Cute Holidays Video from Android

Posted on December 21, 2011 by robertmerrill

Happy Holidays from the geeks who brought my Christmas a little early this year: The Android Team

 

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@netflix

Posted on September 20, 2011 by robertmerrill

image

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Wishlist: 3 Pluses Google Should Add to Google+

Posted on July 20, 2011 by robertmerrill

Google-Plus

is doing some great things with Google Plus. Here’s my quick wishlist for three things they could change in a hurry to get me a little more embedded in the platform:

  1. Direct Messaging: Make it easy for me to reach out to people immediately that follow me. Follow the simple rule that I can Direct Message (DM) them if they already chose to follow me.
  2. "Follow me": The paradigm is that, if I want to read someone’s stuff, I "follow" them. In G+, we are being asked to "circle" them, but that doesn’t enable me to see someone’s more-private messages. 

    Since I am a "friends only" sharer, I have to add people to one of my circles before they can see what I am talking about.  That penalizes me on the network unless I add everyone who circles me to a circle themselves… not the most-fun.

    A great addition would be a setting that says, "automatically put people who add me to their circle into a circle called…" and make the default something like "followers".  Then, when I share things to just my circles, even these possibly-obscure individuals I don’t really know well have a place… and (better yet) I don’t have to manage it!

  3. Timeline and Comment-Stream Management: I like how hot things bounce to the top, unless I’ve already read them and the conversation is dying off into drivel like page 4 of the editorial section
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Scumbag, Netflix

Posted on July 14, 2011 by robertmerrill

scumbag-netflix The sad story here is that one, Netflix was the outcast, the speakeasy version of media consumption. They were the legal-but-still-somehow-underground way to sort-of stick it to the man, get all the movies you want on your own terms. They were the rebellion. They were the free market in action. "Late Fees? We don’t need no stinking late fees" was our mantra.

The DVRs came along, we stayed.

The Redbox (with their equally striking use of a certain Netflix-like color) came along, we flirted, but eventually stayed.

The Hulu and the YouTube and the you-name-it-online-wanna-be-video-service came along…

We stayed.

We watched in smug pleasure as the unsinkable ship that was Blockbuster groaned to her watery grave. "That’s for charging me a restocking fee, you losers!" we said to the air as we watched another bankrupt  Blockbuster store fade into the distance of our rear-view mirrors.

We even went through geek hell and paid a neighbor kid (well, he’s 19 but looks the same as he did when he was 12, just bigger) $25 and a pizza to hook up our Wii to the Internet so our kids (or ourselves) could watch Phineas and Ferb anytime we wanted. Or the original Karate Kid. Or Goonies.

We, Netflix, made you King of the Hill, ignoring our children, our jobs (or the need to find a new job) and even the Casey Anthony trial to watch you—you! We made you the number-one-sucker-of-bandwidth of the entire Internet!  We even notched those lame bitorrent users down to size—all for you!

But this?

Matt Burns gets it right. We would not really actually care if NetFlix did this if it meant more to those of us who stayed loyal to them and stuck with DVD rentals, too:

It’s that Netflix raised the prices without adding any value. There simply isn’t any way of spinning this as a benefit to the consumer and backlash is the result.#

Really? were my two DVDs per six months really costing you that much?

Did Netflix recently hire the same pricing consultant that Verizon has been using?

</rant>

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Video Chat Arrives on Google Talk Mobile

Posted on July 11, 2011 by robertmerrill

While the video chat client-wars are still raging, the biggest benefit here is that, when more and more users CAN video chat, more and more users WILL… this drives the reality of video calls more than ever before. Keep it up, Google!

Rolling out over the next while, Nexus S users will get updates to Google Talk on the Android that will allow video calls to other , tablet or desktop chatters, according to the Google Mobile Blog

You can now video or voice chat with your friends, family and colleagues right from your Android phone, whether they’re on their compatible Android tablet or phone, or using Gmail with Google Talk on their computer. You can make calls over a 3G or 4G data network (if your carrier supports it) or over Wi-Fi

Mashable notes "these features are rolling out to Nexus S phones over the next few weeks along with the next over-the-air OS update. Video chat via Google Talk will be available on other Android 2.3 and higher devices soon."

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Thanks, NASA (and Dad)

Posted on July 8, 2011 by robertmerrill

shuttle

To me, the Space Shuttle is equivalent to Apple ][ Computers, VCRs, ET, Microwaves, Cable Television and CD players –  evidence of how awesome technology was and could be, not to mention one of the first places where I learned or felt pride and awe in being an American in the 20th century.

So much has changed. The world is different and so am I.

And with that change, today, we mark the end of an era in great technology and great exploration of our world, our universe and ourselves.

I credit my dad for his unyielding awe of manned flight (and space flight) and giving me a respect for technology and instilling in me a desire to pull things apart, understand how they work, and see if I couldn’t make things better than I found them.

And, to some extent, I credit NASA and the Space Shuttle program for teaching me how awesome technology is, how humanity is more important than any technical advance, and a love of the Universe and the stars that I still have to this day.

