Lawrence Lessig’s July 29, 2010, TEDxBoston talk. Why your vote matters less.My election day gift to the readers of smays.com
Newspaper! We’re gonna need more newspaper!
It’s been five years or so since our last experience house-training a puppy. Barb has read several books on the best ways incorporate a puppy into your family but right now it’s mostly about taking her outside about every 20 minutes. And hugs. Lots of hugs.
Lucy is slowly warming to the new dog and will come around in time.
A Golden Retriever puppy is distilled love. It wants nothing more than to be with you. And to play. Which –in this weather– involves short breaks, stretched out on the AC vents.
Blogging will be light for a while.
Hattie (7 weeks)
2
Stills are a little challenging since Hattie is a blur of motion, so here’s a minute of video. Lucy (5+ years) is still unsure about this interloper.
iPad above every player’s locker
Beginning Monday, the 123 back-lit nameplates about the lockers of Nebraska’s varsity football players will be replaced with iPads.
From the story on Huskers.com:
Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne admitted Friday that he didn’t know a lot about iPads, “but the main purpose,” he said, “is for communication, so if Bo (Pelini) or an assistant coach needs to schedule a meeting, everybody can know immediately, whether they’re in the varsity locker room or the walk-on locker room at the Hawks Championship Center.
For compliance reasons, the iPads will be mounted into each player’s locker. The football staff will have the ability to send messages to the players via their iPads. The players will be able to acknowledge and respond, but their messages will be limited to football and academic personnel only.
The new capability will enable the football staff to post events to each player’s iPad calendar, so he will know the times of each practice, conditioning session, academic meeting or position meeting, even if it’s called at the last minute.
What about the capability to access all iPads remotely so they can play the same video at once?
“Wireless can cause a slight delay, but yes, that’s the plan – to get all to play at once when the situation calls for it,” said Chad Chiesa, a Nebraska Athletic Department IT specialist. “With the assistance of a software development firm that specializes in mobile device applications, our hope is to keep everything in sync.”
I’m sure the guys in Cupertino didn’t foresee this particular use of the iPad but they knew in their hearts and smart heads that there would be no end of creative uses. Do you think they pull these down and replace them with the new RIM Blackpads? Or Microsoft’s Slate?
via Uber Husker, Todd Perry
The Onion: Dog Tricks
From the clever kids at The Onion, just in time for the new pup.
Introducing the HP 6000 PRO
Our local HP rep brought a new computer by the office yesterday for our IT guys to check out. It’s the HP 6000 PRO. I couldn’t resisit teasing him a little about the revolutionary design breakthrough.
“Whoa! That is so COOL! Everything built right into the monitor? No separate box?! Damn!
This is just the sort of thing that makes PC’s hate Mac fanboys like me. But I couldn’t help myself. Apple introduced the iMac G5 in 2005. 5 years is a lifetime in hardware innovation.
And then Phil dug out the HP’s power supply and I felt so bad for the rep I wanted to give him a hug. This thing is literally the size of a brick. The only good thing about the monster is you can rest your feet on it.
There’s nothing wrong with seeing a good design and emulating it. Shit, Apple does this. But if you go that right, at least try to make your design a little better than the one you are copying. And there’s the rub. Just can’t do it and keep keep the price down.
Winter’s Bone
I heard about this movie Saturday morning at the Coffee Zone and –as luck would have it– it was showing at the Rag Tag Cinema in Columbia. Be surprised if this makes it to the Cineplex.
Seventeen-year-old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) sets out to track down her father, who put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared. If she fails, Ree and her family will be turned out into the Ozark woods. Challenging her outlaw kin’s code of silence and risking her life, Ree hacks through the lies, evasions and threats offered up by her relatives and begins to piece together the truth.
This synopsis doesn’t begin to capture the subtle layers of this movie. And I don’t have the skill to describe them. The bad guys in this movie make the red necks in Deliverance look charming. They’d deep-fry Tony Soprano’s crew and eat ’em.
Winter’s Bone is based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell and took Best Picture and Best Screenplay at the Sundance Film Festival. Filmed in Missouri but I’m not sure where.
Will iPads replace laptops?
Dylan and Miles dropped in at the Coffee Zone this morning. They’re high school sophomores in Savannah, Missouri. Dylan brought his new iPad which he purchased with money from his summer job (scanning medical records).
He has a desktop computer (and a Blackberry) but no laptop. I found it interesting that he would go for the iPad instead of a laptop. But not surprising. I think we’ll see this happening more and more. For all the reasons we’ve mentioned here. Price and cool factor topping the list.
Dylan says he plans to take it to class this fall. Would like to know how that works out.
Lots of colleges are exploring ways to bring the iPad into the classroom.
Stylish brain-buckets
I don’t have a motorcycle but this would be fun for wearing around town. Other styles include cracked walnut, water mellon and … brain matter?
What are they tweeting about your company?
Co-worker Jeff shares the following story from the road:
On Monday I was flying from St Louis to Milwaukee. My flight was delayed by an hour, which obviously I was frustrated. When I landed in Milwaukee, I went to the Enterprise counter to get my rental car. There was only one person working and 4-5 people waiting in line. When it was my turn, I gave her my info and then was told to sit and that somebody would come and get me in about 20 minutes. I told her that I was running late and that I was actually supposed to pick my car up earlier. She said she was hoping that the 20 minutes was an overestimate. I was steamed. But really I was steamed about the whole travel experience. So I tweeted that I had to wait 20 minutes for my car at Enterprise and why would only one person be working on a Monday, which I assume would be a busy business travel day.
Their person did come and get me within 20 minutes like the counter person had told me. I checked Twitter before I left the rental car garage and I had a mention from Enterprise Cares telling me sorry and asking me to follow her so she could direct message me. She also gave me her name (Elizabeth). I was very impressed by that customer service. So I followed her and immediately I had a direct message from her asking for my contract number and pick up location. I tweeted that I was very impressed with that service and that someone from the company actually acknowledged me and my comments. I sent her my info and explained that my frustration had been compounded by the fact that my flight was delayed. Not sure what will happen but just getting a sorry was good enough for me. By contrast, I tweeted about my AirTran flight being delayed on the way to Milwaukee and on the return flight to St Louis and have heard nothing.
Elizabeth transformed a frustrated customer into a happy customer. She put a human face on a corporation. And Jeff now knows someone at Enterprise he can call (tweet) on if he needs something. Companies large and small are figuring this out. How about yours?