I had a tough childhood.

I’d wager that many of us adults went through something that would be considered “a challenge” at one point in our respective younger days. Tribulations on the home front were largely relegated to the occasional familial disagreement (nothing that would be considered out of the ordinary, I assure you). My consternation stemmed from unwarranted, school-centric battles.

In short? I faced bullies in high school. I’ve talked about it long before now.

For some reason or another, a group of “tough kids” decided that I was persona non grata (a Latin phrase that roughly translates as “someone we don’t like.”). It made no sense to me in any logical capacity, although discussing any emotional shortcomings with this loosely-knit cabal would seem an exercise in futility. I can laugh about it now, though.

No, I can’t – it’s still not funny.

I remember being wracked with stresses of threats. Intimidation was a powerful mechanism, but falling victim to it would only make me… a victim. Instead, I chose to largely ignore it on the surface – while, in secret, crapping my Green Lantern Underoos during Study Hall. Nah, I had outgrown them years ago. At least, physically.

Those troglodytes made my earlier high school years a living hell. Who knows where they are now? Maybe they’re belittling their own kids (oh, god – I pray they haven’t reproduced). As much as it pains me to say it, I’m grateful we didn’t have the Internet back then. My problems would’ve been 100x worse:

Cyberbullying is no less of a crime in my mind. And, yes, I consider adolescent bullying a crime – and were I the one drawing up laws, the wildly immature would be taken to task beyond simple school suspensions or detentions. The anguish one undergoes when they’re square in the crosshairs of a bully’s sights is tantamount to torture. I’m referring to the systematic, calculated, constant physical and mental onslaught that certain individuals impose on wholly-innocent parties.

I cringe when I read the drivel that spills out of certain keyboards out there – largely on YouTube (or any other bastion of namelessness). There’s a time for anonymity, but targeting and diminishing the value of a life that has brought no harm to others is absolutely not the place.

Why do I often respond with an equal amount of vitriol to those who would “hate?” Because I remained silent years ago when I felt I didn’t have a voice. You can hear me now, though. Loud and clear.

If you bully, you’ll get what’s coming to you – eventually.

My Name is Chris, and I was a Victim of High School Bullies

I got a LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar!

The idea of using an Advent calendar once held deep, religious significance for me – but since evolving into a non-Catholic, I only seem to appreciate the winter Holiday season for nostalgic reasons. I love the sights and sounds of Christmas, but… not its largely-borrowed-by-Christianity foundation. As such, I don’t feel the slightest bit of guilt when I go about my merry way, spreading love and joy without being chained to an outdated dogma.

Speaking of chains and Advent calendars… when I was a child, my brothers and I would find ourselves counting down the days to Christmas by stapling together (then tearing apart) a string of paper rings. It was a Christmastime staple! And, yes, we used staples to keep those chains together. I took the tradition too far one year and accidentally stapled my finger to one of the links.

On the 11th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me… a bandage.

I’m quite grateful that LEGO is producing Advent calendars which do not require the usage of any pointed object. I may not have the best hand-eye coordination, but I can click bricks with the best of ‘em. I’ve missed a few earlier LEGO Advent calendars, but that won’t happen again now that I’ve come out of the bin as an AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO). I even decided to completely assemble the 2011 Star Wars Advent Calendar long before this Holiday season was upon us.

My girlfriend and I stumbled through a couple of the models, but it wasn’t too much of a challenge. We’re certainly ready to open more presents! Having streamed the LEGO build live on YouTube, this particular walkthrough was an hour in the making.

