1. Select some photos
2. Select a song
3. Auto-create a video

The Animoto application figuratively speaking feels your music and builds a music video for you using your photos.  Now this is pretty cool in it’s own but not very convenient.  Therefore not likely to become a part of our daily lives.

Well they managed to fix that, by allowing you to enjoy this service through your iPhone or iPod Touch.  Your iPhone already holds images and music, making it the perfect platform.

Have an awesome night, take awesome photos; on the semi-coherent, nostalgic ride home you can select some photos, select a song and make a video.

Not sure if this video would automatically exist on the internet as soon as it was created, but if it does … it could automatically show up your MySpace, Facebook, or Website.

Even if that last part doesn’t exist (yet), still very cool.  I can see the service becoming more popular, most definitely.  “Hey check out what we did yesterday” … blam! enter iPhone or iPod Touch.

P.S.  I don’t own an iPhone — I write posts like this because I’m a masochist.

Learn more about Animoto on your iPhone.

The article highlights the possibility that slow load times are frustrating not only because of slow response times but because the web site itself has temporarily stolen your control and you are forced to wait on it.

This lack of control is compared to real world situations (not web based ones) such as waiting on someone or getting the remote stolen from you while watching a show.

“You’re forced into putting your objectives on hold, and left feeling powerless.”

They also go on to say …

“People waste all kinds of time on all kinds of things, and usually don’t mind doing it. What enrages people is when somebody else forces wasted time on you.”

Not really sure how to feel about this bold statement.  I don’t know about you, but I get pretty frustrated w/ myself when I waste my own time.  But wait!  Maybe that’s because I don’t have control over myself … hmmm who’d a thunk it?  So the next time your upset, maybe you should stop and consider the fact that — maybe — it’s because you’re not in control.

Thomas Anderson (he’s not Neo yet) from the Matrix says: “I don’t believe in destiny because I don’t like the idea that I’m not in control of my own life.”  While The 7 Habits of Highly affective people reminds you:  to only focus your energy on those things which you have influence over.  Conundrums that are within your Circle of Influence.  Everything else is just wasted energry.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/156305/memo_to_vendors_heres_how_to_build_a_winner.html

Thanks Will for emailing me this article.

Am I ready to take yet another big step and leave my oh-so-wonderful Verizon?  I’ll admit that the coming of the Blackberry Storm kept me in wishful-thinking mode and I was hoping that it was going to be my end all solution to my future mobile needs.  Sad to say the phone did not impress me either in person or online reviews.

iPhone seems like the next best choice, but my understanding is that it does everything extremely well except act as a phone.  Why call it an iPhone when it’s more of an iMobile (device).  I’ve also heard plenty of people complain about it’s weak battery life (only because of it’s robust plethora of apps).

The battery life dilemma can be resolved by getting a car charger and maybe an extra cord for work to recharge while you’re working hard (read: researching more about your iPhone).  Why Apple didn’t consider allowing for easy battery replacement is beyond me.

Stop and Stare as an ordinary man w/ his ordinary comfortable ways slowly converts to a new trendy technology on the basis of “it’s better.”  It’s not about purchasing a phone anymore.  It’s about purchasing something that will keep me connected by whatever means possible, have it be facebook, twitter, flickr, banking service, google maps, instant messaging, sms messaging, visual voicemails, feed readers, email clients, internet radio, everyday web browsing.

“He’s gone 10 hours straight, he’s like a machine … I know kung-fu.”  Communication is evolving and we should to.  Now which road do we take?  The text-based one, or the one w/ all the pretty visuals.  They do say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but simple is safe.

Someone help me.

Who-da-whata?  Special attention to markup and links use to be your claim to fame in Google, but now marketing will take an even more drastic role on who’s on top (popularity contest anyone?)

Web Marketing is going to play a much bigger role on what’s hot and what’s not.  This isn’t a bad thing, it just means that the rules have changed.  Allowing humans to decide what’s good has lead to some great creations, iTunes Genius anyone?

Clarification

After a second-trip I can see how my summary can be misleading.  I’m not saying that your personalized results give you complete control of Google results.

Immediate realization; I’m saying that comments made on search results will  affect whether or not an end-user will choose to remove, keep, or promote a result from their end.

If the site is greatly promoted via web marketing (word of mouth) or what-have-you  this will affect how others choose to augment their results.

If you have no prior knowledge or simply haven’t chosen a side yet in regards to the result you’re looking at and the masses seem to agree that this result is more than valid, it’s safe to assume you might choose to click on this result as opposed to other not-so-popular results.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/searchwiki-make-search-your-own.html

In the future, it’s easy to imagine a world where Google uses end-user preferences and integrates them into their current algorithm.
http://searchengineland.com/google-searchwiki-launches-15561.php

In conclusion

We’re in the golden age of democracy and people’s opinions are becomming more and more transparent.  What’s important to consider is how your followers see you.

