Space on your phone - Cosmic Log - msnbc.com

Mobile devices such as Apple's iPad, announced this week, are providing new ways to see the crown jewels of space science: glorious views from the frontiers of the universe. However, getting to the good stuff sometimes requires a little sleuthing. Check out some of the brightest gems - and feel free to pass along your own favorites.

If you want to see cosmic pictures on a compact screen, here are a few places to start:

via cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com

Sharing great space photos. Check the full list including Hubble's Universe and Goddard Shorts.

Posted from Broadside: Taking Aim at the Social Revolution

Why New Restaurants Are So Noisy

Diners worried they will end up in a noisy restaurant may want to play defense with a few strategies. Googling pictures of the restaurant can be helpful: Walls of windows, high ceilings, boxy dimensions, a surfeit of hard lines and a dearth of soft materials should raise red flags. Call the restaurant and ask if it has acoustical paneling or other sound-reducing materials. Take note: If they say they have carpeting, that's often not enough, says Marshall Long, an acoustical engineer in Sherman Oaks, Calif. Restaurants rarely lay down carpet more than one-inch thick, the minimum for effective noise control, he says.

Once in a noisy restaurant, seek out tables in alcoves or side rooms, which can barricade or at least deflect noise, Mr. Thunder says. Convincing management to turn down the music is a double boon: The music itself gets softer, and then other diners lower their voices because they are no longer competing with the music.

via online.wsj.com

While the article was interesting, this is one of those consumer issues, not designer issues. Try some of the defense moves quoted above; they work. If you have others that work, please share.

Posted from Broadside: Taking Aim at the Social Revolution

Is Handwriting Genetic? Today's curiosity.

Doing a family geneaology project, I note my grandfather's handwriting is similar to my brother's. Is it genetic? I did short research and found this enlightening piece, posted here in what is significant part for me. Link is here.

In the past the study of an individual's personality by means of his handwriting was usually regarded with a great deal of scepticism. What was put in doubt was the very existence of a sound correlation between a single subject's distinctive character and his own personal way of writing (with its symbolisms).

Through the years, preconceived ideas and incredulity have little by little given way to reasonable persuasion, mostly as a result of several empirical validations and of scientific trials proving the actual relation between a given individual (with his psyche and soma unity) and his own graphic expression. ....now graphology too is apparently experiencing freedom from long standing prejudices, thanks also to the progresses in the scientific studies linking the evolution of senile neurologic illnesses to typical patterns of handwriting deterioration.

...in the everyday act of writing a note to a friend or in the formal signing of a document we all implicitly take for granted that that graphic representation, with its cluster of typical peculiarities, portrays in short just and exactly ourselves, thus setting each of us apart from any other person; if we gave no implicit acknowledgement to the univocal relationship between any individual person and his own handwriting, one would not understand the reason why we all daily attribute so great an identificative power to our signature as to entrust to that specific written symbol the testimony of authenticity of a contract, of a check, of a letter, of any whatsoever document; still this is what happens daily. In other words, if one would get to deny the actual existence of a real relation (with close interconnection) between an individual and his own typical handwriting, we should ask ourselves why each day millions of people carefully sign at the foot of a document, thus convinced of bestowing to that paper the distinctive brand of their own doing.

 

Posted from Broadside: Taking Aim at the Social Revolution

Old School Correspondence Gets a Digital Audience - Laura Nathan-Garner

At least it hasn’t been since September, when freelance writer Shaun Usher launched Letters of Note. The blog, as Usher explains on the homepage,  “is an attempt to gather and sort fascinating letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos.”

via trueslant.com

As I sit reading old letters from the past of a deceased relative, I so agree with Mr. Usher's take on letters. Check out his blog, Letters of Note. You'll be hooked on writing again. As Mr. Usher notes in this interview, "t’s the visual aspect of written correspondence that really grabs me. The creases of the paper, the handwriting, the odd few extra thick letters where the typewriter’s been bashed too hard."

Posted from Broadside: Taking Aim at the Social Revolution

Charged for your 411 calls? Try Goog411.

If you are charged for your 411 search calls, check out Google's 411 service. Lots of functions -- and free.

http://www.google.com/goog411/

Posted from Broadside: Taking Aim at the Social Revolution

Yahoo! and Verizon's Affront to Freedom

Not only do Yahoo! and Verizon apparently hate the Constitution and the Freedom of Information Act, but they also seemingly believe the public is too stupid to form reasonable thoughts. Both companies have appealed to the government to thwart agitator Christopher Soghoian because the man rightfully and legally wants to know how much private info the companies reveal to law enforcement agencies. [From: Wired]

via switched.com

Don't know where this will go, but interesting read.

