David R Storms.com

My how the apple has fallen! If you are anything like me, you use Google’s search engine a lot. I rely on it heavily and it is the first site I turn to when searching because I trust the results and I can somehow find what I want almost every time. Being that I use the site every day, it is set as my default home page so I get to see the new graphic as they come out.

Today they were celebrating Sir Isaac Newton’s birthday. That’s great. And for the first time that I can recall, the logo is a bit animated in that a small apple falls from the logo.

When I saw this I had to laugh. I can’t help but think that this is some kind of inside joke about Google dropping Apple due to the recent turmoil each of them have been in. There must be a bit of bad blood between the two what with the Google Voice app denied from the iPhone AppStore, plus Google competing in the smart phone OS space.

You could also read this not only as Google dropping Apple, but maybe pointing out how far Apple has fallen from the proverbial tree. Perhaps saying something about recent animosity regarding the AppStore approval process.

Something to think about, either way it’s very very clever, even if it wasn’t meant to be!

Too Cool

Can anyone explain to me why 3D seems to be the only technology that dies and keeps coming back? It’s popular, then it’s not. It kind of reminds of winter: at first when you know its coming a lot of people are excited about the possibilities.  A lot of people get ready for it, making financial commitments (like snow tires!) and when the glorious day arrives, it’s just a bitter cold day that you only stay outside for a hour or two before going somewhere warm again. Soon you realize that the snow is not going to stop and be a constant annoyance for several months before you a free of it. Then, just when you thought it was gone, it comes back again.

That’s kind of how I feel about this technology. I remember when I was little seeing Michael Jackson’s Captain Eo at the Epcot Center in Disneyland. I also remember a little over a decade ago TV executives got the idea that they should turn all their prime time shows into 3D. I remember Home Improvement and 3rd Rock from the Sun joining in on this bandwagon. And you know what? It flopped because I don’t know about you, but I don’t carry around a 3D glasses nor it is common place in my home.

Watching those shows was a lame as the concept, with the actual scripts having scenes meant to purposely take “advantage” of the experience, such as lots of things and actions that were out of place jabbing at the screen. It ruined TV I think and thankfully went away quickly.

Now you are hearing the rumblings again. 3D movies still aren’t that popular, but it seems like its coming back to gaming. With Sony flirting with updates to the PS3 to enable 3D gaming we can only hope it is not a travesty like the wonderfully pitiful products that was Nintendo’s VirutalBoy.

In hilarity, I saw that recently that the huge screen that the Dallas Cowboys played on tried to broadcast in 3D and it was a miserable failure and was discontinued in about 7 minutes after they realized nearly no one had 3D glasses and the blurry pictures were causing a lot of nausea.

I will keep an eye on this, but I think this technology needs to go, or be reinvented somehow. I am interested in what Sony does, and may even pick up the glasses to try it out and see what it’s like. But I think the real path will be to create more immersive environments, like 360 screens, etc, but that may not solve the nausea problem!

Let me know what you think!

I came across this link to SeeNow.com. This site is incredibly fun to play with and a cool way to figure out costume ideas if you are stuck this Halloween. What they have done is created a tool that let’s you upload a photo of yourself (black and white worked great for me) to their server. They then ask you to help them position the eyes on your photo, and then that’s it! You first pick from a wide variety of photos that they will plop your face onto. They take care of of the positioning (although you can adjust it), size and colouring. I found it worked remarkably well.

The cool part is, that your uploaded photo can stay with your session, so you can easily browse other sample with your real photo in it to quickly see all the possibilities. I took this photo for my tests and used it to generate some pretty funny pics!

I think black & white is a good pic to start with

I started with this one.

And generated these, enjoy!

Always wondered what I would look like with long hair

I know Kung-Fu!

We need another Men In Black movie don't you think?

And a new Scary Movie 9 million or whatever they are at now

Bickaty Bam!

Let's re-do Spider-Man 3...what do you think?

While we are at it, let's re-do Superman Returns too

What movie is this from? Platoon?

Sexy-time!

Just let me know when you want me to fill in Tony!

Here is a short list of some YouTube clips featuring some of the best Simpsons Halloween episodes. They don’t make them like these anymore.

Lot’s of fun with Stephen King’s The Shinning. There was all sorts of gags in this one, this bit being one of the funniest.

Another great is when the town of Springfield is overrun by zombies. Shortly after this scene when Homer doesn’t offer up any brains, he shoots zombie Flanders with a shotgun, and then says “Flanders was a zombie?”. Classic.

Mr. Burns is featured in this play on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Homer tries to end the madness by driving the steak through…. his crotch.

Homer gets a job as a grave digger and is taken away by Smithers and Mr. Burns to have his brain harvested and put into a robot. I wish I could find the clip, but Mr. Burns dancing with Homer’s brain on his head proclaiming he is Davey Crocket makes me laugh every time.

These are just a few of the many clips out there. Know a few that are your favourite? Link them in the comments!