Handstands on the beach, originally uploaded by Outdoorsie.

The following is a post by Taylor Conroy, which I thought I would share on my blog as well:

HEY!  Do you know Dane Low from Vic ?  He and I are organizing a killer contest (based on raising cash for charities) and just need to find out what we should offer as the GRAND PRIZE for the 15 winners.  We have it narrowed down the potential prize to 5 juicers…

What we need from YOU: If you were one of the 15 winners… tell us which prize would you want to get????

1) Sun, Surf and Friends in Indonesia
You, me, and the 14 other winners fly to Indonesia together, stay in beach bungalows WAY away from the tourist areas.  We surf, fish, explore, tan, swim, scooter, and lap up life for 7 days and 7 nights.  You are MORE than welcome to stay longer if you want!  Your flight and accommodation for the week are all paid for.

2) Luxury in Spain
The 16 of us fly to the party capital of the world, Ibiza, and set up camp in our home away from home (which will look something like this) . We sun tan, explore the island, eat unreal food, and do a tiny tiny bit of partying at night…. and by “tiny tiny bit”, I mean that we party at the world’s best night clubs with the world’s best DJs.  Ibiza is world renowned for it’s parties, and the villas are second to none.  Your flight and the villa are paid for… how much you spend aside from that is up to you.

3) All-inclusive in gorgeous Mexico
You eat well, you drink lots, you party too much, and you get a brutal sunburn when you pass out by the pool all day (oh wait… that’s me).  This is a week of 16 awesome people getting pampered and living the life.  It can be relaxing or can be an assault on your liver.  All I know is that you can’t go wrong when all you need is a pink bracelet to get you anything you want

4) Volunteerism abroad
A week building schools, and creating epic memories through the Free The Children foundation.  This is the organization I visited in February (see my facebook album for wicked pics ), in Kenya, and it is UNBELIEVABLE.  The impact they have made is incredible, and their administration costs are stupendously low.  The airfare and accommodation would be on us, and other expenses would be minimal.  Such a cool way to spend a holiday.

5) Your custom trip
This is a trip all about YOU, and what YOU want to do.  We simply buy you an open ended ticket around the world and fill your pockets full of spending money.  That way, if you want to go to Thailand, lay on a beach, and read all day… you can.  If you want to go to Buenos Aires and tango your ass off… you can.  If you want to do some volunteer style stuff in Africa… you can… OR you can do all 3.  The departure and return dates are all up to you, so do what you want.  $1000 spending money included.

SO!  Which would (will) you choose???  Thanks in advance!!!!  We will put all info on the contest on this blog.  You can keep an eye on it by clicking to subscribe at the top of this page.

Is there a trip that you think would be a better prize???  We would love to hear it.  Comment below.

Torch Bearer, originally uploaded by thebringer.

Recently I found out that I was nominated to carry the torch to represent Cactus Club Cafe as their official Olympic torch bearer. I am extremely excited and proud to be able to participate in the relay.  Yesterday I got a box from Purolator with all of the goodies. I made a short video for those interested in what each torch bearer receives for their leg of the relay:

If you are free Sunday, February 7th, I would be honored if you joined me in the magnificent countryside of Chilliwack.

Deets:

Date: Sunday, February 7th, 2010

Approximate start time: 12:22 PM, PST

Starting location: 50374

Finishing location: 50230

Approximate length: 300 m

Torchbearer number: OTR101-044 (Look for this number on the route marker)

View Larger MapTorch Bearer

I’ve always wanted a reason to do this, so here is a Google Street view of the route:

For any questions/general information about the torch relay visit here.

]]> http://danelow.wordpress.com/2010/01/10/2010-olympic-torch-bearer-sunday-february-7th/feed/ 6 danelow http://danelow.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/analysis-paralysis-a-lesson-in-getting-started/ http://danelow.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/analysis-paralysis-a-lesson-in-getting-started/#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:55:30 +0000 danelow http://danelow.wordpress.com/?p=141 ]]>

How often are great projects or ideas left to die as a sketch on a napkin because of over-analysis of the possible outcomes?

In October of 2007, inspired by Tim Ferriss’ Literacy Liberation campaign , I started raising money for a preschool in Vietnam.  I used Tim’s model of Firstgiving as the donation page and Room to Read as the charity. At the time, Facebook “groups” were huge and some of the largest were ones for charitable causes (e.g. Monks in Burma). However, with massive numbers of supporters (upwards of 1,000,000 at the time), very few tangible results were being produced.

That was my goal: To create a Facebook group whose entire purpose was to produce something tangible – a preschool in Vietnam.

