Assignment for 03/12

Create a wikispaces entry for your group project that consists of:

1. Three final project proposals that incorporate elements from what we've covered in class (blogs, audio, video, podcasts, open source, mash-ups), as well as mobile technology (which we haven't covered yet).

2. A production timeline with a start date of March 12 and an end date of April 15.

It's the News! Ep.1

Thrilling Episode One

Dear Convergence 2.0

Hey this is Scott. I have a huge mid-term in my video class and need to study more in a hopefully attempt to pass the midterm. I can be reached via the class blog, or via iChat AV. I read the blip about open source and feel fairly confident in my knowledge of open source, I apologize for not being in class - to everyone in class - have fun, and I'll see you all after spring break.

4Guys 8Bits

Download Episode Here!

Jody Explody's Badass Urban Jungle - Episode 0

Click to Play

Jody comes face-to-face with a rare Siberian Bibblebear.

02/26 class preview

We'll come back swinging on Monday after our Presidential break to talk Open Source.

Here's some starting points to explore.

Open Source

NOVA's Open Production

Archive.org's Open Source Collection

Creative Commons

Wikipedia and Wikispaces

Mash-ups
Google Maps Mash-up Site

Yahoo Pipes

Open Kapow

George Bush

Blogs - Blogs - Blogs

BLOGS _ BLOGS_ BLOGS-
No one reads my blog. It is fine with me, since I am not pretending to be the savvy blogger, however, it saddens me that these little bits and pieces of information are only there for myself and the database. Poor Oracle and Me, what are we to do? I guess we need to jazz things up by adding a cool snippet or something that the whole world can enjoy, so here we go. I am going to add a LINK (a link being a gateway to some garbage site that I am just hoping some lil blogger will click!) Office Space: Starring Google!! No I didn't write this, but you know someone who knows a lot about something did. All in all, Google announces today that they are going to compete with Microsoft's office and create their own office applications that can be stored online and reached from anywhere in the world. Now that has potential don't you think. Please any comments will be very much appreciated!!

- Scott

On being.

On Being is a special human interest video series put out as part of The Washington Post's interactive efforts. While their awesome flash website affirms my belief that flash video will take over the world, they also offer an iTunes and RSS feed.

I really like this weekly video format of what could be a random person on the street style interview in the paper. I do wish the videos were better edited with cleaner titles (and didn't look like mac commercials) but overall really interesting and well shot.

Found this link via Social Media, a good blog for cultural media observation along with some how to's thrown in there now and again. It's good to see what other standard news sources are offering as supplemental media as my current job is to do sort of the same thing. Thought this also may spark some final project ideas. "On being" a Northeastern Student? We could even tie it into pulse point? Just and idea.

Item posted from mobile device

Click to Play

02-12-07_1023.wmv

NU Job Profile

Episode one of a video podcast about job prospects at Northeastern University, created in class.

(QuickTime, 01:11, 6.7 MB)

Scott's Holiday Weekend Plans

Click to Play

Scott details his plans for the upcoming three day weekend.

Ryder Hall wordgames podcast

Check em out in my wordpress page. woot!

-Ryan

Pulse Point

Go there NOW!

Go See Pan's Labyrinth

Seriously, If you haven't gone yet because you have not heard about the movie, then go while it is still in theaters. I saw this movie on Friday and must say that I haven't seen a movie this good in a long time. There is gore, and fantasy, fiction and non-fiction all rolled into one really amazing film. The one set back is the fact that it is in Spanish ... but it does have subtitles and I would have to say that after a while the subtitles sort of disappear and you feel like you can speak Spanish. Well maybe not everyone is going to get that feeling, and you can wait for this film to come out on DVD in a few months with the English track. Anyways, for anyone who liked lord of the rings, and for anyone who likes slasher movies, and for anyone who likes really dark stories, than you'll love this movie. See you all on Monday.

-Scott

Rejected Cartoons.... just watch

Donut Hole Monday Mornings: Episode One

Download the debut episode of in-class created podcast.

"stuff we have" The Camera Connection

canon GL-1

manfroto tripod (the tripod shoe STAYS WITH THE TRIPOD)

lighting:

Two lowel Tota lights + 2 stands + 2 umbrellas + 2 power cables = full lighting kit

Shotgun mic (no battery)

10 footer xlr

lav mic

50 munchkins and Ravi stole the empty tape case (we saw you). 

noteing: XLR to mini cable and shotgun mic mount currently M.I.A.

Sign out gear from Ken.  Ken is on the 3rd floor in the printer room (or in one of the labs cursing at computers).  Or see the lab people (Jake). 

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Let's talk about sex in space

I’ve made some superficial changes to my blog’s CSS, but nothing fancy yet. The initial shock of being violently thrust into the world of blogs and blogging has worn off and I’m feeling considerably less hostile towards my new cyber prison (though no less cynical, it seems). During a routine scouring of useless information, I stumbled across this link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14002908/ I believe you will all find this extremely irrelevant.

I’ve spent some time getting cozy with LinkedIn, a social networking site geared towards ambitious professionals. Users can simultaneously search for business connections, long-lost classmates, and ask questions of specialists in any given field. I was surprised at the quality of search results in the job listings. Unlike more popular job search tools like Monster.com, LinkedIn seemed to display nothing but quality, specialized jobs that perfectly matched my skill sets. There was no need for me to weed through the results to find the jobs that suited me.

