Ed's Tech Tips

I recently turned 42 and decided that I need to get more serious about reducing my gut that has slowly grown over the past 15 years. I decided that I should take up running again. I ran cross country in high school and for fun afterwards competing in various 5k and 10k road races. I stopped because it became boring in flat hot Florida where I used to live. I had also started bicycling which is more enjoyable, however, it requires more time and a bicycle which I do not always have with me, plus my 15 year old hybrid bike is not what it used to be.

I now live in New England which has much more interesting terrain, plus there are devices that make running more interesting, such as, the Nike Plus iPod Sports Kit. It consist of a sensor that fits inside the left shoe of selected Nike+ running models (I have the Air Pegasus +25) and a small receiver that plugs into the bottom of a Nano iPod you carry or wear on your arm. It tracks accurately my progress (speed and distance, calories not so much) and provides vocal feedback (mid points, last 5 minutes, etc.) while playing my favorite upbeat tunes which consist mostly of classic rock selections (from the Beatles to U2).

When I am done with my run I can upload my results to the beautiful Nike Plus web site via iTunes which is the other half of the Nike+ Sports Kit. On the web site I can track my progress, set goals, challenge others, ask questions in the forum, find widgets for my desktop or Facebook profile and much more. I've added a widget to the sidebar on this blog.

I want to be able to run 5k and 10k races again and eventually work my way to half and full marathon distances. I've bicycled 100 miles before and my training rides were up to 60-80 miles a ride, so I think if I pace myself and establish my goals I will be able to achieve that distance and maybe further (ultra marathons maybe?). The Nike Plus web site will be a big help and bring some of the fun back into running.

 

This past weekend my 17 month old granddaughter and I took our maiden voyage and a few additional trips on a bicycle together with the aid of the new iBert child bicycle seat. Unlike older types of seats that put the child on the rear of the bike behind the adult where the child has to either stare at the adult's back or look to the side, the iBert puts the child toward the front of the bicycle just behind the handle bars. This way the view of the child is greatly improved and thus the bicycling experience for the child, as well as, the adult pedaling the bike. The iBert offers a better center of gravity and removes the mystery of what the child is doing behind the parent.

I've used both styles of seats and I like the iBert. WeeRide offers a similar style of bike seat, but the child's legs are not lifted forward and the adult has to pedal with his knees sticking out. 

The iBert is fairly easy to attach to your bike and it fits many styles of bikes as is attested to in the iBert photo gallery. A single mounting bar bolts on to your handle bar stem so that when you turn the seat turns with you. It did not fit my bike because my shifters and brake handles were right over where the legs go, so I installed it on my on my daughter's bicycle. I had to slightly raise the stem to allow the braket to be bolted on. Also it is a tight squeeze between the seat and the iBert. When you stop you need to be able to touch the ground from the bicycle seat since there is not much room to stand over the top bar of the bicycle frame.

It does take some extra effort to bike when you have an extra 25 or so pounds on the bicycle in front of you. Plus, you cannot really stand up to power down on the pedals. Still, it's a fun time. Yesterday, my granddaughter grabbed my finger and pulled me over to our bicyce helmets and wanted to go for a ride. It's a great opportunity to introduce your child to a fun activity which may be a primary form of transportation for them when they grow up as oil supplies dwindle and cost increasingly more. At the same time it encourages the habit of wearing a bicycle helmet. As my granddaughter grows up she will not remember a time that she did not wear a helmet to ride a bicycle. As parents and role models for your children, wear your own bicycle helmet. How can you make a good argument for helmets if you do not wear one yourself? Plus, they can prevent serious head injuries.

Tags: bicycle, children. seat, helmets, recreation, family

 

Wu-Tang Clan's RZA has partnered up with ChessPark.com to create WuChess.com, a different kind of chess site. From their About page:

Designed for chess enthusiasts addicted to hip-hop music, WuChess.com is the place where your favorite music, movies and celebs will be all while you get your game on. WuChess members will get exclusive offers such as MP3s you can't get anywhere else, playing a surprise celebrity guest, access to one of a kind video clips and many more surprises. This is hardcore chess with half the stuffiness.