The full list of items (including the ones I couldn’t quite identify by sight):

• Day 1 – Red Republic ship
• Day 2 – Nute Gunray
• Day 3 – Hologram Walker
• Day 4 – Homing Spider Droid
• Day 5 – Slave I
• Day 6 – Chewbacca
• Day 7 – Weapon holder with barrel of tools
• Day 8 – Rebel Pilot with completely white helmet
• Day 9 – X-wing
• Day 10 – Imperial Shuttle
• Day 11 – Battle Droid Pilot
• Day 12 – Rebel Snowspeeder
• Day 13 – Imperial Astromech Droid
• Day 14 – Mouse Droid
• Day 15 – Republic Gunship
• Day 16 – Clone Pilot
• Day 17 – Another Weapons Holder
• Day 18 – Y-wing
• Day 19 − 2010 TIE Fighter Pilot
• Day 20 – TIE Fighter
• Day 21 – Millennium Falcon
• Day 22 − A-wing
• Day 23 – Christmas Tree
• Day 24 – Santa Yoda

Wouldn’t it be nice for LEGO to create a full 365-day calendar with new bricks every day?

Star Wars Advent Calendar is Jediriffic Year-Round

This blog is a treasure trove of personal beliefs, endeavors, and relationships – especially if you scroll back into the archives (near a decade ago). I started it as a personal outlet, separate from any “professional” pursuits (like LockerGnome or Gnomedex). Over time, it evolved into a nexus point for most of my activities. I’ve written less about personal matters in recent years for a variety of reasons – not the least of which is lacking the need to share everything when judgment is all that seems to rain down from the heavens.

My entire adult life has played out online in some form (and it started long before ‘social media’ was a buzzword). Even if I didn’t share an experience here, it might’ve been shared anywhere else on the Internet – as open and free publishing tools have become insanely pervasive. I don’t owe anybody an explanation for why I do what I do in my personal life.

While I continue to embrace new forms of community via emerging platforms (like Google+, the baby on the block), I try to hold inevitable invasiveness at bay. People tend to pry and project – so even when you mean well, just expect that they’ll be mean in return. I strive for transparency, but not so much that I lose everything about myself in the mix. You know I’m a geek, love creating content, and have carved out a career around my passions and interests – and that’s all most people really need to know.

Despite the ease of sharing everything online, I find myself pulling back if a service or community is taking more than it gives.

Having played out certain parts of my past personal relationships online, I’ve learned that the fewer details I give, the better. I was reluctant to even bring up my girlfriend’s name, for fear that her own identity would be fully revealed and people would pander, attack, exploit, and otherwise emotionally harm her. It slipped out in a recent (planned) live video on YouTube, wherein I wanted to introduce her to my world of followers:

Inevitably, there’s always some dumbass who finds it proper to dredge up times and names past (in an attempt to evoke shame). They’re the “people” who keep me from sharing everything. Lucky for me, my girlfriend understands – and only plays with social media on the outskirts. I don’t think I could ever be with someone who used Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+, or anything else the way that some people (like myself) do. There’s always the risk of overexposing a personal pain and suffering the unintended consequences.

For that reason, and that reason alone, my girlfriend’s full identity (and face) will be kept intentionally off the radar until we’re damn well ready to share more. People have caught lighthearted glimpses and have guessed incorrectly – to what end? She’s not going to open her life to you, and I don’t blame her.

I barely want to open up my life to you – and I’ve been doing that for fifteen years.

I consider just about every social media outlet a blog, too – all the way down to a tweet. You’re sharing information, right? What does it matter where or how you share it? Now we’re just down to arguing semantics. I don’t share details about my personal life anymore because it’s MY personal life, not yours.

What you see of me, you see, and upon that data, you’ll form your own judgments and opinions. Understand, however, that you only see a fraction of the person I really am – and it’ll remain that way for the rest of my life. I need to save things for myself and my truly loved ones.

I love you, too – but I gotta keep most of y’all at a comfortable distance.

Why I Don’t Blog About My Personal Life Anymore

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of BT. All opinions are 100% mine.

There is nothing that drives down overall productivity within a company more than lack of communication. Having everyone on one communication platform is often unfeasible, especially when you have some employees out in the field and others spending most of their time at their desk. This is where solutions such as the ones offered through BT Unified Communications can come in handy.

