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Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 04/29/08 at 10:04:04 am
Entrecards that is, I joined Entrecard yesterday and so far it looks like it’s going to be an invaluable addition to my website. Entrecard is a new concept that allows bloggers to easily drive traffic to their websites by showing genuine interest in others.
Entrecard has set up a video that explains the service but they make it sound more complicated then it really is. Basically you create then have the ability to drop a virtual business card at the blogs you visit every day that run an Entrecard widget. The website owners will then see your card and often times visit your website in return. Each time you drop a card it earns you credits which can be used towards advertising on other blogs, transferred to other members, or privately sold in classifieds or auctions. You can also receive credits from bloggers wanting to advertise on your blog for a price that’s determined by your blog’s popularity. It’s almost like a game, but best of all it’s is a free service.
I’ve only been a member for a day and I’m already seeing an increase in traffic, very cool.
“…You can’t use Jäger to clean a wound.”
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 04/28/08 at 10:04:59 am
BATON ROUGE, LA—Veteran partier Adam Girard announced his intentions to continue partying late Saturday evening, assuring onlookers that the multiple injuries he had sustained over the previous six hours did not require medical attention, and were not severe enough to prematurely end the festivities.
Nothing wrong with a good chuckle to start off the week, here’s an absolutely hilarious article about a man determined to party despite serious injuries and extreme intoxication.
36 Hours.
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 04/27/08 at 11:04:11 amWhen will Global Warming be the cause?
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 04/26/08 at 09:04:00 amIt’s April 26th and I woke up to about an inch of snow outside, we got off lucky. Parts of MN will get up to 18 inches of snow over this weekend meaning there will be plenty of snow on the ground into May. It’s supposed to be summer in about a month and we’re still getting a seemingly endless stream of winter weather, why?
It’s not because it’s Minnesota, our normal 6 month winters are long enough. This year we’re looking at 8 months infected by freezing temperatures and snowfall leaving us with 4 months of decent warm weather. Why even bother filling the pool? Or taking down the Christmas lights for that matter. The local news can blame it on cold fronts lingering over Canada all they want, most of Canada is experiencing warm spring weather right now. This is just another real-life example of Global Warming and its toll on normal weather patterns and this time around we just so happen to be in the middle of it all.
You might ask how Global Warming could cause more winter weather, it’s supposed to be warming right? Every time it snows in MN I find myself reading countless blogs and articles that say Global Warming isn’t real because there’s snow. People need to understand that Global Warming doesn’t mean that every particular location on the Earth will get warmer, some areas may get colder as weather patterns shift. This article explains how Global Warming increases the overall water temperature in the Great Lakes which in turn increases the gap between water temperature and air temperature making it ideal for snowfall, and that’s just one example.
People who still deny the existence of Global Warming amuse me, I’m wondering how long it will take before the local news mentions the possibility of these out-of-the ordinary weather conditions actually being caused by something other than mysterious pressure systems from Canada.
My official list of 17+ must-see computer geek movies – Part 2
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 04/24/08 at 07:04:07 pmContinuing from where we left off in Part 1, I’ve got another batch of must-see technology related movies that geeks, gamers, programmers, and nerds will all surely enjoy if they haven’t already.
Swordfish & Firewall
Two more Hollywood movies to make the list are Swordfish and Firewall. Swordfish is about a DEA dummy corporation codenamed SWORDFISH that was shut down in the 80’s who in it’s time had generated $400 million which they apparently let sit around; fifteen years later and the compound interest has put it to $9.5 billion. A covert counter-terrorist unit called Black Cell headed by Gabriel Shear (John Travolta) wants the money to help finance their vengeance war against international terrorism, but it’s all locked away behind super-encryption. He brings in convicted hacker Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman), who only wants to see his daughter Holly again but can’t afford the legal fees, to slice into the government mainframes and get the money.
Firewall is a typical Harrision Ford kidnapping movie that features him as Jack Stanfield, the chief computer security expert of a large bank in Seattle, Washington. A terrorist named Bill Cox (Paul Bettany) has been spying on Jack for the last year and he knows the family’s daily routines, friends, and personal information. Cox leads a team of mercenaries who break into Jack’s home and take his wife and children hostage. With the lives of his wife and children at stake, Jack is forced to steal $100 million from the bank by electronically transferring the money to an offshore account.
Sneakers
Sneakers is another great caper film from 1992, it’s about this guy Martin Bishop (Robert Redford) who is the leader of a group of experts that specialize in testing security systems. When Bishop is blackmailed by government agents into stealing a top secret “black box”, the team find themselves embroiled in a game of danger and intrigue. After they recover the box, they discover that it has the capability to decode all sorts of encryption systems and the agents who originally hired them didn’t actually work for the government.
