You have GOT to be kidding me.

OK, as much as I am an Apple Evangelist through and through and it pains me to even talk about Windows on this site, I just had to put this out there. I am not sure how exactly I got to this site, or found this link, but I just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it.

This is a childrens book entitled "Mommy, Why is there a server in the house?" promoting Windows Home Server. You just have to see this and read it for yourself. Fully illustrated the book delivers lines like; "Big people have a server at the 'office'. The office is a boring place where big people go and do boring things. Offices are why big people get grumpy and say bad words."

Hello, this is the funniest thing Windows has put out since Vista.

Check it out at http://www.stayathomeserver.com/book.aspx 

Meet your new spokesmodel

OK, I just have to say, when I first saw this I vacillated between being intrigued, and absolutely creeped out. This is very interesting technology, and seeing it side by side really shows the impact. Facial expressions are so difficult to achieve in animation, getting the eyes, eye brows, and mouth all syncing at the right time to achieve that lifelike state.

 So, what good is the technology if you aren't an all out animator? Well, I think there is potential for this technology to be utilized in marketing of products to particular audiences, including children. Want a spokesmodel for a childs product that never grows up, shaves their head or gets pregnant before they can leagally vote? Why not.

I think the possibilites are endless and love to see the progress that has been made in digital animation over the years, although I am not an animator, you can still appreciate the work and technique that goes into creating such a detailed and dynamic piece of work.

Check out the site at http://www.image-metrics.com/ 

Looking for options?

Looking for options......if you are looking for word processing options for your MAC or an alternative to Microsoft Office, you should check out: www.neooffice.org

NeoOffice is a fully-featured set of office applications (including word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and drawing programs) for Mac OS X.

Based on the OpenOffice.org office suite, NeoOffice incorporates dozens of native Mac features and can import, edit, and exchange files with other popular office programs such as Microsoft Office.

Unlike the Mac OS X release of OpenOffice.org, NeoOffice does not require the X11 windowing system.

Released as free, open-source software under the GNU General Public License (GPL), NeoOffice is fully functional and stable enough for everyday use. The software is actively developed, and updates and improvements are available on a regular basis.

Here are some key features of "NeoOffice J":

• Uses the Native Mac OS X Spellchecker
• Unlike OpenOffice.org, NeoOffice has an enhanced spellchecker that uses the Mac OS X spellchecking dictionary. With this enhanced spellchecker, users no longer need to download and install spellchecking dictionaries if Mac OS X already has a dictionary for their language.
• Uses the Native Mac OS X Address Book
• NeoOffice has included the ability to use the Mac OS X address book as a data source. This feature, which was developed by OpenOffice.org, is expected to be in their OpenOffice.org 2.3 release.
• Handles Most Microsoft Office 2007 Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Files
• NeoOffice includes the ODF Add-in for Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The ODF Add-in is an open source project that makes it possible for NeoOffice to open, edit, and save most files in the Office 2007 Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats. This feature is not available in current Mac versions of Microsoft Office and will not be available until Office 2008 for the Mac is released.
• Handles Macros in Excel Files
• NeoOffice includes the Excel macro support developed by Novell's ooo-build project. The ooo-build project is an open source project that continually develops feature enhancements to OpenOffice.org.
• Aqua Unlike OpenOffice.org, NeoOffice has native Aqua menus, file open and save dialogs, print dialogs, buttons, scrollbars, and many other native Aqua user interface elements.
• No X11 software required NeoOffice uses the Java technology that is built into Mac OS X. By using Java, there is no need to download and install the X11 software that OpenOffice.org requires.
• Uses Mac OS X fonts
• Unlike OpenOffice.org, NeoOffice uses the same fonts that all of your other Mac OS X applications use. This means that NeoOffice will handle reading and writing of Western European characters (e.g. characters with accents, umlauts, circumflexes, cedillas, etc.) and some fonts will even handle Japanese, Chinese, and Korean ideographs. Also, NeoOffice is able to use any fonts that you install using the /Applications/Font Book application.
• Handles international keyboards
• Unlike OpenOffice.org, NeoOffice will use any keyboard layout that you use. Also, if you switch your keyboard layout while NeoOffice is running, NeoOffice will automatically switch as well.
• Native printing support
• NeoOffice supports printing using Mac OS X's native printing functionality. Like other Mac OS X applications, you can use NeoOffice to print, preview, or save a document to a PDF file.
• Native copy and paste support
• NeoOffice supports copying and pasting using Mac OS X's native clipboard so you can copy and paste text and images between NeoOffice and other Mac OS X applications.
• Native drag-and-drop support
• NeoOffice supports native drag-and-drop so you can drag and drop text and images between NeoOffice and other Mac OS X applications.

Requirements:

• 512 MB of memory
• 400 MB of free disk space.

Website Address: http://www.neooffice.org
image source: NeoOffice website

Braden Kuznia
Assistant Director of Event Services at Comstock Memorial Union
on the campus of Minnesota State University Moorhead
www.bradenkuznia.com