i love tablets..

the interface of tablets... with the addition of multi-touch to me so intuitive and seems to be the natural progression of user interface.

this looks very cool (rumored Microsoft's possible next tablet the 'Courier')


coool!

if it's true and Apple throws in with a larger iPhone type 'tablet'.. it'll be fun to watch how things transpire..

google vs. bing : competition breeds innovation

Have you tried Bing yet? Microsoft's current serious foray into the web search field is definitely having a good showing. It is slowly yet significantly, taking a bite out of Google's search space pie, usurping up to 12% of the web search market share. That with the fact that essentially Yahoo! and Microsoft have joined forces on this front and we have a legitimate contender in this universally used but stale field.

Bing is very ... 'current' in look and feel. A very rich web experience compared to the tried-and-true M.O. of Google.

fun with bing and google...

If you're a bit stuck in your Google ways here are a couple of fun ways to jump in:
www.bing-vs-google.com (a side by side search results website)
blindsearch.fejus.com (and if you're afraid you're biases will still get in the way.. how about a blind search test)

emerging search technologies...

On a side note, there are a few cool things popping up in the search technology front. Surfing Google Labs I found a few cool things that may be fun ..and even productive to try out:
Google Fast Flip (visual results of news items (akin to browsing a news stand)
Google Similar Images (an algorithm that tries to locate similar images to the one you pick)
Google Squared (semantic search tool gathering pertinent info on your search)
Bing Visual Search (searching via images. a great sorting tool) (before you can use this you have to manually choose the country to United States in the upper right hand corner on bing.com) (you may have to install Silverlight (it will prompt you if you do). Microsoft's version of Adobe's ubiquitous Flash. If web apps like Bing's Visual Search take off it may be a launching pad for Silverlight to finally take a foot hold and become a legitimate contender to Flash in the interactive web space. Interesting...)

like all things google.. this looks promising..

let's see... take the established stuff, include the current cooler ideas, then tweak all that to make it better... and,.. what the heck, throw in some new thinking productivity features just to stir it up a bit and voila!

introducting a new face to an anemic web app enviornment: google CHROME


perhaps not entirely re-made but worth a mention since it really is a good browser when you start utilizing the plug-in system: Firefox 3

of course, if you really like micro$oft .. they of course are working on their killer app killer with Windows Explorer 8

and even though i personally don't like it.. 8% of the web population can't be wrong (or can they?). One thing i can tell you is the last time i was infected with some sort of malware the only browser that actually worked uneffected was Apple's Safari, now in 3.1.2 guise

and finally, .. might as well give a shout out to the last of the 'mainstream' browsers (i actually use the Opera browser on my wii from time to time): Opera 9.5



brought to you by the self-professed google cheeleader (men can be cheerleaders too you know)

iPhone in Canada... and the power to the people..

So they finally announced the iPhone 3G in Canada (along with a whole WHACK of other countries) but our pricing plans for data is waaaaay behind what seems to be everyone else in the world.

Even though the prices for the iPhone plans from Rogers (the exclusive carrier for iPhone) were a step in the right direction (believe it or not, just a while ago that type of useage would've cost in to the thousands) it was still way overpriced compared to other parts of the world.

And in an uproar the Canadian people stood up for what was important to them.. affordable cellular data plans! In the course of a few weeks over 50,000! people signed a petition at ruinediPhone.com and started getting media attention from all over the webverse and beyond. But really, do petitions actually make things happen? Especially too Ego centric money hungry media pioneers like Ted Rogers?

Well, today on the front page of the digital The Star,.... voila! ...amazing...

(chanting) ..power to the people.. ..power to the people.. ..power to the people..

I was going to forgo the idea of getting an iPhone in favor for a UMPC (i got the hots for the OQO) and a free promo phone.. but now perhaps iPhone I am bound...

Alarm clocks that WILL get you up in the morning..

I have this dreadful disease.. ,..well,.. it's more like an affliction. Sometimes I just can't get out of bed.

I'm sure there are other people out there like me. Sometimes I can hit the snooze button or even turn off my alarm clock in my sleep without even knowing it. And the times where I do arrive at a primal state of consciousness I end up hitting snooze... sometimes for more than an hour!

I used to put heavy things around and over my alarm clock but my brain.. my sleeping brain adjusted. I even resorted to putting the alarm clock across the room so I would have to get up and go to the clock to turn it off. Again, my resourceful mindless body would adapt.

I heard of one guy who used to lock his alarm clock in a cage and hide the key. I almost tried the extreme method myself... but if you're looking for more of an 'elegant' solution... try one of these:
>> The key flies away.. and you need to re-insert the key to turn off the alarm.
>> A super loud alarm complete with a bed shaker. For boys....
>> ... and for girls.
>> And finally, an alarm clock that knows how angry you are when you're woken up.. and runs away.

I'm not a geek! ...I'm a level 14 Paladin.

About a year ago there were some photos of a very high-tech keyboard that floated through the net. A russian design studio created a mock up of this keyboard where all the symbols on the keys were customizable. how? ..each key was its very own miniture LCD screen. Well, it's finally made and for SALE on a site that i think is a lot of fun (thinkgeek).

Here's a link to the design house Lebedev Studio that created the product and their newest keyboard concept (click around. there's a lot of cool,.. geeky stuff).

