Buy a fuel efficient car, and ninjas will attack you

All I can say about the following clip, is WTF?!?

Anybody know what movie this is from?

Worst (best?) hyphenated names after marriage

Not sure if these are real, or Photoshop magic, but they are certainly entertaining.

Best Negative Campaign Ad - Daisy Girl by Lyndon B. Johnson

Think campaign ads are negative now, check this one out from LBJ in 1964.

Perhaps the most infamous Presidential campaign ad ever made, even though it aired only once, it created a great deal of controversy and was, arguably, an influential part of LBJ's landslide victory in 1964.

DNC: Rage Against the Machine Concert, and the protest march into Denver

I attended the free Rage Against the Machine concert at the Denver Coliseum today for the Democratic National Convention. After the concert was a march through Denver to the DNC.

Here's a pictorial history of what went on today as I saw it. If nudity offends anybody, you might want to skip it, as you do see me without a shirt on. Otherwise, enjoy!

Here's a video of the police presence at the event (sorry it's a bit fast).

Check out the protesters doing their thing on the street.

Good times! I did bail before the march reached the DNC, as my eyes are a bit sensitive to teargas (though it turned out peaceful enough).

Big thanks goes out as well to Tent State University in Denver for putting this together. Go check them out!

Now I just have to work through the night to make up the missed work from the day. Benefits of working at home on internet based businesses I guess.

Rootclip.com submitter arrested!

Here's a true story from one of our long time submitters at Rootclip.com, Jay Taylor. He was arrested and faces a court date for making Citrus with Attitude in Chapter 3 of Chance Encounter. We are all humbled by the determination of Jay, who got arrested, but still finished the shoot. Now that's dedication!

Read the full story on the arrest at Rootclip.com.

And do me a favor, check out the site and see what kind of films are being submitted for the Chapter 4 contest.

Why is the drinking age 21?

From the blog, mental_floss, comes an interesting and in-depth article about the history of the drinking age in the United States.

The concept that a person becomes a full adult at age 21 dates back centuries in English common law; 21 was the age at which a person could, among other things, vote and become a knight. Since a person was an official adult at age 21, it seemed to make sense that they could drink then, too.

Considering that the drinking age was once lowered to 18, the age at whichthe courts consider you a legal adult, why did it revert back to the age of 21?

Organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving began agitating for a uniform national drinking age of 21 to help eliminate these blood borders and keep alcohol out of the hands of supposedly less-mature 18-year-olds. As a result, President Reagan signed the aforementioned National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984. MADD’s “Why 21?” website touts a National Traffic Highway Administration finding that the raised drinking age policy saves around 900 lives a year. Traffic reports show a 62% decrease in alcohol fatalities among teen drivers since 1982. Raw numbers show that drunk driving fatalities have definitely dropped since the early 1980s; despite an 88% increase in the number of miles driven, 2007 saw over 8,000 fewer total alcohol-related traffic fatalities than 1982.

Why analyze this now? Currently the Amethyst Initiative is pushing a proposal to reconsider the national drinking age of 21. Launched in July 2008, the Amethyst Initiative is made up of chancellors and presidents of universities and colleges across the United States. These higher education leaders have signed their names to a public statement that the 21 year-old drinking age is not working, and, specifically, that it has created a culture of dangerous binge drinking on their campuses. I couldn't agree more.

By the way, when researching a picture for this post, I typed "drunk teen" into Google Images, thinking I'd get something clever. Let's just say that didn't go as planned, hence the prohibition image.

Why you can't use a cellphone on a plane

We are pulling away from the gate, and the captain's put on the fasten seatbelt sign. Time to put away that cellphone. But have you ever wondered why, exactly, that you need to turn it off? If you leave your iPhone on during takeoff, can it cause the plane to crash?

Wired was kind enough to do the research, and they have the answers.

Sure, your mobile can interfere with avionics — in theory. But in practice, it's far from likely. Cockpits and communications systems have been protected against electromagnetic meddling through safeguards like shielded wiring and support structures since the 1960s.

So why the resistance? Part of it, naturally, comes from the call carriers. When phones ping for signals at 35,000 feet, they can hit hundreds of towers at once, necessitating complicated parsing of roaming agreements. Providers don't want the hassle if they're not being properly compensated, so the government has left the plane ban in place.

Personally, I don't think technology should really be the factor, but privacy and right to your own space. Do we all want to listen to the person next to us talk on their phone during the entire flight? I think not!

