Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better. – Maya Angelou

Mr. Walker's Classroom Blog

  • As the world of information continues to explode, we hope A Google a Day triggers your imagination and helps you discover all the types of questions you can ask Google—and get an answer.

    Start playing A Google a Day now—visit agoogleaday.com or look for the puzzle in tomorrow’s New York Times, just above the crossword. The clues are currently only in English, but anyone can attempt to solve the puzzles. And let us know what you think on Twitter at @agoogleaday or at agoogleaday@google.com.

  • Click to Enlarge

    Google by the numbers.
    Click to Enlarge

    Infographic by computer school.org

  • YouTube NextUp: Are you the next big thing on YouTube?

    Last year, our top YouTube partners generated more than 100 billion views and drew in millions of dollars through our revenue-sharing Partner Program. Talented Partners drew huge audiences with channels that showed people how to crochet flowers, apply the perfect lipstick – and sometimes just how to have fun.


    We believe that the successful singers, dancers, actors, producers, musicians and make-up artists of the future are practicing their craft on YouTube today. As we said recently, Partners are the heart of our platform, and we want to see even more of them take the next step in their YouTube careers and turn their video hobbies into careers or even businesses.

    Today we’re announcing YouTube Next’s second initiative, designed exclusively for up-and-coming YouTube Partners: YouTube NextUp. YouTube NextUp is about accelerating the growth of the next big YouTube stars. Up to 25 Partners from around the United States will be selected for the development program, which offers:

    • $35,000 in funding to produce a new project, purchase new tools or advance their overall YouTube careers
    • A spot at a four-day YouTube Creator Camp in which they’ll benefit from 1:1 mentoring and learn an array of production techniques from leading industry and YouTube experts
    • Promotion of their final work and channel
    • The opportunity to become better connected with a special community of aspiring and talented content creators from around the world

    We’re asking existing YouTube Partners to apply with a short (up to three minute) video that best represents their craft and the initiatives that they’d like to pursue on YouTube–whether it be a new brand of talk show, short film, or other type of new content. We’re also asking for short written responses that explain how they’ll use the $35,000, why they want to be part of the program, and what they hope to learn at the YouTube Creator Camp. Partners can apply at youtube.com/youtubenextup by midnight PT on March 27, 2011.
    (more…)

  • MakeUseOf.com – Solid State Drives

  • In Digital Era, Music Spotters Feed a Machine

     

    Jim Wilson/The New York Times

    Charles Slomovitz is a “music sourcer” for Shazam, a company whose popular application identifies the name of songs being played.

    By JENNA WORTHAM Published: February 13, 2011 on NYTimes.com

    SAN FRANCISCO — Sure, Shazam, the popular music-spotting cellphone application, can identify that Rihanna track. But what about the new song from the Sandwitches, a Bay Area folk-rock band?

    Multimedia
    Jim Wilson/The New York Times

    Before the Shazam service can find a song, Mr. Slomovitz or another sourcer must locate and input the recording.

    Jim Wilson/The New York Times

    Charles Slomovitz, monitoring music as it uploads into the database that Shazam uses to identify artists and their songs.

    That is where Charles Slomovitz comes in.

    Mr. Slomovitz was roaming the aisles of a record store here recently when he spotted a flame-haired clerk. It was Grace Cooper, one-third of the Sandwitches, which had just put out a single that was getting attention on music blogs.

    “She’s got that sound that’s getting to be big,” he said as she handed him a copy of the song, “so I’ve got to have it.”

    Mr. Slomovitz, a music industry veteran, spends his days tracking down hot new artists — but not for a big record label. Instead, he works for Shazam, maker of the application of the same name that can figure out what song is playing in a bar, a clothing boutique or a TV commercial.

    “It’s like a scavenger hunt in real time,” said Mr. Slomovitz, 42. “It never stops.”

    Mr. Slomovitz’s job is one of the more unusual in the new digital music era, as he and the dozen or so other “music sourcers” at Shazam try to ensure that any songs the app’s users might want to identify are ready and waiting in the company’s database.

    As the major record labels shrink, Shazam and other start-ups are thriving by offering people new ways to discover and listen to music. That is creating new kinds of jobs in the music business, from foragers like Mr. Slomovitz to the developers building software that recommends the perfect song for a particular listener.

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