National Parkour Day

That's right. Today, June 6th 2009, is the first ever National Parkour Day. So go out and jump on something! (Safely)

Happy Parkour Day, America!!!

Here's a cool video of NoSole demonstrating his mad skillz:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83-v11EauXI


IHasBlog
cwacht.blogspot.com

Google I/O 2009

Google I/O 2009, a massive developer conference hosted by the Google Gods, just took place in the Moscone Center in San Francisco. At this conference, Google unveils some of their newest and biggest projects and developments. Here is nearly 3 hours worth of the youtube goodness that came out of Google I/O 2009:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5aJAaGZIvk


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_UyVmITiYQ&feature=player_embedded

Here is a summary of what is going on in these videos along with the times that things are happening:

Introduction
Google Chrome Experiments showing off the capabilities of the Google Chrome browser.

(5:00)
Dr. Eric Schmidt is the first on the stage he and welcomes everybody to the event. He then stresses that "It's Time to take advantage of the amazing opportunity that is before us." Schmidt talks about changing the web computing models so that it "just works."

(11:55)
Vic Gundotra takes the stage and says "Never Underestimate the web." He goes on to explain how Google Maps was once thought to be impossible but is now commonly used.

He shows several graphs:
Graph of new browsers(faster and more functional)
Graph of # of developers
Graph of browser performance
Graph of users
All graphs go UP over time

Then he explains that Gmail introduced AJAX to the developer community and suddenly they developed many AJAX apps. So, people need to know what is possible.

(18:29)
5 things:

1. Canvas - "defines drawing and animation APIs with pixel level control"
This allows developers to make rich, interactive apps WITH NO PLUGINS. They do some demos of interactive graphic applications and show that there are no plugins. The canvas tag has been implemented across all modern browsers(Chrome, FireFox, Safari, Opera).

(23:24)
O3D - Matt Papakipos introduces Googles open source view of 3D graphics in the browser. It is not yet built into browsers. An API is in progress.

(29:50)
2. Video Tag - makes inserting a video as easy as inserting an image. There are no plugins required. Vic shows some examples of how easy it is to put videos onto a website and how they can be viewed without plugins.

(32:33)
3. Geolocation - Its like having GPS when you only have wifi or cellphone tower signal. Jay Sulivan, vice president from Mozilla, talks about how common APIs across all browsers are VERY IMPORTANT. He demonstrates how geolocation has been implemented in FireFox 3.5. Vic demonstrates how it is implemented on on the iPhone, IN THE BROWSER.

(44:45)
4. Database and App Cache - "store user data and app resources locally." This allows developers to make web apps that can continue to work when there is no connection to the Internet.

(48:11)
Micheal A and Greg talk about Palm and how they will be deploying HTML5 on devices like the Palm Pre.

(52:39)
5. Web Workers - Background processing in the browser. This allows process intensive applications to run smoothly without interrupting other tabs. It allows developers to create powerful and responsive apps.

To summarize those 5 things... The future of web browsers will allow developers to make incredible applications and they will simply work.

(55:50)
Vic introduces Google App Engine and Google Web Toolkit, tools which make developing apps much simpler. Kevin Gibbs discusses Google App Engine saying that it allows developers to use and make apps that run on google servers so developers don't have to deal with the hardware involved in keeping an app running.

(1:00:50)
Andrew Bowers demonstrates how developers can use GWT and AppEngine to write an application in java and compile it into javascript and run it in a browser. Also those applications will work consistently on all popular browsers.

(1:08:52)
runAsync- "developer guided code splitting." It is a simple way to split javascript files. It allows web apps to start up more quickly by decreasing the size of the initial download. Then, the rest of the code downloads in the background while the app is running.

(1:12:52) DeWitt Clinton introduces Google Web Elements, embeddable apps that allow site owners to add applications by simply copying and pasting html code, just like to YouTube videos.

(1:17:25)
Vic starts the discussion of Android and introduces Romain Guy who uses an Android phone to demonstrate a few features of Android. He mainly focuses on the search interface. He also discusses the powerful text to speech feature on Android Doughnut.

(1:24:49)
Vic mentions a few more things:
Android Developer Challenge 2
Everyone in the audience gets a free android phone(Oprah Moment)
Don't miss tomorrows discussion!!!!


That sums up the first video. I'm not going to go into much detail about the second video. Not because I don't want to or because its not as important. Just because I wouldn't know how. You really have to see this for yourself.

It's called Google Wave. It is designed to cover all the boundaries of internet messages. It can carry out the tasks of Instant Messenger, Twitter, Email, and do quite a few other things. Also, the whole thing is open source.

It was developed by Lars and Jens Rasmussen, the creators of Google Maps, so it must be good. In the video they do live demonstrations of a ton of features. If you want to know more, check it out here:
http://wave.google.com/help/wave/about.html


IHasBlog
cwacht.blogspot.com

(B)East Coast

Today is day one of the Big East Coast National Parkour Jam. Its a super awesome fun jam, but I cannot be there today. SADFACE. Instead, I will be celebrating my big sisters graduation from JMU. HAPPY GRADUATIONS MEGS!!! and CONGRATS!

Later in the day, the Beast Coasters will be showcasing some of the coolest parkour videos created by the APK community in what is being called the first ever (B)East Coast Film Festival. It will start at 8:45pm EST on Saturday May 23rd and you can watch it right here!

It will be a very cool show, so tune in around 8:30 to make sure you get a good seat.


http://www.justin.tv/skipperpk


IHasBlog
cwacht.blogspot.com

A Few New Awesome Videos

If you're viewing this as a note on facebook, then you can't see the embedded videos. You should totally visit my blog so you can see EVERYTHING.
LINK:
cwacht.blogspot.com

Jereme Sanders of Texas Parkour brings us this beauty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRVxx5EYUaI


These videos feature Damien Walters and Livewire (Shieff).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWB48NUTPSA


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z40Hy8F7Md8


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MeiwLLZjDo


I think Im going to start putting in a link at the bottom too.
cwacht.blogspot.com

Waiting...

I've been home for a few days and I'm sooooooo bored, but that's my fault entirely. I need to get outside and start doing things. I have a whole list of things to do and Im not getting it done. First, I gotta get my camera fixed so that I may take epic pictures of the (B)EAST COAST Parkour jam in DC this weekend. (B)EAST COST is the Big East Coast jam and it is the first national jam on the list of national jams happening this summer.

So far the only thing that I've done since I got home is watch the new Star Trek film which, BTW, is a very awesome movie and I recomend it to everyone even if you've never heard of Star Trek. Also, I would like to mention the presence of R2-D2, a poplular Star Wars character in Star Trek. The next time I see this movie, I'm going to be looking for him.

The rest of my time has been spent on the computer as I am awaiting my final grade in one of my classes. It really bothers me that I have not yet received my grade since professors were required to post final grades 4 days ago.

Being on the computer for so long, I have found a few things that I thought were worth noting, like Wolfram Alpha. Its as simple as a Google queiry, but the results are calculated peices of information. Its difficult for me to describe so you should try it for yourself. Enter in your birthday.

Here is a video of Damien Walters. He is ridiculous...

Home For Summer, Catching Up With The Internet

So, I just got home from college and summer has begun. My first thought when arriving in my neighborhood was "the trees are bigger than they were when I left." It looks strangely different from how I remember.

Once I got to my room, I got on my computer and started catching up on AN ABSOLUTE TON OF INTERNET STUFF that I have been ignoring in order to focus on school things. Here is what's up:

First, I was watching some Hank and John, Brotherhood 2.0 stuff and I decided to visit the Nerd Fighters website. I then searched the site for "parkour" and landed on the profile of my friend and future flatmate Chris Kessler. I took it as a sign that I should create a profile of my own. So today, I announce my official birth as a Nerd Fighter.

Second, Google Calendar. They added an integrated ToDo List!!! [Link] I'm really excited about this because it will help me reach my summer goal of becoming a more organized/productive human.

Third, The Facebook is also updating itself. Now, it strongly encourages the use of Friend Lists, which I highly recommend utilizing. Also, it has added family members to the info tab, so you can feature your crazy relatives.

-DFTBA

Devil's Marble Yard

Crazy Eddie planned a little trip to The Devil's Marble Yard. The heat was INTENSE that day and the hike was abit longer than I expected. BUT, those rocks were awesome for climbing/jumping on and the view was incredible. Here is how it went:

We Didnt Start The Fire

Any fan of The Office(American) will apreciate this video:

Here is another very cool version of that song. This one is a fairly accurate depiction of the comment that people leave on popular websites:

Also, today was EARTH DAY. That's why I picked the color GREEN for these videos. That was my only contribution to the Earth today.

Tuesdays @ IHOP

Tuesday is a special day. It is a day when Virginia Tech students can go to IHOP, eat yummy breakfast food late at night, and pay half price. Tuesday is College Night at IHOP and I always look forward to going. Last night, I was worried when my chauffeur (and good friend), Billy, said that he may not be able to go. Luckily, I was able to convince him to go by using a little peer pressure.

So we gathered up a posse, we went to IHOP, we ate the yummy food, we had a good time, and, near the end of our meal, we began talking with a VERY COOL employee. The conversation began with video games and such. From Super Smash Bros on the GameCube to Mass Effect on the XBOX360, we discussed how our interest in games changes over time. Eventually, our new friend announced that she had written a rap. She then proceeded to serenade us with her (AWESOME) lyrics.

After that, we finished our food, exchanged XBOX Live Gamertags, paid half price for our food, and left. THE END

Stay tuned for next week!

ALSO, you should watch this video:

Guess Who from Kirsten Lepore on Vimeo.

VT Statewide Parkour Jam

We just had a Virginia Statewide Jam on the Virginia Tech campus. The weather was awesome. I had a ton of fun. Now, I'm tired and sore.

I wasnt able to take any pictures because of my screwed up camera. If someone else puts any online, I will post a link here.

UPDATE:

Photos have been posted here:

http://ajama.org/img/it/Parkour-VT-April/