It only seems fitting that IBM (in conjuction with 5 other major universities and DARPA), the company that brought us Jeopardy champ, artificial intelligence computer, Watson, would be who brings us something straight out of science fiction novels.  

The NeuroSynaptic Chip

The first of its kind to process in the same fashion as the brain does; a “neurosynaptic core” with integrated memory (replicated synapses), computation (replicated neurons) and communication (replicated axons), all in one chip.  It’s like taking computer computation from 2-Dimentions into full 3-Dimentional space.  This attempts to overcome what is know as the “von Neumann paradigm”, the current way our present day’s computer architecture is ruled by.  Von Neumann introduced the architecture of the processer and the memory being two separate pieces of hardware in the 1940s.   By integrating the memory into the same hardware as the processor you begin to see context dependant processes in an energy efficient manor PLUS eliminating the bottle neck of the Bus…just like a brain.  

And that seems to be one of the driving forces behind IBMs new chip, is the energy efficiency, and rightly so.  They can already slap together simulate synapses and firing neuron simulations into a super computer.  But even as powerful and helpful as a super computer can be, its downfall is its size, its upkeep, its administration and the amount of energy it takes to drive.  

....at least not yet. 

Aside from its huge “grass roots” success of a viral social need of exclusivity, as G+ slowly came out of beta, only invitees from closed beta testers were allowed access. This created a buzz (unlike their not so popular product), an Interest, and most of all, a coveted psudo-exclusiveness; Marketing at its finest. There however was real reason for its popularity; its polished feel.  Things work as you think they should work for the most part.  It was like Google took a note from Apples UI philosophy, (not so much the design) and Facebooks connectivity and created a clearer Social Network.

Functionality that G+ promotes are simply more forward facing options than Facebook has had to offer.  Circles for instance are a much better way of adding people to lists so I can send a message to the people I have on XBOXlive about a Call of Duty tournament and send a separate message to my family members about dinner tomorrow, and neither one will see the others unrelated message on their wall, and its all in the same location.  This can sort of be done on Facebook, but the reason people are so into it on Google+ is because how forward facing it is. In Facebook its obscure and clunky, in G+, it’s the entire bases of the service.  (Circles!) This all comes down to User Interface (UI) and the prediction of usability by the developers.  I’ve always been an advocate for UI design, and believe it is the single most advantage Apple has over any competitor. UI design drives what designers want the most..... USAGE!

You can build the best most functional product ever, and it can be complete garbage because the UI is not intelligently laid out, or its functionality so deeply buried that it either gets over looked or not bothered with because it disrupts the flow of usability.  Apple did not get where they are today because of their UI development, however, without it, they would be nowhere near as popular or as functional.  Options are great, but not having those options at the fingertips of those that are using them are wasted options, which shortly thereafter become forgotten options, which are then wasted options.

As Tech Crunch reports "Netflix Now The Largest Single Source of Internet Traffic In North America"

Netflix has surpassed BitTorent services in overall internet traffic in North America.  As I have been saying all along, Piracy is about connivance, not malice. Not streaming content hurts more than the believed impact of piracy by media execs.

Our problem?  The infrastructure.  This is what is preventing growth of the free market in the US, the capitalistic ways of the US is being held down by their own weight, and without the structure to support it, it runs the risk of eventually buckling under its own weight

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I know I wanted to, so I set out what methods were available .  After a bit of searching around, I found 3 methods.  2 use the same service, and the other is a beta program led by Bit.ly.  I opted for the beta, so at some point Ill be updating this with how to use the other 2 methods in a little more detail, but Ill talk about those two first a little bit just to give you an idea, then give you a run down of the method I used, and how to create your own Short URL service!
 
So, the first 2 methods are from a free open source service called YOURLS.org.  The site is nicely done, and has a straight forward install and  configuration instructions for server side installation if you happen to have that much control/confidence with the server your blog is hosted on.  The 2nd of the 2 methods is a Wordpress plugin that you can use that from what it looks like does the configuration work for you and is neatly bundled inside of a plugin where you enter the required information and the plugin does the rest for you.  Both of these methods provide nice analytics in pie chart for and bar graphs to show you how many people clicked your created link, geographical information, and referrer traffic information.  There is also a Drupal method available too, but its not official, and do believe it is still considered in development.
 

