Boost your blogging performance

Well this is a test of a new in browser blog ap for Firefox called performancing . It is really slick. I had heard that it was much less disruptive to the blogging process. I think it is. (Although every time I try to change the 'p' to a cap it opens up the website in a tab in my browser.)

Ferro-Fluid

Originally developed by NASA the photos are are worth seeing. And using ferrofluids to create light-weight, flexible clothing which can be transformed into heavy-duty body armor in one-hundredth of a second by generating an electromagnetic field is worth pondering.

via linkfilter.ne

Netvibe = Fench people good

Netvibes in beta. I really like this homepage application. I had been searching for a feed aggregator but they seemed too bulky. Other homepage apps all seemed clunky. This goes pretty smoothly. The way this works with RSS/ATOM allows me to add all my feeds onto my custom home page.

pro:
1) simple to use
2) The blog browse window is pretty handy as a feed reader.
3) The way you drag and drop your windows is sweet.
4) No new software to download.
5) My wife and family can all use it from anywhere anytime.

con:
1) Not able to apply links too computer files.
2) You cannot really add photos, clips or icons other than a feed to Flickr.
3) While the privacy policy is pretty simple and good. I am not so sure who could be reading my desktop.
4) No real way to export your desktop or items to another account.
5) The Price Watch is all in Euros.

Just found the blog and will have to read more, but check it out.

UPDATE: Bad vibes. My account is suddenly gone. It took quite a bit of time to set up my page, so I am really irked. We will see what support says, I suspect it will be make a new account. Now for some freedom fries.

Pay Your Debt or Get Bad Whuffie

While the logo reminds me of the monopoly get out of jail free guy's son, I love the concept. I find my memory fails me unless I write down personal debts. Check out this social application. I will be more apt to sign up when they combine it with Paypal.

via techcrunch

Quote

"Love. You can know all the math in the 'Verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells ya she's hurtin' 'fore she keens. Makes her home."

Captain Mal Reynolds

BBC does interview from inside video game

Immersion into altered realities is not only large in sci-fi but a strong theme in Cory Doctorow's DOIMK. However, not everyone wants to get on a computer and hang out in video game in the Elf community dedicated to magic, mystery and big hair. I think this landmark interview is more then a cutesy gimmick. It takes gaming beyond mainstream entertainment and it becomes a new form of recreation and social interaction albeit virtual.

Imagine the first TV talk show to interview only avatars. Or the first avatar talk show host. Or your daughter introduces you to her new boyfirend, and your not shocked when you find out he is an avatar? How about avatar rights? Chatrooms and Net Cafes with "no avatar" buttons.

The advent of high speed processors, low cost hardware, and budding imagery technology, mean logging in and checking out is becoming bigger. Also having more impact.

I have found it surprising how many friends and aquintances spend serious time gaming. Especially those who you would not normally associate with that recreation.


via humaninbox

UPDATE: Check out 3D IM avatars that you can dress?
Also see a Creative Commons License 'ap that allows you to register from inside the game?

Fly Pen

Wired Magazine had an article about the Fly Pentop, a product of Leapfrog. Around Christmas I thought that might be a neat gift for our underlings.

$99 (US) seemed a little steep for another gadget, so I thought I would wait and see. Until I saw one in the thrift store for $6.99. (woohoo!) It all seems to work (although it may be missing the battery charger.) I am impressed. It is a wonderous new technology. Here is how it works there is a small video camera that tracks your movements and sends info to the processor. Thre are games that it reads off cards and swiping the tip across "fly strips", and you can write on a piece of special "fly paper". Her is wher it gets g333k- draw nine squares and four circles and you have a keyboard and drum pad. Write REC and draw a sqaure around it and it will record whatever you play. While it takes a little getting used to and it can be a little 'snickety, this technolgoy will change the world. Okay at least my kids worlds. Of course they have not played with it yet as I am still checking it out. ;)

Quote

"The medium is the message...new technologies are not simply changing the way information is transmitted; they are changing our perception of reality. "

Marshall MCluhan

AIO Card

More e-paper mania:
After watching the beloved Minority Report over the holidays (and the not so beloved 'Imposter- P.K. Dick' stars Gary Senise- reminded me of a long Outer Limits) and another old favorite Red Planet- [image] I want me some e-paper. Wireless internet on low cost vellum. Newspapers are going to have to go to this format. Save the planet angle less consumer waste distribute live streaming content. [image]Follow the headline link to a page by a Sun Microsystems Engineer about the concept and gaggle of posts about it. My favorite is " You forgot to put the number 666 on it somewhere"

via moskalyuk

Myspace Flickr Blogger not social software?

