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Popular Discus Fish Types

On January 17, 2012, in fish, by Luke Judge

One of the best-loved tropical fish available are the divine discus types of fish. If you typed discus fish into google you would likely be astonished at the diversity and vibrancy of these fish. If you are new to the variety of discus species, this article is for you as a profile for some of the types of discus out there.

Discus fish are brightly coloured with a striking shape that resembles a compact disc or Olympic discus. one of the other distinguishing features of discus types of fish is its long length of around 10 inches. Discus care can be tricky though and discus are one of the hardest to care for in a home environment.

The two basic discus types you can get are the wild ones and the cultivated ones. the terms wild and cultivated refer to where they came from, natural environments or by cross-breeding.

Taking the natural discus to begin, Johan Heckel was famed as being the first to discover the Discus fish. His was the Heckel Discus. this type of Discus has a dark stripe down the their side with a blue or red body. the descriptively named Green Discus come in a wide variety of greens with either stripes or spots down their side.

Brown discus are the ones you will encounter the most. these aren’t the most inspiring to look at, with their dull dark brown hue and just the odd flecks of colouring. They are one of the most hardy of discus types and therefore easier to keep. If brown isn’t for you, the Blue Discus are the same fish but, with a powerful blue colouring.

Wild discus types may come in a variety of shades and colourings, but the real fun begins when you look at the many cultivated discus types. the Albino Discus with its amazingly white body and alluring red eyes, is actually the most recent addition to the cultivated discus types.

If you want a bit of glitz and glamour in your home aquarium, then the Blue Diamond Discus are the ones for you. with a luscious blue colouring over its entire body, it also boasts much slimmer fins than other discus. this is where its name comes from-the twinkles it causes in the water as the light hits its fins.

Discus come in different varieties, both wild and cultivated. Discus care basics are a constant across the board. the tank size is important with discus fish due to the size they can grow, so aim for one that is medium to large. the water needs consideration as they are from South America and along the Amazon. the water there is called blackwater, due to its look and consistency. this can be achieved by purchasing special chemicals. the water should be reasonably hot all the time. Discus fish are not fussy eaters and will nibble away at live baby crickets and sea monkeys. To avoid parasites, it is better to stick to the specialist food available at fish and pet stores.

Discus fish are some of the most dazzling available, though it should be remembered how much work needs to go into keeping them well and alive. If you do choose discus types for your aquarium, you will not be disappointed.

Tagged with: dark stripe • google • greens • natural environments

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Silicon Valley Library Lends Google Chromebooks

On December 29, 2011, in word Processing, by Luke Judge

If you find yourself in Silicon Valley and you need a laptop, try the library. In a first-of-its-kind pilot project, the Palo Alto, California Library will soon be loaning Google Chromebook computers to library patrons for as long as one week at a time.

The program highlights the Chromebook’s ability to operate as a kind of “disposable computer,” as Google puts it. With the Chromebook, most all data and applications reside on the Web — not the local machine — so it can easily be passed from person-to-person. It’s a very Googly setup, and the search giant hopes it will reinvent the way businesses use computers.

The Palo Alto library has lent out laptops to library patrons for years now, but only for two-hour windows. it has never let them out of the library. but a few months ago, Google got in touch with the library and asked if they’d like to start lending out Chromebooks as well. after testing 21 of the Google devices for a month, the library has decided to make them available for one-week loans, starting in January.

Google introduced the Chromebook a year ago, and it has been struggling since then to elevate them out of the curiosity category. It’s light, the battery lasts a long time, it boots up in seconds, and it’s great for surfing the Web. but try to install Microsoft Office or slip in a DVD, and you’ve got another thing coming. Google is trying to rebuild computing in its own image.

“We’re not selling a device, we’re selling this new paradigm of web-based computing,” Google’s Rajen Sheth said last week at a conference in San Francisco. “You can do everything in the browser. The browser itself can actually be your desktop.”

Sheth is the executive credited with turning Google Apps into a winner, and now, he runs Google’s effort to push the Chromebook into the enterprise. He called it the “next step of the cloud evolution.”

