I'm on my way to a class reunion. While I'm there you can check out tonight's video, and a link to the spider on your screen program you can run on your computer:
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Links to Better Blogging
I discovered this Wednesday night, you get to discover it now from Marketing Minute:
New Blogger's Toolbox
As I approach my first anniversary as a blogger, I can look back and marvel at the journey. I would have never gotten past my first dozen posts if it weren't for the seasoned bloggers who offered a tip, kind word or worthy example to emulate. So I decided I wanted to create a New Blogger's Toolbox, so others could enjoy that same support and inspiration.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to this list. I have acknowledged everyone at the end of the list.
Here are the categories:
- Are chock full of practical tips
- Act as a living lab on how to write compelling blog posts
- Demonstrate how to build a community
- Teach marketing tools
- Are welcome wagons - bloggers who spotlight newbies
Chock Full of Practical Tips
Converstations
Creating Comments
Yotophoto
Daily Blog Tips
Logic + Emotion
Business Blog Angel
ProBlogger
Perfect Blogger
Internet Marketing Monitor
WebWare
Living Lab on Writing Compelling Blog Posts
CK's blog
Priscilla Palmer
Noah Brier
I've been mugged!
Electric Venom
Styles of Blogging
CopyBlogger
Copywriting Maven
Modern B2B Marketing
Servant of Chaos
How to Build Community
Viral Garden
EMoms at Home
Dawud Miracle
Robyn McMaster
Noah Kagan
Christine Kane
Come Gather Round
Create Business Growth
Teach Marketing Tools
Lonely Marketer
Drew's Marketing Minute
Yaro Starak
Todd And
Duct Tape Marketing
Diva Marketing
David Meerman Scott
Small Business Marketing Mavericks
Russell Davies
Greg Verdino
Jason Lonsdale
Matt Dickman
MP Daily Fix
BizSolutionsPlus
PodPress Forum
Seth Godin
CrapHammer
Blogopreneur
Hee Haw Marketing
Conversation Agent
Note to CMO
Welcome Wagons for Newbies
Successful & Outstanding Blogs
Converstations
The Good Blogs
Friday, September 26, 2008
Tonights Video: Art, Paul & Kodak
It looks like this song will be about an obsolete product in the near future:
Is the rich-hued Kodachrome era fading to black?
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — It is an elaborately crafted photographic film, extolled for its sharpness, vivid colors and archival durability. Yet die-hard fan Alex Webb is convinced the digital age soon will take his Kodachrome away.
"Part of me feels like, boy, if only I'd been born 20 years earlier," says the 56-year-old photographer, whose work has appeared in National Geographic magazine. "I wish they would keep making it forever. I still have a lot of pictures to take in my life."
Only one commercial lab in the world, Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kan., still develops Kodachrome, a once ubiquitous brand that has freeze-framed the world in rich but authentic hues since it was introduced in the Great Depression.
Eastman Kodak Co. now makes the slide and motion-picture film in just one 35mm format, and production runs — in which a master sheet nearly a mile long is cut up into more than 20,000 rolls — fall at least a year apart.
Kodak won't say when the last one occurred nor hint at Kodachrome's prospects. Kodachrome stocks currently on sale have a 2009 expiration date. If the machines aren't fired up again, the company might just sell out the remaining supplies, and that would be the end.
"It's a low-volume product; all volumes (of color film) are down," says spokesman Chris Veronda.
For decades, Kodachrome was the standard choice for professional color photography and avant-garde filmmaking. At its peak, a reverential Paul Simon crooned "Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away" in 1973. It's the only film to have a state park named after it — photogenic Kodachrome Basin State Park in the red-rock canyons of southern Utah.
During its mass-market heyday in the 1960s and '70s, countless snapshooters put friendships in peril every time they hauled out a carousel projector and trays of slides to replay a family vacation.
But the landmark color-transparency created by Leopold Godowsky Jr. and Leopold Mannes — "God and Man" in photo research circles — went into a tailspin a generation ago. It was eclipsed by video, easy-to-process color negative films and a tidal-wave preference for hand-sized prints.
Nowadays, Kodachrome is confined to a small global market of devotees who wouldn't settle for anything else. And before long, industry watchers say, Kodak might well stop serving that steadily shrinking niche as the 128-year-old photography pioneer bets its future on electronic imaging.
The digital revolution is undermining all varieties of film, even a storied one that garnered its share of spectacular images: the giant Hindenburg zeppelin dissolving in a red-orange fireball in 1936; Edmund Hillary's dreamy snapshot of his Sherpa climbing partner atop Everest in 1953; and, most iconic of all, Abraham Zapruder's 8-millimeter reel of President Kennedy's assassination in 1963.
Steve McCurry's portrait of an Afghan refugee girl with haunting gray-green eyes that landed on the cover of National Geographic in 1985 is considered one of the finest illustrations of the film's subtle rendering of light, contrast and color harmony.
"You just look at it and think, this is better than life," says McCurry, 58, who has relied heavily on Kodachrome for all but the last two years of a 33-year career.
John Larish, a consultant and writer on photography, marvels at its staying power. "I've got Kodachromes from the 1930s and the blue skies look as bright as they did in the 1930s," he says.
Collectors of airplane and train images value its unsurpassed fade resistance. Assorted dentists, plastic surgeons and ophthalmologists still rely on its clarity and unique palette, especially for multiyear studies.
