The future kitchen will have appliances that follow one another like we do on social networks…SmartToasters and Multi-TouchFridges communicate with digital pantries to keep things in stock and even place orders with local grocers. Recipe apps query the DigitalPantry and adjusts the shopping list accordingly. Some of these things are already here but there isn’t a universal platform where they can all communicate with one another yet. The digital language hasn’t been established yet but it’s coming much like Ethernet and Token Ring from years ago. The HomeNetwork could tie it all together… not just inside the home but also with the outside world such as the grocery store.
I watch my favorite movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” every Christmas. One of my favorite things about the movie is Donna Reed who was absolutely beautiful. She went on to win an Oscar in 1953 for her work in “From Here to Eternity” and then starred in her own TV series called “The Donna Reed Show”. Sadly, she passed away too young at age 64 due to pancreatic cancer in 1986. Here are some videos about Donna Reed.
News of her passing with highlights from her career
The amazing phone scene from “It’s a Wonderful Life” which they did in one take!
The lasso the moon scene from “It’s a Wonderful Life”
We just lost one of the best writers and most brilliant minds with the passing of Christopher Hitchens (age 62). He succumbed to cancer after a year and a half battle. He continued to write and share his thoughts on life and ultimately, death. Here’s a tribute from Vanity Fair. Here’s Christopher’s final piece: Trial of the Will
Here’s an amazing appearance he made at Google to discuss his book: God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything”
No matter how deeply religious you are, you must admit that Mr. Hitchens does present much food for thought. While the premise of philosophy is unsettling to all believers, it’s worth pondering. It will either make you more faithful or lead you to another truth and path in life. He was a gifted writer and a talented thinker. His entertaining, charming and provocative spirit is already missed.
I’ve always been a big fan of Lorraine Hansberry who died much too young at the age of 34 in 1965. She is best known for writing “A Raisin in the Sun” which is a powerful story about a black family moving into a white neighborhood. The play was hugely successful as was the movie starring a young Sidney Portier. While I can never claim to understand what African-Americans experienced in such a situation, I can say that I have an idea of what it must have been like as I grew up in a family considered as foreigners who didn’t belong. Our mom cleaned homes as she learned english and how to drive while raising four boys by herself in a strange new land. Still, no matter how bad we had it on the streets of Newark, I know it was far worse for African-Americans dealing with wide-spread racism everywhere they went. What an incredible story Lorraine forced America and the world to see and feel. I am sure it helped in some way with the movement that was evolving across the land.
I remember how sad I felt when I learned how young this talented voice was when she died. Only 34! What a tragedy as we were all robbed of countless new stories. Still, I am so grateful that she did have her moment in the sun. She did share her gift with the world and it will last forever.
I think she was not only talented but also so brilliant and beautiful too. Her good friend Nina Simone wrote a song about her called “Young, Gifted and Black”. Before there was Maya Angelou or Alice Walker or Oprah there was Lorraine Hansberry who blazed a path for them. Her light did not flame long but what a bright flame it was.
Here’s a good mini-documentary about Lorraine Hansbury.
Here’s the tribute written for Lorraine by her friend Nina Simone who’s played it for decades in her honor
Here’s an amazing scene from a raisin in the sun where Sidney Portier and his mom have an argument.
Few movies ever live up to the hype and expectations these days but I really liked “LIMITLESS” starring Bradley Cooper. It’s centered around a man who takes this new pill that helps him turn his life around by making him more “clear”.
While I don’t like the message that we need some narcotic to change our fate and destiny, I did like the story and the way the movie was shot and edited as well as the music.
This movie reminded me a little of Wall Street with Robert De Niro as Gordon Gekko and Cooper as Sheen… it also made me think of another favorite movie of mine, PHENOMENON (1996) which starred John Travolta whose life turned around when he became “Clear” and ultra intelligent, but it wasn’t via drugs.
Growing up on the mean streets of Newark, NJ we loved the night before Halloween even more than Halloween itself. That night is known as Mischief Night (some call it Hell Night but we liked the term Mischief because that’s what it was all about).
The most important element for that evening were eggs…yes, as many as we could get too. Many an egg were thrown through the years.
I’ll never forget the cold night when I got whacked in the skull with an egg hurled from a long distance in the pitch black. It made such a horrific sound as it smashed into the side of my head and splattered all over my hear. OK that wasn’t a fond memory but it’s there..part of my yute. So is getting chased by the cops after hurling eggs with some friends. We never got caught but it was close a few times.
Some of my friends liked soaping up car windows but I thought it was lame. Others liked to TP homes and trees…but again, not my bag.