It's the service, not the iPhone, that sucks

I'm not entirely convinced. The folks over at Wired did a user survey relating to the iPhone 3G reception problems, and it appears to be more service related than hardware related.

3G performance is slow almost all over, especially in cities where the 3G service is getting overloaded. If you want to have fast speeds, hang out in Germany and the Netherlands -- those folks had the fastest speeds (and it's no coincidence that the 3G network there has three extra development years on its American counterpart). The worst reception is apparently in Australia, as Optus and Virgin users had their iPhones chugging along at just 759 Kbps.

So, I guess I will be calling AT&T to complain tomorrow. Hopefully a service credit is pending. Strange how I never had a problem with my previous 3G phones, including my Samsung Blackjack.

Terminator Salvation - Christian Bale as John Connor

Is anybody else excited about Terminator Salvation? I've been a huge Terminator fan since Arnold declared "I'll be back" in 1984. Salvation is the movie we've all been waiting for. It's the post-apocalyptic battles of humans vs. machines, lead by John Connor (Christian Bale). It's coming on May 22nd, 2009, and I'm excited!

Salvation will be far more bleak, unsettling and savage than the third film in the series, directed by Jonathan Mostow. My biggest concern is that it is being directed by a relative novice, McG, not James Cameron. If he screws this up, there will be hell to pay.

iPhone 3G not having reception issues, I don't believe it

Engadget is reporting that some enterprising Swedes with science degrees have put the iPhone 3G up against the Nokia N73 and Sony Ericcson P1, and the results are surprising. They say that the reception on the iPhone 3G is "just fine".

To quote the article:

...some industrious Swedes decided to apply a little scientific method to the argument and found something interesting: the iPhone 3G performed just as well (or just as poorly, depending upon your mood) as a Nokia N73 and Sony Ericsson P1 when compared head-to-head in a mobile communications test chamber. The test was conducted by real-life antenna engineers just like those camera-fumbling souls contracted by the FCC.

My take on this is simple. Either they have gotten a good test version that doesn't suffer from the Infineon chip problems, or the 3G network in Sweden has better coverage than ours here in the US.

I can tell you that my iPhone 3G reception problems have only gotten worse since the 2.0.2 firmware. I'm ready to return my iPhone through the window of the closest AT&T store.

Diebold admits to broken voting machines

From the everybody knew but those in charge file, comes a tale of the blatantly obvious. There are major problems with e-voting machines made by Diebold.

Diebold (now Premier Election Solutions) announced this week that their electronic voting systems lose votes.

The maker of touch-screen voting machines used in half of Ohio's counties has admitted that its own programming error is to blame for votes being dropped in some counties.

Premier, formerly Diebold Election Systems, initially speculated that the problem was a conflict between its system and anti-virus software. However, on Tuesday the Premier President admitted that further testing showed a source-code error that can cause votes not to be recorded when memory cards are uploaded to computer servers under certain circumstances.

Critics of Premier and touch-screen voting in general have long argued that the systems aren't secure and can't be trusted.

Now counties are dumping millions of dollars worth of e-voting machines into the trash, or selling them for pennies on the dollar. Who knows how the elections during the past 8-years would have turned out without Diebold. Considering how the then-president of Diebold committed to give votes to Bush in 2004, maybe very different.

Joe Biden's Technology Voting Record

The DNC has taken over my city of Denver. So far I've seen protests, news reporters, celebrities, and even a bomb squad response to a suspicious package in the middle of the downtown. Barack Obama has plastered his face on the buildings around mine, and he wants to be my president. In choosing Obama, I'm now also choosing Senator Joe Biden .

I'm a technology obessed individual, so I can't help but share this link from CNET on Joe Biden's voting record on technology issues.

My major concern:

Last year, Biden sponsored an RIAA-backed bill called the Perform Act aimed at restricting Americans' ability to record and play back individual songs from satellite and Internet radio services. (The RIAA sued XM Satellite Radio over precisely this point.)
...
But these pro-copyright views don't exactly jibe with what Obama has promised; he's pledged to "update and reform our copyright and patent systems to promote civic discourse, innovation and investment while ensuring that intellectual property owners are fairly treated." These are code words for taking a more pro-EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) than pro-MPAA approach.

More downside is that Biden has proposed $1 Billion dollars this year to police P2P networks, Biden is against the public having the ability to encrypt their data and communications with tools like PGP, and he is wishy-washy at best when it comes to Net Neutrality.