WuChess understands that it is important that today's youth develop life strategy skills, so to help their efforts a portion of WuChess revenue will be donated to the Hip Hop Chess Federation's scholarship fund.

Unfortunately, the site is not free. It costs $48 a year, but given that chess unfortunately does not attract a large numbers of fans it is to be expected. However, it looks like an interesting community. I wish it was around when I started a chess club at my daughters' high school. You can read more about the site and RZA in a recent New York Times article. 

I am a fan of Mr. Potato Head and Indiana Jones, so for Fathers' Day I received the Taters of the Lost Ark version of Mr. Potato Head. "Complete with bullwhip and gold-colored idol in hand, this silly character can sport his jacket and fedora. Press and release the fedora to hear three different short segments from the “Indiana Jones” theme song – or hold it down to hear it play straight through."

Here’s a Japanese TV show segment about an amazing bicycle parking tower in Tokyo with a robotic elevator that can automatically store and retrieve 9400 bikes. Itis safe, secure and fast. A bike was retrieved within 22 seconds. When do you think we will see something like this in the United States?

A bicycling idea that is more likely to catch on in America is a citywide bicycle program in Paris France, involving 10,600 bikes in a bid to cut gridlock and give citizens a greener way to get around town. The program, named Vélib — a blend of vélo (bike) and liberté — allows users to swipe their credit card and take and return a bike from one of 750 stations in the city. Already cities, such as, Boston, New York, Montreal and San Francisco are looking to replicate the concept. Learn more aout it in the video below:

I've been doing the Twitter thing, but my activity is sporadic. Sometimes I go days without posting anything. However, it is intesresting to read what others have to say. Still, I have managed to pick up a few "followers" - that is Twiiter-speak for people that subscribe to my Twitter postings.  One of my recent followers had a link to the following web site in her Twitter profile: Beedogs.com.

The site is about dogs in bee costumes or more precisely,  it "is the premier online repository for pictures of dogs in bee costumes." This goes to show you that you can have a web site that is just about anything. This is just one particular humourous niche that I would not have thought of.

This is a way cool music video that uses Mac OS X as the set or stage for the video. You have to see it to fully appreciate. It looks like it took a lot of work to create. It was made by a digital filmmaker named Dennis Liu. The song is by the  The Bird And The Bee and is called "Again & Again". 

Last Friday night I watched the latest Marvel comic superhero inspired movie "Iron Man" and I was not disappointed. From the special effects to the sound track, this is a very well done movie. The story line was predictable, but the dialogue was clever and witty and the acting superb. Robert Downey, Jr. is cast as billionaire playboy genius weapons developer who has a change of heart and becomes a smart mouth hero in a cool looking metallic body that can fly at supersonic speeds and fire missiles. Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Hill and an almost unrecognizable Jeff Bridges are in the movie too. The 2 hours and six minutes went by pretty quickly and left the audience wanting more which will surely follow in a sequel or two. As for technology and gadgetry, 077's Q would be envious. Even Tony Stark's 3D halographic computer interface complete with virtual trash can for deleting files is cool. A lot of attention was paid to the details in every part of this film.  

Find out more about the movie at Yahoo's Movie web site.

The plastic case on my trusty longtime Casio watch which holds the metal pin which connects to the strap broke this past weekend. My wrist felt naked without it. I do not recall how long I have had the watch. I've replaced the bands numerous times and I think I replaced the batteries once, however, now it was time to find a replacement.

