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Ignore this post. I'm just testing the new image uploading feature in Live Writer. Turns out they've added several new features, including adding watermark text and photo effects!
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I'm typing this post from the latest beta version of Windows Live Writer. v1.0.1 replaces the previously available v1.0 and makes some subtle changes. Most notably, it vastly simplifies the experience of adding a new blog. Just enter your blog's web address, your username, and your password, and Live Writer does all the rest. It not only figures out what type of blogging engine you're using, but also downloads your style template so you can see how your posts will look on the live website as you're editing them offline. Note, if you've used a previous version of Live Writer, you'll need to re-download the editing styles from your pre-existing blogs.
Another great feature of Live Writer is the ability to automatically upload photos via the new Media Object API or to an FTP server. This dramatically improves my own blogging experience, so expect to see more photos in my posts from now on.
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According to this article, the typical household PC+Monitor consumes 588 kwH/year, or roughly the equivalent of 12000 microwave meals/year. Now consider the impact that high load datacenters must have on the environment! A new software package developed by a Seattle firm lets IT admins monitor the power consumption across their networks and set up time-based power management schemes. For example, your web servers could go into "low performance" mode during the off hours and only ramp up for heavy power loads when traffic peaks mid-day. Very cool!!
Perhaps WorldChanging's manifesto is right. The pieces are here... we just need to get people to use them!
Via: WorldChanging.org (I love this site!)
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WorldChanging.org is based on the concept that all the pieces we need to save the planet are already here. We just need to connect each other to them and bring the ideas together to a solution.
Noted science fiction author Bruce Sterling called it "The most important website on the planet."
The site is broken down into sections focusing on green business, building, consumerism, city development, community, politics, and planetary concerns. Browsing for just a few short minutes, I found several interesting articles and quickly found myself spinning off into other .org sites.
A new 600 page book by the authors of the site is now shipping. I'm not sure how useful that will be, seeing as how "if it's in print, it's out of date". But whatever helps them get more visibility on the issues, more (green) power to them!
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On the eve of the Great Windows Vista Rollout, you might find yourself wondering, "Which version of Vista should I get?" This handy chart from Microsoft.com will explain it all. Basically, if you don't want the neighbor's kids laughing at your kids, you should buy Ultimate. Anything less is just being cheap.
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According to a recent NPR report, as many as 14 "mercury hotspots", where mercury levels are considered to be unsafe, have been discovered in the northeastern United States. The mercury comes from a combination of sources, the largest being coal-fired power plants. New techniques for measuring mercury levels were employeed to find the spots in New York, New Hampshire, and as far north as Nova Scotia.
If you don't live in the region, you should still take note. Fish from the Northeast and Southeast Canada is shipped worldwide.
Listen: Questions Raised About Mercury 'Hot Spots' in the U.S.
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I watched the supplemental material from "An Inconvenient Truth" tonight and it fired me up again. HIs stats (if correct) on Global Warming are astounding. If we keep pumping 70 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every day, disaster looms ahead. The melting of Siberia's permafrost alone could release another 70 million tons of methane into the atmosphere. 35 glacial earthquakes measuring 5.0 or higher on the Richter scale (the most ever) were recorded last year on Greenland.
I'm usually not an alarmist. In fact, I tend to be a little conservative by nature. But Gore paints a pretty grim picture backed up by quite a bit of fact in this film. If you haven't seen it yet, grab a friend and watch it together. You'll need someone to help close your mouth when it's over.
But maybe all is not lost. According to this MSNBC article, both consumers and companies might be waking up. Sales of Hummers are down 10.9 percent this year (so why do I see SO many in my neighborhood?). Several large US corporations have joined forces to petition for a national limit on carbon emissions. Is this just lip service? How are they going to police this? If the theory on melting ice shelves is true, you'd think it'd be the insurance companies with clients on the coastline pressing for carbon limits.
So in the spirit of the future, I whipped up a new site banner tonight using a few borroed images and the free CTP of Microsoft's Expression Graphic Designer. If you haven't tried it yet, you're missing out!
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Amazing video from Japan of the trench scene done entirely with.... hands?
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Bottom line: Fantastically cool.
I spent some time over the weekend playing around with the new Speech Recognition (SR) features in Windows Vista. My setup includes a Logitech USB headset with noise canceling microphone connected to my Toshiba M200 Tablet PC running Windows Vista Ultimate.
Performance has been outstanding - I haven't really noticed any significant impact on application speed while running SR.
Learning the basics of Vista SR has gone fairly smoothly so far. You can control SR by saying things like "undo that" or "start Outlook". All in all, the voice commands are basically what you'd expect to have to say to your computer to get it to do what you want (minus the 4 letter words, perhaps). Dictation is also very nice. For some reason (I haven't looked up the specifics of the programming constraints yet), it wouldn't work with the Community Server text editor, so I couldn't dictate this blog post as I had intended.
Combined with the Natural Language Search feature, you can say things like, "Start. Holy Grail. Search the Internet" or "Find all pictures from 2006". Pretty slick!
To Learn More: Visit Microsoft's Windows Vista Features webpage to learn more about speech recognition and other cool new features in Vista.
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Ok, I have to give credit... this is kind of funny. I wonder if they make one to help you through those embarrassing iPod moments too?
Via: Tomato75
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According to user reviews and ratings at CircuitCity.com, the Zune is loved more by customers than the 30GB Video iPod! 80 customers have rated the Zune at 4.7 overall, and 377 users rated the 30GB Video iPod at 4.3 overall. Obviously, more people have voted on the iPod, but that's a fairly significant difference. When I checked a couple of weeks ago, the Zune was at 4.6 from 56 users. Of course, it's a scientific process for determining which player is better, but if the customer is always right, there may be something to this.
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Some co-workers were passing around this video clip of the icy roads in Portland, Oregon this week & what happens when drivers don't pay attention to the weather reports, friction, or gravity.
"Heads up!"
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When is the last time you saw a character on a major primetime TV show driving a hybrid? Chances are, they're pushing something much less fuel efficient. Take for example those fancy decked-out Hummers on CSI:Miami. Granted, maybe they need to have that Hummer-ness available for driving over alligators in the Everglades while chasing the bad guys, so I'll cut them some temporary slack. When the hybrid Tahoes come out, think they'll switch?
What about CFCs? You know, those little curly fluorescent lights that consume a mere 10% of the energy of a standard luminescent bulb and last 10 years, saving you an average of $37/bulb in energy and replacement costs? How about some focus on those in an episode of "Boston Legal"?
Or maybe something as simple as recyling... Instead of wadding up his report card, maybe Bart Simpson could recycle it before Homer finds out he flunked remedial grammar again?
Kudos to "My Name Is Earl" for their green-living episode last year, even if Christian Slater was portrayed as an extremist nutcase living in a house made of dung. At least MYIE had the guts to raise a little awareness for crying out loud.
Hollywood - you're all a bunch of liberals and creative types, so why not find a way to leverage your Great Power and take a little Responsiblity for waking America up to the fact that we're all doomed to swimming to work unless we do something?
And yes, I realize a 24 mph car chase between a hybrid cop car and a hybrid bad guy wouldn't be much fun to watch. Or would it?