"Different eye diseases can have different colors," says Thomas Link, an ophthalmic photographer at Minnesota's Mayo Clinic who shoots 10 to 15 rolls of Kodachrome a week to help doctors diagnose and treat illnesses. "Even now we will go back and look through images taken 30 years ago for research purposes."
If Kodachrome should vanish, "we'd either change to a different type of film or do it digitally," Link says, but long-term studies that hinge on image consistency might suffer.
Alarm bells have been ringing since Kodak exited the film-processing business in 1988. One by one, its Kodachrome home-movie and still-film formats have been discontinued, and only a 64-speed remains. (Film speed is a measure of its sensitivity to light; low-speed films require a longer exposure).
An even slower 25-speed version departed in 2002, an equally beloved 200-speed in 2006, a Super 8 movie stock in 2005 — all supplanted by standardized films far easier and cheaper to process.
Dwayne's, the Kodak subcontractor in Kansas that has had the market to itself since a Kodachrome lab in Tokyo closed in December, still processes tens of thousands of rolls annually but admits sales are sliding.
"If Kodak doesn't feel it's economical, they might stop making the film itself," says owner Grant Steinle. And "if film volumes become so small that we're unable to economically process it, then we might stop."
Unlike any other color film, Kodachrome is purely black and white when exposed. The three primary colors that mix to form the spectrum are added in three development steps rather than built into its micrometer-thin emulsion layers.
There's a high price for this: Dwayne's charges $8.45 per roll plus $9 for development. That's at least 50 percent more than color negative film, the kind that prints are made from.
As slide-film sales began to plummet in the 1980s, an already limited number of independent photofinishers willing to make use of Kodak's exacting color-diffusion development formulas fell away. Customers then evaporated when it became much harder to get Kodachrome processed quickly.
Ektachrome — another line of Kodak slide films — and similar products from Fuji, Konica and Agfa were well within the capabilities of all processors and took over the market as they improved in quality.
McCurry, who shot the "Afghan Girl" picture with Kodachrome, is turning to digital cameras as the technology gap closes.
"I like to shoot in extremely low light, inside of a home, a mosque, a covered bazaar," he says. "To stop movement, it's just absolutely impossible to do that with Kodachrome or with practically any film."
Yet aficionados like Webb remain bewitched by Kodachrome's "vibrant but not oversaturated colors."
"It has an emotional punchiness that really always seemed right for me," especially in tropical urban locales he gravitates to in the Caribbean and in "mucky light" near dawn or dusk. Digital boasts "remarkable clarity," he says, but "it's almost too clear and doesn't seem to have depth and texture the way film does."
Webb was "incredibly distressed" when Kodachrome 200, his all-time favorite, bit the dust in November 2006. He stockpiled 600 rolls and is using up the last 150 to complete a photography book on Cuba this fall.
"It seems kind of appropriate because Cuba is a world of the '50s on some level," Webb says. "It has existed in a bubble outside the world of globalization now for 50 years, and Kodachrome goes hand-in-hand."
In preparation for tonight's debate
Obama and McCain go at it tonight (MAYBE?), if you find yourself discussing politics, follow these rules:
The Art of Manliness |
How To Debate Politics Like A Gentleman
Posted: 21 Sep 2008 09:50 PM CDT
Kate grandpa’s is fond of repeating the mantra he and his fellow sailors repeated while serving aboard the USS Indiana during World War II. “Never discuss politics or religion.” And he always adds, “So what does that leave to talk about? Girls, of course.”
Gramp’s advice is certainly appropriate if you’re going to be trapped on a ship with the same guys for months on end. And it’s a rule of good etiquette for dinner parties and other occasions when polite decorum should prevail.
But otherwise, politics should be debated, vigorously and often. Men in every age debated politics- from the Grecian Assembly to the Roman Forum, from the salons of France to the mutual improvement societies of colonial America. Being able to reasonably discuss the political issues of the day was considered a vital and essential part of being a well-rounded, well-educated, man. Indeed, one of the express purposes of education during this time was to equip men to be able to hold their own in the political forum.
These days rousing, yet respectful political debate is practically non-existent. The new media, far from presenting balanced, in-depth coverage of the important, meaty issues of the day, spend their time constantly regurgitating manufactured scandals and fanning the flames of personality contests. Debates between men in person, and especially on the internet quickly devolve into indignant shouting matches, where personal insults are substituted for rational arguments.
That’s not to say that our manly forebearers were the paragons of respectful debating. They too would often let their passions get away from them and unleash oratorical hell on their opponent. For example, during his days as a young state assemblyman in New York, Teddy Roosevelt would frequently lose his cool during debates on the Assembly floor. He’d call his opponents “cold blooded, narrow-minded, prejudiced, obstinate, timid, old psalm singing Indianapolis politicians” or “oily-Gammon, churchgoing specimens,” or simply “classical ignoramuses.”
Young Roosevelt quickly became the laughing stock of the Assembly and of the state newspapers with his outbursts. After bitterly insulting a senior assemblyman, Roosevelt was rebuked severely, and tearfully apologized for his unbecoming behavior. He soon learned to control his temper and direct his passion towards more constructive debate as opposed to petty insults.
