To being glam rock…

I’m really inspired by the implications of radio technology, afterall, that’s what cellphones and RFID are based on…to quote Andrew Lippman of MIT’s Media Lab…

“No matter what you think of the wireless devices you have today, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Radio is just getting interesting.”

I heartily agree, SO, if you want a good read, and get excited about tech for the masses, check out Lipman’s Scientific American article.

Wow, I have participated in multiple projects with telepresence, (Actvie Worlds Web Opera at Cornell connecting with Art Center College of Design, and then with a NASA sponsored program called “Skyways of Tomorrow” where we connected with two groups of grade-school students in San Diego and Kansas via the web) and neither was as seemless as this experience today. It seemed like a very simple set up, and there was little lag. Denver, Washington DC, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco were all represented, and the only button to push was the mute button on the microphone.

Video was occasionally pixelated, and it was corrected very rapidly. I learned a lot, had my question answered regarding the best way to present portfolio material…I think I’m going to use Breeze to make a demonstration of my websites that I’ve created…that will convey much more information than a screen shot of the page.

Since 2001 and 2004, it appears video conference technology has imporved quite a bit. From what I could tell, there wasn’t a computer directly present, interaction was via TV with a camera on top that was using some computing power somewhere not in the same room (perhaps housed in the camera box).

In the two previously mentioned projects, the computers were doing double duty, in that the were running other applications as well as the one that was sending and receiving audio and video. I think in the CU project we were running 1.2mhz pentiums with windows 2000, and in the SFAI it was a single processor g5. I bet those new quad core Macs really zing…

I’m so excited about this experience, becase it shows me that telepresence can really happen at near real-time. I’m intrigued to see how the new macs work with the integrated camera and if it’s possible to have other users know what’s on your own screen…something to look into for PC aps as well, as the great majority of comp. users are still beige boxin’.

So just like the the Rufus Wainwright song,

Everything it seems I likes a little bit stronger
A little bit thicker, a little bit harmful for me

I was reading on BBC Mundo that there’s a province in Cuba where folks that drink alcohol, smoke, and enjoy healthy sex lives live longer…but what the biggest indicator of health seems to me like their diet and environment…

Casi todos se alimentaban con una dieta que incluía pescado, huevos, leche, pan blanco y vegetales, cocinados con poca sal y condimentos naturales. *In English* Almost everyone ate with a diet that included fish, eggs, milk, white bread and vegitables, cooks with little salt and natural condiments.

I would wager that heathy diet, plus tropical climate can equal out cigar smoking (as the smoke is not inhaled into the lungs) and alcohol (because in the study noone was alcoholic)…in addition to that, I imagine that walking is a big part of their lives, so exercize, climate, and diet definitely seem like they contribute to longevity.

I think this is rather rediculous…

Peter Hirtle, the university copyright compliance officer, explains the problem as a lack of understanding about electronic media. “Faculty members are now where students were five years ago with Napster. Just because it’s easy to take something and put it on a website doesn’t mean it’s legal to do so.”

Regarding fair use, and repetitive use…What if the prof. teaches the same class every semester, does he/she have to re-ask every time to use a material? Why can’t they just keep the material out?

However, repeated use is considered to have adverse impact on market sales. “We don’t know if repeated use is allowed… that’s a question we have not addressed.” Hirtle said. He added later, “The only time you know for sure if something is fair use is when five members of the Supreme Court say it is.”

And what about Google digitizing every book on the planet…seems to mee like information that is accessable is for the best…look what happens when one leaves a computer out for slum-kids to use according to Sugata Mitra, PhD.

Early in the morning.