Designed By Shane Warne


Image by Eva Rinaldi Celebrity and Live Music Photographer
Shane Warne aka ‘The Spin King’, continues to race ahead of the pack and reinvent himself, be it on Australian or European soil.

He’s endorsed video and audio companies, online poker, and now toys (no, not dolls), cars… Hot Wheels cars from Mattel to be exact.

Today he appeared at a press conference in Surry Hills, Sydney, to tell us all about what he sees in Hot Wheels.

On the surface Warne looks to be a pretty good match. He loves his cars (owning a number of real sports cars in his private collection), is known for his fast women (now just one – lucky Liz), who has him in good shape thanks to the "Liz Effect", as Warnie puts it, and who knows what else is in the pipeline. Young men around the world may do well to note that Mr Warne has settled down now with the one lovely lady now and that commitment to the one lass can be a very good thing.

A couple of whispers overheard at today’s presser went something like "Doesn’t Mattel also do Barbie and Ken dolls (TM)." For the record there was nothing on Ken or Barbie.

The Hot Wheels ‘Spin King’ has supposed to be a bit of a secret, but we suspect that was all part of the media and marketing plan. You know, make something a secret, so it gets written and talked about. If that’s the case, Mattel and Team Warnie have done their jobs well. Warne is understood to have "collaborated" with Mattel’s Hot Wheels for about 6 months, and the financial terms of the deal are not being released, at least at this stage. It must be good, since Warne and his management are used to cranking deals with online poker brands and the like, and those don’t come cheap.

‘The Spin King’ signature range designed by Australian sports stars sure looks hot (if your into toy cars).

This is not the virgin car deal for Mr Warne. Last year Warnie was named Lamborghini’s Australian ambassador and gifted a 0,000 Murcielago as a "long-term loan car", and a couple of Lambos’ were seen racing around East Sydney earlier today, so perhaps he was driving one of them. You can bet Warnie and Liz’s kids are doing to have a ball of a time playing with all the toys they will be gifted by Mattel and Hot Wheels.

Warnie’s press statements included something along the lines of "I’ve always has a passion for cars. I used to play with Hot Wheels cars as a kid, so when they offered me the chance to design my own, I jumped at it". Containing his excitement he also shared "I loved every minute of the design process and working with the team at hot Wheels was great fun. The ‘Spin King’ is a fusion between all of my favorite fast cars and its been great seeing my vision come to life". To Australian press (and public) he had an equally important message: "When Liz and I settle down in Melbourne please respect our privacy and don’t throw rocks at our place at 2am in the morning. I’ve told Liz Melbourne is beautiful".

It was a hot looking brochure and media kit, but sadly no Hot Wheels car in the pack, but Christmas is coming, so here’s hoping.

Thanks for the great photos Warnie. Sydney is the quick and the dead, and we did our best, so we’re hoping you like them.

Verdict: Shane Warne and Mattel’s Hot Wheels gets the green light. They are to hit stores in March 2012, and we’re told they are worth the wait. Catch them if you can.

Websites

Hot Wheels
www.hotwheels.com

Mattel
www.mattel.com

Shane Warne official website
www.shanewarne.com

Eva Rinaldi Photography Flickr
www.flickr.com/evarinaldiphotography

Eva Rinaldi Photography
www.evarinaldi.com

Music News Australia
www.musicnewsaustralia.com

Splash News
www.splashnews.com

Splash News Online
www.splashnewsonline.com

Designed By Shane Warne


Image by Eva Rinaldi Celebrity and Live Music Photographer
Shane Warne aka ‘The Spin King’, continues to race ahead of the pack and reinvent himself, be it on Australian or European soil.

He’s endorsed video and audio companies, online poker, and now toys (no, not dolls), cars… Hot Wheels cars from Mattel to be exact.

Today he appeared at a press conference in Surry Hills, Sydney, to tell us all about what he sees in Hot Wheels.

On the surface Warne looks to be a pretty good match. He loves his cars (owning a number of real sports cars in his private collection), is known for his fast women (now just one – lucky Liz), who has him in good shape thanks to the "Liz Effect", as Warnie puts it, and who knows what else is in the pipeline. Young men around the world may do well to note that Mr Warne has settled down now with the one lovely lady now and that commitment to the one lass can be a very good thing.

A couple of whispers overheard at today’s presser went something like "Doesn’t Mattel also do Barbie and Ken dolls (TM)." For the record there was nothing on Ken or Barbie.