I usually prefer function over flash and just wanted the basics, so I was browsing through the watches at my local Target and was drawn to the Casios. They have proven functional, durable and reasonably priced. Plus, what geek can resist a company that sells solar, calculator or television remote control wristwatches. But as I said earlier, I really just wanted the basics, but I was attracted to a watch with a large face with easy to read digits, date, day of the week, stopwatch, multiple alarms, water resistance and world time. But the big selling feature of the Waveceptor watch is its ability to automaticall set it itself:

Several times a day the watch receives the official US government time via a time calibration signal from the atomic transmitter in Ft. Collins, CO, eliminating the worry about changing your watch for Daylight Saving Time. Our atomic watches also feature a perpetual calendar, eliminating the need to adjust your watch for calendar month to month inconsistencies and Leap Year. 

So far so good, but time will be th real test. Hopefully, it will hold up as well as my previous watch. 

 

 

I bought my granddaughter a cool new toy this past weekend. It's the Fridge Farm Magnetic Animal Set from LeapFrog. I knew she liked to play with refrigerator magnets and when I saw this I thought she woul dreally enjoy it and she does. From the LeapFrog web page:

 

Practice matching skills and exercise the imagination. Inquisitive toddlers discover how to pair the front halves of farm animals with the back halves—forming five complete critters—or mix up the magnetic-backed pieces to create lots of imaginary animals.

Every mix or match introduces animal names, sounds, fun facts and lively learning songs. Play with the Fridge Farm set on the refrigerator or floor, or take it on the go. The pieces fit neatly in a compartment on the back. A built-in handle makes it easy to carry.

This is an award winning toy that cost's $15 from Target and is well worth the money. My grandaughter enjoys the music and carrying the pieces back and forth between the fridge and the dishwasher. When she is older and starting to learn the alphabet wewill check out the Fridge Phonics Magnetic Set.

I really like the LeapFrog toys. They are well built and durable, plus they combine technology, fun and learning in a well balanced package. 

In addition to blogging, I like to read and when I finish a good book I like to share it. LibraryThing makes it easier for me to let others know the books I have read and enjoyed, as well as, find similar books.

I was made aware of the site from a colleague at the Wellesley College Alumnae Association, Anne Springsteen '01 who I met at a conference last summer. I don't know if she is related to Bruce, like she has not heard that before. I bookmarked the site, but did not get a chance to do anything with it until I developed the blog version of our Alumnae Quarterly magazine. Which, by the way, was the most popular "link of the week"  on the last week of February on the Bob Johnson Consulting web site which specializes in best practices for college and university web sites. I used LibraryThing to highlight books written by alums and that were featured in the Off the Shelf column of the magazine. The covers of the books are displayed and are linked to Amazon where readers can purchase them.

I included a LibraryThing sidebar on this blog, listing books I have read and enjoyed. No, they are not all computer books. Actually I now seldom buy "computer" books because the information changes so rapidly and the books are out dated before you know it. The Web is my primary source for technology related information. I think I have a fairly eclectic taste in books.

Some of the benefits of the site include:

• It is the world's largest book club. Find people with eerily similar tastes.
• Catalog with Amazon, the Library of Congress or 669 other world libraries. Import from anywhere.
• Get recommendations. Tag your books and explore others' tags.
• Put your books on your blog.
• Enter 200 books for free, as many as you like for $10 (year) or $25 (life) [that's a bargain]
  
• Users have cataloged over 25 million books.

You can display your books as a list or on a shelf. You can write and read reviews and then easily find other users that have read the same books you have read. Take the tour of the site. If you like to read or want to read more then this is the site for you.

In addition to the Quarterly blog maybe we will incorporate LibraryThing in a book club blog or wiki since discussing books is a popular activity at many Mount Holyoke College Clubs. 

 

In some previous posts I was critical about Twitter and I'll admit I should not have been so without actually trying it out for myself. I had thought I would not have had control over the messages that stream in, but I do. I can select who I follow and block those that I do not want following me. Also, individuals are not the only ones Twittering. You can subscribe or follow the likes of CNN, Google News, NPR and MacWorld.

