"Apple today announced that YouTube is now live on Apple TV.
Users can download the free software update using Apple TV’s built-in
software update feature, and then navigate through YouTube’s familiar
video browsing categories or search for specific videos. YouTube
members can also log-in to their YouTube accounts on Apple TV to view
and save their favorite videos." [Podcasting News]
Haven’t tried this yet, but I will. Stay tuned. Related story.
The woman smiled, waiting patiently. My mind is frantically processing data, running through thousands of images and names. I bullshit for time…
"Hey, I almost didn’t recognize you! Man, how long has it been?"
But people can always tell.
"You have no idea who I am, do you?"
(Click!)
"Debbie! Debbie Elting!"
Debbie and I attended Southeast Missouri State University in the late 60’s. Worked on college plays together, partied together. Haven’t seen each other in 30 years. Turns out we’ve been going to the same dentist all these years. She drives down to Cape from St. Louis, I drive down from Jefferson City. The staff thought it would be nice to arrange a surprise reunion and scheduled our check-up’s on the same day.
The next time a woman I don’t recognize asks, "Do you know who I am?, I’m going to say –without hesitation– "You’re Jennifer Anniston. What are you doing here?"
DeLoss asks: “Whatever happened to that picture of you staring at a monitor? The background was dark and you were quite close to the screen, as if trying to detect something. I always thought that was a good shot for your
blog.”
Me too. When I started blogging, I thought I should include a photo but didn’t want to look like more of a dumb-ass than necessary. So I sat my camera (on timer) on a stack of books, turned off the lights and came up with this. Still pretty much how I see myself.
Met up for coffee with old friend (and former Learfielder) LeAnn McCarthy last week. She’s a PIO (Public Information Officer) for the Missouri Gaming Commission. I think I knew this is the governmental entity responsible for some kind of oversight of Missouri’s casinos, but that’s about it. As LeAnn explained some of the things the commission does, I became more interested and when she told me they have this room where they test and measure and check-out all of the gaming devices, I asked if I could get a look.
It’s called the “Gaming Lab” and it’s filled with what I (a non-gambler) would call “electronic slot machines.” As well as a crap table, a roulette table, and a couple of Black Jack tables. [flickr set]
LeAnn introduced me to Clarence Greeno, the Gaming Enforcement Manager for the commission who was kind enough to answer a few questions and explain some of the commissions many functions and responsibilities.
Clarence showed me another, smaller, room that was filled with surveillance monitors that displayed real-time images from above the gaming tables in the first room. This is exactly like the gear the casinos use (and you’ve seen in countless Las Vegas heist movies).
Several large metal cabinets were filled with chips, dice, playing cards and a variety of scientific-looking instruments for measuring and weighing it all.
Missouri has eleven casinos and the Missouri Gaming Commission is tasked with seeing that the games, the people run them and the people who play them are all on the up-and-up.
I regret not being more prepared but I had no idea of what’s involved. Our chat lasted about half an hour but there was easily another half hour of interesting stuff I missed after turning off the recorder: RFID chips in larger denomination casino chips; ever more sophisticated games designed to appeal to younger players that have grown up with computer games; “Minority Report” games that recognize individual players and “market” to them based on their personal interests and history.
“Hello, Mr. Mays. Back for another run at the Black Jack table. We’ve got a couple of new games that we think you might enjoy. Shall I reconfigure my interface so you can take a look?”
My thanks to Clarence Greeno and LeAnn for their hospitality and a fascinating tour. Before I left, I urged them to consider a weekly podcast about gaming in Missouri and the commission’s role in seeing that everyone plays fair.
Dave Winer bought a new scanner recently. He didn’t say much about it… just that it had arrived. My scanner was two or three years old, so –with hardly a thought– I clicked the link (to Amazon) Dave provided and purchased the same scanner.
I had a high level of confidence that Dave knows more about scanners than I do and I couldn’t go wrong following his lead. And I was right.
The CanoScan is fast and produces sharp scans. My favorite feature, however, is the software that enables me to scan four or five photos at once and wind up with individual files. I hate to think of the hours I spent chopping out individual images in Photoshop. And I’m sure I’ll discover many more wonderful features.
