The Dark Knight

Holy Kapow Batman !!!!

We saw The Dark Knight this weekend, I'm not a big cinema fan, I much prefer watching movies from the comfort of my home theatre with lcd projector and 110" screen.

However was wanting to see the latest Batman release and as it was still on thought why not.

IT was amazing - anyone on the planet earth not having seen this already should run not walk to go and see this now.

The Joker: See, I'm not a monster...I'm just ahead of the curve.

It was totally unexpected how good this was, Christian Bale walks and breathes the Bruce Wayne character so effortlessly and I dont know if the death of Heath Ledger makes The Joker an even sadder character but his role in this is almost equal to his delivery in Candy (one of the most honest gut wrenching fatalistic movies you'll ever see - it's on showtime this month for those of you on Time Warner cable here in New York).

The movie is long but the perfect length - the character development perfect and not rushed, the death of the girlfriend unexpected and sad.

If this is the level of movie the next few Batman releases delivers then this IS the new mega platform to watch.

Cheers,
Dean

pre finished or raw floorboards?

So as you can see in the other post I was in Lumber Liquidators today trying to decide on floors.

Out of the pre-finished floors I choose the Brazilian Redwood 3-1/4" prefinished timber. (the above photo is our sample palate- the tile is our kitchen back splash but in the 2 x 1 shape).

I know it will darken up over time and I'm fine with that.

1 of the GC's I met with last week recommended getting unfinished timber so that after the final paint/hardware installation etc they could come in sand the floors and then seal the timber.

His reasoning was that even though the floor will be papered for protection after the install that when they are putting the kitchen in etc or carrying in the appliances that things get scratched and with prefinished you can never get it to look right.

I'm confused....why cant you just sand and repair prefinished to match the rest of the boards etc?

Does anyone with real world experience and not here say have an opinion?



Thanks in advance,
Dean

Lumber Liquidators

Hey Lumber Liquidators management.... in case you stumble across this blog you might want to wander into one of your stores sometime as a mystery shopper.

I was in one of your stores today looking for about 650 sq ft of Brazilian Redwood..... lol the service I got was pitiful.

I know it's only approx a $6500 sale but I've had more knowledgeable people sell me a bag of dog food.

I dont know if your staff are only on $10 an hour or something like that (and if so pay them more), but you might want to include some commissions/bonuses etc to encourage them to be more knowledgeable.

Cheers
Dean

Letters from death row

http://www.texasmonthly.com/2008-09-01/feature4-1.php

Wow what a great article.

NY Restaurant week is such a scam

I don't know what it is about a 'bargain' that drives some people crazy to spend, but it catches my wife every time.

I got a call from her today to say we were going out to dinner tonight to take advantage of 'Restaurant Week'.

For those of you who don't live in NY it's this concept that one week of the year all the restaurants run this special campaign where they run fixed price meals with a limited 3 course selection menu.

I don't know how many times we've tried it out but at least 3 (we've been here 4 years now).

So tonight we were off to the Fig and Olive in the Meat Packing district (always a bad sign when I eat at restaurants in that area but more about that later).

So the reason that they run this campaign is it's labor day weekend and basically half of New York disappears to their country houses or their weekenders in the Hampton's (lol can you tell I'm jealous).

Anyway, so it's an unfortunate fact that most of the restaurants for Restaurant Week choose dishes based on easy prep work.

We ordered the specials and even as I did so I was wishing I really should have ordered from the regular menu (i'll probably make a return trip to try it out again because some of it looked really good).

The carpaccio entree was ok, but the main was really really average, Jodie had fish which she liked but I thought was pretty basic, but my chicken dish may as well have been 'phoned in' from the beach which is where I think the chef was that night.

Maybe because I cook a lot so in my head I'm deconstructing the dish and working out the recipe but basically you could tell it had been prepped hours (days) earlier and warmed over for serving.

The only saving grace was the desert, chocolate tart was fantastic (though it's another dish that can be prepped and served at a much alter date). Went perfect with a pretty reasonable espresso.

I totally 'own' that if we had of gone any other time it could have been a really nice restaurant (decor was really good - though we got jammed into a corner and although the restaurant was only 1/3rd full they refused to move us).

All in all I'd probably go again but definitely not during restaurant week as the chef is obviously off on holidays in his head as well.

