Why Did Cisco Kill the Flip?

O.K. I've loved my Flip camera. I mean, I didn't use it fanatically, but it sure made it easy to make videos for the Internet. I mean, the Flip video camera was so simple you could hardly make a mistake. It was designed for low-tech non-geeks who wanted something they could point and shoot. It was the Polaroid camera for videography.

Not only was it simple to use, it was the perfect tool for what so many of us wanted to do... upload video to YouTube. The movies you made with your Flip required no re-formatting. They were ready to go and you did not even need a fast connection to the web to upload.

An article at the Forbes blogs by Anthony DeMarco tells his reaction to the story. The title says it all: Upon Further Review Cisco's Decision to Kill the Flip Makes Even Less Sense.

If you'd like to check out some of the videos I created with my Flip, here's the link.

I've had fun with it, even if nothing I made was entertaining enough to go viral like some vids that have seemingly been shared with the entire cyber-universe. Items in my playlist include some live painting, turkeys gobbling, my assistant hitting a golf ball, scenes from the NSRA Nationals in Louisville, a train going by on a rural road, and a few other brief diversions.

My camera still works fine, too. Even if the company has distanced itself from it I'll keep it around and upload a few more snippets for our mutual benefit.

In the meantime, have a great day.

Hood Ornaments

There are probably dozens of reasons people love cars. For many it is simply the memories associated with them. Cars take us places we might not otherwise have been. Occasionally even over a rainbow.

Another reason people, usually guys, like cars is the power they emanate. Guys with muscle cars come to mind here... or the Fast and Furious tuner crowd.

Here at the NSRA Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, it is clear that cars used to be more than vehicles to take you places or extensions of one's machisimo... They exude style. From the lines and curves of the form itself to the embellishments, the vibrant colors and chrome ornamentation, there's really nothing like it in the world, a splendiforous breath taking, dream making wonder.

To me, one of the most fascinating elements on so many of the older cars, is the hood ornament. Many car manufacturers embellished their designs with a symbol which the car wore like a badge right on the front center portion of the hood. Along with the grille, the hood ornament often helped give a car its distinctiveness. Many used it as their primary brand identifier.

When we lived in Mexico, I purchased a hood ornament for my '72 Ford station wagon. It was not a great car in terms of style, but that chrome eagle in flight sure made it feel cool to me.

So for today I just wanted to share with you a couple hood ornaments which I saw yesterday. Feel free to click on each image to enlarge. And just out of curiosity, in what kinds of ways do we ornament our lives today?