All about san diego

November Critical Mass, San diego

Autres Sports - San Diego écrase Oakland

NFL in 3D: Good technology overcomes bad entertainment

Engadget

- 8 hours and 11 minutes ago

div align="center"img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadgethd.com/media/2008/11/11-24-08-3d-glasses-movie.jpg" alt="" /br //div Simmer down athletic supports, we didn't just call your beloved NFL boring. But Thursday night's matchup between the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers wasn't going to generate emthis much/em interest on its own. As described by the LA Times who attended the a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/24/live-nfl-broadcast-to-air-in-3d-as-proof-of-concept/"3D broadcast of Thursday night's "football" game/a at Burbank's a href="http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/15/3ality-digital-performs-live-3d-broadcast-at-nab/"3ality Digital/a cinema, br /blockquote"The experience wasn't jaw-dropping, but it was noticeably better than a conventional broadcast. The game was drama-free, yet the novelty of 3D made it hard for me to take my eyes off the screen... The effect was subtle at times, but just as compelling as in "U2 3D," 3ality's concert film of the Irish rockers. The most striking thing in both cases was how much more you could see in three dimensions than in two."br //blockquoteThe event wasn't glitch free, however. Two hiccups caused the satellite feeds to go black in Boston, New York, and LA. and a few quick camera pans and poorly executed transitions had viewers convulsing behind their polarized glasses. As a proof of concept though, viewers generally seemed impressed which means a href="http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/03/19/fsn-southwest-preps-first-nba-regular-season-3d-broadcast/"more of this/a in a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/03/bcs-championship-game-live-3d-broadcast-coming-to-ces-movie-the/"in the future/a.br /br /[Via a href="http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081205/ap_on_hi_te/nfl3d"Yahoo/a]pFiled under: a href="http://www.engadget.com/category/hdtv/" rel="tag"HDTV/a, a href="http://www.engadget.com/category/homeentertainment/" rel="tag"Home Entertainment/a/pp style="padding:5px;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/05/nfl-in-3d-good-technology-overcomes-bad-entertainment/"NFL in 3D: Good technology overcomes bad entertainment/a originally appeared on a href="http://www.engadget.com"Engadget/a on Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:01:00 EST. Please see our a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/"terms for use of feeds/a./ph6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/h6a href=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/12/the-nfl-live-an.htmlRead/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/05/nfl-in-3d-good-technology-overcomes-bad-entertainment/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"Permalink/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.engadget.com/forward/1392097/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"Email this/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/05/nfl-in-3d-good-technology-overcomes-bad-entertainment/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"Comments/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/WiBMrEgRQDS9f9luHrx-LILoMI8/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/WiBMrEgRQDS9f9luHrx-LILoMI8/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/engadget?a=rvTAmvnB"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/engadget?i=rvTAmvnB" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/engadget?a=oLiwkKdy"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/engadget?i=oLiwkKdy" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~4/ki3xwox-gxg" height="1" width="1"/

