Thursday, June 09, 2011
「兩岸皆中國軍」 退將登陸失言？
現在的兩岸關係，既不是敵人，也不是朋友，經濟、觀光、甚至血緣都密不可分，可是一扯到主權和尊嚴，馬上你是你、我是我，今天退役將領是否赴陸失言這個話題，再一次牽動了這條敏感的神經，編輯台時間邀請到聯合報大陸中心記者陳東旭來探究。
About : Expeditionary Learning
Expeditionary Learning from Expeditionary Learning on Vimeo.
Over the course of our 17-year history, we have grown from a small adventurous group of ten schools into a network the size of a substantial urban school district.
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Wednesday Was A Good Day (Official Jawbone JAMBOX Music Video)
What would Ice Cube's "Good Day" have looked like if Cube had a SOMA loft, a fixed gear bike, and a boatload of apps? You're about to find out.
http://jawbone.com/jamchain
Inspired by Ice Cube's original: http://youtu.be/QWfbGGZE07M
Starring
Hasan Minhaj: youtube.com/hminhaj
Featuring
Ashkon: youtube.com/ashkeezy
Strawburry17: youtube.com/strawburry17
The Black Nerd: youtube.com/blacknerdcomedy
Cyr: youtube.com/cyr1216
Jimmy Wong: youtube.com/jimmy
SupRicky06: youtube.com/supricky06
KEEPtheHeat: youtube.com/keeptheheat
Asian Glow: youtube.com/asianglow
Turf Feinz: youtube.com/statussilver
Daveed Diggs: youtube.com/getacknews
Written, Produced, and Directed By:
Portal A Interactive: http://portal-a.com/
Lyrics:
Just wakin up in the morning gotta thank Jobs
I dunno but today seems kinna odd
Hella email, got no spam
All these fools straight obsessed with my instagrams
Morning fitness on the Wii, you know I do
Girls textin me as I rock a Warrior Two
JAMBOX blastin' so you know I packed it
Forgot to lock up the bike, nobody jacked it
Organic produce to my door all pre-pay
Damn. Bout to be a nice little Wednesday
CHORUS
Thirty minutes late but my game's still tight
Got a blast that the boss is at an off-site
Now it's feet up, time to chill
Angry Birds cause I always got some pigs to kill
Troubleshooting for the cuties, that's my joint
Backrubs as I re-install her PowerPoint
My deal's almost tipped, could use one more
You want in on a self-guided Segway tour?
Sixty deep for the line at the taco truck
Guess what? The intern's gonna let me cut
Going nuts on the guac, extra layer
They show respect cause they know that I'm the mayor
On a conference call and I'm feelin no stress
This thing's wireless, act like you're not impressed
Closing deals from the Valley to Bombay
Turnin' out to be a nice little Wednesday
CHORUS
Later on in the evening got it going off
Sick wine and cheese rager up in my loft
Keds so fresh, they know not to step
Don't call it plaid, it's a gingham check
Get me in the game and I'm trouble
Droppin bounce shots in and they countin double
Camera phones flash when we take the tourney
Now put your head back and move it like Bernie
Checked my hip and got a re-tweet from AK!
Gotta say it's been a nice little Wednesday
Media Contact
Katie Boysen
Jobs To Cupertino: We Want A Spaceship-Shaped, 12K Capacity Building As Our New Apple Campus
After having a banner WWDC start yesterday, Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs humbly presented his idea for a new Apple campus at the Cupertino City Council today. Jobs wants to build one building that will hold 12,000 Apple employees on a former Hewlett-Packard property in the area between Tantau North Wolfe, Homestead and the 280 freeway.”It’s a little like a spaceship landed,” Jobs says. No kidding.
Jobs began the presentation referring to the fact that Apple is growing “like a weed,” and that its current campus at D’Anza and the 280 isn’t enough — fitting only about 2,800 people. Apple currently rents buildings to house its other 6,700 employees in the area. The new building will augment the current campus.
Paving the way for these plans, Apple purchased about 100 acres from Hewlett Packard in 2010 and added them to the 50 it owns adjacent. Jobs says he has corralled “some great architects … some of the best in the world” to come up with a design that will house 12,000 people in one four story high building on the property. The area is now mainly apricot orchards.
With the futuristic design Apple apparently is relying heavily on its experience building retail stores, and it will be creating one massive piece of curved glass if the proposal goes through. “There’s not a single straight piece of glass in this building,” Jobs says. The parking will be underground.
Jobs also wants the building to function as its own power source, with an “energy center” as its primary source of power (“with natural gas and other ways that are cleaner and cheaper”), using the grid as a backup.
The campus will include amenities like its own auditorium similar to Apple’s current Town Hall (“We’ve got an auditorium, cause we put on presentations, much like we did yesterday but we have to go to San Francisco to do them.”) and a cafeteria that will feed 3,000 people at one sitting.
“We do have a shot at building the best office building in the world,” Jobs told the Council members, “Architecture students will come here to see this.” Ideally Apple wants to move into the campus in 2015.
The individual members of the Cupertino City Council seemed like they were in awe the entire time the infamously charismatic Apple CEO spoke (which isn’t surprising), asking Jobs for free Wifi and iPads for constituents as well as for an Apple store that’s actually in Cupertino and not in the Valley or Los Gatos. Jobs shyly responded to the requests, “I think we bring a lot more than free Wifi.”
Key facts about the new Apple campus:
Design will include a courtyard in the middle and curved glass all the way around.
Jobs is planning on transforming an area that’s 20% landscaping to 80% landscaping by putting most of the building’s parking underground.
There are 3,700 trees in the area at the moment, Jobs has hired an arborist from Stanford to take the area up to 6,000 trees.
The plan is to build a four-story high building and four-story parking structure.
The campus will incude an energy center, and natural gas will be the primary source of power, using the grid as backup.
There will be an auditorium, fitness center and some R & D buildings.
