Jeff Maurone

Immersive photo galleries

I have been searching for a way to exert more control over how blog readers consume photos. On Flickr I'm dumping higher-quality shots from the Nikon as well as smartphone shots from the HTC and so I end up with a fragmented experience: clean photography interspersed with "hey look" shots out of my phone. Trying to view individual albums through the Flickr photostream or even the slideshow isn't exactly what I want. I want to be able to put together a number of photos, shrink-wrap them as an "experience" about a particular subject or concept and point you at them.

Here's my test gallery experience. I shared these photos already on this blog. These were from the war relocation camp at Manzanar in the Eastern Sierra Nevadas. If you already saw those, the shots shouldn't be too exciting, but you should see what I'm going for with an immersive photo experience.

The details

For the geeks, I've used AutoViewer to wire together this experience. I have a single SWF binary for all galleries and then compose lightweight XML files defining audio, photos, captions and sequence specific for each gallery experience. I'd highly recommend AutoViewer.

Twitter killed my blog

That photo needs top-billing commentary. Bill Stimpson, a photographer sharing his work on Flickr has done this fantastic set. In it, he redoes a number of classic photos using Lego figures and parts. He links to the original shot, shows his setup for the shot and, best of all, exposes everything under a Creative Commons license. That means I can post one of his shots here (above), attribute it to him and not break laws. It's so rare to see someone producing work of this quality and using CC. Cheers to open intellectual property rights. He's even been selling economically-priced prints of these shots. This is the most creative piece of art I've seen in, well, a while. The set, a growing work, is worth a perusal.

But back to the subject of this post. I used to hate Twitter. In its early days, its founders trumpeted it as a tool to answer the question, "What are you doing right now?" I riposted that I don't really care what you're doing right now. But Twitter's evolved into a micro-blogging platform and when I come across articles or content worth sharing, I post it there. And so I find less and less need to post medium-form content here. This isn't just me, either; I feel I read posts like this weekly.

Startup demo lab coming up next week

The last event in our spring season at Venture Lab is coming up next week. We've selected a handful of interesting startups operating in and around Seattle to present a series of production demos. Below is the official marketing text and you can register here.

Thursday, June 5th, 2008
6:00 to 8:00pm
Doors open @ 5:30

"Startup Demo - Spring 2008"
One Union Square Boardroom
600 University St., First Level
(Lower lobby, 6th Avenue level, behind the escalator)
Seattle, WA 98101

For years, the Venture Lab team has brought in outside speakers and industry leaders to share insight and wisdom with our attendees.  During that time, we’ve been able to meet our attendees and marvel at the cool ideas and companies they are building.  For our Startup Demo - Spring 2008, we’re turning the stage over to them, the entrepreneurs.

Our Startup Demo - Spring 2008 will feature six early stage startups from the Seattle area demonstrating their new products and services to the audience.  The products vary from enterprise software to renewable power generation.  

If you’re interested in getting an early look at what could be the next big thing or you’re an entrepreneur that would like to see what your peers are up to, please join us at the Startup Demo - Spring 2008 event. 

In addition to their demo, presenters will discuss:

• How they built the product
• How the team funded the product development & how long it took
• What outside resources were leveraged
• Why the company was created in the first place

Judges:

John Cook – Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Brier Dudley – The Seattle Times
Paul Bialek – General Partner – Frazier Technology Ventures
Enrique Godreau III – Managing Director – Voyager Capital
Nathan McDonald – Director – Keiretsu Forum
Rebecca Lovell – Program Director – Alliance of Angels

Presenters:

DiagnosisPlus: Has developed personalized, visually based web software for patients and healthcare providers for the screening, prevention, and management of chronic diseases.

Hydrovolts: Has developed small in-stream hydrokinetic turbines that make renewable power from fast-flowing currents in irrigation canals, constructed waterways, rivers and tidal channels. 

InterviewStudio.com: Has developed a bleeding edge software platform offering the newest and quickest way to screen job applicants.  

ForWord Input: Has developed a patented software text input system for stylus- or finger-based touch-screen devices that allows the user to input text at speeds exceeding 40 to 50 words per minute. (SwypeTM)

Ameritocracy: Has developed a social networking site for verifying “factualness” of statements made by media, business, and government. 