Was Biden really the best Obama could do?

You're a Lebowski, I'm a Lebowski, that's terrific

Okay sir, you're a Lebowski, I'm a Lebowski, that's terrific, but I'm very busy, as I imagine you are. What can I do for you, sir?

Well, as it turns out, we are in the The Decade of the Dude according to Rolling Stone Magazine. At first I couldn't believe I missed the article, then I realized I stopped reading Rolling Stone when I was 15, so go figure.

You might know that I am a huge fan of the movie The Big Lebowski, a Cohen Brother's film that made little or no impact on the big screen, but garnered a cult-like following for the last 10 years. If the name of my blog didn't give it away, then you probably weren't paying attention.

I've even been to the Lebowski Fest in Austin to watch movies, dress in costumes, and drink White Russians. I have a "Mark it Eight" sticker on my car, which often elicits loud shouts of "Mark it Zero" as I drive around Denver. In my circle of friends, the Lebowski quotes flow like water, and have since the late 90's. I've introduced more people to the movie than I can count, all of which have thanked me for it later.

I once stopped a conference call with business associates dead in its tracks by announcing that our revenue plan was necessary because, "you gotta feed the monkey". Uncomfortable silence followed, reminding me that the movie isn't a cult favorite for everybody.

What makes the movie so appealing to me? I think the Rolling Stone article sums it up pretty well.

Early in Lebowski, the narrator (a cowboy named the Stranger, played by Sam Elliott) intones, "Sometimes there's a man, who, well, he's the man for his time 'n place." The odd truth is this man — the Dude — may have been a decade ahead of his time. Today, as technology increasingly handcuffs us to schedules and appointments — in the time it takes you to read this, you've missed three e-mails — there's something comforting about a fortysomething character who will blow an evening lying in the bathtub, getting high and listening to an audiotape of whale songs. He's not a 21st-century man. Nor is he Iron Man — and he's certainly not Batman. The Dude doesn't care about a job, a salary, a 401(k), and definitely not an iPhone. The Dude just is, and he's happy.

"There's a freedom to The Big Lebowski," theorizes Philip Seymour Hoffman, who played Brandt, the wealthy Lebowski's obsequious personal assistant. "The Dude abides, and I think that's something people really yearn for, to be able to live their life like that. You can see why young people would enjoy that."

I am that business man tethered to the internet, emails, blogs, and constant barrage of mobile communication. I find The Dude becomes more appealing over time. He reminds me to chill out, slow down, and take it easy man.

So in summation, let me explain something. I'm not Mr. Lebowski. You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. That or His Dudeness... Duder... or El Duderino, if, you know, you're not into the whole brevity thing...

Fidel Castro Brings the Beer - Stroh's Light

Here's an old Stroh's beer commerical that has Fidel Castro longing for a decent beer. If you haven't seen it, it's worth watching.

Amazing 3D Hologram Animation on the iPhone

I'm not sure if this is real or not, but it's amazing. David OReilly just finished coding an application for the iphone/ipod touch. It gives the illusion of a 3d hologram jumping off the screen.

Here’s a video of it in use, featuring the Cat from his award-winning but unfinished cartoon PSS:

Made by David OReilly, the application works by assuming a constant viewing angle (35-45 degrees), typical for when the device is placed on a tabletop. The 3d scene’s perspective is warped using anamorphosis, the same technique used in Hans Holbein’s painting The Ambassadors. This application does the exact same but updates dynamically.

Using Linux for Photography

As many of you may know, I do professional commercial and studio photography through my business K2 Photo Studio. Currently I've been using OS X on Apple hardware as my workflow method of choice. Simply put, using Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Bridge, and the OS X color management is essential to my image workflow.

Here's an image I shot for Sublime Fashion's product catalog.

When working with clients like Sublime Fashion, accurate reproduction of color is extremely important. This is an example of where the OS X workflow cannot be beat. Or can it?

I am a Linux lover from way back. The advantages are that the operating system and most software is available for free. I used Linux long before I used OS X, and it really was my operating system of choice. It has the stability of OS X. It can run on cheap hardware with great results, so you are not locked into Apple's historically higher prices.

Unfortunately, about 4-years ago, as a photographer, I felt I had to move to OS X. The availability of commercial image manipulation programs, plug-ins, and native camera raw support were important. OS X had it and Linux didn't. Additionally, Linux color management needed to come a long way before I was able to use it reliably.

