Virtual reality 3D model of a human body

I spend a lot of time thinking about the year 2058. I was asked why and this was my response:

I think about 2058 because at one time I was pretty certain I was going to live until age 90. I’d be 90 in 2058. I still wonder if I’ll see the year 2058 and if I am alive will I be free of dementia to really know what’s going on?

Or will I see 2058 as someone else if there is such a thing as reincarnation?

Will the earth still be around? Or will it have been sucked into the vortex of a solar flare (since there is a hole the size of Texas now in the earth’s electro-magnetic field we may not have the same level of protection from solar flares – the really big ones that happen every 26,000 years….)

Or will someone finally lose it and set off the nukes?

If the earth IS still around, will it be inhabitable?

And I get really excited when I think of the technological advances that are possible over the next few decades. Look where we’ve come just over the last 100 years. Will we actually have microchips in every human? Will we have nano-cameras that can be released within the body to help diagnose disease? Will RFID chips be commonplace? National ID cards? Will there be flying vehicles by then? Or at least the first prototypes available to the public? Will we be able to order new body parts like hearts, lungs, discs, joints, etc. as if we were ordering replacement parts for our vehicles? In other words, will we finally figure out how to overcome the rejection process that so many people go through after an organ transplant? Should we? Just because we can do certain things, doesn’t mean we should…. where will stem cell research be? Cloning?

When we look back will we think about the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad with the same nostalgia as my grandparents cherished their Victrola phonograph?

Will nursing homes be blasting techno and rap music instead of big band or instrumentals?

And on and on … but you see where my mind goes and why I don’t sleep at night! ;0

In response, a friend sent me this really cool link about deep thinkers and their take on the year 2058. Enjoy!

Now before I say what I’m about to say, let me immediately establish the following:

I’m an Apple fan-grrl. Have been for years. I wax poetic about all things Apple. And I think Steve Jobs is brilliant and a master at what he does, albeit no one gets anything accomplished without a team. [Remember this it's important later].

And I want to say I am sincerely sorry for the health issues Jobs has had to deal with.

Having said that, is Steve Jobs losing it? Is he going from cool cat to crazy cat? Are the pressures of running Apple and ill-health taking a toll?

There’s no question, Jobs is sending out a big F You to Adobe, Google, Gizmodo, Mac OS X developers, and even iPad customers with the LIFETIME limit of 2 per person [or not - it's ummmm not clear].

Adobe Flash: I’ll be the first one to say I can’t stand Flash and as a Web Developer refuse to create websites in Flash. Adobe Flash is a resource hog and prone to a litany of issues that have all be discussed before. And I do agree with what Steve Jobs writes in his letter to customers and critics outlining why Adobe Flash is not available on the iPhone, iTouch, or iPad.

Steve Jobs has never been one to hold back on what he’s thinking and this is no exception: “About Adobe: They are lazy, Jobs says. They have all this potential to do interesting things but they just refuse to do it. They don’t do anything with the approaches that Apple is taking, like Carbon. Apple does not support

Flash because it is so buggy, he says. Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it’s because of Flash. No one will be using Flash, he says. The world is moving to HTML5.

However, also significant and not to be ignored is the fact that Adobe Systems Inc. won a Best of Show Vidy Award at NAB 2010 in Las Vegas this April. I think that’s pretty significant. And it could mean that Adobe’s Flash is not going away any time soon. Perhaps Adobe is innovating and creating software that will keep up with the future demands of mobile technology. I’m not convinced yet. I’m going to have to use it and see it implemented. Nevertheless, it’s worth noting.

As we know, the Jobs – Google cat fight has been ongoing beginning with the Google Voice app being rejected from the App Store and ramping up with Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt stepping down from Apple’s Board of Directors. At first we thought maybe Jobs and Google’s Schmidt were going to kiss and make up, as they were seen having a seemingly friendly chat outside a cafe in Palo Alto in March.