The Hot Wheels ‘Spin King’ has supposed to be a bit of a secret, but we suspect that was all part of the media and marketing plan. You know, make something a secret, so it gets written and talked about. If that’s the case, Mattel and Team Warnie have done their jobs well. Warne is understood to have "collaborated" with Mattel’s Hot Wheels for about 6 months, and the financial terms of the deal are not being released, at least at this stage. It must be good, since Warne and his management are used to cranking deals with online poker brands and the like, and those don’t come cheap.

‘The Spin King’ signature range designed by Australian sports stars sure looks hot (if your into toy cars).

This is not the virgin car deal for Mr Warne. Last year Warnie was named Lamborghini’s Australian ambassador and gifted a 0,000 Murcielago as a "long-term loan car", and a couple of Lambos’ were seen racing around East Sydney earlier today, so perhaps he was driving one of them. You can bet Warnie and Liz’s kids are doing to have a ball of a time playing with all the toys they will be gifted by Mattel and Hot Wheels.

Warnie’s press statements included something along the lines of "I’ve always has a passion for cars. I used to play with Hot Wheels cars as a kid, so when they offered me the chance to design my own, I jumped at it". Containing his excitement he also shared "I loved every minute of the design process and working with the team at hot Wheels was great fun. The ‘Spin King’ is a fusion between all of my favorite fast cars and its been great seeing my vision come to life". To Australian press (and public) he had an equally important message: "When Liz and I settle down in Melbourne please respect our privacy and don’t throw rocks at our place at 2am in the morning. I’ve told Liz Melbourne is beautiful".

It was a hot looking brochure and media kit, but sadly no Hot Wheels car in the pack, but Christmas is coming, so here’s hoping.

Thanks for the great photos Warnie. Sydney is the quick and the dead, and we did our best, so we’re hoping you like them.

Verdict: Shane Warne and Mattel’s Hot Wheels gets the green light. They are to hit stores in March 2012, and we’re told they are worth the wait. Catch them if you can.

Websites

Hot Wheels
www.hotwheels.com

Mattel
www.mattel.com

Shane Warne official website
www.shanewarne.com

Eva Rinaldi Photography Flickr
www.flickr.com/evarinaldiphotography

Eva Rinaldi Photography
www.evarinaldi.com

Music News Australia
www.musicnewsaustralia.com

Splash News
www.splashnews.com

Splash News Online
www.splashnewsonline.com

Question by tom: I want to start a poker club at my high school?
Obviously they are going to try and say it’s gambling and thats not allowed at school, but anyone who knows poker knows that we wont be playing ring games, it would be tournament style play, and the winner gets no prize. Only bragging rights lol, a lot of my buddies say they’ll join once i make it (if), so what can i say to convince the school to let me make this club?

Best answer:

Answer by Pissed Off
it won’t make you cool

What do you think? Answer below!

Free iphone4 – goo.gl
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Top 10 Ways to Get Attention on Flickr


Image by Thomas Hawk
"What is more pleasant than the benevolent notice other people take of us, what is more agreeable than their compassionate empathy? What inspires us more than addressing ears flushed with excitement, what captivates us more than exercising our own power of fascination? What is more thrilling than an entire hall of expectant eyes, what more overwhelming than applause surging up to us? What, lastly, equals the enchantment sparked off by the delighted attention we receive from those who profoundly delight ourselves? – Attention by other people is the most irresistible of drugs. To receive it outshines receiving any other kind of income. This is why glory surpasses power and why wealth is overshadowed by prominence."

Caterina Fake, Co-founder of Flickr, 2005.

A couple of years ago I wrote a post called Top 10 Tips for Getting Attention on Flickr that proved fairly popular. A lot has changed at Flickr in the past 2 years though and how imagery is rated and ranked on the site has also changed. That said, I thought I’d write a fresher updated post on the top 10 ways, presently, to get attention on Flickr.

Back in 2006 when I wrote my original article on how to achieve popularity on Flickr my photostream had been viewed almost 400,000 times. According to a Flickr stats page that’s been added since that time, the view count for my pages on Flickr now stands at 9,953,328. It should pass 10 million sometime this week. I’m averaging about 14,000 page views a day on Flickr.

Some of how one gets attention on Flickr has remained the same since 2006. Other stuff has changed.

1. Take great pictures. This was my number one way to achieve popularity on Flickr in 2006 and remains the number one way today. Despite all the other things that you might do to promote your photography, none of it will matter if your photos are not interesting. Everyone can be creative. Some are more creative than others. Sometimes your gear and photo processing matters, other times it doesn’t. I’ve seen incredibly beautiful and creative photos taken with a toy camera. And I’ve seen incredibly beautiful and creative photos taken with a ,000 digital Hasselblad. I’ve seen people upload interesting things from a crappy iPhone camera and I’ve seen people upload interesting things that they spent 8 hours on Photoshop with. But, the better your photos are the more likely that you will get attention. Taking great photos is a prerequisite to everything else in this article.

