Le Web 3 Videos Now Online

Have started watching the Le Web 3 videos online.

They're extremely well-edited, are of fantastic video and audio quality, and the speakers are only given very limited time to deliver their talk.

Here's one that I just finished watching: Evan Williams of Obvious and Twitter talks about creating new products by taking away features from an existing product.

Good or Bad, Black or White

Found this 3 minute video through one of Jeremiah Owyang's tweets tonight.

Watched it. Was saddened by it. Felt compelled to blog it.



The part that really got to me was the question 1 min and 26 seconds into the video clip: Can you give me the doll that looks like you?

If I were the child's parent, I think I'd weep.

Refocus-able Cameras in Our Future

"So... you guys have heard of the camera that's refocus-able after the fact?"

I loved the way Stanford University Professor Marc Levoy oh-so-casually asked the question around 15 minutes into his video interview with Robert Scoble on the Scoble Show.

The idea: when you take a photo, the camera is actually storing more information than is displayed when you're viewing one image. Instead, the camera stores multiple versions for each point on the image. Thanks to the additional data, you can adjust the focus of the image after you've already taken the photo.


Focus shifts from the blinds in the background to the face in the foreground.


Focus shifts from the lady in the foreground to the people in the back.

Head over to Robert Scoble's blog to watch the entire interview, or catch the 5-minute excerpt.

Finding Entertainment in the Strangest Ways

Learned about the Tim Tang Test tonight through a question that was posted in my new favorite site, Fluther.

If you think you're really hot stuff, I double-dare, no, triple-dare you to try the test!

I'm currently in Level 2 (just started a few minutes ago but decided to pause long enough to write this blogpost), and got a laugh out of the audio clip that was playing for that level.

A quick Google search on some of the lyrics led me to this YouTube video of the Klein Four Group singing Finite Simple Group (of Order Two). [Lyrics here]



Math majors will get a kick out of it, I think.

Yes, yes, I'm revealing that I'm too much of a geek. But when you get geekyness and music together in one videoclip, I can't resist!

Enjoy!

Richard St. John: What Leads to Success

Via denshaOtoko: A great TED Talk.

This one is entitled Secrets of Success in 8 Words and 3 Minutes by Richard St. John.

The Bayeux Tapestry, Animated

Found this beautifully animated video via Chris Brogan.

The video clip was animated by David Newton and is hosted by DailyMotion.com.

The Bayeux Tapestry
Uploaded by dekku

The tapestry itself is a long piece of embroidered cloth, 20 inches high and 230 feet long. It is divided into thirteen sections, and recounts the events leading up to William the Conqueror's invasion of England in 1066.

The original tapestry, believed to have been made in the 1070s, is currently on exhibit in Bayeux, Normandy, France. A full-size replica of the tapestry, made in 1886, is on exhibit at the Museum of Reading, in Reading, Berkshire, England.

See also the Bayeux Tapestry and The Battle of Hastings on Wikipedia.

Did You Know?

Found an interesting video today via Yvonne Divita's Lipstick Marketing Blog. She called it "Shift Happens."

I think it has the ability to make any educator and any parent stop and think (and yes, worry) about their kids. I've embedded a copy of the video below.

While I was watching the video for the first time, I found myself hoping that it would end with a URL where people can get more information about the statistics that were cited, especially since the video was saying things that can generate a lot of hype.

I was really quite disappointed when there was nothing at the end. And if yesterday had not been a holiday here, I would probably have left it at that.

* * *

But since yesterday was a holiday, a series of Google searches led me to the blog of Karl Fisch (the man who came up with the original powerpoint presentation and video) and to Scott McLeod (who morphed Karl's work into the more generic video that's making the rounds on video sharing sites).

Karl explains the context for his original presentation, which I learned is actually entitled "Did You Know?"

MD's Note: These are excerpts only.

My administration asked me if I wanted to speak at one of our beginning of the year faculty meetings. I often provide updates on what's new and different with technology in our building and what teachers need to know to get the year started.

I put together a PowerPoint presentation with some (hopefully) thought-provoking ideas. I was hoping by telling some of these "stories" to our faculty, I could get them thinking about - and discussing with each other - the world our students are entering. To get them to really think about what our students are going to need to be successful in the 21st century, and then how that might impact what they do in their classrooms. It would also help the faculty that are not currently participating in my staff development join the conversation.

I told them that even though I would usually argue that just showing something and not discussing it afterward was a bad idea, that this time - since a meaningful conversation at the end of a long faculty meeting was unlikely - that's what I was going to do. But that I wanted them to hopefully think about this for their own classrooms, and then hold the conversation with each other over the next few days (and hopefully weeks and months and...).

To my delight, Karl's blog entry also offers a list of sources for the statistics cited in the video, although he admits that he had to modify some of the slides when he couldn't find all of his original sources. I only wish I had enough time to go through them all.

In his sources document, he also credits the video music to a mix of tracks from The Last of the Mohicans.

And so, with the context now properly established, here is "Did You Know" by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod.



You can also find a link to the text-only version in Karl's original blog entry.

A final note: my Google search also led me to the website of James Feldman. Turns out that "Shift Happens" is a registered trademark and James Feldman owns it. I can only speculate that the phrase later became linked to the video because of comments people left in Karl Fisch's original blog entry.

Getting Spartan

Got a kick out of watching this YouTube video.

It's Frank Miller's "300" Video Diary Day 3, which shows what kind of workouts the actors had to go through to get into shape for the movie 300.



According to IMDB's trivia page for the movie, "the entire principal cast underwent a rigorous and varied training regime for 6 weeks prior to shooting."

Six weeks only?!? Wow. It's really amazing what a lot of discipline (and necessity!) can accomplish.

Coming Around Again

Was channel surfing tonight and caught the music video of Simon Webbe's Coming Around Again on Channel V.

Had never heard it before but it's got such an accessible pop feel to it that I stopped to listen... and instantly fell in love with the lyrics.

Found the music video on YouTube.



Will try to buy the album this weekend.

The Machine is Us/ing Us

Found this little gem of a video via Evhead.

It blew me away. Will blow you away too.