But tensions are still running high with Jobs saying Google’s ‘Don’t Be Evil’ mantra is ‘Bullshit’ and if you want to watch porn well then, buy an Android phone because Apple just isn’t that trashy.

“On Google: We did not enter the search business, Jobs said. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them, he says. Someone else asks something on a different topic, but there’s no getting Jobs off this rant. I want to go back to that other question first and say one more thing, he says. This don’t be evil mantra: “It’s bullshit.” Audience roars.

Steve Job’s response via email to a customer’s inquiry: “…we do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone. Folks who want porn can buy and [sic] Android phone.”

And next up Apple just bought Siri – which is a direct shot over the bow at Google’s voice-activated computing as reported in the New York Times yesterday.

Okay well… Adobe and Google are outsiders, you argue. It’s understandable because it’s Us vs. Them. As if…

Next up, Steve Jobs seems to have snubbed his own Mac OS X developers and iPad customers.

As reported by PCWorld, Apple drops Mac category from Apple Design Awards for the 2010 Worldwide Developers Conference. “I think it’s a mistake for Apple to miss such an easy opportunity to acknowledge Mac developers,” says Red Sweater Software proprietor Daniel Jalkut. “While the iPhone and iPad are understandably hot right now, the Mac is still a huge part of Apple’s business, and Mac developers are important in sustaining that.”

OUCH! I am left to sadly shake my head asking WHY??? WHY??? WHY would you do that, Mr. Jobs? (Okay everyone, say it with me – “No one gets anything accomplished without a team!”)

And I have to admit I was more than a little unnerved when it was reported that you could actually be banned for a LIFETIME from buying iPads. No really… apparently if you piss Apple off enough (even unwittingly) even YOU oh faithful Apple fan-boi or fan-grrl will be turned out onto the street and banished from the land of Apple.

Okay to be fair, perhaps Apple was just trying to prevent price gouging and trying to protect the unwitting consumers of such nefarious activity. Or maybe there was some international debauchery going on that we weren’t privy to. I mean after all, the iPad was even banned in Israel for God’s sake! (Maybe literally).

But there still seems to be a grey area about the limit of two and the lifetime ban and what all that really means. I legitimately bought two iPads after standing in line on release day. One for myself and one for a family member. In reality, my intentions as an early adopter were to just be able to experience this new, sexy technological wonder for about a month, then sell it and buy the Wi-Fi + 3G version when that one was released. But now I have a little reservation. Will I be banned from Apple if I buy another one? Will I be able to plead my case explaining my Apple addiction is harming no one but my bank account?

So what is it these days where it seems that Jobs is at odds with everyone?

It’s one thing to say, Okay… competition is a good thing. We’re going to build the best product out there and show people why they want to by our gadget x instead of their gadget y.

It’s quite another to publicly go for the throat of anyone who even slightly poses a threat of any kind.

It’s one thing to say, We really want to focus our attention on the iPhone, the iPad and the future of mobile computing, but let’s take a moment to give kudos where due and give a hand to all our hardworking Mac OS X developers who have had to take a back seat recently. They deserve recognition to.

It’s quite another to just snub them and drop them altogether from the upcoming 2010 WWDC. Ummmmm… de-motivational at minimum.

It’s one thing to stop people from buying 50 iPads on release day knowing they’re going to show up on eBay faster than someone can say “scalping”…

It’s quite another to have some kind of vague policy that leaves one scratching one’s head in confusion trying to figure out if some crime against Apple has been committed.

Now I know I’m oversimplifying things and there’s a cut-throat world out there that doesn’t play by the rules. Trade secrets and patents get stolen. Intellectual property leaks outside of determined boundaries. A young man’s drunken frivolity and irresponsibility have far-reaching consequences.

I have no illusions that we ARE all going to just get along or that we’re all going to join hands around a fire and sing Kumbaya. Life’s not fair. I get it.