Jobs plans a 40% increase in Apple employees going from 9,500 today to 13, 000 in 2015.
He wants to increase the campus’ space 20% from 2.6 million to 3.1 million square feet.
Landscaping will increase 60% from 3,700 to 6,000.
Surface parking will decrease 90% from 9,800 to 1,200 .
The building footprint will decrease 30% from 1.4 million to 1 million.
Cafeterias will fit 3,000 people at a sitting.
The whole building will be designed with the utmost concern for employee safety.
Apple currently has 20 buses running on bio-diesel fuel for its employees and Jobs thinks that system will work well with the new campus.
The plan for the new design will submitted asap. Jobs hopes to break ground next year and eventually move in 2015.
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Nanodot-boosted LCD
Nanodot-boosted LCD
Nanosys's Quantum Dot Enhancement Film does two things: It really boosts the color of a traditional LCD display, offering "OLED color depth without OLED power consumption and OLED price," and it proves that quantum mechanics isn't a dusty old physics concept with no real-world applications. It's been around for a while but at the Society for Information Display conference, Nanosys just showed their tech hacked into an existing iPad design to show off its powers, and revealed it's actually coming to market in a "mobile device" from a Korean firm in late 2011--is this the new screen tech for Samsung's Galaxy tablets and smartphones?
Apple WWDC 2011 Done as a Song
song-a-day one thousand... and beyond
Hi! My name is Jonathan Mann, and I've been writing, recording, producing and uploading a song a day since January 1st, 2009. On September 28th, 2011 I'll be reaching my 1000th song a day song.
It's been an incredible time in my life, full of interesting people and places and experiences.
Ultimately, though, there's been one crucial aspect of the creative process that's been missing: Collaboration. I have a ton of really talented musical friends, many of whom I play music with regularly, but they all have jobs and, you know, lives! Because of the blisteringly fast pace of one song (with a video) every single day, it has been virtually impossible to bring other musicians into my process.
the project
With all that in mind, and to celebrate 1000 days of Song-A-Day, I'm going to invite all the musicians I know to come help me shape and create 30 songs in 30 days for the month of June. We'll have a live stream set up so you'll be able to watch as the creative process unfolds over each 24 hour period. At the end of the month, you'll be able to vote for your 10 favorite songs, and the tracks with the most votes will end up on the 1st official Song A Day album which will be released on September 28th!
the more the merrier
In addition to all the musicians who will be coming and going (including the guys from my band: Nic Kaelin, Sam Douglass, Norman Famous, David Douglas and Eric Yeargan) there will be 4 core team members who will be with me all-day every-day, helping me with the nuts and bolts of recording, arranging and producing. They are as follows:
Nick Krill and Thomas Hughes (of The Spinto Band) will travel to Berkeley from their homes in Delaware. Nick is an amazing guitar player and a great recording engineer. Thomas is a wonderful multi-instrumentalist; with whom I have a long history of collaboration. My friend Matt Payne (of the Glowing Stars) is also a multi-instrumentalist and a wonderful producer and arranger. Liam McCormick (of The Family Crest) is going to write string arrangements for the songs.
Salesforce Invests In Video Messaging Startup (And Skype Rival) VSee
VSee, a video collaboration service provider, has received a capital injection from Salesforce, TechCrunch has learned. The amount was not disclosed, but we’ve been informed that the investment amounted to ‘multiple millions of dollars’.
Coinciding with the investment announcement, the company today announced the upcoming release of ‘One-Click Collaboration’, which it calls a ‘no install experience’ that instantly starts a rich video collaboration session between distributed users.
VSee offers a service that supports multiparty video calling, application/desktop sharing and file transfers over the Web. See video below for a demo.
The startup’s CEO, Milton Chen, says this concept of ‘One-click Collaboration’ combines the scalability and performance of p2p approaches such as Skype with the no-install simplicity of web technologies like Flash, overcoming the limitations of both.
The service will be released for general availability in July 2011.
The company says it already provides services to more than 6,000 enterprises worldwide, including Shell, Intel, Primerica, U.S. Navy SEALs and the U.S. National Science Foundation.
It currently only runs on Windows XP, Vista, and 7.
VSee was founded in 2008 following Chen’s human-computer interaction PhD research at Stanford University. Aside from Salesforce, In-Q-Tel has invested in the business.
Also worth noting: Chen is one of the authors of the XMPP video standard.
Earlier this year, Salesforce announced that it had acquired DimDim, a web conferencing service, for $31 million in cash.
NASA | Aquarius Climate
Sea surface salinity has a massive influence on Earth's climate. With Aquarius, scientists will have a new way to measure that influence in a consistent way. With its unprecedented accurate and consistent salinity measurements, Aquarius will help climate modelers to better understand the ocean-atmosphere processes that are changing Earth's climate.
NASA | Aquarius Water Cycle
Scientists need a breadth of information to understand the ocean's processes. That's where Aquarius comes in: the sensor will use advanced technologies to give NASA its first space-based measurements of sea surface salinity, helping scientists to improve predictions of future climate trends and events.
This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?10709
Like our videos? Subscribe to NASA's Goddard Shorts HD podcast:
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/iTunes/f0004_index.html
Or find NASA Goddard Space Flight Center o http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifn facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/NASA.GSFC
Or find us on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/NASAGoddard
Apple - Introducing iOS 5
Get a closer look at a few of the over 200 features that make iOS 5 the best update yet for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.
Monday, June 06, 2011
Is This iOS 5? Dunno, But It’s Likely The Right Idea
Could it be? Is this it? iOS 5?! I honestly have absolutely no clue. But it certainly seems like it at least could have the right idea.
Tomorrow morning, Apple is set to preview iOS 5 for the first time during the WWDC keynote. It’s likely that developers will get access to the initial build as well, so they can start working on updating their apps to take advantage of all the new features/functionality. But some select developers are believed to have already seen iOS 5 (notably those who are likely to present on stage tomorrow). And while not a lot has leaked out, we have heard a few things supposedly coming: widgets, Twitter integration, and revamped notifications.