It looks like things might have changed recently. The folks over at Linux Photography are saying that it might be time for photographers to give Linux another look. Their conclusion.

I don’t think that the answer to Linux for photography is “Photoshop & Lightroom on Linux”. Open Source Software has developed some amazing pieces of software and I don’t see why photography would be an exception. My dominant feeling is “work in progress” and I see the “Linux photography ecosystem” maturing and moving forward in the right direction.

But let’s face it: Linux is not a drop-in replacement for Windows or MacOS for photography yet. Far from it. You can use Linux for serious photography, but critical pieces are still missing or are too kludgy for efficient work; you need to be willing to accept sacrifices. I use Linux for photography as an amateur, but I would never recommend Linux to a pro photographer with time / production constraints.

So there you have it. If you are rocking a DSLR, and are trying to get the advantages of using the high-level tools without the high pricetag, give Linux a try. There are lots of great flavors out there, and each comes with a plethora of image editing tools. Color management has come a long way on Linux, and that is an exciting step in the right direction.

My recommendation is Ubuntu if you are new to Linux. You can even run Ubuntu without installing it to your hard drive by using a Live CD. Setup is easy, and it runs on just about any computer you have lying around. You can dual boot it with Windows/OS X as well. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Personally, I'll be sticking with OS X for now. However, I might just have to give Linux another shot when it is time to upgrade my system again.

Star Wars Tenugui (Hanging Japanese Banners)

Okay, I'm not usually a Star Wars merchandise fan. I did have all of the original action figures, including a full replica of the Millenium Falcon when I was a kid. But my mom sold them all in a garage sale and I've never really looked back - although they are worth thousands now!

But every now and then something comes along that catches my eye, and I have to share. These Star Wars Tenugui (Hanging Japanese Banners) over at ThinkGeek are pretty cool from a design standpoint. I love mixing the old with the new in such a creative way.
Now, the question is, will your girlfriend/wife appreciate them as much as you do?

Incredible Kinetic Wind Sculptures

This is a bit off topic, but just so incredible that I had to share it. I know we'll never use something like this for transportation - but this guy is a genius!

Theo Jansen is the Dutch creator of what he calls “Kinetic Sculptures,” where nature and technology meet. Essentially these sculptures are robots powered by the wind only.

Take a look at this video and let me know what you think.

Millions of dollars in electronic voting are machines being destroyed in the US

The $3 Billion spent on electronic voting machines after the 2000 Election debacle has gone wrong in so many ways.

Vanishing votes, breakdowns, malfunctions and evidence that the e-voting machines are vulnerable to hackers has caused the problem. The result is warehouses full of unused e-voting equipment, and millions of dollars worth of equipment being sent to the junkyard for pennies on the dollar.

Many states have lost confidence in the machines and have stopped using them, or they are facing lawsuits that make the machines useless.

What to do with this high-tech junkyard is a multimillion-dollar question. One manufacturer offered $1 a piece to take back its ATM-like machines. Some states are offering the devices for sale on eBay and craigslist. Others hope to sell their inventories to Third-World countries or salvage them for scrap.

Setting aside the massive taxpayer boondoggle that e-voting has become, this news is just depressing. It's a shame that we seem to be moving forward technologically on all fronts except with our democracy.

The phone in our pockets are mini-computers, our cars have Bluetooth and voice recognition, and the GPS is now ubiquitous in society. Yet, as advanced as we've become, the US is reverting back to paper ballots and potentially even hanging chads.

I honestly thought we would be past this point by now.

Steve Jobs promises iPhone application crash fix in September

Looks like Steve Jobs, in a rare and candid personal response, has vowed to fix the iPhone application crashing issues in an update this September. Application crashes have been all too common in iPhone Firmware 2.0+ .

"This is a known iPhone bug that is being fixed in the next software update in September," reads the one-line message from the Apple co-founder.

Let's hope that it can fix the 3G reception and dropped call issues too. iPhone Firmware 2.0.2 did little to relieve the problem, and many have even reported that it made dropped calls worse.

How to update your Facebook status with Twitter

Have you ever wanted to quickly update your Facebook status and Twitter status at the same time? Did you know that Twitter can automatically update your Facebook status on every tweet?

Using Twitter to update your status makes your Facebook profile much more timely, interactive, and personal.

