Saturday Data Dump:
June 29, 2012 by S David Acuff
Filed under /Editorials, /Shotgun Saturdays
Another busy week of interweb discoveries…
NASA’s “7 Minutes of Terror”
Apparently, while any Joe Schmoe with a lawn chair and some weather balloons can launch himself into lower levels of space, the real engineering is landing a rover on Mars. Here’s why.
Google’s X Technology
While John Conner and team Terminator have been working to destroy Skynet to prevent it from building sentient machines and destroying the planet, Google researchers – who haven’t seen these films – are working to network enough computer processors together and turning it loose on the internet. Good news, Google Skynet can identify cats now. Perhaps, all that Terminator angst was in vain, the machine really wants to play around on Icanhascheezburger all day.
5 Great Mobile Apps for Photographers
Here’s a little handout for the shutterbugs in the group. Some nice apps to ponder.
World’s Most Popular Questions
You got questions? Google’s got answers. But even better than the answers are the most frequently asked questions. Just go see for yourself what is on the hearts and minds of the world.
1979 Muppet Camera Test
This is a YouTube video that tracks the Muppet team test-driving some locations and footage on film. Funny to see the muppet interactions and improv.
Surreal Forests of Romania
Someone on the twitterverse joked that they want their dreams to look like these photos. They are exactly what the title suggests.
21 Pictures that will Restore Your Faith in Humanity
They may or may not, but it’s an interesting photo spread from Buzzfeed, none-the-less. Worth a gander.
Berkeley Ridiculously Automated Dorm
Some college kid has gone all out to customize his dorm room with light and music and disco ball settings and the works! I give it an A for effort. I give it a D- for energy conservation.
Andrew Stanton: The Clues to a Great Story
Pixar Filmmaker Andrew Stanton (“Toy Story”, “Wall-E”, and “John Carter”) – oops I think I just lost some people after the JC reference – gave a great TED talk about story telling.