Sculpture Garden, Water Works Park and 9/11 Memorial
Sculpture Garden, Water Works Park and 9/11 Memorial, a set on Flickr.
Saylorville Dam – July 31, 2011
Saylorville Dam - July 31, 2011, a set on Flickr.
Took another trip to Saylorville -- this time to the dam and surrounding area.
Downtown Des Moines – July 24, 2011
Downtown Des Moines - July 24, a set on Flickr.
Went downtown and to Gray's Lake one night, and got some amazing night shots. Enjoy!
Netflix Goes Above and Beyond
Recently, Netflix was down. It was very down. Their website stopped responding, and an error appeared at times stating their shipping and streaming services were on hold until they could fix the problem.
I wake up this morning to find an email from Netflix. They sincerely apologized and offered an account credit. It looks like this went to all members... here, take a look.
Dear Tyler,
Recently you may have had trouble instantly watching TV episodes or movies due to technical issues.
We are sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused. If you attempted and were unable to instantly watch TV episodes or movies yesterday, click on this account specific link in the next 7 days to apply a credit to your next billing statement. The credit will be 3% of our $7.99 a month plan that lets our members instantly watch unlimited TV episodes and movies. Credit can only be applied once.
Ready to start watching again? Check out our latest selection.
Again, we apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding. If you need further assistance, please call us at 1-866-923-0898.
–The Netflix Team
I find this to be very generous of Netflix. They were very up front with the outage, and are offering customers a little something in return for their downtime. Thank you Netflix. More companies should follow what you did. Think of the people first, money and business later. Kudos.
Roku
Recently, my xBox decided to die. And by that, I mean the three Red Rings of Death appeared. There was no turning back, as it's hard to repair these and my version of xBox was so out of warranty. Thankfully, I used my xBox for only one thing. Netflix. I have the 1 DVD out at a time service from Netflix, and that includes unlimited streaming of content to almost any device. So, my xBox acted as that middle man between my Netflix account and my TV. With the xBox dead, I was out of a box to play my content. So, I hooked my Mac to my TV, which presented many problems that I won't get into. But let's just say it was not easy to watch content on my TV while using my computer.
Credit: Roku.com
That meant I needed to do something, and that something was get a dedicated streaming device. I am not about to dish out $50 a month for cable, when there is such good content already out there and I am already paying for Netflix. So, I needed something. I was caught between a few different devices. I was first thinking of a Dell Zino, which is just a small computer that I can hook up via HDMI to my TV. Using a wireless keyboard and mouse to browse stuff from Hulu and Netflix and everywhere else on the web. But, after reading reviews that said the video card was not up to snuff, I took the Zino off my list. Now I was left with a Boxee or Roku.
I found that while the Boxee and Roku do the exact same thing, I was leaning towards the Roku. The Boxee offers streaming of Netflix and Hulu and some other services and also has an included HDMI cable and remote. But, the price for it was a little steep. The Roku offered all of those features, except for an included HDMI cord. The Roku also had a lot more offerings on channels. And was cheaper! Roku it was! I got the Roku XD and an HDMI cord for it. Within a few days I was all setup and streaming Netflix and Hulu, along with Revision3, TED talks, cNet and more!
All said and done, I love the Roku and it's quality of service, price, offerings and features. If you're looking for a box to stream media form the Web, and are torn between a Boxee and Roku...go Roku.
Dropbox Revisited
Almost an entire year ago I wrote a post on Dropbox. This amazing service is just something I need to touch on again, because I was reminded on how stupidly simple this program and service actually is.
I use Dropbox on a daily basis. I have it installed on my home computer, work computer and parent's computer. It's my main place to store files. I think the only files I store locally on my Mac are my music files and desktop wallpaper file. Everything else gets sent up to the cloud in a very easy manner. Those new to Dropbox, or if you have never heard of it...let me explain it.
Signup for a free account over at Dropbox.com and you get 2GB of storage automatically. They have paid plans, but for home users, the 2GB should be enough. You start by installing the program on your Windows, Mac or Linux box and just simply upload files. Instantly they are uploaded to the cloud and are always being backed up. Every time you open a file from your Dropbox folder, it uploads its self to the site once you close it, instantly. What could be more simple than this?!
If you don't want to pitch the money to upgrade your storage, you can always refer a friend and earn extra storage. They do have a limit, but hey, any additional free storage is totally worth it. Get family, friends and coworkers involved for some free storage.
Speaking of friends, family and coworkers, you can use Dropbox to share files amongst people. Privacy settings on the web side of things allow you to share links and allow users other than you to upload and download files. You are in complete control of your data, but allow others to collaborate.
I sit here now, as I just organized my folders under Dropbox and I just can't be happier. Right now, I don't use too much of the storage, but it certainly comes in handy, knowing that my data is always safe and I can get it anywhere. I forgot to mention you can access your files from any Internet connection using their web front end. You can upload, download and edit files while on the go through the main page.