Something I have learned though… is you don’t get very far in life alienating everyone around you. None of us gets very far with the “I’ll do it my damn self” attitude. Because believe me, sooner or later you’re going to need help with something and if all you hear are crickets in the background when you call out for help… well… eh hem… as I said before – no one gets anything accomplished without a team.

Nevertheless, it seems to me that Jobs is creating (or at least not squelching) a public relations nightmare for Apple. Just months ago, all the headlines were about the latest firmware or software innovations from Apple, people breathlessly speculating about some new shiny gadget or new apps. These days the majority of headlines seem to be about one cat fight or another with Steve Jobs, claws bared, center stage.

Are we going to find out he’s crazy like a fox and he has been right? That he was the only one with some cajones to call it like it is while others just look down whistling dragging their toe in the dirt?

Or will all the stunningly breath-taking technological innovations of the past decade fall into a heap of dust with Steve Jobs being remembered not as a … but just as that cat who went crazy?

I guess only time will tell.

So Google just released Google Earth for Google Maps. While playing around with this new gem of functionality, I decided to go back in time.

Here’s our house in England. Front window on the left is the bedroom my sister and I shared back in the 70s. =)

View Larger Map

How absolutely amazing that I can take a virtual trip down memory lane! I’m actually able to virtually *walk* around my old neighborhood and it’s just like being there again!

6 reasons why the iPad could be the ‘Star Wars’ of tablet computing :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Andy Ihnatko.

Since the iPad was on the horizon, I’ve had the almost daily argument with myself, “Should I?” “Shouldn’t I?” “Get an iPad? Or not…?” “Yes?” “No.” “Wait and see?” “Wait in line…”

And which one? The entry level iPad that’s 16GB and Wi-Fi only? Or the big dog that’s fully equipped and has an *enormous* 64GB drive…?

Am I willing to pay my arch-nemesis AT&T yet another chunk of change for yet another data plan? How important is having a 3G enabled iPad?

This article by Andy Ihnatko has me in the “need to get one” mood again. We’ll see where I am by the time the iPad is officially released.

Facebook Logo

I like to quickly and easily share news or blog articles I come across while surfing the web, just like thousands of others. ust about every website now has a share button of some kind, with Facebook, Twitter, and Email being the most popular choices offered.

Another *standard* is the ShareThis box offered by sharethis.com. Anyone who spends anytime surfing the web is familiar with this icon.

With all that sharing, you’d think all the bases are covered. Alas, not so…

For a very long time I have ended up posting articles to Facebook and Twitter, not because that’s where I really want to share the articles, but because it was the easiest way to go about it.

Where I really want to aggregate all this sharing is on my own self-hosted WordPress blog. But there’s just no Easy button for that. Or is there? In doing some research, I came across a workaround to get back on the easy button sharing bandwagon. It’s not as elegant as I’d like, but it works seamlessly nonetheless.

Remember the ShareThis option I referred to above? Well, there’s the familiar Blogger button. So what I finally ended up doing is creating a Blogger blog. Then I went to the Admin interface of my WordPress blog, and went to Tools >> Import >> Blogger. I then entered the information and presto… within seconds my blogger posts were seamlessly imported into my WordPress blog.

I can now surf the web and use the Blogger button to share articles of interest and have it automatically imported into my WordPress blog.

As I mentioned, this isn’t the best solution since I will now have two blogs in two different locations with identical content. A definite Google search engine listing no-no. But I cannot seem to come up with a better way to do this. Any suggestions?

Google logo

Well, I have to admit, I was a little surprised at Google’s announcement today regarding the release of their Public DNS system. My initial thoughts were:

1) WOW! This is very interesting in an exciting where will technology take us next sort of way!

2) YIKES! This is scary in a huge monopoly, big brother  we’re all going to become Google minions and be sucked into the Matrix sort of way.

3) How soon can I implement this to see if it works?!

Now, I know there are many people who are smacking their foreheads right now saying, You silly girl. You’re playing right into their hands. Your privacy has been stripped from you and you are already a minion! Shame on you!

