3/22/10
Picasa su casa ...
You can access all the photos used on this blog at my Picasa gallery. See link at right.
Will the real tablet stand up? ...
This year will tell the tale: Will tablets replace laptops? (And aren’t tablets the real laptops, while laptops are always used on tabletops, which means they are more tabl-ets than laptops?) My playing around with the “mini tablet” iPod Touch tells me they will. Once folks get a look at the astonishing apps available and a safe and simple touch-screen operating system and a larger screen, the game is over.
And replace printed books also? Amazon thinks so. Or at least it’s hedging its bets.
And replace printed books also? Amazon thinks so. Or at least it’s hedging its bets.
3/17/10
Tracking the next great web trend ...
TOKYO, March 16, 2010—Canon Inc. announced today that it will begin the acquisition process for the top-level domain name ".canon," based on the new generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) registration system.
Hinting at spring ...
The weather in France and Germany, where we visited, was cold. About all the spring we saw were these snow drops. And they look persecuted.
Playing with the Fountainebleau shot posted last week ...
This shot was a knockout. Can't take much credit: it was simply being in the right place with the right camera. I took it into Photoshop to pull out its details, preliminary to doing some cropping.
3/15/10
3/13/10
Remembering Menkaure ...
Finishing a lecture series on ancient Egypt, I remembered that many years ago at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, I bumped into a statue of Menkaure, an Old Kingdom pharaoh, and his queen. I was stunned by something you cannot see in this detail, which is her hand holding his arm. See this link. His sensitivity and her strength.
3/12/10
3/11/10
3/4/10
3/2/10
Watching Tufte's "Geese Taking Flight"
Everyone one of these creatures would get top style points in a Geese Olympics.
Geese Taking Flight from Edward Tufte on Vimeo.
2/28/10
Enjoying Benjamin Franklin lecture on iTunes U ...
I am continually amazed what’s available online for free. Anyone on a computer can access the iTunes U lectures series below, from Oxford, Cambridge, UC Berkeley. And many more.
Congrats to Canada ... what a great winter Olympics ...
Just to say, before the big game, that Canada has done itself proud. What a great event! Fun and fantastic both.
I think of Minnesota as being as close as I can get to Canada and still not get universal health care.
SOURCE: Vancouver Winter Games
I think of Minnesota as being as close as I can get to Canada and still not get universal health care.
SOURCE: Vancouver Winter Games
2/26/10
Gonna miss this ... a classic winter wanes ...
I went out today to capture some memories. Speaking of which, when I first arrived in Minnesota from Chicago, this is what most impressed me: clean, transparent air.
Great River Trail, Black River Bridge
Perrot State Park, Bradys Bluff Trail
Perrot State Park, Bradys Bluff Trail
Perrot State Park, Trempealeau River Basin
Great River Trail, Black River Bridge
Perrot State Park, Bradys Bluff Trail
Perrot State Park, Bradys Bluff Trail
Perrot State Park, Trempealeau River Basin
2/25/10
Trying out some camera equipment ...
The GPS location service is built into the memory card, not the camera. Nice. Oops. Best correct my time setting.
2/21/10
Walking the lake path ...
We noticed the spring light this morning; it will take a while to warm things up tho’.
2/20/10
2/17/10
And then the ampersand ...
Here’s a quickie: The ampersand is credited to Cicero’s secretary Tiro and developed as a ligature out of the letter “e” and “t” in the Latin word et, meaning “and.” And Wikipedia says this about the word itself:
“The word ampersand is a corruption of the phrase ‘and per se and,’ meaning ‘and [the symbol which] by itself [is] and.’”
“The word ampersand is a corruption of the phrase ‘and per se and,’ meaning ‘and [the symbol which] by itself [is] and.’”
Following Christopher Fowler ... through peculiar times ...
Christopher Fowler is a favorite crime writer of mine. His “Peculiar Crimes Unit” series, now relabeled “Bryant & May” is blend of great characters, tight plots, and lots of tidbits of London history.
