Hello Ladies!!!

I have started keeping bees this week. If you are interested in the journey you can follow the blog here http://millerbees.blogspot.com/.

Great Job Apple: AirPort Express

Apple recently delivered a new version of it's wireless adapter AirPort Express. This is a small device that plugs into a power outlet, and connect to a printer and audio speakers. This allows the printer to be used by any computer in the house without requiring an network wire running to it. It also allows any iTunes player to play through those speakers.

The printer is now located near next to the kitchen and a clock/radio audio input is plugged into the audio output of the AirPort Express. Now from a laptop iTunes player I choose to play through the kitchen speakers and it does.

I have another AirPort Express on order for the Theater room and may place one in the bedroom too. One nice feature is that I can select "multiple rooms" and have the audio playing through many rooms at once. This was super easy to use and setup only required plugging into the audio wire.

Bravo Apple, goodonya.

My wish list:

1. Same thing for video: remote display, so I can walk into a room and place video on a screen.
2. Allow me to play to the AirPort from my iPhone

Vacation Roadtrip

Tomorrow Rhonda, Tori and I begin a road to the Bay Area. We are staying in San Jose, and will visit Cupertino, Berkeley, Monterey, and San Francisco. Probably have beers with some peers at Lab126, and lunch with a Larry at the Googleplex.

Larry ran the company that Rhonda and I worked at when we built schedule and control software for ATM/SONET gear and video conference muxes. I gotta say at much fun as it was to control such large pieces of hardware, I kinda like making software for devices like the Kindle.

I do look forward to seeing Larry again, it's been 14 years I think. Tori does not remember too much from back then, being at the office and playing video games. Come to think of it I miss working daily with Rhonda too.

I look forward to meeting the fine folks at Lab126. Now if I could just find a way to join in on a yoga session at Apple's One Infinite Loop campus. (Hint hint, Steve in case you are reading this ;-)

MyLife 3.0 - Scene 4

I must say that when I read The Long Tail by Chris Anderson I was excited by the notion that there could be so much diversity in products and demand. The concept is that when merchandising moves away from the limits of store shelves to the infinite shelf-space of the internet and searching, an infinite number of product variations can exist and be sold.

This exercise of selling media from our bookshelves has been quite the validation of that. Each day, Tori receives orders for between 2 and 4 books. I am also excited to note that our books have condensed to the shelves in just one room. I estimate that we not have about 60 linear feet of books on shelves.

I am most curious to see if the pace continues until all the books are gone, or if it tapers off. And if it does taper, which books will remain?

Cooking by Kindlelight

I spent 5 days in Whistler Canada sharing a house with some friends. After skiing hard all day Saturday, I returned exhausted. After medicating my very sore muscles with some excellent Belgian beer Laura bought, I opened my Kindle to use the cookbook I bought. The recipes I had already bookmarked. The menu was avocado soup and lemon Dijon sole from "The Simpler the Better." I found cooking with the convenient and easy. I also liked being able to search on an ingredient and locating all the recipes that used that ingredient.

In the picture to the right I am holding the beer and the Kindle. In the background is Laura doing perhaps a Vulcan mind-meld to Mark. Laura was my ski buddy for the day, and I must say was very gracious in not laughing at me as I must have looked quite silly learning to ski backwards. (And since I have been asked, this means facing uphill while skiing downhill. Though if someone has a way to try skiing uphill, I am all ears!) (Photo taken by Geoff)

MyLife 3.0 - Scene 3

My daughter Tori (Victoria) is 16 and at a really interesting time of growth. I am using my need to get rid of books and videos as an opportunity to spark an entrepreneurial spirit in her. I showed her how to register as a seller on Amazon.com and list books. I have also been picking books, videos, and games out that I'd like to sell. The deal is that she lists the media for sale, receives the orders, takes them to the post office, and she keeps the money.

The first day she has listed 20 items and sold 5 and made $20 profit. Not a bad arrangement for either of us. Each day I spend a couple minutes picking out books I can part with. We are making good progress.

Power of Spoken Word

Not all audio books are the same. I am not speaking just about the literal content of the words, but also the richness of the delivery. I have listened to dozens of audio books and find a range in quality of presentation that is not yet documented in reviews.

Written text offer a few ways to emphasis content. Question and exclamation marks are most obvious; and bold, italic, and underline text convey certain emphasis. Spoken language offer a much greater range of expression. In linguistics, prosody if the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech.

When books are translated into audio, a narrator is chosen. When one of the authors is a great speaker and enthusiastic, the delivery of the content can be unlike any written text. At other times, another narrator is used and the delivery is still engaged and alive with inflection and energy.

Sometimes either the narrator is less skilled and the delivery is dry and monotone. Occasionally the narrator has a strong accent that can cause fatigue to the listen during the 4 to 12 hour reading.

I hope we will soon have a way to rank this aspect of audio books.