Category Archives: Technology

All Politics is Local, Fun & Games, Technology, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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So, How Long Til This Reaches Law & Order or 24?

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Apparently, some folks at the Pentagon, unable to make “terrorists might use alternative communication methods and code words” sound sexy to their supervisors, they decided to stage an attack on the White House……in World of Warcraft.

Never mind that there IS no White House in Azeroth, and the closest you could come is setting off goblin grenades in front of Thrall, this is I suppose, a plausible way to have off-the-grid communication between two computers. But really? To blame it on a game?

Are you guys High?!

Technology, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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WTF Truck?


WTF Truck?
Originally uploaded by tbridge

Not exactly sure what this modified Dodge Sprinter van was doing in Clarendon with its array of ten cameras on a tall stalk that extended a good 18″ above the top of the vehicle. On the rear of the van was a high-resolution GPS antenna for maximum signal strength in a dense urban area. I was wondering if it was Google Street View for the Maps, but their cars are mostly Chevy Cobalt sedans, or the occasional VW Beetle. The license plate was a Missouri plate, which was interesting. Know anything about these?

Technology, The Daily Feed, The District
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AT&T Fails DC

More Bars in More Places is what AT&T advertises its customers, but today it didn’t matter how many bars showed up on your cellphone, chances are, it had no access to the data network that let mobile applications function. The result looked a lot like what happens when RIM’s network went down.

I know my phone was ringing off the hook with frustrated clients with iPhones who couldn’t see the internet. Rough day for DC, and the outages continue tonight variably. We aren’t alone, though, New York & most of the eastern seaboard is lumped together as part of the same outage.

Talkin' Transit, Technology, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Smart Bike Thief Thwarted

washington dc by wayan
Photo by Wayan

Apparently, the first thieves have tried to get their hands on a SmartBike. It was a complete failure, according to WTOP:

Someone tried to steal a SmartBike from the rack at the Shaw SmartBike location over the weekend, D.C. Department of Transportation spokesperson Karyn LeBlanc says.

“The person came and took the back tire and lifted it – physically lifted it over the rack – in hopes that it would snap the lock,” LeBlanc says.

The rack proved too mighty for this thief, however, and the bike did not come off the rack. SmartBikes are secured into racks by steel locks.

You’re going to have to try harder than that to get one of the SmartBikes…

All Politics is Local, Technology, The Daily Feed
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SMS Received – It’s Biden

It’s 3AM and I should be safe and asleep. But there’s a phone beside me and it’s beeping. Something’s happening in the world.

Obama Text Message Announcing Biden as his VP

Good morning, DC! The Obama campaign seems to have been waiting for DC bars to close before sending out the much awaited text message. Or maybe they originally planned to send the SMS later in the morning, but had to scramble to get it to supporters before they wake up to the leaked info on the news. Anyway, Delaware Senator Joe Biden is officially Barack Obama’s running mate for the vice-presidential nomination.

Fun & Games, Technology, The Daily Feed, The Mall
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Smithsonian Offers Online Content via iTunes

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The Smithsonian’s amazing museums are instantly familiar to all of us, but their educational programming isn’t quite as popular. Though, now you can get it on iTunes for cheap. $1.99 for 45 minutes to an hour-plus education program? Not a shabby deal. They’ve got four series: Kids, America’s Stories, History and Natural Wonders. Go give it a look, this could be perfect for those of you with an iPod and a longer commute.

All Politics is Local, Downtown, Technology, The District
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EveryBlock comes to DC

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The geographically-based super-engine EveryBlock has finally come to DC. Think of EveryBlock like the best mashup of Flickr, Google Maps, The Public Records Office, MPD’s Crime Blotter, the Real Estate Section of the paper, and just about every news story out there in the District, whether it comes from Blogs, or from the Post or Examiner, or from the local TV affiliates, EveryBlock is there.

It’s all one big map, and they’re all over the geolocation of various events:

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This map gives me a listing of real estate around the Brightwood neighborhood. Just a click away in the Crimes listing, or the Calls for City Services, or the Business Reviews.

It’s pretty impressive. Go play!

Featured Photo, Talkin' Transit, Technology, The Daily Feed
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Plane Trails on DC Cam

I’m a big fan of the National Park Service’s webcams, especially the Washington DC cam viewing the Mall area from the Netherlands Carillon on the GW Parkway. Having a windowless inside office I like to keep this cam (among other outdoor DC cams) open in a separate browser window to provide an outside view through the course of the work day. I’ve also used it for at least one time lapse video.

Checking the cam tonight brought an especially cool treat: a long exposure shot catching a plane making the River Visual approach to landing at National:

Webcam captures plane

Webcam captures plane

(Here’s how that approach looks from a pilot’s perspective aboard a small plane in daylight. More here.)

Update: Oh nice, check out brianmka’s incidental capture of a landing plane at night from right near the same webcam.

