There seems to be something of a dearth of blog posts on my part. As one of my (probably 2 or 3) readers pointed out to me, I haven't blogged in a while. He's over 100 posts for the year so far. Van Damme as a coworker would say. There is a lot to write about and I am not really quite sure where to begin so I'll try and start with something simple... cool things I got used to in 2008.
One of the coolest things I got introduced to and use a lot is pandora. Its a music service that attempts to play music it thinks you might like based on stuff you've listened to before. Its awesome. Unfortunately, it does not seem to work outside of the US due to various copyright restrictions etc. I like Pandora. I usually have it running on my desktop at home or at work... and for the few weeks that I had the iPod touch, I used pandora a lot to listen to music through it. I only wish there was a pandora application for my blackberry. Some day.
In a similar vein, the next thing that I have started using (albeit late in the year) is hulu. Again, I think hulu works only in the US (though someone in Canada did say they could watch stuff via hulu) due to copyright restrictions etc. Hulu lets you watch TV shows and movies online. This is pretty cool. Don't have cable and want to watch the Daily Show? Go to hulu. Want to watch Da Vinci's Inquest? Its on Hulu too.
Both these technologies allow for the streaming of media in a relatively painless manner. What I mean by that is that my mother could probably figure out how to use both of those technologies and get something good out of it. And I think that is important. What various companies and organisations have tried for a while and has had little success with is now easily available for the average person. And it works on my Linux box just as nicely as any other. I can't wait for the day when I can watch hulu on portable devices like the iPod touch and even on your televison (why not watch the Daily Show on a 52" LCD screen if you have one?).
Facebook. It seems everyone uses it. I think I have spent more time in the last year using facebook than anything else. That's kind of sad because I've lost a lot of hours to it. It is one of those technologies that makes you wonder how you lived life without it. Google Maps is another one like it btw. I know there are other variants of it like My Space and Orkut... but really, facebook is it for me. Add to it, the chance to get back in touch with friends from the past and see their pictures... it's a pretty cool web property.
I also use some aggregators for keeping track of things. I use a few of them to keep up to date on good deals for stuff I probably don't need. As an aside, I've been trying to justify buying an SLR like Nikon D90 (or the D300 or the D3...) and that is on my list of things I look for deal-wise. There are other uses for such aggregator/social bookmarking or whatever you want to call it behaviour. Kayak is somewhat similar in terms of aggregation for airline tickets. Its simple to use and works well. The last one that I have been using a fair bit of late is travelzoo. They keep track of supposedly good travel/vacation deals. I've not got anything from there yet, but I almost booked my way to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day this coming March.
I love cars. Most people who know me know that. I've seen 2 cars this year that make me wish I had lots of money on the one hand... and wish I lived in California. The two are of course the Tesla Roadster and the Honda FCX Clarity. I don't use either of these or own a car that I use (but I do pay for a car in Vancouver...) but if I could own a car today and money was no issue, I would seriously consider one of these two. Or the Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR Stirling Moss... but its environmental credentials would make many people cringe.
I think that's about the list of things I used through the year, wished I had etc. Now if only we had a very efficient way to remove excess cholesterol from the blood stream with no side-effects... that would be awesome. Maybe by next year.
One of the coolest things I got introduced to and use a lot is pandora. Its a music service that attempts to play music it thinks you might like based on stuff you've listened to before. Its awesome. Unfortunately, it does not seem to work outside of the US due to various copyright restrictions etc. I like Pandora. I usually have it running on my desktop at home or at work... and for the few weeks that I had the iPod touch, I used pandora a lot to listen to music through it. I only wish there was a pandora application for my blackberry. Some day.
In a similar vein, the next thing that I have started using (albeit late in the year) is hulu. Again, I think hulu works only in the US (though someone in Canada did say they could watch stuff via hulu) due to copyright restrictions etc. Hulu lets you watch TV shows and movies online. This is pretty cool. Don't have cable and want to watch the Daily Show? Go to hulu. Want to watch Da Vinci's Inquest? Its on Hulu too.
Both these technologies allow for the streaming of media in a relatively painless manner. What I mean by that is that my mother could probably figure out how to use both of those technologies and get something good out of it. And I think that is important. What various companies and organisations have tried for a while and has had little success with is now easily available for the average person. And it works on my Linux box just as nicely as any other. I can't wait for the day when I can watch hulu on portable devices like the iPod touch and even on your televison (why not watch the Daily Show on a 52" LCD screen if you have one?).
Facebook. It seems everyone uses it. I think I have spent more time in the last year using facebook than anything else. That's kind of sad because I've lost a lot of hours to it. It is one of those technologies that makes you wonder how you lived life without it. Google Maps is another one like it btw. I know there are other variants of it like My Space and Orkut... but really, facebook is it for me. Add to it, the chance to get back in touch with friends from the past and see their pictures... it's a pretty cool web property.
I also use some aggregators for keeping track of things. I use a few of them to keep up to date on good deals for stuff I probably don't need. As an aside, I've been trying to justify buying an SLR like Nikon D90 (or the D300 or the D3...) and that is on my list of things I look for deal-wise. There are other uses for such aggregator/social bookmarking or whatever you want to call it behaviour. Kayak is somewhat similar in terms of aggregation for airline tickets. Its simple to use and works well. The last one that I have been using a fair bit of late is travelzoo. They keep track of supposedly good travel/vacation deals. I've not got anything from there yet, but I almost booked my way to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day this coming March.
I love cars. Most people who know me know that. I've seen 2 cars this year that make me wish I had lots of money on the one hand... and wish I lived in California. The two are of course the Tesla Roadster and the Honda FCX Clarity. I don't use either of these or own a car that I use (but I do pay for a car in Vancouver...) but if I could own a car today and money was no issue, I would seriously consider one of these two. Or the Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR Stirling Moss... but its environmental credentials would make many people cringe.
I think that's about the list of things I used through the year, wished I had etc. Now if only we had a very efficient way to remove excess cholesterol from the blood stream with no side-effects... that would be awesome. Maybe by next year.
Comments