Add a comment

proof,cameras,southwest,email,margins

First NFL game in 3-D fumbles, then recovers

LT, Rivers lead Chargers to 34-7 win over Raiders

How happiness can be catching

Guardian Unlimited

- 13 hours and 48 minutes ago

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/35250?ns=guardianpageName=Society%3A+How+happiness+can+be+catchingch=Societyc3=The+Guardianc4=Health+%28Society%29%2CSociety%2CUK+newsc5=Society+Weekly%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CHealth+Societyc6=Sarah+Boseleyc7=2008_12_05c8=1129263c9=articlec10=GUc11=Societyc12=Healthc13=c14=h2=GU%2FSociety%2FHealth" width="1" height="1" //divpHappiness is catching, new research has confirmed, and depends on how cheerful about life your friends feel./ppHappiness is spread through social networks and exists in clusters of close friends and neighbours, according to a study published today in the British Medical Journal. Being around happy people at work does not help, the research found... - happiness is most contagious in your street. Living next door to somebody who becomes happy can increase your own chances of happiness by 34%./ppThe research was carried out by academics from the University of California in San Diego, who used data from the Framingham heart study in Massachussetts, which has been going since 1948. Most of the children and many of the grandchildren of the original participants are regularly monitored to establish the state of their health./ppProfessors Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler have carried out research on the impact of social networks on other aspects of health and found that they influence obesity and smoking habits. The current study was designed to find out whether happiness is peculiar to an individual or dependent on the people around him or her. /ppThe researchers assessed the happiness of people (whom they termed egos) and their friends, neighbours and relations (alters). They asked whether they agreed or disagreed with four statements relating to the previous week: "I felt hopeful about the future," "I was happy," "I enjoyed life," "I felt that I was just as good as other people." Happiness was a perfect score in all four. The academics found it does not matter how many friends you have. /pp"Having additional social contacts is helpful to the ego's happiness only if the extra social contacts are happy themselves," said Chistakis and Fowler. What is important is how happy your friends are and how close to you they live./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/health"Health/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/IJrIG_mvYf6Frnz9QCzYj3M8zlk/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/IJrIG_mvYf6Frnz9QCzYj3M8zlk/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

Add a comment

hopeful,margins,obesity,grandchildren,heart

Live NFL football goes 3-D tonight for the first time

Circle of Moms: Connect and Shop With Social Media Moms Like You

Mashable!

- 18 hours and 11 minutes ago

Jennifer Van Grove is a Social Media Strategist. She authors a blog about San Diego, technology, startups and social media at JenniferVanGrove.com.

Circle of Moms is a social network publicly debuting today for online moms looking to connect with other moms. With an already active community of 850,000+ members, Circle of Moms is your typical destination social network site, with features including photos and video, user-created groups, a LinkedIn-like Q&A section, virtual gifts, and of course user profiles where moms can input profiles of their kids to create a more dynamic site experience.

Just Another Mommy and Me Network?

In many ways, Circle of Moms simply recycles social network standby features. The 1,000 plus communities look and feel similar to Facebook groups, and they’re also reminiscent of similar highly-targeted communities already thriving on CafeMom.

The Stay at Home Moms community, however, is incredibly active for a group born just one month ago. This particular community boasts 41,188 members who are contributing questions, comments, and engaging online at a high frequency; there are currently 842 conversation threads in this community alone.

Cosmetically speaking, the overall look and feel of Circle of Moms is pretty underwhelming. The site is bland and is in desperate need of a face-lift, and the text ads certainly don’t add any pizazz to the sparse design. Appearances aside, however, Circle of Moms has a few mommy-specific gems worthy of mention.

Mommy Influencers: Community Evangelists and Brand Advocates

I spent a few minutes chatting with Ephraim Luft, CEO, to talk about Circle of Moms impressive growth since their initial launch in October of 2008. According to Luft, all 850,000 members are a direct result of 100% viral growth made possible through the Facebook application and core site invite features.

Luft went on to mention that he and his team have spent countless hours developing relationships with influencer moms who are members of the site. These moms have then gone out and spread the word to their communities, making the site impressively active and rewarding for all those moms who want to connect and solve the challenges of motherhood together. In addition to the respectable member base, Luft asserts that there are over 700,000 child profiles each with child-specific data, including date of birth, that help make each mother’s experience on the site completely unique to her own needs.

Luft and team have also conducted research on mom behaviors both onsite and off; they discovered that not only are moms more likely to trust the opinions of other moms, but they’re also motivated to have brand-specific conversations on products and services related to their children. These conversations, which are already happening (just glance at the search results for Gerber), create a ripe playground that allows for custom brand advertising opportunities with chatty moms. Circle of Moms will officially launch their first brand sponsorship next week, and Luft believes this will be the first of many mutually beneficial brand sponsorships to follow.

Niche Social Shopping at its Best

Circle of Moms also has enormous potential to outshine the tried-and-true hot mommy communities like CafeMom, with their incorporation of an extremely useful gift recommendation engine that brings social shopping to a powerful purchasing communityâ€”moms.

