Just yesterday I came across some notes I made at a Tech Conference I attended back in 2008 - the TCEA - Texas Computer Educators Association.
And I am glad I did because I was reminded of some very cool T-shirts made by a company who are based in Texas (with stores in both Austin and Round Rock).
In addition to custom screen and embroidery, and pre-printed T-shirts with a strong emphasis in school and school athletics themes, they have some great T-shirt designs for the technology experts and geeks in your life!
This week, Google roles out a new version of Google Earth: Version 6.
The improvements according to the Google Blog 'LatLong' are that "in Google Earth 6, we’re taking realism in the virtual globe to the next level with two new features: a truly integrated Street View experience and 3D trees. We’ve also made it even easier to browse historical imagery"
With this new version, Google has added some 80-million trees to the online 'universe'. But these trees will not show-up in every view of Google Earth "Our urban tree coverage includes San Francisco (downtown and Golden Gate Park), Chicago (Grant, Millennium and Lincoln Parks), New York City (Prospect and Riverside Parks), Athens (Thiseio Park, the National Gardens, Lykavittos Hill and around the Acropolis), Berlin (Tiergarten Park) and Tokyo (Yoyogi Park, Shinjuku Gyoen and the Akasaka Imperial Grounds). Prospective students can even scope out the beautiful greenery on campus at the University of California, Davis."
Here's a Google produced video that highlights the new additions to Google Earth Version 6:
Shown in the video above, the new features in Google Earth 6 also include new Street View functionality. They use Google's 'Pegman' as the tool to enable Street View. You'll find Pegman below the navigation controls(above) and the magnification slider (below) in the top right corner of Google Earth
For more info and to download a copy of the FREE software Google Earth 6 for your computer, visit their website: Google Earth
This past Friday, known as 'Black Friday' in the United States saw a record number of shoppers -- the increase of store traffic however brought a modest increase in sales. Today - Monday November 29. 2010 - is known as 'Cyber Monday'. A Wikipedia article states: "The term "Cyber Monday" is a term invented by Shop.org, part of the U.S. trade association National Retail Federation. It was first used within the e-commerce community during the 2005 holiday season."
This online shopping event was based on research showing that 78% of online retailers reported a significant increase in sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2004. Retailers are looking for strong sales on this day to boost their holiday shopping profits.
The website CyberMonday.com highlights the best deals from over 700 online retailers. You can also visit many of your 'favorite' or the more popular online stores (websites from so called brick & mortar stores like Sears, Target, Walmart, etc) to directly access their Cyber Monday savings.
If you're a person who likes to take advantage of the special sales that retailers offer on the day after Thanksgiving (called Black Friday) you can doubtless go through the many, many pages of newspaper advertisements and flyers. There is another way, and that's to use the technology tools available to you. Most every retail store, as well as the online giants like Amazon have special deals and they are posted on their website right now. In fact some retailers have begun selling products at special 'Black Friday' prices (see notes below). You can visit the website of your favorite retailer and check out their special prices, or you can visit one of a handful of websites set-up for just these special sales.
BlackFriday.info is one website that lists special deals and also allows you to click onto the Black Friday Ad (specials just for Friday November 26) from their website. To get there, click on the store logo at the bottom of the first page, then click on the 'Ad Scan' tab for that store.
Another website that has these special sales posted is bfads.net (Black Friday Ads). If you're like me and would rather not deal with the mass of humanity that will be mobbing the retail establishments this Friday - you can do your shopping online! Visit this page : BlackFriday Ads Online Deals and you will see the special deals offered by the major retailers to those shopping via the internet. You can even sort to see just the offers or product categories you are interested in. One click on the product links takes you to that store's online shopping page where you can comsumate your purcahse. Very convenient... and many are offering free or reduced shipping.
Lastly, Amazon.com is having Black Friday special all week
Netflix, Inc. has introduced a $7.99 streaming-only subscription plan in the United States. This is the first time Netflix is promoting a 100 percent streaming option in the U.S.
The plan, which allows members to instantly watch unlimited movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix to TVs and computers, is available now to both new and existing members for $7.99 per month.
More and more home entertainment products are including streaming media options like Netflix, Pandora (music) and others. This is a true sign of the present and future where some predict the lion's share of home entertainment will be obtained by consumers via broadband (the internet).
In additional to the Netflix announcement from their Los Gatos, California headquarters today, they announced price increases for their current DVD & Streaming Packages: We have been enjoying the '2 DVDs' plan at $13.99 for the past few years, with select DVD titles as well as the streaming content -- what Netflix calls 'Watch Instantly' (which Netflix launched in August 2007). I really like the ability to check out the Instant View titles on the spur of a moment. It should be noted that while the Instant View collection at Netflix is apparently growing (according to the company) not every title is yet available for instant viewing.
Truly, Netflix Founder Reed Hastings is seeing his vision come to reality -- the name Net-flix is living up to his initial dream of Internet delivered films and programs.
If you click into iTunes today, you will see a big splash that makes it clear who the newest artist available via the online music/entertainment 'store' is: The Beatles.
In the iTunes store you can now purchase & download songs from all 13 of the group's original studio albums, as well as special collections & box sets. Single songs are priced at $1.29 with full albums at $12.99 ($19.99 for the double-album sets).