With Twitter you can update by SMS, text message, mobile clients like Twitterriffic, through the web, or a myriad of desktop clients. You are much more likely to update by these methods than logging into the web to update Facebook, or using a Facebook specific mobile client.

The best part of this setup is that it only publishes original tweets, not replies or direct messages. This means your profile is always updated with what YOU are doing.

The setup is incredibly easy, just you follow these simple steps.

Instructions for the NEW Facebook:

• First, login to Facebook.
• Then go to the Facebook Twitter Application and click the Add Application button.
  
  
  
  
• Make sure to give Facebook all the permissions it needs to access your profile.
• Enter your Twitter username and password when asked.
• Once back at your profile, click the Applications menu at the top of your home page in Facebook.
• Select the Twitter application from the drop down list.
• You will now see the Twitter application and all your, and your friends, recent Tweets.
• Select the Applications menu again, and select Edit Settings for Twitter
• You will now see a dialogue box to Edit Twitter Application Settings.
• Click on the Additional Permissions tab and you will see a listing of options.
• Check the option to "update my status without notifying me" and save your changes.
  

• You're done!

Instructions for the OLD Facebook:

• Configuring Twitter on the OLD Facebook is much easier than the NEW Facebook.
• First, login to Facebook.
• Then go to the Facebook Twitter Application and click the Add Application button.
  
  
  
  
• Make sure to give Facebook all the permissions it needs to access your profile.
• Enter your Twitter username and password when asked.
  
• Once you have entered your username/password, simply click the button in the Twitter Facebook Application that says "Allow Twitter to Update Your Facebook Status".
  

• You're done!
  

As simple as that, every time you Tweet, your NEW Facebook status will change! Enjoy!

iPhone Firmware 2.0.2 fails to fix reception issues.

Looks like the iPhone firmware 2.0.2 is has reportedly not fixed the iPhone 3G reception issues that are so widespread. I can confirm from my own usage that this is definitely the case. I'm still dropping calls left and right.

If it wasn't scratched already, I think I'd be taking my iPhone 3G back to the Apple store tomorrow for a refund.

Rock Band 2 - Hands on Preview

For those Rock Band fans out there, check out this preview of Rock Band 2 from G4.

It's looking pretty incredible. That Starburst Stratocaster guitar controller is sick. I've heard the newest controllers are much better made than the previous versions.

I was disappointed by my last music game for the PS3, Guitar Hero 3, because of the lack of tracks available for download on the network. Most importantly, all of the previous Rock Band track packs are compatible with the new version, unlike the Guitar Hero series.

I was initially turned off by Rock Band because I didn't want to purchase the entire set with drum kit and mic. This version looks like it will be perfect for me if I can get a guitar-only version.

I'm placing it on my birthday wish list. Only 5 more months to go!

How to protect your Gmail account from hackers

Bad news this week for Gmail users. Gmail accounts are vulnerable to a new hack that allows intruders to easily steal your username and password. This new hack has been shown at the 2008 Defcon in Las Vegas this week. The hackers are planning to release it on the Internet to the general public in two weeks.

When you log in to Gmail the website sends a cookie (a text file) containing your session ID to the browser. This file makes it possible for the website to know that you are authenticated and keep you logged in for two weeks, unless you manually hit the sign out button. When you hit sign out this cookie is cleared.
...
The problem lies with the fact that every time you access anything on Gmail, even an image, your browser also sends your cookie to the website. This makes it possible for an attacker sniffing traffic on the network to insert an image served from http://mail.google.com and force your browser to send the cookie file, thus getting your session ID. Once this happens the attacker can log in to the account without the need of a password. People checking their e-mail from public wireless hotspots are obviously more likely to get attacked than the ones using secure wired networks.

The good news is that there is an easy way to protect yourself.

Last week Google introduced a new feature that allows users to encrypt their user names and passwords when accessing Gmail over unsecured networks, or even all of the time. You can permanently switch on SSL and use it for every action involving Gmail, and not only, authentication. This will keep your identity and personal data safe from harm.

To protect yourself, simply login to your Gmail account, and go to "Settings". Under the "General Settings" you will find the option to enable https on all of your browser connections. Do this now!

You may find that Gmail is considerably slower over the HTTPS connection, because browsers do not cache these pages and must reload the code that makes Gmail work each time you change screens.

If you would like to use https only when you are using unsecured public networks, simply type https://mail.google.com before you log in. This will access the SSL version of Gmail for that session.

Safe browsing folks!