Posted from Broadside: Taking Aim at the Social Revolution

Official Google Blog: Show me the pictures: better format for image results

12/01/2009 04:38:00 PM

Over the next twenty-four hours we're [Google] rolling out a new format for image universal results. When we're confident that we have great image results, we'll now show a larger image and additional smaller images alongside. With this new layout we're able to show you more pictures than before, so you have more to choose from. As always, you can click on an image to see it full size in the original webpage.

via googleblog.blogspot.com

Posted from Broadside: Taking Aim at the Social Revolution

Official Google Blog: Show me the pictures: better format for image results

Official Google Blog: Show me the pictures: better format for image results

What Is A Browser? | Penn Olson

Sarah Chong asks this question over on Penn Olson. See the "on the street" interviews conducted by Google a while ago, as well as a recent video by Google explaining (to those in Rio Linda and the rest of us) what a browser is and is not.

And enjoy the link to What Browser? to see what browser you are using and why you might switch.

Posted from Broadside: Taking Aim at the Social Revolution

Twitter - Public or Private?

Lately I am getting more and more people following me on Twitter, who, I discover when looking to see who they are, have protected their page. We cannot follow you back without more work on our part: asking your permission to let us in. While I am flattered to be followed, this controlling one’s privacy brought to mind a recent business discussion as to why people keep their social networking connections private.

In that conversation, most people in the room favored public access. Everyone agreed that getting the most contacts is not conducive to good business -- or even to selling a product or service. It is certainly less tedious to be able to directly ask someone to network than to ask me to connect you -- and the back and forth that should entail if you are practicing good business networking habits.

If you do ask me for a connection, I do take the time to see who you are, what you do, and whether my making a connection that may get a negative response from the person I am connecting. I would not want to forward a bogus or "just collecting names" request. I would usually take the time to ask the 3rd party if they would like to make the connection. All this does take time. Sometimes it is worth it. Sometimes, as recently happened to me, the requestor had the wrong person. I did not forward the request.

And I do spend a lot more time looking at a connection request when lists are private. You can tell if you have opted for public or private by looking at your preferences.

I suspect most of us don't take a second look at our preferences once we get past the initial setup. This is not, imo, a good practice. Updating your personal information on your social sites at least yearly makes you a more valuable business contact. It has the added advantage, especially to those of us early adapters or those who are a bit timid about all that the socnet age has to offer, of allowing you to correct what may have been an unintentional consequence. You may not have understood what public and private meant when first registering, or you may want to be public, now that you’ve become comfortable with the Internet and the 21st century way of talking.

Posted from Broadside: Taking Aim at the Social Revolution

Email Comes in 2 Flavors

Email comes in 2 flavors: POP and IMAP.

Post Office Protocal (POP), which is less efficient, has its place. If you are the only one working on your computer, if you do not need to share your work and communications, if you have limited storage space on your email server, and/or you have a slow Internet connection, POP may be your best choice.

On the other hand, if you are want to be efficient and manage your time well, Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is the better choice. IMAP lets you access your email, including previously read email, from many electronic devices and from wherever you are in the world. IMAP provides two-way communication between your mail server and your electronic devices, saving you from duplicating messages, storing them in various places, and generally improving your filing and management systems, saving you time.

Unlike POP, IMAP easily synchronizes messages from different computers, automatically mirrors file folders created on the server or computer, and even stores your sent messages on the server (if you elect to do this). Mail programs that support IMAP even can move messages between folders on the server; between the server and a local mail folder; and even between different IMAP mailboxes on different servers.

IMAP makes handling email simpler and efficient.

While POP can be set to store messages on the server and save emails sent from the server. It is good practice to store messages for a few days at least, just in case some are deleted from your computer hard drive. IMAP will store messages on your hard drive with the proper settings and folders. The one disadvantage to IMAP is the amount of storage space your ISP provides. While you can always rent more storage space, it is a good idea to monitor this.

IMAP makes deleting messages safer. When a message is marked for deletion, it disappears from the inbox or folder, but it is still on the server -- and can easily be undeleted if needed. This is especially useful when sharing emails. One person reads and deletes a message, but another can still read it and retrieve it.

Emails are permanently deleted with a purge command. For more on how email works, read How Stuff Works article on email.

Posted from Broadside: Taking Aim at the Social Revolution