Doriano Carta

I loved this song, “Love Left to Lose” by Sons of Sylvia who performed it live on American Idol tonight. I never heard of them before but I recognized them for some reason. They were previously known as The Clark Brothers who won the top prize on the reality show called The Next Great American Band in 2007. I thought they were great then and thought they were even better tonight! I’m so thrilled that they were given this massive stage to perform on and that they are touring with Carrie Underwood. I hope they experience more and more success in their career. They’re a close knit group of brothers, as evident by their new name.

Here is the live performance. Checkout the charisma from the lead singer Ashly Clark. It reminded me a lot of the lead singer from 30 seconds to Mars, Jared Leto. Ashley wrote the song with his cousin, none other than hitmaker and OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder!

Here’s a playlist of 13 videos of the band…mostly when they were known as The Clark Brothers.

Sometimes the biggest changes come from the smallest things. In this case, I’ll share a couple of WordPress plugins that have a tremendous impact on the blogging experience. They are free, easy to use and big time-savers.

PhotoDropper makes adding images to your blog posts much quicker and easier. It scours Flickr for photos with creative commons license which means you can use them for free (as long as you give credit to the photographer/owner). It also does the dirty work of uploading the photos, embedding them and including the links to the photo’s original source along with photo credit. It’s a brilliant and simple idea.

Just click the Photodropper icon on your wordpress toolbar and search for photos..

Under each photo you will see 4 links:

The first will popup the source Flickr page in a new window (so you can see it and double check the Creative Commons license). There will be 3 links (S for small, M for Medium, and L for Large) that will drop that size photo into the post:

Select the image you want and it’s embedded in your blog post along with the photo credit and related link to the source.

Apture is another innovative and impactful plugin. It’s also quite unique because of all the different types of things it allows you to find and embed with a click of the mouse. It doesn’t just do images like photodropper, but other things like wikipedia entries, youtube videos (you can choose portion of video to show!), and so much more. Here’s a good screencast that shows what Apture can do.

Zemanta is similar in concept to Apture in that it finds all kinds of relevant media and information from the web that you can plug into your blog post. Images, videos, Wikipedia entries, articles from major news outlets and more.

Thanks to @Merylkevans for reminding me about Zemanta. I’d forgotten about them.

There you have it. Just a few powerfully progressive plugins that will change the blogging experience for the better. Give them a try and see for yourself. That old adage is so true about good things coming in tiny packages.

In November 1994, Ken McCarthy organized the first conference ever held that focused exclusively on the commercial potential of the web. This rare footage, which documents the very earliest days of the web industry, is an important artifact in the history of technology. After introductory remarks by Ken, Marc Andreessen, the 23 year old co-founder of Netscape, describes how the first web browser came into being and shares his vision of the future of the network which was destined to change the world forever.

This is such a blast to watch. It wasn’t really THAT long ago but in tech years (measured like dog years) it might as well have been a century ago. We’ve come a long way but believe it or not, we’re still in the web’s infancy and only getting started. The mobile age is just getting off the ground. Fasten your seat belts, folks…this is going to be a bumpy ride but full of fun and innovation!

I was blown away by this short video set to Carl Sagan’s powerful words about Earth, the pale blue dot. I also liked all the movie clips used in the video. The transcript and list of all the movies used in the video follow.

The spacecraft was a long way from home.

I thought it would be a good idea, just after Saturn, to have them take one last glance homeward. From Saturn, the Earth would appear too small for Voyager to make out any detail. Our planet would be just a point of light, a lonely pixel hardly distinguishable from the other points of light Voyager would see: nearby planets, far off suns. But precisely because of the obscurity of our world thus revealed, such a picture might be worth having.

It had been well understood by the scientists and philosophers of classical antiquity that the Earth was a mere point in a vast, encompassing cosmos—but no one had ever seen it as such. Here was our first chance, and perhaps also our last for decades to come.

So, here they are: a mosaic of squares laid down on top of the planets in a background smattering of more distant stars. Because of the reflection of sunlight off the spacecraft, the Earth seems to be sitting in a beam of light, as if there were some special significance to this small world; but it’s just an accident of geometry and optics. There is no sign of humans in this picture: not our reworking of the Earth’s surface; not our machines; not ourselves. From this vantage point, our obsession with nationalisms is nowhere in evidence. We are too small. On the scale of worlds, humans are inconsequential: a thin film of life on an obscure and solitary lump of rock and metal.

