http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/111/open_socap-intro.html
Interesting article worth reading in Fast Company (if you don't subscribe to this magazine you should be).
It talks about should companies have a responsibility to the wider community rather than just delivering to shareholders.
The example provided is around the Wild Oats grocery chain purchasing their coffee under Fair Trade conditions (eg higher price, better conditions for workers, environmental considerations etc).
It's something I support in that without a community you cant have a business in the first place, or look at it another way, if you under pay your farmers, they'll crash and burn and end up growing something else which is an inefficient market economy due to loss of knowledge and inefficient capital.
NOTE: This is very different to CEO's of companies giving cash donations to their favourite charities, this I STRONGLY oppose, send the money back to your shareholders and let them allocate their capital if they want to. It's not your money to donate, but thats a post for another time.
Cheers,
Dean
Monday, February 26, 2007
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Snow
It's just over two years since Jodie and I moved here to New York. There's lots to love about the city (and lots to dislike) but one of the things we never thought we'd get used to is snow.
After the first winter which was awful (or was it just bad because it was our first?) we were dreading the second coming of winter last year, which to be honest turned out to be heaps of fun (photos of winter last year here http://www.collins.net.pr/photo/USA/New%20York/Snow/index.html ).
This year we thought we'd be smart and miss the snow by heading to Australia for 6 weeks for both work and holidays (ahh beaches...you just cant get anything like Sydney beaches anywhere else in the world).
Mother nature played a trick on us in that this christmas it was warm and sunny in New York almost to the week we got back in late Jan. We almost felt ripped off that it hadn't snowed.
I was out walking Lou Lou this evening, grabbing some milk for breakfast in the morning and the first few flakes began to fall.
We ended up taking an extra long walk home just enjoying the feeling of lightly falling snow. Funny how quickly you can get used to things.
Cheers,
Dean
After the first winter which was awful (or was it just bad because it was our first?) we were dreading the second coming of winter last year, which to be honest turned out to be heaps of fun (photos of winter last year here http://www.collins.net.pr/photo/USA/New%20York/Snow/index.html ).
This year we thought we'd be smart and miss the snow by heading to Australia for 6 weeks for both work and holidays (ahh beaches...you just cant get anything like Sydney beaches anywhere else in the world).
Mother nature played a trick on us in that this christmas it was warm and sunny in New York almost to the week we got back in late Jan. We almost felt ripped off that it hadn't snowed.
I was out walking Lou Lou this evening, grabbing some milk for breakfast in the morning and the first few flakes began to fall.
We ended up taking an extra long walk home just enjoying the feeling of lightly falling snow. Funny how quickly you can get used to things.
Cheers,
Dean
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Image License Structure Suggested
Currently there are eleven attributes for the img tag, two required and nine optional. Frankly the tag is already bloated enough that I don’t think one more attribute is going to matter. Something as simple as lic="license-abbr" would do wonders for image rights on the web.
Not only would a license attribute help image search engines, it would help protect copyrighted works by drawing attention to the fact that they are copyrighted.
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/02/licenses_and_im.html
Interestesting discussion going on at this site around the potential possibility of implementing a license attribute into 'img' tag.
Sounds pretty reasonable and simple to implement. Will also help solve a whole heap of other problems. Keep an eye on it as good basic sense to implement and worthwhile if you sell/license your content.
Cheers,
Dean
Not only would a license attribute help image search engines, it would help protect copyrighted works by drawing attention to the fact that they are copyrighted.
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/02/licenses_and_im.html
Interestesting discussion going on at this site around the potential possibility of implementing a license attribute into 'img' tag.
Sounds pretty reasonable and simple to implement. Will also help solve a whole heap of other problems. Keep an eye on it as good basic sense to implement and worthwhile if you sell/license your content.
Cheers,
Dean
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Joost is Juiced
Viacom has reached a deal with Joost, which will allow content from its networks including MTV, BET and Paramount pictures to be shown on Joost for free, according to Reuters. This marriage with Joost, a site that allows viewers to watch television online, comes two weeks after Viacom ended conversation with YouTube, and forced the user-generated site to pull over 100,000 copyrighted videos.
http://blog.fastcompany.com/archives/2007/02/20/viacom_and_joost_succeed_with_deal.html?partner=rss
This is THE BIGGEST story on the internet today bar none.
When Viacom pulled all 100,000 of their clips from You Tube 2 weeks ago everyone was saying...negotiation tactic, where else are they going to go.
Wow.
Big story today, basically the $1.6 billion Google paid for You Tube last year looks like it's up for some serious 'slide rule' work over the next few months.
The Joost technology was always going to be cool but with heavy hitters like Viacom coming on board it's going to make the Skype sale to Ebay look like chicken feed.
The 'model' is dead, long live the model.
