Google SketchUp

The other day I found a link to Google SketchUp. I downloaded it and started to draw.

The picture above is a crude representation of what you can do with SketchUp. I am not an artist, and it shows. However, if you are, and spend the time, there are some very powerful tools in SketchUP that can allow you to design some very impressive 3-D drawings.

Check out their web site for more information. They give you about 400 minutes of trial time, and after that it will cost you to use.

It is not as easy to use as the demo video's make it seem. You will have to practice to get really good. And I suspect you will have to have some artistic ability as well, but, I may be wrong.

See the different views of my "Dream House" (geeee, I must be falling on bad times if this is my dream....). If you look carefully, you can see a person in the house. The windows become transparent....really cool.

Enjoy.

Sony will Stream Movies Direct to Your TV

Reading my past blogs on this subject, you know I believe that streaming movies via the Internet will take it's toll on such old favorites as DVD's, Blu-Ray, and Blockbuster / Netflix.

Now buried deep in the middle of this article is an announcement by Sony that it will start an Internet streaming service for movies direct to their Bravia TV's (which to me says that the TV will have this capability built in....I may be wrong). The first movie for this service will be "Hancock" (see trailer below).



Wow! This is a blockbuster.

The innovators in this area VUDU, Apple TV, and, more recently, Netflix all with separate players that connect to a TV might be shaking right now...

And to add to this, Sony is promising most of their devices will connect wireless to the Internet...the prospect of wireless Internet connectivity to your TV is mind boggling.

Pretty soon, every home will have videoconferencing in their TV. Then keeping in touch with family will be a breeze....

More to follow in this I am sure....

Vint Cerf on the Internet

(To stop the clip from playing....click the stop button.)

Here is a video clip one of the developers of the technology that has become the Internet. He is a biggie in my world (Electrical Engineering) and when I was in college I looked up to him and others (Kleinrock, Tobagi, Roberts, Frank, Kahn, etc) as much as I did Maris and Mantle....hmmm, maybe not that much, but, you get the idea.

The photo above shows the 1978 edition of the "Proceedings of the IEEE" (yeah...I saved it, what a nerd) where the networking research that was ongoing at the time was introduced. It was this research that eventually led to the Internet that we know today.

Pretty cool stuff. Here is a photo of his particular article:



I have his autograph somewhere, I'll dig it up and put up here as soon as I find it. Nerd plus....that's me.

In the meantime, I think he says here is that the Internet is an infrastructure that needs to be available to everyone (it only touches about 20% of people now) and that it can benefit many areas including helping to ease the gas crises and help the environment (past the 3 minute mark) by reducing travel.....Hmmm, that is what Telecommuting is all about.

The only difference is that until now you have only heard it from me......now Vint Cerf, THE Vint Cerf, is telling you....Time to listen!


Geee, maybe Cisco should hire me as their Chief Personal Telepresence Evangelist

Tech for Teachers - Podcasting Classes

If you do not know what podcasting is, here is a very cool introduction:



The world is changing.

Streaming (podcasting included) technology has already proven itself at some Universities where students who may have missed class, or need to refresh their memory can watch a video stream of the class anytime. For example, see these classes available by streaming by Berkeley.

Now students at any level are "attending" class via podcasts (the download and playback of of audio, video, and or data information to a player such as the Zune or iPod). This interesting article discusses how teachers and students at a rural New Mexico High School are using Microsoft's Zune player to provide instruction anywhere, anytime.

Another example of a podcast can be found here from the creators of the Harry Potter Mugglenet web site. It works on either iTunes, Odeo, or Zune. If you slect iTunes, like I did, you will need to get an Apple ITunes ID...see my previous blog entry here.

This is a very interesting application of new technology for teaching.

3G and cell phone video - an application

If you are faint of heart or easily offended...please turn to another page.







For the rest of you, this story in Time (remember this is not YeOldeTechy's story, I am just passing along information) is interesting.