Technology, The Daily Feed, The District
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Post Puts Out CityGuide iPhone App

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Unlike the first DC-related iPhone app, this one seems to be a real winner. It’s a mobile version of the Washington Post’s City Guide for your iPhone. It’ll give you the basics of the Post’s resources, as well as buttons to call ahead to your favorite places, as well as store a group of favorite restaurants and bars and clubs and get directions from anywhere.

Oh. And it’s FREE. Thanks much to Couch on Twitter for bringing it to our attention.

Talkin' Transit, Technology, The Daily Feed, WMATA
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iPhone App for Metro

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At $15, the price is a little high, but starting tomorrow you can navigate the Metro system on your iPhone. The details of all the functions aren’t available on iTrans’ website just yet, but there are a couple pictures in the new iTunes app store (link requires iTunes) which seem to indicate it’ll be pulling train times from the published Metro schedule.

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If they’re not using the Metro train-position API, one has to wonder why they bothered at all. Oh well.

At least it’ll get line service updates?

All Politics is Local, Crime & Punishment, Technology, The District, WTF?!
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Does the House Misunderstand Technology?

Dusk on the National Mall

The answer’s probably yes. I know, I know, traditionally it’s the Senate that is the home of the whackjobs like Ted Stevens who claim that the Internet is a series of tubes, and not a truck. But, here’s the deal. Representative John Culberson (R-TX) seems to think that the House has it out for Twitter and all of the various video services. Specifically, he’s pointing to a letter written by Chair of the House Franking Committee Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA) which suggests that any member of the House who conducts anything related to official business be done only on the House.gov domain.

That means any member of the House who embeds YouTube, Blip.tv, Qik, or any other video on their website is doing so in violation of the regulations of the Committee on House Administration. That also means that microblogging via a service like Twitter (Hey, follow us!) But, the letter that Rep. Capuano has written is actually promoting the changes necessary to allow for such a service to be used, but in exposing the current regulations, he’s putting current House members in jeopardy of disciplinary action for using social networking technologies like YouTube, etc.

Nice work, guys. Nice work.

Dusk on the National Mall originally uploaded by spinfly.

Technology, The Daily Feed
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HacDC Announces Grand Opening Festivities


Smooth Sine on Scope
Originally uploaded by phrontist

Mark your calendars, DC geeks. HacDC has announced Grand Opening festivities for the week of July 22-27.

      

  • Wednesday, July 23: monochrom presents LAW AND SECOND ORDER. (8:30 PM)
  • Thursday, July 24: A town hall meeting with members of DorkbotDC, MakeDC, and HacDC.
  • Friday, July 25: HacDC invades The Brickskeller! Come by and enjoy great beer
  • Saturday, July 26: Paying homage to Grace Hopper at Arlington National Cemetry.
  • Sunday, July 27: OFFICIAL GRAND OPENING CEREMONY! HacDC opens at 3:00 PM, Ceremony at 8:00 PM with reception to follow.
Fun & Games, Technology, The Daily Feed
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Victowii!

Yesterday I mentioned that I was in the market for a Wii, and boy did you guys deliver with the suggestions! ajw_93 let me know that the Target on Route 7 near Bailey’s Crossroads had been spotted with a couple, and sure enough, there was a single solitary Wii in their cabinet at a little after 8pm. It had only been restocked just the previous hour, making me surprisingly lucky!

Sure, I could have gone The Craigslist Route, but I wanted a fresh & new wii! I was up way too late last night playing mock tennis. Thanks everyone!

Alexandria, All Politics is Local, Arlington, Technology, The District
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Why I Love DC: Tom Bridge

This is the first of a series of posts from our authors, designed to give you a peek into who we are, beyond what you’ve read from us in the past. We’ll be featuring two authors a day for the next week in this space, as well as our usual features. We hope you enjoy!

I never intended to fall in love with DC.

Hell, I never intended to stay here so long. I got here in July of 2000, eight years ago this past weekend, after being offered a tech job in Courthouse. I was supposed to be working with a little startup, my own little piece of the dotconomy. Until they went broke. Before I even started. I asked the leasing office what my options were. The secretary snapped her gum, and said, “Well, there are provisions for death or bankruptcy.”

Neither was appealing.

Clock (Closeup)

Continue reading →

Featured Photo, Technology, The Daily Feed, We Love Arts
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Aerial Photography Demo in Columbia Heights

If you see something funny in the sky over Columbia Heights on Saturday afternoon, smile and say cheese. HacDC, a new hacker collective, is hosting an aerial photography demonstration by Curt Westergard of Air Photos Live.

Curt will be flying a tethered aerostat balloon (weather permitting) and taking aerial photos of HacDC and the Columbia Heights neighborhood near St. Stephen and the Incarnation Church. He’ll talk about what he does with balloons, show off the system he’s developed for deploying them, and generally have a good time.

If you’re interested, stop by the church parking lot (at 16th and Newton in Columbia Heights View Larger Map) around 3 PM.