This said, there are certain types of photos that tend to become more popular on Flickr than others. Provocatively posed female self portraits or photos of attractive women in interesting poses, extremely saturated photos rich with eye candy like color, cityscapes, night photography, photos depicting movement and motion, silhouettes, dramatic architecture, unique portraits, creatively arranged macros and cross processed and some film photography.

2. The order that you post your photos to Flickr counts. The number one way that your photos will likely be seen in Flickr comes from your Flickr contacts looking at their Flickr contact’s photos. At present Flickr allows you to set your contacts most recent photos to their last photo, or their last 5 photos. Anything beyond 5 photos in a single batch upload will largely be buried on Flickr. If you are uploading more than 5 photos at once, make sure that you upload your best 5 photos last and what you consider your very best photo last of all. Frequently people will upload a batch of 30 photos from a concert or something with no thought as to which will be the last 5 of the 30 in order.

3. Consider places outside of Flickr to promote your photography. Do you have a blog or a photoblog? If you want more attention on Flickr you should. Flickr makes it very easy to blog your photos, you simply cut and paste the html code above your photo and you are now photoblogging with a direct link back to your photo. My blog, thomashawk.com is my number two external referrer of pageviews to my Flickrstream. Are you on FriendFeed yet? You should be. It’s easy to set up and makes sure more people see your photos. Pownce (when it is working) is another place to post interesting photos.

4. Do you have your settings on Flickr configured for maximum exposure? After Flickr itself, Google drives more traffic to my Flickrstream than any other source, even my blog. Yahoo search and both Google and Yahoo image search drive traffic as well. But your photos will be blocked from appearing in search engines unless you authorize Flickr to display your images in search engines. Make sure your photostream is set to not "hide your stuff from public searches," here.

Same goes for the Flickr API. Lots of people are using the Flickr API in interesting ways. I get traffic from places like Flickrleech, Compfight, Technorati and lots of other places that use the Flickr API to extend your photos outside of Flickr. Make sure that you’ve authorized Flickr to allow API access to your photos here.

5. Explore. Explore still remains the number one way to get photos viewed on Flickr. Explore uses Flickr’s "Magic Donkey" algorithm to each day highlight 500 of what Flickr feels are the best photos on Flickr for that day. It’s a very popular section of the site despite the fact that everyone seems to constantly hate Explore and decry its mediocrity in selecting exceptional photos. Explore has changed and evolved a lot since it was first introduced at Flickr a few years back. Initially things like *when* you posted your photos mattered.

Whether or not Flickr chooses your photos for Explore is still very much a mystery. But there are some things that we do know. The more faves, comments, tags, etc. your photo gets, the more likely it is that it will appear in Explore. Explore also uses averaging in their algorithm now. This means that if your average photo gets 5 faves, then you’ll need to do considerably better than average if you hope to see that photo in Explore.

Photos are also constantly dropping in and out of Explore. I’ve got 157 photos in Explore at present but I’ve had 446 that have appeared in Explore at one time or another. You can check out which and how many of your photos that have been showcased by Flickr in Explore here. Just change my Flickr ID at the link above for your own.

6. Groups. Speaking of Explore, if you really want to get a particular photo in Explore consider adding it to a group that encourages tagging, faving and comments of photos. Photo critique groups are good examples of this. Some of the photo critique groups play games where tagging and commenting on a photo are part of the game. Flickr does not distinguish between a photo that has been commented on or tagged organically vs. one that is included in some sort of photo critique game. If you want to boost the likelihood that your photo will be selected for Explore consider putting a strong photo into one of these pools. Photo critique groups on Flickr run the gamut from nice and friendly photo critique groups like TWIP’s, to hostile and brutal photo critique groups like DeleteMe Uncensored (note NSFW and maybe not the best group if you are easily offended).

Whatever the case, the key to groups is participation. If you simply dump a bunch of photos blindly into random groups you will likely not get much benefit. In fact, Flickr actually penalizes photo rank if someone posts their photo to too many groups. But posting your photo to selective groups where you participate will encourage activity on your photos and photostream.

7. Tag for Exploration (especially your most popular photos). Why has this photo of mine been viewed over 27,000 times on Flickr? Well in part because it shows up on the first page search results on Flickr for the search term guitar. And why does it show up in searches for the word "guitar?" Because I’ve got the photo *tagged* guitar. By tagging your photos appropriately you can ensure that more people will see them in search. Think of other ways that you can tag your photos. Are all of your photos taken in San Francisco also tagged "California?" They should be. Are all of your photos tagged "self portrait" also tagged with your name? Again, they should be.