But I believe it is more interesting after you hear my short story about this particular topic.

Interesting Story

Way back in the mid-1990's when Internet video was just a newborn infant I worked for a company called: Applied Business teleCommunications (ABC for short). Some of the old-timers in the videoconferencing industry will know them better as: TeleCon.

Needless to say, we were at the forefront of the VC industry and would, because of our expertise, field a lot of phone calls from people interested in learning more about the technology and how to use it.

The most intelligent questioning came from folks in the porn industry.

End of Story

The advent of mobile video, the burgeoning 3G (high speed data using a cell phone) networks in the US, and the allure of you know what.....there seems to be a new area of interest for that particular industry.

YeOldeTechy says: No matter what you may think....the folks who are part of that industry are leaders in new technology and are early adopters of technology that includes visual content.

Whew....I have done my part by imparting the information.

Also, to be absolutely fair, it is not just the iPhone...but any cell phone with a camera and 3G capability.

Apple IPod Transfer -- A quick test

Just trying something….this was Kristen’s idea to see if we could download the contents of the Apple IPod to a “random” computer.

Can we? Let’s give it a try….

The first thing we did was plug in Kristen’s old IPod (she now has a brand spanking new IPod Classic 80 gig so she can fit in all the great country songs of the world (see pic at top)).

After about 30 seconds, we see this:

Ah….We can purchase something on the iPod (i.e. suppose we had an iPod Touch which connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi) and it will be able to be downloaded to a computer.

Very cool.

You cannot, however, transfer the entire contents of the iPod to another computer. What happens if you buy a new computer? Do you have to reload all the CD’s? Don’t know.

Hmmmmm, I need to “authorize this computer”.

What does that entail? Let’s find out…

First, I see that there are 5 items in question. How did she get those????? Oh well….

We found the “Authorize this Computer” menu option and clicked on that.

This popped up:

OK…I need an Apple ID….since I do not have one, and it probably won’t work if I got one, Kristen needs to enter her Apple ID and Password in my computer to be “authorized”. Simple.

HA….not so simple. You can load your Apple ID and Password on 5 computers and Kristen did not want to type in her ID and password in my computer…..oh well…gotta love her (teenagers.....arrrghhh).

I would assume that once a proper authorization was completed, I’d be the happy listener of Blake Shelton’s version of “Home”.

Summary

YeOldeTechy says: This is good. The protection software built into the IPod does not allow indiscriminant downloading of music to a random computer. Garth would love this.

Good job Apple…the writers of these songs, I’m sure appreciate this! I suspect that when we get the IPod Touch and download from iTunes, we would have no problem loading that song (or songs) onto our computer. I will try that…in another Blog entry.

YeOldeTechy however, for now, is without a “Home”……guess I will have to go buy it.

Or….I can hunt down Kristen’s old IPod…..now where is that?

Blake Shelton is great....here is his version of "Home".

Western Digital My Book 1 TeraByte Drive

This Blog has moved....please visit this entry here.

For Fathers Day I received a couple of books (Sue Grafton's "K" and "L") a really cool sign for my yard (Free Weeds: Pick Your Own), and a badly needed expansion of our computer storage capacity: a Western Digital "My Book" 1 terabyte external hard drive with USB 2.0.

To me, it is amazing that 1 TB is now available at the desktop. And even more amazing is that my wife paid "only" $199.00 at Best Buy. Times sure have changed since I designed in the very latest and greatest technology: a 1 k RAM memory chip in our "Pseudo Psynthetic Video" project at Grumman Aerospace many years ago.

My Need

Lately I have been dabbling in high resolution picture taking (see my California Photo page on my web site) and producing Oscar winning videos which sometimes end up on YouTube. These new hobbies take a lot of disk space. So I needed to expand. After seeing the WD My Book, I knew that the solution to my hard drive capacity woes had a solution.

Using the My Book

The WD My Book is compact and easy to move around. It takes up less space than my Bram Stoker 5 Novels book from Barnes & Noble. Way less.



