The Lost Boys

Thanks @60Minutes for your story about #TheLostBoys -I promise not to bitch about #FirstWorldProblems ever again

- http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-57577085-10391709/our-amazing-12-year-journey-with-the-lost-boys

Business insider

Drones May Soon Deliver Your Newspaper In The French Province Of Auvergne
- http://www.businessinsider.com/drones-delivering-newspapers-2013-3?pundits_only=0&comments_page=1#comment-5158600c6bb3f7662f000019


Quick......someone write a business plan for a startup that delivers dog food by "drones" and flip it for billions.

 

Cheers,

Dean Collins
www.Cognation.net

Hunting The Elements

Just finished watching "Hunting The Elements" on PBS by David Pogue incredibly fascinating stuff.

I challenge you to watch this and not learn anything new. (btw you can also watch it online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/hunting-elements.html in case you dont have access to PBS on cable though i recommend you watch it on a dvr as you'll want to rewind more than a few times to re-listen to some of the things that he says and listen to the explanation.

I especially liked the fact that they explain very clearly about how human bodies are actually made up of star"dust", this has been a favorite fact of mine for years that still to this day blows my brain (eg that the atoms in your left pinkie may have come from a different sun than the atoms in your right pinkie").

If there are any geeks reading this I was curious about the bit at the end about trying to man make elements and why "large scale stable elements" are useful and important to discover this "island of high molecular weight".

Duravit

Hey @Duravit ,want to know why sales are down? Ever done a secret shopper in NYC and tried to buy an Duravit XL605402222 in gloss white-ugh effort.

Your Madison ave display center is a waste of space and no dealers have floor displays. lol no wonder your items cost so much.

BTW....you do realize your sample cards in no way resemble the product colour/sheen right....why bother having them!!

What if they pulled the plug

Great article by an Australian technology reporter Brad Howarth - http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/what-if-they-pulled-the-plug-20130327-2gun9.html

The scarier part from me that most people dont realise is that we (city slickers) are no more than 3 days away from running out of food at any one time.

So take a simple solar flare event that knocks out not one telstra exchange but everyone on the eastern seaboard.....how would we fare then Eg do you think a supermarket could place orders with pen and paper to the distribution warehouse.

Yes yes i know most people will go sure sure....but with 8-10% possibilities of a solar event in the 2010-20 decade.....you have to wonder if we are worrying about the right things some days.


Cheers,
Dean

Cloudy future for Australian cloud based DVR's

Do you think Australia is going to be left behind the USA in a legal limbo with the Cloud DVR ruling last year -  http://www.zdnet.com/cloud-tvrs-stop-in-wake-of-tv-now-ruling-1339338503/
Should www.MyTVR.com etc sold their soul to Channel 9 or similar and allowed one (or more) of the tv channels to buy into their cap table in order to steer the decisions a different way?

With the cablevision "remote hard drive" ruling in the USA (http://blog.collins.net.pr/search?q=cablevision) isnt there some kind of IP harmonization tack that can be tried - or even once the Aereo case works its way through the courts (saw they launched in Boston last week) is this a possible alternative challenge with the rental of "per user antennas?

Anyone closer to the action in Australia know whats going on?

True Friends

Seriously good viral marketing campaign- Very Clever!!
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTAvyRhly_Y

Mercy !!

New cd just launched last week. get it now on CD baby at - https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/erinsax

Check out track number 3 - https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/erinsax/YouAintWomanEnough ,doesnt get any better.

Could the USA government buy out TimeWarner and Comcast cable etc

Could the USA government buy out Time Warner and Comcast cable etc to implement a high speed fiber network in a similar method to the Australians NBN

Telstra will also cease using its hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) network to deliver broadband in Sydney and Melbourne. Optus is also set to receive AU$800 million to decommission its own HFC network.

I know AU$37.4 billion in capital expenditure (to be paid off by 2040) seems like a lot now but in 2040 it will seem a cheap investment (especially considering the USA fed reserve is buying $85billion worth of debt every month to boost the USA economy)

And yes we are talking about different scale...but Australia might even be harder to do considering the size with smaller numbers eg 12.2m homes passed by 2021 (93 percent by fibre, 4 percent by fixed wireless, 3 percent by satellite)
- http://www.zdnet.com/nbn-fibre-to-the-world-7000012385/

Thoughts?

Totem

 

 

Saw Cirque Du Soleil "Totem" at The Mets Stadium last night.......here's a tip in case you are going, dont eat the ice cream before the show unless you want to feel like a fat pig while watching them do their acts......oh wow so thats what muscles are supposed to look like...... amazing show.

 

The performer in the pink skirt (59 secs of this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsOzYup2_3Y ) has a 6 pack you could see from the back row its so ripped.

