Kami the Blinker vs. Kevin the Social Cyborg Spotted by my friend Leon Brown, now I know I’m not alone looking like a cybernetic mofo. Here’s a side by side comparison with a Japanese researcher on the left: We both use Logitech cameras, but to different ends. According to The Register (Hardware), the left photo shows a prototype device aimed at replacing remote controls: Kazuhiro Taniguchi, a researcher at the Osaka University Graduate School of Engineering Science, has invented a blink-operated switch called the Kome Kami Switch. It’s mounted onto someone’s head and uses infrared sensors to monitor temple movements related to blinking, which in turn can be used to control a whole host of everyday gadgets, including TVs, air conditioners and lighting systems. While it’s pretty neat, I still have no idea why Kazuhiro needs a pair of stereoscopic cameras, unless it’s to be folded inwards for eye tracking. If so, Alex Halavais pointed me to a much more practical eye tracker you could build yourself. The how-to PDF article is titled “Building a lightweight eyetracking headgear” (Babcock & Pelz, 2004). In related social cyborg news, I’ve gone from the Sony UX to the Fujitsu u810 as my wearable computer. I’m continuing the pursuit for a viable pragmatic connection between “meat space” and online networked realm. While the prospect of merging live video with location-awareness has been commercially achieved through Seero, as well as through Video+GPS hackers like AtlasRider, I’m quite excited by the use of cellphones to similar effect. As seen from OgleEarth, you can now combine Qik.com and Ipoki.com to let you live stream video from your mobile phone to the web while also showing your location in real time: In a conversation with Howard Rheingold over twitter, he remarked that a problem with the adoption of lifecasting lies in how it is a highly cognitive activity. When compared with reporting your status via twitter, it is more complicated. If cellphones were to make the process simpler, then I believe more of us would be willing to give lifecasting a shot. At this rate, I’d say that our cellphones are becoming the everyday HUD (Heads-Up Display) for navigating our increasingly complex lives. Similar Posts:In case I get asked about my strange backpack tonight… theorycast.40 :: Interview with AtlasRider (video + mapping + biker) Checking in on LiveNewsCameras.com… Lifecast: Guest Speaking on Blogging + Lifecasting (9am EST) Kevin’s “Mat Rock Band” Birthday Bash! (4hrs of Pre-Recorded Video) Plurk & Zivity t-shirts in StartupSchwag 10 As you can see, the Plurk t-shirt was the best schwag in this month’s StartupSchwag bag. Zivity’s not too bad, but it’d be better for a girl I think (it’s a crowdsourced modelling site). You do have to fork out $14.95/month subscription for StartupSchwag’s mystery bag, but at least the comfy t-shirts are from American Apparel. While not all the startup stickers might be worth your while, you sometimes get keychains, caps, badges, and other goodies as well. Last month’s batch was a little dull, so thankfully they made up for it by throwing in TWO t-shirts this time. These geek t-shirts tend to run between $10 to $15 alone! StartupSchwag pays homage to ValleySchwag, which I had a lot of heart for. Here are the kinds of schwag I’ve gotten back in the ValleySchwag days. Similar Posts:Valleyschwag arrives… I’m very impressed! Valleyschwag: For the Web 2.0 startup wannabes Making my own blogging t-shirts Valleyschwag #3: Look what I got today… ValleySchwag 2: Yay, I scored a rare T-shirt (1:1500) Wordle: Make beautiful textclouds… Via Clay Shirky’s twitter, I had discovered the most beautiful textcloud generator I’ve ever played with. Straight from Wordle’s mouth… Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends. To generate a textcloud of your own, simply paste a body of text, your blog’s RSS feed, or your delicious username (like mine shown above), and away you go. I’d say it’s a great way to spice up that presentation of yours, or even turn into a poster of t-shirt. I wonder how else we could use this. Similar Posts:Facebook Beacon: Now TWICE AS INSIDIOUS than before! Wall Poster: The Web is Agreement Optimizing Feedburner analytics via Bloglines Publishing Tools Coming Soon: Tomorrow.sg dashboard widget Today’s Links: Papercraft iPhones… just print and fold! Harold Crick’s Comedy vs. Tragedy Reminder to self: Don’t forget to live your life. Similar Posts:Reminder trick for cancelling your Amazon Prime Trial Spot anything strange with this iPod shuffle? The Meaning of Life in Poetry In case I get asked about my strange backpack tonight… The oldest Mac switcher I’ve ever helped… theorycast.45 :: Mouse in the Air - The GyroTransport Pro Watch on Youtube or download the iPhone version (.m4v / 47.5mb). Watch previous episodes on Blip.tv or subscribe to theorycast via iTunes. Want a mouse that works in the air, like a Nintendo Wii controller? Perhaps Gyration’s GyroTransport Pro is the answer. Here’s a demo of the portable wireless air mouse working with XBMC Media Center for the Mac (now known as Plex). You’ll see that for a $130+ input device, it still needs some help working on a Mac… I’ve yet to try it using third-party mouse drivers, like SteerMouse or ControllerMate (I mentioned USB OverDrive, but that’s way old), so let me know if anyone’s got preferences on which I should try. I’ll do a follow up in the comments. Aside: The music sampled the video comes from The Lovemakers, the dance track being Whine & Dine. Similar Posts:Video Review: Apple’s Mighty Mouse Video: Impossible to get cabs just before midnight in Singapore? Apple Remote + Mighty Mouse = Kensington’s Slimblade Presenter Media Mouse? Introducing BreakinAsia’s Podcast: Breakbeat music from Asia LIVE Video: Geek Terminal Official Launch Party Elaborating my Buffalo News quote: Google Maps Street View = Augmented Deja-Vu Here are elaborations of my three different press mentions this past month… The Buffalo News “Google ‘Street View’ brings the world to Buffalo’s front doors” by Steve Watson on 16th July 2008 The Buffalo News has a feature on privacy today. Steve Watson wrote about how Google’s street view feature has finally made its way to Buffalo. His article features a collection of quotes from residents like us where to some, it’s invasive, while to others, it’s a boon. You should know where I stand… “For me, personally, it’s quite amazing. It solves an age-old problem: How do you get there, and how do you know what it looks like?” said Kevin Lim, a University at Buffalo doctoral student who writes about technology trends on a blog, theory.isthereason.com” I’d argue that the Street View experience almost feels visceral enough to be a form of augmented deja-vu, something that goes beyond visual memory, but one of simulated locatedness. For instance, the article mention my “Google Maps Street View” epiphany when I tried to see if a certain restaurant still existed on a visit to San Francisco. If you zoom in enough, you can even make out the restaurant’s telephone number on the giant signage. Since I am able to pan around the neighborhood from a first person perspective, I get a sense of place that goes beyond flat 2D photography. When I eventually got there, the Street View experience was re-lived and completed, much like how would imagine finishing a jigsaw puzzle of a familiar picture. In the past, I’ve written about how wearable video recording would serve as a form of memory prothesis. This Google Street View experience is rich, yet unique, in that the memory isn’t yours, but transplanted from someone else (e.g. Google drivers). Ken Fujiuchi, Buffalo