I’m sure Canon spends millions in marketing and advertising. But none of those efforts could ever be as effective (for me) as knowing it’s the scanner Dave Winer is using. I have no way of knowing, but I’ll bet he didn’t get a nickel (or a free scanner) from Canon for mentioning their product on his blog. I guess my point has something to do with blogs and trust.
I’ve made a couple of imaging purchases in the last week or two. As I scan more (old) prints and take more digital photos, I need to be sure these images are as good as I can (practically) make them.
Let’s say I took 1,000 photos over the next two years and they weren’t quite as good as they might have been. There’s no way to fix that. I can’t re-take those photos.
At the same time, I’m willing to accept far less than "perfect" images. That’s where Henry works and lives. I make some practical trade-offs.
But the scanning is going much faster now and iPhoto makes it easier to tweak the images and get them on flickr.
I just took a look at the latest political video to go viral. The young woman featured in the “I Got a Crush On Obama” video is Amber Lee Ettinger (an actress). The real Obama Girl, the one who came up with the idea of the video, the song and the lyrics is Leah Kauffman, a 21-year-old undergraduate at Temple University in Philadelphia. When I left YouTube, the video had been viewed more than half a million times.
My first thought was, no political campaign could create something like this. My next thought was, if a campaign could create it, they wouldn’t want us to know they had. Much more effective. In this instance, I’ll probably never know. [Thanks, Jackie]
I received the following email today:
"I can pay you $35 for a text ad on your (website). The ad –for a free personals web site– would consist of a couple of lines of text with links to the web site. I can pay via PayPal, or send you a check. Would you be interested?"
The post on which he wanted to place an ad was about the anniversary of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The only possible connection I could see was "lonely hearts" and "personals" but that’s a reach.
I thanked him for his interest but turned down the $35. But it got me thinking. Would I have taken $350? No. $3,500? I know it’s ridiculous, but I don’t think I would. This space just ain’t for sale.
I love this photograph of my father. It was taken in the control room (Studio A) of KBOA in Kennett, Missouri, probably around 1950.
Anyone that has ever “cued” a record recognizes that sense of touch and the delicate balance of the heavy tone-arm on the oh-so-easy-to-scratch record.
A skill (if you could call it that) that hasn’t been needed for many years. I’m glad I didn’t miss those final years of high-touch, hands-on radio.
We had one of the early automation systems (for our FM station) but it felt like telling someone how to make love to your girl friend.
And the thrill of having the program director walk into the studio while you were on the air and put the hot new single into “current” box. Is it as much fun to see the new single come into the rotation on a computer monitor?
Before I get carried away, allow me to say –for the record– I don’t miss using a grease pencil and splicing blog to edit tape. If I had to choose, I’d be th digital boy I have become.
A lot of our company’s history is jammed into cardboard boxes and I stumbled upon a little piece this afternoon. This is a copy of an ad [larger image] that ran in Missouri Life Magazine, sometime in the early ’70’s.
Now Missourians from border to border know what their neighbors are doing.
They know what is going on in Jefferson City… in the major metropolitan areas… in the arts… in science… business.
They’re listening to their local radio station… an affiliate of the Missourinet.
The Missourinet is a statewide news network… very similar in operation to the national news networks. Some 40 radio stations carry its hourly newscasts. It has the state Capitol’s largest full-time news bureau. And each week its programs feature hundreds of on-the-scene reports from correspondents and newsmakers over the state.
Missouri + net? Get it? The official name of our company was “Missouri Network, Inc.” back then.
Avis has begun to offer a product called Autonet as an add-on to some car rentals, giving customers with a mobile device such as Treo or a laptop access to the net (and Internet radio stations, one assumes).
The service, called “AVIS Connect” allows customers to rent the router and service for $10.95/day, less than most hotels charge for daily WiFi access in a room. AVIS currently offers the service to rental car customers in San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles, with plans for service to seven additional cities expected soon. [RAIN]