The Net
Angela Bennett (played by the beautiful Sandra Bullock) is a young computer software analyst. A fellow analyst from Cathedral Software, Dale, sends her a program on a disk that when run displays a peculiar symbol in the lower-right corner. When clicked in addition to a couple keystrokes the software reveals a bug that gives the user entry point access to government and military computer systems. When Angela discovers the potential in this security flaw her life turns into a nightmare. Her records are erased from existence and she is given a new identity, one with a police record. Throughout the movie Angela struggles to find out why this has happened and who is behind it all.
After The Net there was an unsuccessful TV series by the same name that ran only 22 episodes on the USA network. There was also a direct-to-video sequel called The Net 2.0 released in 2006 that I have yet to see.
The Matrix Trilogy
Ok well, technically this is three movies and I’m not going to bother writing a synopsis for the whole trilogy. Most people are familiar with The Matrix and unlike many I’m personally a fan of all three movies and I recommend them equally. If you consider yourself a Matrix fan make sure you check out The Animatrix. The Animatrix is a collection of nine animated short films that detail the back-story of the “Matrix” universe and the original war between man and machines, which led to the machine’s creation of the artificial reality for humans. The short films fill countless plot holes created in the original trilogy and the artwork alone is truly stunning.
Enemy of the State
Another good Hollywood film that isn’t too farfetched is Enemy of the State. Will Smith stars in this film as Robert Clayton Dean, a lawyer with a wife and family whose happily normal life is turned upside down after bumping into a college buddy at a lingerie shop. Unbeknownst to the Dean, he’s just been burdened with a videotape of a congressman’s assassination. A group of National Security Agents chase him and track his every move by using surveillance from satellites, bugs, and other sophisticated devices, the NSA infiltrates every detail of Dean’s existence. Driven by intense paranoia, Dean enlists the help of a former NSA operative named Brill (Gene Hackman) to stay one step ahead.
Mercury Rising
NSA thrillers must have been a popular theme in 1998 because Mercury Rising is essentially the same movie except instead of a videotape they are after an autistic boy named Simon who has an affinity for puzzles and is able to crack the NSA’s new ‘unbreakable’ encryption. Instead of Will Smith playing a lawyer the movie stars Bruce Willis as Art Jeffries, an undercover FBI agent who protects Simon from the NSA agents trying to terminate him.
Live Free or Die Hard
I bet the last movie you would expect to see on this list is the latest chapter of the Die Hard anthology, but despite Live Free or Die Hard following the typical ‘Die Hard’ storyline it does have a geeky twist. Even if it didn’t who could not like the Die Hard movies right?
12 years after John McClane (Bruce Willis) stops the German terrorists from successfully robbing the Federal Reserve, he’s about to face a new kind of challenge more difficult and personal than ever before. An organization of cyber terrorists led by Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) is taking control of everything in the United States from public utilities to the stock market. McClane, accompanied by Matthew Farrell (Justin Long), one of the hackers who accidentally assisted the villains in setting up the system, must stop Gabriel from taking over the country completely. In response to McClane’s diligence Gabriel also manages to take McClane’s daughter hostage.
Pirates of Silicon Valley
Last but not least is Pirates of Silicon Valley. I almost didn’t include a synopsis for this movie but it’s actually not bad and the characters did a decent job playing the roles of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Pirates of Silicon Valley was an unauthorized made-for-television docudrama that’s loosely based on the book Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer by Paul Freiberger. The film documents the rise of the personal computer through the rivalry between Apple Computer and Microsoft.
More?
Johnny Mnemonic, 23, Breach, Tron, Total Recall, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Thirteenth Floor, all great movies you could look into and I’m sure there are plenty of others that I’m missing so feel free to post your own favorites in the comments.
Looking for more must-see computer geek movies? Check out Part 1 of this list.
My official list of 17+ must-see computer geek movies - Part 1
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 04/22/08 at 11:04:19 pmFrom the outlandishly inaccurate to the surprisingly plausible, here is my list (in no particular order) of technology related movies that geeks, gamers, programmers, and nerds will all surely enjoy if they haven’t already.
WarGames
WarGames is a 1983 classic starring Matthew Broderick as David Lightman, a bright but unmotivated high school student who uses his 1970s vintage IMSAI microcomputer and modem to perform automated searches for computer systems connected to the public telephone network, which he then cracks. After seeing an advertisement for a new game David has his computer dial every number in Silicon Valley in an attempt to find the game manufacture’s computer system. When he later reviews the results, he finds a system that has a very intriguing list of games that later turns out to be a government supercomputer that runs real-life war simulations.
Hackers
Hackers although wildly unrealistic is another cult classic that features Jonny Lee Miller as Dade “Zero Cool” Murphy, a young computer hacker who, at the age of 11, was able to take down 1,507 systems in one day causing havoc in the New York Stock Exchange. Upon conviction for his computer crimes Dade was banned from owning or operating a computer or touchtone telephone until his 18th birthday. Fast forward to 7 years later, Dade and his divorced mother move to New York City and he quickly returns to his crazy computer cracking shenanigans under his new name Crash Override.
