More cool art, with a little twist.

So little it takes a microscope-

Some tremendously cool photos here:

Nikon Microscope Photos contest winners

-Mike

I can't do it but I love it

I am no artist.  I have minimal design sense, no artistic talent, and I even have trouble understanding why I can't wear black socks with my white jeans.  Ok I kid a little there, but really, I am no artist.  But I love love love looking at some kinds of art. 

I like art that tweaks my mind, that is beautiful or erotic or creepy or mind-bending or all of the above.  I love some photos of natural landscapes.  And I particularly love art and artistic photos of people.

I have a couple Csaba Markus paintings that I can stare at for a long time still, years after I bought them.  And now and then I run across the website of an artist whose work tickles my art bump.

Here is one of them:

http://www.audrey-kawasaki.com/2007/index.php

Creepy/beautiful/erotic... kinda reminds me of the Csaba Markus stuff I like.

Her live journal is at http://i-seldom-do.livejournal.com/.  I found her from the oddica.com site, which I found via uncrate.com.

Have a nice day!

:-)

-Mike

iSlayer releases excellent menubar stats widget

If you are like me and you love nice looking software, and you like to know what is going on with your CPU, disks, and network, then you want this app.  Oh, and you gotta have a Mac.  :-)

http://islayer.com/blog/?p=203

Pros:

- It is pretty

- all temperatures and fan speeds on my macbook pro

- nice little date widget

Ciao!

-Mike

Day 6 with the Verizon Blackberry 8830

Well I love it even more and I am still disappointed with GPS... Mostly with Verizon I guess. Even though GPS looks enabled in the advanced settings every app I have tried simply can't get a signal lock. Google Maps doesn't get a lock, Spot doesn't get a lock, Find it! doesn't get a lock... very disappointing. I guess what recent articles have said about Verizon nerfing GPS must be true... I will try to get official confirmation though.

On the plus side I am quite impressed with the ambient light-sensing backlight (although I haven't figured out how to dim or turn off the trackball light) as well as the configurability of profiles.

I found a free theme or two but they didn't excite me too much... I may have to give making them a try myself... I want a specific set of info, app icons, and transparency (so I can still see my background image) on my home screen.

Last note for the day is on the matter of protecting my investment- and my pretty little toy. I had the Invisible Shield for my Q and was dissatisfied with its lack of protection for corners and sides, so I went looking for a better solution for the 8830. I'm very picky and rarely happy with most cases. I want the best of all worlds- good looks, good protection, and something that doesn't make the phone look huge.

After some research I decided to bite the bullet and buy the Hybrid hard case/holster combo from Seidio Online:

http://www.seidioonline.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=751

I received it today and ... drumroll ... I am very impressed! It is very thin and low-profile, and fits perfectly. It feels very solid and doesn't make the 8830 feel much bigger, and in combination with the combo holster is actually significantly slimmer and svelter than the OEM Blackberry leather holster.

I hope that helps anyone else facing the same decision.

So far so good with battery life... with very heavy usage and an hour or two of charging a day it has stayed around 3 bars of battery life. I'll try to do a full charge to rundown test soon... for a "normal" occasional usage rundown test you will have to wait until the newness wears off. :-)

If I get anywhere with GPS I will of course post again.

Cheers!

Happy with messaging, disappointed with GPS so far

The OS is more colorful in blackberry land.. nice themes... The only thing I miss so far is Windows Live Mobile on the Q... that was pretty much perfect for finding POIs, directions, and traffic- with the exception of lacking GPS.

So far I am disappointed that the builtin mapping app on the 8830 doesn't use the built-in GPS and Google Maps can't seem to get a signal lock. I need to try Telenav, though I am leary of paying $9.95/mo.

Email was ok via Exchange push on the Q, but it's way better on the blackberry. Filters, filing, all kinds of cool stuff.

I was never happy with any IM clients on the Q... IM + had trouble connecting, Mundu crashed, the web version of Yahoo Messenger worked but required manual refreshes. The Yahoo! Messenger app for blackberry is great. (Note: I work for Yahoo)

Brand spanking new Verizon Blackberry 8830 - First Impressions

Yee-haw... today felt like Christmas morning as I rushed to open the Fedex box. I ordered my Blackberry 8830 Monday and received it today. I can post specific pictures if anyone is interested, otherwise it looks just like the photos out there on all the other sites.

First impressions:

The silver color that everyone has complained about actually doesn't look that bad. I thought I would prefer the black of the 8800, but now.. Hmm, I will have to get back to you. I am not unhappy, thats for sure. It is approximately the same size as my Q, again the exact dimensions are out there for those who care. It feels very solid and just weighty enough to feel good in my hand. The leather case included is decent.

I have seen reports of the CPU being slower than the 8800, but I can tell you the interface feels very snappy and fast. And EVDO... whoo-hoo man it feels even faster on the 8830 than it did on my Q. I am in love... so much better than the slower 8800 data services. It really truly shines on data services.

I quickly installed the google java apps (Yahoo Go Mobile isn't available yet unfortunately) and they are slick and fast. Google Maps in particular looks great... the screen is so sharp and the data so fast satellite views feel like I am looking through a little window from high above the earth... and it pans around quite rapidly.

I don't have feedback on GPS yet because I am inside a building and can't get satellite lock... I will try from home and update later... Google Maps DOES recognize the GPS capability and this clears up a HUGE point of confusion I ran across on all the sites... GPS is in fact enabled, Verizon didn't kneecap us.

Volume seems amazing, even louder for rings and speakerphone than my girlfriend's Pearl. Call quality is great so far.

Last major impression- I was dubious about the keyboard although it looks decent... I have big hands and thick fingers and I haven't been happy with many mobile keyboards before, though I was hopeful about this one since my friends' blackberries seems decent... the verdict is... this is great, best mobile keyboard I have ever tried. Even though it feels like my fingers dwarf the keys, the arrangement and ridges are just right and I am achieveing great speed and accuracy.

I'll post followups in coming weeks on battery life, call quality, any problems that come up, and any "after the honeymoon" impressions.

Leave links to your own experiences in comments please!

ebuddy

I am loving ebuddy for mobile IM... I haven't found any mobile IM clients that work well on my Q. The closest was one called Mundu but it kept crashing. Well, Ebuddy is a competitor to meebo that happens to have a decent lightweight mobile version. Kudos to them... ebuddy.com.

:-)

Time for a new Jay Oh Bee

Well, time has come for me to move on from NPOWR Digital Media... good luck folks. Come February 26th I will be a Yahoo! at the Yahoo! Media campus in Santa Monica. Very cool... more details to follow.

:-)

The Host looks like a PHAT movie

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Host_(film)

I definitely want to see it.

NPOWR / StimTV won an Emmy

So the startup I have worked for since April 2005 just won a Technical and Engineering Emmy in the field of "Outstanding Innovation and Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for the Best Use of “On Demand” Technology Over the Public (open) Internet". We were up against ABC, Revver, Vongo, and AOL, but we won. Sweet.

The presentation link is the first on this page:

http://www.tvworldwide.com/events/emmys/070108/

and our category starts an hour in. I'll post a nicer vid (youtube or stimtv or something) once its available.

:-)

Best Jesus Apparition I have ever seen

If ever you needed proof of intelligent design, this is it.

Bits & Pieces: Jesus image found in dog's butt

Peace out.

If you like Badass martial arts ala Tony Jaa...

You gotta check this out. Joe Eigo is pretty badass.

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Blogged with Flock

Cool Gmail MP3 Jukebox Feature-let

Here's another way to use those gigs of space Google gives you... email yourself MP3's and when you go to the email in Gmail, there is an embedded play icon that streams the MP3 off Google's servers. Cool.

Shoutblog » Blog Archive » Quickies: Gmail’s jukebox

technorati tags:gmail, mp3, music

Blogged with Flock

A weekend of drunken debauchery

Well, drunken anyway... and I am pretty sure there were some revels in there somewhere. And did I tell you how at 3:30am on the way back from TJ I got pulled over speeding with a car full of drunk people by a cop who was about to pull Jess over when I passed him going 95? And how 2 of the people in my car had to pee so bad they were about to pop? And how Michelle got the cop to let me go without even a warning? Dayyyyum... I should roll with this crew more often.

Anyways, here is some evidence.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/exophile/sets/72157594158812360/

Motorola Q

Ok, so if you know me you know I am a gadget junkie... if its tech and even moderately cool I love it. My current high is coming from the fact that I just got (Monday) a Motorola Q smartphone and it is FREAKING SWEET.

http://www.motorola.com/motoinfo/product/details.jsp?globalObjectId=113

has detailed specs... googling will yield lots of pics.

But man it is so so sweet. Easy to use, fast EVDO, great battery life and call quality, it's a great phone and great for email too. I love it.

:)

Welcome

Welcome to my blog... never had one before, I am curious to see if I will like it.