Cuz We Said So

Some Nice PowerPoint Templates

I ran across these this morning while searching for something for a client.  They are free for personal use (though if find yourself using PowerPoint a lot in your personal life, you have my deepest sympathies).  There are some nice designs here.

Jott Update

I've written previously about a service called Jott, which takes speech, converted converts it to text, and optionally sends it in to a variety of places such as, for example, there's this blog. I'm still a fan of the service as a concept, but I find I use it less than I might because there's no mechanism for validating the accuracy of the transcription before it gets sent wherever it's going. This, for example, will post unedited. [DG: I have since edited the post manually.]  This is a feature I think would make the service much more useful if added.

listen Powered by Jott

UPDATE:   Case in point: as you can see from the strike-outs above, the service is fairly accurate, but there are enough errors to make posting a transcription directly to a public venue a questionable proposition.  One other peeve: I don’t believe there’s a way to set the title for a post like this separately—it’s automatically set to the first few words from the body of the post.  Simplicity good; inflexibility bad.

Glowing Cities

A time-lapse video shot by Ettubrute while crossing from Amsterdam to San Francisco (via the Dopplr blog).

The TNG Cast Goes All Twittery

Brent Spiner has joined Wil Wheaton and LeVar Burton on Twitter.

links for 2009-01-10

• Mandelbrot the fractal teddy-bear

Onward, Onward, We Will Keep on Progressing…

Still no luck downloading from the Microsoft TechNet site, but the direct links posted by Neowin here seem to be working.  Though now, I suppose, I will need to figure out how to get the beta activation key.

 
(strip courtesy of XKCD)

links for 2009-01-07

• Windows 7 beta: First impressions
  CNET News: "Windows 7 could be one of Microsoft's greatest operating systems, if it fulfills the promise shown by the unofficial beta..." Please, let it be true...
• Diseases that make lovely baby girl's names
  "Porphyria, have you finished your homework yet?"

links for 2008-12-31

• Get Free Logos at LogoInstant
  Huh! "If you need a logo but you're lacking the design chops to whip one up, score a free one at LogoInstant. LogoInstant is a design service that cranks out a new logo every day." Nice work, too.

Flavours of English

Alex Barnett’s observation that American English is more efficient than its British English cousin got me thinking about the language of my native Canada.  I wonder to what extent Canadians use British spelling versus American ones?  I remember Canada fairly well—I lived there until I was 12—I’m less clear on the nuances of spelling.  I clearly remember using the French spellings of some words—centre, theatre, and metre, for example, I don’t remember having to remember to drop a “u” from words like “flavour” and “colour”, or changing “s” to “z” in words like “customise” and “galvanise” once I moved to the US.  Were American spellings used for those words where I lived?  Or were the British spellings used, and my exposure to American television, which we watched routinely via the rabbit ears, had acclimated me to the American variants?

links for 2008-12-26

• Bruce Boxleitner Returns to Tron
  As well he should. How could you have a Tron movie without Tron? Clearly, you could not.
• Apple’s new in-ear headphones
  A comparison, impressions, and FAQ from Ryan Block. Sounds like Apple might have something here.