2 out of 5 stars at best.


Cheers,
Dean

P.S. here is my thing about the Meatpacking district. What is it about New Yorkers that they would ever consider eating in such a filthy stinky smelly area???

Yes I know the old buildings with the cobblestone streets is all romantic etc but would you fix the streets so that scummy water doesn't pool in the gutters and clear out the refuse and garbage that is on the footpaths....

It's easy to make fun of middle America for not knowing better as they dont own passports and haven't travelled internationally but Wake Up New Yorkers....it's not trendy it's third world!!!

You can have 'tragically hip' but also have clear air to breath as well....it's just what you demand with your patronage.....but hey what do I know - no one thinks I'm cool

Online to overtake radio in global advertising spend

Now this is interesting

Online to overtake radio in global advertising spend.
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=41987

The internet is set to overtake radio and become the world’s third most popular advertising medium behind TV and print, according to media communications agency Carat.

Carat forecast that the internet’s global share of advertising spend will rise to 8.6 per cent in 2008, up from 7.3 per cent in 2007, overtaking radio which is set to drop from 7.5 per cent to 7.4 per cent, behind TV’s forecast share of 41.2 per cent and newspaper and magazine’s combined print share of 36 per cent.

Although I would take this announcement with a grain of salt as I dont think there is anyway that Carat would be able to track this dataset accurately (it would be massive on both radio and internet to track accurately).

This is a big change, basically it means that radio is now the 'fourth' leg of advertising.....wonder when internet will move into second space and displace either tv or print.....people are probably saying it wont happen but they would have said this about Radio a few years ago.


Cheers,
Dean

McCain picks Sarah Palin as VP

Wow, can you believe this - I bet you some of the Democratic party management are crapping their pants now.

What kind of upside down world do we live in that Republicans are cutting edge on social policy and putting forward a female VP.

As much as I dislike McCain I'm glad I dont have to vote and make a decision on this one.


Cheers,
Dean
P.S. just listen to her announcement speech - love it, she was a PTA mum who got vote mayor of her town and then moved etc into state government etc

It was all good until she spoke about preventing iran from having nuclear weapons etc. Sounds like the same old american 'world domination we know whats right' broken record.

Fail.

She's just as bad as Barrack and all the other politicians.

Melissa Ferrick - Music of the day

It's been a while since i posted a Music of the Day on a Friday but Melissa Ferrick is playing here in New York at the Bowery Ballroom on the 10th of September.

So in case you have no idea who she is I just uploaded 4 of her tracks to the music of the day widget on my www.collins.net.pr/blog page (bottom right).

Jodie’s going to be in LA that week – so I'll be going stag

I’ve never seen her live so have no idea how good she is but tickets are only $20 in advance so I’m going for sure.

Sep. 10, 2008

New York, NY

Bowery Ballroom

Rose Cousins

8PM

TIX: http://boweryballroom.com/

www.melissaferrick.com
www.boweryballroom.com/calendar/show/1754


Cheers,
Dean

Google announced the Android App Store today

Google announced the Android App Store today;
www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/28/android-to-get-its-own-app-market


Their gallery of apps winners for their phone looks nice too. http://code.google.com/android/adc_gallery

I wonder if Google are going to censor apps as well?
http://gizmodo.com/5042384/violent-comic-iphone-app-murderdrome-banned-from-app-store-authors-want-a-rating-system


Regards,
Dean

Are you the owner of this little sprog?

This is an open letter to whomever the parents of this snot nosed little sprog is - feel free to pass it on to anyone you know who lives in New York with a 10 -14 year old little shithead that was running loose on the 6 subway with 4 of his friends today on Wednesday afternoon, maybe his parents will take a dim view of the public's thoughts and teach him some manners.

To the Parents of the above;

I appreciate that abortion is not always an option, for various reasons, religious or personal, some couples choose to keep their 90 seconds of sweat and cheap thrills full term through to birth and more often than not think that they will raise a happy and well adjusted individual into the world.

I'm sure you both have busy lives, and this leaves you tired at the end of a long day and unable to provide all the love and attention your smiling progeny needs and deserves. So as time goes on maybe things start to slip, and you dont notice your son now swearing in public with bad language or even getting that god awful wannabe gansta-boy earring this idiot is now wearing.

