Latitude Z – New Dell laptop introduces wireless charging

For a mere $1,999, you too can own the new Latitude Z.  The newest release by Dell actually recharges wireslessly!  You’ll have to spend another $200 on the separately sold docking station that allows the wireless recharge over a  distance of approximately 12 feet.  This is supposed to take the around the same time to recharge as charging by plugging the system in. 

Critics have noted that  the dock still has to be plugged in to charge before it can charge your computer and dismiss the wireless claim, noting that Nokia has a cell phone that charges off of “in air wave” signals such as TV and radio signals harnessing a range frequencies.  The technology is still in development, but, wow, what a great development!

Facebook My Gorilla Friend, Mugisha?

Friend a Gorilla Web Site

Now, just when I think I’ve about seen everything … along comes “friend a gorilla!”  The idea was so amusing, of course, I had to click.  Mugisha, the Blackback gorilla from the Bitukura family was the guy I chose to write about in this blog.  He is one of eighty gorillas you can now choose to friend on your MySpace or Facebook.  I wonder if he’s got any weekend party pics of hot babes on his page :\.

The webpage, friendagorilla.org is a noble cause, no joke.  But I wonder what they’re implying when the motion graphics on the home page informs me that “…. gorilla DNA is 98% – 99% identical to that of a human”….  or that “The name Gorilla is derived from the Greek word Gorillai meaning hairy women”  ewww …. what exactly are they getting at here, I ask….. eyeing my razor while conjuring up some pretty scary images.   The last notes proudly announce that gorillas consider Ants a delicacy…. well now I’m beginning to see our resemblance.  hmmm

And, being from Uganda, might he be friends with that king who keeps e-mailing me to help him out of his tough spot by simply pulling out my checkbook and writing him a nice fat, juicy check…. which he will, of course, repay with interest, lol?

When all is said and done, the website is pretty interesting… Not sure if I’ll be sending my $1  in after being hit up on the subway by the homeless guy who only wanted a penny (lol) and the five other social organzations who stopped me on the street on the way to my destination….. Sorry, I just gave my last dollar to the saxophone player in the park!  Ahhh, gotta love Manhattan!   Soon, we might be able to sponsor a gorilla to visit.  Maybe Mugisha wants to sit with me in Central Park.  I’ll buy him a hat and a drum and we can save the gorillas of Uganda together!  Now I’m thinking…!!!!

If you’re interested in “Friending a Gorilla” go to www.friendagorilla.org and join us in the park!

Digitize Me! – Tip of the day.

A common mistake in terminology often used by beginning videographers is the use of the word “digitize.”   So, here is a simple definition.

to digitize – to convert analog signal to digital signal. 

So, if you are converting analog signal to digital signal then the word digitize is correct.  However, the word is still hanging on from the days when we were transitioning from linear to nonlinear editing systems.  Putting an analog video tape into a machine in order to convert the footage into digitized form in order to edit by computer is the act of digitizing.

Professional Photos …Ahhhh…. on your iPhone?

Ya know, everybody’s got a gimmick!   Chase Jarvis says he’s a commercial photographer who is taking pictures with an iPhone.  Of course, he’s writen a book and started an online community for everyone’s iPhone pictures.

Ok, so I’m curious.  USA Today promo’d his book and even printed his web page for the nation to see.  So, Chase has got something going for him.  Or maybe, he’s just got friends in high places.  So I click………. expecting to find some odd picture of grandma sitting in wonderment over this new iPhone gadget, or pictures of the guy’s dog and kids.    Instead, I’m greated with a crazy picture of some upside-down guy with a desert backdrop….an action shot acting in first of a series of flash images.

And I’m impressed.  The guy, or team rather, has something going for it….. a vision ….. a look.    Check it out.  Watch the videos too.   They are creative as well!

www.chasejarvis.com

Manhatta 1921 – Great old footage

Twitter: avantchicago posted this on his twitter.  It’s a great old movie of Manhattan in 1921! 

Free Software for University Students

This worked like a dream and only took 5 minutes.

