2006/07/10

Ars Meet - Indy 2006

The best relationships have a combination of face to face interaction and long distance communication. This past weekend, Luke and I participated in an F2F event with a bunch of people known previously only through long distance communication. The event was the Indy Ars Meet 2006.

Arstechnica.com is IMHO one of the best tech enthusiast sites on the web. Luke and I have read and benefited from Ars for many years and hope to do so for many years in the future. Luke is a subscriber and a relatively frequent poster on the forums. I use Ars to maintain current tech knowledge and as a news resource for NEW NET. Arsians have been holding tech gatherings around the US for several years to connect in person some of the people whose interactions are only or primarily online. Luke and I went to the Madison Ars Meet a couple months ago and decided a quick road trip to Indianapolis to meet the legends Ceasar and Hannibal, as well as many mere mortal Arsians, would be a good use for the July 8 - 9 weekend. About 50 people were planning to attend the event at the northside Indy home of Panders, another renowned Arsian.

Both Luke and I thoroughly enjoyed the Indy Ars Meet 2006. If we're not banned from the event, we'll likely attend in 2007. Three things I really enjoyed -- meeting some interesting new tech enthusiasts, lots of good food, a bottle of la Fin du Monde. Three things I wish I'd done differently -- talked to and gotten to know a few more Arsians (I spent most of my time talking with just a couple people) , eat a caramel brownie (we brought caramel brownies, which I love, and I didn't eat even one of them), and take some pictures.

Another face to face event for tech enthusiasts and entrepreneurs is the BarCamp Chicago 2006 event scheduled for July 15 - 16. I plan to attend that if at all possible. Going to that and talking with lots of the participants will be good preparation for the Open Collaboration Camp.

Discussion Topic - July 11 NEW NET

Best Technology For Keeping Brain Young or Increasing Its Capacity

Would you buy a Nintendo DS Lite to keep your mind young and maybe even improve your thinking skills? The DS Lite and its Brain Age game will cost you $135 - $160. Most people would gladly pay much more than $160 to significantly improve their brain’s capacity or to keep it sharp and ‘young’. The real question is, does ‘playing’ Brain Age have a noticeable positive effect, and is the game engaging enough to induce you to keep playing it.

Reviews I read for Brain Age w/ Nintendo DS were mixed. Some people thought it was great and others severely downgraded the game due to technical glitches (voice recognition has problems with the word ‘blue’, some handwriting recognition issues), narration that’s unnecessary after the first few times you play the game, and the contention that your brain isn’t being beneficially exercised but is rather being trained how to do the exercises in Brain Age. The Sodoku puzzles in Brain Age were highly appealing to some and completely worthless in the opinion of others.

Likely the best way to keep your brain young and to increase its capacity is by including lots of critical thinking activities in your daily life, both vocational and avocational. What ways do you use or do others you know use to keep their brain young?

Links related to brain-building tech: http://www.sciammind.com/article.cfm?articleID=00016C9D-2761-1477-9D3383414B7F0000&pageNumber=1http://www.brainage.com/launch/what.jsp

In The News for July 11 NEW NET:

posted by myDigitechnician at 10.7.06

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

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8:43 AM  

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