State College’s emerging technologies librarian, has used it while he looks for a new place to rent. He also shares my idea on privacy… that it’s too ambiguous to be disconcerting. The way I look at privacy, is to put it on the risk vs. rewards scale: Since the Street View feature is able to give me the confidence of reaching somewhere with more certainty, it overrides the concern for me. Besides, the images were taken in a public space, a space that is already physically shared by all. Before anyone gets anymore antsy, we should perhaps take time to read Dr. Daniel Solove’s seminal book on Understanding Privacy (2008). I also found more privacy thoughts from the comments of Steve’s supplemental blog article, “Smile: You’re on Google Camera“. If you’re interested, I also recently gave quotes to… ACM’s eLearn Magazine “Edupunk” Rocks the (Virtual) House by Laurie Rowell on 8th July 2008 I gave a real-life example of how I ran my classes by having students take control of lessons and take responsibility for learning on their own. I rewarded students who could share the most, which is typically mediated through online spaces such as their blogs. New York Press Feeding Frenzy by Gina Pace on 25th June 2008 Gina Pace’s wrote an exploratory article on “lifestreaming” which quotes from a number of avid users and developers, including Mark Krynsky of Lifestreamblog.com, Paul Buchheit of FriendFeed, John McCrea of Plaxo. I contributed my thoughts by citing the “Walled Garden” problem of popular social networking services, the practical side of lifestreaming via Leisa Reichelt “ambient intimacy” concept where I elaborated on the economics of attention. Electronic communication has lowered the “cost” of finding out what’s going on with those you know, said Kevin Lim, a tech blogger who is a doctoral student in communications at the University of Buffalo in New York. Some will call very few people in their social network but are interested to find out what’s going on with a lot of people if it’s easy enough, he said. Lim is especially interested by the idea that this type of intimate knowledge of the mundane can speed up the feeling of trust. Most people, Lim thinks, are literate enough online that they can sense when someone is a liar. Similar Posts:SingaporeanAbroad: Luncheon with Mr Biao Video: Priscilla asks about my 24/7 blog cam (lifecasting) Quoted on Buffalo News: Privacy Survival Guide 101 The Joys of Surveillance: Crowdsourcing of the Social Contract Buffalo Tweetup #3: Making a living thru video podcasting Inside the iPhone 3G TechOnline did a chip-by-chip breakdown of what’s inside your iPhone 3G and revealed the manufacturers that won big with Apple. It’s quite technical, but it serves as a good primer into what goes into today’s smartphones. Similar Posts:Video: iPhone hack for Windows Mobile & Palm Smartphones Steve Jobs CNBC Interview @ 5th Ave. Apple Store MacBooks now out in Black or White! Did Apple make the right choice? Double Whammy Videos: HTC touch and the iPhone More US students seek Asian experience (The Straits Times, 3rd July) Click here for enlarged view. Source: The Straits Times, 3rd July As a Singaporean studying in the States, it’s always interesting to see cultural exchanges like these. Admittedly, Singaporeans have it quite easy transitioning to U.S. culture, likewise for our American counterparts. All it takes is a little willingness to keep an open mind. Dr. Dunnett puts it quite succinctly… “They can find their favorite junk foods. They meet students who wear the same kind of clothes, use the same iPods, even use the same Americanisms. It is not a culture shock that you might get, say, in China or Japan,” he said. “But, as the students soon discover, Singapore is very Asian below the surface, while being very comfortable.” Stephen Dunnett, Vice Provost for International Education, is quoted in an article on the front page of Singapore’s Straits Times on the increasing number of American students who are studying in Singapore in order to get a better picture of the growth occurring on that continent. Similar Posts:Singapore/Hopkins Divorce: What’s the Big Deal? WIRED magazine and the “How-To” phenomenon… One less thing for kids to blog about… Singapore Documentary: Should I Stay Or Should I Go? Happy BlogDay: My Top Five Blogs my stealth watch: The Nike Amp Watches have a cybernetic relationship with man. To some of us, it’s our second skin and it adds to our ability to sense / measure time. With the Nike Amp watch (debuted Oct 2007), it got that that much cooler, with an invisible face that depicts the time through an animated LED display. You’ve got to watch the video to see what I mean. The Nike Amp is intended to control your Nike iPod+ Sport Kit wirelessly, but I got it more for its minimal yet detailed design. Besides, it was on sale at BestBuy for $64! Unboxing photos after the jump… Similar Posts:Nike+iPod: Why it’s more than just a pedometer Today’s Links: Widsense adds sense to AdSense Today’s Links: Nike + iPod cheap mods Video: Unboxing my Apple Refurb 17″ MacBook Pro Spot anything strange with this iPod shuffle? Happy 7-11 Day (and we got free Slurpees!) It’s 7-11 today. Besides being Gautam’s last day, we went out and got free Slurpees! Some of us went a little overboard though… Thom went nuts with his Slurpee creation, much to the disgust of this passing customer… Liz went black, and I don’t think she’s coming back… Julie and Pitfee went for their Slurpees and returned with Sugar Sours Straws (WTH!) And of course, we all bid Gautham farewell as he leaves for his future career in San Francisco. Spot the difference in both photos? Similar Posts:Photos: The “OK, this is goodbye” Party @ Oosh Tripod: Love-Making Music for Gamers Farewell Jean… Today’s Links: Making Money though Blogging Today’s Links: Impersonals // The less embarrasing personals site theorycast.44 :: How to iPhone-ize Your WordPress Blog Watch on Youtube or download the video iPod version (.m4v / 69mb). Watch previous episodes on Blip.tv or subscribe to theorycast via iTunes. This Friday (July 11th, 2008), Apple will be unleashing the long awaited 3G iPhone. Besides our credit sinking blackholes faster than you can say “Large Hadron Collider“, what else does this mean? In February, Google reported a surge of mobile users searching online. Chances are, that’s how they’ll be coming across your blog. So then… Have you made your blog iPhone-friendly yet? If you said no, I don’t blame you. I’m no CSS expert myself, but wait… What about those free and easy WordPress plug-ins to give mobile readers (and yourself) that special iPhone stylin’ experience? In this episode of theorycast, I’ll showcase Dale’s amazing WPtouch plugin for an iPhone client theme, his Blip.it iPhone handler for mobile video playback, as well as the WPhone Admin Plugin so you can blog in true iPhone style. After this quick little project, you’ll want to make sure you have a heavy-duty paper towels ready… you’ll be dripping slickness by the gallon. ;D BTW: If you like this article (I really do), then help me digg it! Similar Posts:theorycast.34 :: Cradlepoint EVDO wifi router (3G iPhone anyone?) Watch ::theorycast:: on blip.tv (re-runs never looked so good!) What are your favorite Wordpress plug-ins? Are you getting tons of comment spam? theorycast.45 :: Mouse in the Air - The GyroTransport Pro Buffalo Tweetup #3: Making a living thru video podcasting Here’s one of the conversations at Buffalo Tweetup #3, where Keith Burtis discusses how sponsorships work on video podcasts. Like Keith, I’ve also felt how the social media scene is about to break out of the niche activity