“In the last few years, the role of the writer has changed. It’s no longer something you get around to doing when things are a bit quieter, it’s not enough to write a book and send it off to a publisher. You are required to play a complicated game with the media that involves a lot of planning and projections, because the ground is shifting. Publishers do a lot of things for me, but the thing they do most these days is apologise. ‘We can’t', ‘we wish’, ‘it’s not cost effective’, ‘it’s an uncertain climate.’ That’s fine, they try to help get me published and it’s all you can hope for. In England there was a long tradition of the Actor-Manager, and now there are Writer-Managers, but here’s the thing – the more a good writer does that isn’t actually writing, the worse s/he gets.”
“In the last few years, the role of the writer has changed. It’s no longer something you get around to doing when things are a bit quieter, it’s not enough to write a book and send it off to a publisher. You are required to play a complicated game with the media that involves a lot of planning and projections, because the ground is shifting. Publishers do a lot of things for me, but the thing they do most these days is apologise. ‘We can’t', ‘we wish’, ‘it’s not cost effective’, ‘it’s an uncertain climate.’ That’s fine, they try to help get me published and it’s all you can hope for. In England there was a long tradition of the Actor-Manager, and now there are Writer-Managers, but here’s the thing – the more a good writer does that isn’t actually writing, the worse s/he gets.”
2/16/10
And the Toller Cranston award ...
goes to Johnny Weir. About Toller, an Olympian skater favorite from way back. Canadians will remember.
A good day for a Roger Ebert quote ...
“Almost the first day I started writing reviews, I found a sentence in a book by Robert Warshow that I pinned on the wall above my desk. I have quoted it so frequently that some readers must be weary of it, but it helps me stay grounded. It says:
“A man goes to the movies. A critic must be honest enough to admit he is that man.
“That doesn't make one person right and another wrong. All it means is that you know how they really felt, not how they thought they should feel.”
“The Best Films of the Decade“
“A man goes to the movies. A critic must be honest enough to admit he is that man.
“That doesn't make one person right and another wrong. All it means is that you know how they really felt, not how they thought they should feel.”
“The Best Films of the Decade“
2/15/10
Post once, publish everywhere ...
I mess around with the various publishing platforms available. You can take the editor out of publishing, but you can’t ...
The newest publishing platform this week is Google’s Buzz. It could be a dilly. It links in nicely to my micro publishing flow:
* I like to keep my content on my computer, not residing on the web. So I use a journaling app, MacJournal, to create a post, which I upload to my blog.
* I like to use images often, so I make a blog app, Blogger, my primary online posting site.
* When I post to my blog, snitsbits, the header and blog link are automatically reposted to Twitter.
* From Twitter, the same info is reposted automatically to Facebook, Linkedin, and now Buzz.
The flow goes from Twitter to the rest because not all these kids want to play together; Twitter won’t currently receive posts from Buzz, for instance. And Buzz doesn’t want to post to Twitter because Twitter only handles a line or two of text, not pics. Who cares? This works for me.
The newest publishing platform this week is Google’s Buzz. It could be a dilly. It links in nicely to my micro publishing flow:
* I like to keep my content on my computer, not residing on the web. So I use a journaling app, MacJournal, to create a post, which I upload to my blog.
* I like to use images often, so I make a blog app, Blogger, my primary online posting site.
* When I post to my blog, snitsbits, the header and blog link are automatically reposted to Twitter.
* From Twitter, the same info is reposted automatically to Facebook, Linkedin, and now Buzz.
The flow goes from Twitter to the rest because not all these kids want to play together; Twitter won’t currently receive posts from Buzz, for instance. And Buzz doesn’t want to post to Twitter because Twitter only handles a line or two of text, not pics. Who cares? This works for me.
2/13/10
Posting a travel tip ...
Useful airfare search site, includes a 30 day chart showing fares around the timetable you input, as well as senior fare options. You send the results to your local travel agency to generate the tickets, so that’s good citizenry. Add a bit to the listed prices for tax and fees.
2/11/10
Practicing for Dussy ...
One of the most enjoyable aspects of visiting Chris in Düsseldorf is cooking for the clan in his apartment house. Here’s a gorgonzola pizza using a biscuit crust, the crust idea compliments of Basil’s, a restaurant in Northfield, MN, we supped at when the boys were in college at St. Olaf long ago. And of course it’s on the web today.
