I've had the new Fitbit Surge smartwatch for two weeks now and I have to say I'm pretty happy with it so far! Is it going to win any design awards? Probably not. But does it get the job done as an exercise tracker / smart watch? Absolutely. For those that don't know, the Surge…
Category: Information Society
Google Hangout Fail
Note to self: it is WAY TOO EASY to invite all of your 300+ Google+ contacts to a live Google Hangout from your living room. Particularly if it is 10:30pm and you are totally braindead. Yes, I am a digital media professional.
Learn about Biodiversity from the Khan Academy and Cal Academy!
I am super excited about this new digital learning partnership that the California Academy of Sciences has begun with the amazing Khan Academy. For those that don't know, the Khan Academy is an online school where millions of students learn everything from basic math to python programming to art history. All for free! The Cal Academy…
They Set Us Up the Bomb: Police Repression, Bomb Threats, & Digital Democracy in Ukraine
Today was so strange I don’t even know where to start. I’m in Ivano-Frankivsk, a small city in Western Ukraine, where I was brought by the US Embassy to lead some trainings in digital media for local NGOs. I’ve done a few of these technology trainings for civil society organizations around the world, and had…
Celebrating Year One at the Cal Academy of Sciences!
Twelve months ago, I started working at the world's only "natural history museum, planetarium and aquarium — all under one living room," the California Academy of Sciences. It's been an incredible first year, literally a dream come true. Some highlights from my work so far as the Programs Manager in the Digital Learning Department: Worked…
BAYCAT Digital Youth Program in SF Robbed: Donate to Help Them Recover
I've met the awesome folks at BAYCAT (The Bayview Hunters Point Center for the Arts) and admired their work with at-risk youth, giving teens access to digital media equipment and tools so they can express themselves and achieve a better future for themselves. So I was devastated when I learned that BAYCAT was broken…
Cult of Mac: 3 Generations of MacBook Pros in My House
Mac Fanboy checking in. What you see above is a ridiculous picture of three generations of MacBook Pros sitting on my home workstation. The back left computer is a 2006 model MBP with 1.83 Ghz Intel Core Duo processor — my home and work computer for the past six years. The back right computer is…
Lindy Hoppers Create “EverSmart” iPhone App, Need Your Votes!
I got this appeal from the nice folks at LindyGroove, one of the largest lindy hop weekly dance in the country. Apparently a bunch of LindyGroove dancers have put their noggins together to create an iPhone app called "EverSmart", built on top of the popular "Evernote" note-taking tool. I use Evernote literally every day, for…
Infographic: Who I Am on Twitter (according to Visual.ly)
Here's an infographic on me and my tweeting profile based on my Twitter data , provided to the infographic service visual.ly. I'm not sure I agree with the topics listing at the end — what, no "food porn"? And I could hardly be called a "shopper." But otherwise, kind of interesting. You can generate your…
Netiquette Question: IMs from Old Acquaintances – Accept or Not?
Say you worked with someone 12 years ago. You were friendly in the workplace, chatted during lunch, but didn't socialize after work. Then, one day, many years later, out of the blue, an instant message from that person pops up on our screen. "Hey, Rik, it's so-and-so…" it begins. You, hesitate for a…