One of the things that Google likes about the Chromebook is the “shareability of the product,” Sheth said. because the Chromebook stores everything on the Web, you don’t need really need to own the laptop that you use. just log in with a Google password to any Chromebook, and you get access to all the Web-based apps that you’ve set up.

Sheth himeself doesn’t lug a laptop between home and work anymore. “I know when I log into my Chromebook at home, it’s the same as when I log into my Chromebook at work,” he said.

So Google is piloting the Chromebook in a few places where people can test out this “shareability,” and Google can get some user feedback. if you’re flying Virgin America, you might get offered a loaner for the duration of your flight. In September, new Jersey’s Hillsborough Library started lending them out for four-hour windows.

The Multnomah County Library recently bought 10 Chromebooks for test-driving purposes. “We’re currently testing them at five of the six libraries that currently have loaner laptops — mostly by asking staff to play with them,” says Jeremy Graybill, a spokesman for the Portland, Oregon, library. “Some branches have relationships with specific patrons that allows them to put the Chromebooks in patron hands for supervised evaluation.

For the past month, Chromebooks have been available alongside Windows laptops for two-hour loans at the Palo Alto Library.

A lot of library users like to run Microsoft Office apps on their loaner laptops, but often they’ve struggled to get their heads wrapped around the Google’s Web-centric way of creating and sharing documents.

Right now, the Windows-based laptops are still more popular. Senior Librarian Jessica Goodman thinks that this is because patrons are simply more familiar with Windows and its word processing apps. “People would try it and say, ‘That was pretty cool. I wish I could do word processing with that,” she says of the Chromebooks.

With next month’s week-long rental program, patrons get more time to figure out how to use the devices, Goodman says. “we thought if we made them available to check out that would spark a little bit of interest.”

The Palo Alto Library is still working out how to get the Chromebooks to print on their customized pay-to-print printer system.

Tagged with: curiosity • google • laptop • laptops

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A look back at Microsoft’s busy year, A to Z

On December 28, 2011, in microsoft Office, by Luke Judge

The year 2011 has been eventful for Microsoft, from its partnership with Nokia to the purchase of Skype and the first peek at Windows 8. Here’s Microsoft’s year, from A to Z.

A= Azure. on Feb. 1, Microsoft marked the one-year anniversary of its Windows Azure cloud platform, on which developers and companies build software and distribute their products and services. new customers included Toyota and T-Mobile USA. Boeing released a virtual model of the Boeing 737 running on Azure.

B= Bing. how many times a day do you hear “just Google it”? does anyone say “just Bing it?” perhaps, slowly, it’s catching on. In November, Microsoft sites — primarily Bing — had roughly 15 percent of the U.S. search-engine market, pulling just about even with Yahoo (which is powered by Bing), according to comScore. Google still had 65 percent though.

C= Cloud. Microsoft honchos repeatedly say the company is “all in” to the cloud. So what did that entail in 2011? In addition to marking Azure’s anniversary, this year Microsoft launched Windows Intune, Office 365, Dynamics CRM Online 2011, and Dynamics AX 2012 — all cloud products. it also introduced iPhone and Windows phone mobile apps for SkyDrive, its personal cloud service. But Microsoft doesn’t break out financial numbers for many of the cloud offerings, so it’s hard to tell how they’re doing financially.

D= “Developers! Developers! Developers!” CEO Steve Ballmer’s famous/infamous rallying cry made several appearances at Microsoft events this year. At the Mix conference in April, Corporate Vice President Joe Belfiore showed off a Windows Phone 7 ringtone featuring Ballmer chanting: “Developers! Developers! Developers!” At the Build conference in September, Ballmer told developers “Let’s seize the opportunity for developers, developers, developers!”

E= Einhorn, David. the high-profile hedge fund investor said Ballmer needed to be replaced and that the CEO was the reason Microsoft’s stock was performing poorly. Einhorn’s fund nevertheless increased its shares in Microsoft.

