"The following video will blow your mind as to where this world was and where we are headed technology wise."
So wrote a reader who sent this link to a fascinating video, claiming it was played at Sony Corporation's executive conference.
"Did You Know? Shift Happens" has been viewed more than 11 million times on YouTube since the Fall of 2009.
While researching the history of this remarkable video, I learned that one of its creators is Karl Fisch, who was involved in several other "Shift Happens" videos.
In 2009, he wrote on his website Fischbowl: "The various versions have been viewed well over 20 millions times (my guess is that with downloaded versions and audience showings, it's probably closer to 30 million times, but 20 million would be the safe number). It's been shown to audiences large and small, educational and corporate and everything in between. It's been shown to the leaders of our national defense and to incoming congressmen. It's been shown by university presidents and kindergarten teachers, televangelists and politicians, folks just trying to make a buck and those trying to save the world. And this week it even made an appearance in Nancy Gibb's essay in Time Magazine."
It's what we've been talking about in this column – the rapid convergence of technologies is changing our world and our lives in ways that sometimes have us racing to keep up.
Quantum computer, anyone?
Staying with the convergence meme
Television network broadcasting as we've known it is evolving into obsolescence. Samsung has launched Media Hub, a digital video store where for $3 to $15, you can download a movie or a TV program onto your Samsung phone, Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Tab tablet computer and your personal computer. For $2, you can download a TV episode.
Renting a movie will cost $3 to $5 , buying one will cost $10 to $15.
Apple is also offering 99-cent TV-show rentals from Fox and ABC.
According to the results of a Pew Internet Project survey, as the mobile phone has morphed from a voice device to a multi-channel device to an Internet-accessing mini-computer, "a large market of mobile software applications, or 'apps,' has arisen."
Top "app" or software applications? Games, news and maps.
But not everyone is buying it, says one critic who writes, "An awful lot of people with smart phones that have apps just don't use them."
Twitter adopts rich media
Twitter's 160 million users will see some major changes to Twitter, according to CEO Evan Williams, who announced last week that Twitter is undergoing a major overhaul that will feature a new web platform upgrade.
The new site will feature two panes and rich media such as embedded photos and video. The enhanced website will have a stream of tweets running down the left side. On the right: a display of recent activity from your followers and the people you follow, trending topics, and the list of people you might want to follow.
Twitter's Evan Williams discusses. This video illustrates.
A worldwide roll-out is scheduled to occur in the coming weeks. I do
And while we're tweeting about it, this geek couple had a virtual wedding.
And why not? He proposed to her via Twitter!
Yahoo strives to be "cool stuff." Again.
Twitter isn't the only platform upgrading its look. Yahoo Inc. also is about to undergo a makeover.
In an attempt to win back Internet users who have migrated to Facebook, Yahoo's chief product honcho Blake Irving says Yahoo is going to "feel a little bit different."
The changes? Yahoo plans to double the speed of its e-mail service and will let you send messages and post updates to Twitter from its site.
Yahoo-oo-oo!
"Pigspotter" tweets speed trap warnings
When is it OK to tweet the site of police speed traps? Apparently never, if you're in South Africa.
"Police in Johannesburg are investigating a man who's been using Twitter to warn motorists about speed traps and other police activity," reports The Register. "PigSpotter, as he calls himself, has now agreed to stop tweeting the location of road blocks but vowed to continue posting speed trap information. He also posts traffic congestion reports and info about out-of-action traffic lights and accidents."
Here in the U.S. there's still an ongoing debate about whether or not it's OK for people to videotape police in public.
Here's an example of why police might not appreciate your rolling tape. Just ask the man whose First Amendment rights were violated in this video.
Bankrupt governments eyeing Internet sales
With federal, state and municipal budgets in crisis, Internet online sales tax revenue enforcement efforts are growing, promising to take more out of your buying power.
Note this!
As an Apple MacBook Pro laptop user, Apple automatically alerts me to software upgrades. Last week, it updated my iTunes program, and when I opened the new version, the change most immediately visible was a new iTunes icon.
Turns out the symbol was the winning design in a contest hosted by Wired.com.
The winner Ian Houser, whose icon "iTunes Digital Redux" incorporates a waveform, explained the reasoning behind the new icon: "iTunes is powering the digital revolution, and CD's aren't part of that anymore."
See the "best of show."
Tick-tock Internet clock
Where are Internet users spending most of their time? Here's the answer.
In the rearview mirror
1944 – Airborne troops retreat from Arnhem
1960 – Kennedy and Nixon clash in TV debate
1970 – Soviet probe collects moon rock
1980 – War breaks out between Iran and Iraq
1984 – U.K. and China agree on Hong Kong handover
1984 – U.S. embassy blast kills 20
1996 – Afghan forces routed as Kabul falls
1998 – Clinton's grand jury testimony released
Now Playing at the Princess in Urbana, Ill.
Congratulations to WorldNetDaily readers Deb Buchanan; Ken Wilson, Beaverton, Ore.; Art Wright, Missoula, Mont.; Tim Koerlin, Mich.; and James Tyler of Bishop, Calif., who wrote: "LTG Moore lives in Auburn, Ala. Moore stays after Mass, every Sunday morning at Auburn's St. Michael's Catholic Church, on his knees praying for every man he lost."
They were among the first to correctly guess actor Mel Gibson in his portrayal of Lt. Col. Hal Moore in the 2000 movie "We Were Soldiers," which tells the story of the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War and the soldiers on both sides that fought it. Directed by Randall Wallace, the film was based on the book "We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young" by Joe Galloway and retired LTG Hal Moore.
The quote was: "Well you got to, Joe. You tell the American people what these men did here. You tell them how my troopers died."
This week's movie trivia quote could easily apply to our U.S. Congress:
"Now I know you can drink whiskey, and I saw you kill a rat, but all the rest has been talk. I'm not paying for talk. I can get all the talk I need at the Monarch Boarding House."
I'll bonus you this week with a second quote that could just as easily apply to the rising movement of the conservative woman in this political season:
"There's an old song that says: One white foot buy 'em, two white feet try 'em, three white feet be on the sly, four white feet pass 'em by."
Name the movie, the actor and the character. Send your answer to me at the email address below. Good luck!