Drunken exploding Santa musical wins at Rootclip.com

FungusRidden has clinched Chapter 3 of Chance Encounter with their hilarious musical extravaganza Hold on, April! featuring a drunken Santa, explosions, and an ode to a damaged spleen. Has the drunken Santa become Rootclip's meme?

Competition was fierce this round, with jaytaylorthe1's entry Citrus with Attitude helping push boundries, and newcomer ChiriSan's excellent submission AFTERSHOCK. Check out Chirisan's production website at http://www.karmacauseproductions.com/ to learn more about their efforts. Great work by everybody this round!

Just a reminder that FungusRidden and joshutk are ineligible to compete until the final chapter, so we need your submissions next round!

So congratulations FungusRidden! For winning this chapter you've won a $250 VISA Gift Card, a really cool Balance Beam from Trig Industries, Retail Value $249.50, a "Video for the Web" training DVD by VASST, Retail Value $80, and The DV Rebel's Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap by Stu Maschwitz, Retail Value of $44.99.

Also, FungusRidden is now eligible to compete in the final chapter for the $2,000.00 Cash Grand Prize.

Onward to Chapter 4!

iPhone 3G reception problems fixed in new Firmware 2.0.2?

iPhone firmware 2.0.2 software has been released. Could we be getting close to seeing a resolution of the ongoing iPhone reception issues?

Engadget is already reporting the new firmware has fixed the 3G issues, but they aren't providing how they tested or verified the fix.

Although there has been no admission by Apple or its broadband chip suppliers that any such issues exist with the 3G technology included in the new iPhone, a report by Nomura analyst Richard Windsor earlier this week set off a chain reaction of media reports filled with speculation on the matter.

For instance, a report by Sweden's engineering magazine Ny Teknik, covered by the Associated Press last night, cited 'unnamed experts' as saying the 'most likely cause' was a defective adjustments between the iPhone 3G's antenna and an amplifier that captures very weak signals from the antenna.

Peter Burrows at Business indicates that a software fix is definitely on the way. "Two sources say Apple will likely issue a software update by the end of September—if not by the end of this month—to resolve the issues," Burrows wrote. "Apple and Infineon are currently testing the fix, which will be included in a broader update of the iPhone's software."

We can only hope this is the fix, otherwise we'll be waiting for iPhone Firmware 2.1.

Blogger vs. Wordpress, which one is better?

As many of you know, I'm currently in the process of getting my own blog, thebigklosowski.com, up and running. It's what you are reading now in case you don't know where you are, and if that's the case I'm not sure this article is for you.

Although I co-own Krescendo, web design and hosting company, I was not interested in hosting my own blog. The complications of security and updates throughout the life of such an endeavor is daunting. So I've been evaluating free third party services, primarily Wordpress and Blogger, to serve as my blog's launching point.

I didn't want to officially start The Big Klosowski blog until I had figured out which platform worked best for me. No sense in pouring your heart out out to dozens (if I'm lucky) of readers unless you know where your work is going to reside.

Since you are reading this as a Blogger based blog, I guess I should explain my decision.

Ease of Use: Blogger

Both Blogger and Wordpress are extremely easy to use. For a blogging newbie like me, I could get up and running a blog in minutes on either site, including customizing my theme and starting my first post. I actually like Wordpress' posting process better, as it seems the more refined of the two.

Embedding an inline photo, video, or music easy with both services. However, there are some major drawbacks with emeddable media on Wordpress.

Wordpress is very choosy when it comes to embeddable media. It does not allow Flash and Shockwave, used by many of the embedded video players from popular sites like Vimeo and Fliqz. Anything beyond Wordpress' supported formats, and Wordpress' editor strips the code from your blog post. This is too limiting in a world where the majority of video content I want to share does not come from sites like YouTube or Facebook. This proved to be a major challenge for me.

Blogger allows me to embed almost anything in a post, as long as it's valid HTML. That provides me with the flexibility I need to embed and share video files, games, and even some specific audio podcasts that I find important.

Uploading and sharing an image gallery of photos is also very difficult with Wordpress. Wordpress will not allow you to embed a third-party slideshow in your blog. I have projects where we use Flickr or Picasa web albums full of captions to narrate an event. Wordpress' strict embedding policy made these galleries unusable. As a result, in order to share, I had to re-upload, re-organize, and re-caption the photos. This is time consuming and a duplication of effort. It's made more time consuming because I can't embed a Wordpress gallery elsewhere, like I could with a Picasa gallery.

