Quis custodiet ipsos custodes

By now most people have heard of the situation in Lower Merion PA where a student was given a laptop and information from that laptop was used to discipline the kid for something he did at home. There are a lot of vague areas about this story so I’m going to try to stick to what we know for certain, anything else only furthers the hysteria which is bound to follow.

We know that the laptops given to the students had software installed on them which was able to access the webcam and monitor the system in case of theft to allow them to be recovered. We know that a student was disciplined for an action either view through the camera or from an image taken with the laptop camera. This image was obtained through the use of this software by a school official or teacher.  Other students have reported seeing the camera led activity indicator turn on for no reason, although this is just heresay at this point Read the rest of this entry »

First question people usually ask me upon seeing my Podcamp Philly shirt, or hearing me talk about Podcamp is “What is a Podcamp?” There are plenty of definitions floating around but the one that Usually works for me is some derivation on this.

Podcamp: A low cost conference for anyone interested in any aspect of  podcasting, video blogging, of new media pursuits in general. From business to personal, listener to producer, beginner to expert there is always something for anyone being presented.

Anything more for a definition and we get into the more philosophical, and obtuse, and no one needs that.

Now that we know what it is, why should you bother going?

The People:

Despite what many people in the world of podcasting would like to think its not yet a universal medium. And more often than not if you tell someone you run a podcast you’re going to get a blank stare or the dreaded question… Don’t I need an iPod to listen to those?

Podcamp is about meeting like minded people, passion feeds on like minded souls. If you thought you were excited about your show, or interested in the space before I challenge you to come to one of these events and not come away excited, energized and full of brand new ideas.

The Refill:

Every year as the Calendar turns to September and October I find myself stagnant in my show. I need to change something I need to branch out and Podcamp Philly fills that void. It allows me to share what I know with others and realize I’m much further along tha I ever thought i was.

As a podcaster more often than not we run a solo gig, you might have a friend or two who listens, gives feedback or even appears on an episode. A podcamp is the perfect place to bounce ideas off others, fine tune your craft or Strech your wings.

If you’re in the Philly Area you owe it to yourself to stop by Podcamp Philly being held October 3rd and 4th at Temple University. If you’re not local find your closest podcamp and join in the conversation.

For those of you not yet in the know there is a new search engine on the Internet recently. Well to be precise its not really a search engine. Wolfram Alpha describes itself as a “Computational Knowledge Engine”There have been quite a few different opinions floating about concerning what the site is and isn’t I’ll let you in on some of my thoughts.

A little decoder ring physics and you can come to understand that this websites database is driven entirely by data. Comparative data, general information, cold hard stats. Any way you slice it this site is not meant to erase or supplant Google. Its meant to be an entity of its own. Read the rest of this entry »

Well its earth day once more, we’re all a year further into the Green revolution. but too often people spend time focusing on the big things, such as Solar Panels, Biofuels, Green Energy, and they forget that the small things add up pretty quick. As Coffee and Tea drinkers we should be doing our own small part to save the environment one cup of beverage at a time.

Coffee Grounds:

Even if you don’t have a “compost pile” per say there is nothing stopping you from using an old coffee can to store used grounds. Then take the grounds and add them liberally to any houseplant you are re-potting, or any garden you are tending.

Coffee grounds are naturally acidic, however during the process of brewing liquid gold you leech most of the acidity out of the grounds. By the time you end up using them they won’t change the ph of your soil one way or another.  The used grounds are not only a great way to retain moisture in the soil as they absorb quite well, but they also add nitrogen back into the soil.

For gardens coffee grounds also are great food for worms, even going so far as to attract them, and more worms means better soil.

Tea Bags:

tea Bags, even the Herbal infusions are also compost-able, the bags themselves might take a bit longer the decompose than the leaves inside so feel  free to rip the bag open and scatter the leaves about. I have heard different people tell me that the tanic acid in tea bags also prevents root rot, and different root problems. These seasoned farms bury a handful of teabags in the soil near their root veggies with grea12t results.

Espresso Pucks are Awesome!

I clear a small patch of dirt right next to a lot of my flowering plants and drop the whole puck right into the soil, cover it up and we’re ready to go.

That’s it, just a small article on a tiny way you can lessen the drain on landfills, and your impact on the environment as a whole. Go Forth and go Green

Doing a podcast like mine is a huge undertaking when you look into the details.  From soup to nuts a show with as many moving parts as mine has to have a ton of content to draw from.

I’ve had a great weekend reconnecting with family and friends. IRL, Real life sometimes get a chance to showcase the power of the tactil realm by overshadowing events. Its been a great weekend. I got to meet a twitter friend and discuss the organic nature of the service. I got to have plenty of Coffee and Creme Stout from a local brewery, and I got to spend plenty of time with friends and family. So all in all the weekend was very tech free, which was nice. But as a lovely side dish I’m now almost completely tapped out of any energy reserve, which is why I’m putting the show for tonight off.

I had every intention of doing a really bang up version of the show for tonight. But the fuel cells need a little extra sleep before they try to tackle the week. I’ll be putting out a much better episode this coming wednesday as per usual, and hopefully plenty of  tasty articles and fun cruft will keep your whistle whetted. Thanks in advace for understanding.

Deadlines Suck!

Sometimes you just don’t have enough time to get your work done. And lets be honest you’re probably more than a little behind due to some time management issues as well. But going over that tired ground won’t help you stay up any later, any safer. Ands frankly you don’t have time to read a long drawn out article to get your jitter and shake free caffeine fix. Productive hours is what your looking for, not strung out on some energy drink crash at 2am a mere two coherent paragraphs away from a brilliant paper.

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Start Mooing!

The world of micro transactions steps a little further into view today. The video game industry has decided that this is not only a lucrative way to take more money away from people, but they can sell it as a value added feature as well. I can’t stand the idea that after I pay hard earned coin for a game that I need to fork over more money for content that is either already on the disk or should have been. Here is what we have.

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Another Earth Day rolls around on the calendar to find that being green is getting easier. Adoption of CFL’s as alternatives to Edisonian Incandescents are taking off. Al Gore has throw down with a new presentation that is getting some notice. And very worth your time to watch. I’ve talked about it before but sometimes things are more than buzzwords. Green carries so much more weight than just its pigment nowadays, and its making it easier and cheaper to do things the right way. Recycling is just the start we need to move beyond blue buckets at the curb and into the houses themselves.

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One of the biggest problems I see people grapple with when trying to print photographs and graphics out on their color inkjet printers is that the finished product doesn’t always come out the way you expect it to. I spend a good deal of my time in my day job helping people fix their wonky documents and get the best possible result when trying to showcase their work in printed form. So Why not spread the love even more and distill the information into a small article for you. I have a couple of short tips and some terminology to help you out. However with a topic as huge and as technical as this its better broken up into usable chunks. Read the rest of this entry »

Thats it Folks, Today is the Adopt a Newb Celebration 2008.

Here is a short primer for what today is supposed to be. Each one of us no matter the level of your technological skill has someone to thank for help along the way. Today is the day I have been pushing and celebrating for the past 3 years as the day to pay it forward. Tax day is traditionally the day were you are called upon to pay your dues to the government. But I wanted to flip this idea upside down, and have everyone concentrate on paying their debt to the tech community at large. Take an extra minute today to explain a concept further or help one less knowledgeable than you take that next step.

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