Month: March 2006

Categories
news tech

Trained on movie footage, don’t let it watch 2001.

Device warns you if you’re boring or irritating.

The “emotional social intelligence prosthetic” device, which El Kaliouby is constructing along with MIT colleagues Rosalind Picard and Alea Teeters, consists of a camera small enough to be pinned to the side of a pair of glasses, connected to a hand-held computer running image recognition software plus software that can read the emotions these images show. If the wearer seems to be failing to engage his or her listener, the software makes the hand-held computer vibrate.

I’m curious what you’re supposed to do AFTER the device has told you that you’re boring your listener to death. Start juggling? Make weird noises? Sadistically continue, ignoring the vibrating device, eager to find out just how tolerant some people can be? Obviously this is not a tool that should fall into my hands, but seriously, they should consider programming some social cues into the hardware to offer alternatives to a conversation about “How I organized my sock drawer this morning by color, and how tomorrow I will do it by style”.

Categories
internet

An alternative search engine

Gada.be is a handy alternative for anyone looking for a new way to search, or anyone tired of search engines with ulterior (commercial) motives. One neat aspect is that you can search straight from your url bar by typing in your search terms seperated by dashes and followed by .gada.be. For instance, entering in http://sexy-librarian.gada.be will search for posts containing both the words “sexy” and “librarian”. Use dots instead of dashes to perform a phrase search.

Categories
internet news socialweb

The Net’s New Age

The Net’s New Age. Business Week has an interesting if fairly general article on some of the big “Web 2.0″ products in the works from the major companies.

The implications reach far beyond the Net. The new Web is changing the business model for media and communications companies. Traditional players in these markets have built their businesses on a foundation of brand and content, forming a customer base and marketplace. In the Web 2.0 era, they’ll aim to cultivate a community of users on the Web, according to Troy Young, executive vice-president and chief “experience architect” at Organic, an online advertising and consulting firm.

Personally, I’m going to get annoyed if every single website I go to wants me to be part of its “community”, interact with it on a personal basis, and create a profile so it can pander to my tastes. Having the content and tools is great, certainly, so long as function maintains dominance over form, and pages don’t get interactive when they don’t need to be.

Categories
internet socialweb

I think that everyone should include ‘learn to dance’ as a goal

43 Things is social networking in a self-help sort of way. You create a list of 43 things you’d like to accomplish. Simple enough. The neat part is the tagcloud of goals on the front page, allowing you to see the aspirations of people worldwide. If you’re feeling helpful, you can find someone who has a goal that you’ve successfully accomplished, and offer them advice. If you like the concept, check out some of the other things the folks at The Robot Co-op are up to.

Categories
art music

A couple of art links

Catching up on some remaindered art links before I start getting into new stuff, hopefully next week.

Lines and Colors generally mentions some very worthwhile artists. I was particularly taken with their post about Ree Treweek, an artist whose work reminds me a bit of Brian Froud. Ree is a South African artist, though her style shows influences from all over.

Ree (pen name for Cherie) Treweek is a South African artist and illustrator. Her fascinatingly detailed illustrations and drawings usually start as an ink drawing that she brings into Photoshop to be fully developed, occasionally in collaboration with Jannes Hendrikz.

The images look anything but digital and modern, however. They seem to be from another era; or even from another, perhaps mythical, culture.

And here is another Lines and Colors post, this time on Jamie Hewlett.

English comics artist Jamie Hewlett made a name for himself as the co-creator of the early 90’s irreverent, over-the-top, punk-camp comic series Tank Girl, (which was made into an unbearably campy movie in 1995).

In 1998, Hewlett teamed up with former flat-mate Damon Albarn of the british band Blur to create Gorillaz, a virtual “zombie hip-hop” band in which the band members exist only as cartoon characters drawn by Hewlett. Gorillaz has gone on to be by far the most successful virtual band ever, selling millions of records.

Categories
humor news

Mecca Cola: Drink with commitment

Mecca Cola is a fairly old story, but I only first heard of it the other day. I love their slogan. Quite the statement. My opinion is that if you want to fight against consumerism, don’t drink unhealthy and overpriced beverages. But that’s just me.

Demand for bottles of Mecca Cola – which bear the slogan “No more drinking stupid, drink with commitment” – is already soaring.

