Monday, March 26, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Draw Something
Drawing is a really funny thing. Most people fall into one of two categories: excellent or incredibly terrible. What better way to expose people and complicate the matters further than by forcing you to use your chubby fingers to draw crude, cave painting-like images with a friend, and then try to guess what the other person drew? Well, that seems to be the thinking at OMGPOP, because they made a little game called Draw Something that does just that, and it's all the rage these days.
Online Meetings Made Easy®
Online Meetings Made Easy®
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Collaborate with small groups
Provide instant online demos
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson on being a living 'badass' meme - On The Verge episode 004
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SciCafe: Life the Universe and Everything with Neil deGrasse Tyson (2010)
American Museum of Natural History's Director of the Hayden Planetarium, Neil deGrasse Tyson, hosted "Life the Universe and Everything: A Conversation with Neil deGrasse Tyson" at the Museum on June 2, 2010 as part of the ongoing free SciCafe series.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
iPad and Photography
We hang out and talk about the new iPad and the impression it makes on photography and photographers.
Joining us this week in the hangout: Leo Laporte, Andy Ihnatko, Eric Kim, Teresa Stover, Victor Cajiao, Steve Stanger, RC Concepcion.
Irish Team Comes to U.K. to Kickstart Coding for Children
Emma Mulqueeny @hubmum at #codingforkids Guardian 12/10/11
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
An Interview With Rob Schmitz, The Reporter Who Fact-Checked Mike Daisey [TCTV]
Rob Schmitz is a reporter and Marketplace Correspondent based in Shanghai, China. He has spent time in many factories – as well as a bit of time outside of the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, the same factory fabulist Mike Daisey interviewed workers he purported were 12 and 13 years old. Schmitz’s findings definitely didn’t jibe with Daisey’s and I decided to sit down for a few minutes to go over his experiences reporting on Chinese manufacturing practices and problems.
“I think the truth is pretty complicated,” he said. “Foxconn has a little over one million employees in China.” Schmitz spent time talking to employees with Daisey’s translator, Cathy, and found a whole range of problems, from low wages to, oddly enough, complaints about the food. He didn’t see much of what Daisey described, but there’s a reason: Foxconn is one of the tightest-run manufacturers in China and Taiwan. There are problems, he said, but many of these problems are being addressed and when issues arise, workers are actually beginning to strike.
The truth, as Schmitz said, is complicated, and Daisey’s fabrications sadly cloud the real and pressing safety issues found in many of China’s lesser suppliers. To go after Foxconn and Apple is an easy ploy to gain eyeballs and attention, but the real concerns happen away from the bright media glare.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
A bicycle light that’s safe, bright, and thief-proof
With many more urban cyclists hitting the streets, most cities are constantly playing catch-up to make their roads a safer place for both riders and drivers. However, even when a city has a good handle on how to make bikers and cars play nice, accidents are almost inevitable.
Painted bike lanes, neon jackets, lights and flashers all help to prevent run-ins on the road, but there’s much we can’t control: like theft. Bicycle and accessory theft has plagued the cycling world since its inception– it’s just an accepted reality of urban cycling. Now, a bike light has been designed with both the problems of safety and theft as its inspiration.
After a friend was hit while riding his bike in the dark because his light had been stolen, Brad Geswein and Slava Menn wanted to develop a light that fended off thieves. As it turns out, their friend wasn’t the only one with this problem: one in three urban cyclists have had their lights stolen, and eighty per cent of riders frequently forget their lights at home.
In their quest to make city biking safer, the pair developed The Defender. The light locks sturdily to your handlebars making it extremely difficult to remove. Plus, it looks like a gun.
The light was designed by Ori Levin of Tsor Design, and is made of lightweight aluminum, ultrabright LEDs, and uses AA batteries that give the rider around 100 hours of battery life. “We’ve put it through extensive durability and reliability testing and it’s nearly indestructible. No tool from a hardware store can remove it,” says the Defender’s Kickstarter page.
In fact, the security screwdriver included with the light is the only thing that can remove it, an the allen key provided is the only thing that can release the battery door.
The seventy dollar light is waterproof, uses around 40-60 lumens, and can be switched from steady to blinking mode.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
The cockroach beatbox
By dissecting a cockroach ... yes, live on stage ... TED Fellow and neuroscientist Greg Gage shows how brains receive and deliver electric impulses -- and how legs can respond. This talk comes from the TED-Ed project.
Why you should listen to him:
As half of Backyard Brains, neuroscientist and engineer Greg Gage builds "spiker boxes" -- small rigs that help kids understand the electrical impulses that control the nervous system. He's passionate about helping students understand (viscerally) how our brains and our neurons work, because, as he said onstage at TED2012, we still know very little about how the brain works -- and we need to start inspiring kids early to want to know more. He is a 2012 TED Fellow.