The last two are particularly interesting given the image above. Again, no clue if it’s actually real or not, but the idea might be right. Notifications that come down from the top bar could be how Apple ends up doing things in iOS 5. After all, this would mimic already existing functionality — when tethering, a blue strip appears along the top; when on the phone, it’s a green strip. Might notifications (or at least Twitter notifications) produce a gray strip?
If so, when clicked on, what happens? Does it launch the Twitter app? Or are you taken to a notifications page to show you all the notifications you’ve missed? Or does it actually copy the Android idea, where you pull down this menu to display all your notifications?
This concept isn’t quite as slick as some of the mock-ups we’ve seen over the past couple of years. Nor is it as slick as some of the jailbroken ones — which actually led to a new Apple hire. But again, it does fit in with the current iOS workflow. That may or may not matter at all. Regardless, this way of doing things would be much better than the current pop-up method for Push Notifications.
Before you go yelling “fake” on the obvious things, a couple notes. First of all, yes, 11:54 PM is in the future — in the United States. But if the Weather app is to be believed, this is clearly a European version of iOS (note the 23 degrees Celsius in the icon instead of 72 degree Fahrenheit as you would see in the U.S.). Second, the Camera app icon is totally different, and looks a little odd being all-black, but who knows, maybe it’s changing. The icons are in the “correct” default order. Finally, if the talk of deep Twitter integration into iOS 5 is to be believed (we heard a bit, others have heard a bit more), it’s entirely possible that these new-style Twitter notifications could be working in iOS 5 right out of the box.
But again, who knows — no one outside of a handful of people before tomorrow morning. Well, and the guy below.
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Saturday, June 04, 2011
Outside Aperture: fan made epilogue to Portal
"Outside Aperture," an eight-minute fan-made epilogue to the wonderful game Portal, created by EisenFeuer. It's pretty adorable, and there's cake.
Friday, June 03, 2011
Adam Bosworth Unveils Keas, The Game That Keeps You Healthy
After two years in stealth, Adam Bosworth is finally ready to start talking about his health startup Keas. Keas is not a Mint for health, although it began that way. Bosworth, who previously launched Google Health at Google and before that was known as the father of XML at Microsoft, founded Keas two years ago with $10 million from Ignition Partners and Atlas Venture. He thought he would build a Mint for health, but discovered that people don’t want to measure their health. So instead, he turned it into a game.
Keas is a game that keeps you healthy. You pick three goals a week, which can range from exercise to eating more fruits and vegetables to reducing stress. You get points for accomplishing your goals and for taking health quizes. If your company signs up for it, you can get rewards as well, including cash (HR departments are willing to pay for programs that will keep employees healthy and productive).
Bosworth came by the TCTV studios in New York City earlier this week for an interview, which you can watch above. He already has 10 companies including Quest Diagnostics and Novartis with about 1,000 employees each testing out the system in a private beta. But it is now public, and you can play here.
One of the key differences between Keas and something like Virgin Health is that Keas is inherently social. You join a team of your co-workers and everyone has to achieve goals together in order to level up in the game, so that encourages players to support each other.
Keas also takes a completely different approach than Google Health, which Bosworth helped to start. I asked Bosworth why Google Health never really took off. His answer in the video clip below is that Google Health never asked, “What could they do that people would want?” Instead. “they basically offerd a placeto store data.” People don’t want to store data, they want to have fun.
Guy Creates Smaller Version of Real Life Android-Powered Labyrinth in Under a Day [Video]
Google came to I/O this year with a life-sized Labyrinth game controlled with nothing but a Motorola XOOM. We were pretty awed by it and excited to see what else would be done with the Android Open Accessory ADK. The first, outside of the official demos we saw at Google I/O, seems to be a clone of that Labyrinth game, except it’s a million times smaller and uses a phone ( Nexus One instead of a tablet.
The engineer said he started the project – hardware, software and all – at 7pm and was finished at 5am. That’s exactly the type of turn-around developers like to hear when it comes to creating prototypes ahead of a deadline. We’re not sure how long it’d take to develop a more robust and advanced system, but hobbyist and beginners should rest easy knowing that it’s easy to get started with. (The engineer stated that his only prior experience with Android was a “Hello World” application using the demokit and accelerometer samples from the web.) Check the video out above. [Thanks Tipster!]
Thursday, June 02, 2011
TEDxVancouver - Jack Horner - The Shape-Shifting Skulls of Dinosaurs
"The Shape-Shifting Skulls of Dinosaurs" will focus on our latest discoveries concerning how dinosaur skulls changed as they grew to adult hood, and why it is that some dinosaur species are actually juvenile growth stages of other species. I will illustrate how it is that scientists got it wrong to begin with, and how we figured it all out. The talk will concern field work, studies in morphology, and osteohistology (the microscopic study of bone)
Jack has published more than 170 professional papers, 9 popular books, and more than 100 popular articles. His book Digging Dinosaurs was described by New Scientist Magazine as one of the 250 most important science books of the 20th Century. Jack also directs the largest dinosaur field research program in the world. He was the technical advisor for Steven Spielberg on all of the Jurassic Park movies, and has worked with National Geographic, and The Discovery Channel on numerous dinosaur specials.
Jack is the Curator of Paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies, and Regent's Professor of Paleontology at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. He is also a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Paleobiology at the Smithsonian Institution, and an Honorary Research Fellow with the Natural History Museum in London.
About TEDx, x=independently organize event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-
organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience.
At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep
discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized
events are branded TEDx, where x=independently organized TED event.
