No Longer Be Tolerated

twee means:
1. horrid
2. dainty
3. bear-like
4. moderate

I guessed and got it right! Small victory but one nonetheless. I have a new addiction: FreeRice. I play and feed hungry people at the same time.

“After you have done FreeRice for a couple of days, you may notice an odd phenomenon. Words that you have never consciously used before will begin to pop into your head while you are speaking or writing. You will feel yourself using and knowing more words.”

For each word you get right, they donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations to help end World Hunger. It is the brainchild of Poverty.com and has been around since the beginning of October 2007. There are 50 levels of words though the organizers say in their FAQ section that it is rare for individuals to get higher than 48. I usually get up to level 37 before being completely clueless as to what the word means.

The user interface is slick and compelling. Ten grains of rice appear in a wooden bowl for each word you get right. The response time is lightning fast *at least it is at 7:45 am EDT when I do it* and it is a win-win situation. I help in the battle to end world hunger while exercising my brain. In this world where our senses are bombarded by ads, I am using this as part of my morning routine, right after Websudoku and Set Daily puzzle. It costs me nothing but time.

Now I also know: “If it is too good to be true, then it is too good to be true.” I can not find anything wrong with this website. I do believe the organizers are using the revenue generated by the advertising to give the resulting funds to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). I understand that this is a fun propaganda tool. They have sold me on why they created the website:

We believe that when enough people around the world become knowledgeable about hunger, it will no longer be tolerated.

I hope you will check it out and pass it on. Because yesterday, 120 out of the 192,744,570 grains of rice were from me. One minuscule drop in the bucket but together what an impact we can make.

If you were wondering - twee means "dainty".

Multi-Touch Interface and a Christmas Gift

My soon-to-be-eighteen-old daughter wants an iPhone for Christmas. This is the only thing she wants for Christmas. With the recent price drops, I believe the initial cost to be around $400. Split this amount among grandparents and parents and it does fall into the realm of reality.

So she drags me into an AT&T store, conveniently located to the only Panera Bread in town. (We both love our Panera but it is on the other side of Terre Haute so it is a special occasion when we go there.) The store is not busy and we are able to play with the iPhone with just a small amount of help by a customer service representative. What can I say? It was neat. It sucked me in to thinking that even I would carry it around to access the web. It was slick and easy to manipulate. Now we start to discuss phone plans and I see the monthly cost skyrocketing. My daughter and I beat a hasty retreat out of the store.

Now I am reading an article in the November/December 2007 issue of Computers in Libraries. On page 42, Daniel Chudnov discusses The Multi-Touch Tipping Point for Reading Online. He makes the case for reading from screens is going to overtake printed materials in the coming decade or even half-decade. In 2006, at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference, a guy named Jeff Han gave a presentation about the multi-touch monitor.

The demo, which drew spontaneous applause and audible gasps from the audience, begins with a simple lava lamp, then turns into a virtual photo-editing tabletop, where Han flicks photos across the screen as if they were paper snapshots. (From the TED website) At TED2007 he brought along a larger, wall-size version that TEDsters actually try. This eight foot by 3 foot multi-touch display is now available for purchase throught Neiman Marcus.

From the advertisment:
Creativity is not a static pursuit, and we were never ones to stay in our seats, minding our P's & Q's. Passion, energy, motion—that's what gets us going. Luckily, the future is here with the Interactive Media Wall from Perceptive Pixel.With an eight-by-three foot screen, the entire wall becomes your canvas, allowing you to navigate, locate, and manipulate information by touching anywhere on the screen. No longer chained to cumbersome physical input devices, your imagination can fly at warp speed in a medium that can easily keep pace. Tap out a sonata with your fingertips, flip through manuscripts with the swipe of your hand, or crop photos with a pinch—it is perfect for grand gestures or the lightest touch. Call 1.877.9NM.GIFT to live your dreams in color.

The price: starting at $100,000.

I think I like my cumbersome physical input devices like my keyboard and mouse much better than spending more than I paid for my house. This certainly puts the iPhone cost in perspective. Also the new HP commericals which feature Shaun White and Serena Williams using a multi-touch approach are very attractive to me and my coworkers. Who knows, the mouse clicking may become a thing of the past.

So back to the Christmas gift, I teach a monthly class at a local senior citizens' center. The Tai Chi instructor who uses the room prior to me has an iPhone. She says the monthly costs run just $10 dollars more than her old phone. Her argument regarding cost hold more weight with me than a sales person. We'll see about the iPhone.....