Sun 9/29/13 12:59pm # | tweet this

Ultron and his Mouser army

I want to hear your

Sat 9/28/13 8:49pm # | tweet this

Let's Go Surfing

The Space Efficient Fold Up Office HomeMade Modern
source: Apartment Therapy

Bullet Journal: An analog note-taking system for the digital age

Quite a nice system, especially the calendar, notes/tasks/events and signifiers.

Study Cube Keeps Distractions out So You Can Study in Peace

Enormous timescales made graspable by graphs
source: Boing Boing

Nice.

Zero Hours
source: Medium

Nice cyberpunk like short story. Give it a read.

Instapaper creator sets out to build Overcast, a better iOS podcast app
source: Engadget

Looking forward to seeing this app.

Android Turns 5 Years Old Today
source: gizmodo

It's weird how quickly somethings can just become part of the everyday.

Indiana Jones MKVII bag - half size!
source: Instructables

Youtube royalty-free background music
source: Gizmodo

DC_Comics_Style_Guide
source: Bleeding Cool

Teenage Mutant Ninja Chairs
source: Neatorama

NYT: The NSA Has "Social Network" Maps That Can Index Everyone You Know
source: Gizmodo

Well, that's nice.

I want to hear your

Sun 9/15/13 2:24pm # | tweet this

Let's Go Surfing

Doctor Who Tardis & Dalek Throw Pillow
source:Jennifer's 365 Project: 1632/365

Jennifer made this cool double sided Doctor Who Pillow with a Tardis on the Front and a Dalek on the back. See her blog for more detail.

Say hello to the hideous new USB 3.0 cable your new smartphone or tablet will come with
source:

*shudder* that is one hideous cable design.

Yahoo's Logo Reveals the Worst Aspects of the Engineering Mindset from the Glog
source: Daring Fireball

Now PayPal Aims To Track You In Real Life
source: ReadWrite

Paypal Beacon. Interesting.

3 Android Apps That Help You Work With Color On The Go
source: MakeUseOf

Wacom's Bamboo Pad: a Magic Trackpad-esque peripheral with stylus input for $49 and $79
source: Engadget

Nice looking device.

Cinema Type Board
source: swissmiss

Neat idea.

7 Stunning Fictional Justice Magazine Covers
source: MakeUseOf

Intel CEO promises sub-$100 tablets this holiday season
source:The Verge

Interesting.

Automated Free Sample Kiosks Thwart Your Complimentary Gorging
source: Gizmodo

Interesting.

Walnut Dual Dock show your gadgets just how much you love them
source: The Red Ferret Journal

Side table
source: Likecool

Keepod - the computer that fits into your wallet
source: The Red Ferret Journal

ASUS Debuts Transformer Book T100 Windows 8.1 Affordable Hybrid
source: Tablet News

Some really nice snd nicely priced devices coming out with Intel's new chipset in October.

LEAKED: The Internet Must Go

Mockumentary about Net Neutrality. More informative than funny most of the time, but it has some DailyShow and Colbert-like moments. (Franken, Lessig, Hodgman and others as interviewees) Add it to your Watchlist and give it a view. (30 min)

Cognitive blind-spots of Silicon Valley successes
source: Boing Boing

Correct Overgeneralization
Definition - making universal judgments from limited observations and being right a lot of the time

Benefits - saves time

Deadly risk - addiction to instinct and indifference to data

Trusted Bluetooth devices: A must-have for every smartphone going forward
source: Android Central

Monty Python and the Holy Grail Modern Trailer
source: YouTube

How analogies shape our thoughts
source: YouTube

A Leather iPhone Sleeve That Does More Than Just Look Good
source: Gizmodo

Before & After: Chopped Tree Turned Into Galaxy S4 Phone Dock | Apartment Therapy
source:

Google's mobile MMO Ingress gets badges for monitoring player progress
source: Engadget

Google's Eric Schmidt says government spying is 'the nature of our society'
source: The Guardian

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Gets First Ad: Design Your Life (Video)
source: Tablet News

Interesting, but I wish Samsung would just focus on showing what their devices can do, instead of this type of overproduction fantasy user world.

Tooth Cavities May Protect Against Cancer
source: Slashdot

I want to hear your

Sun 9/08/13 1:23am # | tweet this

Let's Go Surfing

Weather Station - Android App on Google Play

Review

Mars could have developed life more quickly than Earth
source: io9

Science Can Reinvent America
source: Big Think

Neil Degrasse Tyson video. About 3 minutes.

A Closer Look: Super-Simple Macro Lens for Smartphones | WebUrbanist
source:

Looks Neat. Also available on Amazon.

Contemporary Design Scheme With a Little Extra: The Hollcroft Residence
source: Freshhome.com

Neat room divider/shelf.

Google's Newest Tokyo Offices - Office Snapshots
source:

Target Aims At Instant Video Market With Target Ticket [Updates]
source:

Is video just going to be something that gets tied to purchases? Forget commercials? Buy $X of video and download/stream/watch Y for Free or for a discount.

