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Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The World of 2D and 3D
Ever tried to generate art on a computer? Software tools are available that can put your art work into two or three dimensions. For example, Processing allows you to "program" (yes program!) art in a very easy way using a derivative form of Java. And very easy to learn for those inclined with a little bit of programming background.
Slightly more complicated, at least for my brain, is the 3D software world, full of sculptures and rotating models. Free software is available, such as Google SketchUp or Topmod. Alternatively, and in a professional pursuit of doing things, there is some commercial 3D software out there, such as Maya (30 day free trial), 3D Studio (30 day free trial), or Rhino (evaluation version good for 25 times). Check it out!
Slightly more complicated, at least for my brain, is the 3D software world, full of sculptures and rotating models. Free software is available, such as Google SketchUp or Topmod. Alternatively, and in a professional pursuit of doing things, there is some commercial 3D software out there, such as Maya (30 day free trial), 3D Studio (30 day free trial), or Rhino (evaluation version good for 25 times). Check it out!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Flash Mobs
While sitting on the subway in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, we noticed a lot of young people schlepping a pillow around... Our initial thought was: well, there must be a sporting event somewhere with some intolerable benches. Then it occurred to us that early February is not the right season for any event that requires wodden benches.
I finally asked one of the girls and she replied: "Haven't you heard about the pillow fight at the Embacadero?" "No, I'm sorry but I'm not from here," I replied apologetically. While the girl kept on iterating how much better it is to fight with pillows instead of real weapons, and how liberating it is to relieve all inside aggression in a pillow fight, I was thinking "San Francisco students are truly creative... and how could I potentially have missed that announcement over the last couple of days walking the city?"
Little did I know that the event was not announced in the mass media, but was a flash mob! Yes, a flash mob as I found out today in the news. And like the one at UH a couple of weeks ago, I missed this one as well. Oh boy!
Now the sad part of the story is that the city of San Francisco is stuck with a cleaning bill of $20,000 for the pillow fight... which reminded me of the story how the "Love Parade" died in Berlin. Every year there was a struggle between the parade organizers and the city about the cost of cleaning. If run as a demonstration, the city would have to pay; if run as a commercial parade, it would be on the organizer's tap. As you can imagine, over the years it got harder and harder to sell an increasingly commercialized "Love Parade" with over a million visitors a year as a political demonstration. So they moved...
I finally asked one of the girls and she replied: "Haven't you heard about the pillow fight at the Embacadero?" "No, I'm sorry but I'm not from here," I replied apologetically. While the girl kept on iterating how much better it is to fight with pillows instead of real weapons, and how liberating it is to relieve all inside aggression in a pillow fight, I was thinking "San Francisco students are truly creative... and how could I potentially have missed that announcement over the last couple of days walking the city?"
Little did I know that the event was not announced in the mass media, but was a flash mob! Yes, a flash mob as I found out today in the news. And like the one at UH a couple of weeks ago, I missed this one as well. Oh boy!
Now the sad part of the story is that the city of San Francisco is stuck with a cleaning bill of $20,000 for the pillow fight... which reminded me of the story how the "Love Parade" died in Berlin. Every year there was a struggle between the parade organizers and the city about the cost of cleaning. If run as a demonstration, the city would have to pay; if run as a commercial parade, it would be on the organizer's tap. As you can imagine, over the years it got harder and harder to sell an increasingly commercialized "Love Parade" with over a million visitors a year as a political demonstration. So they moved...
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Words in Wordle...
Ready to make art out of words? Ready to create a poster out of your written material? Then check this out: Wordle. Here is what the application created based on some sentences about Green IT...
