Friday, January 25, 2008
MacSpeech Dictate
Finally, somebody is patching one of the few bigger holes in the Mac software landscape: a good dictation application.
Who's on First
Ray said:
You're too young to remember this one, but many years ago, Bud Abbott and his partner Lou Costello did a similarly hilarious bit called, "Who's on First?" about baseball.
Well, like many classic bits of Americana, if you follow film and TV, you can't avoid being aware of this bit. It would be like never having heard "Make my day." The dialogue has been referenced and used so many times. But actually I never before saw the original. Here's were YouTube proves itself invaluable once again, here it is.
Update, thanks to Steve: Who's on Stage. Quite clever, band names are confusing. "The Band doesn't play until later, right now we're listeing to Who."
You're too young to remember this one, but many years ago, Bud Abbott and his partner Lou Costello did a similarly hilarious bit called, "Who's on First?" about baseball.
Well, like many classic bits of Americana, if you follow film and TV, you can't avoid being aware of this bit. It would be like never having heard "Make my day." The dialogue has been referenced and used so many times. But actually I never before saw the original. Here's were YouTube proves itself invaluable once again, here it is.
Update, thanks to Steve: Who's on Stage. Quite clever, band names are confusing. "The Band doesn't play until later, right now we're listeing to Who."
Thursday, January 24, 2008
The Death Star canteen
Izzy Izzard illustrated. That's a hoot and a holler.
"That's Jeff Vader."
"I'm not 'Jeff' Vader, I am Darth Vader."
"That's Jeff Vader."
"I'm not 'Jeff' Vader, I am Darth Vader."
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Protein shake
I've been buying some protein powder for a while. It's the only one I like. I can only get from the US (or Canada, actually), because food supplements are so heavily regulated it has not been exported yet and may never be. For the same reason the seller can't ship to me, so I've had a friend buy it and ship it to me.
The problem is that apparently UPS is getting more and more paranoid, and if we are to ship this perfectly innocent dietary supplement for personal use, now my friend has to fill out totally ridiculous forms for commercial shipping, with hundreds of nitty gritty details. And they may not even allow it anyway.
It seems the post office is similar in this respect.
This is such a silly problem. Any ideas how to handle this in an easy way?
The problem is that apparently UPS is getting more and more paranoid, and if we are to ship this perfectly innocent dietary supplement for personal use, now my friend has to fill out totally ridiculous forms for commercial shipping, with hundreds of nitty gritty details. And they may not even allow it anyway.
It seems the post office is similar in this respect.
This is such a silly problem. Any ideas how to handle this in an easy way?
Ysabella Brave
I was first pointed to her cover of What A Wonderful World. Considering that I like that song and that the people seem to love Ysabella, I was surprised to find I didn't like her interpretation all that much.
And then doubly surprised to find that I quite like her U2 cover:
And then doubly surprised to find that I quite like her U2 cover:
Big Eyes
One million YouTube views in ten days!
It never ceases to amaze me the kind of thing that can become a hit in the Internet age. I don't know what to think about this one, except it's a funny and fascinating little thing.
It's interesting, though, that the Japanese, the most severe people on Earth, also has Cuteness down to a fine art.
It never ceases to amaze me the kind of thing that can become a hit in the Internet age. I don't know what to think about this one, except it's a funny and fascinating little thing.
It's interesting, though, that the Japanese, the most severe people on Earth, also has Cuteness down to a fine art.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
CheatNeutral
CheatNeutral. Pay others to be faithful to you.
See how long it takes you to find out whether it's a joke or not, and whether there's a point to it.
It's interesting how the Internet has made a rapid growth in bizarrely off-beat cultural phenomena like this, simply because if you have the skill you can make such a thing and reach a global audience for no money, whereas just fifteen years ago it couldn't have been done or would have been massively expensive.
See how long it takes you to find out whether it's a joke or not, and whether there's a point to it.
It's interesting how the Internet has made a rapid growth in bizarrely off-beat cultural phenomena like this, simply because if you have the skill you can make such a thing and reach a global audience for no money, whereas just fifteen years ago it couldn't have been done or would have been massively expensive.
The Executive Coloring Book
The Executive Coloring Book.
Fun. I had no idea anybody made such cutting satire nearly fifty years ago.
Thanks to Bert.
Drama
What a dramatic picture. I wonder how he made the near-black sky? Polarization filter? Or a software manipulation?
[Picture from ImagingResource. Photo by Baqer Mohammed Jawad.]
The one below (from the day before) is nice too. Nothing that hasn't been done before, but if that was a necessary criterium, we'd never see anything.
Photo by Melanie Wells.
Alex said:As for the Hot Rod, the blur on the road is not in the direction of travel, so I suspect that was a still car with some reasonable good post processing.
bert said...
I concur with Alex, the 2nd photograph is fake. The wheels of the car are crystal clear, which would have required a very short exposure, yet the blurred background says otherwise...
Dang, you guys are right. I didn't spot that.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Why Mac surge
Pogue on why is the Macintosh platform suddenly expanding? Beats the heck outta me.
One of the comments on Pogue's page:
"I think it’s about potential. People see the potential with Macs, especially when it comes to integrating the computer, software, and peripherals into your life. There are just too many third party options on a pc and it’s confusing as hell. With a Mac, people can see, simply, what they can do.
I recently showed someone the iPhoto book I bought of my honeymoon. When people saw it, they couldn’t believe I did that with my computer and had absolutely no idea how to do that on a pc. I clicked on iPhoto and showed them the book button and they exclaimed it was time to finally get a Mac."
Indeed the easy photo-book option is one of the many great things about the Mac. I tried making one last year, and it was dead simple, and the product looks so professional.
One of the comments on Pogue's page:
"I think it’s about potential. People see the potential with Macs, especially when it comes to integrating the computer, software, and peripherals into your life. There are just too many third party options on a pc and it’s confusing as hell. With a Mac, people can see, simply, what they can do.
I recently showed someone the iPhoto book I bought of my honeymoon. When people saw it, they couldn’t believe I did that with my computer and had absolutely no idea how to do that on a pc. I clicked on iPhoto and showed them the book button and they exclaimed it was time to finally get a Mac."
Indeed the easy photo-book option is one of the many great things about the Mac. I tried making one last year, and it was dead simple, and the product looks so professional.
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