insights on technology

Chain 124

Elwin Witzke — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 07:36:04 +0000

This is an amazing story about Chain 124, a series of 30 kidney transplants covering 60 operations started by one person. For that person it was an act of altruism. The story covers some of the amazing mathematical matching and high speed computer processing to make this happen.

Also check out the multimedia interactive that shows all the kidney exchanges that took four months from beginning to end.

3D printing breakthrough

Elwin Witzke — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:07:55 +0000

The world of 3d printing of real and totally unique objects fascinates me. My good friend John Biehler has been creating quite a collection of 3d printed objects. Check some of them out at johnbiehler.com.

However, this story is not about unique items and out of production parts. It’s about using this technology to create a new jaw for an 83 year old woman. The BBC reports that doctors created a jaw bone to replace a diseased one in an 81 year old patient. The replacement “bone” was made of titanium, much like other medical replacement parts.

I think this is pretty amazing.

Trip from Surrey to Metrotown

Elwin Witzke — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:18:45 +0000

I took an evening drive from the ‘burb back to where we once lived. It was a bit of nostalgia as we traveled back to where we lived when it was just the two if us.

Seeing the tremendous growth around Metrotown I am excited for the future of Surrey’s new city centre. The new Surrey Library is a great anchor to our city. The vision of the Surrey Central development is finally coming to realization.

Validation – A Short Film

Elwin Witzke — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:05:40 +0000

I love this short film called “Validation”. I first saw it a couple of years ago and just wanted to share it again.

Some Twitter accounts to follow

Elwin Witzke — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:06:43 +0000

Twitter has many different uses. One way I like using Twitter is to learn about new things that are outside of my normal interests. I like learning about ideas, interesting posts or just something for fun from the Twitter accounts I follow.

Serendipity

These are some of the Twitter accounts that I follow either in my main feed or via a Twitter list.

Well worn books

Elwin Witzke — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 07:43:54 +0000

Has technology turned these books into a relic of the past, never to be read again?

Posting links on Twitter or a blog

Elwin Witzke — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:27:38 +0000

I’ve been spending some time thinking about the best way to share links, ideas, videos and other material on the web. Although Facebook and Twitter have great reach they are open to big data loss if your ID get’s yanked by the powers that be. All the collateral you’ve accumulated could get wiped off the face of the earth in an instance.

You have ownership of your data, but you don’t control it’s hosting.

I am thinking of using a blog for posting things to share and then linking to the blog from Facebook and Twitter. Your own blog is the only way to own and control your content.

I may also pull out some of the old shared items from Facebook and repost them here.

We’ll see how it goes.

College Conspiracy

Elwin Witzke — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 03:15:15 +0000

This is terrible. I remember when I went to college and I did not have to mortgage my future.

Musicians and their audience

Elwin Witzke — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 20:59:38 +0000

When musicians connect with their audience, the result is a better experience for all.

Earth time lapse from space

Elwin Witzke — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:12:18 +0000

This is cool video taken from the International Space Station.

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

What did I do exactly one year ago?

Elwin Witzke — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 04:35:14 +0000

That is no longer a question that can’t be answered.

With the Facebook timeline rolling out it becomes real easy to peer back into the past and remember (or try to forget) activities from your past. In some cases a little bit of culling might be in order. There is just so much information that has been dropped into this black hole.

Early users of the timeline have reported that they are surprised when they look back at the timeline and immediately start on a pruning process. One can hide items from the timeline, delete them permanently or highlight certain events or photos.

Facebook is trying to become the single source or aggregator of you life stream. It will be our choice if they will be given the keys.

Drum cover – Hillsong United – Go

Elwin Witzke — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 05:07:37 +0000

Earlier this year, drum cover.

Pretty amazing.

An uplifting video

Elwin Witzke — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 05:00:33 +0000

Thought I’d share this.

Some birds in a gallery

Elwin Witzke — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 19:01:36 +0000

Trying out one of the photo galleries in WordPress. These little ones were keeping us company while we travelled along the Oregeon coast.

Photosynth test

Elwin Witzke — Tue, 17 May 2011 03:37:21 +0000

This is a test to embed a Photosynth from Microsoft

Jack is 1 year old

Elwin Witzke — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 05:18:34 +0000

It’s been just over a year since Jack joined our family. We’ve had ups and downs, but mostly ups. He’s the cutest love bird you could have. Here’s a current photo. I’ll post pics of his colorful feathers.

Finally I get to try out an iPad

Elwin Witzke — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 06:12:40 +0000

Although I love using new technologies I usually don’t get a chance for much hands on. Since I need to watch where the money goes (just like everyone else), by the time I get a chance to buy something others have already been using them for some time.

Since Christmas I’ve been evaluating an iPad 3G for use at my work. Right now it is running wild and is not connected to our internal or guest wireless network. It doesn’t have access to my work email, so my first impressions are not as an enterprise user but as a regular Joe. Once I get access to our work environment there will be a new set of evaluation criteria.

Overall

I have to agree with just about everyone’s thoughts, the iPad is pure joy and a game changer in almost all areas. Let’s leave it at that!

Pros

good size and weight for daily use
excellent battery life after living through 20 years of laptop life
great screen
easy access to applications

So So

3G wireless performance
internal microphone

Cons

no Flash support (and websites aren’t providing an alternative)
slow charging when not in sleep mode
typing anything longer than a quick email using the virtual keyboard is gruelling

Later this month I should be getting the iPad connected up to our enterprise email and intranet. That will provide whole lot of new experiences to share.

Happy New Year

Elwin Witzke — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 01:25:45 +0000

As I finish the first day of 2011 I am reminded how quickly
time passes. A lot has changed but so much remains the same. God
has been good to us. I wonder if this works.
A direct link to my Cinchcast if you can’t play Flash

I’ve written this post using the WordPress app on my iPad. I think I will have to get used to this typing, because a normal keyboard is still much faster. . (and more accurate).

An oasis in a parched land

Elwin Witzke — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 04:02:03 +0000

I’ve just been spending some time with our daughter at The House of James Christian Bookstore in Abbotsford. What a great place. It has something for every stage and part of your life.

It’s so wonderful that we still have stores like this among the masses of media and materialistic things pumped into our lives. If you’re in need of refreshing and uplifting input to your life, visit your neighborhood Christian bookstore.

A friend forever

Elwin Witzke — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 20:25:14 +0000

No worries in the world.

Trying this from my BlackBerry Torch.

Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.