Technology – Page 113 – MeisterPlanet

Google and movies

Everyone’s favorite all-purpose search engine has added another feature, “movie:” and here’s how it works:

movie: <title> – Entering this command in the Google search box will provide reviews and ratings for the film, such as in the case of Sky Captain, which provides a link to the full google review page as well as other similar films.
movie: <word(s) search> – If you enter in a word or phrase, the movie reviews themselves will be indexed, such as all reviews that contain the words “worst movie ever“.
movies: <zip code> – Enter in your zip code and the first link provided will take you to a list of the current showtimes for movies at theaters local to you.

Look for other new features currently being tested in Google’s technological playground at Google Labs.

Software update

I’ve updated the software backend for this journal to WordPress 1.5, which was recently released.

Outwardly there should be little difference, but from an administrative view, there are plenty of features that make the upgrade from v1.2 worth it.

Robot cat army

Looking for a pet that is both cute and creepy at the same time, with little upkeep beyond some recharging every other day?

Then take a look at this video of the latest japanese robot cat from SegaToys.

Motion Picture Screensaver

If you’re looking for a great little screensaver to make use of a directory full of photos you have, try out the latest beta version of Motion Picture Screensaver.

The cinematic slide-show of your jpeg images works amazingly well, giving a rather dramatic mood to your photos through zooms, pans and fades. Even the most boring of family photos gains intensity from from the simple motions of this free program.

Another blogger fired

CNET has a story about Mark Jen, a former employee of Google, who is apparently no longer working for the company after recent controversial comments he made in his personal blog.

This of course isn’t the first time someone has found themselves unemployed because of a web journal:

Ellen Simonetti was fired from Delta Air Lines after posting photos of herself and fellow employees in their Delta uniforms.
Michael Hanscom lost his Microsoft contractor position after posting photos of Apple Mac G5 computers arriving for use at the Microsoft.
Joyce Park was a web developer for Friendster up until she posted about the company three times in her “Troutgirl” blog.
Jessica Cutler was fired by Senator Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) for her blog Washingtonienn.

Stories like those above serve as a reminder for the growing blogging community to be aware that they aren’t as anonymous as they might sometimes believe.

The advantage you to get in the ability to put your writing in front of a large number of people comes with the downside of those words being potentially used against you by those who disagree with what you’re saying and have the ability to act on it.