I thought it a bit of an odd fluke til I read over at MakeUseOf.com that THEY also noticed it’s something people search on a lot. So they reviewed an online alarm clock that allows you to pick the song you want to wake to.. and a lot of other stuff. And it’s on your computer so it will even work when you’re traveling—presuming you travel with your computer. (HA! Silly me, of COURSE you travel with your computer! Doesn’t everyone?)

And they this other link to a  great DIY project: World’s Loudest Alarm Clock

Hope you don’t live next door to me!

But today IEEE Spectrum reported from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas the phone to make Dick Tracy proud!

LG has a prototype for a wristwatch phone! If Dick Tracy started using a phone on his wrist in the 30s and it took 70 years to become reality… well then, does that mean we’ll have flying cars in 2080?

Bet I won’t live to see it. But maybe–if i HAD grandchildren…. which I am NOT pining for–maybe I could promise THEM flying cars. Then they could be disappointed in me long after I’m gone.

What a way to start a day.

One of my all time favorite movies is Why Man Creates released in 1968 by Saul and Elaine Bass. Is it animation, comedy, history or all of the above? The segment, The Edifice, is a particular favorite. Checkit out here.

This morning I stumbled on a funny little video chronicling  (less accurately) the development of electronic equipment,  technology and the internet from 1951 up to the present day.  Or sort of.

Anyway I liked it.. and when something  reminds me of my favorite things it’s a good way to start the day.

Check it out over on Geeks Are Sexy here.

[Thank you Jill, the talking GPS. Sometimes, not so affectionately, referred to as the "bitch in a box."]

Oh, the things you can find there. And the fun you can have later with airport security when your suitcase is filled with rare earth magnets and blocks of aluminum. And that’s not even mentioning the Nun Chucks! It’s this great little plastic shooter that tosses little bitty nuns across the room!

But this morning I found a fabulous post over at Geeks are Sexy about

Johnny Lee, whose amazing Wii Remote hacks – which turn the $40 device into a digital whiteboard, multi-touch display, and 3-D viewer

Oh, I SO want one of these. Imagine how you could trash the competition who’s just using that nasty old PowerPoint!

And so it goes!

I also love working with business owners and technical types. So I’ve been toying with making a page specifically for each group: for business owners and for “engineers and geeks.”

Today, my engineer husband explained to me that I would offend both groups if I did. He says, “Engineer is a profession. Geek is a life style.” Further, engineers do not want to be called geeks which is somehow “less than” and geeks see engineers as old farts.

I don’t know if it’s true. But it’s an interesting predicament for me.

I see the best of both groups as people with lots of ideas, showing creativity in ways that would not necessarily impress a 7th grade art teacher. BUT it’s precisely their kind of creativity that gets bridges built, gets electricity to work in my iron (Ha! If I knew where it was!), gets this blog to work so simply that probably my mother, if she wanted to, could figure out how to comment on this.

Geeks didn’t really exist when my dad died in 1982. Nerds, yes. But they were different.

Here’s a story. My father played piano — methodically, not beautifully. You could recognize the tunes. But he was an engineer. And so his greatest pleasure was figuring out how to make a piano play itself.

This picture is of one of the plans he made for building a Wurlitzer snare drum beater. He’d borrow a part. Build two like it. Return the borrowed one. Keep the one he needed; one he’d sell. He’d also make up the plans and sell them. I found this set on eBay about 25 years after he died!

Now that’s creative!

That whole different way of seeing things fascinates me. And what fascinates me is what keeps me doing this coaching work with people I really like!

What do you think about this? Let me know.
Am I far off? Or is my husband? (Which, by the way, would make ME happier!)

“Omgili, a relatively new site that searches online discussions very effectively … scans millions of online discussions on more than 100,000 message boards and forums.”

What I like about this as opposed to a Google Alert, which returns results on the recently posted, is that Omgili scans — or crawls — forums and discussion groups.

Perhaps I’d get the same results from the Google groups scan, but my recent check for engineers and geeks seemed to turn up none of the same info in the top page or two of results.