There is a power connection and a USB 2.0 connection. That's it.....simple and easy.

I plugged in the power and connected the USB to the 1 TB drive then to my Toshiba laptop. Within a short amount of time, Windows found the hard drive and I was ready to do some backups.

I used Heatsoft ADCS as my backup software of choice. I have been using it for several years now and have found it to be A. Easy to Use and B. Reliable. A great product.

I made some new folders on the My Book and ran the Heatsoft backup. Everything worked great, and my Toshiba is now fully backed up and ready to backup again at the touch of a button at least once a week, maybe more.

I then moved the My Book to the Dell home computer and did the same. After about 4 hours (we have a lot to back up since that is where most of my movies and pictures reside) I had that fully backed up on the WD My Book.

After all that, I still have over 800 Gig of space left on the My Book.

Sweeeet.

Summary

The My Book has so far proven itself to be a winner. It is quiet, compact, easy to set up and easy to use. Hopefully it will provide years of service.

Telepresence Forum

I hopped on a new forum today, this one dedicated to the world of "Telepresence".

Verrrrry interrrresssssting.

The Telepresence Forum.

I've already posted our version of "Personal Telepresence" and plan to visit that forum a lot more in the future.

For the record, even though personal telepresence is being re-defined by marketing $, here is what we originally defined it as:

"Personal Telepresence is an interactive multimedia tool that allows individuals or groups to, affordably, meet with remotely located individuals or groups--from their desktop--as if they were all in the same location. A Personal Telepresence workstation would include telephony, computer, desktop videoconferencing, groupware, and graphics capability on a single platform.

The user interface presented will allow natural, face-to-face interaction between all those involved in `virtual' meeting, classroom, office or manufacturing problem solving sessions. Files could be opened and placed on a virtual `conference table' where changes could be made interactively by any or all the `meeting' participants. `Copies' of the files can be made, `stapled' together, and given to each of the attendees. The desktop would include a `whiteboard' for brainstorming sessions and a `projector screen' to display movies, video mail, and/or the results of a simulation program. "

In short: Our PT included video and data collaboration and was meant to be affordable for anyone / everyone.

Telecommute: The Time is Now!

If you have not yet been convinced that the time for telecommuting has finally arrived maybe you should look at what you spend on gas now driving to work.

At over $4.00 a gallon (and Stockton being the highest in the Nation) a typical commute from Tracy to the Bay Area now can cost you (assume 20 MPG in your automobile, you travel 100 miles per day, and gas is now $4.35 in Tracy): $108.00 per week or $435.00 per month!

Add to that the time spent in traffic back and forth, the adverse effects on the environment, and traffic, traffic traffic.....the time is has arrived to stand up and get your employers to jump on the Telecommuting bandwagon. They need to go green, reduce their carbon imprint, reduce gas consumption.

This interesting poll just came out in the news today. Read it and show it to your employer.

A few things:

1. Watch the "11th Hour" by Leonardo DiCaprio.



This is an absolutely SUPERB documentary (5 WaterTowers) about the need to reduce carbon emissions now. Not one word in there about Telecommuting, but, lots of words in there about how the human race may have already charted it's own course to extinction...very scary stuff.

2. Read (and have your OFB (old fashioned boss) read) my previous articles on Telecommuting, both here and in the Tracy Press.

3. Activate a program where you work. Become a Telecommuting advocate...it is no longer a stigma....it is a necessity.

4. Fill out our Telecommuting Survey. And express your interest in the Tracy Virtual Office: a new concept TeleWork Center we are hoping to put together in Tracy. If you need to GO to work, this could be the perfect place.

No matter what.....do not delay....the time to change is now.

Comcast to offer 100 Mbps over Cable

This is an interesting news article.

In the not to distant future, using a standard called DOSCIS 3.0 (which defines and supports very high speed data transmission over cable systems), Comcast expects to be able to offer most cable subscribers 100 Mbps download.

