Amar's Blog

A new blogger template designer

2010-03-16T23:16:00.002-04:00

Want to create your own blogger template without coding any html? Blogger.com recently made available a useful template designer on its draft.blogger.com site, announced on blogger.com's blog on March 13, 2010. The template designer allows you to choose from a new set of templates not offered on the regular blogger.com site.

Additionally, you can make dramatic changes to the colors, styles, layouts, and background pictures of these offered templates, through a easy to use website. This is great for bloggers who don't want to fuss with editing the html of their template by hand.

This Blog's Changes

I made several changes to the look and feel of my blog, using an orange colored theme. then I added a background image from the many offered in the template designer. I also changed the font of the title of my blog to 'Georgia.'

Video of Blogger Draft Template Designer

I screen captured a one minute video demonstrating the template designer's features you can use to change to your blog's looks:

Tips
Template designer only recently launched. Here are a few tips:

It's fun to preview your blog with different layouts, colors, and photos

The template designer makes it easy to add a background photo to your blog

Any of your custom template widget hand made via your own hacking will be overwritten

Any meta tags you have added to your section in your template need to be added manually

If you have any custom css, you can add it via the template designer.

Since it's pretty quick and simple with the template designer to change the fonts or pick on of the new templates designed for you, it makes changing the look of your blog quick and fun.

Note, you have to use the draft.blogger.com site to access the template designer.

On the Kansas Bandwagon

2010-03-16T15:49:00.000-04:00

Allright, got through my NCAA tournament picks for March Madness 2010. The Ohio State Buckeyes won the Big 10 tournament this year, earning a number two seed in their region.

I have Kansas going all the way, largely based on my lack of knowledge about college basketball, and the overwhelming ranking of Kansas by other bracket makers and the media.

Here is my 2010 bracket, embedded below in a flash player(bracket url):

Cincinnati Auto Expo, and California

2010-03-14T15:04:00.000-04:00

The Cincinnati Auto Expo arrived this past February to the Cincinnati Convention Center, bringing with it many 2011 models of cars from major car manufacturers around the world. A few brief observations about the green labels on cars now and how salespeople are talking about them:

The state of California now requires "environmental performance" labels, so all car stickers come with a "smog score" and a "global warming score" that describe the cars environmental friendliness.

Honda Accord 2011 Sticker

Lots of emphasis are cars that are economical with great miles per gallon. Hybrids like the Honda Insight with 40 mpg were displayed.

Honda Insight 2011

Plenty of cars featured had low scores, like the Maserati or Land Rover, and they had decent foot traffic around them at the expo.

California's Environmental Performance Scores

It struck me that California regulation is impacted how cars are sold in Ohio. I feel like a benefit from the scores on the label
The Global Warming score measures emissions. A car with lower emissions is considered to be more expensive and have a higher carbon footprint
The Smog Score measures the level of pollution. Cars with a higher score are cleaner.

Explanation of California's Environment Performance Label

Selling a low global warming score

The conversation I had with the Land Rover salesperson gave me some insight into how car companies are selling cars with low scores. He mentioned that Land Rovers tend to be on the road for thirty years plus - something very unique to Land Rover cars. The company builds them to be durable and to be taken off the road - onto deserts, into forests, etc. Land Rover owners buy the cars for their longevity and capabilities.

So it is possible to sell a car with a low score, for example the Land Rover has a global warming score of one, there just has to be something very compelling about the car.

A luxury Maserati had a Global Warming Score of 1 out of 10

Why is the Sprint Overdrive cool?

2010-03-14T11:15:00.005-04:00

Sprint newly offers a Wi-Fi hub that taps into their high speed 4G network, currently available in select metropolitan areas in the United States. Want to get rid of the home broadband connection in favor of a high speed mobile connection that you can take with you? The Sprint Overdrive allows you to connect wireless devices, such as your laptop, to the internet through Sprint 4G wireless network.

Cool for competition

This is a very cool product, to me. While wired broadband companies have been making investments that will allow them to offer high speed broadband access to customers, it still is expensive for a company like Time Warner to upgrade the network and wired connections to homes as they innovate and increase the bandwidth of connectivity. Mobile phone companies provide competition to these cable companies and can offer the latest high speed internet to people that cable companies may have missed or not gotten to yet. I am excited at the product and the competition it offers cable based internet companies.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recognizes the challenges in offering high speed internet access to all Americans. Today, there is still a large number of Americans, about 1/3, who do not have access to high speed internet access, can't afford it, or simply don't want it. To move everyone forward together, affordable high speed internet access has to be available to everyone.

