While most of you thought the really big news was yesterday’s Amazon’s Kindle Fire announcement (see my post), or the expected new iPhone from Apple … we’re all wrong! Tomorrow you will finally be able to learn Klingon. Now that is BIG news. Trekkies unite to boldly go where no man has gone before!

If you want access to more mundate eLearning, link to my learning portal. You will find great engineering and general web based learning resources (all free), including custom Google search engines which I built to aide finding content.

Don’t let yourself get caught in this situation! from Star Trek!

It's been a while since I have added a new learning site to my Engineering Learning Portal (software engineering section), but Codecademy deserves the mention. This site is great at teaching one the basics of coding, including javascript. Worth a visit. The courses are free.

If you haven't checked out my learning portal in a while, remember it has a wealth of engineering and management eLearning courses and manuals along with accompanying custom Google search engines built by myself. It's Fall, time to head back to school via the web and learn something new! 

All the resources linked are available without charge!

I was asked the question earlier today … how long have you been using Microsoft Excel? The answer for me was 24 years! Ouch! Am I that old!

Here's why … we installed Microsoft Excel here at work because of its runtime windows version. We preferred the visual environment, and wanted to get off Lotus 1-2-3 and the backslash command. Thus, I was using Excel before we even had Windows 3.1. I also remember writing assembly code to install hard drives (5 meg).

Finally, here is the earliest version I can find of my research center web site which I worked upon (1997). Don't you just love the Wayback Machine, Mr. Sherman!

Laughed out loud by myself last night while listening to an interview on National Public Radio with Cornell Professor Hod Lipson whose graduate students hacked to "cleverbots" (i.e. robots) to have an unscripted conversation. Here is how the professor defined human intelligence: "Having a conversation about nothing is real difficult for a computer, and that seems to be the ultimate test of intelligence"

I love that quote! Most of us are pretty good at having those kind of conversations. I never realized that defined my innate intelligence!

Here is a link to the NPR Interview where you'll learn that Chatbots think Brad Pitt does bad things! If you prefer, watch a different conversation between "Alan-Bot" and "Shruti-Bot" via YouTube. Remember, these conversations are not planned or scripted. Each cleverbot is reacting to what the other bot says! You can even speak with these robots via Cleverbot.Com!

I'm nerd and proud of it, but I hate remote control devices. Thus, I applaud Roku for their simple design, and I LOVE their remote control device. It's so darned simple to use. Click to expand the images given below. Installing their box is also easy:

1. Connect your Roku device to your TV
2. Turn the power on
3. Connect your Roku to your wireless router (i.e. enter your security code)
4. Enter the Roku authorization code via your PC

Simple screens walk you through items #3 and #4. I now own three Roku devices. Two in Minneapolis and one in Duluth. I have only one Netflix account, and watch from all three TV's. Right now I'm enjoying watching all the episodes of Star Trek Enterprise with Captain Archer!

Oh yes … did I mention that a Roku box is very inexpensive, and carries no monthly fee? You will need to pay for access to premium services like Netflix, but please realize there is also plenty of free content. 

Finally, please notice that NorthstarNerd.Org has no advertising. I don't take money from vendors and only post reviews for products which I have purchased myself.