The Pod Capsule Hotel by Formwerkz Architects
source: MoCo Loco

The Cybertronic Spree is the Transformers band you never knew you needed
source: i09

The Crime Syndicate is Coming to DC Collectibles
source: Action Figure Insider

The Owlman redesign is pretty awful. The Grand Morrison era version is far an away a slicker design.

If Batman's story ever ends, this fan's comic shows how it should happen
source: Blastr

Really nice short. Read it here (click and keep scrolling to the right).

Samsung posts its own extensive Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Gear tutorial video
source: Android Central

Interesting, but the more I see, the more I think I'll just stay with my Pebble for awhile.

Han Sulu and the Chewgato
source: Neatorama

A Simple Leather Loop That Outperforms Most Smartphone Accessories
source: Gizmodo

Comfortable Way to Work in the Digital Age: Locus Seat & Standing Desk
source: freshome

Why cards are the future of the web
source: Inside Intercom

I want to hear your

Fri 9/06/13 7:31pm # | tweet this

DC Comics 1939-2010

Y'know, we're 2 years into the New 52 and they've basically killed DC for me as a fan. I tried it initially when it first relaunched and there were some books that were sortof interesting for a month or two, but I've have zero interest in the shared DC Universe for well over a year and a half now.

Although that's not quite true. I do have some interest, I have the sort of interest that a person has when they watch something they really like being vandalized, torn down, or destroyed. Strong words for a fictional group of characters, sure. And yes, noone is breaking into my house or anyone else's and taking our older comics away.

The sad thing is, it's people my age and a little older now that have been running the place that have been the ones to kill it too.

I'm sure there are new young fans here and there that are plenty fine with the New 52. But man, I'm bummed that if I talk about DC or the characters that I'm going to have to asterisk the whole conversation with some "Pre-New 52" disclaimer. And say things like "I used to read the books" etc. etc.

Mostly, I hope that this is just gong to be a bad 5 or so year period, like the 50s or the mid 90s, and things will find themselves back a little closer to a place that sucks a lot less.

I'd even be ok with a line of digital books, maybe as few as 5, say -- a Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Justice League and Titan's book maybe, that were set on "Earth-Pre:52" where us longer-time fans could see the universe progress from the past history that most of us preferred. Yeah, that would be a good solution too. A nice tiny self-contained corner of the DC multiverse, yeah that would bring me back.

I mean, none of this is real anyway. So it's not like it would make much difference to them. They could sell whichever toys and product based on whichever universe would make them more money. They'd be able to sell both most likely. Why not?

I want to hear your

Fri 9/06/13 6:50pm # | tweet this

So much spam

Years ago I played around with a Wiki on my site. I never really did too much with it. Mostly it was an exercise in setting up a wiki and playing with the format. At one point in time, that was a geeky sort of thing to do. Anyway there were still links to it on my blog and the wiki had a "small area" that was "open".

Turns out some spammer got in there and had spent the last 6 months setting up thousands of spam pages.

On the surface the wiki looked fine, but down in the depths of it, what a mess. Anyway, I removed the wiki, since I wasn't using it anyway. What's the point? Consider it a public service message that if you have publicly accessible sites that you aren't using anymore, it's probably best to disable them, before the spammers get to them.

I want to hear your

Fri 9/06/13 5:23pm # | tweet this

Upper Peninsula Trip

Jenn and I spent a few days in the Upper Peninsula at and near the Pictured Rocks area. Really the most incredible weather and beautiful parks.

See Jennifer's pics and posts: here, here, and here.

I want to hear your

Mon 9/02/13 7:40pm # | tweet this

And you get fries with that

There's a new McDonalds in Grandville over by the Mall, in front of the Cabella's. In any case they have not one, but 5 of those really neat video menu boards.

They've been around for awhile now in onesie/twosies, but this is the first time I've noticed them replace the old physical boards entirely. I'm pretty fairly endlessly entertained by animations, pans and little description/price highlighting touches they do syncing those highlights with the video/image pans. They just feel like Blade Runner kindof stuff don't they?

The cyberpunk future I was promised was supposed to be filled with these things. And here they finally are advertising McSmoothies and McCafe Mochas in Retina screen quality no less.

I want to hear your

Mon 9/02/13 7:23pm # | tweet this

A sense of things at the moment

This is one of those blog posts where I feel like blogging, but I don't really have much I need to say. But that's ok, there aren't that many people reading these things anyway :) (but that's ok... time, attention and what tech and communication services we put it on-- marches on.)

Large TV Monitor

Been experimenting the past several days with having that 32" extra TV, I got last year, that I've used for various things (mentioned in past posts) as part of my desktop mix. I have to say it's been fairly entertaining. It certainly changes my desktop experience into more of a lean back deal.

In conjunction with the large TV monitor, I've also toyed around with some remote desktop: keyboard mouse control software on an older Android phone, mostly for leaning back and paging through some larger articles.

I spend a lot of time online and I find I bounce between phone/tablet and desktop fairly regularly to have a change of venue and often room location.

Outside

It's finally cooled down a bit today and the humidity has dropped. We took a nice walk in the afternoon and it was nice to finish it without feeling like I needed to grab a fresh T-shirt for a change.

