Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
When I Geek Out…
June 21st, 2010 | 
Author: Of course I rarely geek out, being super cool and all, but I have had random discussions with people about what websites we frequent most on the internet. So I figured I’ll give a little insight as to my normal rotation of websites that I go to. I’m sort of scared to show the Apple websites I go to at the risk of my friends beating me to the punch for news related to all things Apple, but oh well. Talk nerdy to me.
When I’m in an Apple mood the three websites I go to most are:
- http://www.appleinsider.com
- http://www.tuaw.com The Unofficial Apple Weblog
- http://www.9to5mac.com
When I want to check out general tech and informative but geeky stuff I go to:
When I check out videogame stuff then it’s:
- http://www.kotaku.com
- http://www.joystiq.com
- http://www.gametrailers.com (credit Reid here. He wanted me to give him his due credit since he was using the site before me)
Lastly….to somewhat show that I have an other side…my favorite sports sites:
So I really need more websites to go to though; there have often been times when I literally run out of things to go to on the internet. Thoughts?
Posted in 
Reason Enough to go to Japan
Everything is a gadget. Everything. I will spend my entire salary on this.
I’m in Juice Magazine: I’m pretty much famous
I’ve been made Juice’s E-Friend of the week. That means they pick someone who is into social networking and do a little bit on them. I’ve attached the article from the website but the same thing is in the printed version as well. There are a few inaccuracies in the article that I’m just going to let slide. Let me know if you want my autograph. Hell Yes.
P.S. Friends (Matt Morin), keep the comments PG-13 otherwise I’ll delete them. Coworkers and parents all follow my blog.
Shameless Plug: Chris Noel’s Photo at Deck the Walls
My roommate Chris is a togger. A photographer that is, but he’s so hip and with it that we him. He has been doing it for several years and actually takes some of the best pictures I’ve ever seen. He has such a great interest in the subject that he has actually gotten me into it somewhat, though I have no where near the talent or the expensive camera that Chris does.
One pretty popular photo method that is used to make really vibrant shots is an HDR shot. High Definition Resolution? I forget what it stands for but basically it works like this. You have the camera on a tripod and you take a shot of your subject with with the settings done in such a way to highlight and bring out the color of say, the sky. Then you take another picture and change the settings so that another aspect of the picture is focused on and bright. And then one more. Then in photoshop you are able to combine all three shots into one really excellent photo. The results are amazing. Obviously you cannot do HDR shots of moving things because you need to take multiple shots of the exact same picture.
Chris has recently discovered twitter (Chris_Noel), as have I (SPerk15), and Chris was able to connect with some local “toggers” in the area. He met with one that really liked some of his work and they discussed the possibility of having some of Chris’ photos up for sale. Chris now has one picture, the above picture of the Iowa Capitol building, up for sale at Deck the Walls, at the Merle Hay Mall. It’s really cool to have your passion be considered enough of a success where other people would be willing to buy it. That being said, steve-perkins.com is also on sale if Time-Warner or IBM want to buy it. Not to say that this is now Chris’ new business venture, because it is still a hobby and even professionals don’t make a lot of money to start, but it’s still really cool.
I Always Feel Like, Somebody’s Watching Me!
I love techno. It’s a weird guilty pleasure I have. I don’t listen to it that often, but working out and the weekends is when it moves to the top of my playlist. I also am a sucker for advertising, and usually quirky ads. Also flashing lights and colorful things, but that’s a given. When you combine these two things, you have an uber commercial, otherwise known as the Geico “Kash” commercials. According to Geico that is the characters name. Sweet.
From Brandweek.com: Two 30-second commercials that introduce the character–literally a bundle of money with eyes–broke nationally yesterday. In one spot, a businessman is distracted during a meeting when a squeaking noise diverts his attention to “Kash,” who appears on a window-washer platform. “That’s the money you could be saving with Geico,” explains a co-worker. In another ad, a woman spends more time flirting with “Kash” than her date. Both commercials end with a remake of the ’80s Rockwell hit “Somebody’s Watching Me.”
The song that plays at the end only plays for about 5 seconds, if that, but I instantly recognized it as the type of song I would sit in my chair in the FIJI house for hours listening to. I had to have the song. I didn’t know the song at all, not listening to music in the 80s, and after some quick googling, I was looking at the itunes search results. There are over 70! hits that come up for this song. Apparently an often remixed song. I was unable to find the exact one from the commercial but I found one close enough.