To that I say simply, I know. By choosing to live on the grid in an industrialized nation I have traded my privacy for the conveniences of living a life with all the 1984 trappings.

Let’s be real here… by choosing to connect to the internet, create a Facebook account, own a cell phone, a credit card, and a bank account I assume I am being watched (no, not in a paranoid they’re out to get me sort of way – just in a practical you’re on the grid sort of way… … .. .the argument of what’s the difference is fodder for several more blog entries so I’ll leave it for now).

In reference to this quote from David Coursey in his PC World article, “Google Public DNS: Wonderful Freebie or Big New Menace,”

“The downside is that Google’s Public DNS will also give the Internet giant an unparalleled look what people are doing on the Internet. It will, for example, be able to log every DNS request made by every user of its system. If that doesn’t frighten you at least a little, it perhaps ought to.”

I would argue that if you’ve been using Google as a search engine over the past few years, every DNS request you’ve ever made has already been logged.

Further, if  you are one of the anti-Google purists who refuses to use Google for anything and instead use Yahoo!, Bing, AOL, or some other search engine I would argue that the same is true, every site you  have visited has been itemized and catalogued in a neat cyber-file with your name on it.

Folks, when I step out the front door of my house into the public domain of my city, I can see all the cameras at every intersection watching what I do.

Likewise, the internet is public. When a DNS request leaves the door of my router out into the public domain of 1s and 0s, I assume that everything I do is being watched.

Reasonable expectation of privacy as defined by law states that if someone is walking down the sidewalk in front of my house and my blinds are wide open, it is perfectly reasonable to assume that if that person glances over and looks in my window he will see whatever is going on and so what? Don’t cry about it later.

It is not, however, reasonable to assume that said person will climb the nearest tree with binoculars and peer into my second floor windows whether the blinds are drawn or not.

Similarly, the debate between technological advances vs reasonable expectation of privacy will continue. Some time ago, my friend Michael Jones posted this question on Facebook:

“Do you think a business and/or colleges should be allowed to check a person’s facebook site before admission/hiring???“

This was my reply:

“Whether they should or shouldn’t is irrelevant, because the fact is they do. Further, there are some occupations where one is inherently held to a higher standard such as various law enforcement professions and teachers.

Yes, what you do in your spare time IS your business, but if you’re engaging in certain behaviors and choose to make it public on FB, MySpace, Twitter etc., then be prepared for the consequences.

Law enforcement, colleges, and prospective employers are all very active on social networking sites, and that’s not likely to change.

Net neutrality means we have the freedom to post just about anything we want, but it also means others are allowed to view the public forum and formulate opinions about our character.“

We can argue forever if what we do in public should be watched and catalogued, or  not. But the bottom line is, you can assume that it is. And if this makes you uncomfortable, you know what to do…. Unplug.

So I started doing some research on the integration of social options for you loyal readers of my blog and I was presented with two salient choices. Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect.

Obviously, I looked at Facebook Connect first since I spend so much time on Facebook. Most all articles were unanimous in saying that if you can actually get through the setup, Facebook Connect is beautiful and seamless… BUT… (that’s an enormous BUT *giggle*) it’s geared toward developers and code junkies.

Here are some of the articles I read, if you are interested:

Facebook Connect vs Google Friend Connect: Fight! December 5th, 2008 | by Stan Schroeder

Google Friend Connect vs Facebook Connect video

Easy Does It: Google Friend Connect One-Ups Facebook Connect’s Install Wizard by Jason Kincaid on October 2, 2009

So, I’m not going to shy away from a challenge, but I started looking more closely at Google Friend Connect to see what they had to offer. Here we have a situation typical of Google… just push the big red easy button, as Jason Kincaid eluded to. Okay… it wasn’t quite THAT easy. But within five minutes I had my Google Friend Connect box implemented and tested on my blog.

To get started I went to http://www.google.com/friendconnect and clicked on the big blue Get Started button.