The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but
individual TEDx events are self-organized.*
(*Subject to certain rules and regulations)
Microsoft Windows 8 for Tablets - Detailed Demonstration
A detailed demonstration of the new Microsoft Windows 8 for tablets at Computex 2011 in Taipei
HP May License webOS
At the D9 conference today, Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker says the company is planning to make it available to its partners to provide mobility services to their customers
Andrew Mason Demos Groupon Now
Onstage at D9, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason demos Groupon Now, which is location-based offers that consumers use instantly, and talks about how it's different than what Google announced yesterday with Offers.
Fanhattan Demo
Fanhattan, formerly known as Vuze, is a cloud-based app trying to aggregate the Web's many scattered video sources into a single location.
Square CEO Jack Dorsey
Kara Swisher jokes that he's the James Franco of the Internet, but given that he's CEO of Square and Product Chief at Twitter, the joke isn't too far from reality. Here he talk to Kara about how he spends his time
Jonathan Kaplan on the Death of Flip
Jonathan Kaplan, creator of the popular Flip camera, doesn't know why Cisco bought his company and then abruptly shut it down.
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop flew several thousand miles to get to D9, but jet lag is probably the least of the ailments plaguing him. He sat down with Walt Mossberg to talk about Nokia's ailing stock price, trying to catch up in the smartphone race, and the company's relationship with Microsoft.
Alibaba CEO Jack Ma
Alibaba's CEO Jack Ma tried hard not to turn his entire interview at the D Conference to be all about the company's ongoing negotiations with Yahoo about the fate of Alipay. He talked with Kara Swisher about Groupon, Yahoo, and advice for Carol Bartz.
Google's Eric Schmidt
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt kicked off the D9 conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. In this highlight reel he talks with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher about the "Gang of Four," his biggest regret from his tenure as CEO, and his unique retirement plans, among other things.
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Marc Andreessen on Browsers, the Bubble and Silicon Valley History
Marc Andreessen helped kick off the first Web wave, and now he’s as deep in the second one as you can possibly get. And he speaks very, very quickly. Here’s a condensed version of his wide-ranging chat with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher from the D9 conference.
BlueStacks runs Android OS and apps on Windows PCs
BlueStacks runs Android OS and apps on Windows PCs with instant switch between Android and Windows - no reboot is required. End consumers can now enjoy their favorite Android apps on Windows PCs. Android apps can appear either as icons on the Windows desktop, or within a full-blown Android environment.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
IdeaJam: Education Live Stream - Q&A
Students show and tell how technology and creativity can be combined to create an ideal learning environment that allows for a legacy in learning, led by top education consultant Alan November.
The opening discussion of this event was presented before an audience and was also broadcast on the Web so that educators from around the world could take part in the dialogue. The recordings of this live broadcast our now on the Web and available to all.
IdeaJam: Education Live Stream - Alan November's Introduction
IdeaJam: Education Live Stream - Q&A Part 1
IdeaJam: Education Live Stream - Eric Marcos' Class
IdeaJam: Education Live Stream - Skype Sessions
IdeaJam: Education Live Stream - Q&A Part 2
Teton Freedom Ride
Almost Spring 2011 from Andrew Whiteford on Vimeo.
Video of the Day by one of our favorite GoPro Fans Andrew Whiteford! Way to ROCK the riding, filming AND editing, Andrew! Be sure to check out his GoPro snow edits too!
Sean Maloney on Moving Intel Faster & Growth in China
Sean Maloney is executive vice president of Intel Corporatio, responsible for architecting, developing, and marketing Intel's platform solutions for all computing segments including data centers, desktops, laptops, netbooks/nettops, handhelds, embedded devices, and consumer electronics. As co-general manager, Maloney is focused on business and operations.
Prior to his current role, Maloney served as chief sales and marketing officer. He has been with Intel since 1982.
Maloney began his Intel career in its European headquarters where he spent nine years, first as Intel UK's manager of applications engineering, then as country manager of Intel UK, and director of marketing for Intel Europe.
From 1992 to 1995, Maloney served as technical assistant to the chairman and chief executive of Intel, Dr. Andrew S. Grove.
In 1995, Maloney moved to Hong Kong to manage Intel's sales and marketing activities in Asia Pacific. In 1998 he returned to the United States to become head of Intel's worldwide sales organization. He was promoted to senior vice president in 1999 and executive vice president in 2001. He took over as head of Intel Communications Group (ICG) later that year and became co-manager with David Perlmutter of the Mobility Group in 2004. In July 2006 Maloney was appointed chief sales and marketing officer and co-general manager of the Intel Architecture Group since September 2009.
Maloney is a member of the board of Autodesk Inc. and Clearwire Corporation.
Monday, May 30, 2011
THE COLLEGE CONSPIRACY
Alex Jones: NIA's COLLEGE CONSPIRACY 1/5
A 15 minutes intro :
Full version:
College Conspiracy is the most comprehensive documentary ever produced about higher education in the U.S. The film exposes the facts and truth about America's college education system. 'College Conspiracy' was produced over a six-month period by NIA's team of expert Austrian economists with the help of thousands of NIA members who contributed their ideas and personal stories for the film. NIA believes the U.S. college education system is a scam that turns vulnerable young Americans into debt slaves for life.
NIA tracks price inflation in all U.S. industries and there is no industry that has seen more consistent price inflation this decade than college education. After the burst of the Real Estate bubble, student loans are now the easiest loan to receive in the U.S., and total student loan debts now exceed credit card debts. The government gives out easy student loans to anybody, regardless of grades, credit history, what they are majoring in, and what their job prospects are. NIA believes it is illegal for the U.S. government to be in the student loan business because the U.S. constitution doesn't authorize it. Just like how the U.S. government created Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make housing affordable, but instead drove housing prices through the roof; the U.S. government, by trying to make college more affordable, is accomplishing the exact opposite and driving tuition prices to astronomical levels that provide a negative return on investment.
