First Generation Nerd

Well.

We are back from a crazy few days in Los Angeles! What a stinking amazing experience.

Thursday night, we arrived at the hotel (Radisson, Culver City) to find that they did not have the rooms I had reserved. Instead, the girls ended up in a room next to some MTV dance team, and I had a handicapped room that smelled like smoke and had a shower that leaked all over the bathroom floor. Thus ends the bad part of the trip.

Friday morning, I hopped on a shuttle with some of the other contestants for the 15 minute drive to Sony Studios. We sat in our contestant room for most of the day, going over forms and joking around with each other, until Vanna walked in! She was wearing a sweatshirt and no makeup, but she looked great! She wished us all good luck then went to get ready for the day’s taping. We went into the studio (which is way smaller than it appears on TV) and got a tour and practiced spinning the wheel. After makeup (yes, makeup) and more waiting, it was time to tape!

They tape six shows in a day, and my particular show was number 4, which ended up being after lunch. The shows themselves don’t take much longer than they are on television, with each basically taking between 30-45 minutes to complete. After a lunch break, it was my turn! I played with a girl, Courtney, from Worcester, MA and another girl, Kim, from the Chicago area. I won’t reveal how we all did, but watch us on APRIL 24, 2008 to find out!!

After the taping, we went to Santa Monica Pier and drove around Hollywood for a while until we were tired. Here are a few pictures from our trip (none of the , and don’t forget to tune into WHEEL OF FORTUNE on APRIL 24!!!!

So today is it! We are heading out to Los Angeles this afternoon for tomorrow’s taping at Sony Studios in Culver City, California. The crew is me, my fiancé Alicia, and our friend Amy. Alicia and I are flying Southwest with one stop, while Amy got a non-stop that leaves an hour after us, but gets in only 10 minutes after we do. We aren’t allowed to bring cell phones or cameras into the studios, so my photos will be limited of the actual event, but I’ll try to post other pics from the trip when I can.

Wish me luck!!

Apparently someone close to the source of information can’t (or doesn’t want to) keep his mouth closed about Apple’s new initiative to add an unlimited music option to the iPhone. Nokia already plans to offer a similar plan, to the tune of $80 for the life of the device.

So what?

Well, first of all, I think that this is a great idea. Sure, it’s unlikely that, once you have the music, you’ll be able to get it off the device. But if your iPhone (especially a 32GB) is acting as your iPod, is it really that big of a deal? If someone tells me to check out a track, I would be ecstatic if I could listen to the entire track instead of a lame 30-second preview.

Second of all, if I really like the tracks that I can listen to on my iPhone, I’ll throw down 99 cents to get full access to the file. It’s no different than my current iTunes setup, just great mobile access to their entire catalog at all times!

Hey Apple, here’s a great way for you to break it before it begins: Don’t let us wirelessly download without syncing, and make the tracks only 128kbps AAC files. Yeah, who needs iTunes Plus on their phone?

PLEASE don’t mess this one up!

via Apple Insider

Ben Stein has embarked on a new journey: a journey to bring back validity to intelligent design. The trailers to the film look very interesting, and feature segments of interviews with top scientists from both sides. As part of the film, Stein interviewed scientists who have lost their jobs, tenure, and professional credibility simply for their views on intelligent design. The film will be released on April 18th…check out the trailers!

Okay. So I am about to embark on one of the coolest journeys of my life (besides my engagement to my best buddy in the whole world). I am going to be on one of television’s most loved game shows: Wheel of Fortune.

It all started about six or seven months ago when I put my name on the WOF website to become a contestant. I had totally forgotten I did that until the day before Valentine’s Day, when I received an email from Sony Studios inviting me to audition in Washington DC two weeks later. I made it through to the second (and final) round of the audition, and 8 days later got a call that I am to tape on March 28!

I am now less than two weeks away from my tape date, and let me tell you, I am excited. I do crossword puzzles daily to get in shape, as well as watch the show every night. The experience itself is going to be amazing, and I’m excited to see the studio itself! Cameras aren’t allowed, so I won’t be able to post pictures, but I’ll be sure to give a full description of their setup.

March 28. Culver City, California. Booya.

A friend recently showed me a great website called UStream.tv. UStream is a great tool that essentially allows anyone to start their own Internet TV station. But it’s not just streaming…it’s also interactive.

When you access someone’s UStream channel, you are also logged into a chat board that is updated live, either in the stream or just on your screen. Popular technology blogger of former TechTV fame, Chris Pirillo has his own UStream channel that is mainly him sitting at his desk most of the time, but has select clips that you can browse through if he’s not actively streaming content.

So what?

