When it comes to useful new product development Google has been the leader with products like Google Earth and Picasa (which they aquired, but I still find it one of the most useful pieces of software I use). Today I viewed a great video of a product Photosynth by Micosoft’s new team ‘Microsoft Live Lab’. Photosynth takes a large collection of photos of a place or object, analyzes them for similarities, and displays them in a reconstructed 3-Dimensional space. It creates a DNA finger print of an image and can then look for similar images that you have taken (or that others have taken of the same location) and stitch them together into a 3D-esque environment. The result is amazing. I want to try this product. I would have no problem opening up my images to being analysed in this fashion so they could be used in Photosynth. Check out the video.
Archive for July, 2006
A wonderful graph from Fast Company that compares the longevity of various slang terms for ‘that is good’. I can concede that I have used every word on this list (except maybe ‘def’) at least once. I even tried to bring back ‘boss’ a few times in the early 2000’s.
I had problems with Windows 2003 Server recognizing my Canon Digital Cameras even though it recognized my Panasonic one fine. After an exhaustive search I finally located a solution that I wanted to share here so others may (hopefully) locate it eaiser than I. To enable Windows 2003 Server to discover your Canon Digital Camera:
Go to Start -> Run -> and type in Services.msc and scroll down until you find the “Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) “, double click on Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) and select startup type Automatic -> Apply -> Start -> OK.
(I only found this solution once I had decided to buy a digital media reader and went searching to see if the media reader would work with Windows 2003. “Sandisk card reader” +”windows 2003 server”. Go figure.)
In an update to the terms & conditions at YouTube they now claim a license to your media so they can make money.
“…by submitting the User Submissions to YouTube, you hereby grant YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the User Submissions in connection with the YouTube Website and YouTube’s (and its successor’s) business… in any media formats and through any media channels.”
The repercusions of this are huge, and some outcomes have already been suggested. YouTube could produce a DVD of webisodes hosted on their service or sell songs/video to advertising firms. I had considered putting a few things on YouTube to ease my own bandwidth usage, but with this new development it is unlikely. My content should equal my ownership. If YouTube wants to resell my content then we can talk, but royalty-free is not even an option. [via Wired blog]
I can’t say I know to much about what is currently going on in Lebanon. I’ve seen the papers and the pictures. Is it that all the anger and bombings blend together in this day and age? A friend of a friend is currently in Lebanon, and he and his family feel they have to take their exit plans from the country into their own hands. It’s enlightening to read his point of view on this situation, and also interesting to read that it seems like every other nation has gotten their people out — but Canada stays waiting. I also noticed Karim’s constant use of the word ’surreal’ to describe life in a war zone. I suppose not many other words can describe the experience — unless you want to call it like it is and say ‘real’. [Karim's blog]
The National Film Board of Canada has recently placed a number of classic short films, as well as more recent works, on-line. I clearly remember watching The Cat Came Back at some point during my youth and was a little surprised to learn it was released in 1988. I suppose I thought it was older then that. Other highlights are The Impossible Map, a film whose use of vegtables and fruit to represent the globe boggles the mind as no one today would attempt such a feat without the aid of computer animation, and The Sweater, a truly Canadian story about a boy who outgrows his hockey sweater and is sent a Maple Leafs sweater instead of the coveted red, white and blue of Les Canadiens. Sadly Log Driver’s Waltz, what I consider to be the NFB’s best production, is missing from the list but can be located on YouTube. I remember having a debate a few years ago regarding the title of this fim. One group swore it was ‘Log Rider’ while another insisted it was ‘Log Driver’. I do not recall on which side of this debate my allegiances fell, but here sits the answer.
Update: It appears the NFB has added a number of films to their online archive, and Log Driver’s Waltz is one of them.
FeelingBullish is a new social network for investors. Once you sign up, you become an analyst. The site logs all your stock ratings over time and creates a “FeelingBullish rank” based on the performance of your picks. [via mashable]
Ran across a great article on TechCrunch, though slightly dated, that compares a number of online storage options to backup your important data. Looking over their nice chart, OmniDrive seems to be a strong contender for ‘best in class’ supremacy. (note: on visiting their website I learned that they are still in private beta)
I had the pleasure to spend Saturday sailing on Lake Ontario out of the CBYC. I like to say I know how to sail, but when one gets right down to it my sailing experience is from one summer at YMCA day camp. We sailed two-man dinghys around the lake at Kelso Conservation Area. I did learn the essence of the tack and jive jibe, and the names of the sails, a few knots and the way to properly handle line on a boat, but I’m lucky that any of it has stuck with me. I do recall the glory of the windy day when we could hang over the edge of the boat — fighting the power of the wind. Being two 12 year olds in a small boat, the wind was no match and we often flipped them.
This weekend the vessel of choice was a C&C 26 — a 26 footer, circa 1976. We set sail into Lake Ontario; hoisting the main sail, and setting the jib, with little but open water ahead of us and the Scarborough bluffs behind. What I enjoy about sailing is obvious: the lack of a motor — the splash of the water on the hull and the flap of sails in the wind. With a motor you have precise control, that is to say you can travel in any direction on a whim, and essentially stop by throwing the engine in reverse (if need be). When sailing you are, in a sense, at the winds command. It’s trajectory influences your chosen path. The skill required to truly ’sail’ is immense and amazing. The extent of my actual sailing on this day involved holding onto a few lines and steering while Captain Mike lowered the jib and raised the spinnaker.
A leisurely day on the water was wonderful; with the shoreline and skyline of Toronto seen off in the distance — away from the haze and smog.
View a complete set of photos from the day at my flickr.
Even when Bush is being sincere he can’t help but put his foot in his mouth. At yesterdays meeting with Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper Mr. Bush, in speaking to the media, referred to Mr. Harper as ‘Steve’.
“I’m proud to have allies like Steve who understand the stakes of the 21st century,” Mr. Bush said at a joint White House news conference after their 40-minute meeting in the Oval Office and before a working lunch. [source: The Globe and Mail]
I understand that it’s his name, but it just sounds weird — not to mention disrespectful? Call him Prime Minster Harper or at the very least address him as Mr. Harper. But Steve? Please.
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