The U.S. has been experiencing 5.15% annual college tuition inflation this decade. Despite this, 70.1% of high school graduates are now enrolling into college, a new all time record. 2/3 of college students are now graduating with an average of $24,000 in debt. There is nothing special about getting a college degree if everyone else has one, and it is certainly not worth getting $24,000 into debt to camouflage yourself into the crowd. NIA's President is friends with hundreds of CEOs of mid-sized corporations who tell him that someone who skipped college is a lot more likely to stand out amongst the hundreds of applicants who apply for each job available.
A 15 minutes intro :
Full version:
College Conspiracy is the most comprehensive documentary ever produced about higher education in the U.S. The film exposes the facts and truth about America's college education system. 'College Conspiracy' was produced over a six-month period by NIA's team of expert Austrian economists with the help of thousands of NIA members who contributed their ideas and personal stories for the film. NIA believes the U.S. college education system is a scam that turns vulnerable young Americans into debt slaves for life.
NIA tracks price inflation in all U.S. industries and there is no industry that has seen more consistent price inflation this decade than college education. After the burst of the Real Estate bubble, student loans are now the easiest loan to receive in the U.S., and total student loan debts now exceed credit card debts. The government gives out easy student loans to anybody, regardless of grades, credit history, what they are majoring in, and what their job prospects are. NIA believes it is illegal for the U.S. government to be in the student loan business because the U.S. constitution doesn't authorize it. Just like how the U.S. government created Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make housing affordable, but instead drove housing prices through the roof; the U.S. government, by trying to make college more affordable, is accomplishing the exact opposite and driving tuition prices to astronomical levels that provide a negative return on investment.
The U.S. has been experiencing 5.15% annual college tuition inflation this decade. Despite this, 70.1% of high school graduates are now enrolling into college, a new all time record. 2/3 of college students are now graduating with an average of $24,000 in debt. There is nothing special about getting a college degree if everyone else has one, and it is certainly not worth getting $24,000 into debt to camouflage yourself into the crowd. NIA's President is friends with hundreds of CEOs of mid-sized corporations who tell him that someone who skipped college is a lot more likely to stand out amongst the hundreds of applicants who apply for each job available.
Hopscotch: the browser for the offline world
Hopscotch hooks your mobile phone to the physical world via QR codes. Here's a first look at how it works. http://www.usehopscotch.com/ has more.
A visit to On24, leading webcast company
As part of my goal to visit all tech companihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifes that make world-changing technology here I visit http://www.on24.com/ which makes webinar/webcast service for big enterprise companies. I learn about the business and see that they are building social software into their service through a developer SDK.
Disrupt Backstage Pass: Ashton Kutcher On Why He Invested In AirBnB
Hi. I'm Sarah Lacy backstage at TechCrunch Disrupt with Ashton Kutcher.
The guy in the hat.
The guy in the hat. So you were just onstage, and Charlie Rose did not get out of you what I'm about to get out of you.
He just didn't ask.
That one of your angel portfolio companies that no one knows about, very popular company, Air BnB.
Yeah.
When did you invest?
I've been working with them since about February. I'm an investor, but I'm also a strategic eally taking the brand international, which is really important for them right now because there are so many ex-US companies trying to chase what they are doing.
Right
And so that's kind of our primary focus right now is working on the UK and Germany and starting to build the company there. Now you're a very different Ashton Kutcher than the Ashton Kutcher who came to Tech Crunch 40 or Tech Crunch 50 or whatever we were calling it back then. First of all, you seemed more nervous to be in front of the techies then.
You seem very calm and self assured these days.
I'm still nervous. I probably just know better words now.
But you've also evolved more from Ashton Kutcher, entrepreneur, to Ashton Ashton Kutcher, entrepreneur and Angel investor. You have a portfolio of 12 companies, and really good companies, things like AirBnB, Skype, I don't know how many others I'm allowed to say or not. So how do you see that your role has really evolved in this ecosystem from a couple sort of silly, early companies that do so well to be attached to pretty big names now.
I think when I came here three years ago, I came with a media property. It wasn't really a tech company. It's the space that I knew, I knew how to create media units, right? That's what I was educated in and that's what I knew and that's what I've been doing for the last whatever five or six years.
And then when I came here, I saw this entire ecosystem of people and I just sort of became an apprentice and, like, sat next to some of the smartest people in the system and really just tried to suck information from them, learn from them. I just started reading a ton of stuff because I don't like to fail.
And then what I found from sitting down with them is, I would go through different people's investment portfolios and I would say "I like this one" and "I'm interested in that one" and "This makes sense to me", "I don't get this, but I understand this", "I think I could be helpful this company through an introduction to these people, because there are certain people in the media world that can be really, really influential to a company.
I can kind of get a return phone call from most people that I place a call to, and that can become really, really valuable. Like that level of introduction for people, when they're first starting out a company, can become extremely valuable. So some of my first investments were Skype, obviously, Foursquare, and I'm in investor Path and TinyChat.
And when I saw, I wasn't an angel investor in AirBnB but when I saw the power of that company, I actually saw it as one of the first companies that is so truly cutting edge in what it's doing taking social trust and manifesting that into commerce.
And some people would say online is eroding trust, so they're taking.
So they've actually managed through an integrity of a product and integrity of people to start to create social trust and transfer that into commerce. And if you go, it's like going to a restaurant and looking at tips on Foursquare or something like that. Or like now using Explore on Foursquare where you go and you, I want pizza, and it shows you, like, oh, these are six places that my friends have gone to, and I go, I have trust the fact that these people have the kind of taste that I would endorse, so thereby I'm gonna go to that place.
AirBnB is really doing that with the way that they're creating an ecosystem of trust. And now their new Facebook implementation does it even further, where I can see the places that my friends have stayed.
It's actually, its actually doing something in technology that is a social interaction that people may not have the trust to do without that level of social.
Right, it's solving the trust problem not just trying to not destroy it.
