iRobot

Hey everyone,

So I watched Wall-E like a couple of weeks ago and, to my surprise, it was much more than just another cute CGI movie that make you feel good at the end and say "awww". Wall-E, compared to Toy Story or Kung Fu Panda, makes a good statement on modern society. It addresses many of our environmental concerns today and even the question of artificial intelligence. Moreover, it addresses the fact that many Americans are suffering from obesity and inactivity. Well, I don't want to give too much away, so all I will say is that, no matter your age, if you keep an open mind, you will definately enjoy Pixar's newest animated feature, and maybe even learn something from it.

Who knows, Wall-E might be closer to real life than you think.

Happy Independence Day

Hi everyone,

I still remember when the movie "Independence Day" starring Will Smith came out around the time when I was still in middle school. I remember seeing that movie and thinking about what it meant to live in an independent country. Does it mean being the strongest country in the world and having the ability to fight off an alien invasion? Does it mean capitalism and free market trumps all? Does it mean freedom of speech? What about security? What about equality?

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." That is what independence is all about here in America. We are lucky to be given that freedom. Many people across the world have no idea what independence means or feels like. However, even in America, certain groups of people in society are left behind in the pursuit of independence. Many avenues of society are still left unjust and distribution of freedom is unequal.

For example, why is it that the top 10% of the richest familes in America own about 75-80% of the wealth in America. How did they accumulate that wealth? Was it capitalism?
Benjamin Franklin

One of the fouding fathers of this nation was one of the earliest entrepreneurs of our country. He wrote a book full of aphorisms that we have internalized and come to value in our society. America is one of the hardest working societies in the world. Many of us unconsciously follow Franklin's ideas of "time is money" and "a penny saved is a penny earned."



But, the fact is that this nation has become greedy through those values. Look at the recent subprime bubble and the last internet bubble. Everyone is out to make a quick buck. Meanwhile, the richest people are trying everything to accumulate even more wealth, increasing the wage gap between the richest people and the poorest people in this country.

Independence Day. We should all think about our own pursuits of happiness and make sure that those do not take away from others' ability for the same opportunities.
Instead of looking for the next cash cow, we should think about whether the product or service we are offering provides a value to the whole of society. Business is not just all about making money. It's about doing what you love, because here in America you have that freedom.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 ... The Machine Is Us/ing Us - The best free videos are right here


I found this video a while ago that speaks to the ongoing Web 2.0 craze. You might think you know all that the internet has to offer; however, in past months, I've been "actively surfing" the internet. What do I mean by "actively surfing"? I mean that I have been going out of my way to search for new websites that offer non-traditional or unique services.

In the past, I was constricted to familiar websites: sites such as WSJ.com, Facebook, ign.com, Google, Amazon and Wikipedia. However, as I dug deeper into the entangled webs of the internet, I came across more non-traditional sites such as del.icio.us, Flux, and Twitter.

The days where a website offered one kind of service is gone. That was the Web 1.0 phase. Nowadays, the real tech-savvy are looking for websites that incorporate "social networking" into everything they do, whether it's social bookmarking, social photo-sharing (Flickr comes to mind), or all the different kinds of networks that exist out there that market themselves to a certain niche.

The internet has become more complex than people think. There are so many resources out there, so many websites that cater to specific needs, and so many wells of information that it is staggering and challenging to keep up with it all. So many people are trying to use new codes and programs that are making the web more dynamic and useful. So many websites out there are challenging our practices of use online. They are challenging the way we think about the internet and what it has to offer. That is Web 2.0.

I challenge you to step away from your Bookmarks and actually spend some time on Google or Yahoo! and try to search for some websites that might interest you. Start and do some "Active surfing," and actually pay attention to some of the new sites that you may come across. You will be pleasantly surprised on all the information that appears in your browser and start to wonder which technically impaired rock you've been living under. Trust me!

Some websites to check out:
http://twitter.com/
www.like.com
http://del.icio.us/
http://technorati.com/
http://izearanks.com/

Leave a comment with either your views or interesting sites you may have come across!

-Jack the little Giant