The Go-Go;s

 Cant work out if it's cool or lame that i just bought tickets to a Go Go's concert (support act is The Psychedelic Furs which is worth a concert on its own)
...but i expect a ton of 40 something year old wannabees clinging to their youth to be there as well :)
- http://www.countbasietheatre.org/calendar/show/show.asp?id=43248312

Hacked or Phished

I really wish people would learn the difference between Hacked and Phished.


eg. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21879230#
Hackers attack several BBC Twitter accountsSeveral BBC Twitter accounts, including its weather, Arabic and Radio Ulster feeds were hijacked by a group calling itself Syrian Electronic Army earlier.


Hacking means you have no control over what happens eg a java vulnerability....Phished...means you're a bloody idiot for clicking on something you shouldnt have and then being too stupid to look at the url when you entered the password etc.

ZipCar cancellations

ZipCar should make more of a big deal about how you can cancel a reservation with less than 3 hours notice at no charge (when its less than 8 hours).

I thought for sure i was going to get zinged a fee for late cancellation, nope all good.

Andrew Auernheimer

He got a longer sentence than the combined sentences of the Steubenville rapists.

I'm so disgusted at AT&T and the DOJ for pursuing this case for making them look inept.

Andrew Auernheimer AKA “The AT&T Hacker” has been sentenced to 41 months in prison, 3 years probation and restitution of $73K - http://tcrn.ch/ZnfD3v

 

 

 

 

How about sending the shitty AT&T coder who made my public information available on the internet to jail instead.

AT&T ....You Suck and i'll never purchase another product from you for as long as possible because of this.

 

BTW looks like they are going to appeal and the www.Eff.org is going to support Andrews case so if you can feel free to donate.

 

 

Cheers,
Dean


P.S. New video uploaded

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV0JzMDnD4U

"I'm going to jail for arithmetic ,by for adding a number +1 on a public website and sharing this information with the news publication I'm going to jail.

The feds are either malicious intent on destroying western civilization or they are morons, i cant work out which - they are either evil or retarded!".

Cyprus theft

Looks like the sunday morning talk shows here in the USA skipped over Cyprus bank seizures story.

I expect on Monday they will realize....this was kind of a big deal.

In the mean time check out the Hitler parody
- http://bit.ly/CyprusSeizure

Since Germany is writing the checks they CAN call the shots. To be honest i was surprised none of the news on the weekend was making a big deal about it. 

 I think on Monday......people should expect to hear more about this.

EFF Win - FBI spy tactic unconstitutional

Congrats to the EFF - https://www.eff.org/issues/national-security-letters
If you've been living under a rock and dont know what a SNL is basically its a letter from the FBI that says you must turn over everything about what you know about XYZ because of national security and btw you cant mention it to anyone, not press, not co-workers, not family/wife etc and if you dont turn everything over then we throw you in jail, if you talk about it with anyone, we throw you in jail.

BTW if you want to know how fucked up American thinking is at the moment check out this Orwellian double speak
"The nondisclosure requirement doesn’t constitute prior restraint of speech because recipients can be punished only after they make a prohibited disclosure, lawyers for the U.S. argued in court filings."
- http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-15/fbi-can-t-demand-customer-records-from-telcos-judge-says-1-.html

So did you get that....we basically have broken your constitutional rights to free speech...but we didnt break the constitution because we told you that you cant do it...before you are told you are prohibited. Hey Obama "Free and open my ass" go fuck yourself.

Is this the swing of the pendulum back to sanity, all i can say is lets hope so.

Mandiant report on Chinese hacking

Bruce Schneier nails it today about the comments in the press over the last few weeks about the "Chinese hacking" report from Mandiant
- http://www.facebook.com/LivePoliticalChat/posts/573714022638887

X-37B In space for 224 and 469 days

Anyone want to guess what the USA government was doing with a 11,000 pound vehicle in space for 693 days?? and i'm supposed to believe in free press with no real facts written about this????

 

This photo shows the first X-37B, designated OTV-1, on the runway at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on December 3, 2010, just after it returned from its debut trip into space, which lasted 224 days.
As it turns out, that was just a warmup act. The second X-37B, OTV-2, touched down on Earth at 5:48 a.m. PT on Saturday, June 16, to end its maiden mission, which began with a liftoff on March 5, 2011 -- meaning it was orbit for 469 days, easily doubling the record of its older sibling.

http://news.cnet.com/2300-11386_3-10012609.html

http://www.space.com/19893-military-space-plane-x37b-mystery.html

http://www.af.mil/information/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=16639

Veronica Mars.....the movement

"Veronica Mars made history by raising more than $2 million in just 10 hours"
- http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/veronica-mars-film-funding-plea-makes-history-20130314-2g2ak.html

Is today the pivotal moment in time and space where we look back on and say that tv production changed forever?

Are there enough $10,000 speaking role backers to change how tv is produced and what does this mean for the revenue curve for the various parties.

- http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/559914737/the-veronica-mars-movie-project

Whats also interesting is the digital download on the same day of theatrical release for $35 (same as how bbc are selling the dvd's in the UK....before the USA tv broadcast of Downton Abbey).