F= Facebook. Since Microsoft and Facebook announced a partnership to build social search in Bing, Microsoft has added more Facebook features to Bing, including adding Facebook “likes” on specific pages inside popular websites. In 2011, Skype also enabled video chats with friends from within Facebook and Facebook-to-Facebook calls from within Skype.

G= Google. the competition amped up this year on various fronts, including search, mobile, patents, office productivity and the cloud. perhaps most entertainingly, a widening patent spat over Google’s Android mobile operating system led to an exchange between the two in which Google characterized Microsoft’s patent-licensing program as extortion and a Microsoft spokesman tweeted he had one word for Google: “Waaaah.”

H= Hadoop. In October, Microsoft brought a version of this open-source, large-scale data-processing system to Windows Server and Azure, integrating it with SQL Server.

I= Internet Explorer. Microsoft likes to say Internet Explorer 9 is the most used browser worldwide on Windows 7. And if you add together all versions of IE, it’s still the world’s most used browser. But IE’s share has been steadily declining: to 41 percent, down from 48 percent a year ago, according to StatCounter, one Web analytics tracking firm. What’s been rising? Google Chrome.

J= Julie Larson-Green. Microsoft’s corporate vice president of program management for Windows was named one of Glamour magazine’s list of women in tech who could become the next great tech legend. She gave a key demo of Windows 8 at the Build conference.

K= Kinect. Microsoft marked Kinect’s one-year anniversary in the fall by touting what it dubbed the “Kinect Effect” — people using the voice- and motion-sensor for more than Xbox games. In 2011, Microsoft gave academics a software-development kit for Kinect applications, and plans to do so for businesses next year.

L= Lync. Microsoft’s office-communications software marked its first anniversary in December, claiming nearly 3 million enterprise users rely on it rather than traditional PBX for telephone-related needs.

M= Mango. Windows Phone 7.5, code-named “Mango,” is the latest update of the Windows Phone operating system. while it was critically well-received after it started rolling out in September, Windows Phone still wasn’t able to gain much traction by the end of the year. will 2012 be different?

N= Nokia. In February, the Finnish phone maker and Microsoft announced they were teaming up, with Nokia using primarily Windows Phone as its smartphone platform. Nokia launched its first Windows Phones — the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 — in October. Next year is huge for the partnership — and their future in the smartphone market.

O= Office. more than 100 million copies of Office 2010 have been sold since its launch in May 2010. it helped Microsoft’s Business division reach $5.62 billion in sales in the most recent quarter.

P= Patents. Patents have become a financial and competitive strategy among tech companies, with Microsoft right in the thick of things. mostly, the company contends that features in Google’s Android infringe on Microsoft patents. it has sought patent-licensing agreements with phone makers who use Android, or taken them to court. by the end of 2011, it had reached licensing agreements with 10 manufacturers that together represent more than 50 percent of Android devices. it was in litigation with Barnes & Noble and Inventec. In its litigation with a third company — Motorola — the International Trade Commission found in December that Motorola infringed on one of Microsoft’s patents, but not on six others.

Q= Quarterly earnings. Even if Microsoft’s stock price is flat, its quarterly earnings have performed solidly, thanks in large part to Windows, Office, and the Server and Tools business. for fiscal 2011, the company reached $69.9 billion in sales, with $23.2 billion in profit.

R= Re-imagining. That’s what Microsoft says it’s doing with Windows 8 (see W). And it really wants to tell you about it. “Windows 8 is a re-imagining of Windows, from the chip to the interface,” Julie Larson-Green wrote in June after the first demonstration of the new operating system at the D9 conference. “Windows 8 is a bold re-imagining of what Windows could be,” Windows President Steven Sinofsky said at Build. “If Windows 8 is Windows re-imagined … we’re also in the process of re-imagining Microsoft,” Ballmer declared, also at Build. Imagine that.

S= Skype. Microsoft bought the Internet phone company for $8.5 billion, its largest purchase ever. Skype is now a business division within Microsoft, which presumably will integrate with its own offerings, including Lync, Outlook and Xbox. will Skype’s 170 million monthly users continue to be able to use its Internet voice and video-calling features for free? And will Microsoft do right by Skype? We’ll see in 2012.

