THIS GUY HAS A CAPYBARA!!! I WANT A CAPYBARA!!!! SOMEBODY GET ME A CAPYBARA!!!
(Ooh! And name it "Speak" - Just in case!)
This woman has a capybara, why can’t I? (Pic not from the article)
Random, chillin’ capybara (Pic not from the article)
Hey, I think it’s… Yes, it is! It’s a CAPYBARICADE!
(Oh… Uh… Pic not from the article!)
Note to Readers: This entry does not follow the standard "86 Words" format - it is significantly longer than that. Please feel free to consider this note as the 86 words (or less!) for today and skip the rest if you like.
I have long awaited the release of the Apple iPad - I even told my wife I wouldn’t buy another computer until it was released (that’s a HUGE promise for me!).
Well, it finally came out and it’s everything I hoped for. I still believe it will change the world.
“WHAT?!?” I hear you saying. “YOU MUST BE SOME KIND OF FANBOY! IT’S LESS POWERFUL THAN (xyz brand), IT DOESN’T LET YOU DO (xyz function)! IT’S JUST A BIG ITOUCH!!!”
A) Lighten up - this is not a war – at least not on the consumer end.
B) Yes, I have, over the last year or two, become a bit of an Apple fan - but only after being on the other side of the fence for many, many years. I became very impressed with their products, their culture, and their support when I was finally forced to sample it. I am not, however, blind to the facts.
B1) Fact: Apple did not create a sentient being as their new product.
B2) Fact: Apple did not create a display device that surpasses the Holodeck on the Starship Enterprise (Next Gen one, or course)
B3) Fact: Apple did not include magic wishes, magic wands, or even magic pills in their product.
B4) Fact: In fact, what apple did do is create a device that isn’t intended to compete with the current laptop / desktop / netbook market at all.
The iPad is a revolutionary idea, but not in the way many people wanted it to be. It’s not the be-all and end-all techy toy (or even techy-powerhouse) that the geeks (my own people) wanted. It’s a tool for regular people!
“WHAT?!?!?! REGULAR PEOPLE DON’T WANT COMPUTERS!!!!”
Exactly. They want something else. They want something friendlier, something easier, something that does what they need without requiring them to learn about directory structures or how much memory they have or what graphic card they have. They want something that they can use without getting a degree in geek.
Sorry guys (again, my own people), Apple has a winner here, and on more than one front.
The App Store: Yes, it’s closed and proprietary - many, many, many consumer goods are. In this case, this is actually a good thing (even for people who support open software).
“WHAT!?!?!?”
Geez, calm down! Let me explain.
Over the last several years, there has been a movement to make the web a more shared, more supported, and more full-featured platform for applications. Each iteration of apps and technologies that has come along has improved upon the previous.
Also over the last several years, Apple has been very big in supporting specific, needed changes to those technologies. The current version of the Safari browser is an amazing piece of software. It actually follows the standards! Not only that, but it’s even implementing the upcoming standards for things like HTML 5.
Did you catch that? Safari (and also Google Chrome by the way) support HTML 5. I’m sure you’ve heard of it - that’s the technology that lets you do all of that Adobe-Flash like stuff without using Flash; without requiring a separate on-screen object, and without being proprietary to anyone!!!
Besides pushing for more open web standards, there is certainly an advantage to the regular person user if all available software has to go through an approval process by a group that won’t allow A) Virus infection, B) System attacks, C) Adware (of the malware sort), D) Broken software that destabilizes a system, etc.
Are you starting to see how this works to make this product for USERS instead of the Techies?
Face it, my geeky compadres - we’re not the only people in the world. Now it’s time for the rest of the world to have a turn at the power of computers.
Welcome to the future.
Now excuse me, I have to go stand in line.
I should have posted this yesterday; you’ve probably already heard!
Apple has announced that they’re holding a Launch Event on 27 January. Most people (myself included) are expecting the long-awaited Apple Tablet. All we really have to go on is rumors and the image they included with the event invitations - make of it what you will (and feel free to tell us about it in the comments!):
The tech world is in a frenzy, Apple stock immediately jumped 4%, and here’s all we have to go on!
POTRTP: Picture Of The Random Time Period
Enjoy!
I realize I just posted a POTRTP, but this was too good to wait!
POTRTP: Picture Of The Random Time Period
Enjoy!
I know I would totally watch it!
POTRTP: Picture Of The Random Time Period
Enjoy!
Personally, I would have said "About What?", but I still found it pretty funny!
This website gets ‘em (cool points) for sheer conceptual bizarreness (plus it’s fun to browse!).
The NikCageAsEveryone blog is a growing collection of images of Nic Cage as, well, everyone!
The examples below are a few of my favorites - hit the site to check out more!
Nic "Wolverine" Cage
Nic "Mr. Spock" Cage
Nic "The White" Cage
Nic "Jobs" Cage
Nic "Rambo" Cage
Nic "The Doctor" Cage
Us techy types spend a lot of time looking at what’s next, but sometimes it can be fun to look back too - especially where old ads are concerned - possibly more than anything else, advertisements show the common world view of their timeframe.
VintageAdBrowser.com has over 100,000 ads from the 1800’s to the present, dated, separated by decade, and categorized for your viewing pleasure!
When you find yourself in one of those "the world is changing too fast!" moods, maybe a browse through yesterday will help!
Well, I didn’t actually count, but that’s what they claim!
Woah… Only $1500 for 64K? That would be… Um… 24.5 million per Gig? Sounds good to me!
Invented in it’s current form by Educational Consultant Tony Buzan, the concept of Mind Mapping is pretty simple. It’s a technique for visually recording related information for ease of retention.
The original technique was strictly pen and paper based (and many people still prefer that method), but there are also many programs out there to help out.
FreeMind is one of the better ones, especially when you include the "Free" part!
Here’s a quick brainstorming session I did to put together ideas for a space combat game.
Here’s a closer view (though still not full-sized - sizes are selectable from a range). This gives an idea of how things look close-up.
There are a lot of cool "extras", like the ability to add a "Note" to any node - the icon in the grey node above means there’s a note - when you click the node, the note shows up in a window at the bottom of the screen.
Here’s an example of a hand-drawn mind-map - they can be visually appealing if done well, I’ve seen some that were inarguably gorgeous!
Yes, NORAD really is involved! Even more surprising, they’ve been involved since 1955!
It started by a mistaken phone number in a local newspaper - instead of the Sears "Santa" phone, they accidentally printed the number to a top-secret, early warning attack line in Norad!
Air Force Kernal Shoup reacted by assigning an Airman to "be" Santa Claus, and the project has been growing ever since; in 2008, 1275 people and several tech companies (including Google) were involved!
Here’s an overview of the page showing Santa’s current location, the places he’s already visited (marked by the presents), and his next stop.
Using standard Google maps controls, you can zoom in as far as you want, switch to map view, etc. If you click on the "present" icons, a picture representing that city will display.
Clicking on one of the cam images will load a you-tube video of a computer-rendered Santa flying with his reindeer flying around that area.