The better you keyword and tag your photos, the more likely they will show up in searches that take place on Flickr. Even if you think that your photos will never be popular enough to rank highly in search, remember that there are other ways that Flickr users can filter search. You can search just by your contacts photos on Flickr for instance. So even if you don’t have the most popular sunset photo amongst millions on Flickr, you might have the most popular sunset photo amongst your contacts because you tagged it.

A note that I’ve seen some people on Flickr abuse tags. They will tag every photo with girl, sunset, cat, etc. Even if these things are not in their photo simply to try and trick people into getting to their photos through search. This sucks. I’m not sure what/if/how Flickr penalizes people who do this, but it’s a crappy thing to do and ruins the search experience for everyone. Tag early and often, but only tag your photos with tags that truly are accurate and descriptive.

8. Geotag. One of the more interesting ways to find photos on Flickr is through exploring photos that are geotagged on a map. When I’m going to a new place that I’m not familiar with, frequently Flickr’s "Explore the World Map," is one of my first destinations. But of course your photos will not show up here if they are not geotagged. The best way to geotag your photos is actually at the file level before you upload them. I use Geotagger on the Mac which allows you to use Google Earth to geotag your photos. You can also download the free software program from Microsoft Pro Photo Tools to geotag photos on a PC.

Check what Flickr considers your most popular photos and make sure that you geotag (and more descriptively tag) these photos especially — even if you have to geotag these shots on Flickr using their tools. Geotagging has been documented by Flickr staff as increasing the Flickr "interestingness" rating of a photograph.

9. Consider creating a few "best of" sets and feature them prominently on your Flickrstream. Frequently when people first discover your photostream they don’t have time to check out your entire stream. But if you make it easier for them and create a few sets that highlight some of your best work they may stick around longer. I’ve created two such sets myself. My 10 faves or more set and my 25 faves or more set. These sets highlight what are some of my best work according to the Flickr community and are my two most visited sets on Flickr. As my photos are faved 10 or 25 times I add the tag fav10 or fav25 to these sets and then use SmartSetr to automatically generate these sets.

Make sure also that you change your Flickr page layout from the boring default one to one that highlights your collections and sets better.

10. Tell everyone you know about your Flickrstream. Are you active on other social networks? Is a link to your Flickrstream prominently displayed on your blog? On your Facebook profile page? Be sure to include a link to your Flickrstream in every profile that you are on with other sites. Consider buying Moo cards (even though Moo.com has been lousy for me lately and won’t let me buy anymore cards from them) which highlight your photostream that you can give out to people that you run across while out shooting. Tell your friends and family and your offline "real life" contacts about your Flickrstream.

Bonus tip: Reciprocation. Above everything else, perhaps the most important thing about Flickr is that it is a community and a reciprocation based community. If you think that you can just post your photos on the site and they will garner thousands of faves and views simply because, you are wrong. Even the best photos on Flickr will not get very much attention if you simply upload them to the site and never participate.

Flickr has been built to encourage reciprocation. In fact a recent study cited reciprocation as the number one key to popularity on Flickr. Every single time you fave or comment on someone else’s photo you are giving them a link back to your own photostream. While you may not have the time to check out *everyone* who faves your photos, spend time each day faving and commenting on other people’s photos on Flickr. By sharing with others the fact that you appreciate their photos they will return the favor. Be generous with your faves and comments. Remember, other people like the attention as much as you do.

On digg here.

Update: An interesting link to comments Flickr staff have made about the Explore algorithm here. Thanks, Ole!

Churchill Club Top 10 Tech Trends Debate


Image by jurvetson
I just got back from the Churchill Club’s 13th Annual Top 10 Tech Trends Debate (site).

Curt Carlson, CEO of SRI, presented their trends from the podium, which are meant to be “provocative, plausible, debatable, and that it will be clear within the next 1-3 years whether or not they will actually become trends.”

Then the panelists debated them. Speaking is Aneesh Chopra, CTO of the U.S., and smirking to his left is Paul Saffo, and then Ajay Senkut from Clarium, then me.

Here are SRI’s 2011 Top 10 Tech Trends [and my votes]:

Trend 1. Age Before Beauty. Technology is designed for—and disproportionately used by—the young. But the young are getting fewer. The big market will be older people. The aging generation has grown up with, and is comfortable with, most technology—but not with today’s latest technology products. Technology product designers will discover the Baby Boomer’s technology comfort zone and will leverage it in the design of new devices. One example today is the Jitterbug cell phone with a large keypad for easy dialing and powerful speakers for clear sound. The trend is for Baby Boomers to dictate the technology products of the future.