Unlike men from the past, today’s men are unapologetic about their undisciplined, discourteous political rants. Men need to learn how to bring back vigorous, yet civil political discourse. Here are a few suggestions on how we can.
Disagreement in politics does not a pinhead make.
When it comes to debating politics, men then often create the following faulty syllogism:
- I’m a very intelligent man and I believe X.
- This other guy believes Y.
- Therefore this other guy is a complete moron.
This is what essentially lies at the heart of nasty political discourse. And it’s surely a tempting conclusion to make. But take a step back. Does your “opponent” show other signs of being a feeble-minded moron? Did he graduate from college? Does he have a good job? Does he seem able to function as a normal adult? You know, dress himself, feed himself, and refrain from drooling? Probably so. He’s probably not an imbecile. He just feels differently than you do. He was raised in a home by parents with certain beliefs. He’s had life experiences that are divergent from yours. His faith or lack thereof has shaped him in ways that yours hasn’t. Now, once you have established that your friend is not a pinhead, you can begin to have a polite debate.
Try your darndest to see the other side
When you passionately believe in something, it can seem nearly impossible to even conceive how another person doesn’t see things the same way you do. But since we’ve established that having a divergent political belief does not a pinhead make, you should be duly curious about why your friend feels the way he does.
Dispense with the the how and why questions. Questions like, “How could you possibly believe that?” and “Why can’t you see how wrong you are?” won’t get you anywhere. Instead, pose “what” questions. “What makes you feel that way?” “What has led you to come to that conclusion?” Be earnestly and sincerely interested in what the person has to say. Do not ask these questions as way to dig up material to pounce on and attack. Take the time to really understand their sides of the issues.
Consume media that presents news from both sides. Why has political debate become so polarized and rancor-filled? Look no father then the current state of the media. Instead of modeling the art of healthy debate, news shows are political theater, filled with talking heads shouting over each other and licking their lips over the chance to cut someone down.
It’s also no secret that various media outlets give the news with their particular political slant. If all you consume is media from one particular source, a source that affirms and flatters your already preconceived beliefs, then you’re never going to be able to see the other side and will end up just another schmo contributing to the untimely death of respectful political debate.
Let’s face it: we all love to see our guy sticking it to the other guy. We love to see the commentators rip into the hypocrisy and inadequacies of the other party. It makes us feel good about ourselves and flatters our world view. But it’s dangerously narrow-minded. Men back in the day didn’t just read tracts and attend speeches of people with whom they agreed. They eagerly consumed what their opponents had to say as well. You must make an effort to read, listen, and watch news that may make your blood pressure soar, but will leave you better informed and ready to make fair assessments. If you’re a devoted Bill Maher fan, tune into Rush every now again. If you usually only read the National Review, spend some quality time with Mother Jones as well.
Concede a point where appropriate
Unless your friend really is an obtuse Neanderthal, he’ll probably say a few things that you actually agree with. A badger of a man will let these things pass by without a word, believing that to concede any point is to show weakness. An intelligent and secure man is able to say, “Yeah, that’s a good point. I hadn’t thought of that.” Even if you don’t agree with something, at least pepper your discourse with the occasional “I understand why you feel that way.” And “I can see that.”
Find common ground
Even if you and your friend are on opposite ends of the spectrum-he sleeps with O’Reilly’s Culture Warrior under his pillow and you have a signed photo of Keith Olbermann on your wall, there will always be a couple of things you can agree on. Even if its banal generalities like “Washington is broken,” you can agree on that and then civilly present your varying perspectives on how it should be fixed.
Don’t use inflammatory language
The man who is insecure with the simple, bare validity of his argument will be tempted to resort to inflammatory language and insults.” “McCain is a philandering, lying, corpse of a man!” “Obama is a pointy-headed, liberal, elitist and a terrorist to boot!” Such language only produces rancor and will quickly steer the debate into a pointless shouting match. Present you points in a calm, well-reasoned manner.
Stick to the facts
Only bring to the table those facts which have been thoroughly vetted as true. Information culled from emails forwarded to you by Aunt Gertie, articles from the National Enquirer, and stories from a pirated radio broadcast you listened to at 4 in the morning do not count. How you and your friend interpret the facts will of course vary, but you must at least be debating accurate information as opposed to rumors and slander that no one can really prove or argue against.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Tonights Video: Tina and Martin
I watched part of the Emmy awards Sunday, but not many people did. There was an abbreviated version of this ad that played, here's the full length version for tonight's video:
Shoot The Moon
First, Pull your pants UP!
I know there are several extremely talent photographers in the Fort Wayne Blog World, and then there's the rest of us.
Kim Komando's tip of the day for today is for the rest of us:
Photographing the moon
I need help taking pictures of the moon. I have a digital SLR, a 300mm zoom lens and a cable release. The photos don't turn out right. The moon is either too faint or a blazing ball of light. Do I need to filter the light? Any help would be appreciated.
The moon is a fascinating subject for photography. Man has been gazing at the moon forever.
I have good news and bad news. The bad news is the moon is a tricky subject to shoot. The good news is you already have all the tools you need. You just need the right technique to get great lunar photos.
Your exposure times are going to vary. A tripod will cut out any blurriness from shaking. The cable release will also help with that. Pushing buttons with your finger shakes the camera.
The high-powered 300mm zoom lens is the right choice. To our eyes, the moon looks bigger than it really is. Photograph it with a regular lens, and it will be fairly small. Zooming in also helps pick up more of the surface details.
