Open Library Project

Open library, a non-profit Internet Archive, is now up and running in beta, which can be found at: http://openlibrary.org/

Basically, they are trying to scan (every) books (with permission) and have it open to the public. It's a great project to get and store books into a digital domain for preservation.

The content is wiki-editable, so if there is content that is wrong or missing, like the format, length, table of contents, etc.. this can be fixed.  Currently they have over 13.5 million books, making a large digital library the size of 13.5 peta-bytes!!!

I did a "scanned books only" search on Mark Twain and found his auto-biography. The images are real nice and I like the animated page turning.

 

What is also nice, is that they did a OCR scan, which means that we can also do a search on the book. I decided to do a search for "Elmira".

The highlight text of my search word can be found through out the book with yellow tabs as short cuts to the other pages.

Take a look at the site, what do you think of it?

Google Health

Out of curiosity I checked out Google Heath. You can enter information into your profile from basics such as height & wight to more detail information about your personal health being. An example would be your conditions, medications, allergies, etc..

One nice feature is the automatic updates of your records (if you belong to one of the following)

Google Health also offers heath services (ex: "Heart Attack Risk Calculator"), Medical Contact (you doctor information), and Find a doctor based on speciality.

Google Health gives the user a better handle on their health if they choose to have their information stored in a single location. It's a nice feature, I probably won't need to use it until I become older and close to retirement.

Checking out WorldWide Telescope

So Microsoft Research finally has released WorldWide Telescope (beta) to the public.

Ok, lets see what the hype has been about. The first thing I checked out was my astrological sign, the Taurus (Collections > Constellations > Taurus) and zoomed in on the left horn of the bull to Tien Kuan:

Next, I checked out the planet Neptune (Collections > Solar System > Neptune)

Then I checked out some Hubble Space Craft images. (Collections > Hubble Images > Composite Image of Galaxy Cluster MS 0735

You can also take guided tours where some guy with a PH.D will walk you through, such as the Milky Way's Black Hole.

You can download it at:

http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/experienceIt/ExperienceIt.aspx?exp=true

The requirements will require a decent computer:

• PC with Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 2 gigahertz (GHz) or faster, recommended
• 1 gigabyte (GB) of RAM; 2 GB RAM recommended
• 3D accelerated card with 128 megabytes (MB) RAM; discrete graphics card with dedicated 256-MB VRAM recommended for higher performance
• 1 GB of available hard disk space; 10 GB recommended for off-line features and higher performance browsing
• XGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution monitor
• Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing and scrolling device
• Microsoft® XP SP2 (minimum), Windows® Vista® (recommended)
• Microsoft® DirectX® version 9.0c or later and .NET Framework 2.0 or later
• Required for some features; Internet connection at 56 Kbps or higher through either an Internet service provider (ISP) or a network. Internet access might require a separate fee to an ISP; local or long-distance telephone charges might also apply

Need to post something....hmmm how about MeatWater?

“High Efficiency Survival Beverages” as Dirty Hot Dog, “an authentic taste of the Big Apple you can sip through a straw!”

From: http://dinnerinabottle.com/ with other drink options such as:

Beef Jerky, Beef Stroganof, Cheese Burger, Chicken Teriyaki, Fish'n Chips, Hungarian Gulash, Italian Sausage, Peking Duck, Tandorri Chicken, Texas BBQ, Wiener Schnitzel, etc...

 

This might be a joke, but this is nothing new.

http://www.jonessoda.com/ back in 2004 made the "Turkey and Gravy" soda that people could buy as a joke gift for the holidays.

 

Well, hoped I grossed you out, especially the vegans and vegetarians. 

Up to this point in my life.

So my dreaded birthday is coming up again; which, means I start over analyzing my life and lack of achievements.

 

WORK:

I now, currently have 2 years of technical experience in which 1.5 are focused in .Net Programming. I have now worked for and consulted for 11 companies, and 2 government agencies. I still haven't applied for my certifications and have lots of new technologies to learn.

 

LIFE:

Still a loser. No girlfriend or friends within a 100 mile radius that I can hang out with on the weekend, but it's not like I'm looking or going to make a point of trying anytime in the future. I will always be an introvert and stay in my cave (dark bedroom).  I basically talk to only 2 of my friends from college, via online chat, on occasions.

Definitely been gaining weight, even though some of the gain is muscle, most of it is fat. I'm now seeing the effect of aging has on the body with some joint pain mostly in my feet. I really need to change my life and get healthier.

 

ENTERTAINMENT:

I'm starting to get bored; hence for the reason for buying a Wii, XBox 360, and World of Warcraft with expansion pack. Video games are just not as fun as they use to be, but it helps pass the time.

