It’s difficult to start this post without spiraling into a incoherent rant. 

This semester, I opted to purchase one of my college text books as an eBook, possibly justifying my iPad purchase and saving me a few dollars off the printed version - not to mention the printed copies were not in stock and were scheduled to arrive 2 weeks after the start of my class. The class was being taught as a distance-learning online class anyway, so it seemingly makes sense to do all of the work for it digitally (including, in this case, the reading). 

The book was being offered from Pearson, and cost approximately $55 over the $70 printed version. 

You’ll [probably not] want to read more…

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If you had told me two years ago that Google would propose plans like this I would have fought you on every word. Google was the crown jewel of the internet, offering free solutions to many of the internet’s problems. 

When Google announced their Android operating system, I was among the many who awaited eagerly to an alternative to the extremely expensive AT&T iPhone, and to see what this behemoth of the internet could bring to the mobile handset. 

Since, Google has done very little to keep my respect and live up to their “Don’t Be Evil” mantra. They’ve consistently leveraged a “people vs. Apple” approach to their mobile endeavors, hiding behind support for “open” practices which are constantly found to be neither safe, nor open. Their mobile operating system struggles to impress with a hodge-podge of awkward UI tendencies. 

But up until now, I welcomed Google into my life with open arms, always giving them the benefit of the doubt. 

But what Google is suggesting (along with evil-doer Verizon) will effectively KILL the Internet we all have come to know and love. By putting money and business first, they are suggesting that the next wave of the Internet be a segregated and privileged place, where the users of the Internet no longer matter. 

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Recently, I’ve been attempting to learn Adobe’s After Effect program, which is proving to be incredibly difficult, stimulating, exciting, frustrating and rewarding. 

Stumbling blocks:

• I’ve never really worked with a timeline before - which also means I’ve never really thought about motion before. 
• I’ve never [successively] worked in 3D before.
• I don’t really understand the mechanics of cameras before, specifically how aperture size, focus distance and zoom can interact with the point of interest. 
• I’ve never used After Effects before and I have a very strict deadline. 

Successes:

• Like most of the Creative Suite, After Effects is intuitive if you’ve used any of the other Adobe programs before - many of the tools are the same. 
• Lynda.com has video tutorials on After Effects.
• Google can find almost anything.
• Motion is fun.

I am so glad that I didn’t realize there was music during the 90s. I think I would have been, for the most part, scared for life.

I’ve realized this after my friends/roommates insisted on a 90s dance party at top volume on ,y sound system, and I found myself struggling to actually dance to anything off the VH1’s “top 100 songs of the 90s” playlist.

Where as you throw on an 80s mix and all of a sudden dancing just makes sense.

What happened in the 90s?

I was working on some social media initiatives today for the office that I work in, and was trying to link the facebook photo albums I was making to the office website in a more meaningful way than facebook provides right out of the box. 

Now, I haven’t kept close watch over what’s changed each time facebook redesigns itself, or what functionality is reserved solely for proper “profiles” over “fan pages” - but I remember a day when there was a little link at the bottom of each photo that said something along the lines of “if you want to share this photo publicly, use this link.” It provided you with a link that was approximately 60 characters long. I am now appreciating that simplicity, and even though 60 characters isn’t exactly twitter friendly, it was a straight forward link that contained (what I can assume) facebook.com/youruserID/thealbumID.

Now, jump forward to today (because I was working on being a S-M-GuRu today) and that link is no where to be found. The “share” button doesn’t help much - the only two functions it actually provides are posting it to your profile or sending it as a facebook message to a friend. So, like any smart internet user, I turned to the address bar to find the address of my 100% public photo album, only to find a 168 character URL.  That’s longer than a standard SMS - and definitely NOT twitter friendly. Not to mention the thing was littered with obscene characters (f#?%). The URL length has basically doubled in a year - and with that rate of growth, within the next few years we’re going to have URLs the size of short paragraphs.

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The Moon. Micah finds the moon interesting. Or at least the moon landing. All of it. 

This website blew my mind. Did you know that that Apollo 11 did a 180º turn, in the middle it’s flight path? Incredible. 

http://wechoosethemoon.org/ (site requires Flash, FYI)

I found this site via the FITC Awards, via @guell. We Choose The Moon was recognized in the “Technical Excellence in Flash” category, and you’ll see why. 

A week away from commencement, I’ve been hit with a slight panic - the main focus in my life is about to be shifted away from the institution of learning. I am about to graduate, into the world, with a degree and an expectation to succeed. I know that by no means am I done learning (everyone knows there is plenty more to be learned outside of school), but it is now expected to happen as a subsidiary to life responsibilities and some type of money-making career.

I’m sure graduations bring out a bit of anxiety in everyone. Some feel unprepared with what they’ve learned, some feel uncertain on where they want to go, some just don’t want to leave the cradle of academia. But instead of looking back and wishing for more time in school or complain about the shortcomings of college educations, I’ve been inspired by Andrew Maier’s “State of Design Education” to take control of my education after graduation and have made a concrete promise to myself that I will continue to seek out education after I continue past academia. 

(Please click through and read more)

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