Stuff to Think About

Google Pushes Chrome Browser With TV Commercials

2009-05-08T15:09:00.002-05:00

Wow, Google is really pushing its browser, Google Chrome. The Google blog just announced that they'll be using TV commercials to further the cause. Here's a clip.

Google has already set up a YouTube channel for Google Chrome, with a collection of videos to explain what makes Google Chrome different from Internet Explorer and Firefox.

I'm excited to see Google pushing Chrome so hard. In my opinion, Chrome is a better browser than Firefox (and obviously Internet Explorer as well). I use it exclusively on every PC I use. It's blazingly fast. If you haven't tried it out yet, give it a whirl:

http://www.google.com/chrome

Twitter

2009-03-28T10:12:00.001-05:00

Don't know what Twitter is? This video might clear up some of the confusion.

Get it now?

Dog Training

2009-01-26T23:31:00.002-05:00

I guess the dog really didn't want to be trained.

Found on The Daily "Worse Than Failure".

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T12:36:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year everybody! Beside these new year's wishes, I leave you with this video. I hope we begin to see all of the changes proposed in this clip.

New Blog Layout

2008-12-30T00:27:00.002-05:00

I have a new blog layout. What do you think?

If you notice anything weird, or not working right, just leave me a message via the contact form at the bottom of the page. Or just leave a comment on this post.

Thanks, and I hope you like it!

Do Dogs Have Emotions?

2008-12-18T22:29:00.007-05:00

Here's my dog, Monster. Isn't he great?

He loves to put his belly on the cool hardwood floors when it's hot outside. Check out his hind legs:

He's cute and he knows it. My wife and I got him in September of 2006, and the little guy definitely lives up to his name. Earlier today, he almost chewed through the cap on the bottle of some Gorilla Glue:

There's no doubt about it: I love my dog. My question for you is, do you think he's capable of loving me back? Do dogs have emotions?

Back in college, I took a philosophy class where I learned that most of the well-known philosophers (Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Nietzsche, etc) believed that animals were incapable of emotion, or "feelings". Of all the heated topics in that class, nothing even came close to the mayhem that ensued during the debates on this subject.

So, all the "smart guys" think the answer is no. What do you think? Do you have a story that serves as proof? Leave a comment and let me know!

I think you know my opinion. :-)

Wrapped In Bacon

2008-11-30T12:30:00.003-05:00

On Saturday, I attended PADA.org's annual Thanksgiving ultimate frisbee hat tournament in Philadelphia.

I had the pleasure of being elected captain of the team that would become known as Wrapped In Bacon.

Top, from left: Raphael Vangelista, Jim, Brian, Brian Nelb, Casey, Daniel Barroll

Middle, from left: CJ Millisock, Meredith Vangelista, B Lo, Joy Lo, Jake, Clayton, Rich Kelly

Bottom: Regan Dohm

We went 3-0, winning the championship game 15-8. I haven't had as much fun playing ultimate in a very long time. Special thanks to everyone on Wrapped In Bacon. You all are amazing athletes, and it was a pleasure to be part of the team!

Prepare Yourself

2008-11-05T19:23:00.003-05:00

Ever since Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election, the country feels different. I'm not the only one who feels so. Several of my friends on Facebook are showing excitement through their status messages. My family is exuberant. According to multiple sources, the rest of the world is excited about the outcome of the election.

You might ask yourself, "Why?"

I think the answer is best summed up by this photo:

What you see in the picture above, is a man who is down to earth, and sincere. You can just tell from his body language that he will honestly do his best to work for, not against, the American people. When George W Bush speaks on television, he emits the exact opposite. He appears completely insincere, scrunching his forehead and eyebrows to feign concern almost the entire time.

The country right now is in terrible shape, and many question whether Obama can live up to the promises he's made and fix the nation's problems. The economic crisis combined with the two wars we're facing are seemingly insurmountable. However, I wholely feel that Obama will not only meet his goals and satisfy the American public, I predict that he will completely surpass everyone's wildest expectations.

Prepare to be dazzled.