I learned many things during this project – about myself, about fund raising, about creating community.  One lesson has resonated with me the most: Get started. You can over-analyze these kinds of projects to the point where they do not happen at all. “What will people think of me?” “What if I do not reach my goal?” This type of thinking is affectionately referred to as “Analysis Paralysis”. The easiest way to approach a problem that appears too large is to ask yourself, “What is the next step that I need to be taking?” and not burning yourself out by thinking too far into the future. I had the pleasant experience of meeting extremely kind people whose generosity, either through donations or through support, I had not anticipated when planning starting this project.  You will, too.

Here is a short video I made reflecting on the project and the subsequent visit to the school:

For those wanting to see the rest of the pictures of the visit, they are here on Flickr.

This experience has exceeded my expectations in nearly every aspect. An exciting way to wrap up was to have this project featured on Tim Ferriss’ blog as a case study for the “future of giving back and karmic capitalism” and acknowledged by Room to Read and John Wood.

What projects have you been putting off that you could get started in 2010?

After reporting the issue, Facebook will email you asking for a screen shot of the problem. If your issues are similar to this, feel free to forward them the link to this video.

Flickr Photo Credit: John Conners

(This post was written with my experience with the Bachelor of Commerce program at the University of Victoria)

With the advent of Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites, it seems universities are defaulting to laptop bans instead of embracing the technology. The reality of laptops in the classroom affects three parties: the student using the laptop, the student’s classmates, and the professor teaching the class. Let’s look at the weaknesses in the common arguments for a laptop ban in each category:

1. The student using the laptop:

Argument: Laptops will distract the students

An argument against students using laptops is that it will distract them from the lecture. Ergo, removing the laptops will engage the classroom. This view is wrong for two reasons: laptops do not cause distractions, and distractions are good to have in the classroom.

A laptop does not cause distractions, it simply exposes the  distracted behaviour of the person using it. It is similar to the saying, “a computer is only as smart as the person using it”. A computer is only as distracting as the person wants it to be.  Take away the computer and that same student will daydream, doodle, or flick his pen (arguably less productive behaviours). Certainly, a laptop does make the distraction more visible than a daydreaming student who is laptop-less. This should been seen as advantageous to the professor because it is a clear indication that his lectures are not engaging the classroom.
Distractions are good to have in the classroom because the same distractions, if not more, will be present in the real world (just ask Tim Ferriss). Part of the learning for the student should be about developing an ability to manage distractions so that he/she does not become a slave to them in the “real world”.

It is not necessary to go extensively into the benefits of having a laptop in class. It is worth noting, however, that a laptop ban punishes students who are able to manage their distractions, who have made an investment that can enable them to contribute current events to the discussions, and who would like to take neat notes that are easily re-formatted. Are these the students who should be stifled?

Finally, with the mass adoption of the smart phone, most students will soon have all of the “evil internet” in their pocket to distract themselves. It may be time to start rethinking the traditional teaching method.

2. The student’s classmates:

Argument: The student with the laptop will distract other students in the classroom.

Another often-cited argument for the ban of laptops within the classroom is that the laptop student is distracting to those around him. There are two ways in which the non-laptop student can be distracted: from watching the games/videos that the laptop student plays and from the clicking of the keyboards.

The laptop is not to blame when a student without a laptop makes the decision to watch a YouTube video of dancing cats instead of listening to the lecture. Think about it. The student finds more value in watching a dancing cat than the content of the presentation. Is the lecturer to blame for not being engaging enough? Perhaps the format of sitting through five hours of Power Point a day is not the way to engage your students. One thing is clear, the student who decides to look at the video is to blame. However, it is not reasonable to ban laptops just because some students can’t help themselves from looking at a game of Scrabble. One solution may be for the campus computer store to offer discount privacy screens, or for the professor to have monitoring software.

The second way laptops can distract non-users is the noise the keyboards make.  This is a valid argument, however, if a student insists on flicking her pen and ends up dropping it every two attempts, do you take her pen away? No. She is asked politely to stop flicking her pen. Likewise, if a student is typing aggressively and distracting other students, she could be asked to type more quietly. Keep in mind that tapping will still be there in the “real world”, such as in an office job in a cubicle – although I would not be surprised if net books were not entirely touch-screen in three years, eliminating keystroke noise altogether.

3. The professor teaching the class:

Argument: Professors do not like looking up at a bunch of laptop backs.

Anyone who has ever given a presentation and had his audience preoccupied can fully identify with this frustration. Therefore, it is completely understandable that professors would want the laptops, or distractions, removed. There is a fundamental issue, however, that is being overlooked: the maximum attention span of an adult is around 20 minutes for a given topic (even the brightest in the world only get to give 20 minute lectures at TED). This means that there is around 1 hour and 10 minutes of time wasted in each traditional class of 1 hour and 30 minutes. The point being made is that laptops are not the “distraction enemy” of the professors – the duration of the class is.