I always think of this night and smile as I remember the bonding we guys did as we ventured into the night. Of course, now that I’m a dad I cringe to think of my kids ever doing what we did…still, they are good memories to me.
The old adage is so true. We don’t know what we need, want, or love until it’s gone.
I love this song by Alex (not Adam!) Lambert from American Idol. He only made the top 12 because he was just too nervous in front of a live audience but he sure has come a long way. Check him out in this wonderful video as he performs all over the world including in the middle of Times Square.
Love his voice…sounds familiar but I can’t remember who..perhaps a little bit like Curtis Stigers? In any event, I think the kid has a bright future.
“I Didn’t Know”
Verse:
I thought I knew
But this just doesn’t feel right without you
I tried so hard to push away your heart when I should’ve let it through
I miss your voice
Anything else that I hear is just noise
Cause you changed my world, should’ve seen it girl, but I didn’t know
Chorus:
I didn’t know who you were ’til you were gone
I didn’t know you’d be so special to me
I didn’t know, didn’t know myself
I didn’t know all the love I felt for you
So baby please don’t go, I didn’t know
Verse:
I was convinced
That I could go through one day without your kiss
I never felt the way you made me melt
Oh since I touched your lips
Chorus:
I didn’t know who you were ’til you were gone
I didn’t know you’d be so special to me
I didn’t know, didn’t know myself
I didn’t know all the love I felt for you
So baby please don’t go, I didn’t know
Bridge:
Na na na na na na na na I didn’t know
Na na na na na na na na I didn’t know that I could fall so deep in love
I wanna be there when the morning sun comes up
Can you forgive me this time, baby please
I thought I knew, but this just doesn’t feel right without you
Chorus:
I didn’t know who you were ’til you were gone
I didn’t know you’d be so special to me
I didn’t know, didn’t know myself
I didn’t know all the love I felt for you
Please don’t let me go, so baby please don’t go
Outro:
I didn’t know, didn’t know, how beautiful, didn’t know
Didn’t know, I didn’t know, didn’t know
Not everything Steve Jobs or Apple touched turned to gold. Here are a slew of products that were either too ahead of its time or just weren’t good enough. Some never even got released. In any event, every failure contributes to success in some way. If you look closely, you’ll see features and options that inspired future products that did become massively successful (i.e. iPod, iPhone, iPad)
Apple PowerCD and QuickTake
Apple Newton
Apple Newton eMate 300 was introduced March 7, 1997 for US$800 and was discontinued along with the Apple Newton product line and its operating system on February 27, 1998.
Apple prototypes that never saw the light of day
As you might have noticed, almost all of these excellent videos (except for the Apple Newton video) were done by MattsMacintosh. I highly recommend subscribing to his YouTube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/MattsMacintosh. Here’s his twitter account: @MattsMacintosh
He does cover successful Apple products too. For example, here’s his unboxing video for his Apple MacBook Air.
“Objectified” is a wonderful documentary about the beauty of design. It was made by the same folks who made another favorite of mine, “Helvetica”.
Here’s my favorite part where Jonathan Ives shares a rare glimpse at the design process at Apple. He shows the raw material that is used to create a MacBook Pro.
Gary Kildall was a visionary whose contributions to the personal computer industry has been slowly forgotten or reduced to footnotes in history. His company, Digital Research Inc. (DRI) was one of the most successful computer companies of the 1970s and 1980s. There’s a popular story that’s floated around for decades about how Gary went flying the day IBM came to make a deal with his company so they then went to Bill Gates and made the deal with Microsoft instead. As it turns out, that wasn’t what really happened at all. Yes, Gary was flying that day but he was delivering software to a big client and did make it back to the meeting with IBM and did close the deal. Unfortunately, IBM gave Microsoft the better end of the stick as they sold PC-DOS for $40 and Gary’s OS for a whopping $240 which was big bucks back then. Naturally, everyone chose PC-DOS and the rest was history.
Gary became bitter over this raw deal but he did enjoy major success when Novell acquired DRI for millions of dollars. Still, things could have been radically different if his OS became the default OS instead of Microsoft’s.
Gary also became the co-host of one of the first computer TV shows in 1983 with The Computer Chronicles with Stewart Cheifet for about six years. He always enjoyed coming up with innovative new technologies such as the CD ROM and multi-tasking OS, among many other ideas.
He died at the age of 52 after a fall in a bar. The details are not known what happened but no matter what the circumstances, a brilliant visionary died too young. His contributions to the personal computer industry should never be forgotten.
Here’s an excellent special on Gary Kildall as hosted by his former Computer Chronicles partner, Stewart Cheifet.