Is the cut to be made from the "eager beavers" who are prepared to pay more to watch at home? (hey who needs over priced coke and popcorn when i can watch it at home).

Will also be interesting to see if pressure is put on Kickstarter to cut fees for $1m+ fund raisings.

Google reader is dead

Google reader is dead......but doesnt mean RSS is


http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/13/googlereaderpocalypse-for-real-this-time/ 
Don’t be evil? If that’s the unofficial Google motto, then the company has failed to deliver today. Among the products Google just announced it plans to sunset (read: kill off), beloved feed-reading service Google Reader is now on the chopping block.



Be sure to checkout the free Netvibes rss reader, in my view the best RSS reader out there.

The reason for my preference is the "laid out" view where i can have tabs around subjects and then display the same rss streams are in the same dashboard location each time.

I hate the "streaming post" view that most rss readers adopted.


(lol the irony Google is claiming supposedly “declining usage” as the reason for shutting down google reader and yet as you can see here on Reddit every popular rss reader is being DOS by people today looking to test out alternatives J - http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1a8zgj/what_are_some_good_web_rss_readers_to_replace/ )

Twit Cleaner

Twitter….the Benjamin Button of apps - http://thetwitcleaner.com/blog/goodbye

 

Perhaps if I’d known that in Oct 2009, when I started all this, I might have taken a very different path.

But I would have missed so, so much. And I’m incredibly grateful for it all.

From here? I have no idea. I’ll see what the universe brings. A holiday would be nice. In the mean time, of course, I’ll keep learning how to love more and keep posting weird crap on my personal Twitter account, @sidawson.

Google $1000

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100537856
Growth investors and hedge funds were dumping Apple last quarter and piling into Google. Now some analysts think Google's stock is headed to $1000.

I swear they should be calling the NYSE the NY Ponzi Scheme....you guys pick a stock...start ramping the shit out of it for a few months and then diss all over it (eg apple)

Google hasnt changed its revenue outlook from what it was 6 months ago but yeh lets all hold on while it goes to $1,000 and then the insiders get to short it and make money up and down.

Hand controller based technologies

Reading this article (and ones like it) is frustrating

http://mashable.com/2013/03/09/hands-on-with-leap-motion/

Leap Motion's hardware and software effortlessly detected all 10 of my fingers, which means programmers can use them all to do pretty interesting stuff. I tried out an early beta of Corel Draw 12, which uses a combination of gestures and different positions for all your fingers to create art, and to control the drawing application's interface.



Better let the world know I've developed this magical controller that allows you to be several feet from your computer screen(eg. far enough you can no longer see the detail on the screen) either attached by wire or wireless and it allows you to control movements on the screen almost like magic.
I've put three buttons on the device (though i think i'll keep it simple for the dimwits who use a mac) these buttons allow you to define "interaction events".
I better run out and patent it before anyone else thinks of it but i've come up with a catchy name for it....i shall call it "Mouse"
Interacting with your pc this way is a party trick - its a solution looking for a problem and in a mac/using corel as described above etc....we already have the best solution.

Fiona Apple - Valentine

I dont know what it is about Fiona Apples "Valentine" that makes me feel so sad for her every time i listen to it - http://amzn.to/Z6ByLr
Tortured soul......or crazy psycho bitch..... its such a fine line but this song makes my heart go out to her every time i listen to it (and to be honest i dont think i've ever listened to it without hitting replay....at least one or three times too many to be considered clinically sane myself).

Kohler Abrazo K-1800

Anyone have any contacts/relatives/sneaky ways of getting Kohler baths cheaper?

We want to purchase a Kohler Abrazo K-1800 in white but the cheapest we've found it for is $6006 inc tax and delivery....EEEK - http://amzn.to/13FXTox

Any thoughts?

Its 6 oclock...do you know where your tv is?

Interesting article this morning - Game Consoles Are Already Dead And Developers Know It
http://readwrite.com/2013/03/04/game-consoles-already-dead-developers-know-it

Not sure i agree with this article in the current R&D generation (eg Microsoft 720) will have a development tailwind.

Basically i think the next big thing will be media center pc probably running android or a derivative and the idea of containing this "home server" in the display instead of adjunct just doesnt make long term sense (eg connected tv's are doomed for failure).

Stardust

Wow just watched Stardust http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486655  with Claire Danes (among others), amazing, magical and fantastical are the only words to describe it.

Interestingly i caught in the titles at the end that it was written and produced by Neil Gaiman....eg the other but not better half of Amanda Palmer

I had no idea he had written so many books, i'll have to check out some of his other works - http://www.neilgaiman.com/works/books/stardust/

If you have access to Showtime be sure to check it out, kind of like The NeverEnding Story / The Dark Crystal / Labyrinth but about true love and how destiny will always find its way.

Developing the "meat"

Interesting reading this reddit AMA - http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/199f0n/im_andras_forgacs_ceo_of_modern_meadow_a_company/

and watching this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6Z7eTZ8XZxk&list=PLE5178852BA91E865

There really isnt much difference :)