Infinity and Beyond

3 days before her 85th birthday Golden Globe and Emmy award winning actress Estelle Getty has passed away. Getty’s longtime caregiver said:

 ”Sadly, today July 22, 2008 at 5:35 a.m. Pacific Time, we said our last good-byes to our little friend Estelle, who passed away and made her journey to the great beyond. Although it was a trip that she never wanted to take, she went gracefully, in the comfort of her own home, surrounded by her family and her very loving care-givers. Estelle’s legacy will live on and on through the comedy and laughter she gave to us all, which will forever keep us laughing out loud…  Estelle was a fighter. She always stood up for the underdogs, fought for equality for all, and always pictured a world filled with “Love and Laughter” – her most favourite catch phrase. Estelle, we love you and will miss you dearly. We pray that you are met at the Pearly Gate with open arms and a warm welcome by all who have passed before you…. You have touched my life, and the lives of so many others who will never forget you.”     

Even though Getty played the eldest member of the ‘Golden Girl’s she was the second youngest. Getty is survived by her two adult sons from her marriage to Arthur Gettleman who passed away in 2004.Here now is a clip from the show that made her famous. Enjoy, laugh, and remember. 

Permalink  Trackback

E Ink has been buzzed about for years.  I wanted to do an E Ink independent study project during my undergraduate years, but the cost for a test device was too expensive.  Finally though it looks like E Ink will hit the newsstands.  I was expecting it to be in the form of newspapers, but instead it will grace the cover of the September issue of Esquire.  Back when I was looking at the technology, having your newspaper delivered electronically each morning to an e-newspaper was one of the biggest uses the company envisioned.  And yet, that’s never materialized.  Although Amazon does use the technology in the Kindle, its e-book reader.  So this will be a big step forward for the technology replacing traditional print media.

I don’t read Esquire, nor know what content I will find between the covers.  But I’m going to do my best to get my hands on a copy.  Mostly so I can rip it apart and find out how I can tinker with the e-paper for my own uses.

Permalink  Trackback

Tricia over at Moconews.net posted some info about lines across the country.  I suppose I should take a drive past my local Apple Store, which shares a shopping center with the AT&T store as well, and see how long the lines are–if they’re still there.

Also, Reuters is reporting activation issues related to Apple’s iTunes software–users are having to take the device home and sync it with a computer before they will fully activate.  Apple had activation issues last year as well when it released the first iPhone. 

Permalink  Trackback

ICANN just approved the creation of new top-level domains that are up to 64 characters in length.  No more will the web be restricted to .com, .net, .org, .tv, etc.  We’ll be able to have .seattle, .kingcounty, .iamfreakincool, etc. etc.

And of course there will be a run on .sex domains, .xxx, etc.  Which is something ICANN had previously avoided approving.  It sounds like some of the domains will be quite expensive to buy, but I’m not quite sure how the cost will be worked out.  For instance, if .seattle costs $100K, does the buyer then get to parse-out all other domains under that TLD?  If the City of Settle were to buy .seattle, could they then sell names for, say $10/year for that domain?  i.e. www.jason.seattle, showbox.seattle, etc.

So which company will have enough money to buy up the .sex, .fuck, and .xxx domain?  Seems like whatever the cost you’d be easily able to recoup your initial investment.

Maybe it’s time to liquidate my stocks…

Permalink  Trackback

In the words of Keanu Reeves: “Whoa!” Normally we present to you the future of new devices that can provide you more and more technology in the palm of your hand, we even tell you great ways to use that technology but not very often do we get a chance to show you the future in a much more general form.

 Here now is the future of the automobile and the skyscraper. First up is the new model from BMW; GINA Light Visionary model. This car “is skinned by four large pieces of flexible material that can stretch and contract based on a number of substructures that can move about on the chassis with electro and electrohydraulic controls.” I’ll let the video and picture below speak for itself:

Second up is the future of architecture. No longer will our buildings be static bohemeths towering into the sky. Thanks in part to the visionary designs by David Fisher and his team our buildings will move and change with the passing of time. They’ll also produce their own energy and be quicker and easier to build. Check out this video:

Now here are a few additional shots of the proposed buildings:

Here is the man behind the new face of architecture:

Permalink  Trackback

The folks at Eye-Fi have done it again with their next iteration of their brilliant memory card/wireless uploader combination.  This time, with the release of the Eye-Fi Explore, they’ve added geotagging to the pictures you’ve taken.

At first glance I thought they’d managed to cram in a GPS unit into the super small card, which would have been an amazing feat given the fact that they’ve already got 2GB of memory crammed in there AND a wireless device.