Thinking about the Times ... and Mores ...
Today the New York Times made its historical archives available to subscribers. Nice. Here’s the front page for March 5, 1861, the first of Lincoln’s inaugurations. Probably not readable here. The inset is the text of the article. Nice again. The NYT is making a push to secure paid subscriptions by leveraging several new services. My best wishes.
Speaking of best wishes: The term inauguration* caught my eye. It’s that extra “u.” I’m presently reading a historical novel about Cicero, Conspirata, in which the auguries are part of the political rituals of transition.
*ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from Latin inaugurat- ‘interpreted as omens (from the flight of birds),’ based on augurare ‘to augur.’
SOURCE: New Oxford Dictionary
Speaking of best wishes: The term inauguration* caught my eye. It’s that extra “u.” I’m presently reading a historical novel about Cicero, Conspirata, in which the auguries are part of the political rituals of transition.
*ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from Latin inaugurat- ‘interpreted as omens (from the flight of birds),’ based on augurare ‘to augur.’
SOURCE: New Oxford Dictionary
2/10/10
Move over Twitter ... What's the Buzz?
Google is offering an alternative to Twitter and Facebook both, called Buzz. This is the “phone” version of the web app. It’s mighty purty. In fact, looking at the desktop and phone versions, it’s been built for mobile use primarily.
Image at 3x. Don’t I wish the screen was this size. Hmm.
Image at 3x. Don’t I wish the screen was this size. Hmm.
2/6/10
Reading a great Cory Doctorow quote on the Kindle ...
Doctorow is a crusader against digital rights management. This comment sums what bugs me about all ebook readers as well:
“Presumably, Amazon perceives the $10 price-tag as a way of encouraging people to buy its Kindle platform, which itself is a kind of roach-motel for books: the license terms and DRM on the books in the Kindle store prohibit you from reading your Kindle books on competing devices. So books check in, but they don't check out.”
“Presumably, Amazon perceives the $10 price-tag as a way of encouraging people to buy its Kindle platform, which itself is a kind of roach-motel for books: the license terms and DRM on the books in the Kindle store prohibit you from reading your Kindle books on competing devices. So books check in, but they don't check out.”
1/31/10
Probably projecting from my past ...
Post-iPod, Apple looks to huge content areas to run through its hardware. With the just announced iPad, there is a confluence of content that Apple has already secured: music, apps. But Steve Jobs knows that new hardware must be matched and mated to new gigantic, coherent content sectors. The last slide in his presentation (below) says it all: Steve is going after education as a market. The whole enchilada of educational publishing.
The hardware is spot on: Simple, safe, small, light, cheap (or soon will be) exactly right for students from grade school to grad school. The software provides the creativity/research tools students need. The iWork apps are astonishingly lovely, creative, and fun software.
It will not mean all printed books be damned but it will mean printed textbooks be damned. Maybe it will be textbooks be damned: I’m guessing it’s the creativity tools that Steve really cares about. Ten years out, every student will have an iPad or something just like it. Finally. Except Apple will be there first and foremost. That’s a done deal as of last Wednesday.
Everything about the iPad says that Steve Jobs wants to be remembered as the guy who revolutionized schooling if not learning. Take a look at the mission at the OLPC site. That’s Jobs’s kind of language and vision, except he not only thinks bigger than most of us, he thinks better.
SOURCE: Apple Inc.
The hardware is spot on: Simple, safe, small, light, cheap (or soon will be) exactly right for students from grade school to grad school. The software provides the creativity/research tools students need. The iWork apps are astonishingly lovely, creative, and fun software.
It will not mean all printed books be damned but it will mean printed textbooks be damned. Maybe it will be textbooks be damned: I’m guessing it’s the creativity tools that Steve really cares about. Ten years out, every student will have an iPad or something just like it. Finally. Except Apple will be there first and foremost. That’s a done deal as of last Wednesday.
Everything about the iPad says that Steve Jobs wants to be remembered as the guy who revolutionized schooling if not learning. Take a look at the mission at the OLPC site. That’s Jobs’s kind of language and vision, except he not only thinks bigger than most of us, he thinks better.
SOURCE: Apple Inc.