As for the method I personally used for both this blog and Cerebralhack.com was as I mentioned a beta program that Bit.ly is running for free (so far), but before we go that far, first things first….buying the short URL Bit.ly will be using.  As the trend goes, mostly international  TLDs are best, but if not done creatively enough can cost stupid amounts of money.  If you don’t have one in mind http://domai.nr/  is a fantastic place to start.  Just type your domain in there with or without its current TLD (.com, .net, .org etc..) and it will generate a list of possible short URLs for you.  These domain names can be bought from just about anywhere, I am favorable to Godaddy myself, but you may go where you choose.
 
Next is to sign up for Bit.ly's free Pro service which can be found here.  The application says It can take up to a week to get a response, I checked back every so often, and it was approved in 3 - 4 days, but didn’t get the actual email till about a week later.  Setup is simple once its turned on.  Where ever you bought your domain from you will need to make 2 changes in your DNS manager. First change is to add an addition to your Hosts list (it shows you what to add and basically where) and the second is to add a CNAME record so your blogs actual URL gets pointed to correctly when using the short URL.
 
And that’s pretty much it, the hardest part about it is finding that perfect short URL, but its also prolly the most fun because you can make it what ever you can think of that relates to you, your blog, or your domain name.  Creating them and posting them to your blog, or Twitter/Facebook is as easy as either logging into Bit.ly and using its shortener, using your API (provided to you by Bitly) and using it with TweetDeck or other supported applications, or Bitlys toolbar...and thats it...pretty painless :)

In my short time on the rock, I think I've done my fair share of forgiving, I've also held my fair share of grudges.  All with good (read:selfish/selfless) reasons.  Without going spiritual, what merit does forgiveness hold?  Is there a line that must be drawn?  Is there a point where forgiveness is expected?  Could a situation be so dire, so life changeing, that the only option there is is to forgive?

Death makes belivers of us all at some point in our lives; where we see what matters. That feeling we get when we are with our loved ones; amplified.  Our wals that we've built around ourselfs to keep others out; crumbled.  Sadly sometimes, the opsitite happens, sometimes that wall hardens and is built taller, and sometimes, nothing happens at all.  Death to me can be generally split into 3 catagories.  

• When you experiance it through someone close to you.
• When you yourself comes close to it.
• When it actually happens to you.

Obviously only 2 of these catagories effect us where we can carry it on to other aspects of our lives.  Which of the 2 do you think makes someone look inward more?  Is it ones own morality? Or is it when someone you saw as a pillar falls?
 
Doing each other wrong is like taking two peices of string and tieing it in knots over and over and over and over again. Forgivness is taking a pair of scissors and cutting the knot on both sides and throwing it out, leaving two peices of string again.

Today I am thankful for a mind that can create metaphors to help people understand things in a way that fully helps them understand meaning.

Site is under a bit of an overhaul as you can see. Im looking for it to be an overview of what I do, and ultimately give me a structured look at what I have done, and what I still need to do. A public "To-Do" list if you will. As of right now, the menu items are inactive place holders till I can get to the content portion of things.

It seems these days everyone is "searchable" on the Internet, so I figure, why not make sure the information that is out there is centralized and put in the format only I can put into words to justify the work I do, and the effort I put into it.

More to come soon. Im currently working on a User Interface for an Android Application called SkyTunes. It is basically a desktop client that is installed to your home PC. Once installed you add the folders i is supposed to "listen to". Then, on your android phone, you power up its Android application equivalent and connect to your PC to stream your own library of music. Who needs Pandora guessing what you like to hear when you can hear your own music when ever you want and at in better quality! The developer Im working with is awesome so far, and may be he first of many apps we will collaborate on, fingers crossed :D

Sadly enough, I cannot take credit for the tag. Ever so often I get a "one liner" of sorts philosophically that make me think, I sometimes share them on Twitter or Facebook, or I just keep it in my head. Someone once told me they loved my "Steven'izm's" so for something that needed a name, it seemed to be a fitting one.