Back to the Future Day

And finally we have arrived to the future! I don't care that much about hover boards, but where is my flying DeLorean? This movie was really a big part of my childhood and youth... and now!



Well, anyway, the Future is NOW! Doc Brown has a special message just for you!

And meanwhile, Doc Brown and Marty meet up to talk about how the future really is in October 21 2015.

Good memories. :) And yes, "where we are going, we don't need roads."

Steve Jobs - 4 years after

Today i will let Steve himself, and his best friend Jonathan Ive, do all the talking.

Revelation: The Bride, the Beast & Babylon

As the pope visits America, Bible prophecy takes center stage. Who are the major end-time players? What is the significance of the pope’s visit to America? Be informed and get answers that will prepare you for the future! Watch it, and share it.

If you want to know more, go here: revelationmystery.com

Apple iCar

No. Didn't happen. Bummer...

Although much rumours are going around about the so called Apple car project, with all the engineers from other companies (supposedly) going to Apple to help on that, we didn't get a sneak peek about it. Right until the end of the keynote presentation i was expecting the "one more thing".  No luck. Well, "hair force one" does joke a bit about it...



But don't get me wrong! A lot was covered on the keynote.

It started with no updates. Good. But then i was put to sleep at the sound of the news of the Apple Watch... ZZZzzzz... it was a good nap. The only minor interesting thing about it was the collaboration with Hermès.

Sorry, i did say minor.

No, not this minor:

This is at least an interesting Minor. The Morris one. And it's a racing Minor ute!

Well, but back to case in point.

The presentation was about the upgraded iPhones, and the BIG new iPad Pro. Interestingly enough, what i found most captivating was, despite Jobs hated it, the stylus. But remember Jobs hated them in a phone. And stylus for phones are really small and you do loose them.

But no. I believe what Apple did was reinvent the pencil.  It is not a stylus, it's the Apple Pencil. Or is it just a nice way of ignoring what the founder of Apple believed? Or was this already in the road map Jobs himself drew for Apple before he died?

I don't know, but i believe it might be true. There is something about Jobs vision still at Apple, embodied in his friend Jony Ive, and he is the head designer at Apple. Just hear about the Apple Pencil in his own voice:

It is a great technological evolution for the pencil. Still. You can loose it. And be sure many people will.

Apart from the pencil thing, Apple introduced force touch on their devices. They call it 3D Touch. It opens interesting new ways of interacting with your device.

Let me tell you something, Apple really knows how to make product videos. They are very well made. And i do like the moving pictures thing. It is a nice touch. :) Now, would i buy any of these? If iOS was more open, i would buy an Ipad Pro as my only device. I like the Microsoft Surface idea, but what keeps me from buying a surface is the same thing that will keep me from buying the iPad Pro: the operating system. But, still good products.

Ok, enough ramblings from me. If you want to see the whole keynote presentation, you can do so here:

All in all, yes. I still do miss Steve Jobs.

Little red knife

It was back in 1987. I was 12, and a new television show started that completely grabbed my attention. "MacGyver". It was December 5 1987 when the first episode aired. Actually the pilot episode aired 2 years before, on September 29 1985. But, the first time we saw it here in Portugal (at least where i grew up) was in 1987, on the main, at that time, Spanish TV channel: TVE1.

This newspaper article tells all about it (if you can read Spanish): Comienza 'MacGyver'

Ah, the exhilaration of hearing this tune for the first time...



"The series follows the adventures of Angus MacGyver, or "Mac," as his friends call him. He is a master of improvisation. Using his vast scientific knowledge and unique ability to see items as individual components he can use ordinary objects to get himself and his companions out of trouble. All he carries with him is a Swiss Army knife and, occasionally, a roll of duct tape and some odds and ends having forsaken guns (and firearms in general) after a and tries to avoid violence as much as he can." You can read more here: Macgyver online

The first thing that caught my attention was his pocket knife and the way he improvised solutions. His greatest tool was his brain. And we can see both of them (knife and brain) been used in this scene from the pilot episode:



Short after, my father, that worked in Switzerland at the time, gave me my first pocket knife. It was not a Swiss Army Knife, but it was red. It was (or is, still have it) a German made Solingen pocket knife. I was really happy with that knife. :)

And not just that, MacGyver could survive in any environment. I enjoyed especially the episodes out in nature. It really grew and developed my love for the outdoors. And they always filmed the most amazing and beautiful places. Macgyver was also all about taking care of the planet and environment.

But what really got embedded in our lives and popular culture was another thing, it even got its own expression: MacGyverisms. They are, put simply, things made with simple day to day items to solve a problem.

