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Up close and personal – Obama inauguration

Elwin Witzke — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:46:11 +0000

David Bergman used a Gigapan Imager to take a 200 photos of the inauguration. The Gigapan service stiches the images together to create an extremely large image (this one is 1,474 megapixels).

I made this Gigapan image from the north press platform during President Obama’s inaugural address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on January 20, 2009. It’s made up of 220 images and the final image size is 59,783 X 24,658 pixels or 1,474 megapixels.

Inauguration

You can view the image on his blog or in fullscreen at
http://gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullscreen.php?id=15374

Zoom in and pan around. It’s lots of fun.

Operation Christmas Child

Elwin Witzke — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 21:39:49 +0000

A sign that Christmas is close at hand, is the discussion about getting ready to fill a shoebox with gifts for a needy child. Everyone can help make a child’s day brighter through Operation Christmas Child.

Our family has participated for many years as our children grew up, both through our church and christian school. It is easy to anyone to fill a shoebox and deliver it to one of the thousands of groups assembling shipments of shoeboxes. If you don’t know about this program, check out this short video.

More cell phones than people

admin — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 01:08:29 +0000

It seems that everyone has a mobile phone. Stores are selling new cell phones to people who already have one. It is no surprise then that in many countries, there are more cell phones than people.

Distribution of Income

admin — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 06:48:12 +0000

We have all heard it before – North American’s and European’s are the wealthiest in the world. Just how wealthy are you in comparison to 6+ billion people on this earth? The Global Rich List shows you just how skewed the distribution of income has become. Enter your income and you’ll see how you rate. Try $50,000, $20,000, $8,000. This is a real eye opener. It should make us realize that we in North America live in untold abundance.

More than 15% of people carry two wireless phones

admin — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 20:20:33 +0000

Some stats in from In-Stat says that more than 15% of people carry two wireless phones. There are many reasons for this, but the likely one is separating your business from personal life.

ZDNet also reports that many still carry two devices that could be merged:

80% of camera phone users also carry a digital camera
75% of smartphone users also carry a PDA
50% of users of multimedia phones also carry their MP3 player

From this one can deduce two important facts. First devices designed for a special purpose still are the preferred choice. Second, the hype about smartphones taking over the PDA has not yet turned users into converts.

Nata Village

admin — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 06:31:43 +0000

It has been over six months since I first heard about Nata Village. A vlog by world traveller and producer Jon Rawlison on Rocketboom first gave me notice about this village in Botswana that is struggling with AIDS. Jon setup a blog that allowed the AIDS education and prevention efforts in this small village to reach the global community. The Internet can be used for good and bad. This is one of many examples of good.

The blog has regular updates and photos from the village. Donations for the work in Nata can also be made on the site.

Blogging can spread the good news

admin — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 05:42:19 +0000

The ability of anyone to blog opens up new possiblities of sharing the Good News. Everyone knows somebody and they can be the sphere of influence in their lives.

Teens say E-mail is for old people

admin — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 02:38:53 +0000

Businesses need to adapt the new communication tools that are available today. Email is still the primary method to communicate with their customers, but change is constant.

Arstechnica is reporting that teens prefer using real-time and community communication tool rather than email. Teens say e-mail is for old people. This shift is slow but needs to be watched.

Help the Invisible Children in Uganda

admin — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 04:40:13 +0000

Three young film makers went to Uganda to make a documentary. They came back with a story to tell and a promise made to the “Invisible Children”.

Invisible Children is a grassroots effort to create awareness and provide help and education to the children in Uganda who are being kidnapped and forced into the rebel armies as child soldiers.

You can make a difference by joining the Global Night Commute on April 29, 2006 or by purchasing the Invisible Children DVD and showing it to everyone you know.

These two video clips will have an impact on your life and what you can do to help: Proof and 100 Percent.

Tablets in School

admin — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 19:11:00 +0000

The Show on 10, a new Microsoft initiative reports on a private school in Seattle where every student has a Tablet PC. Tablets in School is one of the latest videos from this up-beat daily program.

I think this is a great idea. The challenge for business will be to be ready to allow these students to make use of all the technologies they have been exposed to when they enter the workforce.