I have now watched 3,342 movies and tv-series. I now subscribe to 29 podcasts and visit Digg.com more often then I should.

 

Well, I predict that not much will change within the next year or so.

Microsoft Research: MySong

Another interesting concept coming out of Microsoft called MySong, and who says Microsoft isn't innovated? Check it out : http://research.microsoft.com/~dan/mysong/

So basically what MySong does is help make a melody of notes for your song based on your criteria (happy factor and jazz factor) and factors in your voice. Take a look: http://research.microsoft.com/~dan/mysong/mysong_1.swf

The software uses Hidden Markov Model as it's Artificial Intelligence approach to select the best melody sequence and notes to harmonize with the user's voice.

My complaints about Netflix

I really love how Netflix has revolutionize the video rental industry, no late fees, a self containing rental queue, ease of setup and returns, etc.. But, there is one major annoyance, beyond the scratchy DVDs I get, and that's the lack of showing me what are the good movies.

Recently I have notice is that the "New Releases", that it never shows any new popular released DVDs.

  The movies that are currently shown in the list are "Becoming Jane", "Beowulf", "Away From Her", "Jane Austin Book Club", "Sweet Land", and so on (mostly down hill from there if you can believe it). Where the f*** are the new movies like "No country for old men", "There will be Blood", "American Gangster", "The Mist", "30 days of Night",  etc...

What it seems to me, is that Netflix is only showing the least popular movies in the "Popular New Releases" category to offset buying these crappy DVDs. I first started thinking this when I viewed the "Movies you'll love" category. A category in which it is suppose to guess what movies I might like based on the ratings of my other movies. The suggestions are way off mark on what might be considered good, and I know that there are a few that should be listed instead.

I'm not too hard to figure out, heck I give most movies a 3 out of 5, 99% of the time, but the only movies I have in this section are very lacking any interest to me.

The worst section of them all is the "Watch Currently" section. This  is suppose to be a customer grabbing, new feature that gives the option to watch some movies instantly online. The thing is, the selections of movies are most often ranked under 3 stars. It is rare to find anything above.

To sum up, Netflix please stop jerking us around and give us better knowledge of the real popular movies and better choices. You will lose popularity real quick if there was any real competition (blockbuster doesn't even count).

Slacking on my postings.

Okay, its been awhile since I posted to my blog. What's up with William, you (lack of people who read my blog) may ask.

Here is what I been doing lately that has made me a slacker:

• Playing lots of World of Warcraft. I started playing with Venk, and moved my characters over to the Lightbringer server. My cartoons: Cursacerdos and Pallaton . It's weird playing on PvE server now, I don't get jumped and every time I see an Alliance player I almost instinctively want to attack them.
  
• Reading and Programming from "Essential Windows Communication Foundation" and "C# 3.5 in a Nutshell". Really love how WCF has improved the way of communication. It is also interesting reading some of the interesting ways (==) is not the same as .Equals and the complications of DateTime vs. DateTime Offset.
  
• Watching TV, hoping for something that isn't a repeat. Unfortunately the only thing worth watching is The Daily Show, Lost, Biggest Loser, and Eli Stone.
  
• Listing to tons of Podcasts. My favorites so far are:
Grammar Girl , Math Grad , Math Factor , Diggnation , 60-Second Science . I keep slacking off listing to the Japanese Podcasts.

In local news: Qwest to Workers - Pee in a Urinal Bag

Qwest told 25 workers to piss in a bag instead of stopping somewhere, claims union reps.  I would be just pissed if I was working at Qwest. Ugh bad pun, booo I suck. here's another one :)

"One local administrative director said that while the union deals with a "a lot of silliness in corporate America," this one takes the [urinal] cake."

 

Source: http://consumerist.com/371011/qwest-to-workers-pee-in-a-urinal-bag

IE 8 dilemma "Backward Compatibility vs. Web Standards"

An interesting read from Joel Spolsky's blog 'Joel on Software', I think he hit the nail on the head about the new IE 8. The tough decision Microsoft has to make on "backward compatibility vs. web standards" is damning to Microsoft.

I been beta testing the new browser and reporting any errors I come across, except for web sites that are not correctly displayed anymore, as I will explain. (Ex: Google Maps)

I categorize myself as an "idealist" (according to Joel), I think that IE should "treat all sites that claim to be 'standards-compliant' as if they have been designed for and tested with IE8". In another word, if a site is broken, then they should fix it themselves, and leave the new IE as clean as possible.

Even though I'm an "idealist", I do have my heart out to the "realist" who believe there should be some way of applying backward compatibility.

Joel's prediction on what is going to happen is probably true, but I like to add one addition. I think this beta version might last a lot longer then what most believe. This will end up hurting Microsoft in the beginning, but it is necessary to get IE back on the right track.