It appears that Ross Mayfield came to the same conlusions I had about top social aggrigators like Myspace in my previous post. Dion Hinchcliffe (via blinklist) notes in his blog about web 2.0 (I am pretty strict about not blogging about bloggging on this site. Or as I call it "Blogsterbation".) but he has some interesting thoughts on Social Software and has preposed 4 "pillars". I am rethinking MySpace as true social software. Is not just an application that is being used socially. But also can be berreft of true social interaction. (I am biased) but I would like to think that there are or will be pure or true forms of social software. But let me consternate on this. I am currently researching a listing of what I call whuff-a-likes; software that resembles Whuffie. If you have any links let me know.

Net Cop Icon on every communist repressed webpage

Sub Provincial Chinese region to add netcop icons linked to live officers to local websites to remind them to "behave".

Ahh yes social innovation at it's finest. The sad thing is that big money and big gov interests will pounce on the notion. How about "officer RIAA" on every mp3 site?

via smartmobs

update: to read more shanghidaily requires a subscription now so go here for another story shanghaiist.com

Threats from Talking Robot Cameras

In an Orwellian vein this municapality is adding verbal reprimands to the survailance-ware that is quickly chewing up human freedom. Next a small audio cannon will stun you slightly. Yeah that would work.

Choice quote from the article:

"It's kind of a forced accountability," said Anderson, the camera's designer. "You tend to be more accountable if someone's watching."

via shawnrouse

Hover Chair

While there is very little info and I would love a video clip, this hover chair is what every CEO should have. (note: click the furniture link.)

via vestal design

Cell Phone Body Mod watch

Wrist watch that uses your bones to notify you of a call and that you answer by putting your finger in your ear. (I still like the GetSmart shoe phone.)

via submetathoughts

Virtual Stapler

While this "utility" has no use other than a good chuckle. It brought a good discovery: Using bookmarks you can save single pages to a folder. But how do you "staple" several related pages together? Well users of the latest Firefox can save a "tabbed" page which will appear in your bookmarks as a folder but with a "open as tabbed" selection. Thus "stapling" several pages together. Try it. It rocks.

Now I must admit while Josh and others have directed me to enjoy the power of del.icio.us
I have yet to explore this new app thouroughly. It truly does have the cleverest of names. And as it is part of the Firefox toolbar I have little excuse.

Cat Modding

Check out colored claws for your kitty. Will modding your pets be the next new craze? Likely.









The Japanese company appears to be selling a snap on product for keeping your pets claws from ruinging furniture and making a fashion statement.

FELIZ NAVI-BLOG!

When I was a kid I would walk by the old house on the way to the store and my heart rate would jump and I would walk faster even though I didn't want anyone to notice I was scared. I would sing "Joy to the World" which somehow calmed my terror of "the old house". Last night I watched the pope and the the beauty of the Cathedral, and the congregants sleeping, it seemed so disconnected from the Child in the manger and the peace that came to a 7 year old boy walking alone by an old house.

My recent thoughts on Whuffie

This is an excerpt from my notes:

"It appears that all the social cap' projects are arrested/mired/off topic by various complications, my superficial observation would be that they all compete and have too varried applications.

1) Simplify 2) Aggregate The most successful 'whuffie' tool appears to be MySpace.com. How could that be integrated or trans-migrated to create a simple open source Whuffie system?

Comment: It seems that most of the whuf-a-likes have failed in replicating the system represented in Doctorows 'DOIMK.

The biggest point of failure seems to be 'control'. Pure Whuffie is not controllable. It is not entirely accurate or failsafe. It is a trust metric. Not a white list of approved candidates. Which leads to the next thought: Is Pure 'DOIMK Whuffie the best model? Should it be even slightly tweaked, amended, or expanded? My gut says be pure, but be flexible. In other words, CD's 'DOIMK was spot on. An aberration of creative genius whereby fiction is not only stranger then truth, it contains the seeds therein. And allow a small margin of creative license, flexibility, ability to expand, but 'fractalize' Pure whuffie. But then who maintains that? Ad-hocracy baby. It must be somewhat acephalous."

Blogrolled TPB has new site: Doctorow or Morse?

TPB former guest blogger and prolific literary lawyer has moved his blog from Unbillable Hours to Those Dark Trees. He has some interesting thoughts about terrorists/revolutionaries like Che Guevara and the positive political image percieved by authors like boingboing's Cory Doctorow. Get the Shirt? While I choose to refrain from sharing my political thoughts here on Whuffie, as a fan of Doctorow's writing, I find this of note. (I think Che Doctorow looks more like David Morse.)

Wiki needs Whuffie

In the case of a prankster adding false accusation on Wikipedia, maybe trust verification could have saved a reputation and a joke gone wrong.