A flood of new video and other Web content could overwhelm the Internet by 2010 unless backbone providers invest up to US$137 billion in new capacity, more than double what service providers plan to invest, according to the study, by Nemertes Research Group, an independent analysis firm. In North America alone, backbone investments of $42 billion to $55 billion will be needed in the next three to five years to keep up with demand, Nemertes said.
Here are some useful tips to help organize and make your CSS files more usable to you and anyone else who works on them after you. I don’t agree with #3 and #4 is likely for large websites, but the rest of the list is very useful. Like this one:
6) Place color scheme in one place for refrence.
Before you start your CSS file, comment your common colors and add it to the top of your style sheet. This will save you ton of time and will insure that your site has one color scheme.
Since NBC decided to pull its TV shows from the iTunes store, they’ve since launched a beta version of their own media center.
Christopher Breen at playlistmag.com sums up NBC’s Hulu as compared to iTunes.
The [NBC, Fox, and FX] shows will be available from the Hulu site as well as from partner sites that include AOL, MSN, and MySpace. Sample videos are higher-than-YouTube quality and free. What’s not to like? Not a thing, unless you’ve actually experienced television and the Internet during this millennium.
Now, I’m no expert in anti-trust legal affairs, but doesn’t the cell phone industry with their exclusive contracts and back room deals smell of monopoly-esque activity? Like, for instance, Apple and AT&T’s exclusive deal for the wireless carrier to be the sole provider of service for the iPhone. Isn’t that akin to Ford or GM saying only BP or Mobile gasoline will run their cars? That sad thing, though, is we’ve come to accept these exclusive wireless deals. But why?
Macnn.com ran an article on this topic a couple days ago:
Lashing out at the wireless carrier cadre, Walt Mossberg says that the United States federal government has been duped into allowing AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and others to lock consumers into terms unprecedented by any other industry.The problem lies in two areas: the US government did not set up a wireless standard when it needed to a few years ago, so there are two competing networks: CDMA and GSM. This means that switching to a new provider often requires a new, compatible phone. Second, the government allows the GSM carriers to ‘lock’ their phones, “so a SIM card from a rival carrier won’t work in them, at least for a period of time.”
Mossberg argues that lifting these restrictions and standardizing the network would result in cheaper, unsubsidized phones and the elimination of draconian contract cancellation fees.
Just like every other year, Cleveland sports fans are left saying to each other “maybe next year.” The Indians were up in the series against the Red Sox three games to one. All the Indians had to do was win one more game. And they were given 3 chances to do so since the Red Sox forced game seven. Of course, like a true Cleveland sports team, the Indians choked and were outscored in the last three games five runs to the Red Sox’s thirty. Absolutely embarrassing. I was hoping for a Indians/Diamondbacks World Series, and now I have neither the Indians nor the Diamondbacks in the World Series.
On Monday, Drew Carey began his new job as host of The Price Is Right, taking over from Bob Barker, TV legend. Given the enormous challenge, Drew did an adequate job, but certainly nothing spectacular.
While watching the show, I jotted down a few notes. Here they are.
The new set design looks good. A little more coherent and cohesive than the old design, but still firmly stuck in the 70s.
There was a new music arrangement of the theme at the beginning and end of the show and whenever the audience was shown while going in and out of commercial breaks.
And speaking of commercials, everyone should be pleased to note that a majority are still are tailored to 80-year-olds.
Drew was most definitely nervous. He continuously played with the little flaps of fabric that cover his two side pockets in his suit jacket. But who wouldn’t be nervous taking over this role? It was reassuring to see a big, confident Hollywood-type visibly nervous. They’re regular people after all.
Drew, like Bob, uses a stick microphone, but Drew’s doesn’t have a cord like Bob’s did. Just not the same.
Both times the game prize was a car, Drew began asking where the contestant came from and then said “maybe you’ll be driving home” before Rich Fields did his “A NEW CAR!!!” line. Drew’s saying that, I think, steals some thunder from that famous, surprise-inducing line. I hope he stops that.
And during the game “One Away,” where the contestant must rotate numbers to guess the correct price of the car to win it, the line the contestant asked to verify how many numbers were correct used to be “Ladies, do I have X numbers right?”. For whatever reason, it was changed on Monday to “Oh mighty sound effects person, do I have X numbers right?” What was wrong with the ladies?
One other new thing was an updated logo. The type didn’t change as far as I can tell, but two shapes were added to the background. These new shapes give the logo a greater sense of coherency. Well done.
Give Drew some time and see if he grows into the role. That’s what I plan on doing. But after the first show, he left a wrong price impression. Too much chit-chat and not enough classy swooning. I’m sure as he becomes more comfortable in the role, he’ll find his groove, and I hope he does. He’s still no Bob Barker, though.