The FCC is thinking about a future where we don't need three networks for media and communication: television, land line phone, and internet. The benefits of one robust, highly available high speed network in cost, simplicity to consumers, and better use of resources are compelling, though it may take 30-40 years to decommission the current television and land line phone networks in favor of one. So advancements in mobile internet technology bring this vision of one powerful communication network closer to us.

Cool for features

The benefits to a high speed mobile broadband hub, like the ability to drive around a city with high speed access or work from a coffee shop or clients office, is offered by Sprint at the price of $99 for the purchase of the base station and monthly $59.99 fee for access. Sprint has a fun website that highlights the Overdrive product at now.sprint.com.

The Overdrive currently offers 802.11g wifi. An iPod Touch, for example, can take advantage of the speeds offered by 802.11g. How fast is Sprint 4G with Overdrive? One website, android and me, drove around Austin, TX with the Overdrive product measuring the upload and download rates with the product from a laptop. They found speeds in the download rates, based on location within the city, of 3.2MB-5.3MB and upload rates between .40MB-.86MB. So overall better than 3G and also varying by the location within a city.

Want to know if Sprint offers 4G access in your area? Sprint has a coverage tool that can tell you if you live in an area covered by one of their networks at coverage.sprintpcs.com. The new 4G networks, based on an advanced cellular network technology High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), will be available to 120M people by the end of 2010 by Sprint. Other companies like T-Mobile are planning 4G rollouts, too, in 2010.

Go To The Arnold

2010-03-07T10:29:00.005-05:00

OhYeah! Nutrition at the Arnold

As a citizen of Columbus, it was a real treat to have the Arnold Classic in our backyard this weekend at the Columbus Convention Center. The festival showcases cutting edge body building supplements, equipment, and celebrities in the industry.

I took some photos and came away with some thoughts about sports product marketing and the people in the industry.

As a marketing and innovation focused business school student, it was a real treat to see how the products were advertised and promoted, the images used, the approach of the salespeople, and the overall atmosphere.

Body Building as a sub-culture

It very much felt like stepping into a sub-culture. The concept of beauty, strength, masculinity, and femininity were different than I think generally so in the United States. For example, there was a women's body building contest featuring females with images that would unlikely see on a national advertising campaign for a cosmetic product as an ideal concept of beauty, but were a consideration of perfection at the convention:

It was pretty awesome, however, to see people who dedicate themselves to fitness and push the extremes of human ability. It the very same sense that Olympians hone their skills at a sport, though dedication, practice, and focus, many of the athletes who were present exhibit the same sense of exceptional physical accomplishment.

The social norms around strength and beauty were incredibly different, in my mind, from the general population. The festival goers, by en large, were all also fitness oriented, with the mostly male audience generally in good physical shape. Not to say that there were no women attendees. There were a few present. By en large, though, the convention goers were men, with many trailing spouses or significant others.

Not Just Body Builders

Surprisingly, there were more than just adult athletes at the festival. There were also many young girl gymnasts attending, many competing in within teams for prizes. There was also a dance contest too, reminiscent of rhythm gymnastics at the Olympics.

Go visit this place

I highly recommend attending a convention like this. The atmosphere is very energizing and people are very talkative. A great and memorable experience. I didn't get to see Arnold himself for the events I attended that day, but I actually believe he is doing something good here by organizing a festival and creating a forum for fitness.

Map of Downtown Columbus

Facebook Friends import to your Address Book

2010-03-05T09:55:00.001-05:00

Facebook now allows you to import your friends contact list into your Apple Address Book. Kind of.

Yahoo recently announced on their blog integration with Facebook. Yahoo mail users can now import their Facebook friend list into their Yahoo address book.

How does this help you, an Apple Address Book user? Apple's Address Book allows you to automatically keep in sync your Address Book contacts with your Yahoo Mail or Google Gmail contacts list.

See the connection?

