Picassa 2: Another great Google product.

First of all let me say I have been out of pocket for the last few months. I recently started a new job and I have devoted all of my time to it but now I hope to be able to devote time to my blog and begin posting daily.

It is intuitive, has a slick interface, has some really great features and has everything that you would look for in any photo software.

Now to the good stuff. In this post I am reviewing a Google product called Picassa. I was a little skeptical at first. Google is the best search engine around and they do have some great products (ex. Google Earth) but I am always weary of free "photo organizers." Most of them seem to insult my intelligence and dumb down all the basic features. Well, this is not like the others. It is intuitive, has a slick interface, has some really great features and has everything that you would look for in any photo software. It has an Apple-like interface (fades, transitions) It has a really cool timeline feature which let's you see all of your photos by date taken. It has really helped me to organize and tag all my photos. Go download this software. You won't regret it.
Download Picassa 2

In the unlikely event of an emergency place your tray tables in an upright and locked positions and turn ON your TV's...

For those of you who are living in a window-less bubble and depend on this blog for your news, yesterday JetBlue flight 292 suffered a malfunction with their landing gear and had to make an emergency landing. The plane landed safely. The interesting part of the story was the fact that JetBlue did NOT censor the in-seat televisions and allowed the passengers of flight 292 as well as all other JetBlue flight to watch the events unfold. This opens an entirely new realm of up-to-date information. If I we're on board I would have watched it. I think that it says a lot about JetBlue and their confidence in their equipment and the skills of their pilots and ground crew. The pilots handled this emergency with the upmost professionalism.

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Also remember to keep those in the path of Hurricane Rita in your prayers.

Pray for those in the path of Hurricane Rita.

This is a storm of nearly unmatched destructive power that Texas has ever seen. Please pray for the many families that will be affected.
Hurricane Rita is the seventeenth named storm, ninth hurricane, fifth major hurricane, and second category five hurricane of the 2005 and Atlantic hurricane season. The storm has already impacted Florida and Cuba, and currently threatens Texas and Louisiana. The system reached category five strength on the afternoon of September 21, 2005, the second storm of the season to do so (the other being Hurricane Katrina) and is expected to make landfall sometime on September 24, between GalvestonCorpus Christi in Texas. The current intensity is 898 mbar, and further development is possible. This makes Rita the third most intense ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. If Rita maintains its current intensity, it will be the second most intense storm to make landfall in the U.S.
It is also only the third time in recorded history that there have been two Category 5 hurricanes in a single season; it had previously only happened in the 1960 and 1961 seasons. If Rita impacts the U.S. mainland as a Category 5 hurricane she will become one of only four Category 5 hurricanes to have hit the United States. The last hurricane to have hit the U.S. at Category 5 strength was Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

Source: Wikipedia

Enough is enough.

I am already paying 99 cents for songs on iTunes and frankly, that's too much. When you do the math, an iPod Nano (see my earlier post) holds 1,000 songs. At 99 cents a song that's equal to a little less than $1,000 to fill it. I don't have $1,000 to spend on music. It is cheaper to buy the album from a brick-and-mortar music store and now the music industry is trying to raise the prices. Thankfully Apple CEO Steve Jobs has come out and told it like it is. Jobs told reporters at an event in Paris "If the price goes up they (consumers) will begin pirating again and everybody loses."

"If the price goes up they (consumers) will begin pirating again and everybody loses."

The music industry needs to wake up and stop raping pillaging their listeners. If you want people to stop pirating get the price down to 25 cents. At that price it only makes sense to buy.

Going up?

According to this article on space.com the "space elevator" is not to far away.

The LiftPort Group, the space elevator companies, announced September 9 that it has received a waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to use airspace to conduct preliminary tests of its high altitude robotic lifters.
The lifters are early prototypes of the technology that the company is developing for use in its commercial space elevator to ferry cargo back and forth into space. The tests, which are planned for early fall, will simulate a working space elevator by launching a model elevator ribbon” attached to moored balloon initially up to a mile high. The robotic lifters will then be tested in their ability to climb up and down the free-hanging ribbon, marking the first-ever test of this technology in the development of the space elevator concept. According to Michael Laine, president of the LiftPort Group in Bremerton, Washington, the FAA go-ahead is a critical step” in the ultimate developing of the group's LiftPort Space Elevator concept.

