Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Religion going Digital

One of the most notorious religious protesting groups, the Westboro Baptist Church, has done many things that people have thought of to be insane and extremely unnecessary. At first, they were being recognized through paper articles but over time as they became more notorious and news spread, television began covering their protests and ridiculous stories. Shirley Phelps, the wife of the leader of the church was even on fox news to talk about these things, and that of course turned into an argument. But the point here is, that digital imagery and technology are enabling this group to reach across the nation so people can hear them, whether it is good or bad, it is the technology that is giving these people publicity, and we all know that any publicity is good publicity.

See the video for an example.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=b3PyoUPcobA

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Politics Going Digital

It's easy to say that "now more than ever" politics will be affected by television, or any other aspect of society, but it is true. This year, the candidates have take video exposure to new levels by appearing in debates on mySpace, YouTube and other websites of the same category. So not only will digital imaging technology affect this years campaigns, but even the future campaigns exponentially more. It seems like the only logical step left for the candidates to take in order to reach the modern generation of students and the likes.
Not saying it's a bad thing, what they're doing, but it certainly is shifting away from the norm of things of how elections and campaigns have been administrated in the past, but like I said it's the only logical step left. Our generation is very much concerned about the future of our technology because that is what we operate on. Without digital imaging, and the tools to harness it we would not be in the situation were in. So seeing how certain candidates handle themselves in regards to this technology and how they decide to use it will surely have an impact, maybe slight but impact non-theless, on how our generation votes this year.


http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/francis/pages/politics-and-tv-talk-converge-in-2008.aspx

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Science going Digital

There are a lot odd yet impressive and astounding advancements in the world today that it never ceases to amaze me. This article surprised me a bit, but I'm sure that it was in development for a long time before it was announced. I am referring to the "bionic eye" that is in development at the University of Southern California. It is a camera that is small enough that it can be implanted into the human eye and connected into the optical nerve to transmit signals into the brain. There is also a small battery located in the camera, which I am unsure of how it is charged.
This sounds amazing and revolutionary for the blind, and all that goodness. But I keep wondering about what if something happens, I mean its electronics inside of someone's eyeball. Theres a possibility for danger. But I guess we'll just have to wait for more information because only minor details are know right now.

http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2008/01/bionic_eye_with_blind_in_mind.html

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/22/researchers-develop-eye-implantable-camera/

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Society Going Digital

Video has made leaps throughout history that could have never been imagined 20 or even 5 years ago. And it is now making another leap into the world of streaming. Video has been streaming for years now, but never the way that companies are starting to today. I'm talking about live streaming of shows, concerts, events or even speeches and lectures. In addition to live streaming, companies like NetFlix and Apple are making a move into the business of streaming rentals in HD. The amount of bandwidth that is necessary for this type of transmission could have never been imagined three to five years ago.
A local company, that I actually worked for not too long ago, iClips.net is making its own mark in the live streaming world. What they do is stream live concerts, shows and events like the Dalai Llama or Nelson Mandela's lectures. I recently left the company to pursue other desires even though it was the job that I have been looking for, go figure. But they have managed to compete with every other company whether minor or major, to become one of the most popular providers of free streaming concerts and major music festivals around the country.
One of their major competitors is the AT&T Blue Room. They have been getting into the streaming world around the same time as iClips, but as far as I can tell, have not been able to hit their goal like they wanted. Personally, I think one of the best feats that iClips has managed to do besides broadcasting two-three stages simultaneously live from the same event, is broadcasting those streams in at least DV quality, and also have done HD streams.
So it is pretty feasible to do such a thing, especially in todays age where a group of college students (very smart college students nonetheless) can pull of something that no one has done before in the web streaming world. The only thing that is holding a company like iClips back is the limited funding the the bandwidth limitation, which they have no control over. But once the world adapts to higher bandwidth cable, fiber optics and all that other goodness, the web will become something that the television never could and that day is not far away.

If you are interested in anything that iClips.net or AT&T Blue Room broadcast/produce you can visit their websites at:
iClips.net
AT&T Blue Room

Pretty Bits Review

From the name of the site alone, it's hard to tell what exactly to expect. I didn't know if it was design oriented, or more geared towards women and technology or whatever else pops in my head. But then seeing the actual site, you realize that it's a little bit of everything. It is written and designed by a woman, so that's where the pretty part comes into play, and for a blog this site is actually very pretty. But looking deeper into it, theres some really good reviews, photoshop tutorials and randomness that is of surprising interest to people.
The blog hits a downside when it comes to updates and organization a little bit. It took me a little bit of time to find everything I was looking for, but that was probably just me. As far as the tutorials go, they are in depth and anybody could follow them through, but they are not that advanced and I didn't find much practicality in them.
It is also sparsely updated, and in the end averages out to a little over once a month. And in 2006 it averaged to less than one update per month. So, with that little bit of extra effort, this blog had the potential to be good at selling itself, but falls short when it comes to putting the effort in.