Before becoming a neuroscientist, Gage worked as an electrical engineer making touchscreens. As he told the Huffington Post: "Scientific equipment in general is pretty expensive, but it's silly because before [getting my PhD in neuroscience] I was an electrical engineer, and you could see that you could make it yourself. So we started as a way to have fun, to show off to our colleagues, but we were also going into classrooms around that time and we thought, wouldn't it be cool if you could bring these gadgets with us so the stuff we were doing in advanced Ph.D. programs in neuroscience, you could also do in fifth grade?"
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Kasama-Yaki (Made in Kasama)
ABOUT THIS PROJECT
SYNOPSIS
The triple disasters of March 11, 2011, shook Japan to its core. It claimed over 18,000 lives, with 3,000 still missing. Many thousands were displaced by the tsunami, and those who lived near the Fukushima nuclear reactors will probably never return home. It has been a year since the disasters but the people of Japan are still coping with the emotional trauma of that day. The disasters brought forth many truths about the power of nature, the limitations of the government, and the unpredictable nature of life. “Kasama-Yaki” is an intimate portrait of two potters, Katsuji and Shigeko Kokubo, filmed by their daughter, Yuki. Heartfelt conversational interviews are woven throughout the film, as they reflect on life, death, family, and art. The film is a journey into the minds of two individuals whose outlooks were inevitably touched by the disasters, and a glimpse into the heart of Japan.
概要
２０１１年３月１１日に起こった３つの災難で日本は大きな打撃を受けた。１万８千人以上の命が奪われ、今もなお３千人の行方不明者がいる。津波の被害により数千人が家を失い、福島原子力発電所付近の住民は再びふるさとで暮らせる可能性を失ってしまった。あれから１年、日本の人々はあの日の衝撃を今も抱えながら日々の生活を送っている。今回の震災で、多くの事実が明らかになった。自然の力、政府の欠点、そして人生は予測できないということ。本作品「笠間焼」は陶芸家の小久保勝司（こくぼ・かつじ）さんと恵子（しげこ）さんの親密な生活を追ったドキュメンタリー映画。監督は陶芸家の娘、小久保由紀（ゆき）。心のこもった対話型インタビューが織り込まれ、小久保夫妻の生と死、家族、アートについての観点を探る。震災で人生観が変わった２人の陶芸家の物語を巡り、日本人の心を垣間見ることのできる作品である。[日本語はページの下に続いています]
Saturday, March 10, 2012
SmartPlanet's Top 10 videos of 2011
2011 was a banner year for science and technology innovation, and SmartPlanet was on hand to give you a first look. Here are our 10 most popular videos, as clicked on and watched by our viewers.
The office of tomorrow: How design impacts culture
Music
>> Sumi Das: Open airy work spaces, daylight shining through from the ceiling above, workers meeting face to face in high-tech rooms and via video conferencing. Welcome to the office of tomorrow, at least according to Santa Cruz based Plantronics, makers of wireless headsets.
>> We created the cooperative work spaces with the glass, so you can see and have the natural light come through. We made the use of color -- the primary colors add vibrancy, add energy. And you could see that sprinkled throughout the work space.
>> Sumi Das: Pat Waters, Plantronics' head of human resources, is spearheading the massive redesign of the company's aging facilities. She says the new spaces, in addition to being more habitable, are starting to create change within the company's culture.
>> The cubes are meant to be open, they're meant to be more transparent, they're meant to encourage collaboration and ease of connection. I want people to talk more, I want them exchange ideas more fluidly.
>> Sumi Das: This is what the old space looked like -- monotone, grey, and high cubes.
>> Looking at the before picture Plantronics, you will see the enclosed space, you won't be able to see far behind you, it's just a long hallway.
>> Sumi Das: Now workers can choose how they want to work, where, and whether to sit or stand at their desk.
>> So if you see over here, we have some folks sitting down, some folks standing up, some might start sitting down and realize, you know, I'm getting antsy, I'm in the throes of creativity, let me stand up a bit and I'll move my desk up and have more visibility that way.
>> Sumi Das: But that's only half the story for this 50-year old company. Plantronics is also encouraging its employees to telecommute. On any given day, 40% of its workforce is plugging in remotely. Employees can Skype or conference in to connect with other colleagues.
>> What we're trying to do is to enable you to work where you need to work. It's not about the office. So I'm teaching leaders how to lead remote teams.
>> Sumi Das: Jen Davis phonetic is one of the employees embracing this change. The Product Manager works three days at the office, and two days remotely.
>> I kind of determine where I'm going to work based upon the work I have to do. So if I kind of need that quiet time, I wouldn't necessarily want to be in the office, I'd do that at home. It's no longer about how many hours are you sitting in a chair in the office. It's all measured now really on what you can produce in a given timeframe. Hit your deadlines, it's great.
>> Sumi Das: Ultimately, Waters believes all the new changes will help the high-tech company both attract new talent, and stay on the cutting edge.
>> They like the vibe of a college university, the student center, the ability to connect anywhere at any time, and do peer-to-peer, and work remotely. So their technology savviness, their awareness of how they collaborate at any time, I need to bend for them.