Facebook Friends --> Yahoo Contacts --> Apple Address Book Cards

Step-by-step instructions:

1/ Sign into address.yahoo.com
2/ Select the "Import Now" feature in the popular tools section

3/ Select Facebook and Yahoo will import your Facebook friends list
4/ Configure Apple Address Book to synchronize with Yahoo

And you are done! Apple Address Book will continuously sync with Yahoo, storing them on your computer as vCards. You have to initiate the import yourself between Facebook and Yahoo.

If you get duplicate contacts into your Address Book, use the "Look for Duplicates" feature under the Card menu item in the application to clean those up.

Only information your friends currently provide to you on Facebook will be imported. If you can see it on their profile, Yahoo will import it. Otherwise, if it is private to your friend and they do not share it with you on Facebook, Yahoo will not import it.

For your Facebook friends that provide it, the following may be imported: full name, phone number(s), and email address(es). Finally, your Facebook friends contact list can be imported into your address book!

Days Till Our Graduation

2010-03-04T15:18:00.005-05:00

To help make every day count, I'm keeping a little counter going here:

There is one quarter of classes, a spring break, and a week of final exams for this quarter ahead. While no more Ohio State football ahead of me as a student, there is still much to do before graduation.

As of March 4th, 2010 there are 99 days of school left! Our graduation day is on June 12, 2010 at 9am at The Ohio State University's main campus.

Brazilian Beers

2010-03-03T01:14:00.001-05:00

Popular Brazilian Beers
In addition to learning about food, customs, behavioral norms, in our Brazil class, we also touch on lighter cultural aspects, too, like beverage choices. A mentioning of a few beer brands:

Brahma
Skol

One list from brazil-help.com contained several others, though these two specific brands also came at the recommendation of a guest speaker at school who is educating us on Brazilian culture.

Brazilians drink beer at a modest amount per capita when compared to other countries. Most of the brazilian consumption occurs during the Carnival festival. Elite Brazilians may snub beer for cognac, at times, though beer is no stranger to a Brazilian, at large.

ABInBev, the largest beer product by volume in the world, brews both Brahma and Skol, and are among the top three selling brands.

With few days in the itinerary, a short list is needed among the many choices. After asking friends, researching on ratebeer.com, here are a few additional beers I intend to try:

Of course, other recommendations are highly appreciated!

Commercials

Here are few Bramha commercials from YouTube. One features an animated turtle, the other a superstar soccer player, Ronaldo.

Bramha Turtle Commercial

Bramha Ronaldo Commercial

Brazil on Paris: She demeans Blondes

2010-02-27T14:07:00.001-05:00

Devassa

Paris Hilton had a celebrity run in the United States. So what does a world-wide recognized celebrity do to keep a career going? Go international! Ms. Hilton is now the subject of controversy in Brazil, for her behavior in an ad for the Brazilian beer Devassa. You can watch it here on YouTube:

This ad is causing controversy in Brazil for its overtness. While the nature of the ad, a blond woman pandering to peeping toms and passersby, both men and women, has a familiar plot, what is novel to Brazilian television is the flirty use of the beer can by Hilton.

Uninhibited, yet protected

The quote that shocked me: "It's an ad that devalues women - in particular, blond women" - said a Brazilian government representative. Paris Hilton demeaning blonde women? And the Brazilian government making an issue of it?

Brazil is considered to be a more open and uninhibited country compared to the United States, with its citizens dressing, dancing, and behaving quite differently than Americans at large. The presence of this controversy, however, shifts my thinking a bit on what uninhibited means - television commercials still have to watch the boundaries of sensuality.

Brazilian Female roles changing

Women, it seems, are protected by the government from being too sexy on television, all the while Brazilian men are permitted, culturally speaking, to aggressively pursue them through machismo means.

A study on Brazilian female roles highlights that women are considered to be dependent on men in Brazil, though in media such as Soap Operas, their roles are becoming more about exploration and independence. This ad, I think, reflects that change happening in Soap Operas, further bringing the male/female role reshaping to center stage, through controversy in the news outlets.

Finding a pulse on Brazil

As my trip to Brazil nears, and I read more Brazilian headlines, I wonder what are exactly Brazilians attitudes towards openness. How can a country famous for parties such as carnival but sheepish about a television ad? It's a mystery which I seek to understand better.

NatGeo, know anything better?

2010-02-26T14:38:00.000-05:00

I've been exploring National Geographic and its materials, of late, in preparation for my upcoming visit to Brazil.