This service is amazing, and I challenge you to try it out. And hey, while you're at it, use my referral link so I can get extra storage! http://db.tt/6XaHeie
Google Now Controls Your Car
A recent article on TechCrunch and other news sites has sparked my need to write another blog post.
Credit NY Times
Google, the Internet search engine and Internet hog, has released information pertaining to a car that can drive itself.
Before presenting some facts. Let me share my opinion. I find a self driving car to be a good and bad thing. Here are the good things. I can finally text, eat, shave, put on makeup, change clothes, read and surf the Internet while driving. KEWL! All those previous distractions that previously killed people not paying attention to driving can now be done. The bad part of this is that it is just another cue telling us how lazy we have become. Almost every aspect of things these days can be automated or done over the Internet. We become too reliable on these things working and when they don't work we freak out.
Imagine this scenario: We are sitting in a car. Not just any car, but one that can drive itself. Okay, so, I am leaning back, I got my Justin Beiber blasting from my iPod and I'm talking on the phone to a friend. I pay no attention to the road because I have put in a destination in the GPS and Google is taking me there. Out of the blue, the car starts freaking out. It reminds me of those movies where the main character is in a helicopter and alarms and huge red lights go off because something is wrong. Imagine this in a car. A car you have no control over. Before you have time to turn the car to manual, you are already off the road, crashed into another car or dead. It happens so quickly. And whats to say that if everyone gets these fancy self driving cars, the speed limits might go up because most accidents could be prevented. So, imagine again that we are losing control of the car, we have no time to react and we rear-end the car in front of us going 100 miles per hour, then the car behind us slams into our rear-end. See the chain reaction?
This could end up being a great thing or a terrible mistake. Don't get me wrong. It would be SO EPIC to have a car that drives itself. But, personally, I HATE seeing us become too reliable on technology to do everything for us, right? I see it every day. I work in the technology field, and I rely on networks being up, sites being up and backup being consistent. But...nothing can be up 100%. And these cars are no exception.
Alright, are you tired of me ranting yet? My hands hurt from typing. So, here, let me copy and paste some stuff from the Google Blog about these cars.
Credit TechCrunch
So we have developed technology for cars that can drive themselves. Our automated cars, manned by trained operators, just drove from our Mountain View campus to our Santa Monica office and on to Hollywood Boulevard. They’ve driven down Lombard Street, crossed the Golden Gate bridge, navigated the Pacific Coast Highway, and even made it all the way around Lake Tahoe. All in all, our self-driving cars have logged over 140,000 miles. We think this is a first in robotics research.
Our automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to “see” other traffic, as well as detailed maps (which we collect using manually driven vehicles) to navigate the road ahead. This is all made possible by Google’s data centers, which can process the enormous amounts of information gathered by our cars when mapping their terrain.
To develop this technology, we gathered some of the very best engineers from the DARPA Challenges, a series of autonomous vehicle races organized by the U.S. Government. Chris Urmson was the technical team leader of the CMU team that won the 2007 Urban Challenge. Mike Montemerlo was the software lead for the Stanford team that won the 2005 Grand Challenge. Also on the team is Anthony Levandowski, who built the world’s first autonomous motorcycle that participated in a DARPA Grand Challenge, and who also built a modified Prius that delivered pizza without a person inside. The work of these and other engineers on the team is on display in the National Museum of American History.
So. There you have it. Google has unmanned cars. Will you jump on board and get one when they come out?
Man...what will they think of next?
Hey Oprah, Come to Our Town
Credit: innthebasement.com
Oprah Winfrey posted on her show's Facebook page that the show wants to send its cameras to spotlight a “one-of-a-kind small town.”
Most towns in Iowa are small...like my hometown. Thus, a video was born. The towns submitting themselves to this contest were asked to submit a 2 to 5 minute video showcasing their town and why Oprah should come to it.
There is an excellent article by the Mason City GlobeGazette and the Chicago Tribune if you want more details.
Here's a quick summary of the GlobeGazette's post:
“This is a big deal,” Brown said at a news conference Thursday about the video. “Let’s show Oprah what we’re made of.”
Brook Boehmler agreed and gathered a team to put together the video.
In about two weeks they had a five-minute video narrated by Iowa native and world-renowned opera singer Simon Estes, who launched his “Roots and Wings” tour in Hampton earlier this year.
It features Hampton’s efforts to reopen the Windsor Theatre and bring live performances back to the theater.
Estes’ tour is also featured because it provided a fundraising effort to repair the Windsor Theatre stage, which will help allow for live performances.
The video also included this year’s efforts to save Hampton’s band shell.