>> Sumi Das: For Smart Planet, I'm Sumi Das.
Music
Thursday, March 08, 2012
Ideas for classroom use:
Ideas for classroom use: Britt created a great ShowMe about different ways to use ShowMe. We’re huge fans of all the ideas in this one, so any teachers thinking about incorporating ShowMe into their classrooms should check this one out!
Daniel’s ShowMe is a great example of how ShowMe can be used to visually represent some concepts that are difficult to understand verbally. We love content like this. Way to go Daniel!
Robert put together an amazing ShowMe on why early civilizations formed along rivers. “Along rivers” is definitely one of the better ShowMe’s we’ve ever seen, so give it a watch if you have a minute!
Daniel goes through u-substitution in an extremely clear way. For any students or teachers of calculus having trouble with u-substitution, this ShowMe is definitely worth taking a look at!
Noam’s ShowMe on HTML basics is very informative. For novices looking to dip their toes in the shallow end of web-design, this ShowMe is a must-see. Thanks a lot, Noam!
Practice history
Compound Interest
Daniel’s ShowMe is a great example of how ShowMe can be used to visually represent some concepts that are difficult to understand verbally. We love content like this. Way to go Daniel!
Robert put together an amazing ShowMe on why early civilizations formed along rivers. “Along rivers” is definitely one of the better ShowMe’s we’ve ever seen, so give it a watch if you have a minute!
Daniel goes through u-substitution in an extremely clear way. For any students or teachers of calculus having trouble with u-substitution, this ShowMe is definitely worth taking a look at!
Noam’s ShowMe on HTML basics is very informative. For novices looking to dip their toes in the shallow end of web-design, this ShowMe is a must-see. Thanks a lot, Noam!
Practice history
Compound Interest
Innovative education, it’s everywhere!
Reader’s workshop and assessment: Brette let me know that she sent home this type of ShowMe home to parents to let them know where their child was at with their reading level. For the student, this is such a valuable way to remember what they’ve been taught and also a great way to reflect. Awesome to see “chunking” on the ipad!
Writer’s workshop conferences: This is a great way to help students get feedback from their peers and build their portfolio of writing. I love the idea of students interacting with the iPad as a class and marking up the text.
Writer’s workshop conferences: This is a great way to help students get feedback from their peers and build their portfolio of writing. I love the idea of students interacting with the iPad as a class and marking up the text.
How-to: Understand you Profile Page on the ShowMe app.
About this blog
We believe learning should be less standardized and more personalized. We believe knowledge and curiosity go hand-in-hand. Most of all, we believe great teachers can move mountains, and any student can be inspired.
If you're passionate about learning and the possibilities for innovation in education, please participate by commenting, or contact us directly at info [at] showme [dot] com!
"The New iPad" (iPad 3) Offical Introduction Video
Summary: The PC will have some serious competition this upgrade cycle. Can the latest iPad poach corporate sales?
Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Monday, March 05, 2012
Sunday, March 04, 2012
With Angry Birds Merchandise, Rovio’s Peter Vesterbacka Plans To Out Pirate The Pirates
As proven by the massive success of the Angry Birds plush line, the world has a hungry for real-world Angry Birds wares. No where is that more apparent than Beijing, where the halls of countless toy shops and electronics stores are filled foot to ceiling with sundry Bird-themed goods, from sweatshirts and jeans to candy and balloons. The catch? Rovio didn’t authorize any of it.
Where others may see a problem, Rovio Mobile’s Mighty Eagle (read: CMO) Peter Versterbacka sees opportunity. He roams these aforementioned shops in search of unauthorized goods — but not to complain or throw around legal orders. He’s there to find the best unofficial Angry Birds items… so he can copy them.
Saturday, March 03, 2012
Friday, March 02, 2012
Daniel Yergin on the future of global energy
Video: Daniel Yergin on the future of global energy
The Pulitzer Prize–winning author and global energy expert sees rising demand from the East spurring innovation.
The recent rise of emerging markets as voracious consumers of energy has established a price point for oil at more than $100 a barrel, injected volatility into energy markets, and changed the economics of massive, complex energy projects such as oil sands, “tight oil” trapped in shale formations, and offshore drilling. Daniel Yergin, chairman of the energy research consultancy IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates (IHS CERA), sees the tilt in demand from West to East continuing to reshape the global energy landscape. By 2030, he says, the world will be using a lot more energy than it does today, but the mix will still be dominated by oil, natural gas, and coal. In this video interview, Yergin explains how in the years ahead higher oil prices will produce “a great bubbling of innovation” across the energy spectrum, and shares his perspectives on three geopolitical trends that he sees influencing this transformation. McKinsey Publishing’s Rik Kirkland conducted the interview at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, in January 2012. Yergin is the author of The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World (Penguin, September 2011).
The Pulitzer Prize–winning author and global energy expert sees rising demand from the East spurring innovation.