They All Became Kids Again

2008-10-29T21:07:00.003-05:00

What I loved about the Phillies' victory tonight, was seeing every member of the team simultaneously transformed into a 12 year-old kid on the sandlot. Both arms shoot into the air, eyes wide open, they run towards the pitcher. And then an instant 5-foot dogpile.

Voting Machines That Don't Work

2008-10-28T21:11:00.003-05:00

How in the world is this possible?

The man demonstrates that a voting machine does not work correctly. He says that the machine has not been calibrated, and that it will work properly once he calibrates it.

He then calibrates it, and it STILL doesn't work correctly.

Why is this crappy software used for such an important function? And is there anything anybody can do it about?

Wassup Obama?

2008-10-26T12:04:00.002-05:00

The original Budweiser commercial is here:

I Know Michael Phelps' Secret

2008-08-13T13:32:00.000-05:00

He's not an alien. He's not from the future. His secret is simply this: He figured out how to extract the frog suit from Super Mario Bros 3!

Ha! :-)

Mario + Beatbox + Flute = Teh Win

2008-08-12T19:10:00.001-05:00

I want to give you all my money.

I love stuff like this. :-)

Cuil is a Terrible Search Engine

2008-07-29T21:10:00.001-05:00

That is all.

The Constitution Dies Today?

2008-07-09T09:07:00.001-05:00

This Digg story has over 1000 diggs (within the first 24 hours) and it still has not hit the front page of Digg. What gives?

(It references this article at The Seminal)

Even Michael Arrington at Techcrunch posted about this story. Go to the link and Digg it, and Digg this one while you're at it.

They say "All good things must come to an end." For examples of good things that end, I tend to think of things like a relaxing holiday weekend, or an amazing tennis championship match.

Not THE FREAKING UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION. Not AMERICA ITSELF.

Some have already given up hope. From the Digg comments:

"RIP America, the failed experiment only took 200 years, to fold into Fascism. To bad you were only fearful of Communism, and did not keep an eye out for Fascism."

"Everyone allowed their rights to be taken away due to being afraid years ago, this is no surprise and there is no turning back."

Something's gotta change, people. Is it too late?

Christian the Lion

2008-06-30T18:57:00.001-05:00

Christian the Lion was raised by two men in a house in London but when he got to big they released him into the wild.This is what happened when they went to visit Christian in the wild.

Brevity

2008-06-11T14:25:00.003-05:00

A co-worker of mine has a desktop calendar with a daily comic called Brevity. Each day, three of us gather around and rip the previous day's comic off, and read the new one.

This is my favorite one, so I couldn't help but share it here. :-)

The End of the Internet

2008-06-02T20:16:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, I came across a story on Digg.com. When I read it, the story had a few hundred diggs (a digg is a positive vote, which signifies how popular a story is).

The story now has over 10,000 diggs.

Why such urgency?

Because the Internet itself is on the verge of changing dramatically. In a bad way.

2012: The Year The Internet Ends

From the article:

Every significant Internet provider around the globe is currently in talks with access and content providers to transform the internet into a television-like medium: no more freedom, you pay for a small commercial package of sites you can visit and you'll have to pay for seperate subscriptions for every site that's not in the package.

Can you imagine? It goes on to explain a very grim outlook that will naturally and inevitably emerge:

Almost all smaller websites/services will disappear over time and multinationals who are used to using big budgets to brute force their content into every media outlet will finally be able to approach the internet in the same way.

And now today, Time Warner announces a load of garbage, covered on GigaOm and TechCrunch.

[Time Warner Cable] has set up a pricing plan that ranges from $29.95 a month for something I’d call “barely broadband” at 768 kilobits per second with a 5-gigabyte monthly cap to $54.90 per month for 15 megabits per second and a 40-gigabyte cap. Overage fees will be $1 per gigabyte, and customers will be able to monitor their bandwidth consumption via the company’s web site.

This is just terrible. I agree with Michael Arrington--I usually dislike government intervention, but monopolies are the exception. This CANNOT go down.

Another reason I'm voting for Obama.

Google Android Phones

2008-06-01T20:50:00.002-05:00

It looks like these phones will become available during the 2nd half of 2008.

I want one!