It's actually solving the trust problem, exactly, as opposed to destroying it. I mean, granted, you would say "I'm going to New York for the weekend. Do you have a friend whose place I could stay in?" Sure, maybe. But maybe they don't. But maybe you have a friend of a friend who's endorsed this place and you say to your friend, hey you know that girl, does she have good taste?
And where she would stay is my kind of place. Yeah, absolutely.
Right. It takes out all like sort of the inefficiencies of it.
It takes out the inefficiencies of it and actually lands you in a new commerce that I think is going to have extraordinary value.
Now I want to ask. You've just signed on to a very high profile, very demanding job, being the replacement on Two and a Half Men. You said on stage with Charlie acting is still your first love. Is Catalyst Media, your venture investments, everything you've done on the tech side, now going to suffer?
No. It's to get a benefit.
How?
I'm not going to end up on a set in Shreveport, Louisiana for three months working sixteen-hour days.
Predictability.
Yeah. So, I've worked this job before when I was on The 70s Show. I know what the schedule is and I know it really, really well and I built Catalyst while I was making that show. I built Catalyst, I made multiple movies, I produced Punk'd and starred in Punk'd as well. I was able to have about three different jobs while I was working on a sitcom.
And the great thing about sitcoms is that, absolutely brilliant, the schedule: you work about thirty hours a week. And you work for two weeks and then you get a week off. So, it's two weeks on, one week off, two weeks on, one week off.
That 's pretty sweet.
And then you have three months off in the summer, and three weeks off at Christmas, and a week off at Thanksgiving. So, the way the schedule works, one, it keeps me in and around my office instead of ending up in France shooting a movie. And secondly, there's an extraordinary amount of time around that.
And thirdly, it's just an absolutely brilliant job. I get to make people laugh for a living. I don't know if it gets better than that.
Wow, suddenly I'm envious. I thought I had a great job at TechCrunch. I think we work like 90 hours a week and I never get a vacation. Thank you so much for joining us Ashton. Always great to have you here.
Thank you.
Pleasure.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Bruno Mars - The Lazy Song [Official Alternate Version]
Today I don’t feel like doing anything
I just wanna lay in my bed
Don’t feel like picking up my phone
So leave a message at the tone
Cus today I swear I'm not doing anything
I'm gonna kick my feet up and stare at the fan
Turn the Tvee on
Throw my hand in my pants
Nobodys gon’ tell me I cant
Ill be lying on the couch just chillin in my snuggie
Click to MTV so they can teach me how to dougie
Cus in my castle I'm the freakin man
Oh Oh
Yes I said it
I said it
I said it cus I can
Today I don’t feel like doing anything
I just wanna lay in my bed
Don’t feel like picking up my phone
So leave a message at the tone
Cus today I swear I'm not doing anything
Nothing at all
Ooh hoo ooh hoo
Hoo ooh ooh
Nothing at all
Ooh hoo ooh hoo
Hoo ooh ooh
Nothing at all
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Let It Be on GarageBand for iPad with Guitar Solo
The Beatles "Let It Be" on GarageBand for iPad using full 8 tracks including vocals, piano, organ, bass, chorus and Guitar Solo.
Amy Poehler at Harvard College Class Day
“I’m truly, truly delighted to be here at Harvard,” comic actress Amy Poehler told the crowd of graduating seniors and their parents at Class Day on May 25. (Scroll down to view the video of her speech.) “I graduated from Boston College, which some call ‘The Harvard of Boston,’” she deadpanned. The star of the television comedy Parks and Recreation, who rose to prominence as a result of her work on Saturday Night Live opposite Tina Fey, treated her audience to a stream of jokes, assumed accents, and perfectly timed punchlines centered on Harvard’s reputation. But Poehler also had a serious message, based on her own experiences: “What I have discovered,” she said, “is this: You can’t do it alone.” The message was partly about humor, but also about humility. “As you navigate through the rest of your life, be open to collaboration. Other people and other people’s ideas are often better than your own. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life. No one is here today because they did it on their own…You’re all here today because someone gave you strength. Helped you. Held you in the palm of their hand. God, Allah, Buddha, Gaga—whomever you pray to.”
Poehler, while cautioning the class against pursuing a career in acting (there is “no room at the inn,” she said), shared some rules that she learned while studying improvisational acting in Chicago: “Listen. Say ‘yes.’ Live in the moment. Make sure you play with people who have your back. Make big choices early and often.”
“The answer to a lot of your life’s questions is often in someone else’s face,” she continued. “People’s faces will tell you amazing things. Like if they are angry, or nauseous, or asleep…Try to keep your mind open to possibilities and your mouth closed on matters that you don’t know about. Limit your ‘always’ and your ‘nevers.’ Continue to share your heart with people even if it has been broken.”
In a nod to the parents in the audience, Poehler implored the class to indulge them a little: “Less eye-rolling, please.”
“This is what I want to say,” she concluded. ” When you feel scared, hold someone’s hand and look into their eyes. And when you feel brave, do the same thing. You are all here because you are smart. And you are brave. And if you add kindness and the ability to change a tire, you almost make up the perfect person.”
Poehler’s speech was preceded by a Harvard oration by Timothy J. Lambert ’11, a resident of Pforzheimer House from Massachusetts, who has written for the Harvard Crimson. Lambert spoke about love/hate relationships and Harvard.
5.25.11
“I’m truly, truly delighted to be here at Harvard,” comic actress Amy Poehler told the crowd of graduating seniors and their parents at Class Day on May 25. (Scroll down to view the video of her speech.) “I graduated from Boston College, which some call ‘The Harvard of Boston,’” she deadpanned. The star of the television comedy Parks and Recreation, who rose to prominence as a result of her work on Saturday Night Live opposite Tina Fey, treated her audience to a stream of jokes, assumed accents, and perfectly timed punchlines centered on Harvard’s reputation. But Poehler also had a serious message, based on her own experiences: “What I have discovered,” she said, “is this: You can’t do it alone.” The message was partly about humor, but also about humility. “As you navigate through the rest of your life, be open to collaboration. Other people and other people’s ideas are often better than your own. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life. No one is here today because they did it on their own…You’re all here today because someone gave you strength. Helped you. Held you in the palm of their hand. God, Allah, Buddha, Gaga—whomever you pray to.”