Getting these photos right will take experimentation and practice. The camera settings used aren't exact. Slight variations can create different effects. The phase of the moon, weather and ambient light are also factors.
Shooting the moon
Start by learning to shoot the moon by itself. Now, the sky is dark. So, you need to capture the most light possible, correct? No. The moon is a lot brighter than you think. The settings are a little counterintuitive.
We'll start with your ISO settings. The higher the number, the more sensitive the sensor is to light. Remember, the moon is bright. In this case, too high a setting creates noisy photos. Start with as ISO setting of no more than 100.
A wide aperture will allow more light in. But a wide aperture here will result in overexposure. You'll get that blazing ball of light you mentioned. And you won't see any of the moon's surface details.
The standard daytime aperture setting is f/16. As a rule of thumb, lunar photography often uses f/11. That's much narrower than regular nighttime photography. Now, I've seen wider settings recommended, like f/5. Experiment for the best results.
Shutter speed is also a consideration. This controls the photo's exposure. Photos of the moon are often taken at 1/250th of a second. But again, experiment to get your desired effect. A faster exposure equals more detail but a darker picture. And vice versa.
So, set up your camera, zoom in and start snapping photos. Keep a log of your settings to find your camera's sweet spot.
Shoot more than the moon
You've seen photos of cityscapes with a full moon in the background. They're stunning pictures. And you can take your own. But things get a little trickier.
Say you want a beautifully lit city with the moon rising above. Capturing both at the same time is impossible. There are a number of issues that make it so.
The setting for photographing a lit city and the moon are different. The moon is much brighter than any city light. Get a clear photo of the city, and the moon is overexposed.
Also, the moon can play tricks on your eyes. Its apparent size will change depending on your distance to other objects. Getting the perfect shot of both is difficult.
So, how do you do it? Double exposure. You'll essentially combine two photos. This is easy on a standard SLR. Take one photo and don't advance the film. Then, take a second photo on that frame.
Digital SLRs don't have film. Some have a double exposure setting. I'll explain how to shoot a double exposure in camera. But yours may not have this setting. I'll explain what to do then, as well.
First, I'll assume you have the setting. To photograph a well-lit city, use a standard lens. If you have only the one lens, I assume it offers a range. Shoot at 35-40mm. Experiment with the settings.
Leave the ISO at no more than 100. Use aperture settings around f/3 to f/4. And try exposure times between 30 seconds and one minute. A tripod is required.
When taking the photo, do not have the moon in the frame. But do leave an area in the sky not blocked by buildings. This void is where the moon will go.
Next, take a photo of the moon against a black sky. Don't have buildings or other light sources in the frame. Use the 300mm zoom lens and camera setting from before. Remember where the moon's position was in your first exposure. Position the moon there for this exposure.
Now, you have a clear shot of the city and moon together. It looks real, even though you took the photos separately.
But what if you don't have a double exposure setting? Then simply take the two photos separately. When you get home, combine them using photo-editing software. You'll actually have more control over the final photo this way.
You don't need expensive photo-editing software to do this. Try IrfanView and its plug-ins for free. Or if you're more advanced, go with the extremely powerful GIMP.
More photography tips:
- • For more nighttime fun, try photographing fireworks
• Why not get paid for taking great photos?
• Need a digital SLR? I can help you pick the right one
You can get tips like these in your email too by subscribing free of charge, there is a link on the right side of this page for Kim Komando, whose radio show is heard Sunday afternoons on WOWO.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Video's Webcams, etc
When my son took off for a few months in Iceland, we knew our cell phone package was not going to cover calls back and forth. So Josh suggested Skype.com and now several members of our family have the ability to call, chat, even see each other via webcams.
Now that I've reduced my Name This Local Website to a weekly, instead of nightly feature; I decided to do a nightly video feature.
Last night we even did one featuring Fort Wayne. Tonight, I'm posting a story from ComputerWorld.com:
A decade ago, it was a clever novelty: a webcam pointed at an office water cooler. The first one is still online, at www.coolercam.com, broadcasting a fresh picture every 10 seconds.
But in the succeeding decade, webcams have grown from a techie novelty to a way of life for some people -- some of whom have evidently overdosed on them.
As for the cooler camera, "Way back then, it got a lot of hits, but the counter has not gone up hugely in the last couple of years," said Ryan Wilson, manager at Interactive Market Systems, the water cooler's home. Located in Sandy, Utah, the firm provides statistical analysis for marketers. "There used to be a Web ring of cooler cams, but that has all gone away," he said.
Fredrik Nilsson, North American manager at Swedish webcam vendor Axis Communications, isn't surprised. "It was fun to make a live image of a water cooler in 1996, but it is not very impressive today -- you need a real application," he said.
Nilsson noted that there are actually two kinds of digital cameras used to put video or stop-motion pictures on the Web. Consumer-grade cameras that attach to a computer via a USB port are typically referred to as webcams. Cameras with integrated intelligence that can attach directly to the Internet are called network cameras.
Webcams can sell for as little as $20, while network cameras can be had for less than $200. Most (like the cooler cam) are used to make snapshots every few seconds rather than full-motion video.