its pleasantly been so far. Like a low hanging fruit, anyone interested in making a living from it might have an easier time now than when the commercial storm hits (I’d say it has already). In retrospect, that’s how valuable we users are, even as explorers, not necessarily experts. Besides all that business talk, we chatted about open-source twitter (identi.ca), tweetdeck (a clustering twitter client) and a few other Buffalo community related happenings like Buffalo Homecoming 2008. Organized at Allen Street Hardware Cafe (Google map), I had a tasty, cosy time with my neighborhood twitter-ers. The gumbo was to die for as you’ll see in the photos below! Similar Posts:microcelebrity spotting: Keith Burtis the Woodturner Vids and Pics: 1st Buffalo Tweetup @ The BrewPub Want the juice on Macworld? Try Twitter. Steamboat dinner with a few blogging friends UN Working Group on Internet Governance: An Insider’s Perspective If I don’t make it out alive… delete my emails “If I don’t make it out alive… delete my emails.” Glad I got it for $10 via Shirt.woot Aside: Yup, this is a ridiculously short post. I’ve got lots to blog about, including interview videos and screencasts, but I’ve to prioritize as I’m trying to finish up my dissertation by the end of year. Life here is becoming too routine, need to make changes… or die trying. Similar Posts:SingaporeanAbroad: Luncheon with Mr Biao Back in the academic groove Halo 3 confirmed w/ leaked video? Where’s Penny? Which t-shirt would you prefer on a date? Polyvore: Mix n’ match outfits from ANY online retailer (fun for ladies!) Since I’ve been looking at interesting shopping experiences online, I found something that’s bound to be a hit with the ladies (least I think so). Polyvore lets you mix and match images from anywhere on the web, to create outfits, interior designs, or any kind of collage. While it could be used for creating all kinds of visual mashups by layering images quickly, the example of trying out various combination of outfits seem the most succinct. Reminds me of those clear plastic sticker dress-up activity books back in the day. Similar Posts:Shufflesome: Wicked designs for iPod Shuffle Exclusive: Pre-Release Look at Comic Life Magiq! When playing a game of Halo with a girl… I’m such a lucky devil… Google Notifier for Mac: Does emails and calendars Flowgram on Shopping Social Networks: A Look at Shoplette.com Click on the Flowgram slideshow above to play. I did a quick comparison of popular shopping-related social networking services, then zero in on Singapore-based Shoplette.com and their Google map integration. I believe that Singapore has a unique shopping experience where being geographically small means that individuals would rather buying from brick & mortar stores than to purchase online (i.e. wasting time and money shipping). The location-awareness of items shared on Shoplette adds a touch of cultural relevance to Singapore users. As seen in my flowgram above (first time user), I gave two suggestions for the beta service: Bring mapping to the forefront of the service. Have it display items on a map, rather than show the map within item pages. Focus on Singapore users. Localize the service to a point where specific needs are met (e.g. bounding the map entries to Singapore, recommend popular places to shop) Since I’m trying out both services, let me know what you think of Shoplette.com, as well as Flowgram which I’ve used for this overview. Similar Posts:Useful collaborative work spaces How social media succeeds by being serious fun “Chope” : Is this Uniquely Singapore? Today’s Links: Police Use MySpace to ID Suspects Visual Maps of the Blogosphere Omnisio: Video Annotations with Slideshow Syncing (It’s Awesome!) Share and annotate your videos with Omnisio! Here’s my test of Omnisio using a popular presentation of mine… Keeping tabs on the online video sharing scene, I came across a new video sharing service called Omnisio. Dabbling with it for a while, I found plenty of reasons to be excited… Essentially, Omnisio does two things: 1) Share compilations of videos complete with on-screen annotations 2) Synchronize video with slideshows, side-by-side You can upload and import videos, create playlists (what they call compilations) and add your own on-screen annotations (so can viewers). Another feature includes syncing together a video with a relevant presentation. This solves a major issue for me, in showing videos of my talks yet having the clarity of the slides by the side. For a better view of the this on Omnisio, I’ve put together one of my popular presentations from Nov 2006 entitled The Rise of Us, which is about how organizations work on the social web. As mentioned earlier, Omnisio plays well with various online video and presentation services, allowing you to import media from Youtube, Google Video, Blip.tv as well as Slideshare.net. Since I use these services, a mere import later and I got my synced video + presentation combo done in less than 15mins. That’s awesome! Do mouse around the video as there are plenty of interaction points. You can add on-screen comments at any time, or jump to particular slides (which jumps the video timeline accordingly). If the user annotations irritate you, you can filter them off from the right overlay menu (i.e. show owner’s or guests’ comments only). Youtube recently added video annotations too, but so far, only Omnisio lets viewers plug their annotations as well (if you allow them). On some of the Omnisio videos, user annotations were all over the place (which is quite funny). If you think seeing a plethora of user comments spewed all over the video is seems mindless, you can thank the crazy 2chan subculture for that. Specifically, it probably originated from “Nico Nico Douga“, an extremely popular Japanese video mashup service known for the user annotation madness meme. It’s collaborative art to me actually… Similar Posts:State of Intertextual Videos: On YouTube and Viddler video annotations Come by Friday @ 1pm: online video sharing // present & future Workshop Video: Facebook Strategies for the Classroom All your video is belong to us… Intro to Web 2.0 Workshop today! Posterous: Blog via email, complete with media attachments Kenneth Pinto recently tipped us off about Posterous. I’ve heard of it before, but I passed it off as just a gateway from email-to-blog (which most blog platforms support). Boy was I wrong. The magic of Posterous lies in how it handles media attachments in your “blog” email. As Kenneth puts it: Post one photo, and Posterous resizes it to fit the blog. Post a bunch of photos, Posterous creates a mini gallery. Post a document, spreadsheet or pdf, Posterous embeds it in the post using Scribd’s iPaper (don’t worry what this is, the process is entirely invisible - you just email the attachment). Post a YouTube URL, Posterous automatically embed the video. Post an mp3 file, Posterous creates an embedded mp3 player in the post for the file. All this just by clicking Send. According to their FAQ, it’s automatically display file formats including Microsoft Word (.doc), Powerpoint (.ppt), Adobe PDFs, Images (.jpg, .gif, .png) and Audio (.mp3). Since you manage everything through email, there’s a lot of potential for this for mobile users since email is still more ubiquitous than web access. What’s even better is that for folks who don’t care for blogs, they don’t even need to register. Posterous tracks posts based your email address and knows which blog address to assign them! Also, subscribing to blogs within Posterous is easy enough that they don’t even need to know what RSS is. My Wishlist for Posterous: 1. Videos be