Archive for the ‘doing new things,’ Category

I had to write about this product because it is so fantastic.  Now, I come from a generation of album makers to keep track of and look at the pictures.  I can probably count on one hand, how many times I would go into look at an album.  I was just a busy guy, and I didn’t take time to do that. [i know, i know pretty lame!]

I got a digital photo frame for christmas . I found that it was very easy to transfer pictures to a thumb drive and put it on display.  So, I asked my relatives to please e-mail me pictures.  The reason I am writing about this now  is  this has  taken a while for them to get used to the idea.  I have my frame on my dresser so I can see it all the time.  Even though I’m in a convalescent home  I feel quite close to my children and grandchildren.  I don’t have a storage problem that a bunch of albums would be.  Also, it is quite handy for me to see.
Coby DP-758 7-Inch Widescreen Digital Photo Frame

Yes, these can be expensive.  But if you shop around a bit and you can find  good deals.  As far as I am concerned, this product truly is wonderful.

my computergives me a look into the world around me.  I am 70 years old and learning how to use my lap top.  It’s a challenge, but well worth the effort.  I went to the Dell PC site and found just what I needed.  The computer I got is Dell Vostro 1500 lap top. It is working out very nicely for me.  I also have a Logitech wireless mouse.  This setup has helped me to regain some use up my right hand. I got hooked up to the web through Verizon wireless.  So I don’t have a lot of wires to worry about now.  I like the lap top because it doesn’t require much  room.  It’s really easy to take with me so if I need help I can have it right there.  I couldn’t do this with  a desktop.
Toshiba Satellite L305-S5924 15.4-Inch Laptop

e-mail --this  enabled me to be a in touch with more people.  I have never been much of a letter writer as I always seem to be too busy to take the time and write.  Now I know this is a pretty lame reason, but it's all I have.  So, after my stroke I decided I would write my friends and family on a regular basis and make an effort to keep in touch.  I had to learn how to manage my e-mail and my daughter helped me out.  I've found out that I was best at   short messages, and this is worked out very well in the e-mail.  I found that my temperament, fits me very well for short e-mails.

I've always liked cartoons, and so I found on the web    a place where I could get them  .    So, I signed up, and I send people comics that I think they may like.  I have found this to be very therapeutic for me: it keeps my mind active and causes me to think about my family and friends.  Who would've thunk?  Of course I have to have good manners and be careful not to overload people with too much stuff.

The Web reminds me of the old days when I would go to the library.  I can travel to far off lands, or learn a new language, or look up a word, or learn how to operate my computer.

Now, of course, you must use your head so  you don't get trapped in  something you didn't want to.  I needed to learn surfing the web could be dangerous.  Once I applied myself to this training, things have been going along quite nicely.  I like the fact that I have a choice.  I can choose what I want to do and what I don't want to do.

I have one more point to make.  Using the computer stimulates your mind.  When I had my stroke in 2005.  I couldn't think, remember, or speak well.  Of course, I  took therapy for this, how ever, I really noticed a great improvement as I got on the computer.  So, it is well worth the effort, to use and learn about the computer.  It is a very therapeutic routine.

I  found myself in the hospital and  I remember thinking, well I should be out here soon, as I didn’t like hospitals.  N OT… well, things got worse and I could not move.  This was very frightening to me, since the worst injury I had suffered to date was a broken leg.  Yes going back on writing this is very hard.  I had to recall events that were very hard for me to go through.

The hospital checked me in and took me up to a room.  My whole right side was frozen as I could not move anything.  They had  me on my back, and I couldn’t even  rest.  I am a side sleep person and that was most uncomfortable.  My family came to see me and all felt so strange.  I just wanted to be out of there and was so angry at myself for having this damned   stroke.

My oldest daughter  came in and pushed me in a wheelchair around the facility.  It was good to get out there.  However, I felt useless.  Now remember, I have been self employed for years and have taken care of myself all that time.  Being confined to a wheelchair was awful.  Just the thought of it made me ill.