So in the usability category, while both perform equally well for posting text and a few images, Wordpress stumbles when allowing embedded content. Since sharing and distribution of content is a vital part of the Web 2.0 experience, I find this to be an insurmountable workflow obstacle for me.

Updates from an iPhone: Wordpress.com

One of my goals in setting up a blog, is the ability to let people know what's on my mind from any place I might be, at any time. It's a good way to pass the time, and also an important way to disseminate information, such as during the upcoming DNC in Denver.

There are several ways to update Blogger and Wordpress from an iPhone.

With Blogger you can either login with the Safari browser to edit your blog. I find it slow and cumbersome to do it this way.

What is easier is to send an email and picture to a Blogger email address that will automagically post your picture and thoughts directly to the blog. This is simple enough, but the blog posts come through with line breaks from the iPhone Mail program and the resulting post looks terrible. Additionally, it is very hard to edit a post should you realize that you have misspelled something basic.

This makes mobile updates with the iPhone to Blogger more difficult than they should be. There are third party apps for the iPhone, like LifeCast, which make posting new blogs much easier. However, they only allow one photo to be added to any given post, the same as with the email method. Also, the program does not allow you to edit previous blog posts that weren't made with the LifeCast app. This is very frustrating.

Wordpress on the other hand is an open-source program that can be installed on any server worldwide for free. As a result, they have also open-sourced a native iPhone app that allows for near complete management of photos and posts in your Wordpress blog. This program works even for hosted blogs, as long as they are relatively up to date. The native app makes posting to Wordpress effortless, although links are still a bit tricky. Clearly this is where Wordpress has the edge.

Aestethics: Wordpress.com

Both services come with a wide variety of customization options and available templates. In my opinion, Wordpress offers more templates with more sophisticated design elements than Blogger.

Additionally, Wordpress makes it much more easier to customize the templates than Blogger does. While both allow you to pick template colors easily enough, that's where ease of use differs. To change your header image with Blogger you have to link to an externally hosted image by manually editing the HTML of a template. In contrast, Wordpress will give you the dimensions of the image, and allows you to upload an image to quickly customize the template without editing the HTML or externally hosting an image. It's a word of difference.

Search Engine Optimization: Tie

I find both services are spidered by Google very quickly, and your content is available in search results within an hour of posting in most cases. I do find that Wordpress blogs tend to show up in my Google Alerts before my Blogger posts. However, each service does very well in this respect.

Customization: Blogger.com

I find that when creating a blog, I want the site to be functional in all of the ways that I want to publish information. While evaluating both platforms, I noticed that each had "widgets" that could be installed on your blog.

Wordpress will give you 10-20 pre-built widgets, many of which can only be used once. There are additional widgets that you can pay to use, but since my goal was to use a free service, this did not appeal to me. Wordpress included the basics, like RSS readers and Calendars, but nothing fancy or awe inspiring.

Blogger on the other hand allows you to choose from hundreds of freely available Widgets that they have been developing for iGoogle for years. In addition, many of these are developed by third-party developers and do very specific things. That is good, and opens it up so that you could theoretically build your own widget to do exactly what you needed.

Widgets aren't just for play either. For example, setting up things like Google AdSense is much easier to do on Blogger. This is important if you want to generate revenue with your blog, and most bloggers do.

Both blog platforms will allow you to use your own domain as your address for no additional fee, as long as you own the domain. You can also choose to setup a blogger.com or wordpress.com subdomain if you do not own a domain name. These domains typically look like http://thebigklosowski.blogger.com. They will get you by initially, but if you plan to blog for any period of time, I'd suggest getting your own domain name, which typically run around $9 per year.

Conclusion: Blogger.com

Each platform clearly has it's strengths when it comes to providing a place to blog. Wordpress' open-source nature, easy of use on an iPhone, an visual superiority make it a strong contender.

However, when it comes down to brass tacks, Blogger's ease of customization and support for internet staples like embedded Adobe Shockwave and Adobe Flash objects make it the workhorse I need for my blog. Add in the easy integration of services like Google AdSense, Google Analytics, and Feedburner, and it becomes the clear solution for me. I'm still hoping that iPhone support will take off for Blogger, but for now I can work around it.

Is the Album Cover dead?

Looks like folks have started transititioning completely to digital music from CDs, tapes, and Vinyl. No surprise here, but it is changing our listening and storage habits, especially when it comes to physical media.