Better quality
Quality has improved steadily since the devices appeared in 1996, Nilsson noted. Most webcams can generate 30 frames per second when there's available bandwidth. Average resolutions are between VGA (about 300,000 pixels) and 2 megapixels.
"As recently as three years ago, you never saw anything higher than VGA," he noted. "As for color quality, I would say that the cameras have been close to true color for the last two years now." Light sensitivity is good enough that it hardly matters in most settings, and night vision is available for about $500, he added.
The most significant trend among network cameras has been the rise of large markets for the cameras among construction contractors, departments of transportation and departments of tourism, noted Brian Cury, head of EarthCam Inc., a network camera vendor in Hackensack, N.J.
The construction contractors want cameras to document the progress of the construction of a particular building, with the images accessible via the Internet to all the stakeholders of that building, Cury said. Transportation officials like them for traffic management, security and to document daily operations. Tourism officials, of course, want to broadcast scenery, Cury said.
Among IT departments, the main use appears to be server room surveillance. The camera usually has a fixed view across the top of the server racks, but sometimes there is a pan, tilt and zoom control. (In that case, the camera is typically getting input from multiple people across the Web, triggering apparently random motion -- but that may actually enhance security.) Since there is usually nothing in view that an intruder could slip into his or her pocket, the cameras are apparently there to show that the rooms are not currently on fire.
In the consumer webcam market, Logitech International SA is the apparent market leader, claiming to have sold about 40 million units worldwide. Most are used for person-to-person video communications rather than to broadcast pictures or video over the Web, said Andrew Heymann, director of product marketing at Logitech.
In fact, the dominant usage trend is that older users have migrated from video chatting to full video calling, said Heymann. Video with text chatting was the norm five years ago, and the webcam mostly let the user see, in a small window, whoever he or she was text-chatting with. The user multitasked video with typing, he explained.
Full-screen video calling
"Now they do full-screen video calling, with no typing, although video chatting remains popular with younger users," Heymann said. With a high-end webcam (costing about $100) and a dual-core PC with Skype telecommunications software at both ends of a broadband connection, it's possible to have full-screen 30-frames-per-second video calling, he said. Services other than Skype produce lower resolution, he added.
In terms of hardware, the major trend in consumer webcams is that nearly all consumer laptops reaching the market today have a built-in webcam, said Stephen Baker, an analyst at The NPD Group Inc., a market research firm in Port Washington, N.Y. "Putting them in the small space available at the top of the display solves the problem of how to get the user on camera," he said. Webcams are also showing up in business laptops, but in the absence of a video "killer app," the complications involved with using them on corporate networks will slow their adoption, Baker indicated.
Why lifecast? "Part of it is narcissism, proclaiming that I am interesting enough that you should watch me." Dennis Judd, network engineer
Inside or outside the office, the webcam trend that gets the most attention has always been lifecasting, where the user puts cameras in his or her living and work spaces to document whatever happens there, mundane or otherwise. The best-known pioneer was JenniCam.com, started by a co-ed who began broadcasting in April 1996. She gained enough notoriety to be a guest on a number of TV talk shows, but she unplugged the system at the end of 2003 and now appears to have an unlisted phone number.
Since then, the proliferation of wireless connectivity has allowed lifecasters to bring cameras with them and record all their activities, 24 hours per day. The best-known pioneer was probably Justin Kan, who began broadcasting his life via a hat-mounted webcam in March 2007, again gaining enough notoriety to end up on TV talk shows. He stopped broadcasting on Oct. 3, 2007, but opened his site to anyone else who wanted to lifecast.
The site is now a venture-backed start-up hosting a number of niche channels, including other lifecasters, explained its CEO, Michael Seibel. Many of the lifecast channels include live video with a chat screen. Often, the video screen shows the top of the broadcaster's head, as he or she leans over the keyboard to respond to text messages.
Life-casting
Why lifecast? "Part of it is narcissism, proclaiming that I am interesting enough that you should watch me," said network engineer Dennis Judd, explaining why he has had a webcam in his office for eight years now. "But my site is a way for me to socialize in a way that I don't have time or energy to support otherwise -- I can't be a friend to all the people who are coming to my site from all over the world. One reason for having a webcam is to keep the content fresh and dynamic, so there will be something new to look at." He originally had the webcam at his AT&T office until it was suggested he lacked permission. It's now in his home office.
Other lifecasting office workers in the computer field describe the same arc experienced by CoolerCam and JenniCam, moving from novelty to notoriety to obscurity. For instance, the star of "The Nerdman Show" has had as many as 15 cameras following his life since 1997. These used to include cameras in his home. Nowadays, he asked that his name not be used.
"It was originally done as a marketing concept, and I didn't want to be the subject, but no one else wanted to do it," he said, explaining that his company sells outdoor network cameras. "It was easier when Google ads entered the picture and brought in some money, which went into my pocket because it's my site. But then I got married and had two children, and it was hard to explain to them why they should not run around certain areas in their underwear." He's now down to one camera, in his office.
For the jack-n-diane.com site of e-commerce executive John R. Harding in Hillsborough, N.J., "It's morphed from a way for the family to look at our kids, to a method of home surveillance -- it's had a full lifespan." Now, it's mostly pointed at his front yard, he noted.
"The novelty among viewers has worn off on both sides of the ocean, but we still get comments from people who live in areas where there is no snow, since they're surprised to see it here," said Harding. "Sometimes I worry about security, but if someone wanted to find me, there are multiple ways to do it, and the webcam adds little to that," he noted.
