Multicolr drops Flickr goodness
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
Loading ...In my search to find all things cool with the Flickr API, I ran across the MultiColr Search Lab created by Idee. MultiColr employs a super easy interface for searching Flickr photos by their color palette. I found it to be very useful for finding different color schemes and combinations.
Idee seems to be on the forefront of color technology these days. They’ve also released a tagging app that return combinations of photos and another app that allows the user to upload or point Idee to a photo and they’ll tell you what it resembles. Very cool, folks. Check it out.
Strandbeest
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...
Truly amazing. Wind powered artificial intelligence. Designed by Dutch artist Theo Jansen, these “beests” live on the beach sand between the surf and the dunes. Once they detect either water or dry sand, they reverse direction. This “flight instinct” prevents them from drowning in the ocean or getting stuck in the sand dunes.
Nothing new, just thought I’d share.
Strandbeest.com
also…
EcoGeek
Playing with Flickr
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...I updated my Flickr account a couple days ago and since then I found a some decent apps that use Flickr’s API.
Tag Galaxy - A Flash-based web app. Allows you to search for a tag on Flickr, the app then overlays the photo results on a sphere. Click and drag the mouse left or right to spin the sphere. Click a photo to zoom.
Wrapr - Flickr panoramic images can be wrapped into an interactive panorama. Also available is the option to embed the interactive pano. Looks like panoramas can only be accessed through existing Flickr groups. Some are better than others.
Second Life Meet Up
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5) Loading ...Tonight, I had the opportunity to experience my first virtual meet up via the Synapse3Di conference center in Second Life. From my comfy office chair at home.
Kirk Schreck (aka Kimo Sirbu), CEO of Synapse3Di was on location at the Virtual Worlds Conference and Expo in Los Angeles and presented us with an interesting and captivating briefing of the expo. Gina Schreck, Digital Immigration Officer for Synapse3Di, was at her home in Littleton, CO and helped us with excellent pointers for navigating the virtual terrain and afterwards gave us a grand tour of the Synapse3Di virtual facilities they created for ‘inworld’ training, meetings and workshops.
The most fascinating thing was that Kirk (Kimo) was actually in LA at the conference center where the expo took place, getting weird looks from the security folks, no doubt, while we were all in our respective homes kicking back enjoying the presentation. Kirk mentioned that he was the last person in the facility and I’m sure the cleaning crew cared less about the latest and greatest virtual technology and more about when they could vacuum the carpet under his chair. Everyone’s got their priorities.
Second Life and other virtual worlds have been taking off as a way for corporations to have meetings with employees who can’t always be in the same location. ‘Inworld’ meetings are making more sense to corporations as they see current technology as an alternative to putting empoyees on jets to attend a meetings they could just as easily get to virtually. Having 2000 employees in the air heading to real world locations used to be a badge of honor for big corporations, but now it’s becoming a hindrance and a resource hog. There’s always a better way.
Some highlights Kirk brought to our attention during the conference via Twitter:
- John Lasiter, producer of Titanic, spoke about his upcoming project with James Cameron, “Avatar“. Here’s a brief synopsis and an FAQ describing the tech used in the movie.
- A Dell spokesperson focused on “social shopping” as a new virtual world initiative. Shop virtually with a friend in another country. A virtual Wists, if you will.
- Quote: “The future is here now, it’s just not equally distributed.”
- Microsoft is using Second Life to connect with technical audiences and to lower the cost of events.
- Dr. Colin Paris from IBM addressing virtual worlds conference. Using Twitter to send questions to the stage for him to answer.
- IBM has 6000 internal virtual world focused employees working daily to come up with the best uses for the platform.
- My favorite: At virtual worlds conference, still amazing that presenters use PowerPoint slides with 10 bullets per slide with 8 font- can’t read anything.
All in all, it was nice layed back meet-up with a handful of attendees.
Future based training with Synapse3Di
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...Do you need to bring in professional speakers or trainers for your next learning event or conference? Synapse3Di offers expert speakers in a variety of different industry categories; Corporate, Small Business, Health Care, Women’s Groups, Hospitality, Government and more.
Break down the barriers that challenge organizational communication. Start by bridging the location and generational gaps within your company by letting Synapse3Di manage your next training event.
Blue Mesa Reservoir
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5) Loading ...
Blue Mesa Reservoir is Colorado’s largest body of water, and it just so happens to be the largest Kokanee Salmon fishery in the United States. It’s also one of my favorite places to visit in the summer.
I like it because it’s fairly centrally located, so it’s easy to get to and they have some great camping spots in various areas around the lake. They also offer boat rentals, which IMHO is the leisurely way to pass the time in this beautiful area. It’s also adjacent to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, which I hope to explore a bit more in a couple weeks.
I’ve had the opportunity to visit Curecanti National Recreation Area several times over the past few years and have camped at a couple different spots.
Lake Fork Campground was a great place for tent camping before it was remodeled. Apparently, Lake Fork is now an RV only campground as I could not find any tent sites for this campground at ReserveAmerica. It’s great if you like camping with all the comforts of home! This campground is right on the shores of Blue Mesa Reservoir and near the Blue Mesa Dam.
