I’m writing this entry from my iPhone which I think is pretty amazing.  I once had (and probably still do in a box somewhere) a Radio Shack PC7. It basically looked like a wide scientific calculator when calculators couldn’t display graphs.  You could code Basic programs and I wrote a simple golf game and some formulae for Calculus and trigonometry on its 14 char display.  Now here I sit with a device 1/3 its size with a screen that no analog television can match, a full email client, photo viewer, a camera, an address book, calendar, notepad, maps of the world, enough storage and capability to hold more CD’s than you can fit in a suitcase including their cover art, and a full blown browser capable of accessing anywhere in the world.  Oh yeah, it’s a phone too.  All that in less than 15 years.  I shudder to think what the next 15 bring.

"Progress is the activity of today and the assurance of tomorrow.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Smithsonian Photography Initiative is a web site provided by the Smithsonian Institute with the intention of bringing “understanding of the integral roles photographs play in our lives.” The institute was established in 1846 with funds provided from the estate of James Smithson, a graduate of the University of Oxford who studied chemistry, geology, and mineralogy.  Smithson, always a shrewd investor, amassed a sizable fortune which he willed to his only heir, a nephew, with the stipulation that should the nephew die without an heir of his own, the money be used to found “an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men” in America.  Smithson himself had never visited the United States and it is unclear why he made such a designation, but the money was well received and put to use through an Act of Congress that created the Smithsonian Institute.

Photography was born around the time of the inception of the Institute and it was quick to adapt the new technology.  In its early years, the Smithsonian cataloged animal and plant species, and 19th century America.  Today, the Smithsonian holds over thirteen million photographs in its collections organized by museum and discipline.  The Photography Initiative provides a look at these collections and serves as an educational tool for everyone to see and enjoy.

http://photography.si.edu/

Fast-rewind.com is “dedicated to the world of retro film culture… 80’s movies specifically.” It features info on all the pivotal movies of that decade - from Karate Kid, starring a young Elisabeth Shue, to Adventures in Babysitting, also starring Elisabeth Shue, Cocktail, starring a slightly older Elisabeth Shue, and even Back to the Future Part II, featuring (guess who?) Elisabeth Shue.  This site has them all, even though it repeatedly spells Elisabeth’s name incorrectly.  Each film page features a synopsis, photos, soundtrack info, and trivia.  Fast-rewind.com may not have the weight of IMDB, but it is definitely one of the best sites dedicated to 80’s films.

http://www.fast-rewind.com/