automatically processed using Youtube API 2. Google Map links be turned into map embeds Siva has been kicking the tires around Posterous, so take a peek at his blog. Similar Posts:Spam, Phishing & other Sadistic Joys of the Internet theorycast.02 :: First ODEO recording on Hacking FrontRow How to: Painlessly add music to your blog How to use Box.net just like Apple’s iDisk Get this: Subscribing to your WordPress blog via email theorycast.43 :: Assembling the EVO LCD Arm Watch on Youtube or download the video iPod version (.m4v / 60mb). Watch previous episodes on Blip.tv or subscribe to theorycast via iTunes. In theorycast episode 41, I reviewed the Cricket laptop stand from LCDarms.com. This week, LCD Arms marketing manager Joe Tosolt was kind enough to send me their signature EVO LCD Arm for my 24″ SOYO screen. When my package first arrived, I was surprised by how small the shipping box was. Thinking how heavy duty these LCD arms had to be, I expected something much bigger and heftier. In keeping with its minimal design, the EVO LCD arm felt tough yet elegant with it’s brushed metal finish. Little details such as the two smoke translucent elastic clasps help keep your video cables tidy. Earlier on, I was concerned about the impact of an LCD arm on my workspace. No drilling was required, and the EVO’s desk clamp even had a decet amount of felt and rubbery pads to protect your desk’s wood finish from being damaged. The entire assembly took me half an hour, where most of the time was spent taking apart my SOYO LCD screen’s built-in stand and adding on the VESA compliant mount for the LCD arm. Once everything was plugged in and switched on, I sat down to take in the sight. Admittedly, it took a little getting used to having a screen that could float around at will. I started flexing the EVO LCD arm in every way imaginable; from turning my screen into a overhead display (kinda like a H.U.D.), to making it low and flat like a graphing table (if only I could afford a multi-touch screen), to my current favorite configuration, the massive portrait mode which was perfect for web browsing without the need for scrolling! I took plenty of photos of my assembly process, but I think the most important one would be how my workspace looks right now. Of course, I ended up tidying up my desk too, but more notably is the smaller footprint the EVO LCD Arm had on my desk compared to my LCD screen’s built in stand… The EVO LCD Arm breathed new life into my otherwise static LCD screen. Since I use it for everything, from browsing long web pages, video editing, watching movies, playing Xbox video games, I’m glad that I now have a screen that could rise to any occasion. When Paul Stamatiou selected the heavier duty iLift VESA Arm for his iMac (also from LCDarms), I knew I was in good company. Before I knew of LCDarms though, I was gearing towards Ergotron’s range of LCD arms, which seemed popular with the geek crowd. On the whole, I’m impressed with the ease, aesthetic and build quality of the EVO LCD Arm. Here are more detailed photos I’ve taken today. Now do you currently use an LCD arm? Which model do you have and how have you used yours? If you’re interested, you can get the full specifications or order the EVO LCD arm online at LCDarms.com Similar Posts:theorycast.41 :: The “Futuristic” Cricket Laptop Stand theorycast.44 :: How to iPhone-ize Your WordPress Blog Watch ::theorycast:: on blip.tv (re-runs never looked so good!) Being Mobile + Working Public = Shoulder surfers’ delight! theorycast.11 :: Three minutes with the MacBook Trebor Scholz’s Cautionary Note on Social Media (via Howard Rheingold) As seen on Howard Rheingold’s vlog: Whenever people refer me to pseudo-critics of social media (i.e. Andrew Keen), I refer them to Fred Turner or to Trebor Scholz, who actually know something about what they are criticizing. I recommend Scholz’ paper, What The MySpace Generation Need To Know About Working For Free for those who want to learn more. It’s nice to see a familiar face on an Internet celebrity’s blog. If you recall, I participated in Trebor’s graduate seminars last year and took in various readings on how electronic networks change the way we live. I saw an iterative pattern, from the telegraph to the social web, towards how we coordinate ourselves throughout history. The only real change to me though, is complexity. I believe that as networks get more complex, motivations and agendas become more implicit. With that, I picked up Trebor’s perspectives on the dark side of the social web, especially since most of what we hear online seemed one-sided towards the excitement of online social networking (is the proper term “in-selling“?). It’s easy to get lost in the crowd when the mob is blindsided by the various pleasures of socializing, from the simple action of adding friends on Facebook, to more deliberate action of joining in a video lipdub. Thing is, do we question the larger agenda? Who gains the most out of this implicit labor? Does it matter if users know? Are we becoming intellectual lemmings? One of Trebor’s key arguments (which I share) is the idea of social networks being locked-in (what I call a walled garden), where users might not realize how time and labor invested on such platforms might not be exportable. As such, greater use would mean less likelihood of one leaving the network, essentially being trapped. Our collective action in such networks turns into free creative labor for the site owners, from which is used to attract even more users (i.e. network effect). There has been effort on the opposing end to liberate our personal identity (including our media) across networks, such as the Data Portability initiative, which a few major companies have agreed to partake in. It remains to be seen how generous social networks like Facebook and MySpace will be, in risking their already enormous population of captive users. Similar Posts:Facebook, we’ve got a problem… Niche networks // Neocha: China’s MySpace for the Creative People Livecasting: “Web 2.0: What Went Wrong?” by Trebor Scholz Facebooking: Compare People is Evil + What we do in FB Freshly Presented: “Facebook Strategies for the Classroom” Dailylinks: Tons of links I’ve liked (and sorted) in June… Bought this kawaii office t-shirt for $10 at Woot Shirt Apple Firefox 3 optimized builds for G5 / Intel - Be sure to grab the GrApple Firefox themes from the site as well! Google Code: Read PDFs in FireFox 3 for Mac - This Firefox 3 addon uses PDFKit to display PDFs in the browser. Obviously requires Firefox 3 and Mac OS 10.4 or higher. Duh! Powerset: Powerful search engine for facts, meanings and sumaries - Works incredibly well on the iPhone, PowerSet is a search engine which helps you make sense of your searches, by organizing around facts, meaning and summaries. Primate Labs Blog : Mac Performance (June 2008) - Here's a benchmark chart from the old iMac G3s to the latest Mac Pros. MacBook Air outperforms G4s almost twofold! (via Peter) Sequence 1.0: Screencasting with iChat Theater integration - With Sequence, you can add “doodles” or symbols directly onto your screenshots and videos, record audio, use hot keys to take screenshots and videos and share screenshots and video using iChat Theater technology. Culture Tumblr: the documentary - According to David Seger's Tumblr: they are "the dumbest babies of them all." It's like a cross between micro-blogging (twitter) and full-fledge-blogging (WordPress). Porn Slows Down the Blogging Process - How one guy tries to live off Google Adsense but get defeated by porn. So true. Fan Demand Resuscitates You Suck at Photoshop | The Underwire from Wired.com - I