Source: Space.com

The "space elevator" concept is nin fact infact it was first discussed in the late fifties. If proven feasible it could lower the cost of putting payloads into space and prepare man for a mission to another planet. For more information on "The Space Elevator" view this Wikipedia article.

Do I know you?

Well, it's about to happen, the first transplant of human facial tissue to a living person. I think that it could be a great thing for the recipient but it seems to me that there is too much risk for a "non-vital" surgery. Reconnecting thousands of nerves and blood vessels before the tissue degrades past usability seems like a very daughnting task and if it goes wrong there is no going back! Also the patient will have to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of his/her life which can lead to cancer and kidney disfunctions. As far as the argument of looking like someone else I believe that this would not be an issue. First of all the person getting the surgery has had some horrible accident leaving them disfigured and unrecognizable (otherwise why have the surgery) second the patients bone structure will determine the overall look of the face.

Where is the brain transplant that we have been told so much about.

I believe gradually as the skin is reconnected to the surrounding tissue it will take on more of the patients original look. This is going to be an interesting medical technology to behold and could hold great progress. We will have to wait and see. Also where is the brain transplant that we have been told so much about.

To learn more about facial transplants view this MSNBC article

"Let your people go..."

Mayor Nagin can you make a bad situation worse? Apparently yes he can. Ray Nagin is one of the most incompetent leaders during a major crisis since Nero he is now trying to push thousands of people back into a city that is near death only 3 weeks since it was nearly wiped off the earth.

Ray Nagin is one of the most incompetent leaders during a major crisis since Nero

You saw what happened when there was thousands in the city when there was little or no infrastructure and there was no order and he blamed the President and everyone else for not getting New Orleans residents out why is he wanting to bring them back so soon. Let's at least drain and disinfect the city and get a working healthcare system in place before you urge residents to come back Mr. Nagin. If nothing else the situation in New Orleans shows all of the lazy Americans who do not get out and vote for their local and state officials that it can be a deadly decision.

Windows Vista: Another overrated, Under-achieving product from our favorite computer overlords.

Well maybe my title is a little harsh but I am tired of Microsoft putting out inferior products and touting them as the greatest thing since the mouse. After my first look at the new interface and all of the "advanced" interface updates I can only say one thing. "It's nice but to bad that I have had a much better interface with Mac OS X for a few years now."
Also the fact that Microsoft is releasing it in SIX possibly SEVEN different versions is absoultly crazy.

I think this could be what finally turns most people to either Linux or Mac OS X.

I have clients that are confused by Home and Professional. Now try to explain the difference between starter, home-basic, home-premium, professional, enterprise and "Ultimate". Also the minimum requirements are outrageous. I think this could be what finally turns most people to either Linux or Mac OS X. Microsoft has given us many great products but don't insult us by giving us garbage like Windows Vista.

WIkipedia: Reference Information in "Real-time"

I have been a "Wiki" addict for a long time but it wasn't until the recent death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist that I saw the "true" potential of Wikipedia. Within three minutes of the "FOX News Alert" wiki-users had updated his article as well as the articles on the Chief Justice.

We are finally beginning to see the real potential of the internet as a tool to have a centralized up-to-date source of information.

Reference information was being updated in real-time. We are finally beginning to see the real potential of the internet as a tool to have a centralized up-to-date source of information.

This is not your parent's Mp3 player.

In 2001 Apple decided to join the "Mp3 revolution" by introducing the iPod. Apple beautifully created a device that simply played music and that looked REALLY cool. Also in the process created a new concept. Until this time you created a playlist for your Mp3 player Apple decided to create a device that allowed people to take their music collection with them everywhere.

Apple has created a true work of art in the iPod Nano

So how could they possibly make it better? Release a mini version. Well now how could you make a mini iPod better? Make it the size of a credit card. This is an example of Apple desire to create the best product available even when they already have the best. No other Mp3 player has come close to the popularity of the iPod and it has since become a status symbol. Apple has created a true work of art in the iPod Nano. Hats off to Apple's undying desire for perfection.