This is however not typical fare for thinkgeek as they usually deal with lower costing geeky knick knacks, but it is for sure right up their alley in terms of product type.

If you like small gadgets, funny shirts, useless toys and ESPECIALLY if you're a geek then browse away 'cause this site has all of that stuff plus more!

A short(ish) list of the more... ahem.. geeky things that i particularly favor:
RPG gamer's shirt :::: comp sci/math shirt :::: coder's shirt :::: for star-crossed geeks :::: science shirt :::: sound track shirt :::: mana (yes, you read right, ..mana) :::: customizable straws :::: laser tag with toy tanks :::: this gadget could be actually useful ...this too :::: dueling mini helicopters :::: annoy-a-tron sun/moon jar lights :::: if you're a geek.. chances are you could be a trekkie too :::: how about caffeinated soap? ...or gum? :::: tired of sleeping in? (get it?.. tired? .. sleeping in?.. i kill myself) :::: usb drink cooler :::: retro bluetooth handset :::: R2-D2 trashcan :::: yoda backpack :::: binary clock :::: virtual guitar :::: usb drum kit :::: personal a/c

If you didn't know I was a geek before .. well,.. let's just say... [geek] simply j. [/geek]

i love apple...

you may know that i love google.. well, i love apple as well.. for mainly the same reasons. entrepreneurship, innovative thinking and revolutionary cool products. It makes me want to work for these companies... unfortunately.. .. the feeling may not be mutual.


one of their most recent incredible products is the iPhone. i love the iPhone .. and apparently so do other people. voted invention/gadget of the year by numerous publications (Time, Wired, Stuff, etc) it truly is changing the landscape of mobile technology. i can go on ad nauseum about the device.. but i'll spare you ;)

apple just had a keynote on the 'iPhone software roadmap' on march 6th where they talk about the SDK and Enterprise Solutions that their are now developing/launching.

geeks click here

a fun video... but geeks only need bother applying. even then the 1hr plus video is fast forward-able.

~ this post was blogged from my iPhone ~
~BOOyah!~

Olympus Stylus 850 SW - mini Review

This is one of those products where I'm surprised by the lack of their popularity. A camera that is freezeproof (-10 C.), shockproof (5ft) and waterproof (10ft). When you have kids it almost sounds too good to be true. Even if you don't have kids but love the outdoors this camera seems to fit the bill like no other.

I was looking for a cheap camera so that i could hand over to my kids so that they could take pictures with. Even though this isn't necessarily a cheap camera ($299) it is less worrisome handing over a camera to my young children that they can drop on to the pavement... into a puddle of water no less.

It even takes video underwater... but this is where the shortcomings come into view. You either have to take small videos (320x240 - youtube size) or use a slower frame rate (15fps) to get video lasting around 30mins. Due to lack of buffer size if you try video at 640x480 at 30fps you'll clip will end in 10sec. (go 320x240 at 15fps and sky's the limit.. well,.. at least the size of your memory card is the limit)

The photos might not be the best but for what i want it's perfect. Couple this with a more serious photography tool (Digital SLR would be a good choice) and you'll be set up for pretty much anything.

I give it a 8/10 for what it is. A 'point and shoot' that i don't have to be careful with. nice.

Very Cool Image Viewing Technologies

a friend of mine, john c., is very much into photography. now that he has kids i think it has turned into a work necessity and general interest into a full blown official hobby.

recently he's reintroduced me to Flickr! (check out my flickr link in the sidebar >>> ) and more recently pointed me towards a very cool plugin for your web browser.

if you do a lot of image browsing online on any of the affliated sites this is worth a look. PicLens they support all the major browsers.

finally, if you haven't seen this keynote on Photosynth it's deep in 'wow' power and definitely worth a look. even though in seemingly beta version (john tells me it's probably too heavy to use practically for the everyday user) it's definitely one to watch.

google rocks!

i heard somewhere that google is very big on good ideas coming from anywhere. at one point every engineer had one day a week where he could work on his own pet project. there are open channels of communication for anyone who wants to submit an idea. this fusion of PhD's and MBA's has created some very cool products.

i'm sure you've heard of google earth (now with a flight sim built in), igoogle, picasa, sketchup, and some others: some more google products.
even the simple ubiquitous google search has some cool tricks that you may not know about: google search help

the reason this topic even came up is that i just implemented a custom search for my blog (re:upper right corner of this page) and google analytics so i can keep track of everyone who comes (or doesn't come) to this site. and the kicker is that it's all free! of course you can pay if you want more functionality but it's amazing what you get for free! sometimes i'm amazed to find out that some really innovative simple product was not produced by google.

yup, i'm definitely a google cheerleader.. not only because they are a really cool company but also because when you type my name in google search i'm still the number one result. ;)

the best place to work in the world?

what i use (in order of useage):
http://www.igoogle.com/
http://www.google.com/
www.google.com/calendar
http://www.gmail.com/
http://www.images.google.com/
http://maps.google.com/
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.blogger.com/
http://finance.google.com/
http://earth.google.com/
http://sketchup.google.com/
http://docs.google.com/
http://picasa.google.com/
http://www.froogle.com/
http://video.google.com/

wii remote madness

Sometimes I think I'm a geek...

... but I'm not worthy. The guy in the following video is a true geek. (and i say that in the best possible way)

And you guys thought the wii was a toy! Sheesh.

btw, i'm posting this from my wii ;)