One final thought I was left with: after now 36 years on the air, how many miles has the Big Wheel gone around?
I went back to Ohio last weekend for my cousin’s wedding, and while standing in the line for security in the Cleveland airport, I realized how well we as humans are socialized to follow rules and, literally in this case, stay in line.
The line to move through security screening at the Cleveland airport, like most airports I assume, has a line for first class and a line for everyone else. The line for the common-folk, naturally, snakes around ten times or so, and the wait is around twenty minutes. Then there is the “elite” line which goes around the edges of our line, bypassing all the snaking and the wait altogether. While the common-folk line is jammed-pack, the elite line is empty, saved for the occasional “special” person every few minutes.
The part about our socialization process enters here. Common sense would dictate that all of us in the common-folk line are fools for waiting in this line and not jumping into the empty express line. But our socialization process dictates otherwise. Because we’re taught to follow the rules, stay in line, and obey the authority figures, we simply do as we’re told and stay in the common-folk line. There is nothing stopping any of us from getting into the elite line — no barriers, no special ticket screening at the entrance of the line. At any point, any one of us could have simply moved under the railing and gone into the elite line. And had we done that, would the TSA agents checking our boarding passes and IDs said, “hey wait a minute, you aren’t first class — go back to the end of the line you belong in and wait”? No, they would have likely just passed us through like normal without questioning why we came from the first class line without a first class ticket.
Yet no one did this. Why is that? Why do we not disobey the rules when there is no apparent consequence for breaking the rules? Why do we still stay in line even when there is apparent reward for not staying in line? This is a very curious human socialization process question. Think about this next time you’re waiting at the airport.
News came today of a special effects technician that was killed while working on a stunt sequence for the new Batman film.
Stuntmen and those who work supporting stunt sequences in movies deserve more credit from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Just as there should be an Oscar for Best Film Title Sequence, there should be an Oscar for Best Stunt Sequence.
Of all the crew who work on a film, who besides the stunt crew are willing to be severely injured or risk death for their art and the film? How many costume designers, make-up artists, or film composers risk their safety and well-being for their job? And how many films have crucial scenes involving stunts and would not be the same film without those sequences?
The last major push for inclusion in the Oscar ceremony came in 2005, but as was previously done since 1990, the Academy said no.
It is beyond time to recognize this hard-working, injury-suffering group of people with an Oscar.
And finally, what awards show can be complete without some controversy? This time it was censoring an anti-war message. It might have been because Sally Field used the word “god-damn,” but apparently that word is allowed to be said on TV.
Today the U.S. Constitution turns 220 years old. This document has weathered domestic strife, endured countless criticisms, and has undergone many recent interpretations and setbacks, but it has survived as a shining beacon of American ideals.
But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.
James Madison or Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Papers, No. 51
…until something else comes along. But for now, the Dubai Tower is both the tallest building and tallest free-standing structure in the world:
The Burj Dubai tower is now 555 metres (1,831.5 feet) tall and has surpassed the 553-metre- (1,824.9-feet) CN Tower in Toronto, Canada, which held the record for the world’s tallest free-standing structure since 1976, developers Emaar Properties said in a statement. […]
The developer announced in July that Burj Dubai, Arabic for Dubai Tower, had exceeded Taiwan’s Taipei 101 which is 508 metres (1,676.4 feet) tall, to become the tallest building in the world.
They’re an odd couple in every sense but a monkey and a pigeon have become inseparable at an animal sanctuary in China.The 12-week-old macaque who was abandoned by his mother was close to death when it was rescued on Neilingding Island, in Goangdong Province.
After being taken to an animal hospital his health began to improve but he seemed spiritless until he developed a friendship with a white pigeon.
Ellen Butters [graphic designer]: This logo has the opposite problem. All the elements are integrated too much, to the point that you can’t tell what they are anymore. From a distance, you can’t really tell that those are fists, or that those are guns.
David Friedman [photographer]: True, but I don’t see any other terrorist logos with the fists straight out like that. So at least there’s some brand identity.
Scientists are baffled at this giant web of spiders in Texas:
The spiders have collectivized. Who knew spiders were socialists?
A variety of spider species built on one another’s work to create a sprawling web that blanketed hundreds of yards of trees and shrubs at a north Texas park, according to entomologists who studied the unusual formation.Heavy rains early this summer created prime feeding conditions for the spiders, which worked collectively to spin a web that nearly covered a pond ripe with mosquitoes and other insects.
I wonder what it sounds like when you get close to the webs. With that many little creatures roaming around, there ought to be a cool sound. Rather, a creepy sound.