Google Friend Connect sign up page

From there, I entered in the required information and followed the instructions to create the html code for my site. Once that was completed, I was ready to insert the code into my blog.

Signing up for Google Friend Connect

This presented somewhat of a glitch, as I’m using a different theme than the default (shocking I know) so I didn’t want to do anything that was going to break the theme code. Conveniently, I came across this blog that explained the easiest way to achieve my goal was to simply create a new text widget and then place the widget wherever I wanted my Google Friend Connect box to appear. Thank you to Don Campbell for providing that helpful hint!

Success! =)

Now after all that, please feel free to join my blog community by using this nifty Google friend connect widget! =)

If you prefer to wait for Facebook connect, that’s okay also. I’ll be adding that soon. Personally right now, I figure options are always good.

So I was making way around the web this morning, as I always do… funny how we have our certain habits… get up, stumble to the bathroom, take the dog out, make the first cup of tea for the day and ….. wait for it….. log in.

Anyway, as I was perusing the morning’s offerings from various links, I came across this interesting, albeit short, article from Tech Crunch:

Google Wave’s Little Secret: It Already Works On The iPhone by Erick Schonfeld on October 13, 2009. So I decided to try it out. I’ve already used Google Wave on my iPhone. Of course, I had to try it out the first day I had access to Wave, but I didn’t go so far as to save it as a bookmark on my home page.

This is interesting because at first glance, it appears that Google Wave doesn’t work at all on the iPhone yet.

Google Wave warning page on the iPhone's Safari browser.

This time, I went to wave.google.com in my iPhone’s Safari browser and clicked through past the warning.

Then I saved my wave page as a bookmark on my homepage and the nifty little Wave (app) icon appeared.

Google Wave (app) icon

The moment of truth… I opened the icon (app) and sure enough… success!

A view of looking at Google Wave without the Safari browser wrapper.

For those of you who are unable to get this method to work, there is a third party app available if you’d like to try it out:

Waveboard Puts Google Wave iPhone Application Up For Sale by Robin Wauters on November 4, 2009. This app is also still rudimentary and buggy, so it’s still an *almost app.* Considering Google Wave itself is still in beta testing, that’s to be expected.

Now the question is when Google Voice will be making it’s iPhone debut… I know… I always want more! =)

So yesterday, I finally got my invite to Google Wave. Yippppeeeeee!!!!

I spent most of today watching all the *Getting Started Videos* and playing around with the functionality.

What IS Google Wave? Only the next biggest thing EVER… as far as the internet is concerned. Web 3.0 is cresting and about to hit shore in a big way!

Ever since I’ve had this blog I’ve been searching for a way to easily share various pages and news stories I see out on the web as I’m surfing around. Even though there is a built in, easy way to *share* if you use Blogger or a WordPress blog on WordPress.com, there is really no easy way to share if you are hosting your own WP blog on your own domain.

Another issue I’ve had is the tedious API setup between Facebook and WordPress. Yes, it can be done. I am able to integrate my Facebook and WordPress blog. But the answers out there are not for the faint of heart. Or should I say, faint of code…

Not to mention, there seems to be a slant toward being able to embed WordPress blog posts into your Facebook newsfeed, but not so much the other way around. What I’m looking for is the ability to be able to have true sharing between my blog and my Facebook account. The truth is, most everything I post on Facebook, I’d rather post on my own blog, but Facebook makes it easier. Until now…

Google Wave may just be the answer I have been searching for. I don’t know if Google Wave will end up being the demise of Facebook. I’d be perfectly content if my Facebook account and my Google account could have a symbiotic relationship. Google already has a significant following on their Fan Page on Facebook.

Development is already underway for integrating Google Wave into Drupal-based websites.

And Mashable has done a (s)mashing job of providing a Complete Google Wave User Guide.

All I really know for sure, is I want to have a simple way to build MY internet the way I want to!!! Will Google Wave make this possible? Well, I’ve decided to grab my surfboard and find out. =)