I was somewhat amused at LinkedIn’s incorporation of GoogleAds in the right nav menu. Evidentally, the fact that I listed my current occupation as a bike messenger prompted Google to spit out ads for courier services and dispatch software developers. Even though they blatently missed the mark with this, ya can’t blame them for trying!

To Title or not to Title

So during my week of changing my blog and getting acquainted with the new blogger I ran into the problem of not being able to add a title to my blog entries. I thought that I would be able to find the settings to change this but I gave up after getting frustrated and decided that it didn't even matter anyways. No one reads my blog. I hardly read my blog. view my blog Someone. Anyone. Read my blog. I'm not asking nicely I am making a formal command. Well the formality of a command rests in the person or persons being commanded so if you feel that I have gotten to you then come on and read my blog. In other news, I agree with Jake that mac likes to tease you into having all these great gadgets however not being able to use them. Like quicktime for instance. If you want to upgrade I think it cost me $75 bucks or something, maybe $35 I don't remember but that was just so I could make iPod videos, until I found that you could do it right through iTunes. These are the little things they don't tell you, so you feel like you have to upgrade. Also they give you awesome trial software that expires within 30 days of using it, like for instance iWork that comes with the amazing keynote and pages software. I love keynote and making presentations with it is easy, but once your 30 days is up, its pay up or go through the steps to find the serial online which can result in Spam Adult site pop-ups and trojan viruses. So I digress, read my blog which isn't really that cool - don't support Windows because Mac is superior and for god sake bring me coffee tomorrow morning!!

- Another meaningful rant by Me, Scott Haines

Apple & Podcasting

As an Apple lover, in most cases I will go out of my way to buy their products to support their cause (with the exception of my monitor at home, Dell was far too much of a deal to pass up), but when researching podcasts I came upon this link Creating Audio Podcasts and the very first step requires you to buy their Quicktime 7 Pro product if you don't already have it. This brings up the one issue that many people have with Apple and that is the fact that they come loaded with little to no software that is not already completely upgraded. I cringe when I say this, but Windows as far as I know releases Windows Media Player with everything. I mean Quicktime, unless you have the Pro version, doesn't even allow you to go full screen which is enough to piss a lot of people off. Oh well... I guess that's why people invented hacked serial numbers hahaha

Superbowl Saturday

Since it's the Saturday before Superbowl Sunday, it's a good time to post to see what everyone else's thoughts of the Superbowl is before it is played... Personally I hope the Bears win, but only because I have a severe disinterest in Peyton Manning... I hope the game is close, but I honestly think the Colts may blow the Bears outta the water... Is anyone doing anything special for the game?

Wordpress and CSS capability.

So Wordpress will let you edit your CSS layout all day, but if you actually want to SAVE any of the changes you've made it'll cost you the 15 dollar upgrade. Smart thinking. I suppose they give away enough API keys that people will write enough themes that do exactly what people want.  Creates a weird divide between the casual and advanced user though.  Depending on the theme there's a different amount of customization available right in the WP control panel. With the template I've chosen, changing the header was about as much as I could do. Other templates allow you to change background colors, fonts, images, etc all from little tabs built into the theme that show up in your presentation controls (or what they call Template in blogger). As a bi-blogging blogger user as well I've messed with templates all I care too. I had a more CSS and design savvy friend of mine hook up my current blogger so it looks all pretty.  Backgrounds and colors in CSS I could learn, design sense I don't have much of.

The good news is that Firebug works nicely in Flock.  I'm currently installing the wordpress platform on my webspace for my own and a friend's websites so I'm getting to learn the basics of mysql etc.  There I can edit my CSS fully and even download and install themes galore!  Firebug will hopefully come in handy as I take on CSS tasks there.  Again, they'll probably be minimal as I'm bringing in design help from the big guns.

So the CSS scoop on wordpress seems to be host it with them, find a theme you like, host it yourself, and get ready to rumble.  Many sites using the wordpress platform aren't even doing so just for blogging.  You can add limitless pages and tabs and customize as much as you like.   The platform just takes care of the databasing dirty work in a convenient free package.

For audio podcast I subscribed to the Stones Throw podcast.  There's an XML feed that will show up in your RSS reader, but you'll have to actually go the website and click the download link to get them through your browser.  They also offer a feed through the iTunes Music Store so that every time a new cast comes out it shows up in your podcasts playlist where you can click "Get" as apposed to "Buy."  While I don't believe in most of what the iTunes music store does on principle, free content this easily accessible cannot be denied.  As a forward thinking record label (with a clearly vintage influence) it's awesome that Stones Throw gives away so much music in this format.  While not all their podcasts feature Stones Throw music exclusively, if I hear a song from an album Stones Throw carries in the podcast, I'm more likely to buy it.  I'm also a vinyl collector and they offer everything in wax which makes it even better to float digital playlists making me want the hard copy even more. 

Wow that's a lot.  Alright other then that did everyone catch this bomb scare craziness yesterday?  Huge adult swim fan but that aside, why does Boston have to be the city to freak out about this?  Granted, probably a bad idea throwing these up under bridges where there wasn't other graffiti or signs or something.  Reminds me of Graffiti Research Lab stuff, only they seem to mix their stuff in so it's a bit less conspicuous.

Oh and in other other new, Flickr is making everyone get a Yahoo ID now if they want to sign in.  They're doing away with the old email log in system.  To many e-identities strikes again!!! 

one love. I'm out. 

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