Meanwhile, CoolerCam.com has had more than 1.3 million visitors since February 1997. "It's a novelty item," Ryan said. "We tell our customers about it, and they want to check it out and have us stand in front of it. It helps build rapport. There's no reason to take it down. The camera just sits there without any need for maintenance. We were the first cooler cam, and we may be the last."
Take a look
Disregarding adult sites, publicly accessible webcams and network cameras seem to fall into five major genres. Here are some random examples. (Note that cameras are intermittently offline, and to view them, you are sometimes asked to download software such as Java, Windows Media Player and Flash.)
Scenery
These include mountain ranges, fishing piers, city centers, the North Pole, the South Pole and oddities, including a street bench in Poland.
Construction
These cameras document the progress of building projects.Wildlife
Since they're stationary, bird nests are popular, especially in Europe, as are zoo exhibits.
Pets
For whatever reason, webcams that focus on cats far outnumber those that focus on dogs.
Households
Yes, people still have them in their houses, such as these two in Minnesota.
Enterprises
Rather than the office itself, many show the reception area or the server room.
- Reception area (Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles in Anchorage)
- A server room
Inexplicable
If you were considering focusing a webcam on an aging cheese wheel, a large potted cactus, a mussel or department store mannequins being re-introduced into the wild, you're too late. But don't be discouraged.
And now here's a webcam blooper:The Haves vs the Have-nots
Nearly 8 years ago when I met my wife, I had a computer in my house with dial-up internet.
She did not.
Yet we met via an online dating service.
Now everyone in our family has a computer and yet I sometimes wonder if the difference between the Haves and the Have-nots will be the internet.
I know there are homeless people in Fort Wayne and other cities that have no place except the "shelter" to sleep, but they have cell phones.
Perhaps with cellphones and their ability to connect to the internet, it will bridge the gap. Another way is the library:
Libraries bridge the divide between those who have access to information and those who do not by providing free and equal access to information to people of all ages and backgrounds.
Two-Thirds of Americans Have a Library Card
September 22, 2008 - September is Library Card Sign-up Month, and two thirds (68%) of Americans currently own a library card. According to the results of a new nationwide Harris Poll of 2,710 U.S. adults surveyed online between August 11 and 17, 2008 by Harris Interactive.
Review the entire poll results.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
More tips on Preventing Computer Disasters
It was nearly a week ago that I wiped out 5 years of stuff that I'd been transferring from one computer to another, by accidentally reformatting my hard drive. Actually, the computer was supposed to have made back ups before it did the dirty work, but nope.
Yesterday I presented a list of 270 online office helpers, which prompted a couple of questions/comments.
So, here's a couple of tips. And I am all for tips that save money so everything I'm about to tell you about is under 20 bucks.
First of all I urge people to back stuff up on-line. A year ago there where services that would give you 1gb, or up to 5 gb of free online storage space. Well, I found a place where I can back up 50gb at no cost and that's what I have done. AdDrive.com is my new favorite place to store back ups with no cost.
I urge anyone that is using any outside company to check on a regular basis, such as weekly to ensure that the company is still around. We do not know what will occur in the future with the economy and the health of any company, big or small.
My son has an external hard drive that he uses with his laptop. I have considered that option a couple of times, but for me, that would cost money which I don't want to spend and then there is the problem of having your back up and your computer in the same place, perhaps even the same carrying case and what happens if that case gets stolen, lost, or damaged? You are still up the creek without a paddle.
I have been able to restore many if not most if the important lost items because of the way I have been moving certain aspects of my work to online services. This includes email and bookmarks.
Instead of using the bookmarks, or favorites feature on my browser, I use Delicious.com
When I set up my current laptop in January, I set up my email account for the radio stations I work for, to send a BCC to a Gmail account every time I sent an email from that account. There are 1400 emails stored in that account from the past 9 months. (I also have my old computer which has emails stored from the previous 5 years that I can move back into this computer.)
Speaking of Gmail, Google, the company that hosts Gmail, continues to expand their suite of services and there are numerous ways to move your office to the virtual world by signing up for an account (or two or three). Go to Google Apps and get started. The only cost you may incur is to set up a domain name, which they will help you do for as little as 10 bucks a year.
Zoho is another company that I have worked with and they continue to expand their services, most of which are free.
Click here for links to Zoho and other services.
The reason I was able to recover after a few days, even without having a complete back up plan in place, was because I already was doing a lot of my work using online services, and a lot of what I needed that were radio station related are stored on the servers we have at the stations, which we back up regularly.
One concern about storing stuff on line is security. My friends, we live in an era of high security and no security simultaneously. So, don't store bank accounts, passwords and other extremely valuable info where someone can hack into it. My parents had a safety deposit box at their bank as a place to store certain documents. You can still make back ups on cds and dvds, encrypt them and store them somewhere safe.
Good luck and may you learn from some of my mistakes and some of my tips.
Monday, September 22, 2008
What's a phone book good for?
Sunday, September 21, 2008
That's Nice, What Else Can You Do?
It's 9 o'clock Sunday night and I'm wrapping up the weekend filled with football, food, computer repairs, Appleseed Festing and cats by watching the Emmy's.
