i.TV
for help!
History will be written tomorrow and there will be no shortage of witnesses to this monumental moment in American history. It's been reported
that ticket's to President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration tomorrow
are selling in the 5 digit price range! So if you're like me and
cutting back due to the current economic climate, you will most likely
be watching the swearing-in of the 44th President of the United States
in some other manner.
That said, I've prepared a general guide to the inauguration online.
Inauguration Home
Schedule
Get Mobile Updates
HBO Presents WE ARE ONE
The Obama Inauguration Celebration At The Lincoln Memorial
Video and Photos
LIVE STREAMS
Youtube
Joost - Inaugural Pre-Party Playlist
Twitter
MTV - BE THE CHANGE
Obama To Speak To Youth At Inauguration
PHOTOS
Oh and of course I will post the live feed tomorrow on my blog as well!
If there are any great links that I should include in this post please send me an email.
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.
What makes Boxee great and stand out from the rest is that you can navigate through this media center using the apple remote control that comes with your Macbook. The interface is so easy and well thought out. Within minutes I was a pro user.
I've never been more excited about an application. Go download this NOW!
By
the way, for those of you that want to set up your own internet TV but
don't know how I will be posting a video tutorial in the coming weeks.
Samsung's is kicking it up a notch with their latest line of TV and devices.
1. The 50" Plasma FP-T5094 wireless TV. With the exception of the power cord, all your home entertainment devices plug into a seperate box which delivers wireless communication to your television.
3. The latest must have for the new media crowd is Samsung's Pico
projector phone...that's right folks a phone with a 5mp camera that
also has a DLP projector. Check this...
Move over Apple, I think Samsung's gunning for top spot over the next few years.
I recently downloaded the latest addition to Google's arsenal of
applications. Google Chrome, a new browser launched by the company that
makes everything quick and easy. Although, I've only been using the
browser for a couple days now, it's quickly become my default choice
when surfing the web.
Chrome is great for multiple reason, but I won't get into all the features, since you can read that on the Google Chrome site.
I will highlight some of the features that I really enjoy. First, I
like the minimal design. Gone are the messy toolbars that occupy all
your viewing real estate, and the status bar is now an overlay when
necessary. Second, it's fast...really fast. Also, the clever
integration of the Google search (with suggestions) directly into the
address bar, really enriches the experience and is really intuitive.
Finally, the ability to dock and undock tabs is something I find really
useful.
