Photo by Pete Oxford From a die-hard ecologist's standpoint, the unequivocal answer is simple: No. Tourism invites hordes of people to trample over the delicate island ecosystems, the ever-growing industry attracts migrant workers to join an already unsustainable population which combined with the gaggle of visitors usurps the Galapagos' limited resources. Not to mention the extensive fossil fuel-frying air travel you'll most like......
Photo by Pete Oxford From a die-hard ecologist's standpoint, the unequivocal answer is simple: No. Tourism invites hordes of people to trample over the delicate island ecosystems, the ever-growing industry attracts migrant workers to join an already unsustainable population which combined with the gaggle of visitors usurps the Galapagos' limited resources. Not to mention the extensive fossil fuel-frying air travel you'll most like......
I know I have the rest of the weekend to try and cross the finish line, but what would be the point of winning by cranking out 44,606 words of drivel in two days? For me NaNoWriMo was about daily writing, not so much volume writing.My output was 5394 words and eight days of writing. I met a gaggle of interesting people on Twitter that will be interesting follows for the forseeable future. I found that I liked writing fiction under the gun. Considered aggregately, I'm happy. Naturally, I was my typical surly self throughout.Sure NaNoWriMo's success model is taken...
The steady drip of skeptic commentary has turned into a veritable deluge of late. There was no doubting that an Obama victory would spark a rightwing backlash, similar to the one seen during the first months of the Clinton administration, but even I have been slightly taken aback (and that's saying a lot) by its volume and ferocity. Aside from the president-elect's economic agenda, few issues have aroused more ire than his proposed climate and energy policies. Against my better judgment, I spent part of the weekend looking up and reading as many conservative op-ed pieces and policy briefs --...
Filed under: Industry, Other formats Coming at you straight from Shockville is this tidbit: a report claiming that DVD sales are also hitting the skids, along with practically everything in the world save for milk, bread and diamond-clad cellphones. In fact, DVD sales on the whole are down 4% for the year, with the biggest drop occurring in October; it's also noted that Blu-ray sales, according to Warner, will "miss sales projections for the year by 25%." Interestingly, we're told that the slumping economy isn't the only aspect to blame, as media companies are purportedly "dumping more obscure titles on...
Every day, when I go to check my mailbox overflowing with J. Crew catalogues and Macy's collection agency death threats, I pray to the Lord that I will find a government issued order to go to Jury Duty. I love Jury Duty. Really, my adoration for civil service knows no bounds. What's NOT to love about getting paid for a full day's worth of work in exchange for sitting in a room, people watching, read, having a 3 hour lunch, and going home at 4? You can even LIVEBLOG jury duty! (Please realize my Jury Duty love is all under...
Filed under: Industry, Cables, Ports You've been adequately teased with what all USB 3.0 (or SuperSpeed USB, as we tend to refer to it) can do, but a gaggle of companies took the chance in San Jose, California to really demonstrate just how quick the protocol is. Most notable was the demo by Synopsys, which prototyped an HDTV video transmission system based on USB 3.0 and showed to wide-mouthed onlookers that an uncompressed 1080p feed at 30 frames-per-second could be whisked along at around 450Mbps. Sure, USB 3.0 has wireless HD to watch out for, but given that said technology...
You've been adequately teased with what all USB 3.0 (or SuperSpeed USB, as we tend to refer to it) can do, but a gaggle of companies took the chance in San Jose, California to really demonstrate just how quick the protocol is. Most notable was the demo by Synopsys, which prototyped an HDTV video transmission system based on USB 3.0 and showed to wide-mouthed onlookers that an uncompressed 1080p feed at 30 frames-per-second could be whisked along at around 450Mbps. Sure, USB 3.0 has wireless HD to watch out for, but given that said technology is currently on track...
If you think it’s tough now, managing a gaggle of digital devices and online profiles and services, you’d better get your multitasking and network administrator skills up to speed. According to MAGNET Beyond, a $17 million worldwide R&D project that wrapped up in June, we’re headed for “personal area networks” containing an infinite array of connected devices. They envision a near future where everyone has a network of a thousand devices each (?!). Perhaps a thousand is too generous of an estimate, but thinking about how to easily connect our myriad of gadgets is worthwhile. Alternatively, maybe we should...
Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, GSM, EDGE No one can get on Samsung's case for being bashful with its marketing, as the Tobi S3030 is being aimed squarely at "pre-teens, young adults, and anyone who desires to experience fun and safety features from their mobile phones." In other words, the Tobi won't do anything spectacular, but it is offered up in a variety (six, to be exact) of lovable hues and includes a gaggle of safety features including SOS Call, SOS Message and Fake Call (saywha?). Furthermore, you'll be thrilled to know that it's built with recyclable and biodegradable plastic so...
Filed under: Industry, Misc, Regulatory, Tuners, OTA LodgeNet is looking out for hoteliers and hotel guests who actually want to watch a little TV while traveling after February 17, 2009 by rolling out a digital transition roadmap to bring venues up to speed. Granted, most hotels don't rely on analog OTA signals to begin with, but for those that still do, it's hoping to "propose a customized solution for each property." In other words, it'll see if analog OTA is still in use, and then offer a marked-up installation of DirecTV and / or a gaggle of DTV converter boxes...
Filed under: Blu-ray We'd like to think that anything put out by Criterion would be worth the wait, but this is getting a wee bit annoying. After first announcing that a gaggle of Criterion Blu-ray Discs would be out by October, we were hit with the unfortunate news that things were being pushed back 'til November. Here we are in that very month, and now we're staring yet another month-long delay in the face. For reasons unknown, classics like Bottle Rocket, Chungking Express, The Third Man, The Man Who Fell to Earth and The Last Emperor have all been knocked...
Filed under: Polls, Displays, Other hardware Believe it or not, Black Friday 2008 is under two weeks away. And with the economy like it is, we suspect a whole gaggle of you are going to be scouring the flyers like never before in an attempt to grab only the most supreme of deals. We've already begun to see what certain big box retailers are offering, so we're curious as to what items have caught your eye thus far? Is the Day-After-Thanksgiving 2008 the day you finally buy into Blu-ray? Will you be snagging a bedroom HDTV? Replacing the set in...
