Talk about Recycling!!

Ran across this today and thought it was worth posting to the rant. Enjoy!!

RSA Animate

Thanks to a friend of mine on FB - I ran across this video from an organization called 'RSA' Animate'. Interesting thoughts on our educational system.




Enjoy!

Literal Video Versions!

OK - had to post this one. They take a song and put words that match what they are seeing in the video. Really funny. Totally cracked me up!! Enjoy!

Magic Show

Found this one a long time ago and never put it on the rant. Enjoy!!

Fluteboxing

Thanks to a friend from church for this one.  It is 18 minutes long, and if you don't feel like watching the whole thing, make sure you skip to the middle and start watching where 'Beardyman' comes on. Enjoy!!

Stuff White People Like - Macs

My friend Dave pointed me to this blog and I had to rant on it! Especially the one about Macs. As a white person who uses a MacBook Pro (dual-booting with Vista 64 and Leopard, and drives a VW Jetta) I think this is totally hilarious and all to true! I have often thought the same thing. I see people hanging out in coffee shops, checking their emails, looking at their pictures and surfing the web. All on a machine that costs at least $500 more than a PC laptop that could do the exact same thing (especially when the email is gmail). I have come to the conclusion that having a Mac is a status symbol more than anything else. I bet that 90% of the people who own Macs use them for the three things I just mentioned and not a whole lot else. Steve Jobs is a genius in the fact that he has created a brand that sells based on the guise that it is 'more intuitive to use' and gets away with charging 50% more. Anyway, check out the blog...

The Advent Conspiracy

Ran across this today from a friend on facebook.  Not only did I think the message was appropriate, but it really appealed to me from a presentation (visualization) point of view.  I think that Garr would like it also...  Anyway, enjoy!

The next evolutionary step of the mobile device

iPhone, step aside, there is a new device in town.

;)

Enjoy! dv

More Visualizations on the how we got to where we are..

As I continue in my desire to learn more about effective communication, one area that I like to learn about is how to best use visuals to get a point across. Getting rid of bullet points etc. is becoming a war cry for me. I have recently been observing the power of simple drawings to obtain this (somewhat lofty) goal.

Along those lines I have run across a few interesting visuals on how the economy got to where it is at right now. If you are offended by foul language, you may want to skip the first one (it drops the f-bomb a few times), but it does do a really good job of simplifying how we got to where we are.

Visual 1 - 'A Subprime Primer ' - a slide show that utilizes stick people

Visual 2 - 'Uncorking CDO's', - A video that does a good job of explaining the same thing utilizing a slightly different but yet simple delivery method.




Enjoy!

Google 'Chrome'

It appears that Google has introduced a beta of their new web browser called 'Chrome'.  I thought I would give it a whirl and have to say that is very fast.  Not available for the Mac yet, but apparently they are working on it.  Since it is still in beta (does Google ever take software off of beta?) you may run into a few bugs now and then. So, if you are running Windows - take a gander. It has a few cool new features that I think are intuitive and in true Google style, they have a different take on the UI. Check it out and see what you think!  Enjoy!

Cool Web App For Finding a House

Once again, my friend Larry sent me a link to a website that is worthy of the rant. A company called 'Trulia' (which helps you in searching for homes) introduced a new tool today called 'Snapshot' which has a very cool UI design (UI = user interface). It allows you to select a price range and shows all the houses that are for sale within that range. Pretty common I know, but it also shows you where they are on the map and includes a little picture of the house (if available). In the words of Larry, 'simple, elegant and it works'. The perfect tri-fecta! Until later, Enjoy!

New Graphic!!

OK - let me know what you think of the new header! My friend Dan Powell whipped this up for me and I think it looks pretty cool. Who is that goofy dude shouting anyways???

Thanks Dan!

Enjoy!

Linux for the Desktop?

Ran across this today and thought I would use it to re-enter the blog-o-sphere.

A while back I ranted about Linux on the desktop and how that related to Windows domination. Here is a survey that shows some stats on the topic. Looks like almost 80% (of top IT leaders) still aren't using a Linux desktop in some form or fashion. For bigger shops it all probably gets back to TCO (total cost of ownership), if it takes twice as many people to support it, the cost of the OS (free for Linux) seems to lose it's value propostition. We have a few (Linux Boxes) where I spend my days, but mostly they are just acting as terminals to run a remote session of Winodws, not sure if that counts....

Anyway, for more information on where I got graphic, click here.

Enjoy!!

Data Centers Heating Pools??

Ran across this article today which lead me to this article from IBM, and thought it was interesting and innovative enough to rant about. It is from a site called 'GreenerComputing'. As a person who is pretty familiar with a smaller data center and the amount of heat that gets produced, coupled with my desire to use alternative forms of energy (I would love to have wind turbine in my back yard), I thought this was pretty cool. The innovation is intriguing and I am sure that even on smaller scales you could do similar projects. Here is a quick example of how much heat gets generated from a small data-center. A few years ago, we had a data center that was comprised of a mid-size phone switch, and about 6 servers. Occasionally the 'chiller' would stop working and the room would start to heat up. Once, this happened on the weekend and nobody was around to respond to it. One of our team members happened to stop in and heard the alarm going off. The room had heated up to about 125 degrees and as soon as he opened the door, it instantly fogged up his glasses (this was before the days when servers would shut themselves off when they got too warm). Needless to say we installed a remote monitoring system that called our phones when the temp got to warm. Imagine what you could do with the heat that is being wasted by larger data centers????

Anyway - Enjoy!!