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Synchtube: Watch Synchronized YouTube Videos With Your Friends

Synchtube: Watch Synchronized YouTube Videos With Your Friends

Written by Frederic Lardinois / December 31, 2009 9:25 AM / 0 Comments

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Chances are that you are getting at least a few emails and IMs with links to YouTube videos every day. While watching these alone can be fun, Synchtube turns this into a far more social experience. Synchtube allows you to share and discuss a video in real time with up to four of your friends. The first person to enter the room controls the playback and also has the ability to change videos.

Features

To get started, just head over to Synchtube.com and copy and paste a link to a YouTube video into the box in the lower right corner. Then send out the link to the room to your friends and start the video once they have arrived.

via www.readwriteweb.com

The latest addition to my list of "What if the Impossible Isn't?" Simple and useful, always a great combination.

The synchronization of video and chat enables true and interactive conversation and by using YouTube this enables pretty much any video source to be used.  Opens some interesting options for learning and sharing and worth trying and keeping an eye on this as it develops.

A Day in the Internet

via www.onlineeducation.net

Goof visualization and fun way to look at what we often take for granted. It is good to continuously remind ourselves what some of these numbers are and to continue to be amazed at the world we live in.

Given the exponential rate of change, ideally this needs to be a fed with live data such that the numbers can show both the value at any one time as well as the rate of change.

And best of all perhaps, there is lots more where this came from, the OnlineEducation site and the OlineEducation blog.  Well worth your time but be forewarned that you likely won't be able to look at just one of their great graphics.  And that's the good news!

Metadata from and for the Masses? A Common Nomenclature for Lego Families

This recent posting on The Morning News “A Common Nomenclature for Lego Families” is likely to resonate with many families, I suspect, and is as also a great learning moment in metadata, semantics, and language.

“Thousands of different Lego exist, yet when your seven-year-old asks for ‘a clippy bit,’ you know exactly what to hand him. GILES TURNBULL surveys a caucus of children.”

A selection of various Lego bricks

via www.themorningnews.org

Why We Can Never Rest: A Year in the Life of Twitter

This posting from Times Online “Why we can never rest: a year in the life of Twitter” offers an interesting perspective on Twitter from Twitter, and is a very tangible example of the emergence of the real time web or "real time information network" (which is much more than just Twitter).

Also worth wondering about is the emerging new relationship between organizations (companies in particular here), employees, employers, constituents, customers, or audiences. In the case of Twitter, I find this latest example of how the relationship between the company and the community is evolving most fascinating. Worth reading and reflecting on this continued evolution in 2010.

via business.timesonline.co.uk

-- Wayne

BigThink Indeed!

This interview on BigThink.com with Nicholas Negroponte about the ongoing One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project is well worth the click and the time for you to watch, and perhaps most interesting of all, there are several other topics there worth watching.

I found it to be very open and authentic as Negroponte answered the following questions:

• How did One Laptop Per Child get started?
• How did you design a laptop specially tailored to children’s needs?
• Do you worry about the laptops growing rapidly obsolete?
• What evidence is there that One Laptop Per Child is working?
• How can teachers and students make the most out of a new laptop?
• How do you respond to critics who say, “Students should read books, not play with computers?”
• What will be the equivalent of the “Negroponte switch” in the next 20 years?
• What are the most radical technologies forthcoming from the MIT Media Lab?
• Should people “unplug” more to avoid media oversaturation?
• Following the battle between newspapers and Google, will walls between media increase?
• Which of the projects in your career has been the most difficult?

In the interview Negroponte provides some very reasoned and fascinating commentary about how he judges success for OLPC with examples such as truancy rates dropping to zero in many places (from up to 30% previously) and stories of how kids with an OLPC are teaching their parents to read and write.