But upon further inspection it appears that when you’re in range of one of 10,000 hotspots located across the nation, the card will connect, geotag the images, and upload them to the various services you’ve selected.  So, if I get this correct, it’s sort of only semi-geotagging.  I can see this being pretty sweet if you’re out and about taking pictures in a city that has heavy hotspot coverage, as your geotagging would be more accurate.  

They claim that 70% of the populated areas in North America have been mapped using these hotspots.   This is very similar to the Place Lab project I worked on in college which used people’s wireless access points (be they “hotspots” or just broadcasting a signal) to provide location information.  Given most people move their hotspots infrequently, and when they do they’re just relocating within the house or office, the mapping is suprisingly accurate.

I’d like to give this a try, but it’s not currently worth the money for me to upgrade my existing card…although my Grandfather’s birthday is coming up soon… 

Permalink  Trackback

Editor’s note: I found this story hiding in our drafts folder. It’s now a few weeks old but still valid information. Enjoy” 

“This week was the upfronts for the major television networks and not surprisingly a lot of the shows that didn’t get off to a great start, due in large part from the strike, are being given a second chance at life next season.

The real changes is that “the networks seem to be embracing the notion of a year-round schedule.” NBC is moving to a new 65 week long schedule and its possible that the other networks might follow along shortly. Not sure how 65 weeks works out when there are only 52 weeks in a year but maybe someone can explain that to me.

Fox Broadcasting plans to draw viewers to its new dramas Fringe and Dollhouse by drastically cutting the number of commercials and promos in them to half the usual number. Today’s (Friday) Hollywood Reporter quoted Fox Entertainment Chairman Peter Liguori as saying that by doing so, “we’re going to have … less reason for viewers to use the remote. … It’s a simple concept and potentially revolutionary. … We’re going to redefine the viewing experience.”

Permalink  Trackback

So, some company called Man & Machine Inc., is suing Apple for infringing on the use of the Mighty Mouse name.  Furthermore, they’re also suing CBS for improperly licensing the use of the name to Apple.

Who is Man & Machine Inc.?  Some obscure company that makes things like chemical and waterproof keyboards and mice, mostly for industrial or hospital applications.  They make things such as (no joke) keyboards called “Really Cool”, “Really Cool M”, and “Slim Cool”.  Need a similarly cool numeric keypad?  Try the “CoolNPad”.

But ohh so more importantly is the fact that they sell a Mighty Mouse, which supposedly hit the market a year before Apple’s version.  What is not clear is if they had the rights to use the Mighty Mouse name themselves…

And perhaps saddest of all, and not pointed out in the lawsuit, is that Apple’s Mighty Mouse is a crappy, crappy, crappy, crappy, crappy product.  Which, honestly, if this lawsuit causes all Mighty Mice to be pulled and recycled, I won’t be too upset.

Permalink  Trackback

Apple today announced a change in the traditional iPhone game plan by announcing a deal with Vodaphone, as well as Telecom Italia, as reported by Marketwatch. Vodaphone will carry the phone in 10 European markets.  Along with Vodaphone, Telecom Italia will also sell the phone in Italy.

This is unusual for Apple, which has so far chosen a single-carrier-per-market strategy.  Another interesting aspect to the deal is that while Italy is a huge market, most Italian customers are on pre-paid, as opposed to contract plans.  Apple has struck deals with many carriers for hefty cuts of the monthly contract revenue.

Permalink  Trackback

Your wish (?) has now come true.  That is if you’re playing Rockstar Games‘ new Grand Theft Auto IV.  Wired has some more deets behind the deal that Rockstar has struck up with Amazon.

But the gist of it is, when you’re playing the game you can fire up your mobile, dial a special number, and have the song tagged for later purchase.  You’ll be able to log in to the new Rockstar Games’s social networking site, where you’ll have the ability to purchase the songs you tagged–and at 256Kbps AND DRM free.  Take that iTunes!  Amazon’s already pedaling a 16-song compilation, The Music of Grand Theft Auto.  I find this somewhat strange…but given that they’re more likely mainstream songs I might have actually heard, I would be more inclined to actually buy this.  Unlike my buddy Chris, who actually owns at least one musical compilation from World of Warcraft (yes, he loves driving out to the coast and rocking the music found in Darkshore…for Cannon Beach bears much resemblance).  I’ll pass on that one, and perhaps consider the GTA sound track.

Lots of bands have been featured in games throughout the last few years, with the extreme-sports genres coming to mind.  But I believe this is the first attempt to directly link a users in-game experience to a retail channel and monetize on the music purchases.  I’d love to see what kind of numbers Rockstar and Amazon release as this thing picks up steam.  There’s no way it could challenge the dominance of iTunes, but it is yet another DRM-free test, and the distribution method has the potential to reach a vast audience of music buyers.

Permalink  Trackback