But I thought you'd like to know that your moronic son thought it was really funny to throw his empty peanut M&M's wrapper right onto the Number 6 subway floor at about the 42nd st stop at approx 12.45pm Wednesday the 28th.

Both myself and the lady sitting next to me saw this and looked him straight in the eye. He then proceeded to laugh, pick it up and then throw it even higher into the air before turning his attention back to his friends.

I pulled out my camera phone and snapped a picture of the wrapper on the floor at which point he saw me do this so he stopped yelling with his idiot friends to strike a pose with a stupid smile and then laughed his head off.

If anyone recognises this 'pride of the future' feel free to forward this post on to his parents so that they can bask in the glory of a job well done.

Cheers,
Dean

Ralph Lauren - Physical storefront QR codes

Ralph Lauren (well their Rugby brand anyway) have just set up storefront based QR codes here in New York.

Checkout http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-ralph-lauren-rugby-introduces-the-future-of-shopping/
as a follow up to http://deancollinsblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/polo-qr-campaign.html

Reminds me of a proposal to Best Buy 18 months ago that I developed...... (hellooooooooo ....??)


Regards,
Dean

Windows Live

I noticed in my inbox this morning that MS have just done a major 'relaunch' of the Windows Live product portfolio.

It surprises me how few people take advantage of the functionality being offered under the Live family but I think that's because most of the time MS are crap marketers and make it too complicated how they all join together.

They seem to have cleared all this up so maybe it's time to check out www.WindowsLive.com again.

I highly recommend Live Favorites, Form Fill and Skydrive. I also use mobile favorites extensively but this is more an aspect of IE rather than the Live services.

You might like to check out this page for a quick overview http://www.windowslive.com/Experience

Unfortunately they still haven't released a mobile version of http://my.live.com which is their rss reader/desktop widget application (i only use it as my rss reader), there were rumours of a mobile version coming....


Cheers,
Dean

Free Speech Protest

You have to love how much this street protestor must be pissing off Bally Gym's.
I didn't stop to find out the story or find out how long this guy had been standing on the curb opposite the entry doors to the gym but he had one or two people asking him questions about what he was protesting about - this along with the printed signs leads me to belive he'll be there a while.

I have no idea how much he is suing Bally Gym's for but whatever it is you would think management would decide to pay him off to make him go away.


Cheers,
Dean

Joe Biden

Hmmmmm http://gizmodo.com/5041044/vp-candidate-biden-is-no-friend-to-file-sharing-net-neutrality-protection-or-online-privacy
Pretty much speaks for itself.

I think this election is degenerating into a vote grabbing farce of “dumb choice” and “dumber”


Cheers,
Dean

Cicero

I was at the new apartment today doing some work on one of the bathrooms and on my way home I noticed this sign out the front of the church across the road from us.

"A Thankful Heart Is The Parent Of All Virtues".
- Cicero

I dont know why it made such a big impact but it was a nice thing to see at the end of a long hard day.


Cheers,
Dean

Home Depot Staff

Wondering why you can never find any staff in home depot?

Maybe you didn't find the magical staff aisle where they were all hiding :)




Cheers,
Dean

Diamondware spatial conferencing

Just read this on Alec Saunders fantastic blog http://saunderslog.com/2008/08/21/diamondware-acquired/

Interesting concept, makes me wonder if it is possible in Asterisk to ‘adjust’ the left/right mix for audio conference participants?
(Yeh I know there is only one channel in a telephone call but you get what I mean).

It’s probably covered under patents etc but has anyone tried to ‘spatially separate’ audio mixes for each participant in an Asterisk conference call?

This is a poor example but basically as you dont have 'stereo' in a phone call but I was thinking an equation something like this.


Number of speakers in a conference room = 'N' deviations

Range = 80% (obviously you couldn't do 100% otherwise would be silent in outer channels once you get over 10 participants.