That’s it. I just wanted to let you all know I love those commercials and the song as well. I’ve included a youtube video similar to the version I downloaded. Apologies to Marc in advance for this song.
Friend Profile: Chris Noel
Name:Chris Noel
Nicknames:Dexter Morgan, Chrias
Interests:Togging (photography), running, Umphrey’s McGee, Social Networking, Doing 8 Minute Abs
When Chris lived in the FIJI house his Junior year, my Senior year, I didn’t know much about him at all. In fact I think our first interaction was me saying, “Hey man, can I borrow your DVDs of Curb Your Enthusiasm?”. That’s about all we said to each other until this year. Roommates now, we actually have more in common than I thought, though I’m still a little cooler.
Chris studies at Caribou all the time, which happens to be one of my favorite place to go on the rare occasions that I decide to go somewhere to get work done. Though Chris has a very demanding classload, he manages to crush with the best of them.
Chris is also very into ethnic food, and has a large variety of Indian food in the house. While I’ve yet to truly dive headfirst into Indian food. Chris and I have sampled many Thai places together. Often the other roommates don’t have the money, so we go on bromosexual dates a lot. It’s not too awkward. I swear.
Chris’s biggest passion has to be photography. He has a camera that is about 14 pounds, and if I’m really strapped, that is the first thing in the house I am taking to the pawn shop. He is an avid Flickr user, and his photo gallery can be found here. He has gotten some notoriety in the area as he has been in contact with Juice magazine to possibly do some work for them. He has also had some photos discovered through Twitter, and is having one of his photos sold at a studio in Merle Hay Mall. Sweet Stuff.
Hilarious Kid After the Dentist
All the boys of 2811 have been watching this relatively constantly for about a week now, and I’m assuming most people that are bored and on youtube at least once a week have seen this, but in case not, here it is.
My First TweetUp
Thursday I went to my first ever tweetup, after a friendly invite from Andy. I am very new to what I would consider “extreme” social networking, and I figured I would go, as long as I had a just as clueless person with me, so Chris agreed to come as well.
For people who do not know what Twitter is, it is almost stupid simple, but really difficult to understand, or grasp the “why?” in the concept. Twitter allows people to microblog by posting snippets about what that person is up to that moment. They are only allowed to post 150 characters at a time, so there are no dissertations or monologues to wade through. I think the best way to explain it is that it’s like the facebook status part of your facebook page, Steve is…, but that’s all it is. No massive profile pages with hundreds of photos and poke me invitations, just quick blurbs about what someone is doing.
Why?
I wonder myself sometimes, but it is growing on me. It is a very opposite model of facebook in a lot of ways. Facebook, you have friends already, so they become your facebook friends. Twitter is you search for people that have similar interests as you, and you become twitter friends with them, because their daily posts interest you. Of my 60 so twitter followers, I have met about 7. I follow some fitness freaks, Apple fanatics, and some teachers. Now granted, anyone can just post, “going to get a hamburger” and that isn’t really relevant, but the posts are usually more informational than not. Because it forces you out of your comfort zone to meet new people, in certain cities, they organize events called “tweetups”. This will probably never become a masculine word, so I’m expecting a flurry of texts/comments later about my manhood.
Chris and I went to AJ’s on Court, where the get together was being held. We knew three people there, but because of the way these events force you to branch out, we met some cool people and it wasn’t as bad as we thought it was going to be. Still pretty hilarious that we did this though. Chris and I talked to a guy named Mike for a while who explained where he was going to his wife by saying, “I’m going to hang out with my friends from the computer!”. It pretty much sums up how most people view this whole twitter thing.
I have yet to find a real purpose or gain anything from being on it, but business oriented people sure do. Andy connects with all sorts of potential clients, and because of Twitter, Chris met a guy who is meeting with him to discuss selling some of Chris’ photos at a store in the mall! He already has one that is going to be up for sale soon. Most of my posts have been, “wishing it was lunch”, “Teaching about the Industrial Revolution” or other posts that really aren’t useful. But just as addicting facebook can be, this is starting to do the same thing to me. Must…go…outside…more
New Web Site: Work in Progress
- Myself, Mike, Matt, and Jay at Reid’s wedding
Hello all! I’m excited to be writing my first post on my new, fresh, and exciting blog. I have begun the process of transferring all of my information over from my blogspot blog to my own self hosted one. It is a process that has been made possible by Andy Drish. Without his help in tutoring me in the process from buying a domain to uploading css, this would not be possible.