Snowflake ITM: Has developed a hosted enterprise platform that dramatically simplifies and improves the way today’s dynamic organizations manage people and tasks.

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Above picture I took in Pioneer Square. It's cliché, I know it. Enjoy! [Link]

There's gold in them thar...

Next up is a set of shots I took in Rhyolite, Nevada. Rhyolite, according to Wikipedia, "is a ghost town in Nye County, Nevada, United States. It is located in the Bullfrog Hills, about 3.8 miles west of the town of Beatty, near the eastern edge of Death Valley."

"Gold was discovered in the area by Shorty Harris and E.L. Cross on August 4, 1904. Their 'Bullfrog strike' gave rise to a number of gold rush towns that drew prospectors and speculators from surrounding towns such as Goldfield and Tonopah. Rhyolite, named for the deposits of the rock which contained much of the gold, would become the largest of these settlements."

"By 1907, the town had electricity with an estimated population of 3,500 to 10,000."

"Production began to slow down by 1908 and the mine and mill were closed in 1911. By 1910 only an estimated 675 people remained in Rhyolite."

"The lights and power were turned off in 1916. By 1919, the post office had closed and the town was abandoned."

You can find the full set here, on Flickr. Enjoy!

Wandering Manzanar

I'm back from a week wandering Death Valley and the eastern Sierra Nevadas. I've got loads of photos to share but for now we'll stick with a baker's dozen.

Click here to view a thirteen shot slide show from Manzanar, one of a number of Japanese Interment (or War Relocation) camps used during the second World War. I developed all of these using an "aged photo" technique. Hope you enjoy.

Suburban sprawl, for lack of an aphorism, sucks

Robert Reich, who recently has made news by endorsing Obama, puts forth an incredible explanation of the way we live now in his most recent book, Supercapitalism.

His argument, adapted to my life, is: I lament the loss of Main Streets. I detest big box retailers. I cringe looking at how every corner of every town looks the same. But, on the other hand, I'm giddy at the efficiency of the American economy. I know that by cramming as much merchandise into a cheap box on an enormous field Wal~Mart contributes to our prosperity as a nation. Can this ambivalence ever be resolved?

The fight for Main Street and the Public Square has an advocate in James Howard Kunstler. Admittedly, Kunstler is as much a polemicist as he is passionate. Every single one of his books could be put in the growing jeremiad section at Borders. But this presentation from a recent TED is absolutely worth a watch. I agree with nearly everything Kunstler says in this talk and found myself cracking up laughing at his witty distaste for modernism.

(A nod to colleague Jeremy, as I found this presentation on his blog.)

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Image comes from Flickr User Dean Terry. My condolences to the owner of that McMansion.

Going off to war today versus the equivalent in 1945

If you've been following my Twitter  updates, you likely noted that this week I saw Maggie off to the desert (Iraq) until July. With a difficult goodbye came a lot of thinking and contemplation.

Imagine going off to fight in World War II. How long was your tour of duty? The length of the war. Which, depending on when you departed, could be up to four years. Telephones? Email? Instant messaging? No, no and, obviously, no. You wrote home, what, every two months and hoped to received a treasured piece of mail about your child's first birthday that is now months in the past.

Flash forward to 2008. I've already talked to Maggie as if she were on a phone just ten minutes away. I know that when she arrives at Balad Air Base she'll have Internet access, satellite telephones, a digital camera and more of the devices that we use to stay connected in the an age of global dispersion. I know that she'll be coming home in July no matter how much this war protracts.

I don't, for a second, deny the great personal risk taken by the members of the military that have spent time in Iraq, Afghanistan or Djibouti. Watching members of the Army pulled away from their families for up to fifteen months, returned for twelve and pulled away for another fifteen months has left me bitter at the human cost of this war. My position on our presence in Iraq is ambivalent and nuanced at best; it's also strongly influenced by what I've seen as the true cost paid by other American families. I am, however, thankful for how things have changed in the past sixty-three years.