(50/50 + / - the deviation N / range)


So in the example of a conference room with 3 participants deviation 26%

Caller 1 = 76% L + 24% R (-1 deviation of 26%)
Caller 2 = 50% L + 50% R (norm default 50/50)
Caller 3 = 24% L + 76% R (+1 deviation of 26%)


Example of a conference room with 7 participants deviation of 11%

Caller 1 = 83% L + 17% R (-3 deviations of 33%)
Caller 2 = 72% L + 28% R (-2 deviations of 22%)
Caller 3 = 61% L + 39% R (-1 deviations of 11%)
Caller 4 = 50% L + 50% R (norm default 50/50)
Caller 5 = 39% L + 61% R (+1 deviations of 11%)
Caller 6 = 28% L + 72% R (+2 deviations of 22%)
Caller 7 = 17% L + 83% R (+3 deviations of 33%)


Cheers,
Dean
BTW in case you ae wondering where you have heard the name Diamondware before - they were the guys that provided 3D audio for Second Life that was virtual distance related eg. sounded louder if your avatars were close together or quieter if they were further apart.

The company I was working for Mexuar was the first company to get voice into Second Life but ours was just you could either hear or not hear the audio based on your location so although we beat them to market by a few months theirs was the better solution (although way more expensive - using open source products like Asterisk enabled us to do a very very cost effective voice audio solution for virtual worlds that was highly scalable)

The Living Room Candidate

With the conventions happening next week I thought I'd post a link to a site I recently found.

I think we all agree that television changed politics forever....(a face for politics was never a truer adage).

Someone thoughtfully put together a collection of previous presidential candidate television spots at http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/

It takes a bit of time to watch them all but I cant reccomend watching them end to end enough.

History is really the best way to predict the future and clearly discover whats important and this site really highlights....a politicians tale. Who's at fault...probably we are, is my take after watching these.


Cheers,
Dean

Verizon Iobi

I cleaning out internet explorer bookmarks today (dammed you MS Live Favorites and your upper use limits) and came across this link.
http://www.convergedigest.com/Bandwidth/newnetworksarticle.asp?ID=9808

Which makes me want to ask the question:

What ever happened to Verizon Iobi?

In this day of competition for carriage against Vonage, cable companies and other triple play threats etc why aren’t carriers trying to build more feature rich services? It seems everyone is just trying to compete on price instead of adding value to what it is that they offer and winning on features and functionality.

Quick question – what do YOU want from your home phone service?

Cheers,
Dean

Digital Media Magazine Article

Unfortunately this QR Code article got edited a little bit sloppily so it reads a little disjointed because of the missing bits and the ‘small columns format’ but I think this still covers the basics.

Let me know if you have any questions.


Cheers,
Dean


http://www.digital-media.net.au/Common/ContentManagement/digital-media/newsletter/20080822.pdf

Free tickets to Under The Radar: Mobility Conference

Want free tickets to Under The Radar: Mobility Conference in San Francisco on November 12th?

Then simply answer this question about why Mobile Video Rocks or Why Mobile Video Sucks.
http://www.undertheradarblog.com/pc_url_4583211

Below are my answers



This is my submission as to why Mobile Video Sucks.

Carriers globally are being squeezed by rising demands and shrinking ARPU’s. It’s almost like they want to obtain high revenue customers who don’t actually use the services they are paying for.

A perfect example of this is Sprint’s recent redefinition of the English language that “Unlimited Data actually means 5gb” http://deancollinsblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/for-sprint-unlimited-means-5gb.html

Mobile video wont truly be a success until battery chemical composition allows better, longer power functionality and therefore faster, stronger processing power BUT more importantly until a carrier decides that you know what “being a dumb pipe is a good thing” and decides to unleash the meanest, fastest and cheapest fat pipe to their mobile clients.

Once mobile carriers get out of the ‘content value add’ business and just stick to providing the very fastest connectivity that physics allow we’ll truly see ‘better content consumption’.




This is my submission as to why Mobile Video Rocks

This ruling last month http://www.publicknowledge.org/pdf/cablevision-judgement-20070322.pdf allowing Cablevision to roll out their 'remote dvr' service where your dvr recordings are stored at a central location is a great win for common sense over Hollywood and the biggest thing to hit mobile video….yet to be talked about.

For the first time clear precedent now exists that I can consume content and not need physical control of the content - it is there for me to access when and where I want - with the limitation that I'm the only person who is able to access it (limiting public performance).

It hasn’t been talked about publicly much but expect Cablevision to move to a “price per GB” remote DVR service allowing high value customers to store more than the standard 40/80gbs. Shortly thereafter they will be launching a browser based solution for laptop and Mobile O/S downloadable application for the on the fly mobile sized encoding of content stored on “your DVR”.

