I have often thought of the interaction of the second screen applications being one way. I ran into this video from never.no integrating content for the second screen and at the same time pushing content to the broadcast a truly awesome experience.

Here is a early example of Never.no and Vizrt’s collaboration was last year’s Tour de France companion app for Norway’s TV2. This demo is worth watching, even just for the synchronization features where the director highlighted a particular rider on screen, then rider’s bio popped up on the companion app.

Comment extensions are a popular feature to add to Joomla websites, they are a lot of choices, all with slightly different features.

Have you ever been to one of those sites where all the comments are filled with spam? It's like a really messy house, it shows me that the owners don't take pride in their website and they'll lose credibility.

Another problem I'll see alot is the flamefest. Back and forth, commenters, and sometimes the author, will spiral a discussion into name calling and rudeness. This is usually a sign of a lack of an obvious comment policy and active moderation. Always make sure your policy is clear and you hold comments to it.

The flip side of online diatribes is another problem... the tumbleweed blog. Most often seen on blogs embedded in company websites. None of the blog posts have any comments, and no-one seems to be interested in what you have to say. Not a good indicator of your products or services.

Did you start out strong and then stop posting? This is a sure-fire way to get your visitors to stop coming back. If you went to all that effort to get them coming to your site with your useful information/opinions, don't drop the ball and make them leave.

In the same way, when you are considering comments for your blog, you need to make sure you answer some more important questions before you lose sight of the big picture and get caught up in what comment extension you'll be using.

1. Why do you want comments?
What are the goals of your website. Have you you nailed those goals, and would visitor comments actually help them?

2. Will your blog be interesting enough for people to comment on?
Make sure you have 6-12 riveting posts ready to roll before you even create that menu item to a blog. Look at what others in your industry are talking about, and see if you can add to that discussion. Its also worth developing a specific strategy to try and get those all important first comments - "maybe people will comment" is not a plan!

3. Will you have time to keep your blog clean?
Writing the content is only half the story. Make sure you have a plan in place to maintain your blog. Spam needs to be removed, spammers banned and comments moderated. Make sure you clearly show your post policy. "Don't write anything your mum wouldn't like" is my favorite!

4. Do you know how to spread the word?
Your blog isn't Kevin Costner's Field of Dreams. If you build it they won't come. You need to actively promote your blog and individual posts. You should have already figured out what community your posts will be read by. Go into that community and tell them about what super duper interesting stuff you have to read.

Got all these 4 things sorted out? OK, NOW go out a pick which comment extension you'll use on your website.

Me? I like Disqus. Its an online service and needs a plugin to work on Joomla from Joomlaworks. Its got strong hooks to Twitter and Facebook (see point 4 above) and has a nice slick interface.

The Developer tab is not on by default when you start Visio 2010, but there is a wealth of functionality here that is critical if you want to create your own shapes and solutions for Visio. To see the Developer tab you have to “Run in developer mode”. To do this:

1. Click the Office button in the upper left portion of the screen

2. Choose Visio Options

3. Choose Advanced

4. Scroll down to the bottom to see the “General” section and select “Run in developer mode”

The Developer tab provides access to the following features:

Code group

· Visual Basic

· Macros

· Record Macro

· Pause Recording

· Macro Security

Controls

· Insert Controls

· Design Mode

· Properties

· View Code

Shape Design

· Show ShapeSheet

o Shape

o Page

o Document (you don’t have to go through the Drawing Explorer anymore!)

