Six months or so ago I heard about a web site called PhotoSynth, a tool that started in Microsoft Research Labs. You can upload pictures of a building or city block or object or whatever into PhotoSynth and it will stitch them together into a 3d view.
PhotoSynth is now live. It has some limitations, like the inability to add pictures to someone else's Synth, but you can just imagine the potential!
I downloaded a bunch of pictures of the SL temple from Flickr and created a PhotoSynth called "Mormon Temple (SLC)." It was able to automatically stitch together about 11 percent of them, although all from the same side.
Would love to see someone put enough pictures into a Synth to create a full 3d view of one of the temples!
Kudos to Microsoft for a clever idea!
Showing posts with label Member. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Member. Show all posts
Everybody loves to cha-cha-cha
A young man I was teaching in a Sunday School class today introduced me to ChaCha.
ChaCha is a question answering service for mobile devices. I tried it and it's pretty cool.
You just send a text message with a question to CHACHA (242242). For fun, I typed my first question this afternoon: "How long is a marathon?" I got an answer in just a couple of minutes:
The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometers (26 miles 385 yards) road race.
Wow. That was interesting, I figured, but it's still pretty lame because it's a bot (a computer) and therefore can only answer common questions. I asked another common question: "Who is Gordon B. Hinckley?"
Gordon B. Hinckley is the 15th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The Church is represented. Nice! I can forgive the capitalization error and the missing hyphen. I figured I would ask an uncommon question next: "Who is Joel Dehlin?"
Chief Information Officer for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Huh. At this point, I was starting to wonder if was actually a bot or maybe a human. I tested it: "What is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?"
That depends, is it an African or European swallow? A swallow needs to beat its wings forty-three times every second, right?
I was a little dumb-founded. Either the computer was trained to interpolate Monty Python quotes, they were really good at planning for what stupid questions someone like me might ask or I was texting with a human. Later I found out that ChaCha is, in fact, staffed by humans and you can ask just about anything and get a reasonable answer (directions, movie review, sports scores, restaurant recommendations, etc.). The answer is limited to 160 or so characters of text so you'll want to avoid questions like my friend Eric Denna's favorite: "Define the universe and give three examples." But for simple answers to a surprisingly broad set of questions--basically anything a reasonably smart person can find on the Internet in a few minutes--it's a really neat service I'll be using often.
And it's free--at least for now.
ChaCha is a question answering service for mobile devices. I tried it and it's pretty cool.
You just send a text message with a question to CHACHA (242242). For fun, I typed my first question this afternoon: "How long is a marathon?" I got an answer in just a couple of minutes:
The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometers (26 miles 385 yards) road race.
Wow. That was interesting, I figured, but it's still pretty lame because it's a bot (a computer) and therefore can only answer common questions. I asked another common question: "Who is Gordon B. Hinckley?"
Gordon B. Hinckley is the 15th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The Church is represented. Nice! I can forgive the capitalization error and the missing hyphen. I figured I would ask an uncommon question next: "Who is Joel Dehlin?"
Chief Information Officer for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Huh. At this point, I was starting to wonder if was actually a bot or maybe a human. I tested it: "What is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?"
That depends, is it an African or European swallow? A swallow needs to beat its wings forty-three times every second, right?
I was a little dumb-founded. Either the computer was trained to interpolate Monty Python quotes, they were really good at planning for what stupid questions someone like me might ask or I was texting with a human. Later I found out that ChaCha is, in fact, staffed by humans and you can ask just about anything and get a reasonable answer (directions, movie review, sports scores, restaurant recommendations, etc.). The answer is limited to 160 or so characters of text so you'll want to avoid questions like my friend Eric Denna's favorite: "Define the universe and give three examples." But for simple answers to a surprisingly broad set of questions--basically anything a reasonably smart person can find on the Internet in a few minutes--it's a really neat service I'll be using often.
And it's free--at least for now.
Book Club: Mormon Scientist: The Life and Faith of Henry Eyring
Mormon Scientist: The Life and Faith of Henry Eyring is the latest book I'm reading. Henry Eyring was a pretty remarkable scientist, garnering many of the most distinguised prizes for scientific contribution, and was a faithful Latter-day Saint. He spent a great deal of energy convincing people that science and religion are fundamentally different pursuits and can therefore co-exist peacefully.
The book is written by his grandson, Henry J. Eyring, who takes an interesting approach to detailing Erying's life. Rather than proceeding through a chronology, Eyring divides the chapters by attributes he might have gained from his forefathers.
Here's a quote from the book:
"The lesson of Henry Eyring’s life is that simple people, people just like you and me, can change the world. We do it a little bit every day. And we have the potential to change the world much more, if we can better understand and use our unique gifts."
Royce
"Man has, through the richness of the intellectual quest, become more knowing, more clever and more skeptical. But we have not become more profound or more reverent. Nor have we found a way to put our learning in the context of the eternal."
Josiah Royce
Josiah Royce
You Have the Right to Remain Visible
How many of you would take your home computer to a public place and leave it running?
Or make a list of every web site you browse (EVERY WEB SITE YOU BROWSE) and publish it in the newspaper?