Upon purchasing the DVD collection of the magazine's articles since 1888, I gained access to many articles on Brazil, past and present, discussing topics as wide as the indigenous people to the ecological diversity of the nation's rain forests.

Resource from childhood

As I thought more about resources to learn from, I jump to these tried and tested resources such as NatGeo. As a kid, magazines and the library were the best sources of information. Now we have the web and search engines. The best content, however, can still be found in treasure troves like Nat Geo. I challenge readers to suggest a better source, offline or online, to learn about other cultures and worlds, in a manner that is both visual and textual. Can you think of any?

Wikipedia dominates search engines, often high in the rankings, and it takes a lot of search results digging to go beyond the popular, free content. The articles in NatGeo since 1888 are not included in search engine results, so its hard to know what's out there. Search engines help us discover free content very well, but are not so good for finding paid content. And yes, paid content can be incredibly valuable and unique resource.

While I am aware of search engines for paid content, like Google Books, I rarely use it and have yet to adopt the habit of checking both regular search engines and search engines geared towards paid content when I look for information casually. Professionally, even, my inclination is to use Google or Bing's search engine, first.

Free: Photo of the Day

NatGeo, does have some free resources, like a photo of the day, on its website. Today's picture was a photo of colorful Mandarin Ducks:

Pick of the Week - Free Songs!

2010-02-23T09:45:00.004-05:00

Celebrate Black History Month with free music! I got a pleasant surprise at Starbucks this weekend; every week they are giving away a song from an artist, downloadable for free from iTunes, to honor Black History and its musicians.

(Starbucks - Pick of the Week Cards - Image)

The coffee company's "Pick of the Week" song giveaway is smart and cool to me because:

The Artist make money for songs given away for free, paid by Starbucks
The customer gets something for free
I didn't expect the free music, so it was a pleasant delight, as an infrequent customer
Downloading the free the songs off iTunes was easy
In a small way, it allowed me to celebrate Black History Month
Got to hear music from unfamiliar artists that were new to me

Given that the music industry continues to face increases levels of piracy and decreased music cd sales, artist and record labels should do more free giveaways, deriving income from the beneficiary, in this case, Starbucks.

Here are the songs I received:

Angelique Kidjo (myspace)

Cold Sweat

Miles Davis Quintet (website)

Four

Corinne Bailey Rae (website)

I'd Like To Call it Beauty

Kidjo and Rae were artists I had never listened to before. Now, Starbucks has been giving away songs for a while through its Pick of the Week. Simply that, this month, the giveaways are coordinated with Black History Month.

For all the Pick of the Week choices, turn to a fellow on flickr, "heringermr." He has scanned in all the cards and posted a photo album set on flickr. Here is a slideshow of that album:

How the Chinese are Similar, Different

2010-02-21T11:41:00.000-05:00

Here are a few differences and similarities in Chinese and American internet usage.

Chinese Internet usage is about 25.5% vs 74% in USA. The Chinese do use the internet.
In photographs, it is Chinese custom to not smile. They do smile, just not for photographs. Americans will smile for photographs. Otherwise, Americans will perceive your look to be one of a serial killer, if you do not smile!
The emoticons set for Chinese are vastly different that what Americans use. Among close friends, Chinese users will send emoticon that would be offensive to most Americans, regardless of friendship level.
Chinese use:

Baidu (Search Engine)
Taobao (Shopping)
QQ (Instant Message)
Xiaonei (Social Networking)
YouKu (Video Sharing)

Americans use:

Google (Search)
Amazon (Shop)
Yahoo (Instant Message)
Facebook (Social Networking)
YouTube (Video Sharing)

I came across these tidbits at the Digital Media in a Social World conference here at The Ohio State University. One presenter discussed Chinese social media use and behavioral differences with respect to Americans.

There are some similarities, of course, between the two populations of internet users, such as the basic activities conducted. Both search for information online, shop, use instant messaging, social networking, and share videos online.

The presenter wanted to dispel the myth that Chinese people do not use the internet, nor that they are unhappy people simply because they don't smile in photos. In viewing their communication among themselves, you will observe the happy emoticon or laugh emoticon used in conversation! Another point she made: much of the Chinese government regulation does focus on social control, though internet use is permitted. So the Internet is used, just regulated.

