google nose

Google's Google Nose. Take a whiff of beautiful smells through your computer. Click the link for more!

read the news today...

Newsweek has folded its pages for the final time. It broke this week that the magazine staple for the past 60 years will be focusing solely on digital space. The last print edition in the U.S. will be the December issue. On New Years Eve, in fact. While Newsweek was always a good read before getting your teeth pulled or that dreadful needle, it also played a huge part in my traveling. Whether it was on a plane or a train or an automobiles, the magazine was better company that Steve Martin and John Candy with Thanksgiving dinner getting cold in the backseat. Thank you for the pages full of good memories, Newsweek. You'll be missed.

you've got to find what you love..

Amazing. Brilliant. Just like the man. Here's the Text of Steve Jobs Commencement Address back in 2005. Below is the video. Very inspirational stuff.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

rip steve jobs

"I want to put a ding in the universe." -- Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

Google Behind the Screen

Cathing up on my CNBC intake last night, I caught a cool documentary about Google.Thought of posting it up on here, but I can't find it. When I have more time, I will do more of an in-depth search. Is there a pun in there, somewhere? Search. Google. Anyway. Found this one instead. It's part 1 of 5. Check for the rest of 'em on The Tube.

on google+

I got invited to Google+ yesterday by fellow blogger pal, Mike Boon. So far so good. It's reminding me of the younger days of that other site that everyone is on these days and had a movie made about it. It is going to die soon when this new Google+ thing takes off. I can feel it. Taste it. I'm still spending most of my time experimenting with it. Discovering the new vehicle for social media. If you would like to check it out, let me know. Leave a comment on here or send me a note. I will send you an invite. Get them while they're hot. And before Mark finds out.

redefining the camera design

You don't know how excited I got when I watched this earlier on this morning still half asleep and waiting for my coffee to brew. This for sure got me off to the right creative foot for a Monday morning.

Concept Camera: The WVIL from Artefact on Vimeo.

social media sobriety test

Whoever came up with this is genius! I know we all have been in that position before.

more geek'd out moments

Downloaded the latest version of Google Chrome. It's the web browser made by the popular search engine. I never like downloading new browsers because it takes work to fix everything the way you already have it on the previous browser you were using. It's like moving homes. The tough part is to make it seem like `home'. Anyway, Chrome imports all your previous settings automatically when you download it - no matter which platform you were using. Pretty cool, huh? The add-ons make the whole thing. Makes your surfing experience even simpler. Everything seems to be a click away. There's an app for everything. Social networking. E-Mail. Blogging. Everything. However, it's the speed of this girl that makes it worthwhile. I never really noticed the difference between browser speeds before, but I can tell this one is ten times faster than any other browser I used before. If you have a few minutes to check it out, I highly recommend it. You'll get addicted soon enough. Happy browsing!

i geek'd out just now

I hardly ever geek out about computer stuff. I love technology and I'm a self-proclaimed tech geek, but this was just way too cool. Rocker band Arcade Fire are testing out HTML5 with their new video and along with Google, they're letting their fans check out how HTML will look and how different it's going to be compared the HTML coding we know today. Tried it, and wow. It's amazing. It works better with Chrome, by the way so install it if you don't have it. It's worth it. And oh yeah. Make sure you follow the prompts at the beginning. It makes the video! To check it out, Go Here.

sometimes, progression makes me sad

It's been a while. Sorry folks. Over the weekend I got my internet working again. My computer is still messed, but at least I can get on the interweb and update my blog. The week sans 'puter was pretty hard. I realized how much we really do rely on technology. Cells, digital this and digital that. I don't think it's sad, really. It's progression. As we grow so does our mediums to get our voices heard. However it's sad that we can't still rely on the other ways to communicate. When was the lat time you wrote a letter and actually mailed it? Yeah. Me too. When was the last time you texted someone sitting at the same table? Last week? Yesterday? Just now. Yeah. I do that, too. Hate it, but I do. Sometimes, it's just needed. It's the new way to tell a secret. So does this mean that as time goes on, or as progression goes down its road, the art of speaking will be gone, too? Huh. I hope not. Maybe in years to come, we will miss the days when we sent an e-mail or a text message or even when we wrote a blog and informed our friends about our computer troubles. I'm afraid for the future but thankful that my world is back to normal.

paper bag...