We spend a month embarrassing ourselves by not shaving and looking like dirty-faces while we beg people to give to a cause.  At the end of the month we have a competition.  In this case our last day is on December 5th.

We then play crazy games, which prove nothing about our character or the awesomeness of our mustaches.  It’s more about crowd presence and how much you can embarrass yourself while using you’re new-found-mustache as an excuse to act not-so-bright.

I’m hoping to get it on video or at least get a video from someone there so that you can take part in our shenanigans if you can’t come down and join us.  At the very least, some photos … right?

If you’d like to come down, you can find us here on December 5th I’m assuming 9pm.

Leon’s Lounge
1006 McGowen
Houston, TX 77002
Google Map >>

If things change I’ll make sure to keep you posted.  So please give at least $5 bucks, hell I’ll settle for $1!  I’m growing hair on my face for you!?  You don’t understand, my face has never grown hair like this before.

Please Donate to the Mustache for Eloy Fund.

Oh and if you want me to wash your car I’ll do that as well, but I won’t dry it with my sorry-excuse of a mustache.

Apparently if you get tagged you’re required (politely asked) to mention the person that tagged you, write 6 random things about yourself and tag 6 others.

6 Random Things about The Eloy

1. I spoke to a real-estate agent on Wednesday (means nothing … just talking)
2. I’m letting my facial hair grow for the first time ever in life.  It’s for charity, mustaches for kids!
3. I said no to the trip of a life time to Argentina, I have my reasons.
4. I own a mac, also for the first time ever (mind you I’ve never really used a mac) 2 weeks later and still loving it.
5. I’m going to the Madonna concert this Sunday, that is all I have to say about that.
6. I’ve always owned an unused box of crayons, the smell reminds me of elementary school.  If the crayons are used in anyway, i always get a new box.

6 Semi-Random Blogger Victims

1. Katie
2. Ed
3. Jerri
4. Kara
5. Will
6. Jon

Experiment: Maybe I should just tape my mouth shut for a week and see what I learn.

I have never really worked with a Mac and it goes without saying (then why are you saying it?), that I’ve never owned one.

My desktop and notebook (both Sony’s) have recently slowly faded away.  My desktop makes more noise than our air conditioning unit and my notebook plays digital peek-a-boo with fast-action startup and shutdown ninja skills.

Horrible comparison starting point, but I remember quite well how my 2 powerhouse PC’s performed.  I’ve announced my purchasing endeavor for a new computer to my closest of friends and they’ve been the best at giving me their advice.

It amazes me to see how passionate all mac users are and I’m beginning to see why.  There were a couple of PC (non mac) defendants though … but small in comparison to those who use Macs.

People who defend PC’s are super-computer savvy, they know the directory structure and live by it.  I’ll admit I’m having some difficulty letting go as well.  It’s not to say that the directory structure (the organized folders) doesn’t exist on macs, it’s just hidden as if they’re trying to protect you from the scariness.

People who defend Mac’s are somewhat-computer savvy.  Those who don’t believe they have to know computers in their entirety to get their work done.  They thoughtlessly understand that it’s a medium by which they travel to get their goals accomplished and don’t live in the system but rather simply use the system to get things done.

Great, a clear difference.  So which one am I?  For the purposes of this post I’ll call the majority of Mac users laymen.  An analogy would be the difference between driving a car and knowing how to fix it.  People who own great cars usually know how to fix them.  Well it’s the same w/ computers.  Those who work in the world of design and development need to know more about the technology in order to utilize it.

So I’m a PC.  Wrong.  Apparently Macs have a lot more to offer to developers than meets the eye.  Macs are used by people I admire such as Google and 37 Signals (experts in the field of web development).

Last year Schipul sent me to the Google Conference and I was amazed at the number of developers and presenters with macs.  37 Signals a company who ideas I believe in religiously, claims they won’t hire anyone who doesn’t use a mac.  Technology Prejudice?

Now I realize I’m jumping all over the place.  There are huge differences between application engineers and web developer (web engineers).  Google doesn’t seem to know the difference, the majority of their peeps are referred to as software engineers and treat it all in the same.  This probably explains why their web applications behave so much like desktop applications.

All in all it seems evident that Macs have something to offer to both developers and the rest of the world.  I’ve owned my brand new, first ever Macbook Pro for 4 days now and can’t remember the last time I was more satisfied w/ my purchase.

Ok I lie, my Bose computer speakers are amazing, they don’t just play music, they sing to me with sound clarity that could best be described as holy and spiritual.

This post was written on my MacBook pro and my fingers are loving this creation station.  This post is not to announce my resignation of PC usage, it’s merely to say that I’ve walked through the Mac doorway and all I can say so far is Wow.

For a detailed review, visit Paul Stamatiou
http://paulstamatiou.com/2008/11/08/review-253ghz-apple-macbook-pro

Update:  Where have I been the last 8 months.