I didn’t attend the launch today, but did attend one long ago after my dad took our family on a long drive to Cape Canaveral from Indiana where I watched an early morning launch and toured the Kennedy Space Center, stood next to a Saturn V, and took home my own Hotwheels-tough Space Shuttle which logged millions of scale-miles in my backyard over the years.

Thanks.

P.S. Here’s some food for thought for you:

The entire half-century budget of NASA equals the current two year budget of the US military.less than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet ReplyNeil deGrasse Tyson
neiltyson

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ONN reports that Warner Bros. will recut the last four minutes of “The Deathly Hollows: Part 2″ and stretch it into seven films so fans can enjoy the Harry Potter franchise for another decade.

This recent development hopes to revive lagging Harry Potter sales after fans were outraged to learn the final book in the series contains spoilers.

“The whole experience is completely ruined for me,” said 25-year-old fan Ethan Clay, adding that the book builds up suspense, and then, without warning, gives away vital, plot-altering information. “The least [Rowling] could have done was put a spoiler alert or something on the front cover.”

Posted on July 8, 2011 by robertmerrill | Leave a comment

Is Google+ the New Google Wave?

Posted on July 1, 2011 by robertmerrill

Unless I am misinterpreting things, the messaging functions of Google Plus where you can add/remove individuals/groups (called "circles") to your messages, to which they can comment and react to (called, nerd-a-rifically, "+1 ing" or "+1′d") feels a lot like a  lite.

GOOGLE-PLUS

Add in functionality to edit others’ posts real-time with trusted individuals and add snap-in/drop in web links, gadgets, and other bells/whistles and you’ve kindof got it, don’t you?

So, maybe Google+ is kindof like Google Wave++

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Interoffice Nuclear Arms Race

Posted on June 30, 2011 by robertmerrill

Or: How to properly use the CC/BCC fields in email to be a real jerk.

In business today, the email is mightier than the pen and the sword, combined. Here are things to be aware of in the usage of corporate email.

I have a theory that you can tell a lot about a company’s culture by their usage of the “CC“ and ”BCC” lines in email.

When they:

  • CC their boss — If their boss’ name suddenly shows up in the CC line, there’s usually three reasons for this.  Either:
  • They were called out in a meeting and are proving they are actually doing work.
  • They are trying to one-up you by a show of force. See also sabre-rattling.
  • You included YOUR boss in the CC line first, and the arms race just escalated. They are saying, “How ya like me now?” (video)
  • CC your boss — This only means one thing: “You’re incompetent and I am telling on you.” What it sounds like is, “I think I’m more important than I really am” (For an example, play the video starting at 1:03)

    • If the people you’re emailing don’t have the guts to blackball you publicly, they will revert to the tried and true “BCC” method, engaging in the clandestine act of corporate CYA. This is often uncovered when old emails are forwarded accidentally into the main stream  revealing side-channel chatter that is oh so less professional than the main flow of conversation.

    When they:

    • BCC their boss – First of all, you can’t see that they are doing this, but later it might come up.  This means they are trying to prove to the other person (usually their boss) that they are pushing you to get work done.
    • BCC your boss – This is blatant. It’s called throwing you under the bus, and it’s lame. This practice is usually employed by people who can’t admit to themselves you are right about something, or don’t have the guts to walk over and ask you to do something differently.
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    I Will Write Peace On Your Wings

    Posted on June 24, 2011 by robertmerrill

    cranes_3

    In quiet moments, this morning, I thought to myself that life resembles nature so much. People come in, and stay, and leave from our lives like the waves of the ocean, or like birds in flight, leaving marks upon our hearts which leave us never, quite the same.

    I admit I am emotional today thinking about all the love and peace and joy that I have experienced, and that in my life right now. Love that I once thought I had lost forever. Love that I worried I might never find in a lifetime of lives—love that came not through romantic laughter and candlelit dinners, but through hard work, persistence, heartache and sacrifice. Love that has been crafted personally for me by the Master’s hand.

    Japanese tradition states that wishes of peace and happiness will come to anyone who folds 1,000 paper cranes.

    The story of Sadako Sasaki, a twelve year old girl who was a mile from Ground Zero when the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb was dropped, tells us she did her best to painstakingly fold as many paper cranes as she could before she died of cancer—brought on by the atomic radiation she encountered that fateful day, August 6, 1945.

    Artists Chandler O’Leary and Jessica Spring recently made an incredible letterpress broadside honoring Sasaki’s end-of-life plea for peace, commemorating Memorial Day here in the United States, with an eye (and heart) toward Japan’s recent Earthquake and Tsunami disaster.

    Today our eyes and hearts are trained on the far shores of the Pacific, where the people of Japan are still reeling from the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. So for our twelfth Dead Feminist broadside, we remember them by giving wings to the words of our youngest-ever feminist [in their femenist's broadside series], Sadako Sasaki:

    "I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world."

    #

    cranes_1

    Etc:

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