T= Tulalip. the internal code name for what turned out to be So.cl, Microsoft’s experimental social network and search site for students, unveiled in December. the Tulalip Tribes were unhappy about it, saying the name infringed on the tribes’ name. Microsoft apologized and dropped the code name.

U= University Village Microsoft Store. In October, the company launched its U-Village retail store — its 12th nationwide and second in the Seattle area. by the end of the year, the company had 14 Microsoft Stores, with plans to get to 75 in the next three years.

V= VMware. the Redmond software giant’s competitor was the subject of a Microsoft spoof video characterizing VMware’s emphasis on virtualization as stuck in the past.

W= Windows 8. the re-imagined operating system (see R) is expected to launch in a beta test in February. Windows 8 is the first Windows version designed from the beginning to work on both tablets and PCs. A lot is riding on it, including proof that Microsoft can still dominate computing in a world where competitors have zoomed ahead on mobile devices.

X= Xbox. the hugely successful Xbox 360 (58 million consoles sold so far) got a dashboard update in December, with expanded Kinect voice and gesture controls and the goal of bringing content from dozens of video providers to Xbox. it was another step toward Microsoft’s vision of the Xbox as the living-room family-entertainment center.

Y= Y chromosome: what most employees of Microsoft have. Men made up 76 percent of Microsoft’s global workforce last fiscal year, according to its 2011 Citizenship Report.

Z= Zune. RIP, Zune Player. there were a few days in October when we didn’t know your fate: First, Microsoft seemed to say you were dead, then not dead, then, finally, definitely dead. your spirit lives on in the Zune music and video service in PCs, Xbox, Windows Phone and existing Zune players.

Janet I. Tu: 206-464-2272 or jtu@seattletimes.com. on Twitter @janettu. Information from the Seattle Times archive was used in this report.

Tagged with: fam • google • peek • search engine market • virtual model

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Gymnastics Leotards, Dance Leotards, Ballet Leotards – What’s The Difference?

On December 12, 2011, in gymnastics Leotards, by Luke Judge

I know that I am not the only person that has asked this question. Why would someone make a distinction between gymnastics leotards and Ballet Leotards if there was not a difference? there has to be a difference somewhere. I needed to know the answer so I did a few searches on Google. I found that there were actually people interested in this same question. But most of the same answers came back. first people gave a definition of a leotard. so, here is definition.

Leotard – a close fitting one piece garment worn by dancers, acrobats, and aerialists, tights.

Then, people would proceed to explain that there are not any differences between Gymnastic and Ballet leotards. They are the same type of leotards. The only distinction made was that short sleeve leotards are mostly used during practices and long sleeve leotards are mostly used for performances.

So, why do so many people make the distinction?

I would guess that the distinction is made because of the two types of sports. not that each sport would need two specifically designed leotards but that a person who was a gymnast would probably search on the internet for a gymnastics leotard. The same would hold true for a ballet dancer. They would search with the keywords of ballet leotards. I would suspect the dances would search the same way with the keyword dance leotard.

So, I guess I would refer back to the definition again; all a leotard is a tight fitting one piece garment.

There should not be a difference.

So how should someone compare leotards?

Well, what is left size, fit, style and color.

1. what color of leotard is needed for the engagement?

2.does the leotard size fit the body shape?

3.does the elasticity of the leotard fit correctly for your body type?

4.is the style of the leotard right for you? Ex, a thong leotard.

I guess these are the lasting questions that any leotard owner should ask, either they are involved in gymnastics, dancing or ballet.

Tagged with: aerialists • ballet leotards • dancers • google • short sleeve • sleeve leotards

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How to delete your Facebook account

On December 11, 2011, in Mobile Phone Data Cables, by Luke Judge

however, it keeps your profile, all your updates and photographs intact – these can be recovered simply by logging back in with your username and password. however, if you have made up your mind and want to permanently delete your account then you will have to submit a request for account deletion to Facebook.

in your browser go to goo.gl/2PSei, log in to your Facebook account and on the page that opens, click the ‘Submit’ button to request for account deletion.