1.  You must sign in.
2.  Get verified that you are a full-time student
3.  Download and install your software

Here is what you can get for free:
1.  Visual Studio 2008, Professional Edition
2.  Windows Server 2008 R2, Standard
3.  Xna | Game Studio 3.1
4.  Microsoft SQL Server Express
5.  Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Developer
6.  Windows Server 2008, Standard
7.  Microsoft CCR and DSS Toolkit 2008, R2
8.  Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, Professional Edition
9.  Microsoft Expression Studio 3
10.  Windows Server 2003
11. Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 R2
12.  Microsoft Virtual PC

So, click on what you want to download from this link.
https://www.dreamspark.com/Products/ProductList.aspx

I selected Expression Studio 3

Click on VERIFY - choose your country and select your state and it will populate the box with a list of schools.  Find your school.  They have you input some short, basic info and your school provided e-mail address.  Then they send you to that e-mail box for further instructions.

Once you’re in, you receive a one-time activation key.   This key, along with your Live Id, will set you up with 12 months of full access to DreamSpark and all the full version software it offers! 

No problem whatsoever.  I got my activation and it took me less than 5 minutes!  NOTE:  You must activate your software within 5 days of receiving the info in your e-mail.

WebsiteSpark program – Free Microsoft Software

UPDATE:  I published this blog at 12:26 and I already have the approval.  It is not 3:46.  Can’t beat that!  You will also be interested to know that I applied at a freelancer.  They give you FREE access to the following Microsoft programs:

• Expression Studio 3
• Expression Web 2
• Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Web
• SQL Server 2008 Web

————-BELOW IS THE OLDER POST————–
Microsoft is actually going to GIVE it’s software out free to new web developers in the WebsiteSprak program!   I think I qualify, so I applied.  I’ll take you through the application process as it happens.  If it all works out, it seems like a sweet deal!

“The program is similar to Microsoft’s BizSpark program launched last year, which provides software and other resources to startups, and the DreamSpark program, which does the same for students.”

Here is what you get if you qualify: 
1.  Three licenses for Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
2.  Two licenses for Expression Web 3
3.  One license for Expression Studio 3
4. Qualifying companies also receive four processor licenses for production use of both Windows Web Server 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Web Edition.
5.  Two technical support incidents per company
6.  Access to community support through Microsoft Partners.

http://www.microsoft.com/web/websitespark/

In signing up for this free software, it originally appears as if Microsoft traps you into making contact with 1.  A Hosting Partner or 2.  A Network Partner or 3.  A Microsoft Contact.  In order to comlete the application, you have to click on one of the radio buttons.  I selected “Microsoft Contact”  (whatever that means).  This is the message under the radio button selection:

“If your company doesn’t need the support and services that our Network Partners or Hosting Partners provide, you can apply for WebsiteSpark directly with a Microsoft Contact.”

OK, well, someone will contact me within three business days.  So, it may not have been a trap afterall.  But, it did seem like that at first.  

Of course, updates will be forthcoming.

He who dies with the most toys wins!

USA Today’s Technology section headlined the following article Has America become a nation of gadget addicts?.  It is an interesting topic as I have become entirely dependent on the internet.  Last week I had to endure an excrutiating full day of lack of internet service to my house.  I laughingly, nearly couldn’t function.  I keep all my money in my savings account and transfer a bit here and there for groceries, fine dining and other such fun…. but not that day.  The only way for me to eat…. was to …. gasp….WALK TO THE BANK and write a check….THE OLD FASHIONED WAY.   I was beside myself.  I didn’t eat well that day. 

Even more revealing was my need for contact.  My assignment for the next day was to go onto my professor’s blog and watch a video and comment on it.  Can’t tell him the dog ate my homework in this instance.  I would have to go to another location to do my assignment.   Argh!

I have all of my favorite channels linked to my website to watch my favorite shows on FOX, TNT, CBS, NBC, USA and ABC.  No television for me tonight!  And what about NETFLIX?  Ahhhhhhhhh.  I even read my books online.

My mind started to wander into the realms of the technically insane….had someone e-mailed me with something terribly important and would I not receive the e-mail for one entire day?…. Yes, this insanity did make me realize how important technology is in my everyday life.  The later in the day it became, the more frantic my thoughts….. I had not checked Facebook for eight entire hours!!!!!!!!  No friends, no family members, no surfing…. Even the cats could not figure out why I was not glued to one of my computer screens.  I thought to myself….I might have to read a real book!