Andy Day at Gigwise.com interviewed Peter Saville, who is questioning if the result of the digital age is the demise of the album cover. Saville is an artist know for creating the iconic artwork of New Order and Joy Division. He has also designed album covers for Pulp, Suede and Roxy Music.

In the interview, Saville states:

“We have a social disaster on our hands,” he said, speaking from his studio this weekend, “The things that pop music was there to do for us have all been done... there's nothing to rail against now.

“When I was 15, in the North-west of England ... the record cover was like a picture window to another world. Seeing an Andy Warhol illustration on a Velvet Underground album was a revelation ... It was the art of our generation ... true pop art.”

I have to strongly disagree with the statement. I've been making sure that my digital music collection of over 10,000 legally obtained MP3s includes all of the original artwork for the past 5 years.
I love to see album artwork displayed on my iPhone or Apple TV, and I can't stand to see a track that is missing the cover. It helps me sort the music, and also helps set the tone for the whole album for me. Album covers are iconic, and help define a place in time that goes with the music.

If anything, I think in the long run services like HD Radio and Satellite radio will be streaming album covers right to your dashboard in the car, just as Pandora streams the album cover to your computer.

So I belive the album cover isn't dead, and it is only the beginning of a generation tuned into the entirely digital album cover. This new frontier will eventually offer more interactivity to album covers and provide a totally immersive experience. More of an album cover movie or game even.

Oh, but how I do miss those giant album covers from my old vinyl records. Those really were true works of art.

Well, except for some of the ones you find over at the CoverBrowser.com collection of worst album covers. Take a look at a few examples from the collection below.

Maybe some album covers deserve to die?

Bono leaks new U2 record by playing stereo too loud.

From the news of the weird pile, here's one I just had to share.

According to TorrentFreak.com:

Proving that if media can be seen, heard or touched it can be copied, songs from U2’s forthcoming album have been leaked online. Four tracks from the album, provisionally entitled ‘No Line On The Horizon’, have appeared on the Internet. The mechanism of the release is pretty comical - Bono blasted the tracks from a stereo in his villa in the South of France so loudly, that a passer-by recognized his voice and recorded them.

Apparently four songs have been put online already, including the title track, the first single from the album ‘Sexy Boots’, ‘Moment of Surrender’ and ‘For Your Love’.

So go out and get it if you want, but I'm not sure the quality would be worth listening to. Well, I haven't heard a U2 album worth listening to in almost 10 years, but that's just me.

Save the Music, Help Pandora Today

Looks like the world's best streaming radio service, Pandora, is in major trouble.

According to Read Write Web:

Founder Tim Westergren has stated that the service is approaching a "pull-the-plug kind of decision" for the service.

and

Pandora's founder is waiting for a ray of light in a fight being led by Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Calif.). Berman is attempting to arrange a few last-minute deals between web radio stations and SoundExchange, the organization that represents artists and record companies that would reduce the the recent fees.

The original petition has expired, but go to SaveNetRadio.org today to see how you can get involved in saving Pandora and other streaming radio services.

Pandora's life is in your hands dudes, it's life is in your hands!

Are you smarter than a Chimp?

I talk a lot about technology in our daily lives, and I think that as humans we're pretty smart. With our smartphones and extensive schooling since birth, we live a pretty charmed existence.

But you have to ask yourself if you are smarter than a chimp?

Watch the video and find out.

How did you do?

Raining in Denver

We are getting some much needed rain in Denver this weekend. More rain than we have gotten in the last three months. It's been great.

However, I'm a bit concerned about the leaking water that is flowing into the power boxes in our underground parking garage. I can cut them some slack because historic buildings are maintenance nightmares. Our building was built in 1910, and it was the original Denver Chamber of Commerce.

Still, it would be nice if maintenance worked on weekends!

Infineon chips could be to blame for iPhone 3G woes

I've been doing more research today on the iPhone dropped call and data issue I've been having since upgrading my original iPhone.

Looks like the Infineon Chip that Apple used is being blamed for causing problems in 2-3% of iPhone traffic. Now, I'm not sure if that means 2-3% of iPhones, or 2-3% of calls. I know for a fact that I drop several calls everyday, whereas before I dropped none.

It seems that the Infineon Chip is not properly sensing the 3G signal strength, and is causing major handoff issues between 3G and Edge. I hope Apple can fix this in software, but I would imagine that a hardware fix would be a better solution.