I was in the hospital for three days and then they decided to move me into a convalescent home.  Once again, I had no control over what was going on.  The place was nice but full full of old people.  I was told that I was going to get therapy there   so I could work on getting better.  Now, I was 67 years old, and  only about 40 in my mind.

Once again, I had to get used to being in the new place with people I didn’t know.  I was  a very private guy and found it very difficult to allow myself to fit in .  The physical therapy people were very kind and put up with my attitude.  My stroke was truly awful… and I needed help getting  in and out of bed, brushing my teeth, going to the bathroom, and just trying to get around in the wheelchair.  I became determined that I was going to lick this problem.

Eyes turn to dawn of ‘visual computing’
Aug 28 06:03 PM US/Eastern..Breitbart.com

World’s Largest Visual Computing Show Gives Peek Into Future Of Digital Graphics

Lifelike graphics are breaking free of elite computer games and spreading throughout society in what industry insiders proclaim is the dawning of a “visual computing era.”

Astronauts, film makers and celebrities joined software savants, engineers and gamers in the heart of Silicon Valley this week for a first-ever NVision conference devoted to computer imagery advances changing the way people and machines interact.

“Visual computing is transforming the videogame industry; transforming the film industry, and has all kinds of potential for how we view real-time television,” NVIDIA co-founder Jen-Hsun Huang told those gathered at the event.

Israel-based Optitex demonstrated software that replicates fabrics so realistically that clothing designers can see what fashions will look and act like on people before garments are made.

Lifelike graphics are breaking free of elite computer games and spreading throughout society in what industry insiders proclaim is the dawning of a “visual computing era.”

Astronauts, film makers and celebrities joined software savants, engineers and gamers in the heart of Silicon Valley this week for a first-ever NVision conference devoted to computer imagery advances changing the way people and machines interact.

“Visual computing is transforming the videogame industry; transforming the film industry, and has all kinds of potential for how we view real-time television,” NVIDIA co-founder Jen-Hsun Huang told those gathered at the event.

“We solve some of the most challenging problems for more and more companies around the world. Let the era of visual computing begin.”

Gamers dueled for three days in a cavernous room in the San Jose Convention Center while entrepreneurs showed how graphics breakthroughs are shining in other fields.

Car makers are exploring letting potential buyers not only customize automobiles with graphics software but go on virtual test drives.

Graphics processing underpins financial modeling and weather forecasting.

Israel-based Optitex demonstrated software that replicates fabrics so realistically that clothing designers can see what fashions will look and act like on people before garments are made.

Optitex’s animation software is being eyed by Hollywood film makers.

Dassault Systemes puts 3D computer-assisted design to work virtually constructing passenger jets, buildings and more.

“Three-D should be a new way for us to dream and design the future of our world,” The French company’s chief executive Bernard Charles said at NVision.

“It will impact everything we do: education, science, talking to each other … of course games.”

He predicts that lifelike graphics combined with feedback from online communities will let people influence how products are designed, sold and even how “green” they are.

Charles maintains computer simulations will be so realistic that virtual activities will mirror physical experiences.

Simulators already play an important part in training for space shuttle missions, according to former US astronaut Eileen Colleens, the first woman shuttle commander.

“When you fly the actual mission you feel like you are in a simulator,” Collins said. “We really can’t do our job without the good visual graphics that we get.”

The world of visual computing is “inescapable,” said Chris Malachowsky, a co-founder of NVIDIA, a California firm renowned for high-end graphics processing cards for computers.

“We are being presented with displays everywhere,” Malachowsky told AFP. “It used to be about the computing part, but the emphasis is shifting. It is not so much about the computation but how it is presented and seen by people.”

The rising tide of digital videos, photos, films and television shows on the Internet is lifting the status of graphics chips, cards, and software and strengthening a trend to “unflatten” displays with 3D imagery.

Malachowsky spoke of using visual computing power to develop new medicines or provide doctors with real-time 3D images of patients’ organs.

“They will be able to recreate scan data so fast you could see your own heart beating,” Malachowsky said.