The MacBook to Television HDMI Connection

2010-02-20T11:19:00.008-05:00

I recently connected my MacBook to my flatscreen television via HDMI. Here's a rundown on the products I bought and the things I learned in the process.

As a Netflix user and a fan of TV shows that air at times that don't fit my schedule, I've started watching videos on my laptop, which is not so fun and requires too much squinting. So I put together a setup that works better and connected my laptop to my tv. I purchased five items: two required cables, one optional audio cable, and an optional wireless mouse and keyboard to make the viewing experience great.

Apple Mini-DVI to DVI Adapter
Belkin HDMI to DVI Cable
Belkin Mini-Stereo Cable for iPhone
Apple Magic Mouse
Apple Wireless Keyboard

Required

Apple Mini-DVI to DVI Adapter

This adapter allows you to connect standard DVI sized cable to the Mini-DVI port on my MacBook. I purchased the Apple adapter after purchasing a no-name brand adapter, which didn't work for me. When I connected the no name adapter, my MacBook did not automatically recognize that it was connected to my television, as it should have. With the Apple adapter, it did.

Belkin HDMI to DVI Cable

My television has an HDMI female port and the Belkin cable helped connect my Apple Adapter to my television. Presto, after connecting my laptop to my television with this quality cable, everything worked and I was able to see my computer screen on my TV screen!

My MacBook initially treated it as a second monitor, so I could move the mouse back and forth between my laptop screen and the television. That was confusing, so I put it in mirroring mode where the laptop screen showed the same stuff as the television. Under the System Preferences panel "Display," you can turn on mirroring.

Optional
Apple Magic Mouse

Wanting to have the laptop out of sight, I added a wireless mouse to the mix. There are many available for Mac's, I went with Apple's latest, Magic Mouse.

Apple Wireless Keyboard

Along with my wireless mouse I added a wireless keyboard. It's a pretty slick aesthetic to not have the laptop in view, and just the wireless keyboard,mouse, and television. Reminds me of what iMacs look like.

Belkin Mini-Stero Cable for iPhone

Since only video is connected through the Apple adapter and Belkin HDMI cable, I had to connect my laptop to my audio system to give my MacBook's speakers a break. This great cable connected my MacBook to my Bose SoundDock for a better viewing experience.

Shadowbox your blog

2010-02-17T21:21:00.001-05:00

Want to use shadowbox.js and make images and videos "pop in" on your blog? It's possible, look!

(Vincent Van Gough's Wheat Fields with Cypresses)

Moving forward, when you click on photos in my blog to view larger sizes of them, the photo will pop in a box, with the background of my blog shadowed. Click on the Van Gogh photo to see.

Shadowbox

Shadowbox is a tool for websites that makes it easy to make content pop up after a user clicks a link in a little box that stays on the website. Generally, when you click on a link, the user is taken to a different website. You can display images, video, or other even webpages in the little box. Whatever you wish!

The software, a javascript file, was written by ruby progammer Michael J.I. Jackson. The source is available on github.com available at http://github.com/mjijackson/shadowbox/.

Garth Brooks outsold Elvis Presley

2010-02-16T00:01:00.007-05:00

There are two artists that have outsold Elvis: Garth Brooks and The Beatles. Not one who owns any Brooks albums, it came a surprise that he is such a top selling artist.

Top 10 Selling Music Artists

The music industry tracks album sales and awards artists with certificates as album sales reach specific levels. Certificates are given with names of previous resources: Gold, Platinum, Multi-Platinum, and Diamond. Here are the top ten selling artists, ranked by certificate level achievements.

The Beatles, 170
Garth Brooks, 128
Elvis Presley 120
Led Zeppelin 111.5
Eagles 100
Billy Joel 79.5
Pink Floyd 74.5
Barbra Streisand 71.5
AC/DC 71
Elton John, 70

Michael Jackson is 11th.

Gold & Platinum Database

You can look up your favorite artists in a searchable database to see their album sale achievements.

(Music Artist Gold & Platinum Database)

I came across this database and the top ten list as I searched for information on the Sri Lankan artist M.I.A. Her single "Paper Planes" achieved first Gold, then Platinum, then Multi-Platinum.

(M.I.A Gold & Platinum Certificates)

Use Google Buzz with Google Apps Gmail

2010-02-14T16:45:00.000-05:00

Google Buzz can be used with Google Apps Gmail. How? Use the standard version of gmail, where The new Buzz service is currently only offered, and configure it to utilize your Google Apps account. Then, you use the standard version of Gmail at all times, which gives you access to Buzz.