“I hope Oprah enjoys the video as much as we did,” said Jim Davies, who helped make the video and is the Windsor Theatre manager.
So, do you think the following video will get Oprah to come to Hampton, Iowa? Only time will tell.
Huge shout-out to the creator of the video: Shawn Dietz!
Amazing Timelapse Montage
Thanks to @PatrickPilcher on Twitter for linking this up. So amazing...just had to share. Enjoy.
Timelapse Montage from Mike Flores on Vimeo.
A montage of my timelapse shots from the past year or so. This is just my timelapse showreel - it was never meant to be a standalone film.
The dolly moves were done using two custom track and dolly systems that I engineered, utilizing some off the shelf components.
I'm currently Beta testing an all-in-one motion control dolly system:The Stage Zero Timelapse Dolly Kit from www.dynamicperception.com and getting even better results.
Music is Hans Zimmer, "Dream is Collapsing" from the Inception soundtrack.
Going without Internet
What's the longest you have gone without access to the Internet? Maybe a few days, hours, even minutes?
Credit: Cisco Blogs
I am currently in college and living between an apartment and my original home in my hometown. The apartment has had flakey Internet for the past week. That's what happens when you borrow internet from neighbors :). None-the-less, I just came to the assumption that the Internet for a week would be non existent.
How did I deal with this? I am still not quite sure. This past week really let me know how much I really depend on the Internet to calm my boredom and give me something to do. Granted, all I usually do on the net is creep on Facebook and Twitter and watch Hulu. I never realized how dependent I had become on this thing that can be turned off in an instant. I was using my BlackBerry to surf to Woot.com just to see their daily deal. Pathetic. I know.
This past week, I also ordered an Internet package from Qwest, which will be put in this coming Tuesday. So my need for Internet while away from home will be fulfilled. But when I think about it, did I really need to order this? With this break, I realized I used it maybe five times during the week for things of actual importance. Is that worth $30 a month? I guess it is.
My point of this post is to ask you this: Do you really need the Internet?
Think about. Before you post comments telling me that your Internet usage is a must have for every single day, just think about it for a little while and actually consider what you need the tubes for. So, that's your thought for the week.
Could you do a 5 day Internet blackout? It's easier than you think. Give it a try. Let me know how it works out.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
VIDEO: Notes for Later – Review
Ever needed to bookmark something, yet access it at a later time at a different computer? Notes for Later makes it easy to do just that. By supplying a simple email address as registration, you can "bookmark" any website for follow-up at a later time. You do this by checking your email. Check out my video review of the simple, free service Notes for Later.
You can view the video in a bigger, higher quality here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPhFsLQi7Y0
McDonald’s Continued Disgustingness
Recently there was a post on Good.is showcasing what happens to a McDonalds hamburger and fries after 137 days. Yes, one hundred and thirty seven days. Leaving the garbage (hamburger) just sitting out for 137 days. It was photographed each day. Take a look.
Credit: Good.is
To me, that looks gross, and tastes gross, but none-the-less, its a normal McDonalds hamburger. After 94 days, here is what it looks like.
Credit: Good.is
Alright, it pretty much looks the same actually. I bet is reeks though. Here is day 137....
Credit: Good.is
IT LOOKS THE SAME! How is that possible?!?!
The original post on the website says that food of any kind should start to grow mold or decay after some time. They compare homemade bread and say that it grows mold within days of being set out in open air. This McDonalds hamburger and fries look completely intact. Sure, the bun is not turned over and there might be stuff on the other side, but if its been sitting this long, there should be growth on all of it. This is sad. I really don't know how to put this into words.
Earlier today, I went to Hardees. Afterwards, regretted it because I found this post and saw this. I am aware that fast food is bad for you and I usually never eat it. But today was a last resort type of fast food eating. None-the-less, I know that fast food is the key component in obesity in the United States. In a later post, I will explain and run down my stuggles with weight personally, but for now, let's talk about how this stuff is not good for you.
The original blog post says that if in open air, the burger does not begin to decay, think about how and what this thing is doing to your stomach. Sure, you have acids that breakdown foods, but our bodies were not built to breakdown everything we throw into it. Without knowing it, we eat plastic usually on a daily basis, and that is something the stomach cannot digest easily. Think of chewing gum...they say it takes SEVEN years for it to fully digest if swallowed. Think about putting a burger from a fast food joint into your system on a daily basis. It is NOT good for you. Its been shown to not be good for you physically and mentally.
So, does this post make you change the way you view fast food? There are a million other resources out there to assist with finding out information about the fast food industry and how it is killing people, and I urge you to check them out because once you read a few articles and true stories, you are changed for like.
Like I mentioned, I am going to do some upcoming posts telling my weight loss history. My entire childhood I was overweight, and I have been struggling for the past few years to get it under control. That, however, will be covered later.
Take care, and let me know what you think about this post.