1/30/10
Nagel kids circa 1980 ...
On the event of Gen and Chris’s birthdays this month. This photo hangs in our livingroom. It’s fading fast. I scanned it into photoshop to see what I can save.
1/28/10
Looking at the iPad applications ...
What it took to bring the word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation apps from the Mac OS to the iOS is an effort not to be sneezed at. What doing means is the shift to multitouch based apps on all the Apple products. Spectacular.
SOURCE: Apple Inc.
SOURCE: Apple Inc.
Looking at the Apple iPad again ...
If my previous note sounds critical, I’m not. I’m a huge Apple fan. I love how it thinks things through as a consumer electronics company. (Apple took the word “computer” off its name a couple years ago.)
Here’s an example: One of the shifts from computers as geek tools to computers as “the rest of us” tools/toys has to do with designing computers that are more sociable. Take the notebook. Sure, we can bring it with us. But as soon as we set it up, it puts a big screen between us and those sitting across from us. In coffee shops, notebookers sit alone and not always by choice. The notebook says “I’m here to work or at least look like I’m working while I websurf. Don’t sit down.” No longer: see how the cool case with the iPad folds so that it can sit on a table and allow for a flow of conversation? Nicely done.
Of course, there is the problem, insinuated here, that some notebookers will begin yakking about Star Trek when you do sit down. Apple hasn’t yet found a content provider for our downloading bits of chat relevant to the interests of the person across from us. Maybe some day. At least now you can see what interests them. If upside down.
SOURCE: Apple Inc.
Here’s an example: One of the shifts from computers as geek tools to computers as “the rest of us” tools/toys has to do with designing computers that are more sociable. Take the notebook. Sure, we can bring it with us. But as soon as we set it up, it puts a big screen between us and those sitting across from us. In coffee shops, notebookers sit alone and not always by choice. The notebook says “I’m here to work or at least look like I’m working while I websurf. Don’t sit down.” No longer: see how the cool case with the iPad folds so that it can sit on a table and allow for a flow of conversation? Nicely done.
Of course, there is the problem, insinuated here, that some notebookers will begin yakking about Star Trek when you do sit down. Apple hasn’t yet found a content provider for our downloading bits of chat relevant to the interests of the person across from us. Maybe some day. At least now you can see what interests them. If upside down.
SOURCE: Apple Inc.
Looking at the Apple iPad ...
I hear it’s a very fast, and obviously fun, user interface. UI is Apple’s bag and it’s putting down a big bet on shiny, speedy computing. Not a bad price, and in a year this device may be under $400 for an iPod with real Mac apps like Pages and Numbers; like the iPods it requires a Mac/PC as a mothership. (Hmm, so that’s why they call them ‘pods.) Looking at the photo below this morning, I’m wishing Apple chose a smaller, Kindle, book sized screen on the principle that the only good computer is the one I have with me. Throw in the docking keyboard and a camera and I’d be good. I guess that Apple doesn’t want us to take this mobile Mac any further than the couch. [Updated 4PM]
Deconstructing this model name, the ‘pad refers to the weight we can gain sitting around using it. Or perhaps it’s an Apple credal statement: I pad, as in, I can be found at my place using this gizmo anytime.
SOURCE: Gizmodo
SOURCE: Apple Inc.
Deconstructing this model name, the ‘pad refers to the weight we can gain sitting around using it. Or perhaps it’s an Apple credal statement: I pad, as in, I can be found at my place using this gizmo anytime.
SOURCE: Gizmodo
SOURCE: Apple Inc.
1/27/10
Following up on photo location services ...
Yesterday I mentioned posting shots to Panoramio and its location recognition service, partly dependent on location information. Following up, I picked up a memory card for my camera that has GPS location software built in, which means my camera will be good to go for years yet. So it’s cheap at the price. Also, when I put the camera near my computer, the card wirelessly and automatically uploads the shots. Nice.
1/26/10
Following Google down scenic pathways ...
I hope you can see this well enough. Below a photo I have on Google’s Panoramio site I found a link called “Look around.“ It brings up shots of the same scene and indicates how your photo fits the scene relative to the others. Wow.
The end of editing as we know it ...