Cloud-based communication services have been available for free to the public for years. The problem with these systems is that, until now, they have been considered too unreliable for commercial use. When thousands, and even millions of dollars depend on you being able to coordinate with other members of your operation as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Pulling everything together in one centralized hub that allows your staff to reach one-another regardless of where someone is or what platform they have with them. Unified Communications can streamline how a business operates. Being able to reach someone with a click from your desktop regardless of if they’re at their desk or in the field with a single number is a great way to make sure that you’re able to reach them.

A solid communications system can also save companies money by reducing the need of travel. Face-to-face communication and conferences can be done without the need to travel. Sifting through various different messages sent through different communications channels is a time-intensive tasks that can add up to serious expenses even smaller businesses.

Remote employees can be a real challenge to keep up with. Coordinating tasks, sharing information, and keeping everyone connected is difficult when everyone has their own preferred method of keeping things organized. Bringing everything together in a unified manor would allow me to get things organized and share them with the right people once, freeing me up to get other important things done.

Customer service is one area in particular that suffers greatly when information isn’t readily available. If a customer has a question or problem with a product or service, empowering the customer service representative with the tools they need to address the problem and assign a resolution is essential. In an environment where everything is fragmented and scattered, this can be an incredibly long process that may result in losing the customer altogether.

The technology exists today to create a better environment for employees to stay connected to the information they need as well as each other. Keeping this in mind, there’s no reason why any business shouldn’t include some collaborative communications system in their infrastructure.

Are Unified Communications Systems Right for Your Business?

A few years ago, I uploaded my first Home Office Tour after on a New Year’s Day “Subservient Chris” request. This exploration has since become an annual tradition, with me having skipped only one year (and being kindly lambasted for doing so).

For years, individuals from this community have been asking for a complete house tour – and I’ve been reluctant to give it, if only because I didn’t think it’d be all that interesting. Well, today might mark another annual tradition – a complete home video tour on my birthday.

While the home office tour was simply put online for immediate digestion, I decided to go a step further with the house tour and make it available for rental only. I did this for a few reasons: (1) to make it truly special, (2) because there’s a real value to it, (3) because it’s my birthday and I can.

For a fee, you can watch the house tour video on YouTube – though we’re still trying to figure out how to support the international community, so another viewing option should be made available soon. I’d like to (honestly) create a universal iOS app for the video and make it available at a lower price point, too – but I have no skill as a programmer / developer, so that idea will likely have to wait. We’re also going to make this available on DVD – and that link will be added to the viewing options in this post when it’s ready to go. I’m not sure anybody would really buy it, but… stranger things have happened.

Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HpEBmWrQzc

If you’re watching from outside the United States, you can find it here: http://movielocker.com/8108

If this effort isn’t seen as “successful” over the next year, it probably won’t happen again. I’d like to say I made enough from the idea to cover my mortgage for a month, though. That would be one helluva birthday present!

My House Tour Video (2011)

Recently, I shared a Google+ Hangout with Jeff Pulver and Jonathan Taylor to discuss the state of the real-time communications industry. During the conversation, we discuss a wide range of topics including the history of communications technology and the latest innovations. We also touch on bandwidth caps and how single individuals can inspire change in the industry.

Jeff Pulver has an extensive background in the VoIP industry and has been a founding member of several major products including Vontage and the 140 Characters Conference.

Jonathan Taylor, the current chairman and CEO of Voxeo, has an equally impressive background in telephony and continues to work towards a goal of making it easier for developers to create telephony applications. Voxeo as a platform currently has around 220,000 registered developers with a specific focus on communications.

With the advent and extreme growth of social media, the way people communicate is changing and cloud-based communication systems are becoming more and more prevalent as older platforms are required to adapt to survive.

