*-)- welcome aboard *-)-
just me. my current interests and stories for the interwebs.
Today’s Oatmeal comic hits home today with friends being put on furlough notice and my company and Union agreeing to put off furloughs until April. Essentially, the comic points out that it will eventually be all okay.
Norah wanted to share what she is currently learning in her piano journey. Check out the 1-minute video below!
Though ThiefQuest is packed with menacing features, it's unlikely to infect your Mac anytime soon unless you download pirated, unvetted software. Thomas Reed, director of Mac and mobile platforms at the security firm Malwarebytes, found that ThiefQuest is being distributed on torrent sites bundled with name-brand software, like the security application Little Snitch, DJ software Mixed In Key, and music production platform Ableton. K7's Devadoss notes that the malware itself is designed to look like a "Google Software Update program." So far, though, the researchers say that it doesn't seem to have a significant number of downloads, and no one has paid a ransom to the Bitcoin address the attackers provide.
It’s an amazing concept really, don’t download pirated software!
I have to admit that I watched the keynote in almost its entirety while I was at the airport waiting for a flight and even continued it while boarding the aircraft (as a passenger mind you) and was every bit tweeting and excited for what the future is going to bring. I mean, the most exciting for me are Home Screen Widgets for the iPhone but that Translate App is bonkers too; Sleep Tracking on the Apple Watch but I’m a little skeptical on the battery life and management but I’m sure Apple will have more on that with the Apple Watch 6 set to debut this fall; iPad’s continuing growth as a full fledge computing device and of course, Mac’s move to Apple Silicon. That’s huge! Still wondering why no benchmark’s were released but I’m interested in that Development Testing Kit Mac Mini at $500! The surprise was that all the demos of macOS 11 were that they were running on a Mac with Apple Silicon and most apps running natively.
If you didn’t get a chance to watch the Keynote, check out The Verge’s video with the highlights below! That wheelchair is pretty amazing. Almost seems like Apple invented that one.
WWDC 2020, Apple's online developer conference, was full of huge announcements. If you weren't watching live to see what's coming next for macOS, iOS 14, iPa...
Not that anyone ever needed a reason to buy a piece of new luggage especially now with COVID19 taking a toll on our traveling days, but if quarantine fatigue has gotten its grip on you, then heck, spend some money and get on a plane! (But be safe, wear a mask and be courteous to everyone around you) Pick any plane to anywhere but ideally book a flight on JetBlue because it would be even more comfortable with their free wifi and best in class legroom.
My favorite Travelpack maker has an awesome sale going on right now and I can’t recommend them enough. If you don’t believe me, check out just two of my many instagram posts with their TravelPack with me in the flightdeck on stowed beneath in front of me. Head over to Nomatic with their $100 off all roller luggage, 25% off all Nomatic bags, and up to 50% off clearance bags summer special. It’s a deal that I couldn’t even pass up! Review soon!
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Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.
A new study says that while autonomous vehicle technology has great promise to reduce crashes, it may not be able to prevent all mishaps caused by human error.
Auto safety experts say humans cause about 94% of U.S. crashes, but the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study says computer-controlled robocars will only stop about one-third of them.
Take a look at the first two paragraphs. The headline itself states, “Autonomous vehicles won’t make roads completely safe,” but you could have also stated it as, “Autonomous vehicles will help make the roads a third safer.” This is what I call bullsh*t headlining. The first two paragraphs already show conflict. We know that autonomous vehicles won’t manage and mitigate 100% of all accidents but we do know that 94% of automobile accidents are caused by human error so… let’s reduce that by a third and that’s lives saved. What’s the freaking issue? Let’s continue to make improvements and not title this articles like it isn’t working.
After my son Benjamin saw his older sister recording a YouTube video presentation for her class assignment, he was eager to create his own. Down below is the first of what may be a series of readings. I present to you, Benji Reads “Mat” BOB Books S1B1.
My daughter chose to do her first grade landmark presentation, on the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge. I hope you like it!
/// Links /// Sony A7Rii Full-Frame Mirrorless Camera Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM Wide-angle Zoom Lens (SEL1635GM), Black Peak Design Carbon Fiber Tripod Blue Snowball iCE USB Mic
///Credits///
music: http://www.bensound.com
Embedded Photos by: By Wa17gs - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 By Calibas - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 By Wa17gs - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 By Roulex 45 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
Why not continue to use this shelter-in-place, safer-at-home, homeschooling, amazing family time to teach Norah on how to edit a movie using iMovie on macOS. I may have gone a bit overboard as it took an hour or so, but we had a lot of fun.