[I voted YES, it’s an important and underserved market, but for tech products, they are not the early adopters. The key issue is age-inspired entrepreneurship. How can we get the entrepreneurial mind focused on this important market?]

Trend 2. The Doctor Is In. Some of our political leaders say that we have "the best medical care system in the world". Think what it must be like in the rest of the world! There are many problems, but one is the high cost of delivering expert advice. With the development of practical virtual personal assistants, powered by artificial intelligence and pervasive low-cost sensors, “the doctor will be in”—online—for people around the world. Instead of the current Web paradigm: “fill out this form, and we’ll show you information about what might be ailing you”, this will be true diagnosis—supporting, and in some cases replacing—human medical practitioners. We were sending X-rays to India to be read; now India is connecting to doctors here for diagnosis in India. We see the idea in websites that now offer online videoconference interaction with a doctor. The next step is automation. The trend is toward complete automation: a combination of artificial intelligence, the Internet, and very low-cost medical instrumentation to provide high-quality diagnostics and advice—including answering patient questions—online to a worldwide audience.

[NO. Most doctor check-ups and diagnoses will still need to be conducted in-person (blood tests, physical exams, etc). Sensor technology can’t completely replace human medical practitioners in the near future. Once we have the physical interface (people for now), then the networking and AI capabilities can engage, bringing specialist reactions to locally collected data. The real near-term trend in point-of-care is the adoption of iPads/phones connected to cloud services like ePocrates and Athenahealth and soon EMRs.]

Trend 3. Made for Me. Manufacturing is undergoing a revolution. It is becoming technically and economically possible to create products that are unique to the specific needs of individuals. For example, a cell phone that has only the hardware you need to support the features you want—making it lighter, thinner, more efficient, much cheaper, and easier to use. This level of customization is being made possible by converging technical advances: new 3D printing technology is well documented, and networked micro-robotics is following. 3D printing now includes applications in jewelry, industrial design, and dentistry. While all of us may not be good product designers, we have different needs, and we know what we want. The trend is toward practical, one-off production of physical goods in widely distributed micro-factories: the ultimate customization of products. The trend is toward practical, one-off production of physical goods in widely distributed micro-factories: the ultimate customization of products.

[NO. Personalization is happening just fine at the software level. The UI skins and app code is changeable at zero incremental cost. Code permeates outward into the various vessels we build for it. The iPhone. Soon, the car (e.g. Tesla Sedan). Even the electrical circuits (when using an FPGA). This will extend naturally to biological code, with DNA synthesis costs plummeting (but that will likely stay centralized in BioFabs for the next 3 years. When it comes to building custom physical things, the cost and design challenges relegate it to prototyping, tinkering and hacks. Too many people have a difficult time in 3D content creation. The problem is the 2D interfaces of mouse and screen. Perhaps a multitouch interface to digital clay could help, where the polygons snap to fit after the form is molded by hand.]

Trend 4. Pay Me Now. Information about our personal behavior and characteristics is exploited regularly for commercial purposes, often returning little or no value to us, and sometimes without our knowledge. This knowledge is becoming a key asset and a major competitive advantage for the companies that gather it. Think of your supermarket club card. These knowledge-gatherers will need to get smarter and more aggressive in convincing us to share our information with them and not with their competitors. If TV advertisers could know who the viewers are, the value of the commercials would go up enormously. The trend is technology and business models based on attracting consumers to share large amounts of information exclusively with service providers.

[YES, but it’s nothing new. Amazon makes more on merchandising than product sales margin. And, certain companies are getting better and better at acquiring customer information and personalizing offerings specifically to these customers. RichRelevance provides this for ecommerce (driving 25% of all e-commerce on Black Friday). Across all those vendors, the average lift from personalizing the shopping experience: 15% increase in overall sales and 8% increase in long-term profitability. But, simply being explicit and transparent to the consumer about the source of the data can increase the effectiveness of targeted programs by up to 100% (e.g., saying “Because you bought this product and other consumers who bought it also bought this other product" yielded a 100% increase in product recommendation effectiveness in numerous A/B tests). Social graph is incredibly valuable as a marketing tool.]

