This is not exactly the best web demo of MS’ Speech Recognition in VISTA.
It’s about 11 minutes long but worth every second of viewing pleasure. The geek in you will get a good laugh.
Click to View
So, while searching for tips, tricks, and nuggets of gold as they pertain to my Motorola Q I came across two slick websites: map4pda.com and radio4pda.com.
The first site (map4pda.com) is where you can get a free downloadable application for your device to use for driving directions, maps even GPS if you are in a serviceable area. I’ve tested this app out and I really like it. You can choose from a list of map providers (GoogleTeleAtlas, Google NAVTEQ, Yahoo!, Microsoft LIVE and a few more). This is a cool alternative if you are walking around in a new city and need to now how to get somewhere..
The system requirements for your Q are:
.NET Compact Framework 2.0 SP1 and the application itself. Both of which are hyperlink’d right on the site.
Once installed simply hit the [Home] Key (house), [Start] left soft key, and [More] left soft key until you find the 'Map for PDA' program and you’re off.
The second site (radio4pda.com) is an alternative to taking up memory (internal or external) on your Q with MP3. You can hit this site and listen to radio stations (AM and FM) from the U.S., Canada, Ireland, Australia and The United Kingdom. Currently – if an Eagles game is not being televised I throw on my SIRIUS satellite to listen to the game (if I don’t have the Season Ticket with DirecTV for that season). Now I have an alternative if a game is not being televised and I am away from my home and or car. BAM! WYSP on my Motorola Q gets me the broadcast and its win win for me!
Check out these sites even if you don’t have a Motorola Q as the radio site works no matter what you’re using and there are compatible apps (maps/GPS) for other smart phones.
So, after all the smoke has cleared, Don Imus is no longer on radio or television.
Was it due to:
- The original comments he made?
- The ridiculous path he took in an effort to apologize and appease the masses?
- The almost immediate pull out of major sponsors (GM, Proctor and Gamble et al) to a show that already had very low (almost non existent) ratings?
My guess is it was a combination of all of the above coupled with the continual pressure both NBC TV and CBS radio received from both the public and the media.
When I think about it, the original comment he made (referring to the Rutgers University Women’s Basketball team as “nappy headed hos”), while it wasn’t the smartest thing in the world to say, wasn’t exactly the worst thing in the world. Was it smart? No. Was it politically correct? No.
I say these things (my responses of NO) knowing that I am neither black nor a woman.
There are all sorts of opinions on this out there. “How come rappers can say ho and not Imus?” “Why is it ok for a black comedian to refer to black folks as nappy headed but not a white person?” “What about freedom of speech?”
Well, in regards to rappers – you are paying for their content – you don’t have to buy their CDs. In regards to blacks (or any one identifiable group of people) being able to say something that whites (or any other non black person) can’t – that’s just the way it is, accept it. Freedom of speech? We all know there are limits to that (yelling fir in a movie theatre) but it’s what you do, how you handle yourself, after the horse has gotten out of the proverbial barn.
The later (how you handle yourself) is where Imus, in my opinion, went severely off track. Not that it matters to Don Imus what I think he should have done but here’s what I think he should have done ha-ha.
He should have stayed on HIS show and said something to the effect of “I said something that was offensive to not only black women but black people in general and also women of any race. While these comments where made in jest, I know see, in retrospect, that I should have used my brain a little more before I used my mouth. I apologize and am willing to take my lumps as they come.”
I really feel if he would have done/said something to that effect he would have weathered this storm far better. But no, the first thing he did was turn to one of the two worst race pimps (Al Sharpton) in the country to apologize.
Why do I call him (and who is the other) race pimp? Think about it. Al Sharpton (and Jesse Jackson) purports to stand up for the black race. He champions the causes of “his people” whenever possible. I suggest he sells out the very same people he purports to stand up for whenever he has the opportunity and does so to the highest bidder. Once he gets the publicity he wants he is through. A racist by every sense of the definition is Al Sharpton.
When looking to settle the stir over racially (and gender based) charged comments – why on earth would you ever seek out the audience or assistance of a man that was once quoted saying **“White folks was in caves while we was building empires... We taught philosophy and astrology and mathematics before Socrates and them Greek homos ever got around to it.”???
To make matters worse when Imus was on Sharpton’s show and getting backed into a corner he said “I can’t win with you people”. YOU PEOPLE?????? Are you kidding me? Talk about open mouth insert foot.
Bottom line is (to me) if Imus would have made a sincere attempt at an apology and then SHUT UP – I believe this would have died down and then, eventually, blown over. Unfortunately for Don Imus, that is not what happened.
Am I or have I ever been a fan of the Don Imus Show? No But I do know when I see something ridiculous (that could have been avoided) going on.
** Al Sharpton to an audience at Kean College in 1994