Thanks to platforms like the one Voxeo makes available to their developers, the creation of software allowing real-time communication between users is becoming easier and more prevalent. Just today (July 22) Voxeo has launched its new Phono Mobile project and made it immediately available to developers. The Phono Mobile toolkit leverages Javascript and HTML5 to enable high-quality voice and instant messaging features on mobile devices including those running on iOS and Android. One potential use of this toolkit can be in allowing gamers to use voice chat while enjoying multiplayer games on their mobile devices.

Moving forward, real-time communication is greatly dependent on the availability of supporting bandwidth consumers can use to take advantage of these services, and a continued lack of tight regulatory practices as the relatively new platform takes shape. Most importantly, it depends on the determination and innovation provided by an active development community.

The Future of Real-Time Communications

When I was going to college, everything cost what felt like an arm and a leg. Textbooks were one of the larger burdons students didn’t always see coming as the semester grew closer. In some cases, these books made up a larger amount of your initial investment than housing (for the first month of the semester). Things haven’t really changed since then, except that tuition fees, books, and housing all come with a higher price tag.

According to College Board, books can make up over $1,000 of your yearly college investment. Tuition at two-year public schools clock in at around $2,400 per year with private four-year institutions charging tuition and fees scaling up to over $25,000 in one year alone. This means that if you don’t have an impressive scholarship or some other form of serious financial backing, you’re likely to get stuck with an oppressive amount of debt from student loans.

If you decide to take on student loans, you’re likely going to have to pay them off over the course of your career. Some students opt to join military or volunteer organizations that promise to assist with paying off student loans in exchange for service. If you decide to dive in to your career of choice, you may find the financial advantage of the diploma won’t come in handy until years down the line when you’ve eliminated the debt caused by getting the degree in the first place.

Education is an absolute must for any society to further itself technologically or academically. For too many students the focus of the best years of their lives is spent wondering how they’re going to pay for their education, and not how they’re going to benefit from it in the long-term. As much of an importance as we place on education as a society, we seem to do little to prevent it from being out of reach for so many of our young citizens.

We have the technology, and many schools are beginning to offer online courses that reduce the overhead of the campus and allow good professors the ability to teach important lessons to a larger audience in a way we never could when I attended, or anyone from generations prior. Instead of reducing the costs for their students as a result, universities seem to be pressing even harder and asking for more from a student body that rarely has anything left to give.

Here is some response to this post by the community on Google+:

Craig Clawson – My brother had to purchase a virology textbook that cost $978 dollars. that is just greed, pure and simple.

Erin Fox – It’s expensive because it’s meant to be exclusive. As my Philosophy professor said, “We can’t educate everybody. Who would clean toilets?”

Shane Corning – I began at a University after High School. Scholarship, the whole nine. Guess what? They didn’t have any practical classes, and some of the Profs were barely qualified to teach a H.S. class. So I went to Community College and actually learned skills I could use in jobs.

Why is Education so Expensive?

Do you have a decent microphone and a unique voice? Have you considered possibly giving voiceover work a try? There are many ways to make money with your voice online, and most of them don’t even require you to leave your home at all.

First, this isn’t a good idea for everyone. It is harder than it looks to master the vocal tone required to grab the interest of the audience and accomplish whatever it is your voice is needed to accomplish. Voiceover actors rarely make big bucks (though they certainly can) doing contract work here and there. If you’re dedicated, and your voice has a quality that casting agents are looking for – you may be able to make money on the side as a voiceover actor (or actress).

You also need to invest in some decent recording equipment. A standard USB microphone might not be enough to capture the rich tones and create a true representation of your natural voice. The WAV files you send in need to be as clear as possible of any background noise or distortion cheaper setups can create. A prosumer or professional-grade condenser microphone, USB or FireWire interface, and sometimes a mixer should be considered to allow you to capture rich, vibrant sounds.