Trend 5. Rosie, At Last. We’ve been waiting a long time for robots to live in and run our homes, like Rosie in the Jetsons’ household. It’s happening a little now: robots are finally starting to leave the manufacturing floor and enter people’s homes, offices, and highways. Robots can climb walls, fly, and run. We all know the Roomba for cleaning floors—and now there’s the Verro for your pool. Real-time vision and other sensors, and affordable precise manipulation, are enabling robots to assist in our care, drive our cars, and protect our homes and property. We need to broaden our view of robots and the forms they will take—think of a self-loading robot-compliant dishwasher or a self-protecting house. The trend is robots becoming embedded in our environments, and taking advantage of the cloud, to understand and fulfill our needs.

[NO. Not in 3 years. Wanting it badly does not make it so. But I just love that Google RoboCar. Robots are not leaving the factory floor – that’s where the opportunity for newer robots and even humanoid robots will begin. There is plenty of factory work still to be automated. Rodney Brooks of MIT thinks they can be cheaper than the cheapest outsourced labor. So the robots are coming, to the factory and the roads to start, and then the home.]

Trend 6. Social, Really. The rise of social networks is well documented, but they’re not really social networks. They’re a mix of friends, strangers, organizations, hucksters—it’s more like walking through a rowdy crowd in Times Square at night with a group of friends. There is a growing need for social networks that reflect the fundamental nature of human relationships: known identities, mutual trust, controlled levels of intimacy, and boundaries of shared information. The trend is the rise of true social networks, designed to maintain real, respectful relationships online.

[YES. The ambient intimacy of Facebook is leading to some startling statistics on fB evidence reuse by divorce lawyers (80%) and employment rejections (70%). There are differing approaches to solve this problem: Altly’s alternative networks with partioning and control, Jildy’s better filtering and auto-segmentation, and Path’s 50 friend limit.]

Trend 7. In-Your-Face Augmented Reality. With ever-cheaper computation and advances in computer vision technology, augmented reality is becoming practical, even in mobile devices. We will move beyond expensive telepresence environments and virtual reality games to fully immersive environments—in the office, on the factory floor, in medical care facilities, and in new entertainment venues. I once did an experiment where a person came into a room and sat down at a desk against a large, 3D, high-definition TV display. The projected image showed a room with a similar desk up against the screen. The person would put on 3D glasses, and then a projected person would enter and sit down at the other table. After talking for 5 to 10 minutes, the projected person would stand up and put their hand out. Most of the time, the first person would also stand up and put their hand into the screen—they had quickly adapted and forgotten that the other person was not in the room. Augmented reality will become indistinguishable from reality. The trend is an enchanted world— The trend is hyper-resolution augmented reality and hyper-accurate artificial people and objects that fundamentally enhance people’s experience of the world.

[NO, lenticular screens are too expensive and 3D glasses are a pain in the cortex. Augmented reality with iPhones is great, and pragmatic, but not a top 10 trend IMHO]

Trend 8. Engineering by Biologists.
Biologists and engineers are different kinds of people—unless they are working on synthetic biology. We know about genetically engineered foods and creatures, such as gold fish in multiple other colors. Next we’ll have biologically engineered circuits and devices. Evolution has created adaptive processing and system resiliency that is much more advanced than anything we’ve been able to design. We are learning how to tap into that natural expertise, designing devices using the mechanisms of biology. We have already seen simple biological circuits in the laboratory. The trend is practical, engineered artifacts, devices, and computers based on biology rather than just on silicon.

[YES, and NO because it was so badly mangled as a trend. For the next few years, these approaches will be used for fuels and chemicals and materials processing because they lend themselves to a 3D fluid medium. Then 2D self-assembling monolayers. And eventually chips , starting with memory and sensor arrays long before heterogeneous logic. And processes of biology will be an inspiration throughout (evolution, self-assembly, etc.). Having made predictions along these themes for about a decade now, the wording of this one frustrated me]

Trend 9. ‘Tis a Gift to be Simple. Cyber attacks are ever more frequent and effective. Most attacks exploit holes that are inevitable given the complexity of the software products we use every day. Cyber researchers really understand this. To avoid these vulnerabilities, some cyber researchers are beginning to use only simple infrastructure and applications that are throwbacks to the computing world of two decades ago. As simplicity is shown to be an effective approach for avoiding attack, it will become the guiding principle of software design. The trend is cyber defense through widespread adoption of simple, low-feature software for consumers and businesses.

[No. I understand the advantages of being open, and of heterogencity of code (to avoid monoculture collapse), but we have long ago left the domain of simple. Yes, Internet transport protocols won via simplicity. The presentation layer, not so much. If you want dumb pipes, you need smart edges, and smart edges can be hacked. Graham Spencer gave a great talk at SFI: the trend towards transport simplicity (e.g. dumb pipes) and "intelligence in the edges" led to mixing code and data, which in turn led to all kinds of XSS-like attacks. Drive-by downloading (enabled by XSS) is the most popular vehicle for delivering malware these days.]

