iPod My Photo

The area of retail will never stop amazing me. iPod My Photo is a sight that will take an ordinary photo file and change it to look like those iPod/iTunes commercials. I kid you not. Check out this link.

At this point I am glad I didn't major in business or marketing. I will never understand these kinds of things. Honestly. I think it is beyond odd. Although, there is part of me that is just geeky enough to think it is a little cool. Not that I plan on spending money on that. The thought it amusing. I will let you think about it for a while, maybe someone else can explain it to me - along with those singing fish from several years ago.

Thanks for reading my blog. Until next time.

Straining Silicon Wafers

Alternative Title: The article heard by the computer geeks around the world.

I was beginning to think that there were not going to be any advances in the computer chip world unless a new material was developed. Well, I guess I was wrong on that one. Recently, IBM and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) have improved silicon straining and increase hence increase the power of the chips without significantly increasing the cost of making the chip.

According to the article, the process of straining silicon wafers was originally developed by Intel 2 years ago. It is amazing to me that improvements continue to be made. Computer science is an every changing field and always improving field.

One exam down, two exams remaining. Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog.

New Favorite Song - Sweaters

This week I downloaded a song from iTunes called "Sweaters" by Beth Waters. I have listened to the song a lot recently. It has a good beat and some really good and interesting lyrics. The chorus is my favorite part. I would highly recommend this song. She also has some other excellent songs - I have another song I have been listening to.

Favorite line from the song is:
"but I believe I can change the world just give me time"

That line of the song is very powerful. I think that everyone can change the world if they are given a chance. Maybe not the entire world, but if we each change a person or two and we go on the theory that everyone is connected within a factor of 7 then well you can see where this is going and I wouldn't do the proof of it. Just think about it. It is like that "Pay it Forward" movie.

Now I have to get back to studying for my exams. The next few days are going to be busy so I might not get much blog writing done. OK, so basically I will apologize ahead of time for the lack of updates. Finals week is always been extremely busy for me (exams, work, and figuring out my masters project will keep me busy).

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Until next time.

In an odd way, I can understand this research...

According to this article some people are research the word dude. I kid you not - dude. Ok, so really bad joke.

I would think that is the oddest and pointless research I have heard off. But, then I realized what research means in an academic commiunity and realized that students working on their masters are often trying to find something to work on. I know first hand how hard it is to find a topic for a project. I also think about the fact that I have probably come up with just as weird of ideas for projects.

Webopedia

Earlier this afternoon I needed to figure out the advantages/disadvantages of twisted-pair cables had over fiber optic. I decided to start by searching for twisted-pair cable. The site that came up first was Webopedia. Webopedia is an online dictionary and search engine for technology and internet definitions. I was easily able to find the information I needed.

I am preparing for an exam in OS and Networking class. I am not a huge fan of the materical. However, over the semester I gained respect for the topic. I am glad I underatnd the concept of networking a little better now. The OS materical was interesting, but I knew the basics before taking the class. The only think I really knew about networking was the round robin method of passing information from a project I worked on my senior year.

Well, I have to get back to studying. I am glad that the full week of classes is over and I can start relaxing for a couple of weeks. Grad school can wear you out the last week. Actually, I take that back college can wear you out the last week. Because if memory serves me correctly I had the same problem in my undergrad years. Of course at this point I can't imagine having a 9 to 5 job. lol.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Until next time.

Cannot Live On Pizza Alone (although I tried)

Today is the first day this week that I am not eating pizza for a meal. The past two days can be summed up as eating pizza, eating cookies/candy, drinking diet pepsi, and working with html. Recently, I have been working on html more than usual - both my job and a school project. I haven't done this much html stuff since I was took at technical communication class as an undergraduate in web design! Don't get me wrong - I love web design. Of course the best part is knowing how to write html code so when the program is not doing what you want you can just edit it directly.

Although, I currently don't have a particular topic for my blog. I have been too busy to come up with anything. I briefly looking at Google News yesterday morning, but that is about all the fun "web surfing" I have been doing. All the school stuff will be done next week and I look forward to the break. Which if I am looking at my calander correctly is like 3 weeks long! Yippee! Three weeks of relaxing (and a lot of sleeping in and not doing anything school related).