Cloudification of your entertainment content is why Mobile Video truly rocks.
http://deancollinsblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/cloudification-of-your-content.html



Regards,

Dean Collins
http://www.Cognation.net

Android SDK update

ArsTechnica has a good article on the Android SDK update.

It's been dissapointing the delays in getting this launched, and also how Google have made some 'community related' mistakes.

Hopefully once hardware starts shipping they will open this up to more developers.

I was planning on upgrading to the HTC Touch Pro in December when my current contract is up but looking at google street view below is causing my to hold off making firm decisions yet.

Cheers,

Dean

FTC ban pre-recorded robo calls

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/31211

Specifically, the FTC changed its venerable Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) to prohibit, as of Sept. 2009, telemarketing calls that deliver prerecorded messages, unless a consumer has agreed to accept such calls from a given caller/seller.
Between now and 2009, telemarketers must provide an obvious, easy and quick way for consumers to opt-out of any call, the FTC said. Such an opt-out mechanism needs to be in place by December 1, 2008.

Way cool .... of course this doesn't stop companies offshoring their operations but it's a good start to SPIT.

There are also some changes to the 97% connection rate for predictive dialers than you can click through to read if you have an interest in this.


Cheers,
Dean

Polo QR campaign

Lol I love how I'm getting the reputation as the QR code "goto consultant guy".

Last week Polo ran a QR campaign on the back cover of the New Yorker magazine.

By pure co-incidence i was at my dentist last Wednesday and happened to see the advertisment on the morning it was launched, I took a couple of photos (and yes of course checked out the content with my Quickmark reader) but I hadn't uploaded the photos or blogged about it yet as I've been flat out with other projects.

Within the last week 4 people had emailed me about this asking for more details (lol one of them isn't even in the USA).

Below is the front and back cover.



Ok so the campaign is for Polo from Ralph Lauren.

The QR code links to a new mobile content site (more lifestyle and pr than clothing and shopping), contains a lot of US Open related pr material - eg. leveraging off an existing campaign NOT making the technology the center of the campaign.

The technology was provided by http://www.augme.com/ who are based out of New York/Florida.
(nice guys - they use Amethon for their mobile web analytics).

It's a pretty basic implementation of a QR code, just linking it to a mobile site - they also provided the mobile url in the advertisement as well.

There is no interaction capture or mobile web forms at the other end and for a first 'dip the toe into the water' it's a reasonable implementation, though as anyone who has been reading this blog will know there is a lot more you can do with QR codes than just URL's, if you dont go check out www.Cognation.net/QR for a 60 second dummies overview guide to QR codes.

Feel free to post questions in the comments below and I'll reply with the answers.


Cheers,
Dean

P.S. for those of you who I have been advising to get in early with your QR campaigns while you can still get a lot of 'early buzz'.

Check out how much free press Polo got by searching google "past 7 days" + QR + Polo

NCIX travel advisory released by the USA Federal Goverment

A US intelligence office Friday warned Americans traveling to the Beijing Olympics or elsewhere to expect cyber spies to surreptitiously compromise their laptops, cellphones, and other electronic devices.

The unusual advisory issued by the National Counterintelligence Executive (NCIX) did not single out China by name, but the head of the office did in a press release and a television interview.

"Somebody with a wireless device in China should expect it to be compromised while he's there," Joel Brenner, head of the NCIX, told CBS television.
Brenner said the Chinese public security services can activate a person's cellphone or Blackberry when he or she thinks it is off, and use it as a microphone.

His suggestion is to remove the battery. Or better yet leave it at home.

"If you can do without the device, don't take it," his office's advisory said.

A press release quotes Brenner as saying the security advice "applies to travel to virtually any overseas destination, from a Mediterranean beach to this month's Olympic Games."

The advisory said travelers should have no expectation of privacy in Internet cafes, hotels, offices or public places, adding that phone networks and hotel business centers are regularly monitored in many countries.

All information sent electronically -- by fax, personal digital assistant, computer, or telephone -- can be intercepted, the advisory said.
"Wireless devices are especially vulnerable," it said.

Security services and criminals can then insert malicious software wirelessly, it warned.

"When you connect to your home server, the 'malware" can migrate to your business, agency, or home system, can inventory your system, and send information back to the security service or potential malicious actor," it said.

