Tony's Thoughts

One of the first 3D computer animations

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 19:30:42 -0500

One of the first 3D computer animations:

Created by Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull while a student University of Utah.

Choosing Apple

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 20:23:19 -0500

I remember when we were debating whether to use Macs for our high school laptop program that there was some concern about Apple’s long term viability: http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/19/technology/apple_q3_earnings/index.htm?hpt=hp_t2

UPDATED with better video: I have never been a big fan of Lady...

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 19:27:00 -0500

UPDATED with better video: I have never been a big fan of Lady Gaga feeling that most of her songs were Madonna rehashed and had an overly produced sound. However, I have to give her talent credit where it is due. This solo performance on the Stern show kind of blew me away. Unfortunately the clip doesn’t have the back story of the song regarding the passing of her grandfather. The story just added to the emotion of the performance. (The clip must have been recorded along with the sounds of a computer because a couple times some AIM client sounds pop up).

Reading the latest from Shirky

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 16:30:16 -0500

Reading the latest from Shirky

Have to say it turned into a very nice day here in Syracuse.

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 15:27:38 -0500

Have to say it turned into a very nice day here in Syracuse.

Main fountain garden

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 11:03:45 -0500

Main fountain garden

Italian water garden.

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 09:35:43 -0500

Italian water garden.

Birthday visit to Longwood Gardens.

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 09:14:08 -0500

Birthday visit to Longwood Gardens.

Time to taste test the sauce for my birthday lasagna.

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:45:12 -0500

Time to taste test the sauce for my birthday lasagna.

Aftermath of summer vacation activity. Mowing my mom’s...

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:59:04 -0500

Aftermath of summer vacation activity. Mowing my mom’s lawn is only small payback for her massive spring break cleaning of my apartment.

Made sure to stop by and say hi to Philbert during my reading...

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:01:44 -0500

Made sure to stop by and say hi to Philbert during my reading terminal market visit.

Golfing with mom and Joe. Should be interesting.

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 12:57:15 -0500

Golfing with mom and Joe. Should be interesting.

Are We Irrelevant?

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 12:11:20 -0500

Are We Irrelevant?:

willrichardson:

Today is turning out to be Scott McLeod day here on my Tumblr page. It’s hard to argue with this:

We know, simply from projecting current trends forward, that in the future our learning will be even more digital, more mobile, and more multimedia than it is now. It will be more networked and…

Saw this on a friend’s (@wysz) twitter feed. Cracked me...

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 08:53:17 -0500

Saw this on a friend’s (@wysz) twitter feed. Cracked me up.

Nothing like coming home and grabbing a couple slices of pizza.

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 14:33:20 -0500

Nothing like coming home and grabbing a couple slices of pizza.

Enjoyed Jon Stewart’s full interview on Fox News, but I...

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 18:36:00 -0500

Enjoyed Jon Stewart’s full interview on Fox News, but I think his post-interview segment was even better.

OS X Lion for Education

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 14:11:00 -0500

Apple finally put IT director’s minds at ease with the release of information regarding how they will distribute OS X Lion for organizations that manage numerous Macs. You can read the full details here. Essentially educational organizations will be able to buy licenses that include OS X, iLife and iWork starting at $39 per license for 25 licenses. My hope is that this means they are offering options beyond the Apple Education Licensing Program that was not financially viable for the way we run our laptop program at the high school. Because we replaced our students laptops after two years we were already getting the the most up to date version of iLife and OS X. Having to cover those on a yearly basis did not make much sense.

When a license is purchased the school will get a code that can be redeemed on the Mac App Store. This code will download a version of the OS X Lion installer that then can be used to upgrade the appropriate number of devices (looks like they are using the honor system). In addition IT staff can continue to use the imaging technologies that might already be in place such as NetInstall or NetRestore. Because the installer is an app it also appears that, with ample network bandwidth, you could also push out an install via Apple Remote Desktop. To me this is an accommodating solution for IT and still allows Apple to stick with the Mac App Store only distribution method.

I was surprised to read some threads that have still complained about this method. Many want a full install disc. I can see the point if you have to replace a hard drive where there is no OS currently on the HD. However, for most users, i.e. consumers, the Mac App Store option is very simple and allows for the very low price that Apple is charging for the upgrade. In addition, it appears that there will be a means to create an install disc from the downloaded App. What I don’t understand are the complaints of the few extra steps required by IT staff using the App Store method Apple outlined in their documents. Aren’t we supposed to be the ones that can handle slightly complexities in technology? I’m willing to make that tradeoff if it means an easier user experience for the vast majority of users. Now I just have to figure out how to keep our faculty and students from upgrading to Lion on school owned machines before we are able to adequately support them :)

Giving Tumblr a try

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 13:14:00 -0500

Because of the uncertain future of websites hosted on MobileMe when it transitions to iCloud I have decided to give Tumblr a try as the home of my web presence for the anthonytrumbo.com domain. Also, I didn’t do a damn thing with the site when I moved it to MobileMe so hopefully I will use this to post a few thoughts and at the very least some of my tweets will show up on the page.