Alright, so you’ve got your equipment in place and you’re ready to start getting jobs? Well, you could find a talent manager and pay them to manage your career (maybe getting you a job, or maybe not). You could also start working now and build up your resume through a few methods online.

oDesk
oDesk is a service offered online to help people find freelance workers in a hurry to fill certain business needs. Companies or individuals needing help with a website, businesses looking for extra members of a remote development team, data entry services, content-driven sites, and agencies looking for voice talent regularly use oDesk to find the right person for the job, quickly. You can post your resume, portfolio, and link to some samples of your voice as you apply for various positions posted on the site. Once hired, your time and/or fees are all paid through oDesk which, in turn, pays you. This service is a quick way to find work, but it does have its downsides. For one, you aren’t likely to find long-term jobs here. This is primarily a site that helps companies find people to work on specific tasks for short periods of time. If you happen across the right employer, you may have further opportunities, but that isn’t the norm.

Classifieds
Another way to find voiceover work online is through a more traditional online classified system such as Craigslist. This can be a great way to find local employers and increase your chances of finding long-term employment. Radio stations, advertising agencies, and other media-related companies are often looking for voiceover talent.

Volunteer
Do you know of a podcast or show that could use some voiceover work for a frequent segment? Voiceover actors and jingle writers often submit free content to high-profile podcasts on the off chance that they might start using the contributed work. This is one way to build your portfolio without having to go through the frustrating process of tireless interviews and low-profile jobs. This shouldn’t be a primary strategy, but it could help you on your way to something great. Believe it or not, some of the best-known podcasts on the web are using jingles and voiceovers they picked up from emerging artists using this very strategy. Who knows, they may pay you to for more content down the line themselves.

How to Make Money with Your Voice Online

The so-called “Amazon” Tax has become a huge national story as the online retail giant sent out messages to their affiliates in California announcing the end of the affiliate program there. Even though this new law has “Amazon” as a nickname, any online merchant with an affiliate program falls under its jurisdiction.

It was their affiliate program that gave California’s law jurisdiction over Amazon as they consider it a “presence” of the retailer in that state. Amazon, and online retail in general, has gained in popularity in part to the savings that come with not having to pay sales taxes on items purchased from retailers based in different states.

In 1992, the Supreme Court decided that in order for sales taxes to be collected, a retailer has to have physical presence within the state. This presence could include any business offices, warehouses, or physical stores within the borders of that state.

The new rules set in California redefines presence to include affiliates that make money by referring their audience to online retailers, including Amazon. In order to maintain a policy of providing products tax-free to their customers, they are forced to end affiliate programs in states adopting this new policy.

So, the argument might not be whether or not these taxes will hurt online retail. The fact is, local small business owners that make profits from referring people to online stores are being critically wounded by this policy. The point can and has been made that by imposing stronger taxes, the state is actually doing more harm than good to the local economy unless online retailers continue their affiliate programs and implement sales tax.

It should be noted here than many state and local governments do charge taxes for online purchases. Because they can’t tax the retailer directly, this tax is imposed directly to their customers in the form of a “use” tax. It’s the responsibility of the citizen in this case to report and track their online spending and pay the necessary dues as a result. This is an entirely different matter altogether, though it does play an important role in the overall discussion.

I asked the community how a sales tax on their online purchases would impact the frequency of their online shopping. Here are some of their responses:

Steve Woods – It’s a difficult decision for me. I buy online often for convenience and price, and do think an additional sales tax of 8-9% will still offset the price of gas and time in a store. But I have also had to consider the lack of profit to a local business in my city.

That said, many of the “local businesses” I shop from are chain stores with profits leading out of state anyway. My community and state benefit from the sales taxes only.

Having a local sales tax added to online purchases will offset some of the losses by bringing at least some sort of revenue back to my city and/or state to upkeep the roads and bridges. Even if this means the same price in or out of a brick and mortar shop, I’ve still gained the time and expense of gas.

Local merchants that create something unique have already begun the rapid shift to online sales, creating Etsy accounts and online shopping carts. If they’re making something desirable, the profits should come back to my area anyway, as potentially people from all over the world buy their goods.

