Tough on Yellowstone

Yellowstone’s Hottest Decade on Record
[Via Al's Journal]

This could have a devastating impact on one of the most beautiful areas of our country:

“The last decade was the greater Yellowstone region’s hottest on record, according to a study released Tuesday by a pair of environment-oriented nonprofits.”

“The study’s findings show that temperatures over the past 10 years were 1.4 degrees above the region’s 20th century average. Summers, in particular, averaged 2.3 degrees higher than summers in the past century.”

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Visiting in the Fall may be the best in the future.

In His Own Words: CNN’s Memorial to Steve Jobs

May be the best one yet. Love it.

Talking to the TV: Something for Siri to do

Apple’s Siri: A TV remote that you can talk to?
[Via Brainstorm Tech: Technology blogs, news and analysis from Fortune Magazine » Apple 2.0]

In a note to clients issued Friday, Cross Research’s Shannon Cross pivots from the Steve Jobs eulogies to take a closer look at Siri, the natural language interface that Apple (AAPL) unveiled the day before he died.

In particular, she singles out an application that wasn’t in Scott Forstall’s demos or Apple’s slick promotional video, but which fits perfectly into Jobs’ final hobby: television. She writes:

One interesting application of the Siri technology would be with Apple TV (either the existing device or actual TV’s that Apple may launch). We think this would solve the industry’s difficulties with remote controls… We think it would be very compelling to own a TV or a device that could quickly answer the request, “I want to watch the Yankees/Red Sox game,” by changing the TV channel without requiring the user to look at a guide or use a remote control, or even specifying HD or standard definition feeds, since you would want the HD channel if available. Or, you could instruct the device to record all new episodes of a show, without leaving the program you are currently watching. Finally, since you are online, a Siri enabled TV could answer whether your iPhone or computer has received a new message, and let you respond accordingly.

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This would be a killer app. searching for programs and recording them is a pain. Now simply say “When’s Castle on next?”

This will be Star Trek in the living room.

iOS provides the air guitar for the rest of us

GhostGuitar is an awesome augmented air guitar for iPad, iPhone
[Via Ars Technica]

GhostGuitar is an app that will revolutionize the air guitar industry. No longer do you have to imagine the awesome sounds that you’re pumping out of your imaginary axe. Instead, you can use your talented hands to pump out actual power chords. As the promo blurb says, “Finally. A real air guitar.”

The app uses the front-facing camera in your iPhone or iPad 2 to track your hands, and then you strum with your right hand whilst fretting chords with your left. Sometimes, you can even pick individual strings.

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Now we can look stupid playing in front of our iPads but the sounds look great.