Living in the Future

Tag: Life

  • The end of green screen, and possibly the beginning of true 3D movies

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    Rob Attrell

    Since Lytro’s tech basically captures all the 3D information in a scene, the imagery is unusually friendly to CGI. Placing virtual objects at exactly the right depth in a scene is essentially taking advantage of a native ability of the footage. This is possibly the beginning of what I’ve been looking for since the re-renaissance…

  • On watching Steph Curry and the GSW this year

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    Rob Attrell

    Trying to figure out whether you like the Warriors, on the other hand, is like being 5 years old and trying to figure out whether you like magic. This is exactly how I feel about Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors right now. I’m not a huge basketball fan. I’ll watch a player or…

  • Carbs are getting in the way of healthy eating

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    Rob Attrell

    Canadians heeded the exhortation to reduce fat and reduced their fat intake to 31 per cent by 2004. But during this time, obesity rates spiked, which suggests that dietary fat is not a “primary contributing factor” in obesity, said the report. I got healthy (and lost 45 pounds in the last 8 months) but not…

  • So…Cold-fX is BS

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    Rob Attrell

    “The study actually showed the placebo to be more effective at relieving (some) cold symptoms than Cold-fX.” In something surely nobody could have seen coming, it looks like there’s a non-zero chance anybody who purchased Cold-fX as a cold or flu remedy could be able to join a class-action suit in order to get some…

  • A list of the apps on my phone that can make calls

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    Rob Attrell

    Doesn’t require phone number: FaceTime Phone Contacts Facebook Messenger Snapchat Google Hangouts Messages Whatsapp Can/does use your phone number: Phone FaceTime Messages Chrome Safari Mail Notes Announced, but hasn’t shown up yet: Slack As it turns out, pretty much every remotely social company has a way that people can talk to one another in a…

  • Podcasts Like ‘Serial’ Are Encouraging Literacy

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    Rob Attrell

    “[L]istening, unlike looking at a written page, is more active, since the brain has to process the information at the pace it is played.” My student Roberto offered similar insight: “I think it helps me out with my reading since I have to keep a pace up.” Huh, turns out the best ways for kids…

  • How Much Should Free Tuition Cost?

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    Rob Attrell

    I don’t think many people – other than say, the Canadian Federation of Students and their wilder-eyed allies – genuinely believe that tuition for children of wealthier families should be free. Most people agree that there should be some sort of net price slope, running from zero for students from poorer families and upwards as…

  • Looking into Ottawa’s past

    Looking into Ottawa’s past

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    Rob Attrell

    I’m not exactly sure how I came across this (I think I was seeing how streets lined up and wondering how Ottawa’s streets might have changed), but this morning I discovered a really neat repository of old aerial maps of Ottawa, going back all the way to the 1920s. It’s cool to see how cities…

  • The Problem with Homelessness is Poverty

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    Rob Attrell

    I attended college pay-as-you-go for a couple years while working, then left because I couldn’t afford to continue and knew better than to take on student debt. My moderate savings was destroyed in my 30s by health care costs that insurance wouldn’t cover. Within the past several years, full-time work that pays a subsistence wage…

  • Handoff for iTunes | iMore

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    Rob Attrell

    I’d love to be able to start a playlist on my Mac and then walk away, pick up my iPhone, swipe, and keep right on listening. So true. I (and Rene) have been saying this for a few years at least. This is the dream, and it’s sooooo close with Handoff, just not for iTunes.…