If you're a computer hardware geek, you're going to love this mod. In a nutshell, the guy needed to build a Mac computer for work purposes, disliked Macs, so he built himself a Mac Pro Hackintosh...housed in an Xbox case.

Watch and enjoy.

Check out the trailer for Collapse, a documentary that pinpoints how we're on a precarious precipice and it's up to us whether we fall or stand. There's a few things I love about this video:

1. Amazing disintegrating fonts.
2. It's a a "horror documentary".
3. Michael Ruppert - he's like a film noir superhero journalist.
4. "It's not that Bernie Madoff was a pyramid scheme, the whole economy is a pyramid scheme" [a great quote]

Enjoy!

Here's a cool National Geographic video I found via reddit.

Quite amazing the interaction the seal had with the cameraman.

If you don't already know, I am a huge fan of the superb science-fiction show Battlestar Galactica. I am also a huge fan of the social voting site reddit. While browsing through the latest stories this morning, I came across this comment about Battlestar Galactica in reverse.

Simply put, it adds a whole new level of depth and brilliance to the already amazing show.

20 hours ago, reddit commenter Lurking_Grue wrote:

I think I need to go watch Battlestar Galactica backwards.

1 hour later, reddit commenter Taciturn brilliantly responded:

WARNING: Spoilers lie ahead.

If you watch Battlestar Galactica backwards, it's a story about a ship called "Galactica" coming out of retirement to lead humanity to a new home, where it is retired. The people have to abandon their home planet to spend some time farming mud on "New Caprica," then they find a beautiful new place to live.

Roslin becomes president, then she's a schoolteacher for a while, then she's president again. She has cancer, it goes away, then comes back. Then she doesn't have to worry about it anymore.

The president has an assistant who gets killed by a cylon-hater. She gets a new assistant who gets killed by a cylon-hater.

SURPRISE!, Tigh's wife comes back! Then he kills her. Then SURPRISE!, she comes back!

Adama is very sad because the woman he loved died... but he falls in love again. Then he's very sad, because the woman he loved died.
Baltar works on a farm, but then he becomes a famous scientist before working on a farm again.

Lee and Starbuck try to have an affair, but it's really awkward, because Starbuck's already in a serious relationship. She gets married. Then Starbuck and Lee try to have an affair, but it's really awkward, because she's already in a serious relationship.

In the first episode you'll wonder when they're going to explain ChipSix. In the last episode you'll still be wondering that.

Also, if you watch the series forwards, the same stuff happens.

My jaw is on the floor and my mind is now properly blown.

The prominent line of the series, "All this has happened before, and all this will happen again" suddenly makes a ton of sense and really makes every step of the storyline fall into place and seem pre-ordained.

Well done reddit and well done Battlestar Galatica writers.

Artwork credit: Chris Bis | CC-NC-ND 2.0

You might not know it from reading this blog, but I'm very intrigued in the overlap of science and arts. While on the surface they seem to be completely unrelated, in practice logic and creativity tend to combine together in both areas. In my mind, Einstein's theories are artistic just like Picasso's paintings are scientific. Neither are about randomly creating something out of intuition, nor are they solely focused on following an algorithm to success.

It's why I love web media. Designing and developing a web-site (or crafting copy, or implementing SEO, etc.) requires creativity and logic. Principles like the Golden Ratio and the Mandelbrot set show that it isn't a coincidence, but that nature is a mix of art and science and that the two fields are a lot more related than they appear.

In this video, Music is Math, Glenn Marshall uses a processing program to automatically interpret notes from Boards of Canada song and translate them into animated visual effects that are gorgeous and flow with the song. It's a perfect example of something that many people consider an art form, but is heavily reliant on math at its core. So, the question becomes, should we start viewing rock stars as math geeks and math geeks as rock stars?

Remember the Birdy Nam Nam video I posted here a little while back? Well, here's another awesome animation video by the same guy and his team. This video is called Exos and dare I say is even more wierd and even more aweomse than the video for Parachute Ending!

Check it out:

Exos from Steve Scott on Vimeo.

Yes Mr. Dave Brown, Denver's photographer extraordinaire, I'm still excited about being able to post full-size videos here!

Just read an article in The Boston Globe about Hulu, internet TV and our "multitasking culture". In the piece, Matthew Gilbert muses about streaming TV shows and how it's so different from watching shows on a regular television set. Amongst his complaints are that you can't watch internet TV from the comfort of your couch and the computer is an anti-social work device, not well suited for TV watching. Clearly, Mr. Gilbert has never heard of external computer monitors and obviously does not realize that many us now have large widescreen monitors that are capable of displaying a higher resolution than even the baddest of HDTV sets.

Living on the Edge

As an internet TV evangelist and huge fan of Hulu I had to set Mr. Gilbert straight. Yes, as you've likely realized I own a 24" SoYo widescreen monitor that I picked up for less than $300 at Office Max. Since scooping up this relatively decent monitor at bargain basement prices, I've tossed my television set and view 95% of my television via my computer. On my couch. With an Apple remote in hand (tied into Sofa Control) for maximum sloth effect.

