New Windows Live Writer

June 6, 2007

There’s a new Windows Live Writer! I haven’t played too much with it yet, but from the announcement, it looks like they’ve fixed most of the complaints I had: Tagging support Categories are sorted by name and support scrolling, plus improved support for reading categories from your blog Improved startup performance (me: YAY!!) Insert hyperlink added to context menu when text is selected Custom date support for Community Server Improved style detection for blogs Fixed issues with pasting URLs and links Open post dialog retrieves more than 25 old posts

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

May 16, 2007

Know the trailers been out for a bit, but just saw it and thought I’d share. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix comes out July 13th. (And just in case you weren’t counting, 66 days until the last book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” is released!)

ImageKind

April 22, 2007

ImageKind is a digital printing online service that just announced a partnership with Flickr. It is “one community for creating, buying, and selling art.” They’ve got a bunch of interesting advantages for folks with digital pictures: I like my prints from Adorama… but when I print out the “digital size” (e.g. 11×17) its almost impossible to find frames for them. (And my crops to 8×10 or 16×20 just don’t look as good.) ImageKind provides framed prints at digital sizes. Canvas prints. Flickr integration, which means no uploading of huge files in two places. And of course, the amateur’s dream of selling his/her photos …

SF MOMA: Picasso & American Art Exhibit

April 14, 2007

This afternoon, I went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). Their current exhibit is “Picasso and American Art.” The whole thing is VERY well done: the selections, the layout, the audio tour. The goal of the exhibit is to showcase how Picasso influenced modern art in America. Sometimes the “influence” was very direct. For instance, the below Arshile Gorky‘s Blue Figure in Chair is based directly on Picasso‘s Femme Asise (Seated Woman). In general, though, the American artists first tried to imitate Picasso’s style, and then extend and go beyond it. It’s interesting to see the early attempts – Picasso’s work has such cohesion, beauty, and …

Joshua Bell – Incognito Street Musician in the DC Metro

April 7, 2007

I just read an excellent Washington Post article. The Post had Joshua Bell, world renown violinist, play as an anonymous street musician in the DC metro during morning rush hour. After 43 minutes of playing, Joshua Bell made $32.17. Joshua Bell concert tickets usually go for $100 minimum. In the metro, 1070 people walked past him. Only 7 people stopped to listen (for even a minute). The articles practically begs you to ask yourself: Would I have stopped and listened? The question is not a test of whether you have the capacity to appreciate that caliber of music. It’s whether you would have allowed yourself to …

Origami on Crack

February 18, 2007

Last night, I read a great article in the New Yorker about Robert Lang, master orgami folder. I remember folding cranes when I was little with my family and our Japanese exchange students. But this stuff is on a completely different level. Interesting point from the article & something I never thought about: Scientists began applying these [origami] folding techniques to anything—medical, electrical, optical, or nanotechnical devices, and even to strands of DNA—that had a fixed size and shape but needed to be packed tightly and in an orderly way. From Lang’s website (and may I add a serious *DAMN!*): Black Forest Cuckoo Clock, …

The Darfur Wall

February 17, 2007

A couple months ago, my friend Jonah created the Darfur Wall. This site raises money for 4 organizations that aid the Darfur Conflict. On the “wall,” there are 400,000 numbers, one for each person killed in the Darfur genocide. Every dollar donated turns a number from dark gray to brilliant white. 100% of the proceeds go to four Darfur relief organizations.

Starbucks in the Forbidden City?

February 16, 2007

My friend Peter recently sent me a link about Chinese public opinion & the Forbidden City Starbucks. I first heard about the controversy last November, when my parents were in Beijing. It was only a month and a half after I snapped the picture below, but they had trouble finding the Starbucks: the sign was no longer there. (My dad tried to take a photo of the inside of the Starbucks, but they wouldn’t let him.) Interestingly, my original post with this picture now has with 2093 hits…

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

February 2, 2007

YAY!!!!!! The last book in the Harry Potter series will be released on July 21st. That’s a Saturday. I know what I’ll be doing starting at midnight July 20th. 🙂

Bill Gates on The Daily Show

January 29, 2007

Today was Windows Vista launch (it goes on sale in stores tomorrow!). As a part of the celebration, Bill Gates appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. 🙂 Check it out!

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