caught this photoshop tutorial with a twist of dark humor once… never knew it was this popular! Isabella Rossellini’s “Green Porno” - Isabella Rossellini (of Blue Velvet, after all) produces / acts in a series of short Web videos in which she passionately acts out the means by which different insects reproduce. It's aptly called Green Porno, a cross between Sesame Street and Pornography scans_daily: Ow, my brain. - This beautiful story broke my brain. Official Be Kind Rewind Guide to Sweding - Sweding is re-making something from scratch using whatever you can get your hands on. DIY and low-fi! Productivity Twitterfountain - Mashing Twitter Tweets and Flickr images into a visual backchannel Firefox 3 and Color Management - Joi Ito’s Web - How to turn on color profiles on Firefox 3. GooSync: Sync Google Calendar to Cellphone - Synchronize your Google Calendar with your mobile phone or PDA, including iPhone. Apparently does updates over the air! 10 Ways To Optimize Blog Traffic - This is a list any beginning blogger will find useful. It is mainly for wordpress users, this will definitly help boost traffic, and optimize your wordpress setup for the greatest visibility for search engines. Create Your Own Smart Bookmarks in Firefox 3 - Like iTunes' Smart Playlists, these are playlists that automatically assemble themselves based on specific criteria, such as the “most played” and “recently added” media. Here's how to mange it in Firefox 3 (via Matt Shelton). MagCloud: Run your own magazine publication - MagCloud enables you to publish your own magazines. All you have to do is upload a PDF and we'll take care of the rest: printing, mailing, subscription management, and more. Read at Work (without anyone knowing) - Read at Work is a website that houses cleverly disguised books in a fake Windows desktop environment. Clever. Schneier on Security: Cheap Cell Phone Jammer - In the United States, cell-phone jamming is covered under the Communications Act of 1934, which prohibits people from "willfully or maliciously interfering with the radio communications of any station licensed or authorized" to operate. Networked Kevin Kelly — Maxims for the Network Economy - Selected Quotes from New Rules for the New Economy by Kevin Kelly KK’s The Technium: George Dyson’s Machine Fecundity - "To my twisted mind, this indicates that machines (taking the automobile as a benchmark) are now self-reproducing so fast we have reached a transition point where machines are cheaper than the empty space they fill." How we read online. - By Michael Agger - Slate Magazine - A clever meta article on how we read online, with a dash of cynicism and generous portions of Jakob Nielson. VANITY FAIR Blogopticon - Back in the day when blogs first appeared, cross-sectional maps of popular blogs were quite common. It's back and updated. Jeffio - The Whuffie Index - Originally coined in the sci-fi novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (2003) by Cory Doctorow, Whuffie is a “reputation-based” currency that replaces money, is constantly being updated and is instantly viewable to anyone at anytime. Idea of social m The Streisand effect - The Streisand effect is a phenomenon on the Internet where an attempt to censor or remove a piece of information backfires, causing the information to be widely publicized. Academic Can Digital Media Match The Longevity Of Plain Old Print? - In "Double Fold: Libraries And The Assault On Paper" (Random House), Nicholson Baker stated that for thousands of years, paper records have allowed historians to glimpse human culture. But scholars of the future is there an over-reliance on technology? A History of the Social Web - Trebor Scholz ‘journalisms’ - Collectivate.net - Took Trebor's class, yet how did I not bookmark this one? Great historical reference on how the social web came about. Good for everyone! Publius Project - essays on Internet & Society collected by the Berkman Center - Chris Messina notes how the Internet offers a look at the future of governance. Publius Project collects essays and conversations about constitutional moments on the Net. Organized by by the Berkman Center. Eric Gilbert » Paper: The Network in the Garden @ UIUC - "Old McDonald had a farm, and a Facebook account"… History repeatedly demonstrates that rural communities have unique technological needs. We know little about how rural communities use modern technologies, so we lack knowhow to design for them. eigenfactor.org - ranking and mapping scientific journals - Using data from Thomson Scientific's 2004 Journal Citation Reports (JCR), they partitioned 6128 journals connected by 6,434,916 citations into 88 modules. Paulo Freire and informal education - Perhaps the most influential thinker about education in the late twentieth century, Paulo Freire has been particularly popular with informal educators with his emphasis on dialogue and his concern for the oppressed. New Scientist Interview: The Cellphone Anthropologist (Nokia) - Jan Chipchase, a design researcher for Nokia, travels the globe exploring how people use their mobile devices, discovering how to make them better, how to reach the billions of people who don't own a phone - and learning a whole lot about people along. 49% Americans Say Government Should Regulate Internet - 49% of Americans believe that the federal government should regulate the Internet the same way it does radio and television, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national survey. 73% say it should be a crime to harass someone on the Internet. Singapore Bicycle Path - Serangoon Gardens to NUS Kent Ridge Campus at Bikely.com - Siva maps an ideal biking route around central Singapore. Jane Fong: Aiming to Bring Anime Online - First we've got Yong Fook, and now another Singaporean in Japan. ReadWriteWeb reports on Jane Fong, as a Woman, a Foreigner and an Entrepreneur in Japan. Her cross-cultural revelations are rather interesting and worth a good read. Surveillance Video: iPhone Controls Robot Plane Squad - Center for Collaborative Control of Unmanned Vehicles has a new device for ordering around its drones: an iPhone. Next2Friends Beta - Mobile Social - A social networking site for mobile live video casters Kyte: Kyte Mobile - Kyte Mobile allows anyone to share life as it happens with an online and mobile audience - in real-time, from anywhere. Livecast by Comvu - Like Qik and Flixwagon, here's another live video streaming from mobile phone app (via Preetam) Review: A Week of Filming With The Flip Mino Reveals Some Flaws | Gadget Lab from Wired.com - Don't know about you, but video / audio quality wise, I prefer the Flip Ultra over the smaller Mino. See the video comparison for yourself. Dash Blog » Does Your GPS Tweet? - Dash Express, with its two-way Internet connectivity, allows for dramatic uses of GPS functionality, including tweeting current location. Should be doable on the 3G iPhone. Understanding Privacy (2008) by Professor Daniel J. Solove - Professor Daniel J. Solove earlier essay, 'I've Got Nothing to Hide and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy,' has evolved into his new book, Understanding Privacy. There are multiple forms of privacy, related to one another by 'family resemblances'. Similar Posts:theorycast.44 :: How to iPhone-ize Your WordPress Blog Double Whammy Videos: HTC touch and the iPhone Today’s Links: How To Do Almost Anything… Video: Using the Apple iPhone in Singapore Today’s Links: Build an advanced home phone system for $100 Kevin’s “Mat Rock Band” Birthday Bash! (4hrs of Pre-Recorded Video) Video quality sucks in the beginning, but gets better at the end. Live stream settings got