I’m thinking here about conversation and growth of ideas.

The original Wesch video Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us explained something, the follow-up by CoryTheRaven questioned the thought. It reminded me that some time ago I saw this post from ResourceShelf about a Webcast Online: Why Large Companies Should Out-Innovate Small Ones

They referenced a weblecture by Dan Hesse where he suggested that big companies “make it impossible for the smaller guys to compete.”

But the fact of the matter is this: Ideas don’t come from teams. Ideas come from individuals. It is key to growth of the idea that others participate in the development of the full concept. But the idea has to start someplace.

Somebody has to ask that first question. Somebody has to say — out loud — in a meeting, “The Emperor has no clothes.” Somebody has to say, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we didn’t need to use candle light to see?”

Or perhaps better put, someone has to first imagine that there is a question. Ask it and begin to find the answer.

So
Happy viewing. Happy thinking. Happy writing.
Share your thoughts or ideas, or no one gets the benefit.

Tell me what you think.

But if you just want to get the basic idea so you can sound smart at parties, check out this great video hosted over on YouTube explaining Web 2.0 by Michael Wesch, associate professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University.

I have to tell you that the new set up of my machine is not quite complete and has left me without speakers… but I didn’t want to wait to tell you about great video. It easily gets the message across even in silence. My apologies if the sound is weird… but I’m betting it’s not.

I don’t know how many people might notice that the beginning of this short flick looks an awful lot like “Why Man Creates” the 1968 classic short film by Saul Bass.

I must have seen that movie 20 times while I was in college. Art professors showed it as well as my favorite Math King, Marvin Brubaker, who retired last year from Messiah College in Grantham, PA. (He once told me he was the only democrat there… OK, maybe one of a very few.) But they honored him at a great retirement gig that I was pleased to attend.

Funny how your favorite professor, who you thought really liked you best, really seemed to like everyone best? How cool is that? How fortunate for those of us who felt special … even if it was less than we really imagined.

Daryl Plummer, chief Gartner fellow, is quoted by the Associated Press about blogs:

“A lot of people have been in and out of this thing. …Everyone thinks they have something to say, until they’re put on stage and asked to say it.”

Then this morning, according to ResourceShelf, which is “.. where dedicated librarians and researchers share the results of their directed (and occasionally quirky) web searches for resources and information.” (If you aren’t actually a librarian, you might have NOT idea about the kinds of quirky things these pros can dig up. How about the “Atlas to Plucked Instruments”? Wait, I digress…)

The ResourceShelf reported this morning:

More than half (55%) of all online American youths ages 12-17 use online social networking sites, according to a new national survey of teenagers conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Past President Bill Clinton may made the most famous denial of his association with marijuana in March of ‘92 when he said simply, “I didn’t inhale.” But he certainly was neither the first nor the last to get poked because may — or may not — have dabbled in drugs. The more accessible the forbidden is the more people will try them. (n.b. I am NOT encouraging or condoning drug use or experimentation. I am mother, for cryin’ out loud!)

Today, checking on a candidate’s past drug use is as common as checking on the attitudes and dalliances of his youth. It’s part of the business of politics. Tomorrow, it will be checking them on the internet or in the archives of ancient online BulletinBoards, UserGroups, MySpace,YouTube and other such on line social networks.

In my opinion parents today go way over board by teaching children to fear strangers. We all need healthy respect for that with which we have no experience. We don’t (please tell me you don’t) send money to Nigerians who send emails offering us millions of dollars for our help. We don’t eat food we find in the street.

We can be polite if someone asks for directions. But we don’t get in the car with them to take them to their destination. Respect vs. fear.

I am not making a statement about drugs here. Don’t suppose I am. Don’t infer it. I am not talking about drugs.

However, I am talking respect.

We must not fear MySpace or the internet. We must be careful; we must it wisely. Because in the end, the ether is absolutely NOT PRIVATE. And your mother WILL find out what you did here.

Happy New Year.
Watch what you say!

Kerch