Poehler, while cautioning the class against pursuing a career in acting (there is “no room at the inn,” she said), shared some rules that she learned while studying improvisational acting in Chicago: “Listen. Say ‘yes.’ Live in the moment. Make sure you play with people who have your back. Make big choices early and often.”
“The answer to a lot of your life’s questions is often in someone else’s face,” she continued. “People’s faces will tell you amazing things. Like if they are angry, or nauseous, or asleep…Try to keep your mind open to possibilities and your mouth closed on matters that you don’t know about. Limit your ‘always’ and your ‘nevers.’ Continue to share your heart with people even if it has been broken.”
In a nod to the parents in the audience, Poehler implored the class to indulge them a little: “Less eye-rolling, please.”
“This is what I want to say,” she concluded. ” When you feel scared, hold someone’s hand and look into their eyes. And when you feel brave, do the same thing. You are all here because you are smart. And you are brave. And if you add kindness and the ability to change a tire, you almost make up the perfect person.”
Poehler’s speech was preceded by a Harvard oration by Timothy J. Lambert ’11, a resident of Pforzheimer House from Massachusetts, who has written for the Harvard Crimson. Lambert spoke about love/hate relationships and Harvard.
Laura Jaramillo ’10-’11, also of Pforzheimer House, and from Colombia, gave the other Harvard oration. A government concentrator and the recipient of a 2011-2012 Rockefeller Fellowship which she plans to use for travel to France, she spoke about the sacrifice of her pet cow, Claramanta, to finance her early education.
Molly Fitzpatrick of Winthrop House and Scott Levin-Gesundheit of Mather House delivered the two humorous Ivy orations.
Harvard President Drew Faust's report to alumni (2011)
Kathleen J. Coulson's Harvard Senior English Address
The Great Plane: Behind the Webb
The Webb Space Telescope's eighteen separate mirror segments will be held in place by a graphite structure called a backplane. This one-of-a-kind piece needs to be thermally stable to -400 degrees Fahrenheit (204 degrees Celsius), and hold Webb's mirror segments steady to within one-ten thousandth the diameter of a human hair. Engineers at ATK in Magna, Utah, take us through the process of designing and creating the backplane.
Friday, May 27, 2011
EcoMotors Chief Don Runkle: “Electric Vehicles Are Not ‘Zero Emissions’”
Next panel is a little bit outside your comfort zone, but I think it's really interesting. Can you please, the next panels that you can come on board. We've got Craig Bramscher, the CEO of Brammo, which is an electric vehicle company. Here is one of his electric vehicles, a motorcycle. And, Donald Runkle who is the CEO of EcoMotors, that 's creating a more efficient combustion engine.
This is probably like a 250 Honda or something like that, so real easy to ride, not too terribly fast, but fast enough to merge with traffic and everything. Okay, all your bikes, are they all plug in or do you need charger stations? Yeah. We've designed every bike so that it's any plug in a laptop, you can plug in the bike. Okay, fantastic. And, tell me a little about how you guys maintain that green environment minded credibility end to end. What do you put into the material analysis to make sure your batteries are green? Yeah, essentially we evaluate every vendor for their sustainability, so for........
Thursday, May 26, 2011
300 Years of FOSSIL FUELS in 300 Seconds
Fossil fuels have powered human growth and ingenuity for centuries. Now that we're reaching the end of cheap and abundant oil and coal supplies, we're in for an exciting ride. While there's a real risk that we'll fall off a cliff, there's still time to control our transition to a post-carbon future.
Jamie Oliver's TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food
Sharing powerful stories from his anti-obesity project in Huntington, W. Va., TED Prize winner Jamie Oliver makes the case for an all-out assault on our ignorance of food
Life Is About Expressing Yourself
Singer: Tony (music teacher and composer)
Lyrics: Jane Chen (CEO of Seth Education Foundation)
Thank haven, thank earth
Thank the love from All That Is
Thank every tree and flower
Thank every butterfly and bird
Thank every living creature in the mountains
For caring the visitor that loves to linger around
Thank you for being the unsung companion of Seth
Thank the friend that offers himself/herself to this land
Starting today
By extending the spirit of All That Is
For all the travelers that seek spiritual rest
Selfless sharing the love and light
Pray to every god in the universe
Bless and guide everyone of us
Return to the temple of the inner divinity
Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation
Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don't: Traditional rewards aren't always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories -- and maybe, a way forward.
Understanding The Financial Crisis--For Kids and Grownups
Having difficulty understanding the 2008 US Financial Crisis? Here's a short animated video that explains - visually!
TEDx Brussels 2010 - David Orban - Connects Every Thing
From the TEDx description of the talk: "David Orban connects every thing. After ten thousand years of accelerating techno-social evolution, the speed of change in machines is getting decoupled from that of humans, as we realize that we must grant them autonomy. As every thing gets connected, and the Internet Of Things builds itself, we will be free to be human, again! David Orban is an entrepreneur and visionary, an analyst of the global high technology landscape. He is Advisor and member of the Faculty of the Singularity University, and former Chairman, and a Director of Humanity+. He frequently speaks at conferences about the social impact of accelerating technological change, and of the Internet of Things.
David Cameron's 2011 World Economic Forum Keynote
World Economic Forum
Forum Annual Meeting participants. On the future of Europe, he said: "We are an open, trading continent. We have a proud record of invention. We’ve got advanced democratic values. But yes, we’ve got to recognize that Europe has to earn its way. The world doesn't owe us a living. So let's make the choice to do things differently, to fight for our prosperity."