There are also two cool short videos you can play (free) in iTunes 'Live at the Washington (DC) Coliseum' their first concert in the US when they arrived in 1964 and 'The Beatles Through The Years', a well produced photo/video of the Beatles career set to their music.
"We're really excited to bring the Beatles' music to iTunes," said Sir Paul McCartney in a statement announcing the deal. "It's fantastic to see the songs we originally released on vinyl receive as much love in the digital world as they did the first time around."
Apple CEO Steve Jobs said. "It has been a long and winding road to get here. Thanks to the Beatles and EMI, we are now realizing a dream we've had since we launched iTunes 10 years ago."
The Guide is is a single-page PDF document (13" x 22") that is essentially a chart/grid with details on the different camcorder models they reviewed.
The chart is broken down by camcorder manufacturer and then lists the model of each camcorder corresponding to 30 different criteria, which are mostly technical specifications like the zoom ratio, recording format, connectors and other valuable information.
I think the chart - while containing very helpful information - may be daunting to most casual videographers, unless you are comfortable with video technology lingo. The Buyers Guide (chart) is a great place to get some basic information on the available camcorder models. I also recommend checking the reviews at CamcorderInfo.com; In addition to specific reviews on a number of current camcorder models, they have a rating system with points based on a number of criteria.
I always recommend visit a retailer to get my hands on the specific model/s I was interested in to get a first-hand experience with the camcorder I am interested in. And the best possible scenario is if you have a friend or colleague who has direct experience with a particular camera/camcorder - you'll have feedback that may be valuable in your purchase decision.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a new messaging system available on Facebook earlier today at a Facebook unveiling:
"There was a lot of press leading up to this saying this is an e-mail killer," Zuckerberg continued "This is not an e-mail killer. It's a messaging system that has e-mail as one part of it. I don't expect people to wake up tomorrow and say, I'm going to shut down my Yahoo account or my Gmail account.'
We expect that more people will IM and more people will message just because it's simpler and easier and it's more fun and valuable to use."
The video below gives an overview of this new Facebook messaging. It looks like a cool way to share integrated messages. If you are intrigued by the concept - you can read the specifics on the Facebook Messages Help Center. And yes, if you are interested in utilizing this new Facebook feature - you need to sign-up for an Invitation. I have and am waiting for my invitation to arrive.
I copied below a list of some of the key features & benefits in the new Facebook Messaging (from the Facebook Messaging Help Center page)
Now when you view a conversation, you’re actually looking at a complete history of all the communication you’ve shared with that person on Facebook — it’s like having an ongoing record of your friendship.
We’ve also added a few key features:
Faster interaction: If you want, you can send messages just by hitting your Enter key, so the new Messages is as fast (and as informal) as an in-person conversation.
Integrated communication: No matter what you’re using to communicate (Facebook, mobile or email), your conversation streams quickly and seamlessly into one place.
Smart filtering: You’ll always see what’s important to you first – messages from the people you’re close to take precedence over mailing lists.
Revamped search: Search for either the person you were talking with or what you were talking about to quickly find your message and all the related context.
Adding people to group conversations: Loop new people into the conversation, giving them full access to everything that’s been said so far.
Forwarding: Pass individual messages along to other friends.
Unsubscribing, or removing yourself from a conversation: Leave a group conversation when you no longer wish to receive new messages.
Sending attachments: In addition to sending links, photos and videos, you can now attach external files to your messages.
Google announced today that they have a free gift for the winter holidays... free Wi-Fi on the domestic flights of three major airlines! 'Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi will be the provider for the service which should be available to pretty much any Wi-Fi enabled laptop or mobile device on these participating airlines (Delta, Virgin Atlantic, and AirTran Airlines)
This is a follow-up from last year when Google made free Wi-Fi available during the same holiday period, but only on Virgin Atlantic flights. You can read more about this special holiday offer from Google Chrome: www.freeholidaywifi.com
Google Chrome, the web browser developed by Google is the official sponsor of this service -- Google apparently hopes this will help spread the word about Chrome and encourage more folks to try it and hopefully make it their web browser of choice. You can learn more about Google Chrome here: Why use Google Chrome?
Passengers enjoy free Wi-Fi for the holidays compliments of Google Chrome
Some friends and many others on Facebook this past week have made notice of the apparently smaller font that has appeared on their Facebook pages. Some thought it was just _their_ eyesight, but no - Facebook did apparently take the application to a smaller font.
In an e-mailed response to Computerworld, Facebook said the small font size is something of an experiment. "We are constantly testing new ways to make the site more efficient for people," said Andrew Noyes, a Facebook spokesman. "We listen to feedback and always try to incorporate it in future product updates, releases and features." You can read more about the Facebook font issue on the Computerworld Blog here: Facebook Users Squint at Font Size.
If you are one of those folks who is looking to make a temporary adjustment to your web browser so you can more easily read your Facebook pages, I fint the easiest method is to press the Windows Key ('Open Apple' key on Mac) and the '+' key (to the left of the Backspace key). This will provide you with a larger display of your web browser. You can press this multiple times to continually increase the size. Pressing the Windows Key and the '-' key will reduce the size of your browser display. Please note this is not only the font size it is adjusting - but the whole browser display. Your windows and columns will also magnify.
If you are looking for a longer term fix - a method to change the size of the fonts displayed in your browser window here are the instructions for each of the more popular web browsers... from the Computerhope.com website: How can I change the font size in my browser?