Finally, the internet access returned.  I opened my computer in anticipation.  My first click was to Facebook…..that’s where all of my classmates and family members go to now.   Thankfully, I saw that nothing tragic had happened and no catestrophic message awaited me.   Then checked my e-mails and clicked on my Netflix for a good evening instant, online movie….. The world, as I know it, was still there…. My life was complete once again…..

Yes, USA Today, we are a nation of gadget addicts, but I’m not up for an intervention!  How about you?

Adobe / RED Camera Seminar – HD Expo – Not so impressed

First, I’d like to preface this by saying that I am a great Adobe fan.  Love their products.  I am also excited to learn more and more about the features of the RED Camera.

I attend everything Adobe.  I’ve heard lecture after lecture on Adobe topics.  In most lectures I hear these words “I don’t use the X_insert_product_Name_Here, but I know how to use it in the software.”  Ok, attention Adobe.  I don’t want to learn from someone who has not used the program professionally.  I don’t want to learn from someone who has not provided deliverables to clients.  Period.  I know the technical 1-2-3′s already.  I don’t want to hear that you are only trained on the program the way that Adobe told you to spread the word.  Does me not a bit of good, even if there is no hard sell (no, they did not push the sale of the product).  

So, what I heard at the HD Expo was more of the same.  The speaker did a good job and knew a lot.  He could speak and knew the 1-2-3′s.  However, “You can fool some of the people some of the time… ” you know how the saying goes.  The guy that was there to represent RED knew a lot, and he was really the one I wanted to hear from and the person with everyday “production” experience.

Another note from my Adobe “corporate experience” last year…. by telephone.  Please improve your customer service.  Try to call people back and politeness is always a plus.  You should be willing to go out of your way to help customers with problems… you never know who some of them are.  Nothing more needs to be said.

Maybe I’m on an Adobe overdose.  I attended a similar lecture with another Adobe speaker and it was more of the same.  I’m glad to hear about the products, but if RED is supposed to be a big topic in the seminar, then let the RED guy speak too.  Needless to say, I would not recommend this lecture to anyone but those new to Adobe and RED….and even then, I’d have to think about it.

Vincent Laforet and the HD Expo

I attended the HD Expo this past Thursday at the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan, New York City and signed up for the usual classes.  I saw some of my collegues in the hallways and engaged in the normal techie chit chat, filling my bag with free goodies of cinematic joy!  After sitting down and waiting for an expected “this is why our product is great speech,” I could not believe my ears when the announcer introduced Vincent Laforet, himself….yes, in the flesh. 

If you don’t know who Mr. Laforet is….. 1.  You should, and 2.  He is the first one to make an HD 1080p video with the SLR Camera, The Canon 5D Mark II.  Yes, an HD video made with a professional still photography camera.  I first heard about this fabulous camera at a free seminar I had attended at B&H Photo where Canon representatives showed Vinent’s film “REVERIE” which you can view here http://www.vincentlaforet.com/index_reverie.html.  You won’t believe your eyes.  We were fortunate in that he showed us a “behind the scenes” look at how he shot “REVERIE” and shared the types of lighting he used, the timeframe and basic workflow.  I was quite impressed.

Vincent is one of the foremost aerial photographers in the United States which means he literally hangs out of helecopters for a living.  His photographs are stunning and he has been published in some of the most prestigious magazines and publications that exist, including Business Week, Cosmopolitan, ESPN The Magazine, Fortune, Golf Digest, Golf World, Le Figaro, National Geographic,  Newsweek, Time, US News & World Report, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Wired, Paris Match, Readers Digest and many more   His clients for commercial work are equally impressive with Adidas, Apple, AT&T, Bogen, Canon USA, BBDO, Goldman Sachs, Google, Lexar, IBM, Marriott, Old Navy, T-Mobile, Visa, Siemens and Sprint among the list.

His seminar was the most informative I’ve ever been to.  He shared tales of many challenges he had in capturing his aerial stills as well as better ways to get the best video possible with the Canon 5D Mark II.  I highly recommend him for any technical event.  He is a great speaker with a very impressive selection of things to share.