As a would-be mom, I dreamed up a baby named Jean Peck who painlessly came into my life in August 2008. When I navigated to the gifts section of the website, I found a few products recommended for my child, some with user-ratings, and all of which I could either ask my Circle of Moms communities about or immediately purchase from Amazon.com.

Just introduced last week, the gifts section offers moms the convenience of using their network to tackle the challenges associated with purchase decisions. Luft said that the section was introduced because he noticed that much of the conversations happening onsite were centered around product reviews. In the future, Circle of Moms plans to incorporate social shopping elements across the web property and allow for user wish-lists.

Real Moms, What Do You Think?

Not being an actual mom myself, it’s hard for me to review the actual content on the site. I’m certainly impressed by the activity level of the community members, and their willingness to embrace me and my questions. But, moms, does this site solve your motherhood-related challenges? Are you already using the site? What do you love or hate about it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

---
Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web:

Windows Live Launching Niche for Moms
Don’t Send Bac’n: Use TwitterSearch
Mom Central Empowers Moms and Tests Products for Companies
MomJunction, Another “MySpace for Moms”, Raises $1.5 Million
CafeMom Gets $5M in Latest Round of Funding
MommyBuzz Launches MySpace for Moms
MothersClick is Live

Add a comment

threads,purchase decisions,initials,chatting,startups

HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Google Maps

Mashable!

- 23 hours and 17 minutes ago

Jennifer Van Grove is a Social Media Strategist. She authors a blog about San Diego, technology, startups and social media at JenniferVanGrove.com.

Google Maps has become the standard mapping utility for everything from getting directions and finding nearby food options to viewing the surface of the moon. Are you getting the most out of your Google Maps experience? Keep reading to get some helpful hints on how to maximize (or minimize) all your mapping desires.

Make sure to leave us a comment and let us know about the Google Maps mashups, tips, and tweaks you love.

The Basics Search

Be specific. You’ll find what you’re looking for if you type exactly what it is you want to map. If you’re looking for gas stations, which is especially handy when using the mobile version on the road, just type “gas.” Based on your present view (city, state, zip etc), you’ll see gas stations pop up in the same vicinity. Once you’ve clicked on a specific location you can get directions, search nearby, save for later, or edit the location by either flagging it as inappropriate, moving it, or claiming it as your own business.

Don’t forget to drag the little man icon onto the map for street view (where available), or select “More” to view photos and/or wikipedia entries associated with your search.

Keyboard Shortcuts

You can use your keyboard’s arrow keys to move your view slightly North (up arrow), South (down arrow), East (right arrow), or West (left arrow).

For a bigger jump, use the page up and page down keys to dramatically move North and South. The home key will jump West and the end key will help you navigate further East.

Likewise, the + key will zoom in and the - key will zoom out. You can also zoom in and out with a mouse or the two finger touch (up and down) on a Mac. Simple right?

Advanced Tricks Map an Exact Intersection

Should you choose to map a specific intersection without street numbers, simply type “STREET1 at STREET2, CITY, STATE” for a map of that intersection.

Use Extensions

There’s a variety of Firefox extensions that you can install to make your mapping mission a little more seamless.

I personally prefer Ubiquity for my mapping shortcuts. You can select an address on any page, initiate the Ubiquity command screen, qualify your query with “map,” adjust the map to your liking, and insert it in an email. Love it!

Reference API Tutorials

Should you choose to leverage the API to create your own concoctions, you might want to reference both the Google Maps API Tutorial, and Google Map Parameters mapki to the get the most out of your mashup.

More Advanced Tricks

The PCMechanic video below has a few handy tips for using Google Maps, including configuring Firefox for quick access to google maps (:30), using saved locations (1:12), and finding latitude/longitude coordinates (1:55).