Sunday, February 15, 2009
6341 Blog Information
Maggie: techieornot about MagicJack, a VOIP device
Joe: mistersenior about Facebook
Leslie: lesliebriggs about a mp3 player that charges itself through shaking
Ayokunmi: itsavyme about surface computing
Trisha: trishaeshlemanyoung about ObjectDock for PCs that makes your desktop more Mac like
Melanie: mnfisk about GoogleEarth
George: smartestgrid about SmartGrid
Julio: juliocguzman about streaming Netflix movies
Samira: senseitech about eBeam, a whiteboard capturing tool
Sara: Sara.Hilkemann about ShopItToMe, an online shopping assistant
Swetha: skrovvidi about Google Mail Offline
Youngmi: youngmicoollife about a cell phones that charges itself through solar technology
Anthony: dummy328 about Wall-E robot
Lucrece: lucrece-newtech about virtual keyboards
Xiao: xiaostrip about Pandorra
Alex: alexmetry about Love2Trade
Justin: relicstrat about SpaceTime, a new 3D browser experience
Vijay: vijgan about StumbleUpon
Vivian: thoughtsbyvivian about Facebook and Pandorra
Kyle: kylerobi about Mint.com, a money management service
Adam: rolling-through-life about SmartGrid, an application that checks the energy consumption of your appliances
Anusha: anusha-sethuraman about iPill, a computerized pill that can travel through your body
Nishtha: elocator about Google’s latitude and locating people
Ayodeji: djsoyo about AutoNet that provides Internet access inside a moving car
Stephen: stephenprather about a smart contact lens that prevents glaucoma
Elise: elisemthomas about NEAR, a 3D shopping experience
Jesse: jessevaleriano about functional MRI that can read your mind
Sidharth: mis6341 about organic LED televisions
Michael: michaelwms about StockTwits, an information service for investments using Twitter
Joe: mistersenior about Facebook
Leslie: lesliebriggs about a mp3 player that charges itself through shaking
Ayokunmi: itsavyme about surface computing
Trisha: trishaeshlemanyoung about ObjectDock for PCs that makes your desktop more Mac like
Melanie: mnfisk about GoogleEarth
George: smartestgrid about SmartGrid
Julio: juliocguzman about streaming Netflix movies
Samira: senseitech about eBeam, a whiteboard capturing tool
Sara: Sara.Hilkemann about ShopItToMe, an online shopping assistant
Swetha: skrovvidi about Google Mail Offline
Youngmi: youngmicoollife about a cell phones that charges itself through solar technology
Anthony: dummy328 about Wall-E robot
Lucrece: lucrece-newtech about virtual keyboards
Xiao: xiaostrip about Pandorra
Alex: alexmetry about Love2Trade
Justin: relicstrat about SpaceTime, a new 3D browser experience
Vijay: vijgan about StumbleUpon
Vivian: thoughtsbyvivian about Facebook and Pandorra
Kyle: kylerobi about Mint.com, a money management service
Adam: rolling-through-life about SmartGrid, an application that checks the energy consumption of your appliances
Anusha: anusha-sethuraman about iPill, a computerized pill that can travel through your body
Nishtha: elocator about Google’s latitude and locating people
Ayodeji: djsoyo about AutoNet that provides Internet access inside a moving car
Stephen: stephenprather about a smart contact lens that prevents glaucoma
Elise: elisemthomas about NEAR, a 3D shopping experience
Jesse: jessevaleriano about functional MRI that can read your mind
Sidharth: mis6341 about organic LED televisions
Michael: michaelwms about StockTwits, an information service for investments using Twitter
Roku Rocks
Spending a weekend in San Francisco is not only relaxing, but first and foremost inspiring. People are more colorful, streets are more lively, and technology is simply cutting edge (Sorry Houston, you lose out on this one big time!). The latest find, thanks to Ibu's and Tim's lovely Kasbah, was a Roku device.
What does it do? It allows you to stream Netflix movies directly onto your TV, anytime, no mail or CD involved. The little Roku box is $99.99, and all you need is two things: (a) a decent Internet connection, and (b) a Netflix subscription for unlimited DVDs... the cheapest plan for $8.99 a month will suffice.
You can find the Roku manufacturer information here, and the Netflix information here.
Instead of watching movies on your TV, you can, of course, also use your computer instead. In this case, no Roku box is required, but an unlimited Netflix DVD subscription is still a must! Either which way, enjoy the next generation of TV home entertainment.
As an add-on and a word of caution: Just talked to Lakshmi, our recent grad student, about her experiences with downloading Netflix movies directly. While the downloads go very fast, the spectrum of movies available is not as rich as it seems--they typically do not comprise recent blockbusters... I guess Netflix will take care of this over time...
What does it do? It allows you to stream Netflix movies directly onto your TV, anytime, no mail or CD involved. The little Roku box is $99.99, and all you need is two things: (a) a decent Internet connection, and (b) a Netflix subscription for unlimited DVDs... the cheapest plan for $8.99 a month will suffice.
You can find the Roku manufacturer information here, and the Netflix information here.
Instead of watching movies on your TV, you can, of course, also use your computer instead. In this case, no Roku box is required, but an unlimited Netflix DVD subscription is still a must! Either which way, enjoy the next generation of TV home entertainment.
As an add-on and a word of caution: Just talked to Lakshmi, our recent grad student, about her experiences with downloading Netflix movies directly. While the downloads go very fast, the spectrum of movies available is not as rich as it seems--they typically do not comprise recent blockbusters... I guess Netflix will take care of this over time...
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
To walk or not to walk...
After a couple of years in the information systems field, I am convinced that one of the fundamental drivers of innovation is the strive to overcome time and space. In other words, I think that the development of information systems was always, and still is, driven by the urge to defeat temporal and spatial constraints. While the early systems mainly were about saving time by making things faster and hosting data in one place, today's technologies are about doing it at any time and anywhere.
So why I am philosophizing about this? Well, here is another useful application for students that want to overcome spatial constraints: The online library. Cynics would call it an innovation for lazy students (and faculty alike), I call it a service that makes you more efficient and effective. Think smart and safe time!
So why I am philosophizing about this? Well, here is another useful application for students that want to overcome spatial constraints: The online library. Cynics would call it an innovation for lazy students (and faculty alike), I call it a service that makes you more efficient and effective. Think smart and safe time!
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