Firefox 3 Download Day 2008

2008-05-31T11:45:00.002-05:00

Firefox is planning on breaking the world record for the most downloads in a single 24-hour period. I plan on being part of it. Click this for more info:

Best xkcd Comic So Far

2008-05-01T21:21:00.003-05:00

From xkcd, a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

The Man Who Fell Sideways

I like. :-)

Will Smith?

2008-01-06T10:45:00.000-05:00

Who is Will Smith? THIS GUY is really Legend.

Check This Out

2007-12-27T21:25:00.000-05:00

This is just brilliant.

If you don't understand what's happening at first, it will become much clearer halfway through.

Disruptive Innovation

2007-10-23T22:04:00.000-05:00

Do you live in the United States?

Do you own a cell phone?

Are you currently under, or have you ever been under, a cell phone contract?

If you answered yes to all three of those questions, do yourself a favor and read this article by Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal. Or if you don't want to, or don't have the time to read the article, just watch Walt's video of it; the video is basically the same content.

The gist of what Walt is trying to say is this: the current state of cell phone service is broken. The cell phone carrier companies (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc.) have too much control. Here are three examples of the carriers' having too much control.

1. When you become a customer to one of these carriers, you have to sign a long-term commitment, usually a 2-year commitment, which has pricey consequences if you choose to break it.

2. When you become a customer to one of these carriers, you have a small selection of phones to choose from, and each phone is provided by the carrier itself.

3. When you get that phone, you can barely customize the phone to your liking beyond choosing a color scheme and ringtone.

Mossberg gives a careful analogy between cell phones and computers, explaining that we don't put up with the tight-grip of control when it comes to computer, television, or land-based telephone service (Would you ever consider buying a computer that let you customize the desktop wallpaper and the startup sound, but did NOT let you install any applications?).

So, America, why do we put up with this bullying? Most of you would probably answer, "I don't have a choice. I have to give in to the companies." And you'd be right. These companies have too much control. Mossberg writes that there are 2 ways to break the control. The first one is mostly beyond our control: government. If the government mandates a change, we will eventually be freed from the carriers' grips, but that would take several years.

Walt's second suggestion, however, is what I am interested in: Disruptive innovation. What is disruptive innovation? Let me paint you a picture.

Drivers: What happens when an accident causes a stretch of highway to shut down or slow to a halt? People find a different, faster route.

Music-lovers: What happens when CD prices become outrageous? People learn to share music over P2P networks for free.

Geeks: What happens when a router somewhere on the Internet goes down? Packets find another route that works.

Disruptive innovation is what happens when large numbers of people (or data packets :-D) are forced into something outrageously inconvenient. Disruptive innovation changes the status quo. It's happened dozens of times in the past, and it will happen again.

I can hardly wait until it happens to the cell phone carriers.

I know that disruptive innovation will eventually cure this disease under which we currently live, but what can we do now? The only thing I can think of is to stop signing these commitments. I urge you, dear reader, not to sign any more contracts with the phone companies. They will try to convince you to upgrade your phone and renew a 2-year commitment but please don't do it.

I created an online petition that you can sign. Click here. Please sign, tell your friends, and let's get the disruption started. The sooner we put our foot down, the sooner we will be free.

Don't Watch The Ex

2007-10-11T21:10:00.000-05:00

You know that feeling you get when you finish watching a movie that was terrible? That I-just-wasted-two-hours-of-my-life feeling? Halfway through these movies, there's usually a point where you say to yourself, "I should turn it off now and salvage what's left of my evening."

I just spent 89 minutes with that exact feeling. And I didn't listen to the urges to hit stop on the DVD player.

I want to congratulate the writers David Guion and Michael Handelman. Your flick "The Ex" is now my most hated movie.

You can put The Ex into the same category as Meet the Parents, where the protagonist gets the ever loving crap beat out of him for the first 98% of the movie, and then during the last 2% you get a ridiculously unworthy excuse-for-a-resolution. I hate these movies. Movies like these are the reason I so rarely watch movies that I haven't yet seen. I would have rather played Minesweeper for an hour and a half than sit through that crap.

I hope this blog post doesn't encourage anyone to rent (or heaven-forbid buy) this movie.

I feel robbed.