Maptastic Mashups

One of the coolest things about Google Maps is that users can create and submit their own custom maps, which means you can have immediate access to these super cool mashups simply by clicking “My Maps” (it’s right next to “Get Directions”). Think of this area as your own online map community. It’s where you can find your saved places, search in-between destinations, and browse pretty useful utilities from weather information to disaster-related maps.

Search in-between

Search in-between is so simple, but so incredibly useful. Just add it your maps, select it, type in exactly what you want (like “gas”), add the two location end points, and you’ll get a map of all the gas stations on your route. This is an especially convenient app for road trips (I used the search in-between feature on my two cross-country drives, it really comes in handy when navigating unfamiliar territories).

Plus, if you have an iPhone you can utilize the iPhoneSender Safari bookmarklet or Firefox extension to save all your fabulous search queries and send them via email, with a phone-friendly link, for safe keeping and easy access on the go.

GasBuddy

GasBuddy, from GasBuddy.com, is a featured mashup that lets you type in the city, state, or zip where you want to search for gas prices and locations. It’s another standby for me. Cheap gas is a godsend in this economy, and GasBuddy is my little angel.

Places of Interest

Places of Interest is another nifty little tool that maps pretty much anything of interest including bars, ATMs, food (by food type), and even places of worship. This custom map supports viewing of up to 5 different options at one time.

The action-sports enthusiast may enjoy Outdoor tracks by GPSies.com, which includes custom maps for a variety of activities including hiking and jogging trails, geocaching locales, and maps for more intense adventure seekers interested in climbing, mountain biking, and winter sports.

Google Moon

For the moon walker in you, there’s always Google Moon. With geologic and topographic charts, and elevation options, you’ll feel like a real universe aficionado.

Mashups You Love

I always poll my smart and savvy Twitter network when I need to find the best in web-related goodies. They recommend:

HousingMaps.com

A clever little mashup, HousingMaps.com shows Craigslist listings across the country. Users can filter by city, price, housing type, listings with pictures, and any additional keywords. The end result is a detailed map with housing options side-by-side with a color coded text list. (Recommended by @searchguru)

Gmaps Pedometer

Gmaps Pedometer is a simple site that lets you calculate the distance between specific points you plot on the map. You can turn mile markers, elevation, and the calorie counter on or off based on your personal needs. In addition, you can save your favorite routes for future reference. (Recommended by @shanehale7 & @CatherineLarsen)

Robocall Tracker

The Twitter Robocall Tracker: Map of Robocalls is a mashup of a variety of open APIs with the purpose of plotting reported robocalls (you know those annoying prerecorded calls you can’t avoid). Users can report a call, view other reported calls by locale, and listen to the actual audio from a handful of reported calls. All reported incidents are screened and associated with the name of the Twitter user who submitted the original report. (Created by @EndTheRoboCalls)

Mobile Map Goodness

The beauty of Google Maps is that you’re not restricted to browsing at home. Google Maps for mobile works on a wide variety of phones including the iPhone, and all phones with Windows Mobile and Android operating systems. The mobile version supports a majority of the standard Google Maps functionality including My Location (regardless of whether or not your phone has GPS), Street View, Directions (public transit), walking, or driving, Business Listings, and Traffic information.

Wikitude AR Travel Guide for Android

G1 owners (and future Android users) have the added bonus of being able to play with Wikitude AR Travel Guide, an augmented reality app with location-based Wikipedia content. I haven’t had the opportunity to test it, but according to their website, one bonus is that “users may hold the phone’s camera against a spectacular mountain range and see the names and heights displayed as overlay mapped with the mountains in the camera.” Check out the video below for a really neat peek at what this app can do. Um yeah, can I get that on my iPhone please?!?

Now It’s Your Turn…

Tell us about the mashups you use, the tricks you live by, and the tweaks that make you weak in the knees.

