In memory of lives lost on 9.11.2001

The Wall.

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My experience with the HeadBlade system

Several months ago Seth Godin was in Salt Lake City, Utah to promote his new book The Dip. One of the deals Phil Burns made with Seth if he would come to Utah is he and a few others would shave their heads bald. Of course Seth being the bald man that he is thought that was a great idea.

During the shaving session, Seth mentioned a company called HeadBlade that made shaving products. Fortunately Ash Buckles video taped the event and posted it on YouTube. I believe it was the head guy at HeadBlade asked Ash if he could send some head shaving products. Of course Ash said yes.

After some time Ash decided it would be a great idea to give me the items from HeadBlade. And of course I accepted. So here is my experience.

I opened all the items included, which were various bottles of skin lotion, shave cream and razors. But the coolest thing was a razor shaped like a sports car including cool little wheels on one end. The razor is curved to glide on the head easier.

Once I had applied a gratuitous amount of shave cream on my head I started shaving. It was pretty easy at first. I was able to complete the top and sides of my head with no problems. Then came the back. That's a little more complicated because I can't see what I'm doing. That's when I started to run into problems.

By the time I got to the back of my head my hands were pretty slippery from water and shave cream. the razor kept slipping out of my hands. I managed to cut my self in several places. One of the cuts was pretty deep. They were caused by the razor sliding sideways or at an angle.

I can't really say it was the fault of the razor, but I have never cut my head in all the years I've been shaving my head. The HeadBlade razor is a great shape but it slips out to easy. It's a great idea, and in general worked, but I wasn't too happy that I cut my head.

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Giving Props to my Peeps

This weeks prop goes out to my Sister-in-Law V. She helped me rescue a stranded wife miles from where I was. Thanks V.

P.S. I still had to change the flat tire. Thank goodness it was still under warranty.

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Jott takes voice translation to the next level

I received an email from Jott.com today announcing several new services for their Voice recognition service. Some of these include translation and posting to Twitter, your own Wordpress blog and Jaiku.

Here are just a few of the really cool new features:

• Jott Folders (basically categories)
• Status alert, sort of like Twitter's "what are you doing?"
• Jott Express, a desktop application allowing you to send Jotts from the computer, using Adobe AIR technology

There are obviously some issues you may run into using Jott. It's not 100% accurate. Depending on how fast you talk or your accent, you may find what you spoke not exactly what Jott translated. This could be especially frustrating when posting your Jotts to Twitter.

I did a test post on my SciFi blog and it worked just as I expected. And the really cool thing was the audio link that was posted along with the translated text. Very cool. Can you say mobile podcasting?

I've used Jott for some time and found that it works about 90% reliable. I speak clearly and slowly, normal actually, and it seems to work fine. Give it a spin today.

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Holodeck style technology close to reality

Back in the late 1970's I had a neighbor who worked for a software company that developed 3D aircraft simulators to train pilots. One weekend he took me and another friend into the lab to take a sneak peak at what they were doing. Being a complete geek I jumped at the chance to see real computers at work.

When we entered the lab I was in heaven. There were large cabinet sized computer in long rows. The light was dim and the illumination of LED's gave you the sense you were entering a Star Trek episode. You could hear and feel the hum these big machines made. Cables as thick as baseball bats protruded from the back of each cabinet like octopus tentacles.

Near one wall was a large collection of CRT's, or monitors, all connected displaying  a computer rendered mountain terrain. An aircraft style seat was facing the monitors. It was black, with a tall head rest. There was a keyboard attached to one arm and a joystick control on the other.

I could hardly stand myself. I was like a little kid getting an ice cream cone. I couldn't take my eyes off of all the screens. I wanted to know how they did that. What did they do. How can I play? My neighbor walked us over to the control center and said jump in. I assumed he meant me and I jumped in the chair. He could have meant the other kid with us but I didn't care. I wanted in and I wanted in now.

The seat was hard plastic. It wasn't very comfortable. I reached over and swung the keyboard around so it was in front of me. I quickly looked over at the neighbor, hoping I hadn't just stepped over the line. He had a big smile on his face and I knew I was ok. He spent the next 10 minutes explaining the controls, the keyboard and what we could expect to see.

It was the coolest experience I had as a kid. Flying a military helicopter in what was the biggest most expensive video game I had ever seen. There were lots of bugs, like being able to fly through the ground, and flying straight up crashed the software. But all in all it was just very cool to be there.

I knew right then I was destined to be a computer guy. I didn't care what I had to do. I wanted to do this more than anything. I pestered this neighbor often to take me back, and he did, one other time. It was all worth it.

Yesterday I ran across this article about holodeck technology being used to train Marines. When I was a Marine it was all hard real ground action. No computers to simulate the enemy. How I wish there would have been something like this when I was active. Imagine how much better our soldiers will perform being able to participate in multiple types of  engagements in various terrains.

As technology gets better, faster and smaller, the military will rely heavily on its use. Instant feedback, communications and decisions can and are being delivered to troops on the ground during operations. This will hopefully reduce risk and the loss of life. See, Star Trek was the best show ever invented. We have been chasing it's technology for years. Too bad we just didn't have Gene Roddenberry built it all for us while he was still alive.

How do you think this type of technology should be used in the future?

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