The recent rise of emerging markets as voracious consumers of energy has established a price point for oil at more than $100 a barrel, injected volatility into energy markets, and changed the economics of massive, complex energy projects such as oil sands, “tight oil” trapped in shale formations, and offshore drilling. Daniel Yergin, chairman of the energy research consultancy IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates (IHS CERA), sees the tilt in demand from West to East continuing to reshape the global energy landscape. By 2030, he says, the world will be using a lot more energy than it does today, but the mix will still be dominated by oil, natural gas, and coal. In this video interview, Yergin explains how in the years ahead higher oil prices will produce “a great bubbling of innovation” across the energy spectrum, and shares his perspectives on three geopolitical trends that he sees influencing this transformation. McKinsey Publishing’s Rik Kirkland conducted the interview at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, in January 2012. Yergin is the author of The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World (Penguin, September 2011).
Brainwave-controlled skateboard is totally mental
Chaotic Moon Labs' Board of Imagination from Chaotic Moon Studios on Vimeo.
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Chaotic Moon Labs' Kinect-controlled skateboard was pretty awesome, but the company has managed to blow our minds with its Board of Imagination. Crave talks with one of the creators to find out how it works.
On today's show, we talk to the guys from Chaotic Moon Studios, the ones buildinhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifg Kinect-controlled skateboards and shopping carts and more. They're moving into mind-controlled devices. No, really. Also, the problem with Google's new privhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifacy policies: Web search! The iPad 3 rumor roundup, how to make the most of Google+, and Windows 8 vs. OS X Mountain Lion.
Video cnet Chaotic Moon Labs
Microsoft was demoing Smarter Cart as just one of the hundreds of projects companies are working on since Microsoft released its Kinect for Windows commercial software development kit in February. Kinect began as a motion- and voice-detection device for Xbox 360 gaming, but soon after hackers began getting Kinect to work with Windows and other machines. Microsoft, after first objecting to Kinect hackers, embraced the idea and is now pushing Kinect for Windows as a commercial software development tool.
Wired says Chaotic Moon has been testing out Smarter Cart in a Whole Foods store in Austin, but allowing only one Smarter Cart at a time in each store. Beginning in April, the company will test multiple devices at once. It's not clear when, or if, the new device will roll out to stores nationwide.
Here’s a look at the cart in action:
Movie: The Movie
Jimmy Kimmel Live's YouTube channel features clips and recaps of every episode from the late night TV show on ABC.
Subscribe for clips from the monologue, the interviews, and musical performances every day of the week. Watch your
favorites parts again, or catch-up on any episodes you may have missed
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
海峡论谈: 林书豪旋风
美国之音海峡论谈: "林来疯"从纽约吹到海峡两岸，不论你看不看篮球赛，最近一定都知道有个林书豪，尤其是台湾的媒体和民众可说是全体陷入这股"林来疯"，也已经有很多很多的相关报导了，今天我们的节目希望以一种比较理性的态度来谈一谈，林书豪究竟为什么成功，他的成功经验能够为两岸的父母和年轻人带来什么启示?
[Video] Heather Payne talks Ladies (and Gents) Learning Code
We’re a women-run not-for-profit group working to empower everyone to feel comfortable learning beginner-friendly technical skills in a social, collaborative way.
Today’s customer portrait introduces you to a talented social entrepreneur whose innovative workshop series is taking Toronto by storm!
Heather Payne is the founder of Ladies Learning Code, a women-run not-for-profit group working to empower folks to feel comfortable learning beginner-friendly technical skills in a social, collaborative way.
Believe it or not LLC was born out of a tweet Heather sent out to the Toronto community to gauge if there was interest in an accessible learning environment to introduce folks to programming! Someone casually suggested the name but it fit the workshops perfectly. LLC now runs multiple events each month on topics ranging from Getting Started with Ruby to how to enhance your personal brand using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
We’re proud to have folks like Heather in the FreshBooks family! Watch the video to hear Heather talk about the life of the entrepreneur, on why Ladies Learning Code isn’t just for ladies, and what it’s like to trust your instincts and see a great idea take flight.
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A graduate of the Richard Ivey School of Business, Heather spent most of her first year post-graduation living in China and working towards a Masters in International Relations. That's also where she first learned to build a self-hosted Wordpress site (a blog about fitness, which she sold after a year). Upon her return to Toronto, she excelled in a corporate marketing role before her desire to join a startup became too strong to ignore. In July 2011, Heather joined a Toronto-based, three-person tech startup building on the Facebook platform. Her experience there (in a non-technical role) has made her even more determined to learn to program - so that she can contribute to building something of her own one day. Like everyone involved with Ladies Learning Code, Heather has been blown away by the support the group has received from Toronto's tech community, and beyond. If you have any comments, suggestions or ideas for Ladies Learning Code, feel free to contact Heather at heather [at] heatherpayne.ca
Melissa was born and raised in London, Ontario. When her family purchased their first computer, she began spending her evenings and summers coding a Harry Potter fan site (by trial and error). She then entered high school, where computer science was not promoted or encouraged, and lost touch with coding. Melissa went on to graduate from the Richard Ivey School of Business and since her first startup in university, she's realized what an advantage a technical skill set would bring. Since then, she’s always dreamed of a group for women that makes coding and tech sexy and really makes it accessible to complete beginners. She thinks the buzz around the #ladieslearningcode is case in point that Toronto (and the world) needs groups like this and she couldn’t be more excited to be part of it. Ladies Learning Code is more than a resource to her, it’s a community.
