Shameless plug

Not so shameless....it comes as no surprise, I am a huge google fan, and of course leverage a number of the tools coming out of the googleplex. I am asking each of you to check out the Free GooglePack....I know you already have some of these tools so why download....well easy you can opt out of the things you already have from the web page. So do me a HUGE favor and click the button to the RIGHT--->> in the sidebar and go get yourself some great software for the right price $0.

For those of you not familiar, GooglePack includes: GoogleEarth, Picasa, A Photo Screensaver, Google Desktop, Google toolbars for IE, Firefox, Norton Antivirus , AdAware SE, Adobe Reader, GoogleTalk, Skype, GoogleVideo Player, and an HD Image Player. You don't need to include everything, you can easily pick and choose what you need.

Get the googlepack, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Dennis
wonderfunk

String Theory in Two Minutes or Less

What a great contest.

microdose if you are reading I think this contest is tailor made for you.

Discover Magazine has a brilliant contest challenging people to video tape themselves explaining string theory in 2 minutes or less, using what ever props they would like. Better hurry deadline is March 16th.

I am listening to: Presidents of the United States of America

Yahoo Pipes Beta

Pipes:

Pretty cool aggregator+

In their own words:

Pipes is a free online service that lets you remix popular feed types and create data mashups using a visual editor. You can use Pipes to run your own web projects, or publish and share your own web services without ever having to write a line of code.

Here is an aggregate pipe I created....if you like this blog you will probably like this pipe....it is a subset of what I read daily.

What I am listening to: Wild Fire by Nelson DeMille

perrine pods

I very much think the modular modern home is a great idea.

Enter perrine architecture with their perrine pod (available Mar 1) Not only is this cool on one story, but they are stackable to 30 stories and the expandable to your hearts content. Think life size lego home on steroids with a great look. Anyway if you spend some time and poke around their site, they have already thought of some cool ideas.

From the architect:

Picture a design so sophisticated and fabulous that it seems futuristic, yet so simple and uncomplicated that you wonder why no one has thought of it before.

"My design is about appreciating the beauty of simple, uncluttered space." The perrinepod is very functional, very sexy, very simple, with the form of the spaces inside following the function, there's no pretense, just simple, beautiful designs. It's a really cool thing to have no falseness - for example, the bathrooms are simply designed as a place to wash, backed up by quality materials.

Living spaces have become as transient and irrelevant as clothes. It's no longer a look for a generation, the look of 'now' only lasts for a three to four year period.

That approach is not sustainable and people are putting themselves under a lot of unnecessary pressure trying to keep up. The Perrine Pod is the antithesis of all of that - simple design, beautiful materials that will remain classic. It's not a 'look at me' statement, but a home that is comfortable, stylish and above all, functional."

- Jean-mic Perrine

Anyway, I'm a fan....I wish the price point wasn't outrageous, but hopefully this will come down over time, or someone will blatently rip-off the idea and provide it more affordably.

Mother Nature - Fibonacci meets Fractals to create the coolest vegetable ever

Presenting the Romanesco Cauliflower
50 seeds for $3.99

From WebProNews.com

Steve Jobs Blasts Teachers Unions

Submitted by David A. Utter on Mon, 02/19/2007 - 06:35.

Apple's CEO has a problem with public schools that he sees as rooted in the unions that prevent principals from firing underperforming teachers.

Even though Jobs shared a Texas stage with Dell's co-founder and CEO, Michael Dell, the iconic Apple executive stole the show at an education reform conference. He criticized teachers unions and textbook publishers during a talk that received applause from attendees.

An AP report on his remarks cited Jobs' observation that no amount of technology could turn around classroom performance. Jobs compared the inability to fire poor teachers to a small business that couldn't get rid of its bad employees.

He called out unions for specific criticism:

"I believe that what is wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way," Jobs said.

"This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the-charts crazy."

Some observers commenting on Jobs' remarks saw money as the cure. Said Robert Scoble:

If you want better schools, pay teachers $80,000 a year or more, AND give the staff power to get rid of bad apples (bad pun, given the cause of today’s post, I know) and you’ll see school quality turn around in an instant.

Don Dodge disagreed with the money argument:

The problem is not money. Schools already get more than 50% of the local budgets in most cities and towns. Health care is the same deal. We spend more per capita on health care than any country in the world. The problems with education and health care are not lack of funding. The problem is lack of incentive.

Dell chose to keep his remarks less incendiary. He said a less-competitive job market for principals contributed to the problems in schools.

Silverjet - great idea in air travel

I'm lucky enough to be on the East Coast and probably have a few trips required to London this year. The Silverjet idea is awesome...take a Boeing 767 which normally holds 300, gut it, put in 100 seats and 5 bathrooms, and charge $1600 for a round-trip...Oh did I mention the seats lie flat at 6'3" and the meals and service are top shelf. Every passenger gets a personal entertainment system and a library of things to pick from.

To top it all off they are the first airline to go Carbon Dioxide Neutral.

I love it when companies shake it up and while not ignoring capitalistic instincts. Then again I guess we need to check back in 5 years to see if they are bankrupt, but until then I'm a fan.

Reinvigorate, RubyForge, Protopage vs. Netvibes, Splashr, WikiWalki, Pad Thai for beginners, TicTrak

Catching up....I have a bunch of links I have been meaning to blog about, so here they are, enjoy:

Reinvigorate

I got an invite to this private beta...looks great from a stat collection and analysis standpoint. I'll let you know more in a view weeks.

RubyForge

Great site, I have recently being using a tool called tracks, so I had to install Ruby on Rails on my PC, and since its already there, I started looking for other cool tools that I might like. RubyForge has been a very valuable tool for finding them.

Protopage vs. Netvibes: conclusion coming soon

I am wrapping up my multi-month comparison, and will write about my results shortly.

splashr

Ok so I got a new camera and I have been snapping shots left and right. Nevertheless I have been actively leveraging my flickr account. I ran across this tool and I love it particularly for distributing a nice dispaly of tagged shots.

WikiWalki

A community edited trail guide.....Finally, now it just needs to get populated.

Pad Thai for Beginners

My favorite dish! Last year I got on a kick and must have made twenty different types of Pad Thai....here is my gift to you. Pad Thai is a great canvas for experimentation....Have fun.

TikTrac

Time tracking is a hassle, but its a necessary evil as well sometimes. Try TikTrac

Almost forgot this wild instructable....bound to get lots in trouble for v-day

listening to: The Gorillaz

Everyone's Favorite Blog

The World Is Flat

Curious what people have thought about this book. I've read it, I like it....my only criticism is that while I think Friedman draws brilliant conclusions, connects a lot of dots and I admire him....I do think his tech sense and timing is a little behind. Living a large scale transition to Bangalore right now, I think has made this more timely for me. Anyway watch this video of Friedman covering this book at MIT, made available to everyone for free....an effort worthy of applause. This one is worth it.

Reasons to remodel

This gigged out john by Roto-Rooter is perfect. Xbox, Laptop, Kegerator, printer, iPod

Princess Bertha

Princess Bertha of Schwenksville

Find a Conference or Meeting with this great web 2.0 tool

Enter: Confabb

Their words:

Confabb combines an aggregate database of major conferences, conventions, and trade shows sorted by industry with social networking tools designed to empower conference attendees to improve their overall experience.

My thoughts: Finally, the task of finding a relevant conference especially when your work changes domains frequently has always been a hassle, well no more.