To complete the process, you will have to stay away from Facebook for the next 14 days – don’t even login to your account to check if its working or not. after 14 days, your Facebook account will be permanently deleted, along with all the data – photos, videos and links shared by you.

I have a BlackBerry Curve and want to know how to transfer my 1500 contacts to another smartphone? also, is there any other non-touch Samsung or Nokia phone which has enough storage space for 1500 contacts?

To transfer contacts to another phone from your BlackBerry, an easy way is to use Google Sync. you can download and install Google Sync by opening the web browser on your phone and going to m.google.com/sync. Once the app is installed , it will give you to option to sync you existing phonebook with your Gmail account.

after the sync is complete, all your contacts (with corresponding details ) will be available in the contacts section of Gmail. all you need to do is sync your new device with your Google account to transfer all your contacts.

since you want a non-touch device with storage space for 1500 contacts, a good option to go for is the Nokia E5 ( 9,000) – it runs the Symbian OS. We recommend that you try out the Nokia E6 ( 15,000) too – it combines a touchscreen with a physical QWERTY keyboard for input, Symbian Anna OS, 8GB storage, a better processor, TV-out and a larger 1500mAh battery.

Tagged with: facebook • google • nokia • samsung • sync

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Hair Scissors Are Easy to Find on the Web But You Should Do Some Research Before You Buy Anything

On December 7, 2011, in tin Snips, by Luke Judge

Keeping your hair in good shape requires a bit of work. Most people tend to go to the salon or have their hair cut by a friend. If you choose the latter option then you will need to buy some hair scissors. Hair cutting scissors can be quite expensive but if you know where to look on the web, you should find a good range of options within your price range.

First things first, if you’re interested in buying something like this on the web then you’ll need to remember how important research is. Take your time while you’re shopping and don’t feel like you have to buy the first thing you see. It’s always a good idea to make notes while you shop around as well.

Having a pen and paper with you is a good idea and using somewhere like Google will help you find the stores that stock what you’re looking for. Take your time and don’t rush into anything unless you’re positive that the deal will be the best you’ll find.

Buying online is really fun and when you’re shopping for something like hair scissors you’ll need to remember that quality is important. you can find a huge range of options when it comes to basic hair cutting scissors but you’ll need to do a bit of research to find good deals for professional scissors.

Finding Jaguar scissors or Joewell scissors will take a bit longer but it’s worth it. you should find that the prices online are far more competitive than on the high street which means your money with go further on the web. You’ll also find it’s much easier to get what you’re looking for online.

Overall, as long as you do your research, you should find that buying hair scissors online is much easier than buying on the high street. you will find a huge range of options available to you.

Tagged with: google • hair scissors • important research • shopping • t rush • web 121

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ZimDaily » iPhone 4S rival from Facebook to Google Android?

On December 1, 2011, in Buffy The Vampire Slayer Collectables, by Luke Judge

Facebook app not sufficient? The latest rumor is boasting in which Facebook is going to launch an Android smartphone operating its very own ecosystem for example Amazon.

Android as well as Facebook equates to Facebook cellular phone, where’s Microsoft in all of this?

Windows mobile phone just isn’t well known, this is the simple fact. in spite of this, Microsoft’s partner and facebook happens to be developing the initial actual Facebook smartphone crafted by HTC, tending to use a unique Google Android operating-system performing Facebook’s very own mobile phone ecosystem that could provide the firm the brand new portal of profits.

The product will now be making use of the codename “Buffy” based on the website, and its particular evident gripping feature will be the profound Facebook integration. The website is in addition including that this phone is going to have a more technical Facebook experience functioning the Android banner that can get “friends not to mention social activities heavy within the mobile program.”

Something more important well worth noting will be the entirely possible no-Google search software on the Facebook phone. Do you want to own a product without having the Google search engine?