messed up by accident. Last night we did a 4hr Rock Band marathon and streamed it live via uStream.tv. I had set up two cameras: one on the Rock Band video game, the other on us performing. Friends dropped in and made song requests, which was real fun. Unfortunately, the video stream setting mucked up without my knowledge, plunging the entire video performance into nothing more than watching a bunch of artards playing Iron Maiden in a giant fishbowl. And to think we had massive FIOS bandwidth… as my friend would say “whole life wasted™”. Note to self: Watch the client side video stream, not the production side damn it! Big thanks to Renhao, Daniel and Jerrick of Tech65, Stephen Kastner, and BradMays for rawkin’ it out with us. Sorry if I missed out on the rest who came by… we were busy ruining the Internets with our horrific renditions of 80s classics! I’ll update this post with the pre-recorded live video as soon as uStream.tv is done processing it. Stay tuned! Similar Posts:Now screening on Tech65’s “Channel65″ videocast Video: Priscilla asks about my 24/7 blog cam (lifecasting) Lifecast: Guest Speaking on Blogging + Lifecasting (9am EST) Finished filming episode two of “Hi! Tech”… Fabchannel: Watch some really fabulous live concerts! EduPunk: Do you fight for your right to ed-u-cate? Here’s the printable PDF version (4.6mb). Images used in this comic strip came from Flickr tag “edupunk“ UPDATE: This article is now featured on ACM eLearn Magazine (thanks to Laurie Rowell!) Following the emergence of Edupunk… 23rd Jan 2004: James Farmer blogged an entry called “Punk.edu“, which highlights an article on EmptyBottle.org about how “Weblogging is also being co-opted and marketed and corporatized” and reflects it on the issues educator face in schools. 25th May 2008: Jim Groom coined the term “Edupunk” in his post The Glass Bees. 29th May 2008: Darcy Norman lists his edupunk heros: “On thinking about edupunk, it strikes me that I’ve been drawn to a group of people that have embodied it for years. People that are open. That prefer to DIY. People who share, remix, mashup, and generally operate in the spirit of what is now being called edupunk”. 29th May 2008: Leslie Madsen Brooks provides an elaborate overview of Edupunk on BlogHer by citing edubloggers on their perspectives: “[Edupunk] refers to a scrappy, DIY spirit in some sectors of educational technology”. 29th May 2008: Stephen Downe defines “EduPunk”: “edupunk is student-centered, resourceful, teacher- or community-created rather than corporate-sourced, and underwritten by a progressive political stance. […] Edupunk, it seems, takes old-school Progressive educational tactics–hands-on learning that starts with the learner’s interests–and makes them relevant to today’s digital age, sometimes by forgoing digital technologies entirely”. 30th May 2008: The Chronicle of Higher Education: Frustrated With Corporate Course-Management Systems, Some Professors Go ‘Edupunk’ 31st Mat 2008: EduPunk appears on Wikipedia. As a neologism, the interesting debate as to its legitimacy carries on in the Wikipedia Talk Page. 1st June 2008: Ken Carroll says “Edupunks need to grow up“: “Am I the only one to find this Edupunk meme ridiculous? The adolescent ethos, music, etc, are matched only by the adolescent narcissism, anger, wilful non-conformity, sanctimony, and tirades against authority. Fine, except this is all coming from teachers!”. 2nd June 2008: Stephen Downes responds to Ken Carroll and defends EduPunk: “I think you are mistaken to confuse the target of edupunk criticism as ‘the capitalist’. The target is, more accurately, authority. It’s true that many capitalists have used wealth to appropriate authority. But the two are not identical. […] More significant is the suggestion that edupunks are “seeking to politicize (and I would argue, infantilize) discussion in this space.” Leaving aside the pointless ad hominem, I would suggest that discussion in this space is already very politicized, and that edupunk is a reaction to this.” 4th June 2008: Kathryn Greenhill notices the punk meme in “Steampunk, Edupunk and… Libpunk??“. Yes, Librarian Punks included. 13th June 2008: Alec Couros elaborates on Edupunk in “Edupunk, Meaning, Identity“. Alec explains his three point definition of non-conformity, DIY culture and critique of power relationships. Citing Wikipedia’s entry on Punk Rock: “According to Holmstrom, punk rock was “rock and roll by people who didn’t have very much skills as musicians but still felt the need to express themselves through music”. In December 1976, the English fanzine Sideburns famously published an illustration of three chords, captioned “This is a chord, this is another, this is a third. Now form a band.” That’s basically it for me… that you are enabling the non-experts the ability to participate and learn in the process! What do I think of the term “Edupunk”? I’d argue that much like how the Web 2.0 ideology came about… there’s nothing new (or neo) about it really. Edupunking is something that a lot of us in education have been doing when traditional means impedes our learning objective. Heck, Neil Postman’s “Teaching as a Subversive Activity” is uber-edupunk, and that was written in 1969! And if you were to ask who would be my edupunk hero, it’s really be non-other than Alex Halavais… he’s one who has tossed out his class syllabus in favor of a more student responsible learning session. It takes guts, as both teacher and students are challenged. Your turn: What do you think about all this? Just a load of B.S.? Aside: Of course I’m an Edupunk. Need I say more? Similar Posts:Intro to Wiki Workshop @ ETC (2pm today) SLAWNY Spring Sharing: Librarianship = Helping Local Youths Develop Letting Wikipedia users write your term paper… Elaborating my Buffalo News quote: Google Maps Street View = Augmented Deja-Vu The Local Alternative: a singapore music documentary (1996) Steampunk Media Ecosystems: On Robert Darnton’s “The Library in the New Age”… “L’arbre de Cracovie,” c. 1742. The Tree of Cracow as depicted in a satirical print. The figure of Truth, on the far left, pulls on a rope to make the tree go “crack” every time something false takes place beneath it. According to the caption, the falsehoods include an innkeeper who claims he does not water down his wine, a merchant who sells goods for no more than what they are worth, a truthful horse dealer, an unbiased poet, etc. Courtesy of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF), 96A 74336. Our Special Collections librarian, Karen Spencer, recently forwarded the following essay by Robert Darnton entitled “The Library in the New Age” (12th June 2008). The essay stopped me in my tracks and set me investigating… Robert Darnton’s Earlier Work Whenever I come across something new to me, I tend to search for the environment that subject resides in. In the case of Robert Darnton, I found his earlier works particularly stimulating. As hinted above, Darnton had also written “An Early Information Society: News and the Media in 18th Century Paris” (Feb 2000), where he juxtaposed the workings of Silicon Valley millennials with the organic communication circuits of forbidden best-sellers of pre-revolutionary France (as seen below, in a beautiful schematic model no less!). Doesn’t it feel steampunk-ish when compared alongside the emerging media ecosystem? On “The Library in the New Age” From being a pioneer in the field of the history of the book, Darnton moved into the realm of electronic publishing. As the head of the Harvard University library, Darnton helped advocate for open access at the University, and became the founder of the Gutenberg-e