And, while we are on this topic, some resources for those interested: Balad Air Base, called LSA Anaconda by everyone but the Air Force (Logistical Support Area), is roughly fifty miles north of Baghdad. Its flight line is currently considered the second busiest airport in the entire world, including commercial terminals! Maggie is running intel support for the 48th Rescue Squadron, a unit of Pararescue (awesome wikipedia page). For some photos of the base:

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All shots are of the base. Some from Flickr User MASSIVE DEFEAT (I can't help but wonder about that username) and some from Flickr User James Gordon. All, as usual, under Creative Commons. Have you donated your content to CC yet?

Six hundred Hiroshimas

The W-53 warhead atop the Titan II ICBM had an estimated yield of nine megatons, equivalent to nine million tons of TNT.  That's roughly six hundred times as powerful as the warhead inside Little Boy that leveled Hiroshima.  For most of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s this missile was the centerpiece of our deterrence posture: fifty-four missiles sat in silos in Kansas, Arkansas and Arizona, able to fire within moments of a launch order but classified as retaliatory only.

I've written prior about my visit to the only remaining Titan II silo in Sahuarita, Arizona, now more than a year ago.  When I left Titan I was impressed by two things in particular: first, the knowledge and talent possessed by my tour guide and, second, the incredibly complex engineering problems solved by the crews that built Titan II. Within a few weeks, Maggie and I had signed up as volunteer docents (tour guides) and, a few months after that, started giving our own tours of the missile and launch complex.

Every Sunday we drive the thirty miles from northeast Tucson to missile site 571-7 in Green Valley and give four tours to up to twenty-five visitors. During these tours, we've met an array of incredibly interesting people: a plutonium expert that aided in the development of the W-53 warhead, guys from Czech Republic thankful that the US had a strategic arsenal that would protect them from Russia, former missile crew members that worked on Titan I, Titan II and Minuteman I, an astronomer working at NASA on Aries III.

This past Sunday Maggie and I gave the last tour we'll give for the next two months while she is in Iraq. We look forward to returning to Titan later this summer, but if you're in Green Valley any time in the near future, Titan is worth a visit.

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Second photo credit: Flickr user Telstar Logistics, under Creative Commons [Link]

The Gates estate

I've said this before, but 75% of my blog traffic still goes to the one post I wrote nearly four years ago about the summer evening I spent dining at Bill Gates's house. I recently learned that two years ago Bill stopped inviting interns to his house for dinner. So, for all of you current Microsoft interns longing for dinner at his house on Lake Washington, here's a video I that does a great job of walking you through his house.

What, did you expect real video of the house?

John McCain throws one back at Villanova

The national attention being afforded to Villanova over the past weeks have left me with a great warm feeling. First it was a dance to the Sweet Sixteen from our twelve-seed Wildcats. Now it's a visit from John McCain to the Pavilion as part of the MSNBC Hardball College Tour. With MSNBC meeting Villanova, how can I not comment?

Of course, McCain's visit to the Pavilion and subsequent interview with Chris Matthews hasn't gone into the pile of day-old campaign media without a bit of sophomoric fun from one of the Villanova students picked to pose a question to the Senator and presumptive nominee of the GOP. First, the clip. Advance to 2:56 for the question to which I'm referring.

Mustering up his share of undergraduate male machismo, the Junior questioned: "I'm sure that you saw one of your Democratic opponents, Hillary Clinton, recently drinking whiskey shots with some potential voters.  Now, I was wondering if you think that she's finally resorted to hitting the sauce just because of some unfavorable polling.  And I was also wondering if you would care to join me for a shot after this." Of course the Pavilion went wild and students wondered if the Augustinians running Villanova broke into a cold sweat under their habits.

As is often the case, things aren't exactly as they seemed. In this week's Villanovan, we've got an interesting piece from Tom Nardi:

Viewers and audience members wouldn't know, but those four questions weren't the only ones that students wanted to ask.  I would know; I was question No. 6. Staffers pre-screened 12 questions that afternoon from students and placed them in the order that students would be able to ask.  But the first two questions we got to were set up to be softballs.

I always find it disappointing when I learn that the spontaneity of live television isn't so...spontaneous.