This web site will show you exactly what your blog is worth. Seems like I'm only worth $6,774.48. Any takers?? Sold.

Link to the Official Ninja Paper-Star Builders' guide!!

Remember when you were like 10 years old and these were the HOTTEST thing on the block? Be the cool kid now and build your very own Ninja Paper Star, with .pdf goodness included.

Shuriken!

This is some output from a very cool web site that lets you draw a really crappy drawing and then finds a way to turn it into art. Check out some screen shots as the crappy drawing I did progresses...

This is my incredibly talented drawing. I rule.

Generate the Scribbler, and the drawing begins to take shape...

Filling in details. It looks like an architectural drawing, I love it!

Looks like someone put a flag on the moon. Weird...

Basically, the finished product!!

Screw around with the settings, and you get different colors, change the size of your lines, and the "scribbliness" of your drawing!

I think this site would do great things for someone who can sketch with a mouse, I think the Eiffel Tower would look great using this! Make comments if you have tried it I would love to see some screen shots of "art" you have made using this site!

As a side note, be sure to play with the settings - you can do color, thicker lines, etc. and pause it whenever you like what you see!

It’s the tiny pitter-patter of GIANT FEET. Yes, the same ones they used to stomp on the industry are now causing them to trip all over themselves. I feel so bad for the giant.

Here’s a quick round-up of why no one in their right (or left) mind will feel bad for Microsoft, and why you really shouldn’t root for Google either.

Microsoft really brought this on themselves. Yes, the software maker has been known as king of the hill, and for some time has enjoyed the view from the top. To this end, they have ensured the existence and even the strength of their largest competitor: Google.

When Microsoft was being sued by Uncle Sam, we all rooted for Uncle Sam to break up the company by virtue of the anti-trust suits they brought, hoping they would split the company into manageable parts (OS, Office products, Web development, hardware). This did not happen, because Microsoft hired fantastic lawyers to fight off the impending doom, and in case after case they won – and in doing so they likely have created a precedent they can’t fight off.

I am speaking of the non-compete agreement they signed with Kai-Fu Lee, their former-executive-turned-Google-employee. When he signed that agreement, it stated that he would not go to work for a competitor.

Problem is, Microsoft has too many projects, too much software out there – virtually anywhere Kai-Fu Lee decided to work was guaranteed to be a competitor. How exactly is Google a competitor of Microsoft? After all, they are a search engine, and Microsoft is primarily an OS and software maker, right?

M$ has a search engine, true, but their primary source of income is nowhere centered around that. And of course, Google can argue that the Microsoft Non-Compete agreement could really be considered a contract to never work with anyone again. Since Kai-Fu Lee is a man working in the computer field, anything that related to computers would really be in competition to Microsoft, since they do so MANY things with computers, everything from internet related activities to hardware

Microsoft makes keyboards and mice. So, really, it would be a violation of the non-compete for him to sign a contract with Logitech

They make speakers, so he can’t work for JBL either.

They got that Xbox thing, so naturally Sony is out.

They are now making a Tivo-like device, so Tivo and all cable/media related devices are out, too

Oh, yeah, they make networking stuff, so all telecom stuff is out, and Intel is out too since they make networking products

But Microsoft has always been focused on what it considered the centerpiece of a computer, which of course, is the operating system. The problem for Microsoft is that the shift of focus in the industry is no longer on the OS – people use OS X, different versions of Linux, and yes, Windows too, but they all do the same thing. They surf the ‘net.

