N'awlins

I'm here in New Orleans attending a conference. With 25,000 attendees, we're the largest group to come to NOLA post-Katrina, taking up just about every hotel room in town and filling all the restaurants. The city has been incredibly hospitable and thrilled to have us and our expense accounts.

I haven't seen any of the stricken areas (staying right between the French Quarter and the convention center), but the tales from everyone I speak to are universal. Whether they were directly affected or not, there is duality of sadness and resignation combined with a spirit of survival. While very different, it reminds me of New York post 9/11 when we were still reeling a bit but so very thankful for the visitors that came and spent their money after tourism had dropped off to zilch.

The town is still wonderfully charming with some of the best food and music in the universe. Come visit and spend your money here. It's for a good cause.

Oddcast

Check out the new entry under Fun Links for the Oddcast Text to Speech Demo. I've seen stuff like this before and they're used quite frequently with canned responses for customer service applications and the like. The demo, however, is particularly fun because not only can you type in whatever you want the app to say, but you can also choose one of several languages and one of several voices/accents. And her eyes follow your mouse around the screen too.

Typing in naughty bits are the most fun . . .

Rant Of The Day - iFines

It was reported in the news yesterday that New York City may soon impose fines on pedestrians who cross the street while listening to iPods or while busy typing away on Blackberrys. Apparently, there has been an increase in pedestrian accidents and deaths attributable to people not being aware of their surroundings.

I don't think there should be fines. As a matter of fact, I think we should encourage such behavior. After all, if you're stupid enough to be that oblivious while crossing the street, then Darwin's Law should rule and you should be culled from the pack.

If we're going to do something about distractors, how about getting people to stop using cell phones - whether handsfree or not - while driving. I've seen too many people driving like idiots while engaged in conversation and in those cases, while Darwin's Law should again rule, the fact of the matter is that while driving a car you are likely to injure another or take someone else's life at the same time. That wouldn't be fair.