Leon Carpenter – Gas costs more than taxes for most purchases — especially when Prime allows me to have free shipping. So, yes, I would pay sales tax. The only time online sales tax would give me pause is for large purchases such as TV’s etc.

Debbie Wolfe – Like several others here, I shop online for convenience & selection, somewhat for price, but not at all to avoid taxes. When I lived in California, I would also pay use tax on my online purchases.

Joe Hackman – It wouldn’t change my online purchase habits much, it’s really only a factor today on high ticket items where the tax is a significant amount.

Jen Reeves – It’s about convenience and discounts for me, not taxes.

Shane Brady – Personally, for a lot of things, the shopping experience is better online, where I can research, compare, get feedback. I still buy stuff online from companies who charge me sales tax because the whole process is nicer.

Stephen Shankland – Yes. I shop online mostly because I don’t have to drive some place, especially some place that’s closed in the middle of the night when I have time to shop.

Will an Internet Sales Tax Hurt Online Retailers?

Technology has become a defining force in our lives, and its relevance is spreading to virtually every field in one way or another. While some people may go their entire lives never needing to recall the knowledge they gained in various classes throughout their educational career, their experiences with technology will most certainly come in to play very early during their adulthood.

Colleges have taken steps towards online learning by giving students access to professors virtually that otherwise might have an overcrowded and counterproductive learning environment as a result. Assignments are given out and handed in more efficiently, and professors are able to use more of their time with students individually as their office schedules are easier to manage. Many students have to work their way through college to support themselves while receiving an education. This is much easier with a more flexible online schedule and for those that don’t have the ability to move to another state, the college they wish to attend is just a few mouse clicks away.

Is this where grade-school level education is headed? I can’t say for certain that is the case, though it would be beneficial for students to have access to some of the greatest minds in the country during various lectures and lessons versus receiving their entire curriculum from local teachers that may or may not have the knowledge to present their content with the most efficiency.

Bottom line, if you’re not connected to the Internet, you’re not learning as effectively as you could be. Face-to-face interaction is important for students. No one is denying that. What is being ignored by some districts is the importance of keeping technology within grasp as a way to prepare the student for the world that’s ahead of them. The workplace requires you, now more than ever, to know the ins and outs of whatever operating system they work with. If you wish to move up, you’ll need to prove again and again that you know how to navigate technology. Sometimes, having that little bit of extra knowledge can really make a difference in your salary and lifestyle down the road.

The Importance of Technology in Education

Making your home more energy efficient makes sense on so many levels. You can save a lot of money over a relatively short period of time by making just a few adjustments around the house. Here are five ways you can make your home more energy efficient:

Replace Incandescent Lighting with LEDs or CFLs
Incandescence, by its very definition, is light emitted from objects that are heated up to a point where they glow. These bulbs are extremely hot to the touch, and heavy on electricity usage. A standard 60watt bulb can cost you more over the period of a year than the difference in price between it and an LED or CFL lamp. This is also coupled with the relatively short lifespan traditional incandescent lights offer when compared to the 25-50 thousand hour lifespan of an LED lamp.

Use Energy-Efficient Fans During Hot Days
Fans don’t actually cool the air. I’m going to say that. What they do is keep the air moving so it does not become stagnent in front of windows and other heat-generating areas of the home. They also make a space feel cooler as a result of the breeze they create. This can result in lower bills by maintaining a comfort zone at higher temperatures. Because the air is constantly moving, it doesn’t have time heat up as much as it passes in front of windows or over a warmer appliances. Ceiling fans are a great way to keep an entire room more comfortable on a hot day.

Install Dimmer Switches
Installing dimmer switches (or stand-alone lamps with this functionality) gives you the ability to lower the amount of electricity used by the lighting in your home when you don’t need the room to be lit as brightly. Control over the intensity of the lighting can also come in handy when company is over, giving your home a warmer and more inviting look.