Breanna was born and raised in a small village in British Columbia, and knew the big city of Toronto was calling her name when she started her own online business at the young age of 10. Breanna attended The University of Toronto, Computer Science and finished her degree in Information Technology Management at Ryerson University. In her spare time, you will almost always find Breanna "Googling" anything and everything - usually from her iPhone, reading the latest technology magazines and blogs, catching a concert, Facebooking, blogging and tweeting galore! As a woman that works in IT, she wants to help encourage other women to get involved and help make tech less intimidating and scary.
Laura grew up all over Southwestern Ontario, moving around her whole life. Always “the new girl” Laura began to understand, pretty early on, the importance of relationships and “staying connected”. With an educational and professional background in Human Resources, Laura made the shift to the world of consulting 4 years ago and has not looked back. The link between technology and human relationships fascinates her. This has ignited a personal passion for exploring and helping others to learn, women in particular, how to leverage and evolve the technology available to us in our world today and even tomorrow. In her spare time, Laura is exploring what technology has to offer and how it can help her do her job better, much like many of Ladies Learning Code’s beginner-level students. She has recognized these untapped resources at her fingertips and is energized to help others break through into this world of opportunity!
Monday, February 27, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Getting started - Storify
Storify is a social storytelling platform that lets you tell stories by bringing together media from social networks like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and more.
The Tale Of A Wolfram Research Co-founder And His Beloved “Periodic Table Table” [Video]
Out of the annals of history comes this doozy. A man by the name of Theodore Gray is a co-founder of Wolfram Research, best known as the creator of Wolfram Alpha, the two-year-old computational answer engine, which Siri uses for 25 percent of her mobile searches.
Along with Stephen Wolfram, Gray helped develop Mathematica, the computational software used in technical computing that makes Wolfram Alpha, among other things, tick. He is an author, polymath, and, it seems, an amateur Chemist — or should I say, element collector. Yes, as the story goes, about 10 years ago, he built and created his own wooden “periodic table table” (presumably on company time), complete with compartments underneath in which Gray collects samples of the periodic table’s elements. This feat of carpentry, Rams-ian design, and wizardry won him an “Ig Nobel Prize” in Chemistry back in 2002.
Yesterday, a new video, or rather episode of “Bytesize Science,” emerged on YouTube wherein Gray discusses the tale behind his periodic table table. The video has been being passed around, and was tipped to us (thanks to Kirk Zamieroski). We thought it was worth sharing, based on pure awesomeness, the high quality kitsch, and DIY mastery. Luckily no radioactive elements made it into the table — or at least we didn’t spot any lead. No one was hurt in the making of the table, as far as we know, other than perhaps Schrodinger’s cat?
As the video’s uploader points out, Gray has gone on to win less Ig Nobel awards, becoming the 2011 winner of the ACS Grady Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public, and the periodic table table is a “testament” to his love for chemistry — and his compulsive eBay purchasing habits.
We hope you enjoy.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Digital future of newspapers, seen from 1981 and 2012
The future of newspapers seems precarious, given the rise of digital media. However, back in 1981, when only about 3,000 people in the Bay Area had PCs, newspapers were already contemplating their online futures. Eleven newspapers, in fact, pooled their efforts to pilot an online venue. Media watcher Jim Romenesko surfaced this report from KRON on the earliest effort to put newspapers online.
Of course, in 1981, the interface was all text. But still, the promise of online news was enticing. An enthusiast in the video pointed to the fact that articles from online newspapers could be copied and printed out. “Engineers now predict the day will come when we get all our newspapers and magazines by computer,” according to the report. A commentator added, however, that it took two hours to download the complete newspaper text by [phone-based acoustic coupler modem], so with a $5-an-hour access fee, the cost of the paper was a lot more than a 20-cent (at the time) copy of a newspaper.
Of course, the online newspapers predicted in that report are already yesterday’s news. What no one in 1981 could have foreseen is the rise of converged media — in which both newspapers and television re-invent themselves into something remarkably similar in a new channel. Consider this: if you go to a newspaper site such as USA Today and Wall Street Journal, you can watch videos of breaking news, interviews, or special interest stories. Is USA Today or Wall Street Journal now a broadcast network?
Similarly, if you go to CBS News, or CNN, you can read text stories. Is CBS News or CNN now a newspaper? Does the difference even matter anymore?
The Internet has converged these two media to the point where you can’t distinguish between the two. Newspapers provide video reports, and television stations provide articles to read. If there’s a future for newspapers, converged media is it. And the distinctions between newspapers and broadcast networks are no longer so clear.