TV and Movies

We're in that end of summer, not quite fall lull of entertainment. The Labor Day weekend always messes with my head a little. It feels like Sunday today, but it's just occurred to me that there was probably a new Newsroom last night that should be on the DVR. Plus, still need to watch last Saturday's Beware the Batman, assuming there was a new one of those too.

Haven't seen anything in the theater since Elysium a couple weeks back. Doesn't look like there is much else on the coming soon radar for a couple more weeks yet either.

Social Media

Twitter made a move last week to distance themselves from being so tightly tied to realtime communication. They introduced the fairly universally panned, by power users at least, blue line threaded conversation formatting, whereby they take replies out of your timeline and group them together with their later interactions.

I'm sure Twitter has all sorts of data that goes to show that most people aren't going to scroll back very far to look at past interactions on their Twitter list, and this change is an effort to increase interaction by casual users with the service, and that's cool and all, but it's an annoying thing that they don't allow older school users to switch off the feature with a preference setting. Facebook does a lot of this type of thing too. There's this drive to find a one sized fits all approach to using these services and that's too bad. Hopefully it's only a temporary phase these companies are going through as they swing from their open roots to a more closed approach. Hopefully they swing back in a year or two to a more open approach. I probably won't hold my breath though.

Devices

This past month, I've started using a Macbook SSD Laptop at work, part time at least. I still haven't fully weaned off my Windows PC, for what amounts more to a heavy bias of Windows Networking and Windows friendly corporate tools and services. The Macbook device itself is very nice though. It's been a very good long while since I've used a Mac with any regularity, and I suppose I can see the appeal. I don't really have a huge desire to switch at home yet though. The clunky truck like nature of Windows compared to the Mac's sleek stylish sedan suits me just fine most of the time.

I'm still digging the Pebble. If your the sortof person that checks your email/social networks or smartphone notifications with any level of obsessiveness, the Pebble will change your life. If you have an Android phone, go out to Best Buy right now and grab one. Of course if you are an iPhone user, hold your horses just a bit on the off chance that Apple announces a smartwatch of their own in a couple weeks, and if they don't, get yourself a Pebble. Smartwatches seems silly sure, but so did smartphones once upon a time, if you remember. Trust me, glancing at notifications on your watch really is a different animal than pulling your phone out of your pocket every 5 minutes.

And you tech savy Android users, might be thinking "Shouldn't I wait and check out the Samsung Gear?". I dunno, maybe, they are supposed to announce it in a couple days. The leaked information doesn't make it look very promising though. The Pebble can last a week or more on a charge, the 10 hours reported for the Samsung Gear doesn't sound very appealing to me, and things like it's built-in wrist camera make it even less so. As the owner of a primitive Casio camera watch 10 or more years ago, having a camera on your wrist is less useful than you'd think. And buying a small Fitbit to stick in your jean's fifth pocket is probably a better way to go as a pedometer. But hey, it mostly comes down to price, if they make it cheap enough, I still might bite, just to play with it (or more likely I'll just continue on with the lovely Pebble and wait and see what Google itself announces in the near future.)

I still don't have a 3D printer. That's a shame too, back in January 2012 I thought it would be likely that prices would have come down by now, and there'd be more of a mainstream offering. Doesn't look like much on the near horizon. Oh and that Makerbot Digitizer scanner turned out to be way way overpriced ($1500) as well, so unless the Kickstarter crowd can come up with a better/cheaper solution, the input side of 3D printing isn't going anywhere any time soon either.

Games

I watched a couple walk thrus demos of Disney Infinity, the Disney-fied Skylander type thing. There seemed to be enough fuss about it that I thought I'd break down and look into it, via Youtube at least. Dunno, maybe you have to play it to really get it, but it's sort of lost on me, but then again, I haven't fully got the Minecraft experience yet either. I'm sure that Skylander/Disney Infinity/Minecraft will likely be a generation of a certain age's equivalent to Magic the Gathering or D&D though.

Only game I continue to regularly play is Ingress.

Comics and Fandom

I've continued to pretty much stay checked out of the comics scene the last couple months. I've reread some old stuff (Green Arrow Long Bow Hunters, which held up well) and some recent stuff, the first trade and a half of Matt Fraction's Hawkeye, but my longtime homebase of DC hasn't held much interest for me since their New 52 relaunch.

I can say, I have pretty much zero interest in reading about Avengers 2: Ultron Boogaloo at this point. It's 2 years away, yet there's a new article or two on it every day. Geeks are going, do we really need this long of a build-up? Relax the coverage a bit Fandom Press, thank you very much.

People Careers and Jobs

Not sure I have much more to contribute to this topic area beyond what I had to say in July 2013 . I suppose I could go more into what it's like to watch the shift to Generation X being in charge and the interestingness of Millennials or Generation Y (depending on what they what to call themselves) starting to flood into the office environment in large numbers. So far though, I probably have more observation than insight into that. Maybe a future post.

I want to hear your

Sun 9/01/13 1:29pm # | tweet this