Would you write your credit card number down on pieces of paper and pass them around large groups of people?
We are engaged in the digital analogs of these things all the time, and most of us don't know it.
How many of you would take your home computer to a public place and leave it?
If you fire up a wireless laptop in my house you'll see four of my neighbors' wireless networks, all but one open to the world. I'm about as technical as the sole of an old shoe, but it would be trivial for me to hack into one of their computers and cause all kinds of problems: peek at pictures, read on-line journals, grab credit card numbers or snag on-line passwords stored in cache. Though I'm harmless, some are not. This type of cyber-tom-foolery happens regularly. Thieves drive around looking for wireless networks, discover them, break into them (usually trivially) and make off with the digital rewards.
Or make a list of every web site you browse (EVERY WEB SITE YOU BROWSE) and publish it in the newspaper?
If you think only you know the web sites you visit, think again. Your computer stores traces of where you go in cyberspace and, depending on the security settings on your browser, other web sites can get access to that data. Even if you're careful on your computer, the ISP you use to connect to the Internet can store that data. Some of them are even starting to sell that data--in a way that is actually pretty ingenious. Let's say you're up on a web site reading a review of the movie "Bourne Ultimatum." You might notice that the next web site you go to has an ad to rent or buy one of Matt Damon's other movies. This is possible because some ISP's are starting to provide data about the last place you browsed to the next place you browse and charging for that information. Read the privacy notice of your ISP carefully and I imagine that in many cases you'll find that you can't prevent it.
Would you write your credit card number down on pieces of paper and pass them around large groups of people?
If you send your credit card number over email or tell someone your credit card over the phone (land-line or cell phone) you might as well be writing it down on little pieces of paper and dropping them off a building roof into a crowd. Technology for "listening" to phone calls and "sniffing" emails on the Internet is basically mainstream. It's easy to rationalize, "Oh, I'll just do it this once," but the first time you find big charges on your credit card that you didn't make, you get serious about protecting yourself.
It's interesting to me that we can be so much more careful about protecting our non-digital assets, when our digital assets can be stolen or undermined so much more quickly.
I'd love to hear what precautions you're taking to protect yourselves.
Or make a list of every web site you browse (EVERY WEB SITE YOU BROWSE) and publish it in the newspaper?
Would you write your credit card number down on pieces of paper and pass them around large groups of people?
We are engaged in the digital analogs of these things all the time, and most of us don't know it.
How many of you would take your home computer to a public place and leave it?
If you fire up a wireless laptop in my house you'll see four of my neighbors' wireless networks, all but one open to the world. I'm about as technical as the sole of an old shoe, but it would be trivial for me to hack into one of their computers and cause all kinds of problems: peek at pictures, read on-line journals, grab credit card numbers or snag on-line passwords stored in cache. Though I'm harmless, some are not. This type of cyber-tom-foolery happens regularly. Thieves drive around looking for wireless networks, discover them, break into them (usually trivially) and make off with the digital rewards.
Or make a list of every web site you browse (EVERY WEB SITE YOU BROWSE) and publish it in the newspaper?
If you think only you know the web sites you visit, think again. Your computer stores traces of where you go in cyberspace and, depending on the security settings on your browser, other web sites can get access to that data. Even if you're careful on your computer, the ISP you use to connect to the Internet can store that data. Some of them are even starting to sell that data--in a way that is actually pretty ingenious. Let's say you're up on a web site reading a review of the movie "Bourne Ultimatum." You might notice that the next web site you go to has an ad to rent or buy one of Matt Damon's other movies. This is possible because some ISP's are starting to provide data about the last place you browsed to the next place you browse and charging for that information. Read the privacy notice of your ISP carefully and I imagine that in many cases you'll find that you can't prevent it.
Would you write your credit card number down on pieces of paper and pass them around large groups of people?
If you send your credit card number over email or tell someone your credit card over the phone (land-line or cell phone) you might as well be writing it down on little pieces of paper and dropping them off a building roof into a crowd. Technology for "listening" to phone calls and "sniffing" emails on the Internet is basically mainstream. It's easy to rationalize, "Oh, I'll just do it this once," but the first time you find big charges on your credit card that you didn't make, you get serious about protecting yourself.
It's interesting to me that we can be so much more careful about protecting our non-digital assets, when our digital assets can be stolen or undermined so much more quickly.
I'd love to hear what precautions you're taking to protect yourselves.
Internet Activity Around President Hinckley
The activity on the Internet surrounding President Hinckley has been huge this and last week.
Newsroom has an article pointing to some of the major coverage.
BlogPulse ranked "Gordon B. Hinckley" as the third most mentioned person in the blogosphere on the day after he died.
As of 11:20am this morning there were 170 groups on Facebook created in memory of President Hinckley. 29,038 individuals belong to the largest group which is called "In Memory of Gordon B. Hinckley." Over 90,000 people have subscribed to at least one of the groups.
There's also a new web site called HinckleyChallenge. This is an unofficial web site which challenges people to read the Book of Mormon in 97 days (in commemoration of his age when he died).
Finally, there is a great video up on YouTube where young people share their feelings about the Prophet.