program. This essay appeared in New York Review of Books and discusses “what it means to be a library in the digital age”… A quote for the information scientist in you… Information has never been stable. That may be a truism, but it bears pondering. It could serve as a corrective to the belief that the speedup in technological change has catapulted us into a new age, in which information has spun completely out of control. I would argue that the new information technology should force us to rethink the notion of information itself. It should not be understood as if it took the form of hard facts or nuggets of reality ready to be quarried out of newspapers, archives, and libraries, but rather as messages that are constantly being reshaped in the process of transmission. Instead of firmly fixed documents, we must deal with multiple, mutable texts. By studying them skeptically on our computer screens, we can learn how to read our daily newspaper more effectively—and even how to appreciate old books. An of course a quote for the more tactile reader… Books also give off special smells. According to a recent survey of French students, 43 percent consider smell to be one of the most important qualities of printed books—so important that they resist buying odorless electronic books. CaféScribe, a French on-line publisher, is trying to counteract that reaction by giving its customers a sticker that will give off a fusty, bookish smell when it is attached to their computers. As you can see, this is a mere sampling of what Robert’s elaborate essay discusses, which is really a reflection of the history and science of information, the digital era (e.g. eBooks, blogs) and the evolving importance of libraries. Do read his wonderful essay, “The Library in the New Age“. and if you are interested, “An Early Information Society: News and the Media in Eighteenth-Century Paris” which appeared in The American Historical Review (Feb 2000). Similar Posts:Why Librarians should blog… High Browse Online: Singapore’s Book Blog LifeStory: Kevin and his lost library card… UB Law Library survives fire and flood Haven’t got your free Digital Library Card? Hail the size of golfballs @ UB North Campus Date: 16th June 2008 // Time: 2.15pm // Duration: 15 to 20mins As reported by Liz and photographed by me, we observed hail the size of golf balls storming down on UB North Campus. Everyone at the Teaching & Learning Center gathered by the windows to watch as the hail got heavier and bigger over time. At the end of it, trees had some of the leaves shredded, while some cars had dents on their bonnets. Rumor has it that other parts of Buffalo were heavier hit, with windshields cracking. Freak weather. Similar Posts:Video: See last night’s snowstorm destruction over Buffalo Hash: Beyond the Basics… Tornado hits Buffalo Global Warming, Solar Flares or Cyclic Ice Ages? Lifecasting: Go Motorboarding to the campus theorycast.42 :: When SmartMobs Go Wrong… Download the video iPod version (.mp4 / 75mb) or watch on Youtube Check out the all previous episodes on Blip.tv or subscribe to theorycast via iTunes. While having our Saturday brunch at The Washington Market in downtown Buffalo, Shady, Ken Fujiuchi and I chat about how the ease of participation online has subsequently given rise to collective action (e.g. Smartmobs), which has mostly been seen as either efficient or entertaining. In recent history, the same could also be said of antagonistic forms of collective action, where greater forms of anarchy online spills over into the real world mostly in the form of psychological attacks. For instance, see CNN: From flash mob to lynch mob and Anti-Tibetian attacks on Chinese student: Grace Wang. Though this current scenario could be argued in various ways, I offered the pretext of Samuel Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” (1993) as a way to understand why some cultures seem to challenged by practices of online democracy. Dubbed as Internet hate machines by some, such discourse could possibly be located around Anonymous (group meme) and 4chan (English version of Japanese 2chan) as examples. For a reality check, Shady mentioned how even in the pre-Internet days, such collective participation and its follies have been observed in places such as town hall meetings. How do we reduce or even resolve frictional, unethical powers on the Internet? While we’d like to hope that a Darwinian approach would naturally have online societies “sort themselves out”, some civilizations have been concerned that they might not survive this phase and have taken steps to manage it, such as through legitimate forms of Internet regulation (e.g. China). We discuss its immediate environment and challenges involved. Similar Posts:theorycast.17 :: Christy Dena on Cross-media & Alternate Reality Games State of mind based on Amazon purchases… AoIR Presentation: Building Social Capital for Online Youths Educational Gaming Conference: Live @ UB today! Today’s Links (Why podcast anymore?) Got MacBook Pro? Check out SanDisk’s MultiCard ExpressCard Adapter If you’ve been wondering what the heck to you could do with that ExpressCard slot (the one that’s 33mm wide) on your good old MacBook Pro, wonder no more. I think I’ve found the best way to use it, thanks to the SanDisk MultiCard ExpressCard Adapter. It works on Macs and PCs, but more importantly, it flushes into your laptop’s ExpressCard slot completely so you could leave it in there. Now you’ll be able to read most common flash memory cards while on the move, including SD, SDHC, MultiMediaCard, MMC plus, and the various kinds of MemoryStick Duo (i.e. from my Sony M1). My buddy Peter found that it cheaper somewhere, but for $19.90 on Amazon, you can’t really go wrong. From my preliminary tests, the data transfer from flash card to hard drive is way faster than going through your digital camera’s USB cable. I’m lovin’ it! Similar Posts:Cheap SATA Expresscard for MacBook Pro Reminder trick for cancelling your Amazon Prime Trial For Sale: 10.6-inch Sony Vaio TR3A Videobloggers Beware: iMovie’s MPEG-4 editing is terrible… Exploit for running “homebrew” applications on Sony PSP Review: BUILT Laptop Backpack (Hey, guys love bags too!) Women love designer handbags, guys like me love gadget bags. My latest acquisition is the BUILT laptop backpack: Made from lightweight neoprene and breathable air mesh, our new ultra-slim backpack streamlines the transport of your laptop and accessories. The main compartment accommodates and protects laptops from 12–17″ with room to spare for books, folders or other essentials. Two additional smaller compartments provide storage options for your other necessities; one conveniently located directly on the shoulder strap for easy access. With two sizes available to fit most people, an adjustable sternum strap helps tailor to your shape. I like the design which appears to be organic and minimal in form. However, it’s always risky buying something this flexible, since you’ll never know how it conforms and presents itself on your body. Asking friends for their opinion, some think it’s gay, others think it’s interesting especially if worn in the front, in which case it might come in useful as a bulletproof vest (har har!). So far so good, the top zipper reveals a giant space for your laptop, while the side zipper reveals a space for lots of accessories. The entire rear region is basically like a giant thick sack. The lower portion of the left shoulder strap also has a slot big enough for my iPhone. The only downside is how tight it can get lengthwise for my 17″ MacBook Pro (as seen in the photos). The trick is to lift the bag up and shake