Cheers,
Dean
http://blog.fastcompany.com/archives/2007/02/20/viacom_and_joost_succeed_with_deal.html?partner=rss
This is THE BIGGEST story on the internet today bar none.
When Viacom pulled all 100,000 of their clips from You Tube 2 weeks ago everyone was saying...negotiation tactic, where else are they going to go.
Wow.
Big story today, basically the $1.6 billion Google paid for You Tube last year looks like it's up for some serious 'slide rule' work over the next few months.
The Joost technology was always going to be cool but with heavy hitters like Viacom coming on board it's going to make the Skype sale to Ebay look like chicken feed.
The 'model' is dead, long live the model.
Cheers,
Dean
Senator McCain wants to overturn Roe V's Wade
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070219/ap_on_el_pr/mccain2008
Republican presidential candidate John McCain looking to improve his standing with the party's conservative voters, said Sunday the court decision that legalized abortion should be overturned.
"I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned," the Arizona senator told about 800 people in South Carolina, one of the early voting states.
McCain also vowed that if elected, he would appoint judges who "strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States and do not legislate from the bench."
As a foreigner to the USA I just find it amazing that this Roe V's Wade still comes up. What is it about this country that a politician would even consider this stance.
Are there really that many voters who want to take the USA back to pre-women's rights?
How many are there who want to take the USA back to the days of slavery as well?
To all you pro-life politicians out there do you really harbor desires to bring back slavery as well? (or only if the poll testing indicates this is a viable strategy will it be considered).
Cheers,
Dean
Republican presidential candidate John McCain looking to improve his standing with the party's conservative voters, said Sunday the court decision that legalized abortion should be overturned.
"I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned," the Arizona senator told about 800 people in South Carolina, one of the early voting states.
McCain also vowed that if elected, he would appoint judges who "strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States and do not legislate from the bench."
As a foreigner to the USA I just find it amazing that this Roe V's Wade still comes up. What is it about this country that a politician would even consider this stance.
Are there really that many voters who want to take the USA back to pre-women's rights?
How many are there who want to take the USA back to the days of slavery as well?
To all you pro-life politicians out there do you really harbor desires to bring back slavery as well? (or only if the poll testing indicates this is a viable strategy will it be considered).
Cheers,
Dean
Ze Frank's bedtime story
http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2007/02/021907.html
Even on a bad day this guys brain is the sharpest and wittiest out there. I'm still amazed every day at how good his content is, the demand on churning this out each and every day 5 days a week must be hard but he delivers every day.
I dont care if no one ever puts him on TV he's ours to enjoy.
:( March 17 2007 is coming to soon.
Cheers,
Dean
Even on a bad day this guys brain is the sharpest and wittiest out there. I'm still amazed every day at how good his content is, the demand on churning this out each and every day 5 days a week must be hard but he delivers every day.
I dont care if no one ever puts him on TV he's ours to enjoy.
:( March 17 2007 is coming to soon.
Cheers,
Dean
Monday, February 19, 2007
New York Googleplex offices
If you've never heard of www.Digg.com it's the ultimate time waster, but also one of the sites I check every day for an update on whats going on.
Having said that, an interesting article was posted that I also wanted to 're-post' my comments here as well.
A Tour of Googleplex East
A visual tour of Google's NYC HQ, complete with the requisite massage room, candy machine, and funky cafeteria.
http://www.digg.com/tech_news/A_Tour_of_Googleplex_East
Well my comments about Google and their New York facilities were this.
Yeh well all I know is that when the New York tech community needed a company to step up to the plate and donate some office space for a weekend in order to run BarcampNYC2 Google said no. (http://barcamp.org if you've never heard of the events).
For 3 weeks google were uhmming and ahhing about letting us run the event there but came back with 'insurance' concerns.At the end of the day you know who came though - Microsoft. Yep you heard it Microsoft.
They allowed 200 people all the facilties and access we needed for 36 hours to run a great event. And to be honest at the end of the event when we were running through the list of people to say thanks to Microsoft got the biggest cheers from 200 open source/ hacking/ anti microsoft people you have ever heard.Yep Gopogle do no evil bit you on the ass that weekend.
Cheers,
Dean
http://deancollinsblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/barcampnyc2.html
Probably not going to make a difference but I just wanted to post here as a way of showing thanks to Microsoft for makign this happen, oh and in case anyone from Google reads this....there's always next year.
Cheers,
Dean
Having said that, an interesting article was posted that I also wanted to 're-post' my comments here as well.
A Tour of Googleplex East
A visual tour of Google's NYC HQ, complete with the requisite massage room, candy machine, and funky cafeteria.
http://www.digg.com/tech_news/A_Tour_of_Googleplex_East
Well my comments about Google and their New York facilities were this.