Storify is reinventing storytelling for the social media age
Storify is reinventing storytelling for the social media age, and today we're bringing our platform to the device that is reinventing computing: the iPad.
Storify demo from Burt Herman on Vimeo.
在這個資訊爆炸的年代，整理、收集網路上源源不絕的資料，可不是一件簡單的事情。美國創業公司Storify，以類似剪報的形式，幫使用者將收集到的網路資訊集結成冊。Storify週一正式推出公開測試版，歡迎網友們試用比較。
Storify幫助使用者針對特定事件或主題，收集網頁、新聞、圖片等各種資料。Storify以簡單清爽的介面，讓使用者搜尋Google、 Flickr、 YouTube、 Facebook和Twitter等多項來源。使用者找到資料之後，可以直接將資料拖曳到「故事」頁面，Storify會針對不同的資料性質，顯示網頁摘要、影片、圖片等。當使用者想要回顧時，只要打開這個故事頁面，所有的資訊都一目了然。
位於美國舊金山的Storify，成立大約才一年半，目前資金總額兩百萬美元左右。Storify今年稍早曾經推出限定試用版，邀請需要大量閱讀網路資訊的記者們使用，獲得了相當正面的迴響。現在Storify正式開放給一般大眾，只要有Twitter帳號就可以免費註冊使用。根據美國廣告雜誌Adweek的報導，Storify打算利用廣告、或是與企業品牌合作的方式獲得營收。目前Levi's和Samsung已經開始利用Storify的服務推廣行銷活動。
The Good Stuff — Episode 2: One Cool Kid
The Good Stuff — Episode 2: One Cool Kid
What can one person do? A lot! Just ask Cole! At just 8-years old, he organized his schoolmates to take on KFC.
The Good Stuff — Episode 1: Take THAT, plastic bags!
The Good Stuff — Episode 1: Take THAT, plastic bags!
What do Northern California and Brownsville, Texas have in common? A lot more than you might think!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
How the Angry Birds Almost Died Before the First Level
How Rovio Aims to Keep its Angry Birds Flying High (02:46)
Mikael Hed almost pulled the plug on Rovio while the Angry Birds were still in development.
After several years in business, his mobile game company had yet to produce a hit. Rovio’s chief backer, Hed’s father, Kaj, was struggling to figure out how to keep the company going.
“He told me that he wanted to mortgage my grandparents’ flat so he could put some more money in the company to keep it afloat,” Mikael Hed said in an interview. “That was pretty tough. I certainly did not want to be the person responsible for putting my grandparents on the street.”
Angry Birds was in development and Hed thought he might have a winner on his hands. But at the same time, the company had made dozens of games already without striking it rich, and even the best iPhone games weren’t making that much money.
“Just looking at the odds, we shouldn’t take that kind of a risk,” Hed recalls thinking. But his father went ahead anyway.
“I’m glad he did,” Hed said, noting his grandparents still have their home. “Now I am glad he did, but it was a big gamble.”
The move has clearly paid off. According to figures made public and noted this week by a Finnish newspaper, Kaj Hed owns nearly 70 percent of the company, worth by some estimates between $6 billion and $9 billion.
Mikael Hed almost pulled the plug on Rovio while the Angry Birds were still in development.
After several years in business, his mobile game company had yet to produce a hit. Rovio’s chief backer, Hed’s father, Kaj, was struggling to figure out how to keep the company going.
“He told me that he wanted to mortgage my grandparents’ flat so he could put some more money in the company to keep it afloat,” Mikael Hed said in an interview. “That was pretty tough. I certainly did not want to be the person responsible for putting my grandparents on the street.”
Angry Birds was in development and Hed thought he might have a winner on his hands. But at the same time, the company had made dozens of games already without striking it rich, and even the best iPhone games weren’t making that much money.
“Just looking at the odds, we shouldn’t take that kind of a risk,” Hed recalls thinking. But his father went ahead anyway.
“I’m glad he did,” Hed said, noting his grandparents still have their home. “Now I am glad he did, but it was a big gamble.”
The move has clearly paid off. According to figures made public and noted this week by a Finnish newspaper, Kaj Hed owns nearly 70 percent of the company, worth by some estimates between $6 billion and $9 billion.
A history of communication
Follow us during 140 years of communication development, connecting places, people and now finally things in the Networked Society.
Short film captures the importance of ‘thinking cities’
The film, “Thinking Cities,” focuses on how cities are using Information Communications Technology (ICT) to start to come up with these solutions. It highlights interesting projects in cities like Boston, Seattle, and Stockholm where ICT is being used right now to address issues like waste, energy use, and civic engagement.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Newton’s Third Law | University of Southern California
Newton’s Third Law | University of Southern California
The college lecture: Send us your favorite videos
The lecture, an efficient yet often impersonal form of teaching, is under attack, reports The Post’s Daniel de Vise.
Science, math and engineering departments in particular are finding the lecture method’s a turn-off for students.
Really, why spend hundreds of dollars to sit in a room with hundreds of others when you can learn for free from the comfort of your laptop?