Check the Seal Around Doors and Windows
Installing weatherstripping around doors and windows that have lost their seal over time can keep outside air from entering your home and causing your furnace and/or air conditioner to overwork itself. This transfer of air can end up costing you hundreds over a short period of time. Building codes in many jurisdictions actually require weatherstripping to be installed on all exterior windows and doors, as well as any uninsulated room.

Have Your Central Air Ducts Checked Yearly for Leaks
It’s easy to overlook this important part of home maintenance. Leaky air ducts can cause your furnace and/or air conditioner to essentially waste sometimes 40% of their output due to leaks caused by aging and critters that make their way in to the home. In colder climates, many home repair businesses offer a discounted preventative maintenance check for central furnace systems during the autumn months. The opposite goes for warmer areas, where discounts are typically given during the spring months. These checkups often include a cleaning as dust and dirt builds up in the vents and air ducts over time and eventually flies back out in to the room creating a potential problem for allergy sufferers.

Spending money on electricity sucks. That money could be much better utilized on more entertaining or productive things. The tips presented here are all pretty cheap – and they could end up saving you a lot of money. If you have any tips or tricks that can help save you on your electric bill, please post them as a comment below.

Five Ways You Can Make Your Home More Energy Efficient

Education is incredibly important, even in this world of technology where knowledge is just a few keystrokes away. Students today are being taught differently than they were when I went to school. Assignments that had to be completed using a No. 2 pencil with every step of my process represented in notes are now being turned in electronically through email in a growing number of cases. This shift in education has allowed for more relevant and targeted lessons to be presented to students. It can also allow for a few extra shortcuts which some argue may negatively impact a student’s ability to learn.

I’d be the last to say that technology isn’t improving our lives by simplifying otherwise difficult tasks. Services like Wolfram Alpha have enabled users to access answers to problems in a speed unheard of just years ago. However, even with these powerful tools at our fingertips, there is no substitute for knowledge. Being able to find a solution to a problem in times when technology isn’t at hand can be the difference between an opportunity seized and one lost.

English is a subject easily overlooked for its importance in life after school. A dependency on spelling and grammar checkers can lead to a terrible impression on those you attempt to communicate with on a day-to-day basis. Believe it or not, there are people that make a good living checking grammar and spelling for public figures, executives, and celebrities simply so they can avoid the occasional embarrassing typo from going out to the public. In the world of business, having strong written and verbal communication skills is paramount to success.

Computer skills are also extremely important, and learning them while you’re still in school can make a big difference on your professional life once you graduate. Knowing how to type, use basic office applications, and navigate common operating systems is no longer a handy extra skill, but a requirement for most modern jobs. This is one area where the introduction of more technology in classrooms can be a lasting benefit to students.

Math, science, and social studies are often difficult subjects for students. The question as to whether or not these subjects are still relevant to life after graduation comes up more often than educators would prefer. The fact of the matter is, unless you know exactly what lies ahead in your life (which you very likely don’t), you never know when something you picked up in class might actually have a big impact on your future.

Successful entrepreneurs, inventors, software developers, and just about anyone not in an entry-level position benefits from a certain amount of knowledge inside and outside of their field. If Steve Wozniak didn’t spend some time studying engineering as a youth, the personal computer might never have taken form in the way that it has. This innovation could have failed to see fruition for years – and the bounty would have fallen in the hands of another, more knowledgable individual.

Even with all the technology we have today, there is no substitute for knowledge.

Why Education is Still Important

Recently, I had the opportunity to talk to Michael Kaplan, a fellow geek and owner of the iBOT by Independence Technology (a division of Johnson & Johnson).

The iBOT is an extremely versatile and stable wheelchair that can actually stand on two wheels. In 2006, the iBOT retailed for $26,100 with a required prescription. New models are no longer being manufactured and support is expected to end in 2014.

While its name might give you the impression that it’s the next big Apple product, the iBOT was actually developed by Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway. While they both share a common trait allowing humans to travel on two wheels, this is where their similarities end.