As you can guess I am looking forward to it. I have one in-class exam on Monday and two take home exams Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. Then I have to work a couple hours and I then I can go home and enjoy the holidays. This is one of my favorite seasons of the year because it involves shopping - lots of shopping. Pre-holiday sales and tons of after-holiday sales. I also wait in excitment because next semester I start my master's project. Of course I don't know what that project is yet (details, details, details). Getting to this point is the really cool part. It is the point where you know you are going to make it and can handle grad school (i.e., the size of your ego increases by about 50%).

When I started college I realized how much better is was than high school. Now that I am in grad school I realize how much better it is than undergrad. For some odd reason I actually like going to grad school. I like the fact that I am insanely busy and think I have lost my mind completely by the end of the week. I like to learn new and cool stuff. There are still things I want to learn, there are still things I need to accomplish before I can be satisfied.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. I think this one is really the oddest one I have written so far. I can follow the logic of my thoughts, but I am not sure most other people will be able to. Anyway, thanks for reading.

Newest and Latest Topic at Apple - Color

Over on Apple's website there is a link to a section called Hot Topic: Color. Anyway, I think this is a great article to check out. It caught my attendtion because at a colloquium I heard someone speak about color mapping and saw a diagram similar to this one. Anyway, I recommend checking out this interesting information.

Schindler's List

Over the past few days I have been listening to the music from Schindler's List. I have seen about 2/3's of the movie over time. The movie is impressive and there are some excellent scenes. The fact that it is in black and white gives the movie something added - I would say power is the best way I can categorize it.

The music of the movie is powerful and mood setting. Some of the songs are sad and others are full of hope. The violins from the main theme of Schinder's List is highly recognizable. Some might say that the song is sad. I disagree. The violins are playing a song of survival, hope, fighting for what is right, and not giving up. If you have never heard the soundtrack to Schinder's List I highly recommend that you go out and get it right away.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Until next time.

Today's Quote (from the movie Schindler's List):
ITZHAK STERN: Let me understand. They put up all the money. I do all the work. What, if you don't mind my asking, would you do?
OSKAR SCHINDLER: I'd make sure it's known the company's in business. I'd see that it had a certain panache. That's what I'm good at. Not the work, not the work... the presentation.

History is Repeating Itself Isn't It?

Back when I was in high school (which seems like so many years ago) we discussed history repeating itself. Of course, we also talked about hind sight being 20-20 ;-) I also thought people simple forgot. Then I saw this article! (Thanks to Google News). Is this just a little hard to swallow? Not that it will change the results but darn that is close. One darn state and 118, 775 votes. Unbelievable. Is it just me or is there possibly a flaw with the way all this works? I can figure out if it is a flaw or just a lack of data points.

Yikes, as I read back over that I realize that I sound like I have been taking school to serious recently. Way to seriously. Ok, anyway. I figured I had to blog this article. It was an article that screamed "BLOG ME". Of course, it really wasn't screaming because most internet sites don't scream...

Ok, I am going to end this rather crazy blog here. Because who knows what I will write if I keep going. It is already not making a whole lots of sense. Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog! Until next time.

An Article Every Blogger Should Read...

This article is a most read for all the bloggers out there. Why? Because it is important to understand the current nature of things in the internet world.

What did is article do to me? I laughed and smirk as I write this. Microsoft has done it again. Not some of their better publicitiy (unless you are a huge fan of family values). I am sure the leaders of the "family values" movement are excited.

In one since I feel bad for Microsoft. As a leading computer software company their mistakes are national and lead line news. Many other companies have tried censorship and 100% of the time it does not work correctly. I compair censorship to auto formating features of software like Office or in IDE's for programmers. A lot of times it is really helpful it changes my 'teh' to 'the' and automatically spaces correct. However, there is the fact that Word has a really hard time letting me write this blog. It would keep trying to change my 'teh' and I would have to undo it. It is one of those things were you have to weigh your options. As artifical intelligence becomes a more up and coming area (again) then this kind of stuff will get better and smoother.

For now, hold on to your hats it is a bumpy ride out in Internet land.

Pixar Animation Studios

Pixar Animation Studios has a little preview of a short film they are doing called Boundin'. I recommend that you take a look at the preview they have up right now. The animation is excellent. The animals are very cute. Anyway, check the preview out. As usual Pixar does not let you down.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. The lack of updates has been because I have been so busy with school work. I am looking forward to the holidays. This is one of my favorite times of the year.

Save Up Your Canadian Change

Apple recently released that iTunes is available in Canada. Each song is $0.99 in Canadian money. Anyway, Canada can now join the rest of the world in iTunes bliss.