Gateview is another nice campground, and now my favorite so far, located in a deep, narrow canyon at the extreme south end of the Lake Fork Arm of Blue Mesa Reservoir. Getting there entailed taking CO Highway 149 7 miles west of Powderhorn, then 6 miles north on the gravel Blue Mesa Cutoff Road. I had the opportunity to get a close up view of two bighorn sheep scrambling on the scree above our campsite. It was an amazing experience! Brown trout are abundant in the river that flows through this canyon and we had a great time exploring the area and peering into an abandoned mine along the riverbank.
In a couple weekends, we’ll be testing out the Elk Creek Campground which lies amidst treeless sagebrush and provides views of the magnificent mesas that surround the area. Elk Creek is also where the marina is located and where we’ll be renting a boat for the day. I’m looking forward to having showers, which is a treat for any campground. We;ve already got our reservation for a spot near the water. Can’t wait!
Read more: Curecanti National Recreation Area
TGIF
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...Another Friday is now upon us. Once again. I can honestly say this has been one of the busiest weeks I’ve had in awhile. Freelancing AND working my 40+ hour per week day job is stretching me pretty thin.
I’ve got a few big projects on deck at the moment. Highest priority is getting my portfolio whipped into shape so it’s presentable to the public. Getting close.
Also on deck is a forthcoming web site for The Longevity Doctor promoting healthy living and wellness. Development is moving right along and Dr. Mayer Horensten is a great client. He’s provided plenty of content and and imagery and is very good about getting back to me with feedback. This allows me to maintain momentum and keep the ball rolling. Current release date for this website will be July 5, 2008. Look for it.
Current weather: Mostly Cloudy 81°F. Tonight we can expect a Low of 54° with Isolated Thunderstorms and a 30% chance of rain.
HTPC - Home Theater PC
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...For quite awhile now, I’ve wanted to set up a media center PC in my Living Room to make internet access, digital photos, music and videos more convenient. Plus, it would just be really cool to be able to jump online and check email in between movies or TV shows. Here’s a diagram of the proposed addition (1 and 3) and my plan for configuring it into my current network.
My main goal was being able to listen to music - stored on my network’s external hardrive - and surf the internet using my home theater audio system. Other tasks like viewing digital photos and videos are nice-to-haves. That said, I’m not necessarily planning on using this HTPC to view TV or to record digital video. I have another PC with a TV-Wonder card (I think that’s its name) and I might re-purpose the card at a later time. I don’t see much of a reason to do so right now, given that fact that I’m happy with the current setup and am only looking to add the PC to the exiting hardware.. Maybe in the future, I’ll set it up to record video to the PC’s hard drive.
Curecanti National Park
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...Our weekend started at 9am on Saturday when we met up with Quentin, Chayo and his two boys, Diego and little Chayo. Our plan was to do a little recon of Curecanti National Park. We’re planning another trip there in August so we figured we’d get acquainted with the area so we knew what to expect. After a 4.5 hr drive through the heart of Colorado we made it to the Blue Mesa Reservoir. With its majestic sandstone cliffs and scenic mesas surrounding a canyon full of sparkling green water, we knew this was going to be a nice place to spend the weekend.
We set up our campsite, organized our food and gear then headed down to the Lake Fork Marina to rent a pontoon boat for a couple hours of fishing and relaxation on the lake. We cruised around the west end of the reservoir and explored a few inlets that yielded some calmer water than the main basin of the lake. We found some nice rocks to jump off of into the water and spend a few minutes cooling off. Quite literally.
By the time we returned the pontoon and got back to our campsite, it was time to fire up the grill for some burgers, hot dogs and bratwurst. We had worked up and appetite and were ready to relax by the campfire. We stayed up till almost midnight then hit the sack to prepare for the next day.
Surfing Clear Creek
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...This weekend was a blast! We left Golden around 9:00am on June 3 after rounding up some supplies and headed west on I-70 to Idaho Springs. Once past Evergreen, it takes almost no time at all to get down the hill and through the first tunnel into the heart of Clear Creek County. We were meeting some friends at the Clear Creek Rafting Company Headquarters for the order of the day, an 8-10 mile river run down Clear Creek. After a short introduction from our lead river guide, Jeff, we all grabbed websuits, splash jackets, helmets and PFD’s, loaded up on a big yellow school bus for a short drive upstream to our put-in.
Jeff ran through the obligatory safety instructions for the beginners’ benefit and we split up into four groups of 6. Maverick, our river guide, gave us a few pointers on paddling properly and we started downstream. The high-runoff season has just started to peak since it’s been so hot so the conditions were just about perfect for great river rafting.
The first few minutes gave us a chance to get used to the scenery and the frequent Class III’s before hitting our first Class IV, Nomad. Anticipation was high for Phoenix, our second set of Class IV’s, but we powered through that section without losing any paddlers. The same couldn’t be said for our fourth boat. They lost a couple paddlers in the rapids and they were quickly scooped up by Josh and Joe in one of the other boats. According to the river guides, the rescue went by the book, which is good to know after the fact.
We also saw a guy that had lost his kayak and was running along the bank trying to keep up with it. He was pretty distraught. Another guide in our group grabbed his boat and ferried it back across the river to him.
Our last set of big rapids was the Outer Limits, a stretch of 50-60 yards of pure Class IV’s, which turned out to be the most fun. I was in front and my biggest concern was just merely staying in the boat which I accomplished with a little effort.
I think I can safely say after my first rafting expedition that I’ll be back on the water very soon. Hopefully, in the next few weeks. I’ll post pictures once the film gets developed. (Yeah, I know, stone-age.)
Peace,
Dwight
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