What's Twitter you might ask? "Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?" Quick messages are short messages of 140 characteristics or less.

I do not need to access Twitter with my web browser. There are numerous Twitter clients that push or display messages on your computer desktop. At first I was turned off of the popular Twitterific, because it cost $14.95. I checked some of the free clients for the Mac, such as Twitterpod and a Dashboard widget called Twitterlex. They worked, but lacked some features, such as, an easy way to reply to messages, so I took a look at Twitterrific and determined that it is the better Twiiter client. The interface is really slick and you can use it for free if you do not mind the occasional ad displayed in the Twitter feed. 

You can view the tweets of those I follow in the sidebar. If you use Twitter, I invite you to follow me. 

Check out more Twitter related applications at the Twitter Fan Wiki. 

 

 During Easter week, Spring Break here at Mount Holyoke College, seven students, seven alumnae and two Association staff went down to New Orleans and volunteered their time with Habitat for Humanity to help rebuild homes in the area devastated by Katrina. I created a blog for them that you can check out here.

I sent along a notebook and a couple cameras in hopes that they could blog during the week and they did post a few articles. I had configured the ability to recieve posts from mobile devices, such as a camera cell phone hoping that someone could post directly from the work sites. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

By the way, you cannot use Sprint phones to send email with photo attachments. They force you to use their Picture Mail service which costs $5 extra a month. Not only that you cannot easily post plain text email messages because there is no means to create a carriage return, at least not on my Motorola Razr 3M phone. The user name, blog ID and password have to be on separate lines, but I could not figire out how to do. I even tried to do it using the Google Gmail client and it was not possible - at least in a method that was easily visible to me. Post from my Sony Ericsson with Cingular was very easy. Not so with Spint. But I am on a tangent...

I did help create a post trip blog posting and added some photos and videos to the article. Hopefully there will be more post trip reflection posts. I also uploaded about 155 photos to our galleries and Flickr. There were over 450 pictures I had to go through. Many were very good. They captured the beauty, as welll as, the desolation of the area. 

March 14 is Pi day. No we are not talking about the Apple, Pumpkin and Pecan flavored "pies", but "Pi" the number: approxitmately 3.14159 or more exactly "the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter in Euclidean geometry, which is the same as the ratio of a circle's area to the square of its radius." Pi itself has an infinite decimal expansion; because it is an irrational number, its decimal expansion never ends and does not repeat. It has been calculated to 1.26 trillion digits. Learn more on Wikipedia.

There was a Pi Day celebration in San Francisco.

There is even a Pi song:

 

 

SingStar is a new video game from Sony for the PlayStation 2 and 3. There is even a new ceramic white SingStar version of the PlayStation 2 console that is still one of the most popular selling game consoles despite the success of the Wii and Xbox 360. 

SingStar games are distributed either as the software alone, or bundled with a pair of USB microphones - one red, one blue. The games are compatible with the EyeToy camera, allowing players to see themselves singing. 

The game is a competitive form of Karaoke where the better you sing or stay on pitch the more points you score. The microphones detect pitch using digital signal processing, which analyses the frequency of the incoming signal. The frequency is then compared to stored information to evaluate if the note is correct. Regular singing segments do not feature speech recognition, and so humming into the microphones at the correct pitch will also score points. Rap sections use a combination of speech recognition and rhythm detection.

My 17 year old niece got the Pop version for her birthday and it turned out to be a game that everyone (parents and kids ) could play together. It is much more tolerable than regular karaoke because you are listening to the original artist as well as the participants  while watching the original video, unless you have the Eyetoy accessory, in which case you can watch yourself.

The game featured songs that were familiar to both parents and teens and it may help some people be better singers. Unfortunately the tone deaf will probably continue to be tone deaf and sing off key and score poorly.I was able to beat my 8 year old nephew singing a song from the Clash which he did not know so well. He prefers Cyndi Lauper and Madonna.

Check out this video to see what the game is like: