Jim England

http://www.reddit.com/r/entertainment/comments/8uwc4/ebert_reviews_transformers_i_dont_think_he_liked/c0aibyf

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:09:03 -0400

http://www.reddit.com/r/entertainment/comments/8uwc4/ebert_reviews_transformers_i_dont_think_he_liked/c0aibyf

Startup Legal Documents

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:22:00 -0400

Startup Legal Documents:

Wow check out this stuff

Video

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:53:36 -0400

Funny or die test

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:52:55 -0400

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/225c3c41dd/attack-cardio-with-vinnie-jones

Funny or die test

Spaceman!

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:49:44 -0400

Spaceman!

An Introduction from 35K Feet — TechDrawl

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:15:24 -0400

An Introduction from 35K Feet — TechDrawl

Video

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:08:45 -0400

MLB Gametime Weather Forecast

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:02:00 -0400

As an entry into the Weatherbug API Contest, I have built a MLB Gametime Weather Forecast web page and widget. This small app displays the game information and start time weather forecast for all MLB games.

I have also submitted a modified version on Widgetbox which includes a small widget for all the MLB teams, not just the user’s favorite team.

Entering into an API contest is a great exercise, and I would highly recommend it. In fact, I might be entering Presdo’s API contest in the near future.

Google's Android: Why cell phone companies must embrace their dumb pipe future

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:24:00 -0400

Revolutionary changes are coming to the phone market. The cracks started appearing last year with Apple’s iPhone and its ability to provide full web browsing and a UI that doesn’t frustrate the handset owner. The iPhone has started a movement, but Google’s Android platform, as profiled in an excellent article by Wired, is going to completely change the industry.

Android works not by creating a singular “iPhone killer”, but by allowing the market to have access to an excellent open-source OS that will run on all kinds of cell phones. Companies can then write programs to take advantage of the unique features of an internet-connected smart phone, such as GPS social-networking app Commandro.

Android cuts into the current walled garden cell phone model, where the wireless companies try to keep you locked in based on their own unique features. They limit what applications can run on their networks, and force customers into buying crappy two minute videos and ringtones on their network’s proprietary systems.

The cell phone companies will have to change this model, though, because customers are beginning to get fed up. Expensive plans, obnoxious customer service, and cumbersome features plague the cell phone market. The industry has one of the lowest customer satisfaction rates and is one of the most complained-about industries according to the Better Business Bureau.

Customers want to be able to read web pages, check email, watch video clips, and listen to music, but they don’t want to have to go through Verizon’s or AT&T’s watered-down access points. Sure, they will put up with these inferior versions for a while as a means to an end, but once an open-access alternative is available, the customers will flock towards it. The smaller wireless providers, such as T-Mobile and Sprint, are already moving in this direction. Verizon and AT&T need to see the benefits to Android before it is too late.

If the cell phone market should be opened up as I am suggesting, how should the wireless companies compete? By what they advertise: their networks. This is referred to as dumb pipe, where the operator’s network does not add value beyond bandwidth and network speed. However, I believe that this is an opportunity, for a wireless provider could worry about the two most important features to the customer - wireless network and physical handset - and let the market worry about the rest.

There is plenty room for differentiation in terms of creating a great cell phone design and coupling it with greater access reliability. And even with Android, the companies could still design their own applications for downloading content. These apps would even improve, because they would actually have to compete with the open market. In addition, the wireless providers could strike deals with Google to receive percentages of Google’s advertising dollars for allowing Android onto their networks.

Android is poised to shake up the cell phone market in a very positive way for the consumer. We shall see if Verizon or AT&T jump on board before it becomes too late.

MLB Standings: When RSS is not an option

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:22:00 -0400

In the past few weeks, my friend Mike started a sports blog about the Cleveland Indians called Tribe Opinion. In it, he writes about the team and speculates on possible trades and moves in the lineup. Cleveland sports fans should definitely read his posts; often times, Mike goes into greater detail than the Plain Dealer writers (see Mike’s post on Andy Marte for proof).

For his blog, Mike wanted to have a widget that displayed the standings of the Cleveland Indians as well as their opponents in the Central Division. Naturally, I assumed that this information would be readily available on MLB.com as an RSS feed that I could then quickly integrate into a widget. After a thorough search, however, I found that an RSS feed would be unavailable. This wasn’t that surprising considering the fact that Major League Baseball thinks that they own its player’s statistics and are very strict about their information.

In order to get the standings, I used Snoopy to grab a daily copy of ESPN.com’s MLB standings page, scrape out the information I wanted, place the information into a JavaScript file, and embed the widget onto BlogSpot. You can see the results on Tribe Opinion as well as on the right sidebar of my blog.

“Shoot the Runner” by Kasabian. The coolest music...

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:36:00 -0400

“Shoot the Runner” by Kasabian. The coolest music video I’ve seen in a while.

MIMvista's iPhone Application

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:13:00 -0400

MIMvista, a biomedical imaging company from Cleveland Ohio, just demonstrated their iPhone Application at WWDC 2008. Their application is a touch screen-enabled version of their 3D modeling software, combining X-ray, MRI, and other medical images into a complete view of the patient.

With an obscure company from Cleveland demonstrating a new technology at WWDC, MIMvista’s web page naturally was hammered with traffic and is currently displaying the following:

Due to the high level of traffic we are currently receiving, our normal website is temporarily unavailable.

Still, it is pretty cool to see Cleveland be represented to a large audience and demonstrate the area’s advancement in biomedical technologies.

Columbus Startup Weekend

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:42:00 -0400

Startup Weekend is a high intensity conference where attendees design and implement an online web application in a two day event. Groups of developers, business managers, marketers, and designers collaborate to build their application and present their companies to the other groups.

Columbus will be hosting the first Startup Weekend in Ohio in July. I will be in attendance as a Front End Developer, and I’ll be trying to make a few elevator pitches as well.

I would suggest that any web developers in Ohio take advantage of this opportunity and experience a web development startup environment in person.

Columbus Startup Weekend is hosted by TechColumbus, Sterling Commerce, and dynamIt.