This fellow thinks there are at least 10 Google services that you do not love enough.
The good news: there are some excellent tools on the list. For instance, I’ve been using Google Alerts (#9 on the list) for a few years now with regular useful results.
The bad news: there is no mention of the criteria the list maker used. I suspect he wanted to make a list of 10 items.
Via The Presurfer.
When I last checked Technorati showed 4250 posts about Photosynth so I expect this to be old news to all you well read folks.
Photosynth is the first Microsoft product (maybe someday) that really makes me sit up, take notice, and want more time to play with. Hell, I want it on my desktop now!
It is one of those things that you will not fully appreciate until you’ve taken it for a test drive. Nevertheless here are a few words from the developers:
Our software takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and then displays the photos in a reconstructed three-dimensional space, showing you how each one relates to the next.
For best results start with this brief presentation on Photosynth.
Now, if you have a capable machine (sorry MAC users, not yet) give it a try. I have it open in a Firefox tab on a relataively new Dell Optiplex GX 280 and it is mind blowing. However, it doesn’t perform on an older Dell D600 Latitude laptop.
Now that you have watched the video and, hopefully, checked out their demo collections your mind is running wild with the possibilities this brings to the way we view and live in the world.
Here is a review and links to some related products that are targeting a parallel space; some thoughts on the implications of a Photosynth/Facebook combination and if you think there has been a lot of discussion regarding pricacy issues and Google’s Street View read this and then start thinking about the pricacy implications of Photosynth.
To make it even more interesting put a product like photosynth together with terabyte flash drives in everyone’s pocket, micro cameras and audio feeds wired into their clothing and link each of these life logs into the net. Robert Sawyer in his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy makes the case that life logs might be better kept private except under extraordinary circumstances. In the Neanderthal culture of this alternate universe life logging devices are mandatory and most real crime has disappeared as a result.
Well, you can’t try it on just yet but Sony has just announced:
…a razor-thin display that bends like paper while showing full-color video.
“In the future, it could get wrapped around a lamppost or a person’s wrist, even worn as clothing,” said Sony spokesman Chisato Kitsukawa. “Perhaps it can be put up like wallpaper.”
I like the wallpaper idea! “Repainting” becomes as easy as changing the wallpaper on your computer monitor.
If they can form this into a durable enough material you might be able to dramatically reduce the size of your dressers and closets. Imagine how difficult this could make deciding what to wear to the party tonight. You could have millions or billions of complex image choices. On the other hand, you will probably be able to load most if not all of them into the terabyte compact flash that you slide into the outfits network connector.
You’ve been there or know someone who has: not quite grasping how that new tech toy or software program works. Through the ages customer support has come to the rescue:
Via …You Are A Tree.
Hesitant to jump on the newsreader bandwagon? Huh, what’s a newsreader?
Tegan has some answers!
Here she provides a nice bit of RSS 101:
Ok, an RSS Feed is simply a file that takes all the entries in a blog and puts them into a standard format. When you publish your blog, an RSS feed is published. A group of programs called “readers” note the change in your RSS feed, and update with your new entry. Anyone using a reader to read your blog then sees your new entry. Nifty!
NB: Tegan emphasizes how easy it is to keep up with your blog reading using a newreader. You can, though, get feeds from more than blogs: many newspapers, magazines and other regularly updated sites offer feeds.
Now that you’ve been through RSS 101 read Tegan’s walkthrough of Google Reader:
Ah well, here goes. I poked around the site a bit, constantly being told that there was nothing to see because I wasn’t subscribed to any feeds. I finally figure out to click on “Manage subscriptions” in the hopes I can import my feeds from Bloglines. Under this page, there’s an “Import/Export” tab. Lovely. *click* Hmmm, must export from Bloglines first. Hey, it says I can “Learn more about exporting your subscriptions from another feed reader.” Ok, *click*. Bloglines export instructions. I follow the instructions. Go back to the “Import/Export” tab. Import the file I just exported from Bloglines. WHUMPF! I’ve got a bunch of feeds. Back to the main page!
I do have both a Bloglines and a Google Reader account but have been using FeedDemon for almost a year now. Yes, it has a couple downsides: 1) there is a one time cost and 2) it is currently Windows only. However, it solved some organization and archiving issues that I had with Bloglines and allows me to do quite a bit of reading offline. I do plan to continue experimenting with Google Reader and may use it more in the future.
Darkside Alert: Tegan noted how easy it is to keep up with the 300 or so blogs she currently tracks. Newsreaders also make it easy to subscribe to too many feeds! E.g., FeedDemon just told me that I currently subscribe to 1680 feeds….I often don’t get past my “Regulars” folder.