Newsroom has an article pointing to some of the major coverage.
BlogPulse ranked "Gordon B. Hinckley" as the third most mentioned person in the blogosphere on the day after he died.
As of 11:20am this morning there were 170 groups on Facebook created in memory of President Hinckley. 29,038 individuals belong to the largest group which is called "In Memory of Gordon B. Hinckley." Over 90,000 people have subscribed to at least one of the groups.
There's also a new web site called HinckleyChallenge. This is an unofficial web site which challenges people to read the Book of Mormon in 97 days (in commemoration of his age when he died).
Finally, there is a great video up on YouTube where young people share their feelings about the Prophet.
New Web Sites for Two Church Presidents
In honor of President Hinckley's passing and President Monson's new assignment two new web sites were created to celebrate these wonderful men.
gordonbhinckley.com
thomassmonson.com
In addition, the MoreGood Foundation has also created web sites:
www.gordonhinckley.com
www.thomasmonson.com
gordonbhinckley.com
thomassmonson.com
In addition, the MoreGood Foundation has also created web sites:
www.gordonhinckley.com
www.thomasmonson.com
Glenn Beck on President Hinckley
Thanks to Brad Stoddard for pointing me to Glenn Beck's comments the day after President Hinckley's passing.
President Hinckley has passed away
President Hinckley passed away tonight at 7:00pm, MST.
I will miss his sense of humor, his energy, and his passion.
What a wonderful man.
I will miss his sense of humor, his energy, and his passion.
What a wonderful man.
Expressing your feelings
On December 15th of last year, Elder M. Russell Ballard, an apostle of the LDS Church, gave a talk to students of Brigham Young University in Hawaii. He encouraged the students to express their feelings and testimonies of the Church using new media (including the Internet).
Last week at Church, a young man talked about the efforts of some of the kids he knows to express themselves on the Internet.
If you search YouTube you will find plenty of videos which are negative about the Church. However there you will always see that members of the Church are starting to step up and express their testimonies, create montages, and even write and perform songs.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LdPT5oVtG9E
Brad's Testimony
Keep it up!
http://www.ldscio.org/2007/10/08/video-blog-experiment/
http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/using-new-media-to-support-the-work-of-the-church
Last week at Church, a young man talked about the efforts of some of the kids he knows to express themselves on the Internet.
If you search YouTube you will find plenty of videos which are negative about the Church. However there you will always see that members of the Church are starting to step up and express their testimonies, create montages, and even write and perform songs.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LdPT5oVtG9E
Brad's Testimony
Keep it up!
http://www.ldscio.org/2007/10/08/video-blog-experiment/
http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/using-new-media-to-support-the-work-of-the-church
Washington Post article on the global LDS Church
Recently, Washington Post London burea chief Mary Jordan published this article on the expanding global nature of the Church.
It's a great article. It names the Internet as one of the tools that is allowing the Church to reach people who wouldn't have heard about the Church before.
We occasionally post links to articles like this on newsroom.
It's a great article. It names the Internet as one of the tools that is allowing the Church to reach people who wouldn't have heard about the Church before.
We occasionally post links to articles like this on newsroom.
New Internet Safety Podcast
Dr. Charles Knutson, a computer science professor at BYU, has started a new podcast called Internet Safety Podcast where he talks about safe driving on the Internet. The first few episodes deal with what kinds of things kids are exposed to on the Internet and some techniques for coping.
Check it out.
Check it out.
LDS Connected Update
A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about an unofficial LDS group in LinkedIn called LDS Connected. We're now up to 749 connections! When you go into the group in LinkedIn, only 500 show up. That's because they've hard-coded the list to 500.
If you go to advanced search and search within the group, it will search all 749 (and rising) contacts.
If you go to advanced search and search within the group, it will search all 749 (and rising) contacts.
2007 General Conference Memories
I enjoyed Joseph Walker's memories of General Conference in the Deseret Morning News. What are some of your memories from this last conference? (video or otherwise :) ).
Video Blog Experiment
Let's try an experiment.
For those who have an inclination, I'd love to hear/see video blogs which chronicle your reactions to this last general conference.
Please post a link to your video in the comments. I assume 90% of you will use good judgement and avoid abusive language, criticism or clips from copyrighted material. For the other 10%, I will review each post before allowing it be live in the comments. If the clips are 30 minutes long, it will take me a lot longer to view them all. A couple of minutes each might be more like it. :)
Have fun! This will be an interesting test. Share your comments/feelings with the world!
[Joel: Thanks to Justin, our one and only attempt at the video experiment so far!]
For those who have an inclination, I'd love to hear/see video blogs which chronicle your reactions to this last general conference.
Please post a link to your video in the comments. I assume 90% of you will use good judgement and avoid abusive language, criticism or clips from copyrighted material. For the other 10%, I will review each post before allowing it be live in the comments. If the clips are 30 minutes long, it will take me a lot longer to view them all. A couple of minutes each might be more like it. :)
Have fun! This will be an interesting test. Share your comments/feelings with the world!
[Joel: Thanks to Justin, our one and only attempt at the video experiment so far!]
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