I’m finally uploading all of the pictures!
To start off, they will just be organized into a couple of sets. I’ll try and go in and separate them by town as well. The address is: http://picasaweb.google.com/Jason.H.Davis.
I’m not uploading all of them, obviously, just picking out a far number. Some are garbage, and some might be worked on later.
The past couple of days I’ve been in Athens. I’m in the middle of trying to find a new place to live. I looked at two places today which were both very nice.
Also, I’ve taken advantage of being here by working on the WUOG podcasting pages. There are some minor glitches with them, and there’s a lot of work to transfer all of the old files. Also, I need to put in some more work on the design. I think it’s chugging along nicely, though. I’ll post a link here when there’s something worth seeing.
Jason
The other day I picked up two magazines: Discover and Practical Web Design, a British magazine from the makers of .net. I’ve also spent time organizing my email Inbox; I had about 400 emails sitting there. It still needs some work, but at least I’ve gotten into the habit of archiving items once they’re no longer pending.
Practical Web Design has really made me realize that there’s a lot that I don’t know. I’m also at a disadvantage because I’m learning it on my own; I really enjoy it, though. The next couple of weeks will be spent trying to learn as much about modern design as possible. I’m currently reading this article.
On Wednesday I’ll be going back to Athens for the first time to figure out where I will be living next semester. I also have plans to finish hammering out the design of the WUOG Podcasting system. I installed a test of it on my server and it seems like it is going to work out great. The idea is to give staff members the knowledge and canvases to test out their web designing abilities.
Athens also means I’ll be able to put all of my pictures in one place (my laptop is very low on hard drive space). All of the pictures will be put up on Picasa until something better is devised.
Until Soon,
Jason
We’re still months away from being able to purchase and Android phone, however, there are already great applications being made for the platform. If you remember, Android is the open source operating system created by Google to run on mobile phones. It provides the tools and infrastructure for anyone to create an application.
Google created a contest with a total of 10 million dollars in rewards for the best applications created for Android. Recently, the top 50 have been released.
The application that I think seems the most promising and useful is Android Scan. With this application, you can take a picture of a bar code with your phone and Android Scan will search online for reviews and prices of the product that you’re looking at.
There isn’t even a single phone available that runs Android. However, this one application has the potential to completely disrupt the way people shop. So far there are already 17,000 applications made for Android.
2009 is going to be a really interesting year.
Perpetually yours,
Jason
I came up with this game a few weeks ago, but for lack of a better thing to post, I’m posting the rules here.
1) Go to Google Images
2) Type in today’s date (example: May 16th)
3) Scan the brief image descriptions for an interesting word
4) Search for that word
5) Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you win.
The best word to search for that I came upon was”;fried.” Delicious.
Jason
While in Italy, the battery on my Macbook died. It would no longer charge. At the same time, the headphones on my iPod broke. I went to the Apple store today and they replaced both of them (very generously given the circumstances).
I also did some work on the WUOG Digital Media staff plan for next semester. I really need to start working on it. There needs to be a working system by August. I’m quite excited about it, though. I think the group will be able to go in a meaningful direction.
There’s not too much else to report.
Jason
I realized two things today:
1) Many of the pictures taken on the trip were done with Kassie’s (the person I was traveling with) camera.
2) I’ve already posted pictures of Zurich.
So, in an attempt to stall the mass posting of pictures, because I still (after 4 months) haven’t figured out where I’m going to put 4,000+ pictures, I’m going to post some more pictures of Venice.
A Venice! Where the streets are paved with water.
The Venice locals have decided that giant mechanical bugs are all the rage. They can be seen in shops throughout the town. I can imagine Venician apartments are like metal bug wars.
Venice has a leaning tower as well, but I suppose it is often overlooked because the rest of the city is so awesome.
Pisa, on the other hand, brings nothing else to the table.
This large clock tower displays the signs of the zodiac on its face.
This man is chasing me with hot glass. Look at that glass blower glare!
Hopefully I will have things of more importance to report tomorrow!
Jason
I had my gums operated on today. It started off by the assistant putting a red pad between me and the chair. I asked her what it was: “A ground.” They basically used a taser to cut them back. The dentist said it really wouldn’t hurt that bad after the Novocain wore off.
Liar.
It’s actually not that bad right now. It’s a little tender, but there are stitches in my mouth which is a strange feeling. Plus I can’t touch it or move my lip to look at it without it hurting.
I’m currently working on redesigning the Surpass website. It needs to be a little crisper and contain more content.
It’s amazing how quickly you can get out of a habit. I had let blogging fall on the wayside because of traveling, but now it’s not falling back into place. Tomorrow I will post pictures starting with my last 8 days in Europe.
Jason
I’ve known for a while that the United States is ranked 11th to 24th (depending on the report you look at) in broadband speed and cost. Ars Technica, however, wrote an article about why that is.
In most markets in the US there are only two options for broadband internet, your cable or phone company. Most small/medium sized cities only have one option for each. Think of your own choices for cable and phone. The FCC has allowed this to happen. On top of this, the government has not provided any incentive for expanding broadband infrastructure causing companies only expand infrastructure to where it is profitable. Further, prices of broadband are much higher because companies must foot the entire bill.
Most developed countries adopted a broadband policy years ago, stating that it is an important utility that helps drive the economy. Other countries subsidize and mandate infrastructure expansion regardless of profitability and employ policies that increase competition. The result is faster internet speeds at lower costs for the consumer.
The world is starting to move very quickly. Having the Internet allows for rapid collaboration and communication. Increasing broadband speed increases productivity and economic prosperity. It’s my hope that the US will institute a policy to revitalize the continually slipping broadband infrastructure in this country.
Jason
I learned a lot in the short amount of time I spent in Italy. I’m incredibly happy I made the decision to go. It would seem that the return is bittersweet. It is very nice to be back, but there are things that I’m going to miss. Particularly, being able to go more than 10 miles without seeing a McDonalds was wonderful.
It is over, and it’s starting to set in. However, there’s still more Italy. There is a total mountain of pictures that I still need to upload. Soon I will start spending time uploading, titling, and describing the pictures that I’ve taken. I’ll post the best ones in the Blog as I go.
The summer will also be a good opportunity to redesign this website, which I’ve talked about over and over. The redesign, I think, should not be a gradual migration. I’ll have it up and running before I replace any of the existing pages. I’ll also keep this site online for posterity.
The gist is, I’m going to keep blogging and I hope you keep checking the site.
Perpetually Yours,
Jason
After 32 hours of travel from Vienna to Rome to JFK to Laguardia to Atlanta I’ve finaly made it back to my house.
I’m sorry for the lack of updates. I leave for North Carolina tomorrow morning for my brother’s graduation, but I hope to make some posts soon. I have a lot to write about.
Jason