Cameron outlined his vision of a new direction for the continent: a risk-taking investment culture, a Europe-wide patent scheme, tougher stress tests, killing off sovereign debt and removing crushing regulation are a formula for growth.
"Now is the time to go for a genuine Single Market," he said, pointing to commitments from leaders across Europe to open and free market reform.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Making Music on an iPad with Garageband
In this video Hagop Tchaparian and Scott James show how you can make music on and iPad with Garageband and a few pieces of equipment from Apple and Guitar Center.
using iPad and iPad music applications such as digidrummer, iCanBass and JamPad
by applegirl
Peter Beinart in Conversation with Paul Krugman
Summary
Professor and journalist Peter Beinart talks with Paul Krugman, New York Times columnist and a Nobel Laureate in Economics.
Peter Beinart in Conversation with Paul Krugman
The Graduate Center, CUNY
fiscal policy
Measures employed by governments to stabilize the economy, specifically by adjusting the levels and allocations of taxes and government expenditures. When the economy is sluggish, the government may cut taxes, leaving taxpayers with extra cash to spend and thereby increasing levels of consumption. An increase in public-works spending may likewise pump cash into the economy, having an expansionary effect. Conversely, a decrease in government spending or an increase in taxes tends to cause the economy to contract. Fiscal policy is often used in tandem with monetary policy. Until the 1930s, fiscal policy aimed at maintaining a balanced budget; since then it has been used “countercyclically,” as recommended by John Maynard Keynes, to offset the cycle of expansion and contraction in the economy. Fiscal policy is more effective at stimulating a flagging economy than at cooling an inflationary one, partly because spending cuts and tax increases are unpopular and partly because of the work of economic stabilizers. See also business cycle.
Peter Beinart
Peter Beinart is an American journalist and Associate Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York. He is a Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation and Senior Political Writer for The Daily Beast website. Beinart worked at The New Republic until 2006, for much of the time writing The New Republic's signature "TRB" column, which was reprinted in the New York Post and other major American newspapers.
From 2007 to 2009, Beinart was a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Beinart is the author of The Good Fight: Why Liberals, and Only Liberals, Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again, and The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris.
Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman is Professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, at Princeton University, and an Op-Ed columnist for the Times. His numerous books include "The Great Unraveling," "The Conscience of a Liberal," and "The Return of Depression Economics," an updated edition of which was published in 2009. For his contributions to New Trade Theory, he received the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
Professor and journalist Peter Beinart talks with Paul Krugman, New York Times columnist and a Nobel Laureate in Economics.
Peter Beinart in Conversation with Paul Krugman
The Graduate Center, CUNY
fiscal policy
Measures employed by governments to stabilize the economy, specifically by adjusting the levels and allocations of taxes and government expenditures. When the economy is sluggish, the government may cut taxes, leaving taxpayers with extra cash to spend and thereby increasing levels of consumption. An increase in public-works spending may likewise pump cash into the economy, having an expansionary effect. Conversely, a decrease in government spending or an increase in taxes tends to cause the economy to contract. Fiscal policy is often used in tandem with monetary policy. Until the 1930s, fiscal policy aimed at maintaining a balanced budget; since then it has been used “countercyclically,” as recommended by John Maynard Keynes, to offset the cycle of expansion and contraction in the economy. Fiscal policy is more effective at stimulating a flagging economy than at cooling an inflationary one, partly because spending cuts and tax increases are unpopular and partly because of the work of economic stabilizers. See also business cycle.
Peter Beinart
Peter Beinart is an American journalist and Associate Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York. He is a Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation and Senior Political Writer for The Daily Beast website. Beinart worked at The New Republic until 2006, for much of the time writing The New Republic's signature "TRB" column, which was reprinted in the New York Post and other major American newspapers.
From 2007 to 2009, Beinart was a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Beinart is the author of The Good Fight: Why Liberals, and Only Liberals, Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again, and The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris.
Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman is Professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, at Princeton University, and an Op-Ed columnist for the Times. His numerous books include "The Great Unraveling," "The Conscience of a Liberal," and "The Return of Depression Economics," an updated edition of which was published in 2009. For his contributions to New Trade Theory, he received the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
iPad Camera Kit Secrets... Microphone Magic
iPad camera connection kit, sold to quickly and easily import photos and videos from your camera, iphone and ipod has some undocumented secret features. It turns out that you can connect high quality studio USB microphones, and is also fully compatible with the iMic device for even NON-USB mics and audio input from mixing boards etc. Suddenly your "Magical" Apple Tablet becomes a Field recorder & a Podcast recording, production and upload studio!
Alesis iO Dock
Introduce your entire music studio to your iPad. iO Dock is the world's first professional audio interface for iPad.
Happy Toy Machine Allows You To Build Your Own Plush Toys
The TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Alley audience choice winner today is Happy Toy Machine, which allows you to design and create plush toys online.
The site allows adults and children to customize their plush toys by colors, size, body parts, shape, type, build and more. When you are satisfied with your design, you can actually have your creation built and sent you. It’s sort of like the Build-A-Bear on steroids.
Price ranges from $30 to $50, which is comparable to Build-A-Bear’s prices. The startup says the design element of the site is designed specially so that children can interact with the site and be able to design toys on their own.
In the future, the company would like to partner with video games or other entertainment properties to leverage Happy Toy Machine’s platform.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Aaron Koblin: Artfully visualizing our humanity
About this talk
Artist Aaron Koblin takes vast amounts of data -- and at times vast numbers of people -- and weaves them into stunning visualizations. From elegant lines tracing airline flights to landscapes of cell phone data, from a Johnny Cash video assembled from crowd-sourced drawings to the "Wilderness Downtown" video that customizes for the user, his works brilliantly explore how modern technology can make us more human.
Toyota announces new Prius V and I take a look at geeky toys inside
Got a smartphone? Soon it'll be connected to your car and Toyota shows just how in its new Prius V
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