Yeh well all I know is that when the New York tech community needed a company to step up to the plate and donate some office space for a weekend in order to run BarcampNYC2 Google said no. (http://barcamp.org if you've never heard of the events).
For 3 weeks google were uhmming and ahhing about letting us run the event there but came back with 'insurance' concerns.At the end of the day you know who came though - Microsoft. Yep you heard it Microsoft.
They allowed 200 people all the facilties and access we needed for 36 hours to run a great event. And to be honest at the end of the event when we were running through the list of people to say thanks to Microsoft got the biggest cheers from 200 open source/ hacking/ anti microsoft people you have ever heard.Yep Gopogle do no evil bit you on the ass that weekend.
Cheers,
Dean
http://deancollinsblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/barcampnyc2.html
Probably not going to make a difference but I just wanted to post here as a way of showing thanks to Microsoft for makign this happen, oh and in case anyone from Google reads this....there's always next year.
Cheers,
Dean
Thursday, February 15, 2007
History of the Middle East in 90 seconds
Super interesting Flash demo I came across yesterday while looking for flash map objects;
History of the Middle East in 90 seconds.
Enjoy,
Cheers,
Dean
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Gravity IS An Option
http://denis.darzacq.revue.com/la_chute/index.html
"When the social elevator is broken down it is necessary to know to rebound. Between the take-off and the fall, the man parachuted in the city learns how to control his trajectory. To the raw material of architecture, it opposes the elasticity of its body and its desires.
This exercise of gravitation calls some with a strict discipline, even if it is not that acquired on the benches of the school. After the riots of the last autumn, the photographer Denis Darzacq carried out sixteen of these perilous photographs which say, cold, turbulences and the life in precarious balance."
This exercise of gravitation calls some with a strict discipline, even if it is not that acquired on the benches of the school. After the riots of the last autumn, the photographer Denis Darzacq carried out sixteen of these perilous photographs which say, cold, turbulences and the life in precarious balance."
Ah those wacky French, what can you say but "such is life".
Sweet amazing photography though. These are the photographs of my dreams.
This one is my favourite;
Cheers,
Dean
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Auto Show Webcams
Wow super interesting application of webcams here;
http://www.chicagoautoshow.com/showfloor/webcams.asp
http://www.chicagoautoshow.com/showfloor/webcams_live.asp?CAM_ID=NORTHCAM1
So the Chicago autoshow has these live webcams (sponsored by USA Army - kudos for the innovation guys).
Basically it is allowing people to control/view and scope out the show from multiple locations (or to let other people control the camera and just view what they see).
Those links are only going to work for a short time but congrats for a really interesting use of technology.
Cheers,
Dean
http://www.chicagoautoshow.com/showfloor/webcams.asp
http://www.chicagoautoshow.com/showfloor/webcams_live.asp?CAM_ID=NORTHCAM1
So the Chicago autoshow has these live webcams (sponsored by USA Army - kudos for the innovation guys).
Basically it is allowing people to control/view and scope out the show from multiple locations (or to let other people control the camera and just view what they see).
Those links are only going to work for a short time but congrats for a really interesting use of technology.
Cheers,
Dean
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Squawk Box-letter to the producer
"Re: China Space Junk
To Whom It May Concern;
Wow, you know I'm always happy to take with a grain of salt the ignorance that American news channels show to the rest of the world but your 'glib' comments in the filler section this morning at approx 6.15am est on Squawk Box regarding 'Space Junk' as you refered to it was one of the worst examples I have seen in a long time.
If you think your xenophobic attitudes dont affect the 'sheep' viewers who watch you then you dont deserve the mantle of responsibility that comes with being public information producers/providers.
I appreciate most of the time your editorial style isn't to dig into real issues, it's fine it's what I've come to expect, but realistically you could have discussed how both the USA and Russia blew up similar satelites in previous experiments in the 80's and 90's, or how the experiment last month was obviously a pre-negotiation counter demonstration to the current USA led militarisation of space, but of course it's so much easier just to roll out jokes about chinese scientists not able to talk to their bosses.
Personally I think you'll see this email as a China lover, I'm not, I'm writing as a concerned viewer about the rapidly dropping IQ level of american TV.
Today you took the bar to a new low.
Regards,
Dean Collins"
I wish I had the video to show what they said. It was bad enough for me to write this letter. Probably not going to do any good but at least they'll know someone was watching with an IQ.
Cheers,
Dean
To Whom It May Concern;
Wow, you know I'm always happy to take with a grain of salt the ignorance that American news channels show to the rest of the world but your 'glib' comments in the filler section this morning at approx 6.15am est on Squawk Box regarding 'Space Junk' as you refered to it was one of the worst examples I have seen in a long time.
If you think your xenophobic attitudes dont affect the 'sheep' viewers who watch you then you dont deserve the mantle of responsibility that comes with being public information producers/providers.