With that in mind, what’s the best online lecture you’ve seen? We’ve rounded up a handful of interesting and quirky videos, but we need your help to expand the list:
Pittsburghese | Carnegie Mellon University
Barbara Johnstone, a professor in CMU’s English department, breaks down the nitty-gritty of the Pittsburgh dialect. (For instance, “feel” sounds like “fill” and “fool” like “full.”) Plus, she digs into the cultural reasons that locals keep these quirks alive.
Justice | Harvard University
The college lecture: Send us your favorite videos
The lecture, an efficient yet often impersonal form of teaching, is under attack, reports The Post’s Daniel de Vise.
Science, math and engineering departments in particular are finding the lecture method’s a turn-off for students.
Really, why spend hundreds of dollars to sit in a room with hundreds of others when you can learn for free from the comfort of your laptop?
With that in mind, what’s the best online lecture you’ve seen? We’ve rounded up a handful of interesting and quirky videos, but we need your help to expand the list:
Pittsburghese | Carnegie Mellon University
Barbara Johnstone, a professor in CMU’s English department, breaks down the nitty-gritty of the Pittsburgh dialect. (For instance, “feel” sounds like “fill” and “fool” like “full.”) Plus, she digs into the cultural reasons that locals keep these quirks alive.
Justice | Harvard University
Monday, February 20, 2012
2010-02-19 美国万花筒:游美国.说美语--查尔斯顿篇
美国之音美国万花筒: 游美国.说美语(下)--美国万花筒记者刘恩民和外景主持人白洁带我们到富有美国南方文化色彩的城市查尔斯顿了解查尔斯顿的当地文化和介绍南方美食。
2010-11-05 美国万花筒:白洁说美语
美国之音美国万花筒: 白洁说美语-这个星期白洁又要带你去首都华盛顿，品尝当地既出名又独特的餐厅。有大餐、有甜点、还有绿色有机食品，包准你吃到饱......
Thursday, February 16, 2012
有故事的人：敖幼祥-1
他畫了好多好笑的四格漫畫，可是在他的人生格子裡，很多都帶著酸酸的眼淚...從一個小時候氣喘，只能坐著睡覺的小孩，到畫出獲獎無數的【烏龍院】，就是本週我們要告訴你的故事。9/5(一)晚間十點，《華視新聞雜誌－有故事的人》─敖幼祥。
Dutch exports: tulips, cheese and ... dance
Dutch dance music has conquered the world. DJs like Armin van Buuren, Tiësto and Afrojack are exporting their music to the remotest corners of the world.
by Daan Roelofs
The value of those exports is considerable, according to the latest figures of Dutch copyright organisation Buma/Stemra, which says that in the last two years it has doubled to nearly 50 million euros.
The Netherlands' music exports totalled some 81.5 million euros in 2010. Classical and alternative music had a fair share in this result, but the mainstay was brought by the electronic dance music setting huge crowds in motion. Let's dance!
Fred Vloo's picture view the location of this item Amsterdam's Asian Food Festival 2012
Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year, is the most important event in the Chinese calendar. It’s a special occasion marked by family gatherings, special food, temple offerings and the color red.
In 2012, Chinese New Year fell on 23 January.
Celebrations in Amsterdam were held on Sunday, 29 January with the Asian Food Festival.
Among the delicacies on offer were yu sheng, a raw fish salad which is said to bring good luck, and fai-hai, a type of seaweed that is believed to bring prosperity.
Vegetarians choose to eat lettuce, which the Chinese believe sounds like the word for 'luck'.
Simplify Multitasking and Note-taking at the Bench -Labguru
Labguru Bench iPad from BioData Ltd on Vimeo.
This lets you Do More Science by enabling you to retrieve and record your protocols and results straight from your bench. The app also tracks multiple experiments at once, and alarms remind you about time-sensitive tasks.
Labguru - Dr. Anat Ben Zvi - Testimonial from BioData Ltd on Vimeo.
Labguru - Dr. Eli Lewis - Testimonial from BioData Ltd on Vimeo.
http://www.labguru.com/company/testimonials
What is the Ushahidi Platform - a crisis response app.
What is the Ushahidi Platform? from Ushahidi on Vimeo.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifWe built the Ushahidi platform as a tool to easily crowdsource information using multiple channels, including SMS, email, Twitter and the web.
http://web.venue365.com/webbyawards/index.jsp?content_id=15856577&topic_id=19498872&c_id=webby
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
The Jeremy Lin Phenomenon
Watch The Jeremy Lin Phenomenon on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.
SUMMARY
Jeremy Lin, a point guard for the New York Knicks and the first Chinese-American player in NBA history, is on a storybook run in his first four games as a starter. Ray Suarez and Jeff Yang of The Wall Street Journal explore how an unknown basketball player suddenly captured the attention of the NBA, the sports world and beyond.
Transcript
JEFFREY BROWN: Next, how an unknown basketball player suddenly captured the attention of the sports world and beyond.