It seems like, this so-called Facebook phone is the very first merchandise from Facebook that can be competitive towards Apple along with other makes just like Samsung, Motorola and Microsoft’s super-partner Nokia. Apple is actually pledging how the iPhone 4S is an extremely highly effective (and most favorite) iPhone yet still, despite the fact that Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus is receiving many notice because of fresh operating-system, the Android Ice Cream Sandwich. at the same time, Nokia remains failing to get a great deal interest (not to mention appreciation) within thesmartphone sector in accordance with the reviews placed online a week ago. could Facebook remain competitive?

Not sure yet concerning phone’s launch date in case it will eventually show up the beginning of next season, it can face the iPhone 4S, a collection of completely new Android products operating the Ice Cream Sandwich operating-system, and a few Windows Phone-based products through Nokia as well as other OEMs.

Facebook, Microsoft’s partner rivalling towards a Microsoft partner, even while supporting Google? Loony, yet really exciting.

This report was originally posted on PopHerald.com as iPhone 4S rival from Facebook with a twist of Google Android?, under Gadgets and Mobile Category.

Tagged with: android • cellular phone • ecosystem • facebook • google • google search

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How a Forbes Post Went From Near Flame-Out to a ‘Millennial’ Success Story

On November 26, 2011, in web Publishing, by Luke Judge

I’m fascinated by the life cycle of non-breaking news posts. Last month, the long tail of Steve Jobs and Justin Bieber’s celebrity power taught us quite a bit about today’s emerging traffic patterns. This month, a post about Millennial Women Burning Out almost flamed out before racking up a surprising 250,000 page views.

What was behind its success? the angst of 30-year-olds can certainly be provocative — plus ready made for the youthful world of social media. the post’s headline also contained the right words to succeed in Google search. But I asked our Audience Development team to dig deeper. Here’s what they found:

In the first 72 hours of its 10-day traffic-generating life span (see the chart to the right), the Millennial post was kept alive by 40 to 50 comments on Forbes.com plus comments on blogs and forums across the Web (some not very politically correct). that engagement also spurred others to write about our post on their individual blogs. With only modest sharing, this initial conversation drove less than 1,000 page views from the top 5 traffic sources shown in the chart.

The fun begins on Monday, Nov. 14. As you can see in the chart below, sharing through Twitter/LinkedIn (light blue) and Facebook (light green) kicked in on that day, intensifying and remaining strong for nearly six consecutive days. that helped propel the post onto the Forbes.com most popular module, where it quickly shot to the no. 1 spot. that, in turn, drove strong internal Forbes traffic (see the red bar). You’ll also notice that our traffic from blogs and forums (dark blue) stayed consistently strong, generating additional Web discussion.

Now, here comes the really great part. Check out that orange bar — that’s Google News, which instantly became the Millennial post’s largest source of traffic for two straight days. and how did that happen? In the battle for supremacy between search (Google) and social media (Facebook), Google’s activity in the social space goes well beyond Google +. It’s using its algorithms to read social signals to find out what’s being clicked on and talked about. the social activity around our Millennial post pushed it onto Google News’s spotlight section, much like clicks on the post got it onto the Forbes.com most popular module (one of our recent Steve Jobs posts experienced the same cycle).

Branded news and information sites like Forbes.com, with credibility, original content and a solid page ranking, now benefit from the one-two punch delivered by two ferocious competitors. So, on Nov. 17, a week after the post was published, its top six traffic sources (led by Google, Twitter/LinkedIn and Facebook) drove about 35,000 page views, one-third of that day’s total traffic. As of today, there are 15,000 Facebook shares and 3,200 tweets.

Data like this is vital for journalism today, and it needs to be shared. our Audience Development team, as part of The New Newsroom, is constantly doing just that. AD, as we call it, has weekly meetings with our product managers, the journalists running Forbes.com’s key verticals, such as Technology, Investing and Business.