Malware can also be transferred through USB sticks and computer disks.
"Corporate and government officials are most at risk, but don't assume you're too insignificant to be targeted," the advisory said.

LOL - this cracks me up especially after the recent US border laptop seizures laws that were passed last month. Yes China government having your data very bad..... US government stealing your data "fighting teeeerrorism".


Cheers,
Dean

Bar Tano

We were in the middle of nowhere Brooklyn (in the industrial area near Gowanus Canal) on Sunday afternoon (we were at Lowes looking for appliances and other hardware stuff - BTW good selection of pots and plants which was worth the trip alone).

Anyway stumbled across this great bar that served really decent coffee

Bar Tano
457 3rd Ave Brooklyn, NY 11226
(718) 499-3400


You've got to understand this would be like wandering in the desert and coming not across just an oasis but finding an oasis with a Ben & Jerry's factory serving free ice cream.

If you are in the area (god knows why....unless you were going to the Lowes store like we were) make sure you plan on dropping by for lunch.


Cheers,
Dean

Tjun Industries - No Show contractor

I hate to sound like a pissed off client but I am.

We hired Tjun Industries to do some work in the new brownstone co-op we just purchased.
It's not a big job but the timing was critical in order to get some additional trades through in a timely manner.

My voicemails and emails went unanswered for the last 3 days and with the start date on monday was starting to get worried.

I dialed the mobile one more time this afternoon expecting to get voicemail but from a different phone (I was sitting in a friends office waiting for him to head out to lunch), Meng answered the call and was surprised it was me on the line - when I asked why he hadn't gotten back to me his answer was sorry but we're not going to be able to start on Monday.

He broke his leg and said wont be able to start for another 4 weeks.

Needless to say I'm spending tomorrow looking for a new general contractor.

Having said all this it's turned out to be a blessing in disguise. On Thursday afternoon I was meeting with some other trades people to discuss larger plans we had in mind for 6 months from now (flooring - kitchens etc).

After meeting with them Jodie and I have decided to do all of the renovations now rather than wait.....unfortunately that means the BBQ will have to wait.

Plans now include ripping out both kitchens, all interior walls, lifting sub floors in the rear apartment, laying new hardwood floors throughout the whole apartment, brand new kitchen/appliances - moving plumbing outlets, cabling in home theatre outlets....... lol need consulting work send money :)

Probably better in the long run but I also feel sorry for the people in the building - originally what was going to be a nice quick 2-3 weeks then we'll sort out the rest later kind of project is now going to be 10-12 weeks of trades men in and out making a mess etc.....having said that I think we'll have be asking the board to repaint and recarpet the common hallways in the near future as well because I think they are a little shoddy and due for a refresh as well.


Cheers
Dean

Here's A Map Of Nations That Don't Use The Metric System

Found on Digg today - lol I know I've posted about this before but this is too perfect.
(click through and read some of the comments they're hilarious).


Cheers,
Dean

Political fools

We need more articles like this excellent article from the BBC pointing out how foolish Ofcom are being


"When the MPs on the House of Commons Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport called for greater control over online content to protect young people from exposure to inappropriate material they were roundly criticised for failing to understand how the internet works.

Suggestions that content-hosting sites like YouTube and Flickr should review material before they were posted were especially ridiculed. Observer columnist John Naughton pointed out that at Flickr, "uploads have been between 1,400 and 4,500 images a minute", making the task somewhat less manageable than the committee seemed to realise.

But a couple of weeks later telecoms regulator Ofcom has agreed that content delivered to mobile phones should continue to be restricted. It suggested that although the current self-regulatory scheme managed by the Independent Mobile Classification Body is working it could be made a bit stronger in some ways.

Yet nobody is writing angry blog posts about how foolish Ofcom is, or how the mobile operators are taking away our online freedoms by limiting access to some types of material, and in fact the general view is that Ofcom and the mobile industry are doing it right, and the system just needs to be tweaked. "

(more)... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7558271.stm


As Australia is also wasting money in the process of building a "think of the children" netnanny as well I just feel like any politician not computer literate should be put out to pasture for good (that includes John McCain... not that I'm pro Obama either but I just think it's ridiculous that he can turn around and say no I dont use computers!!! WTF he should have been thrown out of the race as soon as this was made public).