Trend 10. Reverse Innovation. Mobile communication is proliferating at an astonishing rate in developing countries as price-points drop and wireless infrastructure improves. As developing countries leapfrog the need for physical infrastructure and brokers, using mobile apps to conduct micro-scale business and to improve quality of life, they are innovating new applications. The developing world is quickly becoming the largest market we’ve ever seen—for mobile computing and much more. The trend is for developing countries to turn around the flow of innovation: Silicon Valley will begin to learn more from them about innovative applications than they need to learn from us about the underlying technology.

[YES, globalization is a megatrend still in the making. The mobile markets are clearly China, India and Korea, with app layer innovation increasingly originating there. Not completely of course, but we have a lot to learn from the early-adopter economies.]

My Personal Insurance Agent (#93041)


Image by mark sebastian
In the beginning, the idea of paying for insurance to cover my photography gear was at the bottom of my priority list. After all, there are so many other pieces of equipment that I wanted to get my hands on. But through the years, my equipment list grew to an amount that is worth more than my car and the simple act of lugging that much gear around started to make me nervous. On an average shooting day, I would have two 5D Mark IIs, two 580EX IIs, 85mm f/1.2L, 35mm f/1.4L, 17-40mm f/4L, a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS and three pocket wizards (not to mention a Macbook Pro when I’m on the road), plus accessories. It’s much more than a sack of electronics – thats my future career on the line. It would only take one brief moment for a thief to take it all away from me.

So i decided to get my equipment insured… Initially, I didn’t really know where to go and I ended up on a photography website which offers a discount on insurance for any member of their website. Other than that, I couldn’t find much information on photography insurance, so I had no choice but to sign up.

Signing up was easy. You login, send in your credit card information and a list of equipment and you would receive an email notification that you were "covered" by some obscure insurance company that you’ve never heard of. And even though I was "technically" insured, I still didn’t have the confidence that I would be safe in case anything happened. It was that sense of uneasiness that got me.

About a year passed by and I finally decided that I was going to switch my automotive insurance over to State Farm because I wanted an insurance company that could cover both my car and my new motorcycle at the same time. Thats when I met my current insurance agent, ThuyVu. The thing that struck me about ThuyVu is that she wasn’t anything like the other insurance agents I’ve dealt with in the past. For one thing, she is one of the top agents in the country.. and on the other hand, she is also an underground house DJ, a classically trained musician, a Tae Kwon Do black belt and does voice-over for video games. FINALLY, I had the chance to work with someone that understood art and how important photography is to me. It didn’t feel l like I was talking to an Insurance Agent as much as it felt like I was talking to a friend. And best of all, she was able to explain my insurance policies with crystal clarity, and fully insure all of my photography gear too.

So if you are thinking about insuring your gear, I highly recommend ThuyVu. Not only did she beat the rates of her competitors, her service was leaps and bounds above them.

Check her out (and mention you found her n Flickr!)
ThuyVu Ho
www.tv-insurance.com
thuyvu.ho.mv2e@statefarm.com
Phone: (408) 998-4821

If you have any questions regarding photography insurance, feel free to post it as a comment and I will have her answer directly in the comments section

And while you’re at it, download one of her mixes:
www.fileden.com/files/2007/12/26/1662934/favorites.mp3

• Silver-plated hand enameled charms
• Bead Dangle has a 6mm hole
• Pandora Style Charm
• Swarovski
• Pendant

Cards with Poker Chips European Charm Bead Hanger with Siam Swarovski Crystal Drop

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Find More Poker Brighton Products

Hilarious comedy antics in this episode of Bottom, as Richie and Eddie are playing poker and the stakes are high in trading household chores. Will they be able to resist cheating? Free funny video clip from the BBC. The global edition of BBC iPlayer has launched on iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch bit.ly Download the free app today and enjoy taster clips and episodes! The BBC iPlayer iPad app is currently available in the following countries: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Please note, not all programming is available in all countries.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

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Set of 100 Sun Cruz Casino Cruise Line Ceramic Game Used Poker $1 Chips

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I like to play spades online and the best spades game I’ve found on the internet is Hardwood Spades. They offer a lot of variations of the game and if you like a team game, this is for you. While playing this game I remembered that I used to play a song called Game of Cards, an old English folk tune, so I decided to record this song using keyboards, dulcimer, pennywhistle and vocals and marry the video of playing this game with the recording I made. Hope you like it…and I can always use a teammate! Geez, didn’t realize how lousy the quality of the audio was on this, I’m going to try it again at a later date…it really is a nice song!
Video Rating: 3 / 5