· Drawing Tools

o Rectangle

o Ellipse

o Line

o Freeform

o Arc

o Pencil

· Operations

o Union

o Combine

o Fragment

o Intersect

o Subtract

o Join

o Trim

o Offset

o Update Alignment Box

· Group (also available on the Home tab)

o Group

o Ungroup

o Add to Group

o Remove from Group

· Shape Name (shows the old Format Special dialog)

· Behavior (shows the old Format Behavior dialog)

· Protection (shows the old Format Protection dialog)

Stencil group

· New Stencil (US units)

· New Stencil (Metric)

Show/Hide group

· Document Stencil

· Drawing Explorer

· Master Explorer

Interesting report from New Scientist: Researcher from Microsoft and UC Berkeley are developing a touch computing system that can digitize physical objects placed on its surface and, more impressively, do the reverse, project digital objects on to physical ones. It is similar to Microsoft Surface but with visual recognition of and interaction with physical objects.

Andy Wilson and colleagues at Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington, teamed up with Björn Hartmann at the University of California, Berkeley, to design Pictionaire, a touchscreen table 1.8 metres long. The device is positioned directly beneath a ceiling-mounted camera and projector, which can “read” and respond to items placed on the table.

For example, if you put a sketchbook face up on the surface, the overhead camera will recognize it, allowing the computer to follow its position and project a digital copy of the sketch if you “drag” it away from one of the sketchbook’s corners. More impressively, you can take that digital sketch and drag it on to a different, physical sketchbook, allowing a user to easily trace and copy it to paper.

Arguably, it’s a lot easier to just do all the sketching on screen, but Andy Wilson of Microsoft makes this point:

“Contrast this with a tablet PC,” says Wilson. “I don’t care how well made it is – it won’t replicate the true feeling of pencil on paper. And designers are very particular about the type of paper they use, the style of pens.”

True enough. I personally prefer the feel of pen on screen, which cannot be replicated by pencil on paper. In fact, as my handwriting samples show, I’m much better on screen than on paper, so I’m sure the reverse is true of many people. This is a big step forward to making the two seamlessly come together.

Every walk around a art sale and wish they took credit card? Or how about be at the fair selling you goods and want to take credit cards? Now you can. Check out this video and realize the power in your phone.

The ultra-lightweight mosquito helicopter concept has been designed for army to commute through difficult terrains like canyons, forests and even caves. This flying object is empowered with four GEMINI technology based powerful electric motor and contains carbon nanotube super-capacitors that provides the energy to run the motors. When the pilot triggers the helicopter, the integrated computer controls the stability and levitation of the helicopter and to rotate it left, right, backward, forward, up and down, the driver has to lever his both hands to shift the helicopter in the preferred direction. However, the concept is not able to generate a high speed, but its silent operation and excellent steering capability can make it a very functional. In case of any danger, the computer will activate the emergency landing program automatically.

These concept laptops by Asus have been designed with lots of innovative features to dominate the headlines over the near future era. These next generation gadgets can attain the attention of all range of users with their unique shape and functional qualities. The Waveface watchphone with its bendable feature can stick on the wrist of the users to offer convenient access to their important documents. The Waveface Light is another innovative laptop concept with flexible display that can be flattened to use it a tablet on the desk or as a usual laptop. Finally, the Waveface Casa is a complete home entertainment system that can be hooked up on the wall to watch movies with great comfort.

Fat Tag, Meet Projector from Theo Watson on Vimeo.

Just saw this and was totally blown away..

we have done allot of this kind of work with syynlabs.com. But nothing with a iphone.

A custom version of Fat Tag Deluxe – Katsu Edition hacked for projection bombing goodness!

Grab the original app here.

N Building from Alexander Reeder on Vimeo.

Here is a interesting video of how architecture might communicate more in the future using augmented reality.  The project is a collaboration between Qosmo and Teradadesign.  I think this is only a small tip of the ice berg of what is to come for architecture especially once we start looking at gestural interfaces, digital paper, wearable computing, and of course mobile.  Read more on DesignBoom (via Ariel van Spronsen )

A new version of Windows Live for Windows Phone has been released:

New Year, New Version . . .

We have  released a new version of Windows Live for Windows Phone, working in Standard or Professional phones.