I work in academia, and can think of great distance learning capabilities that could be accented with UStream. If a professor is delivering a lecture or screen cast, comments and questions could easily be delivered and dealt with in real time by the professor.

Honestly, I don’t think this is even remotely the next attempt at “IPTV,” but it’s an interesting new way to bring consumer created content to your computer!

It’s no secret that I want an iPhone. Bad. I know it’s not right to covet your neighbor’s cellular telephony device, but every time I see my iPhone-toting neighbor, I just want to covet all day long. Why then do I not have an iPhone? Not because of the $175 early termination fee of my current provider (I’ve been out of contract since July of last year), nor because of any hesitation of switching to AT&T for all my wireless needs.

It’s because Steve Jobs and I have some unfinished business.

I love what has been done with the iPhone, from the slick interface to the fact that most any of my surface-level wishes can be added with software updates or the upcoming SDK. But there are just a couple of hardware tweaks that will send me over the edge and empty several hundred dollars from my bank account:

1. 3G Wireless - EDGE is so last year. Or the year before that. Come to think of it, when was the last time Nokia preferred EDGE for browsing? 2006? The CEO of AT&T has mentioned that the 3G iPhone is on it’s way this year, so I guess we’ll just have to play the waiting game.

2. Internal GPS - Sure the Google Maps application on the iPhone is great, and the cell tower triangulation feature is neat, but come on. We need a real, bona fide GPS in that thing. If the Nokia N95 can have one, so can the iPhone.

3. 32 GB Internal Storage - Ok, here’s the deal. I have a 30 gig iPod. Coincidentally, I also have close to 30 gigs of content. I do not enjoy plugging in my Nano and having to go through and select what I may want to listen to until the next time I dock the device. Likewise, I don’t want to have to select what content I put on my phone, nor worry about what content I have synced to the device every time I plug it in to charge! A 32 GB iPhone would do the trick. I could get rid of my iPod and use my phone as my only portable device. I might be dreaming, and I might need a solar-powered jacket to stay operational, but I’m willing to make that sacrifice.

BONUS! 4. Starbucks Ordering System - Ever since I saw this, I haven’t stopped thinking about how stinking awesome it would be to order my Venti Shaken Black Tea Lemonade from the car on my way to the ‘Bux, and have it waiting for me when I get there. Mad props to Phil Lu for mocking that one up.

So there it is, my wish list that would set me over the edge (or 3G, if you will) and get me over to the Apple Store to pick up my very own iPhone. I have never wanted to part with $500 so much in my life.

If anything, I hope that my follies can help other people not make the ridiculous mistakes that I do.

Allow me to explain.

I am a media specialist at a college, and my latest video is going to be taken halfway around the world to Korea for recruitment. In my typical fashion, I decided to go the “extra mile” and translate some key phrases into Korean using a couple of online translators. In an effort to double-check the translations, I even went the extra step to reverse translate what I got on the sites to see if they would come back to English unharmed. Well, everything checked out, so I went forward with the video.Imagine my surprise and embarrassment when I showed the video to a native Korean (a stoic man, at that), and he straight busted out laughing when he saw my first phrase! He said it was written as a two-year old would have said it.

In all fairness, three out of my four translations were okay, but they were mainly proper names (New York City and Washington, DC). Even so, the sting from my initial failure stuck with me, and I dare say I may not trust an online translator blindly ever again.

Beware of online translators! (On-line interpretation take care!)

Geesh.

If there’s one thing I can’t stand about using someone else’s computer, it’s that I never know how the mouse (or trackpad) is going to respond to my touch.  I don’t know what the settings are or if an eighth of an inch moves the cursor to New Brunswick; call it a pet peeve.  

The other thing that irks me is that I never know what software other people have on their computers.  I live in creative applications, but not everyone has Adobe’s Master Collection, neither do I always have my computer with me (a 17″ MacBook Pro doesn’t always travel well). 

Enter Aviary. 

Aviary  is a suite of creative applications that live online, allowing you to create content from whatever machine you happen to be on.  Flash-based, the tools load relatively quickly and appear fairly intuitive.  Aviary is in beta right now, so not all of the applications are available.  In fact, only two are currently active: Phoenix (the image editor), and Peacock (the pattern generator).  In the works are such tools as a 3D Modeler (Hummingbird), an audio editor (Myna), even a video editor (Starling).   

I played around with Phoenix, and although it’s slightly clumsy and has limited features, I would certainly prefer it over MS Paint or even the GIMP.  I’m looking forward to seeing what the folks over at Worth1000 will do with this suite of apps.  The apps are free, and they are still giving out beta invites, so check it out! http://a.viary.com