YeOldeTechy questions:

1. With the news I hear about Comcast throttling data users now....will they allow the full 100 Mbps in the future, or is this just marketing?

2. If the full 100 Mbps is allowed, how will DSL respond? Can DSL respond?

3. What will be the upstream bit rates? Videoconferencing users are interested, especially those who are getting into high-definition videoconferencing which requires more than 1 Mbps upstream. For example, the uses in Telemedicine from the home, in HD, are limitless.

Moving on...

Since I use VUDU to view movies now it would be wonderful to download High Definition movies in real-time. Right now, with my DSL maxed at 2 Mbps download, I have to wait a few hours for an HD movie to download.

Not that that is a problem....I love my VUDU. But to watch HD in real-time, that is nirvana.

YeOldeTechy Virus Hunter

OK.....I'm getting good at this, but, I should not have to do this at all.

Elimination of virus infections on Windows Computers.

With my handy-dandy 1 Gig dongle filled with virus killing software I visited a small business in Tracy today and spent 4 hours scanning, killing, and making everything work on this persons Windows XP Professional computer.

Prevention is the Best Medicine

The computer user was surfing the web when a pop-up alerted him/her to the fact that their computer was infected (with moving bugs...how cool). Click on the link to pay for and download virus protection software...only $49.95. Hmmmmmm, well $109.00 later, and now fully infected, the user realized that clicking on the pop-up may have been a bad idea.

RULE #1: NEVER click on a pop-up.....NEVER. Practice safe computing....always.

Once YeOldeTechy Virus Hunter was on-site, I discovered that the Admin login has NO password....this allows hackers free access to your computer....Neon Sign: I'm not protected, even a little bit...hack me!

RULE #2: Password protect all your login's. And make that password HARD to guess. easypassword.......h%ArD#5PaS$w0rd&&

Also, there was no virus protection software on this computer.

RULE #3: Buy (yes, buy) decent virus protection software and install it on your computer. Norton Anti-virus or McAfee are perfectly decent. AVG makes a good free product, as does TrendMicro.

Microsoft has a free spyware program...Defender.

RULE #4: Download and use Windows Defender. Who else knows Windows as well as Microsoft.

Summary

Surf wisely, and proactively protect your computer. It's a nasty world out there......be safe.


UPDATE

See this interesting article about what web domains are the most dangerous.

LinkedIn

OK, a few weeks ago, I signed up for LinkedIn. I entered a few bits of information and was invited by one person to join their network. I did nothing else.

At the time, I decided that LinkedIn was a grown-up version of Facebook or MySpace. Even though I have a MySpace page (go here) I have not taken that much further than just putting in links to this Blog and my Book Review Blog.

Well, today, I spent some time on LinkedIn and actually invited a few people to join my network. Funny thing is....apparently, many of them are now employees or former employees of Tel Bit Consulting. That being the case, I am sorry to inform you all that I will have to let you all go due to lack of funding. Sorry.

On the bright side, I found about 20 people I have known and worked with (or became friends with) in the past few years (and a few who started in this business so many years ago, I will not mention) who may still remember YeOldeTechy when I was YeYoungTechy. I invited them to join Tel Bit Consulting or Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

Pretty cool. We will see how this evolves over time. It will actually be nice to hear from a few of the old old friends from way back.....if they accept.

Issues

LinkedIn needs to improve the invite usability, at least for me. I invited "colleagues", which to me means anyone I worked with while I was at LBL or now at Tel Bit Consulting. My good friend Ira called and gave me the low down on my mistake (he l-o-v-e-s doing that) and that he now works for Tel Bit Consulting........so I fired him. Hmmmm, that felt really good actually.



Conclusion

Go here to get LinkedIn....tell them YeOldeTechy sent you.

Here is an informative 9 minute YouTube video on How to Get Hired Using LinkedIn...hmmmm, I need to do this....