Monthly Archive for August, 2008
So, CNN has this article on how Obama is calling people whom he didn’t select to be VP. OK, fine, whatever, not a bad article. Until you get about three-fourths of the way down, and they start talking about how Hillary might still be a dark-horse candidate for the VP slot. Nothing wrong with that, until this:
Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader said Clinton is the smart choice because she is the only person who would help Obama get more votes.
Continue reading ‘Obama notifies candidates on shortlist - CNN.com’
Low-tech TV recording secrets of ‘The Daily Show’ | Crave, the gadget blog - CNET.
This somewhat HILARIOUS article from CNET describes how “The Daily Show” gets their footage for each show from various news outlets and entertainment programs: 15 rack-mounted Tivos, many of whom are the old school ones that go wayyyyyyyy back before the fancy stuff you can get now. One classic quote from the article:
…because there’s a limited number of remote codes, when a staffer operates one, he has to hold the remote directly against that box’s IR receiver so that the beam doesn’t hit any of the other boxes (i.e., so he’s not inadvertently controlling multiple boxes at once).
Seriously guys? Wow.
Then to actually use the footage, they dub it onto Beta and carry it by hand to the editing room. That’s old school Sneakernet action. Nice.
Answer: Moderately.
Veronica Belmont posted this photo on her Flickr account of her and Felicia Day, commenting on how people think they look alike. One commenter posted “My Geek Dreamgirls!”
And I couldn’t resisit: Continue reading ‘How much do I suck at Photoshop?’
CNET’s Crave Blog has an article about Wireless USB, a technology that’ll eventually allow you to plug things like hard drives, digital cameras, and other USB devices into a hub and use them wirelessly. It’s a neat technology, sure: I’d love to be able to access my hard drives while my laptop is anywhere in the house, but I can do that over the wireless network now…
…what I CAN’T do now is something demonstrated in the article: wireless external monitor. The article shows a large external screen being used with a MacBook Air as a secondary monitor. SUH-WEET!
One of the things I’ve disliked about my MacBook Pro was that, despite how portible it generally is, every time I sit down at my desk, I find myself plugging in a million things. USB for the iPhone and keyboard, FireWire for my backup drives, Ethernet for a faster connection than WiFi (when you’re uploading high res photos, it really does make a difference), and a big clunky pain-in-the-ass DVI port for my external monitor. Make a couple of those wireless for me and you’ve got a happy Jagalicious. 
…but that doesn’t mean you have to post it every time you see it.
I stumbled upon a site called WikiMapia, which appears to be a sort of Wikipedia for mapping (and by stumbled upon, I literally mean StumbleUpon…it’s a service you can sign up for and hit a button to find random sites online).
So they use satellite imagery and let you map places online. It’s helpful for things like Tysons Corner, which only sort of exist in terms of mapping: there’s no town called Tysons Corner, it’s just sort of an area…so just for fun, I clicked Arlington, and apparently you can comment on areas too. One comment for Arlington:
ARLINGTON FUCKING RULES!
ITS THE SMARTEST COUNTY IN THE U.S.
GOOGLE IT, BITCH
–by “notgivingafuck”, 7 days ago
Just, wow.