Configuration

You can configure standard Gmail to manage your Google Apps email. Regular gmail and retrieve your email from your Google Apps email inbox very easily. It also can be configured to send email using your Google Apps Gmail account, so that emails are genuinely sent and received from your Google Apps account. Here are some help documents: getting email, sending email.

There is a sacrifice with this approach, of course, which is you won't get the integrated web experience with the other Google Apps that is offered with the Google Apps version of Gmail. Depending on how you use Google Apps, the prescribed approach may or may not be practical.

This approach does, however, get you started with Buzz, a very different way to follow your friends than Facebook.

Buzz?

Google Buzz is a new service, similar to FriendFeed, where you can follow your friends activities across various sites, when given permission. Each Buzz user links their other accounts at Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, and other services. A Buzz user can then follow other Buzz users and see a stream of activity right in Gmail.

It's a novel product, though not fun to use since you must log into the Gmail Gui, which is a bummer, as I generally now use desktop email and calendar programs. I am eager to see which communication tool approach works best for me - the desktop experience or the web experience.

Thus, If you have Google Apps and want to use Google Buzz, here is one feasible approach that you can utilize.

How To Get Aperture 3 in Moments

2010-02-13T22:46:00.000-05:00

Aperture 3, which takes time to buy online and ship, is available now through a 30-day trial download from Apple. Acquire a trial version on the company's Website at http://www.apple.com/aperture by requesting a serial number and a link to download the new version of the photo editing software.

You can then buy the DVD and wait at your leisure for it to arrive while you starting using the software today. Here's the little button to look for on Apple's website:

You'll receive an email like this, immediately:

Thus, I downloaded the free trial version now, get to use it immediately, and will wait for my serial number to come in the mail. This is the quickest way to get Aperture 3, today.

Aperture 3 Upgrade Prices

Apple released a new version of their photo editing software, which I happen to use, this month. The upgrade from Aperture 2 is available today for $99 today at the Apple Store online, which is full price. Other retailers are offering the product at lower prices, though they are not shipping the product to customers as of yet.

Amazon, pricing the upgrade at $94.99 will start shipping on February 17, 2010 with free shipping
MacMall is selling the upgrade at $89.99, plus shipping and is shipping now.
B&H Photo marks it at $89.95, plus shipping, though it will ship in 7-14 days and can't be returned.
AValive prices at $96.99, plus expensive ground shipping of $18.06!
Apple sells at $99, plus shipping

Why make a flavors.me page?

2010-02-12T00:01:00.003-05:00

I came across flavors.me when I viewed my facebook news feed and learned that a friend had created a home page on the site. The people directory website allows its customers to quickly create web pages that look great and have simple content.

My flavor.me page

I viewed the website and created my own home page, http://flavors.me/amar to learn more about the service. Here is a screenshot of the result of 30 seconds of creativity:

(http://flavors.me/amar)

Global Directory

The concept of a simple place to find public home pages for people is powerful. Back in the telnet UNIX days of the internet, you could use the finger program to learn about a person through their email address. With the privacy concerns and lower average level of technology understanding of internet users, tools like finger became less relevant and social media websites like Facebook rose to prominence.

Theses days, company and university people directories are closely guarded and finger is a tool of the past. I do hope that a opt-in global registry does arise, where folks are encouraged to make a presence on the internet for themselves in what ever manner the are comfortable.

Dynamic Home Page

One final impressive aspect of the flavors.me website: dynamic color changing! A video of the flavors.me home page refreshed several times. It changes colors! A cool, unique concept for a website:

(video of flavors.me homepage)

Blog Appeal to Spatial Learners

2010-02-10T15:11:00.016-05:00

I started adding images since blocks of text were not appealing to many of my friends. They preferred it when paragraphs of text were broken up with images.

Blogs, with images?

Curiosity drove me to investigate different learning styles, in particular, spatial learning, that a reader may use when viewing knowledge I present in my blog. I made an effort to include images with all my blog posts to appeal to spatial learners.

Education experts have identified many different learning styles. Which ones do you use, most often? Here's a list quoted from Learning-Styles-Online, a website which helps people understand how they best learn.