There are two tactics professors could use when faced with a classroom full of distracted laptoppers: they can ban laptops outright, or they can see it as an opportunity to engage the class through a new medium. Granted, the second option will have more of a learning curve, but it is likely to yield much greater results. For example, how many professors tape their classes and offer them in a podcast format so that students can access the lecture when they are feeling most productive (which most likely is NOT at 8 a.m.)? If this were the case, a professor might argue that 80% of the class would not show up. Why is this a bad thing? Think about it. Enthusiastic students will engage in conversation with each other because of the smaller class sizes, and other students who prefer to learn alone (or late at night with others) now can! They won’t be distracting anyone with YouTube, and the professor gets to teach more intimately to keen students. Everybody wins.

By banning technology in the classroom, teaching styles will never evolve and will remain in the static, read-from-the-power-point, 1-hour-and-10-minutes-too-long, format.  The long-term implication is that the program in which the ban operates may become obsolete, relative to programs that have overcome the obstacles of incorporating technology. Unfortunately, by trying to engage everyone with policies like laptop bans, mandatory attendance, and fixed seating, you end up engaging no one.

Conclusion

What will happen to a program that does not change? One where creative solutions to disruptions by technology have not been found? Where potential cannot be realized? It falls behind. It falls behind in two respects: in the content that it teaches, and in the way that it teaches the content. The way information is exchanged is changing dramatically, and it is about time that the powers that be started embracing this change, instead of resisting it.

Which side do you agree with and why?

(Music credit: MGMT, Soulwax)

This is an attempt at stop motion photography.  It was shot with a Nikon D80, SB600 speed-light, a tripod and edited in iMovie ’09.  I have been wanting to try a stop-motion film ever since seeing “starwars v startrek” by the lichtfaktor crew.  This crew also inspired several attempts at “light graffiti“.

Photo credit: Jurvetson on Flickr

Edit: The curator of TED, Chris Anderson, kindly tweeted about what he would like to see in this article.  The changes have been added.

The conference, TED Talks, has been attracting significant mainstream attention, since 2007, TED.com offered videos of the lectures for viewers to stream.  TED’s success is a good example that is counter intuitive to traditional ways of doing business: giving away information can actually increase revenue.

If you have landed on this article and haven’t watched any TED Talks:

1. Open the TED Talks list in a new window

2. Watch several of these talks (currently 442)

3. Finish reading this article.

For those of you who have fully embraced your addiction to TED, and are looking for more TED, here is a list of things you can do:Show me the list!

1) Get to know TED.com

This may seem obvious, but because TED has made their videos available to download and embed to other websites, some people may be getting their dose of TED from another site (like google video or iTunes podcasts) and miss out what TED.com has to offer:

a) A community to join. There are currently 163,928 members that are part of the TED community.  You can create a profile and connect with them/view profiles and comment on the talks.

b) The TED blog.  Subscribe to the blog to receive the latest and greatest.

c) An index of speaker’s biographies.  Love a talk? Find out more about the person behind the talk.

EDIT: d) TED has since added an extensive list of languages that the talks have been translated into

2) TED on Facebook

a) The TED application for Facebook allows you to browse, view and favorite all of the videos offered by TED.  You can also invite your friends to the application.  Once your friends have the application, you  are able exchange which videos you have on your “favorites” list.

b) Become a fan of TED on Facebook. Updates from the official TED site will be posted in your Facebook Feed. You will be able to talk about your favorite talks in the “discussions” tab. Videos, photos, and other TED exclusives are available to their fans.

c) Join a TED group on Facebook.  The advantage of groups over the fan page is that groups are formed for niches.  For example, TED Talks in Farsi.

3) TED Talks on Twitter

Twitter offers a great way to enrich your TED experience.  The official feeds for Ted are @TEDTalks, @TEDPrize and @TEDPalmsprings.  You can also follow the curator Chris Anderson @TEDChris.   Following these accounts is a great way to get updates on what is happening with TED.  Additionally, speakers at TED often have Twitter accounts posted in their TED bio.  For example, if you were blown away by Eric Lewis’s rendition of “Going Under” and would like to know more about what interests him, you can follow him @ELEWW.  Finally, to read what the Twitterverse is saying about TED, search the trend “#TED“.

4) TED on YouTube

If you are a heavy YouTube user, you can subscribe to TED’s official channel.  If you can help it, watch the videos directly from the TED site, as they are of higher quality relative to YouTube.

5) TED Talks on your Phone.

If you have an iPhone, TED Talks has a free application under “Education”.  This application has all of the video/audiocasts available, with the option of being able to favorite. This is probably the best ways to pass time on a bus, in a lineup, a lay over in an airport. There is a plusmo widget to add a TEDTalks audio feed to other phones.