According to Mr. Gilbert, I'm living on the edge of technology, blazing a path through the streaming TV frontier.

We live in that in-between moment when our TV screens and computer screens are still in separate locations - literally and psychologically. Maybe you, like me, have a tech-savvy friend who has already connected his HDTV to his laptop and streams TV shows from the couch; but most of us still have designated screens. That means the people who are watching TV online are doing so at their desks, or in "desk mode."

Yes, it is immensely difficult to connect a laptop to an external monitor (HDTV included). Even more difficult, is googling for "hook up laptop to HDTV". That simple search drained my technological prowess so much I may not be able to finish this post.

The Future is the Now

The crux of Gilbert's article is that top quality shows deserve to be watched in our living rooms on traditional television sets. Let's put aside that all of that is already possible via streaming video from the internet. He states that when we watch shows on our television sets we give more of our attention to the show, which the show's creators deserve. Well, I actually devote more attention to a show when watching the online version.

Here's why:

• Less commercials.

An obvious but when there's less commercials the show gets more of my attention span.

• Laptop is devoted to video, can't browse and watch.

Since my laptop is hooked up to my external monitor, I can't have it sitting in my lap browsing the web while watching TV (though, there is the iPhone, but it interferes with my computer speakers so no deal).

• Can pause easily.

If the phone rings or I need to go use the bathroom or get the urge for a sandwich, I can easily pause my internet TV, take care of business and come back and hop right back in. Sure there's DVR but with internet TV this capability is built-in.

• Can share easily.

If I'm watching a great show, I don't need to call my buddies and tell them that they have got to watch this episode. Instead, I can finish watching and then send them a link afterwards.

• Recommendations.

I don't waste my time looking for new shows online. Instead I let Hulu's built in recommendation do the job for me. It's not perfect but that's where applications like Glue step in to give me personal recommendations based on my likes from people I share similar interests with (more to come on Glue soon, if you already have Glue my username is AdamP). Easily finding the next show to watch keeps me engaged instead of mindlessly flipping through channels.

When stuck watching traditional TV (mostly for sporting events), I find my mind drifts and wanders and I actually pay a lot less attention to whatever is on. I am relatively tech-savvy and skew pretty high on the geek radar amongst most of my friends, but honestly connecting your laptop to your TV is not that difficult.

The future is now. Internet TV will only continue to increase in viewership. There's already a large number of baby boomers using Hulu. It's only a matter of time before we're all streaming video into our living rooms, iPhones and virtually anywhere via the internet. It's already possible, today. It's just a matter of doing a little bit of research and connecting a few wires and devices and you too can be on the bleeding edge of internet TV.

Do you pay more or less attention to shows when viewing them online? Have you hooked up your computer to an external monitor (computer or TV)? What's your preferred way of viewing the boob tube?

Last night, Boston sports was in full swing with the Bruins, Celtics and Red Sox all playing at the same time. It was worth it, as all three teams won, completing a Mother's Day Sweep. This concurrence of Boston sports made me miss Family Guy, and it turns out it was a great episode. But, thanks to Hulu, I got to watch it today. I've written before that I think The Shawshank Redemption is the greatest movie of all-time so last night's Family guy was extra special as they ran a parody of three Stephen King books, including The Shawshank Redemption.

I won't ruin any spoilers for you but rest assured it's a fantastic episode full of funny moments. Watch the episode, Three Kings, in full below via Hulu (full screen option becomes available after the initial commercial. The Shawshank Redemption parody comes in the third section of the show.

What did you think of this Family Guy episode? Will Stephen King sue them?

Check out this music video by Carly Comando for the song Everyday. Many of you NBA fans probably know the song from all those The NBA: Where Amazing Happens commercials. It's very chilling and powerful.

Wicked epic song. Makes sense the NBA would use it because it makes me want to walk around doing epic things with this song playing in the background. The piano, where amazing really happens!

Be prepared for it to get real dusty wherever you are. I logged into my facebook account earlier and saw a shared video link from Mona. Since she usually shares awesome links I clicked through and was blown away. The link was to a Gizmodo post titled Best Video I've Seen Today Will Make You Smile, which featured a video from street musician Roger Ridley. He basically travelled the world recording street musicians covering a song and then adding other musicians to the base track. The first video I saw from this movement/documentary, called Playing for Change: Peace Through Music, was a global collaborative cover of the Ben. E King song Stand By Me. It was so amazingly well done I immediately started looking for more songs from Playing for Change.

Standy By Me

As Jesus from Gizmodo said, if that video doesn't make you shed a tear or smile then there's something wrong with you. Check to see if your heart is still beating because this song is simply beautiful but deeply powerful. Wow.

One Love

Don't Worry

War/No More Trouble

Did it get dusty wherever you are? Or are you smiling big and bright?