Thursday, February 10, 2011

Kodak digital camera, circa 1975




Pretty cool design- it recorded on analog tape:

http://nerdology.tumblr.com/post/998388796

... which really isn't that different, or much faster, than how my first digital camera stored photos. It was a Sony Mavica FD-7. With a max res of 640x480, the results were mediocre at best- but by God, I was finally untethered from 35mm film. It had a 10x optical zoom lens, which was a big deal since its little brother, the FD-5, had no zoom but cost a good bit less:

http://www.rfwilmut.clara.net/about/mavica.html

Google TV

Mashups. They are all the rage lately. I don't mean audio mashups (although DC101's Flounder's Mashups is a favorite of mine) or social networking mashups (every site seems to have 20 cross-post buttons now). Here's what I'm talking about: DVD players have network connections now, to stream Netflix for example, and hopefully firmware updates too. Laptops have bluetooth now (I still haven't come up with a use for it on my Macbook Pro- isn't a bluetooth mouse overkill?).

Here's my question though- they are starting to put intelligence into TV sets- does anyone own a TV that's more than just a TV? You know, it has a brain that can do more than take in HDMI and display 1080p? For example, the TVs that will play Google TV? If so- I want to hear all about it. Educate me- and feel free to review your setup with pro-your-model and anti-everyone-else's-model zeal as you explain it to me.

And yes, I know that when the day of reckoning comes, I will be punished for my overuse of parentheses. I just like micro-digression, I suppose. At least it will be offset by my desire to always spell correctly and use the apostrophe properly.

The State of the Web, Winter 2010

Read all about it at The Oatmeal (= funny stuff) :

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/state_web_winter