Yearly Archives: 2011


This is awesomely weird and wonderful

This is awesomely weird and wonderful

Reshared post from +Trey Ratcliff

Fake and Abandoned Disneyworld video…

This is kind of a strange video… some footage of what I saw there… taking some photos… and other strange bits. Enjoy!

Google+: Reshared 3 times
Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.


It's never a surprise to see inauthentic versions famous western products when…

It's never a surprise to see inauthentic versions famous western products when visiting China.

While watches, bags, consumer electronics are commonplace, what you might not expect is an entire theme park. After +Trey Ratcliff posted an image of an incomplete castle https://plus.google.com/u/0/105237212888595777019/posts/TZ7c2v15t6d at a faux Disneyland near Beijing, I remembered some photos I took during during my trip to China in April 2010 for the auto show. Unfortunately I only saw the facility from the window of a bus that was transporting us and the shots I took were through the window. I figured I'd share some of my images while we wait for +Trey Ratcliff to post more of his undoubtedly superior shots.

In album fake chinese disneyland (7 photos)

Google+: Reshared 2 times
Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.


Very cool video that explains some of the behind the scenes technology developed…

Very cool video that explains some of the behind the scenes technology developed to shoot the Hobbit in 3D. In order to get the correct interoccular distance between the adjacent cameras, special rigs had to be built to mount the cameras at 90 degree angle with one shooting the image from a mirror.

Because of the all the different ways they are shooting including hand-held, steadi-cam and boom rigs, they have different mounts for each setup. Fortunately, the advent of digital cinema cameras like the Red One and now the 5K Red Epic, the size and cost has come down dramatically compared to what it would have been 15-20 years ago. As a result, the crew has 48 cameras set up in pairs on different mounts.

Because Peter Jackson planned to shoot in digital 3D from the beginning, he's been able to factor that into the way shots are set up so that hopefully the 3D will actually enhance the story-telling rather than just be a gimmick. The video is definitely worth watching.

Embedded Link

Peter Jackson reveals the Red Epic secrets behind The Hobbit (video)
Engadget

Google+: Reshared 4 times
Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.


Sunset at the North Pole 3

Reshared post from +Brian Krassenstein

Sunset at the North Pole
This is the sunset at the North Pole with the moon at its closest point. And, you also see the sun below the moon. An amazing photo and not one easily duplicated
Photographer: Unknown

Google+: Reshared 3 times
Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.


What good is having HBO on my Roku if I can't buy it without a cable subscri… 2

What good is having HBO on my Roku if I can't buy it without a cable subscription?

It's always nice that they are adding more content channels to Roku. These little media streaming boxes rock. But adding HBO Go to Roku seems completely pointless. The only way to get access to HBO Go is if you already subscribe to HBO from your cable or satellite provider, typically at $20/month (at least that's what Comcast charges me right now). HBO Go provides the same content that I can already get through On Demand on my cable box so why would I want to consume the capped bandwidth through the Roku and risk buffering and other disruptions when I can just use the existing service? What I want is to be able to go directly to HBO.com, and subscribe to HBO Go for say $10-12 per month without having Comcast in the middle of the transaction. If I could do that with the twenty or so channels(most at a significantly lower price of $2-4 per month) that we actually watch, out of the several hundred offered by Comcast then I could ditch the cable TV service and just keep the Internet and save a lot of money.

Fat chance of that happening any time soon.

Reshared post from +Clayton Morris

Sweet. HBO Go comes to our Roku boxes.

http://www.roku.com/hbo-partner

Embedded Link

HBO GO
Get instant access to over 1400 HBO® shows and hit movies – every episode of every season of the best of HBO. Free with your HBO subscription through participating TV providers.

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.


If only Saab could get as many people to actually put real money down for its products… 2

If only Saab could get as many people to actually put real money down for its products it might be able to make a case for saving the brand

Embedded Link

Saab celebrates 100,000 Fans on Facebook – Saab Newsroom
Archive. All. 2011 November October September August July June May April March February January 2010 December November October September August July June May April March February January. Saab Convert…

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.


The modern world has certainly brought plenty of unintended consequences with it,…

The modern world has certainly brought plenty of unintended consequences with it, but the benefits of vaccination have done wonders for public health. Does Delta really want thousands of sick and infectious passengers flying in its sealed aluminum tubes?

Reshared post from +Philip Plait

Delta Airlines is running an insidious anti-vaccination ad on their in-flight TV right now, sponsored by the notorious reality-challenged (and Orwellianly-named) National Vaccine Information Center. These ads make it out as if getting the flu is no big deal, when in fact preventing the flu is a very big deal. The link below from Skepchick.org will give you the details.

I will not fly Delta until they remove these ads. It's that simple. I tweeted about it (http://twitter.com/#!/BadAstronomer/status/132116584591409154) and I ask folks to spread the word.

Vaccines are one of the greatest achievements of medical science, saving millions of lives every year. I won't sit back and let a well-funded fringe groups spread blatantly false misinformation about them.

Embedded Link

I Flu Delta: An Action Alert – Skepchick
I Flu Delta: An Action Alert. The National Vaccine Information Center, an organization ironically misinformed about vaccines, is running an ad on Delta Airlines flights through the entire month of Nov…

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.


Make magazine, Maker Faire and the Maker movement are amazingly cool and a great…

Make magazine, Maker Faire and the Maker movement are amazingly cool and a great way for people to learn. It also gets us back to creating real physical stuff rather than just feeding into a bogus service economy.

Reshared post from +Alexander Howard

Congratulations to Maker Faire and MAKE Magazine founder +Dale Dougherty, named a "Champion of Change" by the White House today!

"You're sort of the anti-Washington, in that you guys just hang out and do great stuff," said U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra in introducing him. Their conversation was streamed live online at http://whitehouse.gov/live.

"Tinkering was once a solid middle class skill," said Dougherty. "It was how you make your life better. Making involves a willingness around risk, he emphasized "Ok, you fail. So get up and do it again."

It's also about what people do because of passion and personal interest. "People are building robots because they want to," he said. "It's an expression of who they are and what they want to do."

Now, MakerFaire is bringing many families together around making. In California, we have about 100,000 people coming to Maker Faire, said Dougherty. "We've got a lot of kids who don't want to sit in a seat & read a textbook. They want to DO stuff. How do we unleash that power?"

From the press release: "The recognition will come at the first part of a day of activities the White House is calling “Make it in America,” which will bring together American leaders helping to create high-quality jobs in the United States.

The White House Champions of Change Initiative profiles Americans from all walks of life helping the country rise to the challenges of the 21st century. These Champions of Change are doing extraordinary things in their communities working to out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world. For more: http://www.whitehouse.gov/champions

Mr. Dougherty is being recognized for his work as founder and publisher of MAKE, a do-it-yourself magazine that helps readers make the most of their technology at home and away from home. Mr. Dougherty leads the Maker Media division of O'Reilly Media, Inc. He also developed Maker Faire, a fair that showcases DIY approaches in arts, crafts, science and engineering. Maker Faire showcases the innovation and creativity of its participants.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Tech/2011/1101/Maker-Faire-Mad-science-for-the-masses

“Innovation happens everywhere;” Mr. Dougherty said, “not just in universities or corporations. The innovators who come to Maker Faire to share their ideas are living proof of that.”

Embedded Link

Dale Dougherty talking about @makerfaire at today's @whi… on Twitpic
@whitehouseostp. OSTP November 3, 2011. Tweet. Rotate photo View full size. name. twitter username. @reply to tagged user. Hide map and return to photo. Dale Dougherty talking about @makerfaire at tod…

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.