Nathan Chitty Weblog

Camtasia Implementation

I am working on a consulting assignment that involves use of video in blogs, web sites and social media. I am using the new version of Camtasia (version 7). The software is just awesome.

 

Google Search and remembering Bill

I did a Google search on my web log this morning and saw something I had not seen before. it was a reference to web log entry I did three years ago about a homeless man named Bill. I had done that entry and an entry of a youtube video (3,800 hits) mindmap of Bill's telling me about his life. Bill had AIDS and has passed away but he was bright soul and I appreciated knowing him.

Jane McGonigal helped me understand the attraction of Online Gaming for my son Nathan

This video helped me understand the attraction of Online Gaming for my son Nathan. The video cam from the TED series and the author is "Jane McGonigal who asks: Why doesn't the real world work more like an online game? In the best-designed games, our human experience is optimized: We have important work to do, we're surrounded by potential collaborators, and we learn quickly and in a low-risk environment. In her work as a game designer, she creates games that use mobile and digital technologies to turn everyday spaces into playing fields, and everyday people into teammates. Her game-world insights can explain -- and improve -- the way we learn, work, solve problems, and lead our real lives. McGonigal directs game R&D at the Institute for the Future, a nonprofit forecasting firm where she developed Superstruct, a massively multiplayer game in which players organize society to solve for issues that will confront the world in 2019. She masterminded World Without Oil, which simulated the beginning of a global oil crisis and inspired players to change their daily energy habits. McGonigal also works with global companies to develop games that build on our collective-intelligence infrastructure -- like The Lost Ring, a mystery game for McDonald's that became the world’s biggest alternate reality game, played by more than 5 million people. (Not to mention the delightful Top Secret Dance-Off, which taps that space in our brains where embarrasment and joy mingle.) She's working on book called Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Happy and How They Can Change the World. "Instead of providing gamers with better and more immersive alternatives to reality, I want all of us to be become responsible for providing the world with a better and more immersive reality." Jane McGonigal"

My GPS location published on this blog

This is a really cool application which updates my location based on signals from my Tmobile android "google phone." See setup instructions here: http://www.google.com/latitude/apps/badge 

I took it one step further and created a http://tinyurl.com/nathanchitty url which give a full page view in an internet browser. When the gps function is turned off, the last location broadcast is shown and the elasped time from when the signal was last broadcast.

In addition, I set up some "draft" emails in my cell phone with the tinyurl which can sent real time if I am traveling to meet someone. It was helpful the other day as I was driving a few hours  for a business meeting.

location is a

60 Most Wanted Photoshop Tutorials & Resources

Photoshop is a great program but is so complex. I use Adobe Photo Elements which is a kind of Photoshop lite. However, for some folks, they need the full Monty. This is a good resource for Photoshop, the full version.

read more | digg story

Picture sent to Typepad with email

This is the last picture of our family together in our home in Sewanee.

Typepad is now accepting photos and postings from email directly to your weblog. Pretty amazing.

donorschoose.org is a great web site.

http://www.donorschoose.org

This is a site where teachers use a web site to say what they need to help students.

In my years of working with non profits, when a donor is making a specific pledge, they are more inclined to give and more generous.

Wayback Machine Web Page

I was reading "How" this morning for the 2nd time. This is an interesting book. I got all the way thru it and it was not until the last chapter that it really got my interest with the discussion of Leadership.

Anyway, as I read it again I noted a web site Wayback Machine and did a google search on the term.

The actual web site is http://www.archive.org/index.php . I did a search on some old web sites I had created in the past:

http://www.nathanchitty.com http://www.psoraya.com and http://www.sunbeltma.com and found versions over 8 years old.

Mind Mapping Software

In reading HOW TO THINK LIKE LEONARDO da VINCI the author recommended using some Mind Maps for the exercises. My friend, Greorge Myers uses Mindjet which he likes a lot.

I did some searching and found some interesting mind mapping software that is reasonably priced from Inspiration software. I downloaded and installed the trial version of Inspiration version 8 and did the tutorial. It is really good. If you have not done Mind Mapping before, it is  worth the time to download the trial and go thru the tutorial.

There are many choices of Mind Mapping software from the Google page.

Michio Kaku gives a great explanation of the end of Moores Law and ..

Michio Kaku is a Japanese American theoretical physicist, tenured professor, and co-founder of string field theory, a branch of superstring theory.

In the first video Dr. Kaku gives a great explanation of the end of Moores Law and in the second video he explains the transition of the planet earth to a global society which derives power from the sun. This concept is discussed in detail in his book Parallel Worlds. Here is a review of the book describing the transition of Planet Earth to a new order. "PARALLEL WORLDS really gets interesting when Kaku discusses Nikolai Kardashev's classification of civilizations according to energy output. Type I would have harnessed planetary forms of energy. Type II would be able to consume the energy output of its star and might even be able to ignite neutron stars. Type III has colonized large portions of its home galaxy and is able to use the energy from ten billion stars. Earth is a rather primitive civilization in contrast. Kaku states that if we reach Type I civilization it may launch a time of "unparalleled peace and prosperity." But that's a big if, considering the greenhouse effect, pollutin, nuclear war, fundamentalism and disease. "

His personal web site is http://www.mkaku.org/