LIVEdigitally

I am a proud CMU alumnus. When I was there, I always had the sense that I was surrounded by incredibly smart people. Engineers, mathematicians, economists, heck, even the drama students do great things (especially my bud Adam Donshik).

I was browsing YouTube’s popular videos today, and in between clips from Saturday Night Live, the Daily Show, and Mentos funniness, I noticed this amazing video of a system generating 3D images from 2D photographs. I must say, it’s much cooler than being responsible for the emoticon!

Aside from the occasional digital camera, I rarely lose stuff.  Granted, I have a pile or two of gadgets that have misplaced power adapters (why is it so out of line for companies to label AC transformers?  it doesn’t really cost much more, and it’s such a nice touch), but for the most part, I have a controlled mess.  But when I read an article today on how to place a “warning” on a USB drive, I thought it was a brilliant idea.  It’s got a little “geek-speak” but the directions are straightforward enough.

Although if I were doing it, I’d probably try to find a way to get a picture of my face in the warning dialog.  I think the personal touch is more likely to evoke a response from people.

I think it’d be a nice idea for someone (Google) to use some of their (Google) ridiculous amounts of online storage (Google) to create a virtual “lost and found data” service.  Ideally, it would let people post a “lost USB drive, really need the spreadsheets” or “stolen laptop, please upload pictures” message, and others could anonymously post the data.  After my friend Brad’s laptop was recently stolen (not to mention my digital camera!), I firmly believe the bits and bytes are worth more than the components themselves.  The site could even have bounties (via Paypal or other) to really incent people to use it (since good will seems harder and harder to come by).

Anyone know of such a service?  Think these guys would be up for it? If not, anyone want to start one?