Vision Circle

Tech Notes

Just some thoughts on "technology":

• Techie "Device" of 2005 - The techie "device" of the year, for me, has to be Google Desktop. I've "found" so many "lost" web pages and PDF files that I saved it's not funny. Yes, it's my fault for not putting them in a directory scheme that I remember, but with so much space, available, it was bound to happen. When I get my "server" back online, I'm going to index that sucka.
• Google Book Search -- While I'm on Google, I have to say that Google's idea of scanning books and making excerpts available for searching should be embraced by publishers.

  I worked on a project that had scanning component involved. People scanned items, OCR'ed them, and then software would make it available for searching. If Google wants to take older books and go through the boring, manpower intensive task of scanning them, let them spend their cash. A forward thinking publisher would make a deal with Google that would benefit them both.
  

• HDTV - I brought an HDTV recently. Other than researching what I thought I wanted, and what was the "best HDTV" for me, I thought that HD programming would just be the same television programming in better resolution. Little did I know that after programming the over the air HD channels, that not only would I see normal programming in great quality, but I would also see weather radar, a CNN type of local broadcast, and a "video channel" type of local channel.

  Watching football in HD is awesome. The only thing I don't like is that they seem to amplify the crowd sound and minimize the sports casters.