Josh Grobin just demonstrated he can almost rap. Well, he sang a medly of TV theme songs that I would not have expected coming out of his classical voice.
Which brings me to this article from Harvey Mackay:
Open the door to your hidden talents
There was a man who played piano in a bar. He was a good piano player. People came out just to hear him play. But one night, a patron told him he didn't want to hear him just play anymore. He wanted him to sing a song.
The man said, "I don't sing."
But the customer was persistent. He told the bartender, "I'm tired of listening to the piano. I want that guy to sing!"
The bartender shouted across the room, "Hey buddy! If you want to get paid, sing a song. The patrons are asking you to sing!"
So he did. The piano player who had never sung in public did so for the very first time. And no one had ever heard the song "Mona Lisa" sung the way it was sung that night by none other than Nat King Cole.
He had talent he was sitting on. He may have lived the rest of his life as a no-name piano player in a no-name bar, but because he had to sing, he went on to become one of the best-known entertainers in America.
There's a lesson here for all of us. We all have hidden talents. Good companies understand this and give their employees opportunities to try different jobs and learn new skills. They never know when they might discover another Nat King Cole.
As proof, I offer you the array of reality television shows that invite contestants to sing, dance or perform their professed "talents" (which some actually possess) for a panel of judges and viewers. I give the contestants credit for trying!
I have a friend who is constantly asking me, "When is the last time you did something for the first time?" He wants me to stretch myself and to experience as many new adventures as I can.
I often advise people to learn and try as many skills as they can handle to make themselves indispensable to their companies. There is another benefit: You just might find a talent you didn't know you had, or discover a new job or career to pursue. Companies like 3M allow their researchers time to try their own projects, whether or not they are related to their regular jobs.
One local television reporter has been job swapping with viewers—among her experiences, she's been a fire fighter, dog trainer, city manager, florist, baker and sanitation worker. She has demonstrated some hidden talents, along with a terrific sense of humor. So far, it doesn't appear that she is ready to abandon her TV gig.
I also advise people to take up hobbies or volunteer to give their brains a break from their regular routines. The hidden benefit there is that a change of scenery can stimulate your creativity, which in turn helps you discover other hidden abilities.
If you don't expand your wings you might end up like the eagle that thought he was a prairie chicken. There once was a hiker who found an eagle's egg high on a mountain. Not knowing what kind of egg it was, he carried the egg down to the prairie and placed it in the nest of a prairie chicken.
The eaglet hatched with the brood of prairie chicks and grew up with them. All his life, the little eagle, thinking he was a prairie chicken, did what his fellow prairie chickens did. He scratched in the dirt for seeds and insects to eat. He clucked and cackled as they did. And he flew no more than a few feet off the ground. After all, he told himself, that's how prairie chickens are supposed to fly.
One day the young eagle saw a magnificent bird flying high above in the cloudless prairie sky. The magnificent creature moved across the sky powered only by an occasional flap of its powerful wings.
"What a beautiful bird!" exclaimed the young eagle to one of his prairie chicken brothers. "I wonder what it is."
"That's an eagle, the king of birds," clucked his companion. "But don't get any ideas, you can never be like him." So the young eagle never gave it another thought. And so he lived out his life, close to the ground, thinking he was a prairie chicken, never daring to soar.
Mackay's Moral: How will you know if you don't try?
Miss a column? The last three weeks of Harvey's columns are always archived online.
More information and learning tools can be found online at harveymackay.com.
Buying Stuff without going Broke
Shopping.
What kind of shopper are you?
Do you prefer to "get in and get out"?
Or is shopping an experience?
No matter what kind of shopper you are, (and I just got back from the grocery store, so I know what I am), here's some advice for all of us to keep things under control:
Have you ever spent the morning at the shopping mall, returned home and realized that half of your purchases were junk that you didn't need? Have you ever been persuaded to buy something just because it was on sale, near the register, or packaged in your favorite color? Do you look at your receipts with a sense of dread, unwilling to total up how much you’ve spent during your shopping trip?
Ok, if you said no to all of those, I am not sure that I believe it. At one point or another, all of us have failed to resist the impulse. Something tells us that we need this belt, shirt, candy bar, magazine, etc.
So let's lose the denial and face facts. If we cannot control this erratic behavior, we're wasting tons money - either cash or worse, by credit. Like any habit, there are ways we can set ourselves up for a successful quit. Let's go through some of them.
Always make a list
Before you go on any shopping trip, make a list of what you intend to purchase. Most of us do that when we’re off to buy groceries – but you should write out a list even when you’re going to a hardware store, a furniture store, etc. For example, if you need stationary, write down exactly what you’re after – pens, ink, paper. This means you won’t forget some vital item and you’ll be less likely to pick up things which aren’t on your list – magazines, or sweets.
If you’re clothes shopping, make a list of what items you need. Perhaps you’re looking for a new pair of jeans and some socks. You’ve got plenty of sweaters – so just because you see one half-price doesn’t mean you should buy it. Yes it's 50% off but it's 100% more than you intended to spend on a sweater.
Don’t buy when you’re browsing
Some of us, of course, like to go around the shops just for fun. Whether you’re browsing a bookshop, clothing outlets or a computer store, be clear in your head that you’re just looking. Don’t grab something on impulse. If you see a great offer, or an item you really love, then make a note of it and go home to think about it. You can come back a few days later if you’ve decided you really do want to buy it. To be even more strict with yourself, consider using the 30-day rule.
