Bloom Box – energy hope for the developing world?

I was reading (and watching) about the Bloom Box – http://mashable.com/2010/02/25/bloom-box-videos/ – a new “fuel cell”  technology.  Apparently the concept is that you have a variable stack of these fuel cells (i.e. more means more electricity) and you pass fuel (such as natural gas or biogas) along with air and it produces electricity with less emissions.  The goal is that in the future they could sell a “box” for about $3000 that could power an american home (less for other countries).  Already some companies are using this technology – principally in California due to the subsidies involved (and the positive PR). Read more »

Does Palm have a future?

I’m wondering if Palm has a future – given the intense competition in the smartphone market.  There was a rumor they were shutting down production but I still wonder about the long term.  I’ve been a long term Palm user – back to the Handspring day so I’m actually a fan.  I’ve been using some Palm apps for quite a few years – and was an original fan of “Grafitti”   I’ve been thinking about upgrading from my Palm Centro to a Palm Pre for a while -but am wondering if that’s a good long term strategy. Read more »

Cool Image Zoom Tool: Fancy Zoom

I’ve used this tool on a few sites and wanted to recommend it – Fancy Zoom.   This is a pretty neat tool that will let you link a thumbnail to a larger picture – but it will zoom it up in the current window/tab instead of in a new window/tab.  It works pretty simply and effectively: http://www.cabel.name/2008/02/fancyzoom-10.html

Twitter/Facebook Client Recommendation: Seesmic Desktop

I finally have a good recommendation for a Twitter/Facebook Client: Seemsmic Desktop.  I’ve tested Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and Seesmic and found they all have good features.  For me the Seesmic Desktop had the set of functions I needed to be effective:

1. I needed access to the following.
   • 2 Twitter Accounts
   • Personal Facebook Account
   • Multiple Facebook FAN pages Read more »

Google Buzz: First Impressions

I’ve played with Google Buzz some the last few days and have some first impressions.  Frankly I’m still trying to find my equilibrium with social networks – the best way to interact with them.  I had heard about Buzz (from Twitter) so I decided to try it.  This involved doing something I hadn’t done for some time – log into Gmail.   I’ve never really been a Gmail user – as I’m used to my Outlook client and the multiple e-mail addresses I have.  In fact recently I merged 2 different outlook files together – plus and archive file.  I’m a pack rat when it comes to e-mails – keeping just about everything. Read more »

Google View of the World?

The news about Google is starting to get interesting – in terms of the scope of what they are addressing now.  Google seems to be building a vertical stack of services to cover almost everything to do with the computer.  This goes back to what Jeff Jarvis said – Google makes money when we use the web (advertising, advertising, advertising) – and faster means more:

1. Google announced today they’re planning on testing out a new 1 gigabit internet service (http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi) – so they could be in the neighborhood soon.
2. Google has a DNS service (http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/) – the magic thingy that translates the names we type in into the numbers that define the internet.
3. Google has Gmail – it’s free web-based e-mail service.  It has a corresponding calendar, contacts, etc. service.  One concept of calendars is you can share them – have group calendars, etc.
4. Google has it’s Google Docs – word, processing, spreadsheets, presentation, etc. – so you can do those basics online. Read more »

Browser Recommendation: Google Chrome

For a long time I was a pretty regular IE user – never really paying much attention to Firefox or other browsers.  I was impressed with tabs in IE – as this is a great usability feature.  Most everything I needed to do worked fine in IE – and it was very dominant in the market share.  Then I started to have problems – when IE would try to restore the tabs after a reboot (which we know doesn’t happen very often with windows) and would seem to crash.  It seemed to get less and less stable over time…

Sometime last year I finally made the plunge and tried Firefox.  I was quite impressed with Firefox – especially with it’s support for more standards (like curved borders!!) and the extensions.  It’s just neat to be able to apply a theme to the browser so it looks cooler.

Recently I decided to try out Google Chrome as I had heard a lot about it too. Read more »

Book Review: Team of Rivals – The Political Genius of Abraham Lincloln – Doris Kearns Goodwin

I just finished reading “Team of Rivals – The Polical Genius of Abraham Lincoln” by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  I enjoyed reading this book – in large part because of how much respect and admiration I have for Abraham Lincoln.  I think Lincoln has become one of the people that represents the greatness of America – one of our heroes.  I would definitely recommend this book – but if you don’t like to read you might try an audiobook version as it’s 700+ pages.

This book took an interesting approach – constrasting Lincoln with some of his rivals – those who would become part of his cabinet during his presidency.  It was fascinating to understand more the context of the life of Lincoln – in terms of what was normal for a man of his era to experience.  It was an age of America where many men went “West” – to create for themselves a new life – one of economic opportunity.  Lincoln was a complex man – suffering from depression, anger  – but all of those life experiences culminated in a powerful personality as President.

Read more »

Should a Local Symphony ban or encourage pictures/video?

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to visit the Kansas City Symphony with my daughter’s school class.  It was a great experience – they had an very educational focus – a program aimed at the kids that started before the concert.  My daughter enjoyed it and likely learned a lot from the event.   I also like the symphony a lot – wishing I could go more often.  I played the French horn up through High School and I love music – so the symphony has my sympathy and support.

What was interesting though was how concerned they were about people taking pictures or video of the performance.  I wonder if they should be encouraging people to take pictures/video or should continue with their policy to ban it?   It is in their best interest to tightly control their content or should they engage with their audience – encouraging them to share about their experience?   Read more »

Apple Table features an Apple Processor?

One of the most interesting things I’ve read today about the Apple iPad (http://www.apple.com/ipad/) was that it featured it’s own processor- the Apple A4.  This is a custom processor that runs at 1Ghz and is supposed to be very power efficient – which would be essential in a tablet.  From what I can tell a consumer company creating it’s own chip is a break from trends – as even Apple switched to Intel for it’s computers.

Overall I was a little underwhelmed by the iPad – except for the price.  I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t as expensive as I thought it might be – going from $499 to $899 – based on memory and 3G capability.  This price point may actually be reasonable – considering the device essentially compares to the netbook niche.  That’s what I see this as – as Apple’s positioning between a smartphone and a laptop.  For that price you may actually get some sales – more than just Apple addicts – but for people who just want to surf the web, check their e-mail, read a book, listen to music, watch a movie – not a full computer but something easy to use.

I don’t know how much of an advantage their own chip has – it might depend on how much it cost – versus how much better it is than Atom or ARM based chips.  It is an interesting trend  toward power efficient processors – after the era of chips being a fire hazard.  I think that’s where windows mobile as always had a problem – as it’s not very power efficient – vs. the old Palm phone I have.  This tells you something about Apple – they made it themselves instead of using someone’s technology -because they could.  It’s something Google would do (oh wait – they made their own phone hardware and OS).  It definitely has a better cool factor than a Chrome based PC – even though those might be more functional in some core ways – but the “thinner” device seems to be in now…

Here are a few links related to the A4:

http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2010/01/27/ipad-debuts-apples-custombuilt-a4-systemonachip/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10442684-64.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_A4