jaycdunn 2010

The future really is here now

This story on CNN caught my attention today. It shows a guy wearing a funny looking cap that enables him to post on Twitter...directly from his brain. "Look Ma, no hands!". The Brain Computer Interface, or "BCI" is not your typical computer input device. The user wears a stylish red and blue cap, complete with a fashionable wiring harness hanging off the back. It looks like Michael Phelps meets Do-Rags... in the Matrix. This cap contains a series of electrodes which pick up electronic signals from the brain and transmit them to the computer. Now that's some impressive coding.

As this technology progresses, the implications are pretty staggering. The military has long coveted such a capability. It will take the concept of "Unmanned Drone" to a whole new level. Other potential uses for the BCI could range from surgical procedures to space exploration, manufacturing, live broadcasting, and even traffic control. Or reverse the signal and get a "Brain Massage".

One day in the not-so-distant future, some form of BCI will be included with your personal computer. Mac users BCI's will be better, of course. Just make sure you're not thinking about that lunchtime rendezvous with your secretary while the wife is looking. And if you have Turrets syndrome, you'll need to purchase the "Brain Spam Filter" from the BCI App Store.

Tanis

Tanis.mp3

• Composed by tuba player John Noreyko
• Performed by Tubop
• Recorded by Me
• Live no overdubs

You'll have to turn the volume up a bit on your computer speakers or receiver for this song. Acoustic music does not benefit from the typical mastering technique of making everything as loud as possible. You may not be used to music with this much dynamic range. It's a quiet, meditative piece, so I left a few seconds of silence at the beginning to set the mood.

Project Retweet: looks like a 60's game show?

Twitter is planning to implement a retweet feature into it's API. In layman's terms, this means that an option called Retweets will be added to your Twitter page. You can now forward an update from one of your followers to the rest of your flock without having to copy/paste and type "RT @username:", etc...

Many Twitter users are up in arms about this change to something that they created. One of the main complaints is the fact that you won't be able to comment on or modify updates as you retweet them. The below image (from Mashable, hope they don't mind :) shows what the currently planned implementation will look like.

As you can see (click on image for detailed view), the not-so-little column of icons shows the avatar of each person who has retweeted that particular update. It kinda reminds me of Hollywood Squares. One thing I would like to see is the option to display a list of usernames instead of the avatars. It would look a lot less cluttered, though I must admit, the icons probably take up less space than long usernames would.

Let's say that Twitter does add the ability to comment when you retweet someone else's update. They should make it so these comments are hidden, but when you click on the icon of... let's say, Whoopi Goldberg or Paul Lynde "center square", that person's comments on the original update are displayed. This is pretty obvious and they may already be planning it for all we know.

Sorry I couldn't come up with a Hollywood Squares "zinger' to end this. Haven't watched that show since I was a kid.

Note to Dems: Your Guy is in Office

Last I checked President Barack Obama was a Democrat, yet some conservative Dems on Capitol Hill are not backing his health care proposal. Have you forgotten the last 8 years? How about some YouTube to remind you.

Your guy is in office now. Back him up! Look, you may not agree with everything in the bill, but politics is a game of compromise. We have to do something about a health care system that is bankrupting us. Better to get onboard and be a part of the solution than to follow the shrewd calculations of your political advisors. You do want the POTUS to campaign for your reelection, don't you?

TypePad is the one

I really like blogging on Posterous, Tumblr, and WordPress.com, but I think TypePad is my favorite. It takes more time to customize because the options are so extensive. I just added Feedburner, Google Analytics, and of course, the obligatory Twitter widget. I like the Web 2.0 look as well. I'm not looking to have ads all over my blog, but any income would be welcome at this point, so I'll be checking out the Monetize options soon.

[update] Just got Feed Flare working on the RSS feed, but not on the site. I wonder if you have to disable the default TypePad comments for Feed Flare options to show up at the bottom of posts? I'll work on this later.

What's up with WordPress.com stats?

Yesterday I posted a shortened link to an entry on my WordPress.com blog. It got 24 clicks. But WordPress.com stats say my blog only got 2 clicks. How is that even possible, unless those stats are wrong?

So I'm posting this "test blog post" on TypePad. I know a few people will click on it. Thanks! I'd like to see if these stats are correct. If WordPress.com stats are that far off, I'm not using it. I'm pretty sure TypePad is better overall anyway. Thanks again for clicking on my link. Have a great day!