I appreciate most of the time your editorial style isn't to dig into real issues, it's fine it's what I've come to expect, but realistically you could have discussed how both the USA and Russia blew up similar satelites in previous experiments in the 80's and 90's, or how the experiment last month was obviously a pre-negotiation counter demonstration to the current USA led militarisation of space, but of course it's so much easier just to roll out jokes about chinese scientists not able to talk to their bosses.
Personally I think you'll see this email as a China lover, I'm not, I'm writing as a concerned viewer about the rapidly dropping IQ level of american TV.
Today you took the bar to a new low.
Regards,
Dean Collins"
I wish I had the video to show what they said. It was bad enough for me to write this letter. Probably not going to do any good but at least they'll know someone was watching with an IQ.
Cheers,
Dean
Monday, February 05, 2007
SuperBowl TV Ad's
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/feedstory/0,,-6394628,00.html
CHICAGO, Feb. 5 (Reuters) - Super Bowl ads, which cost $85,000 per second during this year's game, fumbled overall as they failed to connect with viewers or just scared them, according to researchers who tracked people's brain activity.
I don't know if they fumbled....but lets just say, as someone who watches the SuperBowl every year, and sometimes thinks that the ads are better than the game, I found last nights ads pretty forgettable.
There was a neat one for the new Toyota Tundra pickup (the pivoting bridge ad) and there were a couple of cute beer ads but to be honest I was amazed how average most of them were.
Maybe our expectations of Madison Avenue is a little high year after year but this year but this year lets just say....the game won.
Cheers,
Dean
CHICAGO, Feb. 5 (Reuters) - Super Bowl ads, which cost $85,000 per second during this year's game, fumbled overall as they failed to connect with viewers or just scared them, according to researchers who tracked people's brain activity.
I don't know if they fumbled....but lets just say, as someone who watches the SuperBowl every year, and sometimes thinks that the ads are better than the game, I found last nights ads pretty forgettable.
There was a neat one for the new Toyota Tundra pickup (the pivoting bridge ad) and there were a couple of cute beer ads but to be honest I was amazed how average most of them were.
Maybe our expectations of Madison Avenue is a little high year after year but this year but this year lets just say....the game won.
Cheers,
Dean
Friday, February 02, 2007
Reactables
It's friday night so you get some music for this post.
Dont think that I endorse this or that I think we should all throw out our guitars and drums but it is kind of cute in a playfull way.
Would be interesting to see what a real musician who spent a few months coming up with 'configurations' could do with it.
If you want more info here is a good place to start
http://mtg.upf.edu/reactable/
If anyone finds out a cost price I'd appreciate you dropping me an email to let me know what it was.
Cheers,
Dean
Dont think that I endorse this or that I think we should all throw out our guitars and drums but it is kind of cute in a playfull way.
Would be interesting to see what a real musician who spent a few months coming up with 'configurations' could do with it.
If you want more info here is a good place to start
http://mtg.upf.edu/reactable/
If anyone finds out a cost price I'd appreciate you dropping me an email to let me know what it was.
Cheers,
Dean
Why Don't We Drive On The Same Side Of The Road Around The World?
http://www.i18nguy.com/driver-side.html
"The reasons that countries around the world drive on either the left side of the road or the right side of the road are outlined chronologically."
Interesting reading, makes you realise how much of our general day to day life is based on ridiculously arcane 'reasoning'.
What should you be questioning about your life today?
Cheers,
Dean
"The reasons that countries around the world drive on either the left side of the road or the right side of the road are outlined chronologically."
Interesting reading, makes you realise how much of our general day to day life is based on ridiculously arcane 'reasoning'.
What should you be questioning about your life today?
Cheers,
Dean
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Jeff Jarvis
http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2007/02/01/davos07-my-big-conclusion/
Perhaps the most important ‘ding’ moment I had at Davos was that the powerful are, no surprise, one step behind in their understanding of the true significance of the internet: They think it is all about individual action when, in truth, it’s about collective action. And so they don’t yet see that the internet will shift power even more than they realize.......
Well worth a read of the rest of his post. Whilst I dont agree with everything he says, it is interesting to realise that not everyone gets what this means yet.
Makes you wonder though.....what is it that even we dont see coming yet?
Cheers,
Dean
Perhaps the most important ‘ding’ moment I had at Davos was that the powerful are, no surprise, one step behind in their understanding of the true significance of the internet: They think it is all about individual action when, in truth, it’s about collective action. And so they don’t yet see that the internet will shift power even more than they realize.......
Well worth a read of the rest of his post. Whilst I dont agree with everything he says, it is interesting to realise that not everyone gets what this means yet.
Makes you wonder though.....what is it that even we dont see coming yet?
Cheers,
Dean
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