Dade later hooks up with a group of fellow hackers and together in their travels through cyberspace they discover The Plague (Fisher Stevens), a former hacker turned computer security expert for a multinational corporation. The Plague secretly allied himself with a group of criminals and is using his expertise to drain funds from corporate bank accounts. He is also smart enough to leave clues that would lead investigators to someone else (in this case, Dade and his friends) and has a secret weapon at his disposal, a computer virus that could wipe out the entire World Wide Web in a matter of minutes!
Track Down & Freedom Downtime
Track Down, also known as Takedown, is a movie about computer hacker Kevin Mitnick that is based off the book Takedown by John Markoff and Tsutomu Shimomura. Kevin Mitnick, the most notorious computer hacker in the nation uses the latest (at the time) electronic gadgetry to break into countless computers and gain access to sensitive and valuable information. But when he breaches the system of leading computer crimes expert Tsutomu Shimomura it sets off an epic battle between a pair of hard-driven geniuses operating on different sides of the law.
In Kevin Mitnick’s book The Art of Intrusion, Mitnick states that both book and movie are “extremely inaccurate” and are based on nothing more than media hype. In response to this hype the 2600 Magazine community created its own film titled Freedom Downtime which is supposed to depict a more accurate take on the Kevin Mitnick story and the Free Kevin movement. In my opinion, both movies are great in their own ways.
Antitrust
Antitrust is by far one of my favorite films of all time, and when I mentioned surprisingly plausible at the beginning of this entry I think this movie could easily fit the description. While working with friends to start their new software development company, Milo Hoffman (Ryan Phillippe) is approached by CEO Gary Winston (Tim Robbins) of a Microsoft like company called NURV for a programming position few would refuse. Despite the flagship product (Synapse, a worldwide media distribution network) being well on schedule, Hoffman begins to develop suspicions about the motives and methods of NURV. He eventually discovers that their employees are extensively monitored and much of the source code for Synapse is stolen from other programmers who are being contractually killed by the company. Hoffman begins a one-man investigation into NURV’s secrets, and by gathering his computer hobbyist friends and an FBI mole inside the company he manages to disrupt Gary Winston’s ultimate goal.
Revolution OS, E-Dreams & Startup.com
Revolution OS, E-Dreams, and Startup.com are all documentary style films. The latter two are about internet startup companies with E-Dreams being real footage that follows the founders of Kozmo.com as they raise money and file for an IPO only to suffer from the .com crash shortly after. Startup.com is a similar concept but it’s based off a fictional story. Revolution OS is an informative documentary about Linux founder Linus Torvalds and the twenty-year history of GNU, Linux, open source, and the free software movement. I recommend all three.
Looking for more must-see computer geek movies? Check out Part 2 of this list.
Create an online portfolio with Carbonmade.com
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 04/20/08 at 09:04:51 pm
My project for this weekend was creating a new portfolio that shows off some of my recent web and graphic design work. While I doubt I’ll actually use the portfolio to gain freelance projects it’s nice to have a spot online to show off a few samples, just like it’s nice to have a resume on hand to outline my work experience.
I stumbled across a portfolio somewhere last week that was using this service called Carbonmade and I guess the cute logo struck my interest because a few minutes later I was working on creating an account for myself. Carbonmade is an innovative concept that allows people to create professional looking portfolios with no HTML or programming experience necessary. It works similar to a photo gallery, you’re able to upload your works and add comments to describe it. Carbonmade offers a free option called the “Meh. Plan” that restricts the user to 5 projects and 35 images. Otherwise the “Whoo! Plan” allows for 50 projects, 500 images, and 10 videos for $12 a month.
The way that this system is set up I could see it being used in a few different ways such as a presentation or a dedicated gallery for family photos and such. I’m not quite finished yet, but you can check out my Carbonmade portfolio here.
Dealerships, a Love/Hate Relationship.
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 04/19/08 at 11:04:19 amWhen you have a used car, no matter how new-ish it may be once you hit a certain point in its lifespan the need for repairs becomes seemingly endless. Lately it seems like I’ve had to bring the minivan in every other week and today was no exception. As stupid as it may sound, I prefer going to the dealership to get repairs done on my vehicle. The problem is I was raised a family that doesn’t believe in car dealerships as a place to bring your car for repair, so I can understand if my family doesn’t understand my preference for a dealership over the honest small town shop.
Everyone knows that the dealership’s labor costs are more than double the local shop and it’s not like I enjoy getting ripped off. I think it’s just the atmosphere and professionalism that the car dealership offers over the local mechanic. I’m a closet yuppie and I just prefer paying a premium price for the same service because I’m treated like I have an endless budget despite it actually being quite the opposite. Some people pay big bucks for VIP passes at a night club, I pay big bucks to have my car worked on in a clean indoor environment with “certified” Dodge mechanics in white jump suits and a $36,000 loaner that I can drive around while they are finding more things to up-sell me on. It’s quite the rush.
In reality I bring my car to the dealership because it’s convenient and I’m too lazy to shop around. I think because of that is why dealerships have such successful service departments, they are able to rip people off because people are so willing to bend over.
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