---
Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web:

Google Maps Hangs Up on Click-to-Call
Google Offers Easy Embed Code for Maps
Custom Icons for Google Maps
Google Maps in (Almost) 3D
Visualize Recent Edits to Google Maps
AdSense is Coming to Google Maps
Google Maps Street View

Add a comment

supers,cameras,sports,economy,iphone

Staten Island Firefighter Wins $3.75M in Anti-Gay Abuse Settlement

Comics Should Be Good Mailbag for 12/3

Comics Should Be Good!

- 1 days and 7 hours ago

Here’s the latest installment of a weekly reader interactive segment on the blog, where I answer reader-submitted e-mails to bcronin@comicbookresources.com (and other e-mails that don’t require responses).

Enjoy!

Mailbag entries were a bit slim this week - it was almost as if people were spending the Thanksgiving holiday with their families rather than sending me mailbag entries - how dare they!!

Friendly publicist David got me hip to a cool new thing NBM is doing - a blog for all NBM’s comic creators! And since NBM has such awesome people as Rick Geary, Neil Kleid, Ted Rall and Lewis Trondheim, that’s a pretty sweet sounding blog!

Check it out here.
________________________________________________

Some new podcast called the Handsome Genius Club sent me a link to their podcast site. Here it is!
________________________________________________

ed!=Awesome! took issue with the #1 fight on the Top 25 Comic Book Battles, and sent me a link from his website where he explains why Batman could never defeat Superman. Here is the link. I think he seemed to believe that I picked the results myself - I did not - they were voted on by you, the readers!
________________________________________________

Our favorite young comic book hopeful, Chris Jones, wrote in to show some pages from the comic he is shopping around:

I talk a lot about the comic I’m working on, and I’d figure you might want to know what it WAS, and make sure that I wasn’t just pissing into the wind with flights of fancy.

Well, here are the first couple of scripts, and some art for the second issue, drawn by the wonderful Serena Guerra. If you think it’s worth showing off on the blog or in the letters section, you can do that, or don’t if you think it’s garbage, or simply choose to ignore the whole thing. Enjoy!

It’s not like I have a lot of other letters here, Chris, so sure, let’s show everyone your comic!

________________________________________________

Comic book blog Destructo Co. is doing a holiday scavenger hunt to benefit Hero Initiative!

Here’s what they’re doing:

Here’s how ComiXmas works: On Saturday, December 13, 2008 at 12:00 pm (CST) Destructo Co. will post our Xmas Wish List containing a combination of 12 Hidden Items and Trivia Questions online. You have 24 hours to collect as many of the hidden items and answer as many of the trivia questions as you can. One of the items participants must supply is proof of their donation to The Hero Initiative in the amount of at least $1. The first participant to submit the most correct items and answers to comixmas@destructoco.com (email must contain “ComiXmas List” in the subject line) before 12:00 pm (CST) on December 14, 2008 wins a grand prize of 12 FREE COMIC BOOK SUBSCRIPTIONS from Marvel, DC or a combination of both. All proceeds from the event will go to benefit The Hero Initiative. Contact Destructo Co. at ComiXmas@destructoco.com with any questions. See the Official Rules for complete details before participating.

That’s about it, but in case you were wondering, you don’t have to participate in the scavenger hunt to donate. Every little bit helps. Good luck and thanks for your support!

Happy Holidays! - The Destructo Co. Staff

Check out their site here for more details.
________________________________________________

Good ol’ Bright-Raven is having a holiday sale at his DeviantArt website! Some pretty darn cheap prices there! Check it out here.
________________________________________________

The nice publicist Margaret wrote in to remind folks about IDW’s big Customer Appreciation sale!

DECEMBER 6, 10 AM - 3 PM. The sale will be held in IDW’s parking lot, 5080 Santa Fe St, San Diego, CA 92109.
________________________________________________

Another nice publicist, Margot, showed me this neat Wanted game.

I used it to create the following…

Click Here To See My Video

____________________________________

That’s it for this week!

Send more e-mails!

If you do, be sure to send me an e-mail to bcronin@comicbookresources.com with the subject heading “Mailbag” if you want to be included in next week’s mailbag!

Add a comment

proof,email,hopeful,blog,comic