The New Google Personalized Homepage

Google has added another feature to the Google Personalized Homepage. Now, you can choose a dynamic theme for your personalized homepage which changes according to information about your local area. The themes feature a dynamic graphic for the top portion of the page (which changes quite often, and in subtle ways for some themes), the Google logo becoming "iGoogle", and different colors for the boxes around your various customizations on the lower part of the page. Here are the theme choices:

• Classic - The default look that was previously the only choice. No top graphic or box changes.
  
  
• Beach - A view of a beach, over-looking the water. Box are changed to light purple.
  "This theme will dynamically change to match your time of day, including local sunrise and sunset times."
  
  
• Bus Stop - A bus stop by a field with 6 people and a dog waiting. Boxes are tan colored.
  "This theme will dynamically change to match your local weather conditions."
  
  
• City Scape - An artistic city landscape. Boxes are a light blue.
  "This theme will dynamically change to match your time of day, including local sunrise and sunset times."
  
  
• Sweet Dreams - A nice view of the sky. Box are changed to blue.
  "This theme will dynamically change to match your time of day, including local sunrise and sunset times."
  
  
• Tea House - A building by a pond, with a fox and other animals. Boxes are light green.
  "This theme will dynamically change to match your time of day, including local sunrise and sunset times."
  
  
• Seasonal Scape - A country landscape, with a frog and lady bug. Boxes are changed to green.
  "This theme will dynamically change to match your time of day, including local sunrise and sunset times."
  

To add one of the new themes to your Google page, you first have to be signed in with your Google Account, and have your Google page set as "Personalized Home". From there, you will see a link called "Select theme" beside the "Add stuff" link. Clicking "Select theme" opens a new box on the page where you can select from the new themes, which will load for you to preview once clicked. After you are satisfied with your new theme choice, click the "Save" button and another box will appear on the page explaining how the theme dynamically changes, and allows you to change your local area. Click the "OK" button when you are done, and that's it. You now have a new, colorful, and dynamic homepage!

To Post Or Not To Post.......

That is the question. Blogging starts out with such great excitement. You set everything up, get it looking just the way you like, and begin posting away. At first the subjects flow through you like a seemingly endless stream. You post your thoughts, ideas, stories, and any little tidbit of information you care to share with whomever happens across your little piece of the global community. Then, you inevitably reach a point where you say to yourself, "What do I talk about now?" Some reach this point more quickly than others, with a rare few who never even imagine that such a point even exists. But, for the most part, many bloggers will eventually lose interest and gradually give up posting anything at all.
I thought I had reached "the end", and practically abandoned this blog. Until this morning I haven't posted here in over 6 months. I guess I was hoping some brilliant wordplay would pop into my head, making me scamper for my computer in hopes of typing it all up before it faded. I kept putting off the "chore" of writing thinking that, "Tomorrow I will write something better than I would've today." Sadly, the next day didn't bring anything more, so I passed it off for the next day. Then the next day. Then the day after that. I kept letting it go, until I nearly forgotten about it all together.
Then I realized why I started writing in the first place while drinking a cup of tea. "I want to have something to share, and to remember. If I don't want to share/remember everything, that's perfectly fine. But I have to record something for it to be recalled later." If you find yourself grasping at straws trying to come up with a great post to share, why not write about that? At least it's something, rather than nothing at all.

The Time Fountain

Here's a kind of holographic projection that uses UV LEDs to floresce drops as they fall. The result is an interactive drop of liquid that can be time-shifted. The fall of the drop can be slowed, stopped, and even reversed.

Touch Interface

Are you tired of your mouse and keyboard? It's about time we improve the way we interact with computer applications. Here's a developing technology that hopes to turn "point-and-click" into "touch-and-drag". Using only your fingers and a touch-sensitive pad, you can manipulate many kinds of objects on a screen.

Sony Mylo

Check out Sony's new WiFi device, Mylo!

Global Consciousness

Have you ever wondered to yourself, "What in the world are people thinking?" or "What can we all come up with if we put our heads together?" Well, now you can find out any time by plugging into the stream of thoughts that is Global Consciousness.



Global Consciousness is an idea based on the Glogal Consciousness Project (EGG) spearheaded by Princeton and a multidisciplinary collaboration of scientists, engineers, artists, and others. The idea is to reflect the presence and activity of consciousness in the world. While the EGG project strives to determine the effects of consciousness on the world around us through the analysis of sets of randomly generated data, Global Consciousness is simply a mode of communication that brings together thoughts from people around the world.

What are the different types of message that people will write? Will the collective stay intelligent if not weird? Where will the messages come from? Mind, body or spirit? Can we promote thought? These are some of the questions brought up by The Global Consciousness Experiment.

Advertising Technology

Advertising, using modern technology, is starting to reach us in all our environments. You might start to see ads in places you least expect.