Now  you can stay connected to those that matter most with Windows Live™ for Windows® phone. Windows Live Messenger, Hotmail®, Photos and the “What’s New” feed are now all available on your 6.x Windows® phone. Windows Live™ for Windows® phone (Pro) is for use with a touch phone.

Alternatively you can browse to http://wl.windowsmobile.com using Internet Explorer on your device to install using direct download.

Version: 10.7.0061.0500

Windows Live for Windows® phone (Pro)
Windows Live for Windows® phone (Std)

We don’t know if there is anything new in this version or if it’s just bug fixes. If you know, please post it in the comments below.

Google has just added a useful button to its  mobile homepage – tagged “near me now”, this feature lets you search by using your location as the query.  Currently available for iPhone and Android phone users in the U.S., “Near me now” utilizes GPS for determining your whereabouts and then searches for results near your location.

The new Google mobile homepage feature lets you easily search for popular categories of nearby places. Just by clicking or tapping on the “Near me now” link right on the Google mobile homepage, you will find categories of places. And if you want more you can just select the “browse more categories” link.

You can also explore the whereabouts of specific locations including reviews or rants of other people about a specific restaurants and their menus and services.

To use this feature, make sure that the location feature of your iPhone, Nexus One or other Android phones is activated. Then visit google.com your phone’s browser and you can easily spot the “Near me now” tab.

The Google Model Your Town Competition is running full-steam ahead with over 400 pins in the world map representing teams from six continents. From places like Cauquenes, Chile to Cape Town, South Africa to Suva City, Fiji to Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh, India to Aberdeen, Scotland to Tallin, Estonia and Burlington, Iowa people have taken on the challenge of representing their communities.

Folks in Iowa, Colorado, and British Columbia are motivating community members by building their own websites, garnering local press, tweeting, and soliciting help in online forums. Some are offering training on how to model to anyone interested. Iowa is asking middle and high school educators to form and advise teams of students.

There are still many people looking for team members. Visit the official group to meet folks in your area, or to post your own questions, ideas, or comments about the competition. The deadline for entering is March 1st of this year. Start the entry process by adding a pin to the map on our Get Started page and follow us on Twitter @modelyourtown.

Posted by Allyson McDuffie, Model Your Town Competition Team

I accidently deleated the default home page in the main menu and it took me more then a hour hunting around to for how to fix  it.

So for search engine love.

To set the default landing in Joomla or to set home page in joomla.

1) login to administrator section ursite.com/administrator/

2) hoover of menu click on menu manger

3) Select main menu or what ever your main navigation is

4) select check box of the page of the navigation

5) click the star default button

wha lah that is the way you set the default page.

Update  

From My friend Mark Raborn

Geoffrey, you can also use secondary (non main menus) to place your "Default" home page and hide your main site navigation completely until a user ventures in. Completely hiding navigation is an option as long as the menu you chose to attach the Home Page to is active and the Article or Component set as "Default" is published. This technique is used sometimes to create a landing page free of typical NAV. :) 

Stargate Studios Virtual Backlot Demo from Stargate Studios on Vimeo.

Hold on tight and get ready for an incredible experience! Stargate Studios, a high tech production company, takes us on a crazy ride with their Virtual Backlot demo reel. Their Virtual Backlot gives filmmakers unparalleled access to any location through a variety of techniques that range from totally immersive sequences shot entirely on green screen to simple set extensions that marry with photography. Using their Virtual Backlot Library, they blend together hundreds of photo-real, virtual locations covering 28 major cities from around the world.
Watch some of your favorite tv shows, like 24, Heroes or Grey's Anatomy, get pieced together before your very own eyes!

I often wondered what the fate of magazines would ultimately be, espeically given the access we have to digital information today.  The folks at Bonnier R&D and BERG have created a prototype of what the magazine of the future might look like.  They focused on usage with a digital portable touch screen display which is generally the direction we see most media and content gravitating towards (ebook readers, iphones, tablet systems, etc).  The video is well done and clearly a lot of thought was put into creating the prototype you see here.