Visual (spatial). You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.
Aural (auditory-musical). You prefer using sound and music.
Verbal (linguistic). You prefer using words, both in speech and writing.
Physical (kinesthetic). You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch.
Logical (mathematical). You prefer using logic, reasoning and systems.
Social (interpersonal). You prefer to learn in groups or with other people.
Solitary (intrapersonal). You prefer to work alone and use self-study.

(http://www.learning-styles-online.com/overview/)

Knowing and using different learnings styles can be an advantage for knowledge producers, who can target different learning styles by presenting content differently.

Amar's Blog Images

Blogger.com allows bloggers to upload images and will store the images online for you. Where do they go? Turns out, Google's Picasa Web Photos!

You can look through all my blog's icons, photos, drawings, and screenshots by going to my picasaweb.google.com account. For reference, here is an embedded slideshow of all the photos used by my blog, in sequential order from when I started this blog in 2005.

(Slideshow)

Is your email from Express Personalized?

2010-02-09T07:51:00.001-05:00

Express, a clothing company in the United States found in major cities and upscale malls, sent me a promotional email today highlighting their army fatigue inspired clothing line. The firm's marketing division had sent me the email for men. Here is a screen shot:

The photo heavy email, to my surprise, was personalized to me by gender. A link at the bottom indicated there is a women's version of the email campaign, raising awareness of the gender specific versions of the email.

Women's Version

Express has personalized the campaign based on gender, and out of curiosity, I clicked the link to the women's version. It had commonalities - a similar message detailing the army clothing. The photos were in a different ordering and sizing of the included photos varied. Here's a comparison, a thumbnail of the women's version:

The men's version featured a photo of men wearing clothing as the lead photo. The women's had a fashion photo of two women leading.

Transparency into Personalization

As advertisers become more sensitive to consumers needs on the internet, more personalization makes sense and will become easier and more cost effective. The major concern is privacy and awareness - communicating to the consumer that the ad had been personalized.

The Future of Privacy Organization has proposed a little icon for advertisers to include to convey this in a standard manner. I am curious if Express and other clothing companies will voluntarily adopt this icon.

The "AZ" favicon

2010-02-08T23:00:00.001-05:00

Moved the favicon to a new color scheme with my complete initials. Here is it, tad-ah!

Screenshot

My blog's new favorite icon accompanies other aesthetic changes. Here is a screen shot of the new web page layout for my photos of the Thompson Library on Ohio State University's campus, generated using a free service called thumbalizr by i-ssential GmbH based in Germany.

Changelog

Reaching into my software engineer roots, here is a complete changelog for 2/7/2010.

Update favicon color and lettering from old to new
Add Top 5 Articles list to right pange, based on unique pageviews
Move the labels in right pane to a tag cloud from a tag list
Utilizing a drop down box for the blog archive in right pane
Change the tagline to "I write because I don't get Twitter" in top panel
Remove my last name from the heading in top panel

(trivial not reviewed)

Our Renovated Thompson Library

2010-02-06T21:55:00.003-05:00

In 2009, the renovated William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library opened itself to the public after three years of construction. Conceived in 1998, as the Ohio State University recognized shifts in library space use by students, the Thompson library is now the most elaborate and inspired library on campus.

Map of Thompson Library On the Oval

As an alumni who studied at the university from 1996-2000, it was a source of pride to walk through the new library space. The lighting, the vast open spaces, and the shift to making the library a place to meet and talk were awesome. The change made me happy that money and imagination were in use on campus, and I took some photos and looked in the library's history.

Lounge area on the 2nd floor.

Print, and Digital

Librarians at Thompson will not say "shhh" if you are talking. 1,800 places to sit were created throughout the library to encourage students to hold group meetings or even talk casually over coffee. The availability of wireless internet makes this new design sensible. The university has had to rethink use of space as student needs have changed. The shift to a coffee shop style library from a place to study in silence serves 21st century students needs.

The confluence of digital technology and old school needs for stacks of books leads to an interesting feel. There are the many floors containing stacks of material, visible through the glass walls. Yet, you will see flatscreen televisions through the library providing information to students.

Library print stacks, behind glass walls.

A Website, Too

Books, in fact, are starting to be offered online, viewable through a web browser, instead of requiring a student to find it in the stacks. A electronic books status is not "available" or "checked out," it is "use online," like this book "Liquid Gold" by Joseph Castellano.