A lot of people used to hate IBM. Then they screwed up, lost the edge, had no foresight, and let M$ license DOS to them. IBM stumbled, and M$ grew into what they are now – the next version of IBM

Several factors indicate the loss of an edge within the Microsoft towers

They knew the internet would be the next big thing, invested in it heavily, and somehow, the largest thing they have going on the internet is msn.com – they have acquired every site they thought would become huge, but instead of ending up with mega-hits like eBay, Yahoo, or better, they ended up with liabilities – like go.com, MSNBC and Hotmail. LACK OF FORESIGHT

Dispersal of resources – The Microsoft folks have a problem on their hands. They do too much. They would have been better off being split up by the government, and as such each division would have had the resources to make bigger and better items. Much like IBM’s famed R&D division, which invented items like the “mouse joystick” that are now famous on laptops as far back as the 60’s, there is so much going on at M$ now that even they can’t keep track of their own innovations. M$ IS BLOATED

Heavy-handed leadership – Google is famous for a policy it has, namely that if you think of something interesting/cool, you should just go get it done. They will endorse your ideas, coddle them, give them room to grow. Any such attempt at progress brings censure from M$. They want you to work on the things that they have given you to work on, and the company execs will do the rest of the thinking for you, thank you very much. Problem is, Bill and Steve haven’t done a great job thinking of the next big idea, they are too busy thinking about backwards-compatible OS’s and such. THE OLD GUARD REFUSES TO MOVE ASIDE.

So, Microsoft was doomed when they won the battles that probably doomed them to future failure, but what about the challenger, Google? They are going to be a better company, right?

Google began as a college project, one that envisioned the web as millions of people pointing at one another. The more fingers pointing at a specific place, the more popular it must be. A great idea that turned into a BIG dollar generator, especially when combined with advertising revenue generated by smaller companies whose ads only came up when someone was looking for their product. Good thinking, all around.

Now, Google is mad at the Big Guys in the industry, and rightfully so – Microsoft really has no reason to take away the guy Google hired from them, Mr. Kai-Fu Lee. Google isn’t trying to compete with M$, at least if you look at things head-on.

However, Google now has patented the internet. Not literally, of course, but we all know who really owns the ‘net at this point. And as much as we have all hated Microsoft and its’ tactics, we are all about to hate Google JUST AS MUCH. Here’s why.

Just as we don’t like Microsoft for not encouraging its’ employees to experiment and discover new technologies, we are about to dislike Google for the exact opposite reason. Microsoft became bloated because it branched out too much. By encouraging the innovations which will likely change the way we surf the ‘net and more, Google is setting itself up for the same eventuality, and eventually they will stop innovating, because they will be too big. GOOGLE WILL BECOME BLOATED.

Google is a tool, like any other. Because of it’s incredible capabilities, people are finding uses for it like no other – hacking has become much easier because of Google, it will give you a list of possible targets, where as it used to be a trial-and-error thing. Very handy! You can reverse-lookup someone now just by typing in their phone number. Great for stalkers! But seriously, there are a lot of great uses for such intense search engine capability. The scary part is that Google can use this information just like any of us can, and unlike us they have a local copy stored at all times. Sounds like a security risk to me. Remember Robocop? The company that created him, OCP, basically ran the city because they had the technology to do so. GOOGLE CAN BE A VERY DANGEROUS COMPANY SOMEDAY, IF THEY CHOOSE TO BE

A shift away from the OS based computer. The day will come soon, I think, that computers may come with a simple browser. That’s it. It will run lightning-fast have nothing to bog it down, and all apps will be loaded in the form of extension/plug-ins Firefox style. This will eliminate the need for an OS, being hailed as the next big step in computer growth. Problem is, if you need software, you’ll have to buy a license key for every little plug-in or small patch that needs to be loaded. Sure, the OS is free, but the service is a monthly charge, let’s say $10 a month. Cheap! Affordable! Easy-to-use! Your data is “safely” stored on the internet! Backed-up nightly! And you will NEVER own the software that you run on your computer ever again. The day isn’t far, and we will have our collective souls handed over to the one company that could take them – Google. THE INTERNET IS CONTROLLED BY GOOGLE.

I am not presenting solutions to these problems, I am not even trying to create an apocalyptic preview. I am simply stating things the way I see them… The fight begins in court, with a has-been and an about-to-be. And we can’t root for either one.