Cheers,
Dean

branding done right

Check out some examples of user generated branding done right






http://www.mms.com/us/becomeanmm/create/














Great example of how it should be done.


Cheers,
Dean

Microsoft Live Search

If you are like me you are probably using your mobile almost as much for maps/location as you are for voice these days.

I love Google Maps and I love the "my location" look up (thought it's often unreliable) but using a keyboard is a little more restrictive than I would like at times.

Check out this video to see what Microsoft has been doing with all those Tellme engineers that are no longer available for speech recognition projects



Type http://wls.live.com into your mobile browser to get it today or download the application from http://www.livesearchmobile.com/windows_mobile.htm


Cheers,
Dean

135 Henry St Brooklyn Heights, NY, 11201

Yehhhhh we closed on our apartments today :)

Google street view link here

For those of you who missed the original post Jodie and I have bought two studio apartments in Brooklyn Heights that we are merging into a single 1 bedroom apartment.

Best part about it is that being on the top floor it has a large deck off the living room :) I cant wait to get out there and BBQ.

Construction to join them into a single apartment starts in 10 days and we'll be moving in about 5-6 weeks.

More photos to follow, I'm sure this blog is also going to be a cornucopia of DIY project posts over the coming months.


Cheers,
Dean

'Cloud'ification of your content

Cablevision wins on appeal: Remote DVR lawful after all
Does it matter where a DVR's hard drive lives? Hardware from outfits such as TiVo records shows onto a local disk, but the cable provider Cablevision decided to dispense with dedicated hardware and a local drive, and instead it rolled out a service where users could record shows through their existing cable box; those recordings stayed on a remote server in the central office for storage and playback. Content providers sued, alleging copyright violations, and they won a landmark injunction that blocked deployment of the system. But Cablevision appealed, and has now won a sweeping victory that may clear the way for the company to deploy its remote DVR service after all.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080804-cablevision-wins-on-appeal-remote-dvr-lawful-after-all.html

This ruling yesterday http://www.publicknowledge.org/pdf/cablevision-judgement-20070322.pdf allowing Cablevision to roll out their 'remote dvr' service where your dvr recordings are stored at a central location is a great win for common sense over Hollywood.

However...... I haven't seen a single press article yet about what this potentially could mean in the wider scope of things.

I'm not sure why, I guess the press isn't necessarily there to 'speculate on the news' or maybe I'm totally wrong but if I'm right this could be the biggest thing since Sony Betamax time shifting court case.

Basically what 'I' think this ruling means is that the United States Southern District Appeals Court has approved is the 'Cloud'ification of your entertainment content.


For the first time clear precedent now exists that I can purchase content and not need physical control of the content - it is there for me to access when and where I want - with the limitation that I'm the only person who is able to access it (limiting public performance).

So If I purchase a MP3, no longer does it need to be stored on my iPod but I might choose to listen to it on my desktop pc, or I might choose to stream it to my cell phone or even a laptop when I'm working remotely from my hotel room.

Does this cloudification open the possibility of a major competitor to the Apple dominance in music sales? Will Pandora implement a new version of their applications?

Or even does the newly merged Sirius/XM Radio satellite content company find themselves in a pivotal lead for a new class of 'anywhere anytime' content delivery hardware box?

What do you think? I’d really like to hear your thoughts on this.

Does this really even matter to you?



Cheers,
Dean


BTW The first vendor who will accept the delivery, encoding, remote hosting and physical safe storage of my already purchased cd collection with a monthly fee for streaming of that music content I have legally purchased 'back to me' anywhere/anytime will be sure to get my business.


P.S. Can you believe the domain http://www.cloudification.net/ wasn't taken.... I just bought it - any thoughts on what I should do with it now? :)

For Sprint unlimited means 5gb

Sprint have been pushing their $99 unlimited everything plan, unlimited voice-text and data heavily for the last 3 months......

Unfortunately today they announced as far as Sprint is concerned...."unlimited" means only 5gb of wireless data.

http://gizmodo.com/5033295/sprint-finally-makes-good-on-3g-data-capping

Lol - I hope they get their butts sued for breach of contract and everyone gets costs of purchasing their crappy handsets refunded as well as let out of their contracts/expenses for porting their numbers to another carrier.

https://esupport.fcc.gov/sform2000/new_complaints.action?request_locale=en

Cheers,

Dean

Apple pulls posted pulled iPhone modem app

The strange case of Netshare, the application that turns the iPhone into a modem - whenever it exists - became stranger still over the weekend, when it appeared and disappeared for a second time in the iPhone App Store. Apple and AT&T (widely assumed to be the bad guy here) remained tight-lipped, leaving the world trying to figure out the significance of the strange and brief manifestations.