Categories
news

French Rabbit: The Official Lagomorph of Good Taste

Perhaps they should rename the company: Earnest and Julio Gauloise. Sure, we all laugh when we think of wine in a box. We’ve all (ALL) tried it though. Some of the more unfortunate of us may have even sampled some Rossi from a giant bottle made specifically to get you inebriated at bottom dollar. French Rabbit is different. With a tagline such as, “Savour the wine. Save the planet.” how can you possibly resist trying it? Ignore the annoying Flash page and go save the planet, one blackout at a time. We all have to do our part, right?

Categories
internet poetic

Occasional Loveliness

Tamea doesn’t update her blog very often. Not nearly often enough, really. But when she does, her posts are always very worthwhile.

Categories
humor libraries

‘Librarians wield unfathomable power.’

Why you should fall to your knees and worship a librarian.

Librarians have degrees. They go to graduate school for Information Science and become masters of data systems and human/computer interaction. Librarians can catalog anything from an onion to a dog’s ear. They could catalog you.

While we’re on the “librarians are cool” kick, you should check out Batgirl was a Librarian and Librarians are SEXY. I don’t know if all this stuff really applies to “guybrarians” or not, but my positive self-image would like me to assume that it does.

Categories
humor libraries webcomics

Humor, Unshelved.

Quote of the week, from Unshelved.

Return to your chosen profession – providing vital information to anonymous potential terrorists.

I really want to try and add that into my CV somewhere, now.

Categories
internet socialweb

Create your own vlog for free.

Freevlog has a great tutorial for setting up your own vlog (video blog). You too can have your antics pasted all over the internet for the world to see! The world trembles with anticipation, I’m sure. Still, it’s a great tutorial and you should check it out.

Categories
libraries news

The ‘Experience Library’

LJ Talks to Waynn Pearson and Don Buckley of the Cerritos Library. A model of the integration of flash and substance, molded to fit their users’ needs.

Lots of people come to visit. If they can’t match your budget, what can they take away?

DB: Creating a positive experience for the guest not just intellectually but also emotionally. Broadening the definition of what a library can be. “WOW” customer service: staff scanning the horizon, walking around, and finding a way to say “Yes.” What we like to hear is, “You have a beautiful building, but it’s the people who work here who make it really special.”

Categories
internet news

Come see the softer side of Google

Google Charm makes its debut. Google’s chief executives offer their candid commentary on their growth, prospects, and the controversial China decision. Of course, they maintain some secrets.

That said, however, no-one is exactly sure what Google really wants to do in the future. Speculation among experts is rife about what the company wants with all that dark fibre – but in the end, your guess is as good as mine.

But that’s fine with Google.

“The mystique works to our advantage,” says Eric Schmidt, shaking our hands as we leave the room half an hour late.

Categories
news socialweb

MySpace, Threadless, and Ultra-Fast Release Cycles

“If you’re not on myspace, you don’t exist.” By now, everyone’s heard of MySpace. So what are some of the secrets behind its success, and what can we take from it? How about ultra-fast release cycles?

Skyler’s comment about how myspace keeps changing and growing organically, almost every day, is a passionate user’s view of what the developer’s call quick release cycles. Where software developers are typically on release cycles of 6 months to a year, the Threadless guys said that even two weeks was a little long. In fact, virtually all of the web 2.0-ish folks at the conference mentioned these quick release cycles as crucial.

Categories
cinema libraries news

Google hosts National Archives

National Archive Films on Google Video.

Over 70 years ago, the National Archives was founded to preserve
American historical documents, as well as the moments and events that
could be saved in still photos, films, and audio recordings. Today the
Archives is home to everything from rare historical footage (newsreels
and government documentaries from the 1930s) to the 1969 moon landing.

Categories
libraries news

Homeless, and now libraryless.

The NYPL cracks down on internet use, and against the homeless.

“Homeless people depend on free access to internet in libraries to find out about job listings, keep themselves informed and email résumés to potential employers,” said Rogers, who regularly searches craigslist.com for weekend jobs or part-time work.

Categories
news

Baa, Baa, Rainbow Sheep

Baa, Baa, Rainbow Sheep? Some teachers at nursery schools in England may be taking political correctness a bit too far.

“The fact that black is a color appears to be lost on the PC police,” wrote Ian McPhedran in a column in the Advertiser, a newspaper in Adelaide, Australia.

Categories
internet socialweb

Del.icio.us.ness.

Work is now over and it is time to go dancing tra la la.

I am hoarding links and hiding them in my del.icio.us.

If you look, you might like some of them.

Ta ta!