Negroponte also makes some very revealing comments and tell some interesting stories about the reactions and effects on teachers where the OLPCs are in place.  He notes five consistent comments they get from the teachers involved:

1. Discipline problems go down in the classroom.
2. They've never loved teaching so much.
3. They've never had parents so deeply involved with school.
4. Not only does truancy drop to zero, but the energy level in the classroom is just undeniably different.
5. They just get swamped by emails with questions from the kids.

Negroponte also discusses things like the “Negroponte Switch” where he predicted about 20 years ago:

“…that most of the information that you got through the ground, through wires and physically, would in fact come through the air, and most of the things we got through the air, like television, would come through the ground.”

You can also hear about his more recent thoughts on how he believes that the next big change will be at the “space between biology and silicone”.  Negroponte discusses some of the most recent work going on at MIT and his thoughts on “unplugging” and how he sees life now as more of an omelet!

The interview video runs almost 30 minutes but I strongly encourage you to watch more than just the beginning or read through the transcript. For me, much of the best was at the end where he talks very openly about the projects in his life which have been the most difficult.

I also liked the way BigThink.com put together this interview where the questions appear as just text on the screen for a few seconds and then all the rest of the video is simply a head and shoulders shot of Nicholas with an all-white background.  They nicely provided a full text version of the interview accessible with one click, which then scrolls down below the video. It’s very handy for people like me with limited bandwidth and for those who want to grab relevant  bits of the interview.

See some of my other postings on OLPC, such as the recent one on “How the OLPC version 3 Predicts the Future of PCs” and an older one  “Opportunities in our Laps?”

Both Nicholas and OLPC are worth watching in 2010.

-- Wayne

Give it a Whrrl

As an avid traveler and being a journey type of person, the following post on TechCrunch appealed to me. Much more important however is how this adds significant context and extends our ability to discover more relevant things, or in this case, places.

Whrrl, Still Trying To Find Its Way In Location, Focuses On “Footstreams”

from TechCrunch by MG Siegler

“Much of the web is based around clickstreams. The latest version of Whrrl, a location-based application by Pelago, wants to take that concept into the real world, with “footstreams.”

Up until this point, since the launch of version 2 of its iPhone app earlier this year, Whrrl’s focus has been on storytelling. That is, allowing users to tag places they’re at with stories and pictures. But the latest version shifts the focus towards creating a digital record of all the places you go in the real world, Pelago CEO Jeff Holden tells us. “It’s about places, not location,” he says.

While the distinction between the two may not be that obvious at first, it becomes more clear when Holden continues to talk about how the core idea of Whrrl is discovery. That is to say, it’s not about playing a game, or knowing where your friends are at any given time (which rivals Foursquare, Gowalla, and Loopt are all about), instead it’s about building up communities and location data surrounding places. And that leads to another major addition for the site, with “Societies.” Basically, this is a feature that looks at where you go in the real world and serves up other places you might like to “discover” based on other Whrrl users who are members of similar Societies as you.”

via www.google.co.nz

My primary premise and passion around The Snowflake Effect is the vision of getting things "just right" as in just the right stuff for just the right people at just the right time in just the right context and so on. In the case of whrrl and other location-based applications, they are addressing the "just the right place" aspect of the equation and augmenting our ability to discover places that we will be delighted with.

I've long cited music recommender technology such as Pandora, Last.fm, Slacker and Spotify as examples of how it is already possible to experience the power of augmented discovery. These sites have an almost scary ability to find more and more songs that are truly just right, just for you, just at that moment. Now we are beginning to see examples such as whrll which enable this same kind of just right discovery, but of places, not music.

As has been my recommendation for these music discovery examples, the best way—really the only way—I know of to understand them and to determine their value is to try them. I make the same recommendation here with whrrl and other geo-location-based systems. Try them for 30 days and see what you think. And don't forget to share your experience with the rest of us so we can benefit from your unique discoveries.

--Wayne

“Much of the web is based around clickstreams. The latest version of Whrrl, a location-based application by Pelago, wants to take that concept into the real world, with “footstreams.”