If you really can’t wait a few days, then at least go and do the rest of your shopping before you return to the store. Half the battle against impulse buying is just stepping back and taking time to think before you buy.
Spend cash
It’s easy to spend far more than you realize when you’re putting it all on plastic. One sure-fire way to curb the urge to buy is to take out a set amount of cash (maybe $50 or $100) at the start of your shopping trip, then only spend cash. Once your money’s gone, it’s gone.
And if you always spend cash, you won’t be running up debt on your credit card. Yes, you’re planning to pay it off on time every month – but a little too much impulse shopping and a few expensive emergencies is all it takes for you to be unable to make the payment. Unless you have a flush emergency fund already set aside, I'd stick with cash instead of worrying about lost credit card rewards.
Keep a spending log
If you need some heavy duty help with impulse control, keep a spending log. Writing down everything that you spend keeps you accountable to yourself. Being able to look back at the end of the week or month and figure out when you’ve wasted money can help you to curb your spending in future.
Another way to do this is to use a site like Joe’s Goals and enter a negative “goal” of “bought something on impulse”. Any time you buy an item for the wrong reason – because it caught your eye and you didn’t stop to think about it – give yourself a cross against this goal. You’ll soon be able to see how often you impulse shop.
Are you an impulse buyer or do you have your shopping habits totally under control? Who’s benefiting from your shopping trips – you, or the big chains of stores that encourage you to spend, spend, spend? Have you got any great tips on curbing the urge to buy?
Ali
What kind of shopper are you?
Do you prefer to "get in and get out"?
Or is shopping an experience?
No matter what kind of shopper you are, (and I just got back from the grocery store, so I know what I am), here's some advice for all of us to keep things under control:
Dumb Little Man - tips for life |  |
How To Stop Your Impulse Spending
Posted: 19 Sep 2008 08:32 AM CDT
 | Written on 9/19/2008 by Ali Hale who writes about healthy eating for busy people at her blog, The Office Diet. | Photo Credit: iboy_daniel |
Have you ever spent the morning at the shopping mall, returned home and realized that half of your purchases were junk that you didn't need? Have you ever been persuaded to buy something just because it was on sale, near the register, or packaged in your favorite color? Do you look at your receipts with a sense of dread, unwilling to total up how much you’ve spent during your shopping trip?Ok, if you said no to all of those, I am not sure that I believe it. At one point or another, all of us have failed to resist the impulse. Something tells us that we need this belt, shirt, candy bar, magazine, etc.
So let's lose the denial and face facts. If we cannot control this erratic behavior, we're wasting tons money - either cash or worse, by credit. Like any habit, there are ways we can set ourselves up for a successful quit. Let's go through some of them.
Always make a list
Before you go on any shopping trip, make a list of what you intend to purchase. Most of us do that when we’re off to buy groceries – but you should write out a list even when you’re going to a hardware store, a furniture store, etc. For example, if you need stationary, write down exactly what you’re after – pens, ink, paper. This means you won’t forget some vital item and you’ll be less likely to pick up things which aren’t on your list – magazines, or sweets.
If you’re clothes shopping, make a list of what items you need. Perhaps you’re looking for a new pair of jeans and some socks. You’ve got plenty of sweaters – so just because you see one half-price doesn’t mean you should buy it. Yes it's 50% off but it's 100% more than you intended to spend on a sweater.
Don’t buy when you’re browsing
Some of us, of course, like to go around the shops just for fun. Whether you’re browsing a bookshop, clothing outlets or a computer store, be clear in your head that you’re just looking. Don’t grab something on impulse. If you see a great offer, or an item you really love, then make a note of it and go home to think about it. You can come back a few days later if you’ve decided you really do want to buy it. To be even more strict with yourself, consider using the 30-day rule.
If you really can’t wait a few days, then at least go and do the rest of your shopping before you return to the store. Half the battle against impulse buying is just stepping back and taking time to think before you buy.
Spend cash
It’s easy to spend far more than you realize when you’re putting it all on plastic. One sure-fire way to curb the urge to buy is to take out a set amount of cash (maybe $50 or $100) at the start of your shopping trip, then only spend cash. Once your money’s gone, it’s gone.
And if you always spend cash, you won’t be running up debt on your credit card. Yes, you’re planning to pay it off on time every month – but a little too much impulse shopping and a few expensive emergencies is all it takes for you to be unable to make the payment. Unless you have a flush emergency fund already set aside, I'd stick with cash instead of worrying about lost credit card rewards.
Keep a spending log
If you need some heavy duty help with impulse control, keep a spending log. Writing down everything that you spend keeps you accountable to yourself. Being able to look back at the end of the week or month and figure out when you’ve wasted money can help you to curb your spending in future.
Another way to do this is to use a site like Joe’s Goals and enter a negative “goal” of “bought something on impulse”. Any time you buy an item for the wrong reason – because it caught your eye and you didn’t stop to think about it – give yourself a cross against this goal. You’ll soon be able to see how often you impulse shop.
Are you an impulse buyer or do you have your shopping habits totally under control? Who’s benefiting from your shopping trips – you, or the big chains of stores that encourage you to spend, spend, spend? Have you got any great tips on curbing the urge to buy?
Ali
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)