The library also offers online resources like a video on how to read information for bias, in addition to quirky databases like the world's largest cartoon research collection, the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum.

Continued Change

Our Main library, created in 1913, upon suggestion by the Olmstead brothers, the designers of central park, was architected in a second Italian renaissance style. Expansions in 1951, 1966, and 1977 increased the amount of space for books and material. The latest changes, with glass and natural light, leather sofas and computers, are an welcome changed to a campus that I have seen remodel itself over the last decade.

Entrance from the Oval

How do I find events in Columbus?

2010-01-31T13:34:00.000-05:00

Want to find out what's happening on campus or Columbus? Here are four listings of events, containing free events and events for purchase either at student discount or full price.

The Ohio Union Activity Board

The OUAB organizes events on campus for the Ohio State community. For example, Maya Angelou is being brought to campus on 2/28 to speak to students at the Mershon Auditorium. Comedian Bo Burnham, who made himself famous through YouTube with songs like "Twitter is like Crystal Meth," is putting on a comedy show on 2/24. Most all events are free. The organizations calendar lists all its events and you can subscribe to the OUAB RSS feed .

Ohio State University Sports

If you love sports and like watching collegiate level competition, Ohio State has men and women's basketball, track, volleyball, tennis, are many others. Most of the sporting events are free, expect men's basketball and football. The complete list of sports and their calendars are available on www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com. For example, this season's Women's Basketball calendar

Wexner Center for the Arts

The university's art center holds films, art exhibits, panel speaks, and networking events. Many Wexner events are free, the calendar lets you search for free events vs. events with ticket purchase. One current exhibit called Hard Targets on sports photos. The calendar, www.wexarts.org/cal is available as an RSS feed .

Explore Columbus

Many other events around the city are offered to Ohio State University students at a discount through the Explore Columbus organization. If you are not a student, its still a great website to hear about events. Think plays, movies, in Columbus, or even specific Cav's games in Cleveland like the 3/21 game vs. the Pistons. The number of discount tickets is limited and sells out quickly, which is annoying, so you have to be on top of when the tickets are released for the event, not just the event itself. The website, www.explorecolumbus.osu.edu, is one giant calendar. Here is the organization's an RSS feed .

Raising Money For Dan

2010-01-19T13:21:00.006-05:00

Very recently, a dear friend Dan Phommathep was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. Liver cancer, or HCC, has few treatment options. Friends and family are adjusting to the news and planning for his family's future.

I am amazed at the generosity that people show in times of urgency and family crisis. My way of showing support to my friend, and his wife and three children, was to visit him over the weekend and give my time. Subsequently, I also chipped in to a fund to raise $50,000 to finance his children's college and family's future, a fund which you can see below.

These funds are being raised to match the generosity and kindness of his employer, Big Fish Games, which saluted Dan's dedication to the firm and its customers with a $50,000 bonus to aid his family in this difficult time.

It was a beacon of hope for Daniel's family to receive word from Big Fish Game about the financial support, a shining story of philanthropy, and I am equally awed in the goodness from his friends who are supporting the Phommathep's future through chipping in.

Where are GOES Enrollment Centers?

2010-01-10T23:00:00.004-05:00

Faced with scheduling a GOES interview to become a 'trusted traveller,' I sought the nearest interview center to Columbus, Ohio from the list of enrollment centers on the CBP website. A self-created map, which I am sharing here, facilitated picking an enrollment center to interview in, since no centers where in Ohio.

View Map

Global Entry

The United States Customer and Border Protection Department allows US citizens to enroll in a 'trusted traveller' programs that quickens immigration into the United States. One, the 'Global Entry' program, permits travelers to immigrate through a kiosk instead of through a US Immigration official.

To enroll in Global Entry, a traveller must complete the online application using the Global Entry Enrollment System, or GOES, and interview at an enrollment center.

Traveller Information

In the application, the traveller discloses the following information:

Name
Basic Demographic info (gender, age, origin)
United States Passport Info
Employment History
Travel History

In the interview, after the interviewees identity is confirmed:

Full Set of Fingerprints
Photo

Privacy

The department of homeland security administers the global entry program, so all information given in the application and interview process become records of this department. I am trying to find the privacy statement for the program to understand how the information can be used, if it all, outside the Global Entry program. The FAQ for GOES did not state details on privacy of information.