Consider again that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it, everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you’ve ever heard of, every human being who ever was lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings; thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines; every hunter and forager; every hero and coward; every creator and destroyer of civilizations; every king and peasant, every young couple in love; every mother and father; hopeful child; inventor and explorer; every teacher of morals; every corrupt politician; every supreme leader; every superstar; every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there—on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena.

Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner. How frequent their misunderstandings; how eager they are to kill one another; how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.

Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity—in all this vastness—there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. Like it or not, for the moment, the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. It underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the only home we’ve ever known.

The pale blue dot.

This is an excerpt from Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. It talks about the photo of the same name, Pale Blue Dot, taken by Voyager I on February 14, 1990.

The short film was produced by David Fu.

Cosmos: Carl Sagan
The Planets
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Some Like It Hot
The Big Lebowski
Moulin Rouge!
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Memento
The Elephant Man
Das Leben der Anderen
Amelie
Red Beard
The Ten Commandments
Glengarry Glen Ross
Terminator 2 – Judgment Day
The Lord of the Rings – The Two Towers
Yojimbo
2001 – A Space Odyssey
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
Life Is Beautiful
Cinema Paradiso
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Dead Zone
Ultimate Jordan
Leon – The Professional
Once Upon a Time in the West
Vanilla Sky
Gattaca
Gladiator
Braveheart
Red Sorghum
Hero
Reservoir Dogs
Gangs of New York
American History X
Taxi Driver
Mystic River
Citizen Kane
The Right Stuff
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Dancer in the Dark
The Usual Suspects
Miller’s Crossing
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Rounders
Scent of a Woman
The Infernal Affairs
What Time Is It There?
Brazil
Superman – The Movie
North By Northwest
The Shawshank Redemption
Patton
Mission To Mars
Blade Runner
Rear Window
Lady and the Tramp
The Proposition
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Feathers in the Wind
In the Mood for Love
Singin’ in the Rain

Yes is one of my favorite bands of all-time and “It Can Happen to You” from their 90125 album is one of my favorite songs. It was the same album that spawned their chart topping “Owner of a Lonely Heart”. Trevor Horn (from Buggles & Video Killed the Radio Star fame) produced these two songs and album.

You can fool yourself
You can cheat until you’re blind
You can cut your heart
It can happen
You can mend the wires
You can feed the soul apart
You reach
It can happen to you
It can happen to me
It can happen to everyone eventually
It’s a constant fight
A constant fight
You’re pushing the needle to the red
Black and white
Who knows who’s right
No substitute you’re born you’re dead
Fly by night
Created out of fantasy
Our destinations call
Look up – Look down
Look out – Look around
Look up – Look down
There’s a crazy world outside
We’re not about to lose our pride
It can happen to you
It can happen to me
It can happen to everyone eventually
As you happen to say
It can happen today
As it happens
It happens in every way
This world I like
We architects of life
A song a sigh
Developing words that linger
Through fields of green through open eyes
This for us to see
Look up – Look down
Look out – Look around
So look up – Look down
There’s a crazy world outside
We’re not about to lose our pride
It can happen to you
It can happen to me
It can happen to everyone eventually
As you happen to say
It can happen today
As it happens
It happens in every way
As you happen to see
It will happen to be
Nothing happens to nowhere and nowhere
Solo
Look up – Look down
There’s a crazy world outside
We’re not about to lose our pride
It can happen to you
It can happen to me
It can happen to everyone eventually
As you happen to see
It will happen to be
Nothing happens to nowhere and nowhere
You can fool yourself
You can cheat until you’re blind
You can cut your heart
You can fool yourself It can happen to you
You can cheat until you’re blind It can happen to me
You can cut your heart It can happen to eveyone eventually
As you happen to say
It can happen today
As it happens
It happens in every way
You can mend the wires
You can feed the soul apart
You can touch your life
You can bring your soul alive
It can happen to you
It can happen to me
It can happen to everyone eventually
As you happen to say
It can happen today
As it happens
It happens in every way

Here’s a blast from the past to the 1980s. Flash N’ the Pan and their “MEDIA MAN” hit which eerily fits in well with today’s new media age. Even the name of the band is ironic as Adobe Flash continues to get panned by Apple.