We taped using the Sony A7Rii, took pictures of the report then imported the data into iMovie. What we have below is Norah Nicolas' First Grade Report on Bottlenose Dolphins Norah Nicolas' First Grade Report on Bottlenose Dolphins for Mrs. Shemanski, Francis Parker Lower School.
During the past six weeks, Norah researched and learned how to not only create a report from scratch but how to write complete paragraphs using transitions, creating a table of contents and a glossary as well as voice-over work and editing on iMovie with her Dad, Elijah Nicolas. She marked, split videos and learned about transitions as well.
/// Links /// Sony A7Rii Full-Frame Mirrorless Camera Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM Wide-angle Zoom Lens (SEL1635GM), Black Rode VideoMicro Compact On-Camera Microphone Peak Design Carbon Fiber Tripod Blue Snowball iCE USB Mic
///Credits/// music: http://www.bensound.com Bottlenose Dolphin and Killer Whale Orca sounds by: Watkins Marine Mammal Sound Database, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
A last minute request, the setup and simple chop editing took longer but we had a lot of fun! Hope you enjoy the story!
Reading for Mrs. Shemanski's First Grade Class at Francis Parker Lower School, Norah chose to share one of her favorite books by Mo Willems titled, "Waiting Is Not Easy!" This was setup and recorded last minute. Sorry for the quick chop.
Tools: Sony Alpha A7Rii + Manfrotto Stand for Universal Cell Phone Edited with iMovie on macOS and recorded via OBS Studio: https://obsproject.com
/// Links ///
Sony A7Rii Full-Frame Mirrorless Camera Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM Wide-angle Zoom Lens (SEL1635GM), Black Manfrotto Stand for Universal Cell Phone Rode VideoMicro Compact On-Camera Microphone Peak Design Carbon Fiber Tripod Blue Snowball iCE USB Mic UGREEN Micro HDMI to HDMI Cable Male to Female: Waiting Is Not Easy by Mo Willems: https://amzn.to/2LlfFrO UGREEN Micro HDMI to HDMI Cable Male to Female: https://amzn.to/2Wse7CQ music: http://www.bensound.com
The 23-campus California State University system plans to all but cancel in-person classes in the fall and instead will offer instruction primarily online, Chancellor Timothy White announced Tuesday.
The vast majority of classes across the Cal State system will be taught online, White said, with some limited exceptions that allow for in-person activity. The decision comes as schools throughout the country grapple with how long to keep campuses closed amid the coronavirus crisis.
We are in for a new normal. And with Los Angeles announcing a shelter-in-place order until the end of summer, it’s going to be a very different West Coast experience or lack-thereof. At least the beaches are open?
Hopefully everyone continues to keep their distance as we start mobilizing a bit more. I know I’m getting antsy. In today's news (Monday, May 11, 2020), California is looking worse than expected and one family gathering at Easter has resulted in a cluster of 5 cases including an individual who was coughing and joking about possibly having it. Do everyone a favor and protect yourself. Wear a mask not only for yourself but for others as well. We should know this already! Thanks to contract tracing, it hopefully has been isolated.
Researchers are now predicting that California could see more than 6,000 COVID-19 deaths by the end of August, up about 1,420 from projections they released last Monday. It’s the fifth-largest increase in projected death tolls among U.S. states, after Pennsylvania, Illinois, Arizona and Florida.
The upward revisions “are a result of a combination of updated daily death and case data, recent actions to ease previously implemented social distancing measures and steadily rising levels of mobility in many places,” the researchers said in notes released with the data.
This time, the new SE’s trade-offs seem trivial. No face scanner, shooting photos in the dark or humongous screen? Those are minor inconveniences when you are paying 40 percent less than for an iPhone 11.
Who doesn’t want to save 40% on a new iPhone that uses the fastest and more current mobile processor as well as having an excellent camera? The biggest point that agree with Brian X. Chen on his iPhone SE (2) assessment is exactly this. He goes on to mention that he is more inclined to spend the $999 on an iPhone, as am I, but on day 2, why spend any more money?
“The new iPhone SE’s lack of compromise is what makes it remarkable. Apple took all the best parts from its expensive iPhones — including a fast computing processor and an excellent camera — and squeezed them into the shell of an older iPhone with a home button and smaller screen. At the same time, it managed to include useful features that were previously exclusive to fancy new phones, like water resistance, wireless charging and so-called portrait photos.”