Up until this point, since the launch of version 2 of its iPhone app earlier this year, Whrrl’s focus has been on storytelling. That is, allowing users to tag places they’re at with stories and pictures. But the latest version shifts the focus towards creating a digital record of all the places you go in the real world, Pelago CEO Jeff Holden tells us. “It’s about places, not location,” he says.

While the distinction between the two may not be that obvious at first, it becomes more clear when Holden continues to talk about how the core idea of Whrrl is discovery. That is to say, it’s not about playing a game, or knowing where your friends are at any given time (which rivals Foursquare, Gowalla, and Loopt are all about), instead it’s about building up communities and location data surrounding places. And that leads to another major addition for the site, with “Societies.” Basically, this is a feature that looks at where you go in the real world and serves up other places you might like to “discover” based on other Whrrl users who are members of similar Societies as you.”

First Functional Molecular Transistor Comes Alive

The latest entry on my “What if the Impossible Isn't?”  list is this research breakthrough that takes transistors down to the molecular level, which Privya Ganapati describes in this December 24, 2009 article “First Functional Molecular Transistor Comes Alive” on wired.com. This technology is still many years away from any commercial scale or production, but these kinds of examples are what enable things like Moore's Law to continue long after many "experts" predict it has to come to an end.

“Nearly 62 years after researchers at Bell Labs demonstrated the first functional transistor, scientists say they have made another major breakthrough.

Researchers showed the first functional transistor made from a single molecule. The transistor, which has a benzene molecule attached to gold contacts, could behave just like a silicon transistor.

The molecule’s different energy states can be manipulated by varying the voltage applied to it through the contacts. And by manipulating the energy states, researchers were able to control the current passing through it.

The transistor, or semiconductor device that can amplify or switch electrical signals, was first developed to replace vacuum tubes. On Dec. 23, 1947, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain (who’d built on research by colleague William Shockley) showed a working transistor that was the culmination of more than a decade’s worth of effort.

Vacuum tubes were bulky and unreliable, and they consumed too much power. Silicon transistors addressed those problems and ushered in an era of compact, portable electronics.

Now molecular transistors could escalate the next step of developing nanomachines that would take just a few atoms to perform complex calculations, enabling massive parallel computers to be built.”

Speaking of Moore’s Law, I recall back in the early days of modems when the "experts" said that 9600 baud was the physical upper limit of speed. It was simply physically impossible to go any faster. Then they figured out compression techniques, then new transmissions, then optical, and so on. Now we can't even imagine how slow 9600 baud is. 

Well, I can actually, because I still run at such speeds, sometimes even less, when I'm on my satellite phone data modem, which helps me remember such times, but you get my point.  Even when we are so sure, when it is "just a fact", and there seems to be consensus amongst experts, scientists, etc. as to what is and is not possible, we humans have a wonderful history of discovering or inventing a new way of doing things which eliminates or obviates such barriers. This remains more true than ever and is happening at an exponentially increasing rate, which is the real difference to pay attention to.

Keep thinking about it. What if the impossible isn't?

-- Wayne

The 12 Graphs of Christmas

5. Love Vs. Hate

---

In the epic battle of love vs. hate, there is a clear winner on Twitter this holiday season.

via mashable.com

Whatever your beliefs and holidays, I thought this "12 Graphs of Christmas" was fun and somewhat revealing.  The one above is my favorite (Love Vs. Hate) since it matches my observations that the more I travel this world, the more I see so much more good than evil.

Unlikely Ukulele Uniqueness

You wouldn’t expect anything less than eclectic from me or Off Course – On Target, so here is the latest addition to my “What if the Impossible Isn’t?” list. My mission is to have us all change our baseline assumption to be that almost anything is possible.

The TED videos (and BoingBoing) are great sources of examples showing us how the impossible isn’t.

WARNING:  TED videos have proven to be addictive!

TED has recently released the teaser of who we will be seeing and hearing from in the TED2010 program guide. 

