A WWII Propaganda Poster

This is particularly interesting to me because it seems just as important today as it was during WWII. Of course resources were scarce during WWII, hence the request that people at home try to survive on less.

The posters very creative way of using products you'd find at home to shape the face of Hitler is also very creepy. The red just pops out as "DANGER!" and the folding of the paper add to the effect of hair. Also, the angle of the "eyebrow" make's the image angry as well as the nail for the mouth.

Exciting Day Online

I was pretty excited today to find out about two new exciting leaks online. First up, the Apple tablet has pretty much been confirmed by McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw. He was on CNBC and totally spilled it (purposely?). Anyways, we all knew it was coming, but I just gotta wonder if tomorrow's headlines will read "McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw found dead in a ditch, Apple carved into his forehead."


Secondly, George "Geohot" Hotz, the first hacker to crack the iPhone (remember him?) is at it again. He is now the first person to crack the uncrackable PS3. This could lead to illegal pirating, I know, but it also allows for the backup of personally owned games. Now all you play nice out there, k?

Torture Me Elmo

Why, oh why... Elmo has had a very long and debated existance. It's mostly been received as a well like and clearly popular toy. But inevitably, with any object, people want it to destroy it. Elmo has been blown up, doused in gasoline and burned 'alive', used as target practice, and many many (disturbingly creative) others ways.

People that do this need a better pastime. They're destroying something that is humanoid looking, but at the same time, it's just a robotic toy. I just hope these people don't turn into criminals and serial killers.

At looking forward... (Conan O'Brien)

Conan has just performed his final show for me as I just finished watching it on Hulu. Listening to his final speech, his good-bye speech sort of, I was really moved by what he had to say to the younger generation. Don't be a cynic.


I look forward now to his new endeavors and I will watch them as much as I've watched all his shows after learning how funny I think he was on the Late Night show. Staying up just that little bit more to watch him. I've always thought him to be funnier than Jay Leno, though I really did enjoy Jay and the Tonight Show.


I certainly can't wait to see what Big Red has in store next. It seems Jimmy Fallon has big shoes to fill, and to be completely honest, so does Jay Leno now.


Here's to Coco!

Game changer?

Again with the Apple rumors piling up. As much as I love Apple products, it seems I can only take so much of the bombardment of rumors. Even with less than a week left until Apple's event to announce their "latest creation," tech blogs can't seem to slow down their Apple talk. Theorize all you want now, but in six days, we'll know for sure. I suppose it's the money that can be made with the internet traffic. So I guess it's my turn to do it.


Is Apple's latest, unnamed, unicorn-like tablet a game changer?


Well, let's start with the proposed names. I've read iSlate was a popular name. Hmm. iSlate. Not bad, but it's also the name of an app on Apple's App Store already. That wouldn't stop them from naming it iSlate though. And of course it fits the standard naming scheme of "i" something. Next up is the iPad. Very similar to iPod and if you had a thick foreign accent, nobody would know which you're talking about. Then you got the whole feminine hygiene product to joke about. MadTV did it, look up "iPad MadTV" the next time you're on YouTube. Mac's iPad and Maxipad may see each other in court (jk). The marketing would be fun though, and I'm being serious. "First, the iPod, then came the iPhone....and now...duhn, duhn, duhn...introducing the revolutionary iPad." ...Okay, that's why I don't work in that industry, plus I didn't really think it through.


Moving on to it's first function, an e-reader. Will the iPad (as I will refer to it now) be for books as the iPod was for music? The Amazon Kindle and similar e-readers are too specialized, though great products. I feel a multi-functioning device such as the iPad will do much better in the market (plus it doesn't hurt to be shiny and have an Apple logo on it). As for the screen, people are loving the e-ink displays because they're so easy to read, so is Apple going to put one of these in there? Not likely. Though they have the option of a new screen technology being engineered by a company called Pixel Qi (pronounced "chee"). The founder is the lady responsible for One Laptop Per Child's (OLPC) screens (the ones that went to poor countries). The screen in question, the 3Qi is capable of being a full LCD screen and, at a flick of a switch, a black and white "e-ink" type display. Using reflective mirror-like material, the ambient light is reflected back so that you don't have to use a draining backlight. Truly brilliant. We'll see if Apple is happy with the technology.


Next the other functions. It'll likely run all of the iPhone's/iPod Touch's apps on it in a large screen format. It'll be more powerful (I hope) and be wirelessly connected via Wi-Fi, HSDPA, and (cross-fingers), Verizon's CDMA. This, of course, means a monthly service plan. It'll likely have GPS and a camera too. The camera may even be front-facing for video chats, or it may have two cameras.


I was really hoping it wasn't going to be just a big iPod Touch, but it seems it's looking that way, at least appearance wise if we believe the leaked parts images on the net. I was hoping for some Mac OS X action on the thing, but I suppose we'll see in six days.


So after I complained about everyone else talking rumors all the time about Apple's mythical product, I turn around and do it myself. That's my way of getting back of them! Ha.

My take on new media...

New media...what is it exactly? Well, I think new media is any new medium of communication that allows interactivity between the billions of individuals out there. So, unlike print, the radio, and television (which only allows information exchanged from one to many), things like Twitter, Facebook, and blogging allow anybody to exchange information with anyone and everyone. Communication is the number one thing that has exponentially grown because of new media and technology in general. We certainly enjoy our individualism, but if communication grows any further, I think we'll soon be looking at a 24/7 connection to our society. **Geek Alert** Sort of like a Borg collective.

I'm a digital native...

Being born with technology around me, I tend to think of myself as a digital native. Though we didn't get our first computer until 1995 (when Windows 95 hit the market), I certainly quickly learned the ways of using the PC. Ever since, I was writing in Word, making slideshows in PowerPoint, and learning the powerful features of Excel. I had an email before most people my age, though I hardly used it. I chatted on the messengers late at night using the quick text that is now commonly found on cell phones' text messages. I've gone back to using full English, trying to stay away from the acronyms and short hand that people find "useful".

Now, I do print documents out and read them occasionally because I find that it's easier on my eyes now. In fact, I've used a computer so much, that they have started to give me migraines if I'm on them for an extended period of time. So after some research and suggestions from doctors and eye doctors, I purchased some Gunnar Optiks digital glasses to relieve my eye stress.

I suppose that shows you how much I use computers, devices, and digital media.