Unlike the Segway, the iBOT doesn’t entirely trust in its operator. Its prime directive is to stay under the center of gravity of the person using it. The result is a stable, safer product that focuses on keeping the user upright, no matter what. This upright position allows the operator to stand over 6 feet tall in some cases, and by doing so allows them to function without many of the burdens typically associated with being in a wheelchair.

The iBOT also features a stair-climbing mode that allows it the user to “walk” up and down standard stairs, breaking down barriers previously associated with being in a wheelchair. It does this by rotating the wheels in a manor much like a rack and pinion.

Another advantage to this design is its ability to operate in various terrains including gravel, sand, and water up to 3″ deep.

Unfortunately, the $26,100 price tag kept this incredible invention from really taking off. Despite having the backing of much larger companies (including Johnson & Johnson), the iBOT was discontinued in 2009 after just a few years. This isn’t to say that this innovation won’t find itself in widespread use in the future. Every day, technologies that were once considered too expensive are emerging as viable consumer products as the costs involved with manufacturing these products continue to decline.

How the iBOT Wheelchair Mobility Device Improves Lives

Weinstein888, a member of the LockerGnome community, asked, “How do I convince my parents to let me take my laptop to Europe?” This is a good question, and one that begs an even larger discussion of whether or not you really need a laptop with you while on vacation.

First, I would have to side with the parents on this one. While you’re in Europe, enjoy the sights and sounds of a new continent. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for most people, and a chance to really enjoy something away from the keyboard. Trust me, the regret of spending your time in Europe glued to a keyboard and monitor instead of taking in what that amazing part of the world has to offer will stick with you for a very long time.

Plus, do you really want to lug this thing around Europe? A laptop, even if it is small and lightweight, can become a giant hinderance when traveling. Lugging this thing around will quickly become a bigger problem than it’s worth. A mobile device such as a smartphone or iPod Touch, will be much more manageable and cause you less heartache during your journey.

Another thing to keep in mind when bringing plug-in electronics overseas is the difference in how things are powered. Wall plugs in the United States are different than the ones you might find overseas. Unless you have the right adapters and/or power converters, these plugs will either not connect or could actually damage your laptop. This means you’ll be lugging around an additional piece of equipment just to be able to plug it in.

With mobile devices being as powerful as they are today, the need for bringing a full-fledged laptop with you when traveling is dwindling. Battery life, portability, and extras like convenient on-board cameras are all big advantages that you won’t find with a laptop.

All-in-all, nothing digital can ever truly replace the experience you can have by letting yourself enjoy the environment around you. Europe is an amazing place, and can be an experience that you will probably cherish for the rest of your life.

Do You Need a Laptop With You While on Vacation?

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Yesterday, I bought some interesting things at the grocery store. I had to snap pictures and upload them through Instagram. This site gives you an interesting and unique way to share photos taken with your mobile device on the web in a simple manner. All you have to do is take your picture, select your preferred visual style through the presets and upload it to the web. By doing this, you can share your images across networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Flickr.

The problem is that until now there was no easy way to browse everyone’s images on the web. If you weren’t connected to a person in some way, you’d miss out on all the great shots they were sharing. With the introduction of Extragram, though, all of that is about to change.

Extragram uses Instagram’s API to create a new and simple way for people to browse through photos. Instead of relying on the mobile app or even direct links, you can log in and browse Instagram photos within your browser.

Yes, I did just take a picture of the Extragram logo to upload through my Instagram account. If you would like to follow me on the site, just search for my l0ckergn0me username and add me. I tend to take a lot of pictures… I’ll snap shots of silly thing, beautiful things and shiny things. I love to share bits and pieces of my life through photographs, and you never know what you’ll find each day.

The challenging part of using Instagram is choosing which filter to use for any given picture. You have to add exactly the right one to get your point across! Once you’ve done that, it’s time to finally share it out and let others discover what you’ve done through Extragram.

How do you share photos across the web?

How Do You Share Photos Across the Web?