6) TEDx

TEDx opens the TED brand to independent groups of people to organize events with the same “TED-like experience”.  This a huge step to globally exposing TED’s brand its culture of “ideas worth spreading”.  Although each TEDx event is hosted independently, TED still offers support in the way of advice, exposure on TED.com,  connections to other organizers and the ability to use the “TEDx” brand.

This is a huge opportunity to involve and engage your community, school, workplace.  If you would like to be involved in organizing a TED event in your area visit TEDx.  From there you will learn, what happens at a TEDx event, the benefits of joining TEDx, how to host your own TEDx event, choose a name, how to invite speakers and how to get a sponsor.

In case you are still not convinced, here is one of my favorite TED Talks.  I would love to hear yours!

Photo Credit: Morten Iveland

Before the announcement of the App Store, unlocking or (“jailbreaking”) your iPhone was an easy decision because of the value added by the unlocked applications.  However with the App Store and the overwhelming number of applications available through it (many of them useless), iPhone 3G owners may overlook useful applications offered by Cydia (the app-store offered with unlocking your phone).   While there are many “novelty” applications available, this article reviews the practical applications that may entice an owner to jailbreak their 3G iPhone.

If you are unfamiliar with how to unlock your phone, QuickPwn and Pwnage Tool are the leading methods.  Here is an article on the difference between them.

Apparently, Apple has  Quickpwn listed in their web app directory, so they can’t be that opposed!

Alright, now on to the applications that iPhone 3G users may find useful:

1. QIK: The Qik application allows the user to stream video/audio live to their account on Qik.com. This application is particularly useful for users to broadcast concerts, sports games and other various events live through their phone to their friends.  The user’s account on QIK.com has various privacy options and saves the live videos for later viewing. The option for automatically uploading to Facebook is also available.

2. Cycorder: Cycorder is a free video recorder for the iPhone. The quality of video is surprisingly good, but the one hurdle for the layperson is to get the video clips that they have recorded back on to their computer.  The traditional way involves SSH, but the most user friendly way to get Cycorder’s video files off of your phone is to use the freeware DiskAid.  There is an alternative video recorder that costs $19.99 that I have not had a chance to try.

3. iBlacklist: iBlacklist is an application that allows you to control who is able to get ahold of you and who is not (whether by phone or by text).  The application has 4 options to block the caller: straight to voicemail, busy signal, no action, pick up and hang up.  You can also black list everyone for certain times of the week when you do not want to receive any calls but still would like to access the other functions of your iPhone.  While most of us do not have legions of people who we do not want calling us, a practical use for this application is to put pesky 1-800-#’s that call repeatedly on the “blacklist”.

4. PDANet: This application allows you to turn your iPhone into a wireless modem that you connect to your laptop.  This means that you will always have the Internet for your laptop or any other device you decide to hook up.  However, be wary of downloading large amounts of data (e.g. movies, songs) as your cell phone carrier will likely charge you absurd amounts for any data not downloaded through the iPhone.  It is recommended that you only surf lightly until you receive your next phone bill.  Once you have downloaded PDANet, follow this guide to help set up.  Just don’t become a “lonely Canadian”.

5. Flash: Not allowing the Safari browser to play Flash video is really frustrating for users.  However the plugin “imobilecinema” addresses this frustration.  The plugin is accessed through Cydia and allows for you to view flash videos that are embeded within the mobile Safari browser.  There are also other methods (namely videohamster) for viewing flash, however I found this to be the least convoluted way of doing it.  Here is a quick video tutorial.

6.  Backgrounder: Not being able to run two applications (apart from the ones Apple provides) simultaneously is another annoyance to users.  Backgrounder enables the user to run more than one application at a time.  After installed, you toggle the backgrounding function by simply holding  the “home” button until there is a notification saying the app is running in the background.

7. BossPrefs: This application allows the user to have one-touch access to enabling certain settings (i.e. 3G, Edge, Wifi, Bluetooth) as well as hide any native apps that came with the phone that you may not be using (e.g. Stocks, Weather etc.)  You can always turn these applications back on but you may want to clear space up on your desktop in the meantime.

8. Winterboard: Winterboard is primarily used to customize the interface of the iPhone.  Once this app is installed, you download app “add-ons” in the way of different themes, fonts and other visual custom features.  Instructions on how to create and install your own themes using Winterboard is explained here.

9. Status Notifier: This handy tool displays notification icons across the top menu bar (to the left of your battery icon), so that you do not have to “slide to unlock” your phone to see if you have any text messages, email, or missed calls etc.

Finally,  if you can’t wait for certain functions arriving with  OS 3.0 , you can also enable MMS picture messaging, copy and paste and a “search in mail” function.

Those are 9 reasons why an iPhone 3G user should still consider jailbreaking there phone.  If you have any others, feel free to comment or send me an email.