Ray Suarez looks at the Jeremy Lin phenomenon.
RAY SUAREZ: Just a week ago, few fans knew his name or his face, but tonight when basketball point guard Jeremy Lin takes to the floor for the New York Knicks, all eyes will be on him.
A Harvard graduate and the first Chinese-American player in NBA history, the 23-year-old was cut by two other NBA teams before the Knicks picked him up and sat him on the bench. After moving to the starting lineup earlier this month, he scored more than points in his first four starts, 109, than any other NBA player since 1976. And fans around the world have been dazzled by plays like this one.
For more about the Lin phenomenon, we turn to Jeff Yang of The Wall Street Journal.
And, Jeff, the story was already implausible in 100 other ways, it seems, cut by his early teams, not scouted as a prospect in high school. But it's really the fact that he's Taiwanese-American that has gained a lot of the attention.
What is fascinating about his Asian-American background?
JEFF YANG, The Wall Street Journal: I think the thing that's fascinating obviously for Asian-Americans is that there really has never been anyone like him before, I mean, not just in basketball, but arguably in sports.
Organized sports is such a huge thing in America, such a big part of the fabric of our culture, and yet we've never had a player who wasn't just successful, but dominating in one of these sports before. And Jeremy comes along. He's somebody completely unheralded.
He's got a huge amount of talent, but has been effectively ignored. And, overnight, like a Cinderella story, he becomes the biggest news in all of New York and maybe all the world.
RAY SUAREZ: You mentioned that there's never been anyone like him before. What about Yao Ming? What's different about Jeremy Lin?
JEFF YANG: Well, obviously, there are two really big differences right off the bat.
The first is, Yao Ming was exceptionally physically gifted, but in a specific way. I mean, he was 7'6'' tall. And you can't, as they say, teach size. So he was somebody who came into the league already a superstar and with gifts that you honestly can't just create with hard work.
And, furthermore, he's Chinese. He's somebody, actually, a foreign player who's come to the United States, both with a certain reputation, but also with certain limitations. He -- English wasn't his first language. He wasn't culturally part of the fabric of the United States when he first came here.
And he was still hugely inspirational. But when you look at Jeremy, you're looking at somebody totally different. He's an all-American kid who is redefining the notion of what an all-American kid is. And that is a big part, I think, of what why Jeremy is such an exceptionally interesting story.
RAY SUAREZ: I've just plowed through several dozen articles on his sudden rise. And an interesting things pops up. He's constantly referred to as intelligent, or his court smarts make up for a lack of being physically imposing.
Now, is that kind of the flip side of the stereotypes that many minority players bridle under, that they are physically gifted? Now, being smart is a good stereotype, but it is -- is it a stereotype nonetheless?
JEFF YANG: Well, I mean, it doesn't hurt that the guy did go to a pretty good school. He went to Harvard University. So, it's not as if it's not accurate on some level.
I do think that, when you look at the way that his career has played out, where team after team and individual after individual has sort of underestimated his physical abilities, there probably is a little bit of that, a sense in which he's looked at as many maybe a smart player, but not somebody who can really run with the big boys.
And that is something that I think Asian-American athletes in general have gotten tagged with, this idea that they have to bring brains to the table, because they don't have the brawn or the raw talent. His brains and leadership have also played a big role. He's changed the nature of the team. He's gotten a lot of great shots and great looks for his teammates. They're playing better together than they ever have.
And we're hoping that it will only get better when the big stars actually come back off the disabled list.
RAY SUAREZ: He also seems to be having fun with it, though, isn't he, whether it's bowing to Carmelo Anthony or doing a little courtside ritual that involves opening books and pocketing glasses.
JEFF YANG: There's something about him that's almost infectious. He's playful. He's funny. He can be very serious and very solemn in some ways.
He's got a very strong Christian faith. But, at the same time, when people see him play, they see somebody who makes them remember the playground, makes them remember the pickup games they have played themselves. And that's -- that's amazing.
RAY SUAREZ: One black athlete tweeted that, if a black player did what Jeremy Lin has done over the past week-and-a-half, it just wouldn't make much of a splash.
But, interestingly, Ta-Nehisi Coates blogged on The Atlantic that it's true that, if he were black, this would probably be a smaller story, but, if he weren't talented, it would not be a story at all.
JEFF YANG: I absolutely agree with that.
I think that, in a way -- and the statement you're talking about was by Floyd Mayweather, who's a boxer. The notion that somehow he doesn't deserve the attention he's getting is ludicrous. The guy has done some amazing stuff. He's turned a team around. He's turned a season around. He's maybe saved his coach's job.
And he's certainly proven that he deserves to play on that field with anybody. The fact that he's Asian-American certainly makes him exceptional, unique and inspiring in a lot of ways, certainly for me, for people like me. But there's no question that his talent got him there and that his talent will keep him there.
RAY SUAREZ: Jeff Yang from The Wall Street Journal, thanks for joining us.
JEFF YANG: Thank you.
I'm not cool
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