Watched American Beauty last night. Great movie. Loved it. Haven't seen it since that day in the summer of 2001 when I watched it at a friends house while sipping on beer and smoking special cigarettes. Times have changed. Changed a lot. I guess I'm getting old or something, but I tend to think and start sentences with the words, It was so much simpler back then. In a world now, we as a technology forced population, we don't seem to have time to find the beauty in a paper bag floating in the air driven by mother nature's breath or how leaves fall down on the ground and make a impact on the green green grass. We're too consumed on Twittering that we just got back from coffee and we heard about The News on CNN. We're busy looking at our blackberry's, driving our Sabs, picking the kids up from the mall with our credit cards and racing to get home so we can watch the movie we download for free. Sure, American Beauty does show what's wrong with society but the society they portrayed was from a decade ago. Have we progressed so much that we're even more ruined or that we just have other things wrong with us? I still think that we should still find time to see the beauty in things.


Like that paper bag.

virgin, universal team up

From CP24

Virgin Media, the cable TV operator owned by entrepreneur Richard Branson, on Monday launched a new kind of music download subscription service with Universal, the world's largest music company.

The service, described by the companies as a world first, will allow Virgin Media's broadband customers in Britain to stream and download as many songs and albums as they like from Universal's catalogue for a fee.

The music will be available to download in an MP3 format, giving buyers the ability to listen on a range of devices, including the iPod, mobile phones and PCs as well as other MP3 players.

The subscription service, due to be available later this year, comes as the music industry fights a losing battle against illegal downloading of music.

Revenue from digital music sales rose 25 per cent last year to $3.7 billion, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. But those legitimate music sales did not come close to offsetting the billions of dollars being lost to music piracy -- an estimated 95 per cent of music downloads are still unauthorized.

IFPI Chairman John Kennedy said the new Virgin-Universal deal was "the kind of partnership" between a music company and an Internet service provider (ISP) that he expects to shape the future of the music business internationally.

The IFPI has been harshly critical of ISPs in the past for exploiting loopholes in copyright laws to allow them to avoid clamping down on people who illegally download music using their services.

"It epitomizes the way in which the music business is adapting to the digital world, embracing new business models and responding to the changing needs of consumers," Kennedy said of the new service.

"It also marks new ground in ISPs' willingness to take steps to protect copyrighted content on their networks, and that sets a very encouraging example to the whole industry," he added.

Virgin and Universal said they expected the new service to "drive a material reduction in the unauthorized distribution of its repertoire across Virgin Media's network."

They will also implement a range of different strategies to educate file sharers about online piracy and to raise awareness of legal alternatives, including a temporary suspension of Internet access for persistent offenders.

Virgin added that it was continuing talks with other British major and independent music labels and publishers about including their artists in the new service.

It did not release details of the anticipated monthly subscription costs on Monday, but said an "entry level" offer would also be available for customers who download music regularly, but may not want an unlimited service.

"Britain has a world-class reputation for artists and music," said Lucian Grainge, Chairman and Chief Executive of Universal Music Group International. "Now British consumers will have access to a world-class digital music service. I believe this puts all of us at the forefront of a new era."

drive safe blog

My friend heads up a new company selling handsfree mobile tools due to this whole ban of cell phones while driving. He asked me to start up a blog. So I Did. It's still in the building stages, but I think it looks pretty neat. Take a look and if you're not ready for the cell phone ban, I think you should check out Mo's accessories that will come in handy very soon. The site is Here.

future lab.

From Toronto Sun

Letting businesses sponsor classrooms and programs risks student education being overtaken by commercialism, Toronto public school trustees were warned last night.

Accepting sponsorships makes schools obligated to corporations, which has created problems in some American schools, U of T political science student Jayme Turney told the TDSB's planning and priorities committee.

In one U.S. school, a student who showed up on "Coke Day" wearing a Pepsi logo T-shirt instead of the beverage sponsor's shirt given to students for a rally "was suspended," said Turney.

The board is considering its first commercial brand sponsorship -- contents of classrooms in two city schools offered by Future Shop -- since changing its guidelines in February.

Future Shop is providing $4,000 scholarships for 55 students across Canada to help them improve their education and sponsored its first pilot lab in Surrey, B.C., with state-of-the art computers for a drafting classroom, spokesman Cheryl Grant said.

"The community actually came to us," Grant said. "A Toronto school came to us last year and asked us for money."

The school board volunteered the names of five schools for Future Shop to consider for its second and third Canadian sponsorships, she said.

A staff report noted Future Shop has a "design element that they would like to see common to all labs ... a light grey paint on the walls and a red stripe border."

But repainting sponsored classrooms in Future Shop colours "is wasteful," Turney told trustees.