Once could have been a mistake, but twice? Netshare was certainly visible in the App Store during its second materialisation on Friday evening UK, where it could be purchased for £5.99 ($9.99 US, standard crap deal, don't get us started). And it works - but in operation it is a way off of the ease of use and simplicity of your dull, old-style non-3-Jesus phone hung off your Mac via Bluetooth.* That is not the fault of the software's developer, Nullriver, and it is not (entirely) the fault of AT&T or of Reg HQ's local iPhone purveyor O2. It is the fault of Apple for borking the iPhone's Bluetooth stack, and of network providers whose 'all you can eat' deals will only work so long as customers don't get into the habit of using them.

(more)... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/04/netshare_in_out_in_out/

I think people are quickly going to realize they have replaced one evil overlord for another. Can you imagine the uproar if a carrier pulled an application like this?

It's only the iRose Colored Glasses that are preventing the fan boys from revolting.
Cheers,
Dean

TechShop

Just got this in an email; Thought it would interest some people here as well.

Way Cool, wish they were here in New York….. Brooklyn would be a good location :)
http://techshop.ws/index.html

Wish you had a workshop out back, but just can't find room for the floor-mounted plastic seam welder?

TechShop is betting that the DIY and Making trends are spreading everywhere, quickly. It's growing a series of well-equipped workshops for hobbyists and light manufacturers alike. Check out the class catalog for a taste of the tools you can use.

TechShop is a fully-equipped open-access workshop and creative environment that lets you drop in any time and work on your own projects at your own pace. It is like a health club with tools and equipment instead of exercise equipment...or a Kinko's for geeks.

Anyone can come in and build and make all kinds of things themselves using the TechShop tools, machines and equipment, and draw on the TechShop instructors and experts to help them with their projects.

TechShop is designed for everyone, regardless of their skill level. TechShop is perfect for inventors, "makers", hackers, tinkerers, artists, roboteers, families, entrepreneurs, youth groups, FIRST robotic teams, arts and crafts enthusiasts, and anyone else who wants to be able to make things that they dream up but don't have the tools, space or skills.


What a great concept - kind of like a tool rental company...but you get their space as well.

Cheers,
Dean

Laptop siezures at USA borders

Lol wait until Brazil or some other country starts seizing USA citizens laptops at the border and then watch them bitch and moan (I think it was Brazil who did the fingerprinting protest a few years back).

This is going to end badly.

I keep saying this over an over but no one is listening ….. treat others as you would like to be treated yourself and we’ll all get along.

Regards,
Dean Collins

DHS Allowed To Take Laptops Indefinitely

Washington Post story has details of Department of Homeland Security policies for border searches of laptops and other electronic devices (as well as papers).

DHS says such procedures have long been in place but were "disclosed last month because of public interest in the matter," according to the article. Here is a link to the policy (PDF, 5 pages).

"Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed. Also, officials may share copies of the laptop's contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption, or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, US Customs and Border Protection and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement... DHS officials said that the newly disclosed policies — which apply to anyone entering the country, including US citizens — are reasonable and necessary to prevent terrorism... The policies cover 'any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form,' including hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes. They also cover 'all papers and other written documentation,' including books, pamphlets and 'written materials."

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole ~ Somewhere over the Rainbow

I still remember the first day I heard this song (Mark Green's death on ER - yeh I know it was in Meet Joe Black as well which I'm sure I had already seen but didn't register).

Anyway my point was this; I heard the song thought wow, jumped online with about 10,000 other people that night to find out more about it.

I had just ordered 3 of his cd's on Amazon when I came across an article mentioning that Israel Kamakawiwo'ole had died in 1997. It came like such a shock that it wasn't fair I'd just heard about this amazing singer and then lost them all in the space of about 15 - 20 minutes.

So my message to you today is - enjoy life, live life, you'll be gone sooner than you know it.



Cheers,
Dean