For one example of what you can expect in 2010, check out the music and passion coming from a young ukulele player named Jake Shimabukuro.  Yes, that’s right—a ukulele player!  Think you don’t like the ukulele or know what “that kind of music” sounds like?  Check out some of Jake's YouTube videos such as the one below and see this example of how “the impossible isn’t” as he literally makes those four little strings dance and sing.  Best if you watch a few of these to see the diversity of sounds and songs from Thriller to Over the Rainbow to Let’s Dance.

I picked out the following performance of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” which takes place by a stream in Central Park .

Some of his concert performances are particularly worth watching to get more of a sense of the person behind the music (see below).

Almost more than the music, I love the passion and the commitment to change the way we think of this instrument and perhaps music in general. Well worth a look and listen, though with the usual caveats and warnings that you are likely to spend more time there and learn more than you expect.  And that’s part of the good news and the gift!  Enjoy!

$100,000 to the Naked Chef: Jamie Oliver Named Sole TED Prize Winner

I was equal parts delighted and surprised by this recent announcement on December 21st by Alissa Walker on Fast Company about the sole TED Prize winner for 2010, chef Jamie Oliver. More specifically, I’m delighted about his success, hopefully continued and extended by the attention brought by this TED Prize, on changing the food attitudes and habits of children and families.

“There he is, Mr. TED Prize 2010 (he's the one on the left). Yes, it's British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, the Naked Chef, the man who brought his brand of sexy, slightly-messy, all-natural cooking to television--and his own sexy, slightly-messy, all-natural chef-ness for women everywhere to fantasize about greasing up with extra virgin olive oil.

Don't worry, he's not gonna blow the $100k on a 2-ton chunk of pink Himalayan salt. For the last few years, Oliver's been on the front lines of fighting childhood obesity. For the last year he's been battling state school lunches in the U.K., pressuring them to spend $1 billion to overhaul the program, and penned a lovely manifesto for schools. He founded the Fifteen Foundation, a program that trains at-risk 18-to-24 year-olds in the culinary arts, and a new show, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution USA, where he hopes to bring the same level of reform to U.S. schools, will debut on ABC next year.”

via www.fastcompany.com

For the past 30+ years, I've spent more time outside of North America than in it, and every time I go back, I'm always taken aback by the increase in obesity, and the contributing behaviors I see. In the past 10 years, the most marked and upsetting increase has been the degree to which this is now affecting children, as well as entire families and social groups.

I'm personally convinced the root of the problem is eating habits and poor diets. Solutions are mostly a return to the age-old wisdom of less quantity, more quality, and physical activity. No new fads, diets, or supplements required, thank you.

One of the best things I've read in a long time and one of my most recommended books for the past few years is "French Women Don't Get Fat" by Mireille Guiliano.  Of COURSE it is written by a woman—they are SO much smarter—but I don’t find it to be at all limited or exclusive to my favorite gender.  Here’s an excerpt from the editor’s review:

“The message of this book could be a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective. There is no hard science, no clearly-defined plan, and no lists of food to have or have not; instead, you'll find simple tricks that boil down to eating carefully prepared seasonal food, exercising more and refusing to think of food as something that inspires guilt. It's both a practical message and far easier said than done in today's "no pain, no gain" culture.”

It is no more about women than it is about the French or diets.  It is ALL about the joy of food and the joy of life and that these are NOT mutually exclusive. I like for example, Mireille’s note  that “as an adult everyone is the keeper of her own equilibrium.”

Some things I’ve tried that have increased my already high joie de vivre and joy of eating include:

• Multiply the number of times you chew a given food by 10.
• Eat just one morsel at a time. Try this with popcorn!
• Never drink while you are eating (i.e. wash it down).
• Eat the real thing; never eat substitutes (sugar, milk, butter, chocolate).
• Strike a balance or equilibrium; if you eat more, exercise more.

You get the idea. This book is well worth the read. And congratulations to Jamie and TED!

-- Wayne