it a little so the material stretches enough for you to close the top zipper. It’s usually $79.99, but I got mine “large” from Koyono.com at 67.99 using discount code: BUILT15. And oh, it’s machine washable and said to be waterproof, so I’ll let you know when it rains. Similar Posts:Timbuk2 Commute + MacBook Pro = Snug Fit! Video Review: Waterfield Nintendo DS Lite case (for classy gamers) First time to a chiropractor… is it all B.S.? Kevin’s “Mat Rock Band” Birthday Bash! (4hrs of Pre-Recorded Video) Now screening on Tech65’s “Channel65″ videocast iPhone skips video recording // jumps into live video streaming! So a lot of us have lamented over the fact that video recording just doesn’t officially exist on the iPhone. Loren Feldman of 1938 Media got pissed mad about it (warning: harsh language), while developers at Polar Bear Farm (nice!) took matters into their own hands by producing ShowTime, a beautiful video recorder for jailbroken iPhones. Well today, we can forget about video recording. I for one believe that with massive storage capacities online, we ought to just skip the deal with syncing media between personal storage devices and transfer our experiences directly into the wonderful cloud of web servers. If this sounds Snow Crash-ian, you’re not far. We’ve already tasted the ease of video sharing thanks to Youtube, the intimacy of video dialogue thanks to Seesmic, and now the connectedness of “in the moment” videos thanks to services like Qik. This is why today’s news on NewTeeVee, was the very answer to my digital prayers. I’ve learned that Qik and Flixwagon, both competitors in the “video streaming thru mobile phone” space, have produced working versions of their video applications for the iPhone! While I’ve used the Nokia E51 for Qik’s video streaming to good effect, nothing beats the ease of use of Apple’s iPhone. Ultimately, this would allow more users experience live video streaming for themselves (complete with chat feedback), and to understand how it feels to have momentary decisions augmented by one’s viewers. I’d picture this as a cognitive instance of social cyborgism. Similar Posts:Video streaming through a Nokia cellphone, Qik.com and a FlexClip… Dirty Hack: JoikuSpot + Nokia cellphone = 3G iPhone Video: Using the Apple iPhone in Singapore Double Whammy Videos: HTC touch and the iPhone Anyone fancy the M500 Wrist Phone? Internet for Porn, Twitter for Beer Click to enlarge actual twitter conversation in reverse chronological order Previously, we grew up on TV. Today, we grow up on the Internet. Here I am learning to be a man, via Twitter. So I started with this last night… “I’m trying to develop a taste for beer, so I bought a 6-pack of Heineken. Yuck.” I don’t drink, because I never liked the taste of alcohol. However, I do see the social significance of drinking, so I’m willing to partake. Friends on twitter stepped in to give their two-cents but due to twitter’s bipolar disorder, I wasn’t able to see everyone’s replies until now. Here are last night’s Twitter takeaways for Beer 101 (beginner level)… Feel free to edit this simple beer list Of all the drinks on this list, I’m most intrigued with @PrissyHan’s suggestion of Whisky with Iced Green Tea, though that doesn’t technically count as beer, more like a cocktail instead. I’ve learned that it’s SRLY popular in China, placing the Chinese in the top ten scotch consumers for the first time, according to the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA). On the other hand, @WeeKee’s suggestion of Guinness with Korean Ginseng sounds vile just from the thought of it! In non-organic associations to beer, @ChristyDena recommends seeing “Beer over IP“, while @TwistedIan shares beer quotes he’s collected. I might document my drinking efforts from here on, and perhaps invite “late-bloomers” out there (Yes @JosephineChang) to join a newly formed self-help AA (Alcoholics Amateurs) group. If anything, there’s Coastr: The social guide to beer. The rating system developed by the highly underrated Drinks with Chunks is noteworthy too (though I don’t think beer is suppose to have chunky bits inside no?). Word up to the friends for helping me through this exceptionally arduous task of developing a drinking habit. Folks responsible for this achievement but not mentioned above include @uniquefrequency, @JerrickLim, @LitFord, @StanHuang, @MicaMonkey, @BenKoe, @JHsiao, @Halavais, @NTT, and of course, the complicated @tinkertailor. Similar Posts:Making Root Beer at Home Deceptive diet drinks Video: Twitter as Online Community @ COM125 Twitter: Don’t leave home without it (A Primer) Where do you prefer your conversations: Twitter or FriendFeed? theorycast.41 :: The “Futuristic” Cricket Laptop Stand Download the video iPod version (.mp4 / 89mb) or alternate video formats Check out the all previous episodes on Blip.tv or subscribe to theorycast via iTunes. In this 7 minute video review, I’ll introduce the Cricket Laptop Stand. I’ll explain the big deal about laptop stands, compare the Cricket with my Logitech Alto and Targus Podium CoolPad, and finally show you how sleek the Cricket is. Joe of LCDarms.com kindly sent one to me after I saw how interesting the Cricket was. Having debuted at CES 2008, the Cricket has just recently started shipping. It looks like something straight out of some futuristic anime; I simply love the way it transforms from an object the size of a thin cordless phone, to a large tripod for holding the heftiest of laptops (such as my 17″ MacBook Pro). It’s portable, height-adjustable, and it looks absolutely killer. The Cricket Laptop Stand I received didn’t feel heavy, but rather felt solid as a stand. It’s sturdy as you’ll see in my video, especially since it’s made by the same folks who produce heavy duty mounting arms for computer LCDs. Mine came in Eco-Green, though it also comes in MacWhite and Charcoal colors. For something of such quality build (metal & plastic), it comes at a reasonable retail price of $39.95. I say reasonable because I’ve seen plastic laptop stand costing as much, and aluminum ones going over $100. The Cricket enters a sweet spot in terms of price vs. performance. Here are photos to show you the level of detail in the Cricket’s design… Click to any thumbnail to enlarge or view entire photo slideshow here… Cricket Features: Adjustable height – simply press the big black button to adjust height of screen. Enhances airflow – air circulates beneath and around computer, keeping it cool. Extremely portable – easily fits in a pocket or computer bag. Ergonomic computing – elevates screen to comfortable viewing height, enabling use of full-size keyboard for more efficient computing. For tablet PCs – raises screen at angle for greater readability and more comfortable writing angle. Made of 70% recyclable materials. Offered in innovative sustainable and reusable packaging. Cricket Specifications: Folded size (L x W x D): 8″ x 2″ x 1″ Weight: 0.375 lbs Height adjustment: 11° to 60° (in six increments) Laptop/Tablet PC compatibility: 12 lbs The Cricket Laptop Stand has been featured on SlashGear and BoingBoing Gadgets. If you can’t wait for it to reach your preferred store, order it via LCDarms.com or by calling 800-524-2744. Day 2 Update: I’ve realized that the laptop stoppers are in the position of poking my wrists as shown in this photo. I might have to chop them down a little so that I can still type with them. Similar Posts:theorycast.43 :: Assembling the EVO LCD Arm Exclusive Photos and Specs for the Archos 704 Wifi (Portable DVR) DIY iPod stand hack Video: I/O Brush (another wacky MIT demo) theorycast.35 :: OLPC = Really “Social” Computing