AD also educates our full-time staffers and 850 contributors about what’s working, what’s not — and why. I can’t tell you how much our content creators, staffers and contributors alike, crave information like this. Traditional journalists, long in the dark about what audiences consume, use the data to hone their work. At first, the numbers scared them a bit. Now they’ll readily admit to being addicted to the page view counter on their posts and the subsequent analysis from the AD team. our incentive-based contributors love it, too. They depend on usage and traffic patterns to help them attract and build an audience. the bigger their monthly audience and base of returning visitors, the bigger their monthly check.

FORBES is leading the way into the new world of Entrepreneurial Journalism — journalists accepting more accountability for publishing content and understanding audiences. In my next post, I’ll be writing more about this — and highlighting the experiences of a few Entrepreneurial Journalists on Forbes.com.

Tagged with: audience development • breaking news • celebrity • google • traffic patterns • traffic sources

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The Adventures of Boggle, the Creative Commons penguin

On November 25, 2011, in boggle, by Luke Judge

If you do a Google search for ‘cartoon penguin‘, one of the top results will be an old Inkscape design of mine:He’s pretty popular too, bringing a steady stream of traffic to the site. I licensed him as Creative Commons BY-NC-SA, meaning that it’s fine to use the image for forum avatars and stuff, but not for anything commercial.

Of course, people do. Last year someone pointed out some guy selling t-shirts with a slightly modified version of the penguin.

Today, out of curiosity, I did a reverse image search and found two other clipart criminals…

The single review is not very positive:

Ajmozo514 ★by Ajmozo514This game is a waist of 99cents. This is a crap version of doodle jump! If u r looking for that kind of a game go ahead and pay the extra 88 cents to get doodle jump. This game made me throw my iPhone at the wall. Now I have a crack on it. thanks alot u stupid penguin

The other offender has chosen my character to be their mascot.

This company has gone as far as to give my penguin a name and a backstory:

Meet Boggle, South Pole Software’s wide eyed and eager new intern. Boggle joined us recently while on a quest for Artic discovery. he set out some time ago from his tiny iceberg to discover the chilly wonders of the south, seeking adventure and knowledge. Expecting to meet polar bears and other penguins and to see ancient and beautiful ice formations, imagine his surprise when he came upon the igloo home of Mac software writers!

Boggle was more than just a little intrigued. No one on his little iceberg had ever told him about igloos or computers! So he stuck around. we noticed his curiosity about us right away because all of our penguin neighbors usually stayed away from our igloo windows. So we decided to have him in for cocoa and oh the stories he told us! What adventures he had had so far with wonderful animals, beautiful landscapes, and all the different foods! he was loving it but he was a little lonely, and until he met us his adventure had been exciting but without surprise. we told him about all the places our South Pole Software customers live and about the programs that we write to help them and his eyes got even wider!

After several days of getting together for chats, not only did we realize what amazing cocoa he made but, we realized he had quite a knack for programming. So, we asked if he would like to stick around and an internship was born!

Boggle has settled into our team very nicely. but we want to make sure that his quest for adventure and knowledge stays fresh. So if you would like to send Boggle an email and tell him about what it is like where you live, or maybe send him your favorite cocoa recipe he would love it.

Here is his email address:

So naturally, I have sent my errant penguin an email.

Boggle, I have found you!

You have been a very naughty penguin. I released you under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA licence, which you very well know means that you are not allowed to be used without proper attribution or for commercial purposes.

I’m going to have to insist that you leave the South Pole Software website immediately. I have already written a blog post telling the people how bad you have been: halfblog.net/2011/09/18/adventures-of-boggle-the-creative-commons-penguin/

So at least I have amused myself…

UPDATE 2011.09.19

Someone from South Pole Software replied to my email, and this blog post (see below). I have given permission, provided they add attribution to their Boggle page.

I’m not a working designer, so I actually don’t mind a small company using my work if they get in touch to ask first and are willing to provide a backlink. that said, if I found my penguin on a Paperchase card or something, I’d probably want to lawyer up!

Read next: Flighty birds: my free Creative Commons designs that keep getting stolen anyway (15 October), wherein more of my work gets stolen.

Tagged with: cartoon penguin • criminals • google • iphone • mascot • south pole

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