• Choose from eight game variations
• Adjust win frequencies
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Poker chips


Image by LLudo

Poker Night


Image by frozenchipmunk
Texas Hold ‘Em

_MG_3536


Image by Giandomenico Ricci

A great bluff, re-bluff, re-re-bluff between Victoria Coren and Raul Mestre leaves commentator Jesse May begging for more.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Video footage of the 2008 The Grand Poker Series interview with Montel Williams (celebrity host) and John Colville, Poker Room Manager of The Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, Nevada. Interview conducted by Chewey Lam of Poker Across America.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Best answer:

Answer by Luis A.
Well you cant find free stuff nowadays it doesn’t matter if you are playing poker online or shopping at Walmart… If you win any real money on a free tournament/table there will be a lot of restrictions that make it impossible to cash out and if you are good enough to complete those requirements… what are you doing playing for free?

If you want to earn real money then play with real money, just don’t go crazy… you are not going to become a millionaire in 2 days of poker playing.

The most important thing to do is find a good place that will pay you when you win.

What do you think? Answer below!

Best answer:

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

Question by : Where can I buy cheap facebook poker chips for facebook texas holdem poker?
Can anyone who has bought facebook poker chips before please give me a little information on how to buy facebook chips for Texas Holdem? Somewhere with cheap prices and secure payment processing would be appreciated as I don’t have a lot to spend and don’t want to be ripped off. Thanks in advace.

Best answer:

Answer by Samuel
I got 20 million facebook poker chips for from http://www.facebookpokerstore.com twice last week, if that is within your price range. They also have cheaper packages as well as far as I know but I needed to get into a high roller room to compete with my jerk-nuts brother in law who thinks he’s top dogg when it comes to poker. To make a long story short, I whoopes his ass and had close to 100 million facebook chips by the end of the day. He might be the only person I know more addicted to this game than me lol.

They do use secure payment processing and they’ve pretty damn fast from my experience, I had my facebook poker chips in under 10 minutes. You can talk to them on a live chat thing on their website if you have any other questions about facebook poker or getting chips. They have some cool articles on texas holdem strategy on their website as well about facebook poker, I would reccomend some of those if you’re a bit rusty. I hope my answer was what you are looking for.

Give your answer to this question below!

Islamische Denkfabrik – International Version German, English an Turkish! more to come inshaALLAH! Please vote & comment
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Womens Poker Dot Polka White Dress Size UK 10, Eur 34, US 6 Dress Up By Topshop

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Lady Gaga - Poker Face - 7" Picture Disc - UK - New

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JENNINGS POKER.COM 25 POUND UK CASINO CHIP

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• Green casino felt layout suitable for any table
• Texas Hold’em layout on one side and blackjack layout on the reverse side
• Measures 36″ x 72″

Turn any kitchen table into a full size Texas Hold’em poker or blackjack table with this casino felt layout. Measures 3ft x 6ft.

List Price: $ 27.99

Price: $ 14.95

Caille’s Quintette Slot Machine


Image by cobalt123
One of 5 images of a great antique slot machine seen at the Arizona Historical Museum in Tempe, Arizona on Museum Day, 9/26/09. This image had to be shot from about 8′ away due to the gallery ropes. All images were taken with my Canon 40D and the 60mm EF-S f/2.8 lens. Seeing the group may give an idea just how good this lens is in order to be able to pull out detailed crops from each frame.

See links with other photos in this group for online sources about the Caille slot machine, gum vendors and other gambling machines.

Caille’s Quintette, Made in Detroit


Image by cobalt123
This area of the slot machine shows the coin slots for up to five players! The next image shows just the number five which is above the window with the poker cards on reels. The first photos uploaded previous on this photo stream show the context of this detail in the full cabinet and wooden case.

One of 5 images of a great antique slot machine seen at the Arizona Historical Museum in Tempe, Arizona on Museum Day, 9/26/09. This image had to be shot from about 8′ away due to the gallery ropes. All images were taken with my Canon 40D and the 60mm EF-S f/2.8 lens. Seeing the group may give an idea just how good this lens is in order to be able to pull out detailed crops from each frame.

See links with other photos in this group for online sources about the Caille slot machine, gum vendors and other gambling machines.

Casino ~ Poker Night ~ Gambling ~ Poker ~ Nugget Candy Bar Wrappers Party Favors

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Casino Mix Heart Spade Diamond Mardi Gras Party Beads

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Sahara Casino $1 1968 World Airlines Christmas Party Chip

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