Categories
cinema internet

Ex Libris Ahniwa

Yesterday I signed up at Dreamhost for a year of hosting and a new domain. The address is: http://www.exlibrius.org , and will be mostly library-related thoughts, posts, and links. There’s nothing there yet, so don’t bother checking. 🙂

I also bought Mirror Mask and Howl’s Moving Castle.

Mirror Mask is written by Neil Gaiman with art and direction by Dave McKean and puppetry by the Jim Henson company. If you haven’t seen it, you need to go pick it up and watch it.

Howl’s Moving Castle is the latest from Studio Ghibli, who brought us Spirited Away, Nausicaa, My Neighbor Totoro, and about ten other great animated films. Disney is releasing the films in the U.S., and they’re doing a nice job of it. They actually dub the films very well, but also offer a 5.1 Japanese audio track and good subtitles for the purist (I go back and forth).

‘Til next time, it’s time for breakfast! (Yes, I realize it’s late.)
.

Categories
personal

High School Meme

Who was your best friend?
Prairie, Cree and Benj Ross, Gypsy O’neill (though Gypsy never went to CHS), Kas Clark, Ryan Picavet, Amber and Nick Howell, Sara Abe.

What sports did you play?
I played baseball up UNTIL high school.  After that, have to go with Prairie.  Theater sports are the bomb!

What kind of car did you drive?
My beautiful, sky-blue 1984 VW Rabbit.  I remember I let Sara and Amanda borrow it one day during lunch (what the heck was I thinking!?), and they swore that the car didn’t have a reverse.  I drove Ryan’s maverick once, and slid into a ditch.  That was hella fun.

It’s Friday night, where were you at?
I did Cafe al Mundo a few times.  Otherwise, I was usually off running around, playing in the park, or cold chillin’ with my friends.  Or at play rehearsals.  Not much partying for me, back in the day.

Were you a party animal?
If I was, I think I was a party aardvark.

Were you in the “In Crowd”?
I got along well with everyone, I think.  I did run for ASB prez one time, with Kas, but we didn’t win.

Ever skip school?
I skipped PE a lot to go eat McDonald’s and play in the park.  It was right after lunch, so it was the perfect class to skip!  Junior year Kas and I skipped our running start English 101 class to … eat McDonald’s and play in the park.  Sometimes we’d eat McDonald’s and drive around, but more often than not, it was the park.

Ever smoke?
Yep.

Were you a nerd?
Were?  Am!  Wait … “Am you a nerd?”  Stupid grammar.

Did you get suspended/expelled?
No, somehow all of my teacher’s liked me.

Can you sing the Alma Mater?
Dude, I didn’t even know that we HAD an alma mater.

Who was your favorite teacher?
Mr. Holland was awesome.  I liked Mr. Fine a lot, for some reason (he called me Mr. Ferrari with an appropriate amount of ironic inflection), and Mr. Christian.

Favorite class?
English and drama.  And math.

What was your school’s full name?
Colville High School

School mascot?
Indian.  Because of the “Colville Indian Reservation” being right there, I suppose, but we really had very few native american’s in our school.

Did you go to Prom?
I went to prom my junior year and it was one of the lamest things I have ever done.  Ever.  That night sucked in every conceivable way, not the least of which someone who I didn’t even know, and who was younger than me, informing me that I was going to be a complete failure in life.

If you could go back and do it over, would you?
I dropped out a little over halfway through.  Do you actually think I would go back and do it again?  Well … maybe, but only if I got to bring a laser gun.

What do you remember most about graduation?
That I didn’t graduate.  The GED was hella easy, though.  I remember that, and that I completed it in about 1/3rd the time they say it’s supposed to take.  I think they’ve made it harder since then, though.

Favorite memory of your Senior Year?
Technically, I didn’t have one.  Moving to Port Townsend and working that year was an awesome experience in general, though.

Did you have a job your senior year?
See above.  I worked as a busser/host at the Silverwater Cafe in Port Townsend.

Who did you date?
In order?  Prairie (kinda, we never did kiss; I was way too shy), Jamie, Sara, Brooke, Amber, Heather (crazy Cheney girl!).  Good times.  (Mostly) Good memories.

Where did you go most often for lunch?
McDonald’s.  Yuck!

Have you gained weight since then?
My body type hasn’t really changed much (still average/slightly chubby), but yeah, I’ve gained about 20 lb.

What did you do after graduation?
What haven’t I done!?  Okay, well lot’s of stuff, but hey, there’s time!  If I were to mention three things: graduated from Evergreen, moved to Ohio (and back), started working in libraries.