Thanks, Hannah! And Happy Birthday!
fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too. Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it.
fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too. Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it.
Taking stock of Apple ...
I have tracked Apple as a company since the eighties, when I really did need to know what publishing technologies to adopt for use at work. Apple’s certainly had its ups and downs. What I see in the chart below is not how Apple is doing specifically but where the computer to going: The computer olympics are warming up. So it’s all about computers becoming faster, smaller, lighter, thinner, brighter, and cheaper. All computers are becoming “computers for the rest of us.” The first Apple computer I bought in 1987 was $2,800; the Apple computer I carry with me cost $200 last year and has more than 100 times the memory and speed.
SOURCE: Google Finance
SOURCE: Google Finance
1/13/10
Watching sun, shadow, and snow on the Mississippi River ...
I brought a new camera out to the boathouse, one I gave Barb. It’s a tiny marvel.
Here’s a link to a larger version.
Here’s a map of Winona, Minnesota, with the boathouse location marked in red.
Here’s a link to a larger version.
Here’s a map of Winona, Minnesota, with the boathouse location marked in red.
1/3/10
How Twain ruined Melville for me ... and a good thing it is ...
I mentioned that I recently read Melville’s Moby-Dick. I didn’t mention how I was put off by the overwrought writing, characters, and speeches. Listening to a program on Mark Twain I heard the reason for this completely and abruptly stated: “Huckleberry is not Ahab.” For sure. The use of accessible common speech that we enjoy in literature today was apparently a gift from Twain, one that was not understood or accepted immediately. Below is an excerpt from a newspaper article regarding the publication of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:
“The Concord (Mass.) Public Library committee has decided to exclude Mark Twain's latest book from the library. One member of the committee says that, while he does not wish to call it immoral, he thinks it contains but little humor, and that of a very coarse type. He regards it as the veriest trash. The library and the other members of the committee entertain similar views, characterizing it as rough, coarse, and inelegant, dealing with a series of experiences not elevating, the whole book being more suited to the slums than to intelligent, respectable people.” Wikipedia
“The Concord (Mass.) Public Library committee has decided to exclude Mark Twain's latest book from the library. One member of the committee says that, while he does not wish to call it immoral, he thinks it contains but little humor, and that of a very coarse type. He regards it as the veriest trash. The library and the other members of the committee entertain similar views, characterizing it as rough, coarse, and inelegant, dealing with a series of experiences not elevating, the whole book being more suited to the slums than to intelligent, respectable people.” Wikipedia
1/1/10
My top ten love story films ...
Listing these moved my thinking from the typical to edgier films, from traditional guy/gal stories to father/son relationships, and on to Brokeback Mountain. And there are twelve films listed in no particular order. The listed names are the “active ingredients” of the films—the actors, writers, directors, and places that made a particular film work for me. May be updated and reposted.
Bread and Tulips (Bruno Ganz, Licia Maglietta, and Venice)
Notting Hill (Hugh Grant, Roger Michell, and Richard Curtis)
Life is Beautiful (Roberto Benigni)
Ordinary People (Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore)
Educating Rita (Michael Caine and Julie Walters)
Moonstruck (Cher, Nick Cage, and Olympia Dukakis)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (more Hugh and more Richard Curtis)
Persuasion (Ciarán Hinds and more Roger Michell)
About a Boy (even more Hugh and Nick Hornby)
Stage Beauty (Billy Crudup and Claire Danes)
Casanova (Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller, and more Venice)
Brokeback Mountain (more Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal)
Bread and Tulips (Bruno Ganz, Licia Maglietta, and Venice)
Notting Hill (Hugh Grant, Roger Michell, and Richard Curtis)
Life is Beautiful (Roberto Benigni)
Ordinary People (Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore)
Educating Rita (Michael Caine and Julie Walters)
Moonstruck (Cher, Nick Cage, and Olympia Dukakis)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (more Hugh and more Richard Curtis)
Persuasion (Ciarán Hinds and more Roger Michell)
About a Boy (even more Hugh and Nick Hornby)
Stage Beauty (Billy Crudup and Claire Danes)
Casanova (Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller, and more Venice)
Brokeback Mountain (more Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal)
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