Sit back and enjoy this song from more than a quarter century ago!

I’ve got Jason Derulo’s song stuck “in my head”. No really, I keep thinking about that amazing live performance he gave on American Idol this week for his song “In My Head”. It wasn’t just my favorite live performance this season by ANY artist but perhaps of all nine seasons of Idol. It was that good. I loved everything about it…from the incredible dancing and choreography (the blonde dancer stood out big time) to the infectious music and powerful vocal performance by Jason who didn’t lip sync nor did her rely on autotune. He stage presence and dancing were also top notch.

I think what made it stand out for me was the fact that we’ve had some really bad performances lately. P.Diddy and Usher sang live recently and I have to say they sounded awful, but User at least put on a show on the dance floor. Many others have performed live with weak results. Before Jason’s performance this week (see below), my favorite live Idol performance was “I gotta feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas. This one ranks up there.

Come on.

Everybody’s looking for love. Oh. Oh.
Ain’t that the reason you’re at this club. Oh. Oh.
You ain’t gonna find it dancing with him. No. Oh.
I got a better solution for you girl. Oh. Oh.

Just leave with me now. Say the word and we’ll go.
I’ll be your teacher. I’ll show you the ropes.
You’ll see a side of love you’ve never known.
I can see it going down, going down.

In my head, I see you all over me.
In my head, you fulfill my fantasy.
You’ll be screaming out.
In my head, it’s going down.
In my head, it’s going down.
In my head. Yeah. In my head. Oh yeah.

Some dudes know all the right things to say.
When it comes down to it, it’s all just game.
Instead of talking let me demonstrate. Yeah.
Get down to business and skip foreplay.

Just leave with me now. Say the word and we’ll go.
I’ll be your teacher. I’ll show you the ropes.
You’ll see a side of love you’ve never known.
I can see it going down, going down.

In my head, I see you all over me.
In my head, you fulfill my fantasy.
You’ll be screaming out.
In my head, it’s going down.
In my head, it’s going down.
In my head.

Break it down. Ay-oh. Come on. Ay-oh. Ay-oh.
You singing to me baby in my head right now. Ay-oh. Ay-oh. Come on.
She’ll be screaming out when it all goes down.

Just leave with me now, Say the word and we’ll go. We can go.
I’ll be your teacher. I’ll show you the ropes.
You’ll see a side of love you’ve never known.
I can see it going down, going down.

In my head, I see you all over me.
In my head, you fulfill my fantasy.
You’ll be screaming out.
In my head, it’s going down.
In my head, it’s going down.

In my head, I see you all over me.
In my head, you fulfill my fantasy.
You’ll be screaming out.
In my head, it’s going down.
In my head, it’s going down.
In my head.
powered by LyricFind
written by KELLY, CLAUDE / ROTEM, JONATHAN / DESROULEAUX, JASON
Lyrics © Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

Today is a landmark date in technology as Apple officially releases the much hyped iPad which will change the way we view computers yet again. However, don’t be fooled. This isn’t all that new or ground-breaking. When it comes to technology, everything old is new again.

For example, the concept of a tablet PC and laptop goes as far back as 1968 when the legendary Alan Kay (Xerox Parc pioneer of GUI & OOP) shared his concept for the Dynabook. Here’s an image from more than 40 years ago.

Here’s what Alan had to say about this new idea, “"One of the most compelling snares is the use of the term metaphor to describe a correspondence between what the users see on the screen and how they should think about what they are manipulating…  At PARC we coined the phrase user illusion to describe what we were about when designing user interface. There are clear connotations to the stage, theatrics, and magic – all of which gave much stronger hints as to the direction to be followed."

By the way, If you want to learn more about the history of computers then all you have to do is take a look at the history of innovations that came from Xerox Parc. They were Apple’s baby daddy and Steve Jobs doesn’t even try to hide that fact. It was his visit to this incredible wonderland that inspired his visions of a beautiful computing experience with elegant typefaces. It was also the birthplace of the mouse, graphical user interface, and much more.

I highly recommend watching the documentary “Triumph of the Nerds” and its sequel Nerds 2.0. You can read my review and even watch Triumph of the Nerds right here.