Imagine a World without Free Knowledge

“Imagine a World without Free Knowledge” from Wikipedia’s blackout page.

One of the largest and most used websites on the net is down in protest of the SOPA and PIPA acts in Congress.

There has never been an Internet protest of this magnitude in the US.

Google has “censored” their page in protest and has organized a petition that I urge you sign here.

Reddit has blackedout and pointed visitors to sign a petition.

Hundreds of other sites have put notices or have brought their own sites down in protest.

What’s the big deal about all this anyway?

It’s interesting that our nation has been critical of other nations and regimes whose governments censor the Internet.

The SOPA and PIPA bills would provide the US government the ability to censor the Internet in a similar manner at the bidding of the entertainment industry.

Take 5 Seconds and give your Opinion Voice

Sign the Petition organized by Google here.

Video Games have Come a Long Way

Oh, the good ol’ days of Super Mario Brothers. Video Games have come a long way.

Isn’t it interesting to see what we grew up with compared to what kids are starting out with today in video games?

Here’s a little comparison:

The Original Nintendo Entertainment System:

Trailer for a New Star Wars Video Game:

Wow. No wonder kids don’t want to do anything else but play video games.

Now we finally know what the iPad is good for

Some people have scratched their heads wondering what “a device in the middle” will do for us. It’s not quite a laptop, yet it’s not quite a phone or iPod Touch.

Well, watch the video, we’ve finally figured out what the iPad should be used for:

The music is from Mario.

Pizza Anyone? – How Tough is Your Endurance…?

Just saw this coming from Mashable. It’s a video by Google that highlights a feature on Android phones.

Once you start watching, you’ll see what I mean about endurance.

How good is your endurance:

• If you got to the rock falling down, you’re pretty good.
• If you get to the coat part, you’ve got some endurance.
• If you get to the cute kitten, wow, you’re impressive.
• If you caught the dinosaur and the city, you’re pretty observant
• You’re a hot dog if you get to the hot dog
• If you get all the way to the end of the 10 minutes, we must ask ourselves: “Why?”

The Best Android App in the Galaxy

Before there was Star Wars, there was Star Trek. On Star Trek, the science officer and other crew members would use a device called a tricorder to access medical and environmental conditions.

The tricorder on the original Star Trek TV series didn’t have much of a display, but when Star Trek: The Next Generation came about in the 80′s, this hand-held device (the new tricorder) sure looked cool.

Star Trek has finally met reality with a real tricorder (at least it turns your phone into a real tricorder).

The most awesome thing of it all…it really works! It’s an open source project and is available for free in the Android Market. Search tricorder and choose the one by moonblink.

What can you do with the tricorder:

You can monitor the acoustics around you measuring decibels (cool for a sports events). Try whistling and watching what happens.

You can monitor the Electromagnetic Spectrum (wi-fi strength and cell signal strength):

You can monitor your local gravitational field and your acceleration:

Some of the coolest screens are the UV index and Sun monitoring. Click the sun on that screen to see different views of the sun. You’ll also be able to monitor sun flares (this info is feed to the phone via the Internet).

The magnetic field detector is awesome. Run your tricorder (I mean your phone) over your computer and you’ll see a spike in the field because your hard drive and speakers have magnets in them.

The app’s website states that the tricorder doesn’t work perfectly on all android phones, but it sure is cool.

Time for Textbooks

We’ve got a lot of family members getting ready to head back to school.

I remember the long checkout lines at the college books stores. Waiting in line so I could fork over $300-400 for text books wasn’t all that much fun.

Towards the end of my college run, it was becoming increasingly easier to purchase books online.

I would get text books from different sites on the Internet, but the clear leader that emerged was Amazon.com.

We now have a yearly membership with Amazon to receive free, 2-day shipping on items we buy from them.

I recently noticed that Amazon is offer a deal for students to receive free, 2-day shipping. That’s pretty good! I remember having to wait a couple of weeks in some cases to receive my books from sellers.

Now you can them like lightening!