"While MacGyverisms were based on scientific principles, most MacGyverisms were greatly exaggerated for entertainment purposes. The writers freely acknowledge that many MacGyverisms would require very exact conditions if they were to actually work as shown in the episodes. The writers were always careful to leave out key ingredients of any MacGyverisms which created an explosive or otherwise harmful effect, to ensure that it could not be re-created by viewers." in Macgyver online

But well, all things have an end Everything changes. Or maybe not, like Peter Thornton said "good things don't".

Nevertheless, on April 25 1992 the last episode aired, followed by a "lost" episode, not previously aired, on May 21 1992. A couple of years later, two TV movies came out, both filmed in England. Lost Treasure Of Atlantis and Trail To Doomsday.

Macgyver lives on in our minds and pop culture. Short after Richard Dean Anderson retired from acting and SGA, he made an appearance as Macgyver again, in a MasterCard Commercial. There was also an episode of the MythBusters dedicated to him. And a couple of years ago Mercedes made a short film to advertise one of their models, starring Richard Dean Anderson as Macgyver. You can check all those videos below.

If you want to know more (if you don´t know everything already) check the official Macgyver website: MacGyver online dot com

Have a great day!

“Hey Siri, give us a hint.”

I have to confess that i am somewhat a fanboy. Not to an extreme. You will never find me standing in a queue (or sleeping), waiting for the store to open so i can spend a lot of money in a product i don't need. I just enjoy watching Apple's keynotes. And i have a few of their products. (They are very good!)

The next event will be 3 days from now, Wednesday, September 9. It will take place at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco.

According to macrumors.com "Apple's upcoming Wednesday, September 9 event is expected to be huge. The auditorium where it's being held seats 7,000, and the company may be using some of the available space to demo products that will be released. The event will see the debut of an unprecedented number of devices, including the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, the new Apple TV, the iPad mini 4, and the iPad Pro."

(More here: macrumors.com)

This event will have a lot to see, and i could just go on rambling about all the products, but, to be honest, many of the latest Apple products are just... well, disappointing. For me at least. I don't like the new iPhone's (too big), and the Apple Watch is just a fad. And a very expensive one.

But anyway, it is always a fun event to watch. And i am sure that, at the end of it, i will have the same feeling i always have: i miss Steve Jobs.

"Ei Siri, dá-nos uma dica."

Tenho que confessar que sou um pouco fanboy. Não ao extremo. Nunca me vais encontrar em pé, numa fila (ou a dormir), à espera da loja abrir para poder gastar um monte de dinheiro num produto de que não preciso. Apenas gosto de ver às apresentações da Apple. E eu tenho alguns dos seus produtos. (São muito bons!)

O próximo evento será daqui a 3 dias, Quarta-feira, 9 de Setembro. Vai ter lugar no Auditório Graham Civic Bill em San Francisco.

De acordo com o macrumors.com "Espera-se que o próximo evento da Apple, na quarta-feira, 09 de Setembro, seja enorme. O auditório onde vai ser realizado tem assento para 7.000, e a empresa pode estar a usar uma parte do espaço disponível para demonstração de produtos que serão lançados. O evento verá a estréia de um número sem precedentes de dispositivos, incluindo o iPhone 6s e 6s Plus, o novo Apple TV, o iPad Mini 4 e o iPad Pro ".

(Mais aqui: macrumors.com)

Este evento terá muito para ver, e eu podia apenas continuar a divagar sobre todos os produtos, mas, para ser honesto, muitos dos mais recentes produtos da Apple são apenas... bem, decepcionantes. Para mim pelo menos. Não gosto dos novos iPhones (muito grandes), e o Apple Watch é apenas uma moda passageira. E uma muito cara.

Mas de qualquer maneira, é sempre um evento divertido de ver. E estou certo de que, no fim de tudo, vou ter o mesmo sentimento que tenho sempre: tenho saudades do Steve Jobs.

Impossible is a bad word

Monday. Everybody hates Mondays right? But why?

I hate to break this to you, but you are not a grumpy orange cat.

Mondays are not the enemy. We are. Normally we (well, maybe not all of us) dread the beginning of a new week with the same passion and intensity that we wait for Friday. We dream about weekend adventures, at the same time we have that time sensitive sword of damocles always hanging above our heads: Mondays.

Poder limitado

A infância, a juventude e a vida adulta de João, que veio no espírito e poder de Elias para fazer uma obra de preparação do caminho para o Redentor do mundo, foi marcada por firmeza e poder moral. Satanás não pôde afastá-lo da sua integridade. Quando a voz do profeta foi ouvida no deserto: “Preparai o caminho do Senhor, endireitei as suas veredas” (Mat. 3:3), Satanás temeu pelo seu reino. Sentiu que a voz, soando no deserto como som de trombeta, levava pecadores sob o seu controlo a tremer. Viu que o seu poder sobre muitos estava quebrado. A intensidade do pecado foi revelada de tal maneira que os homens ficaram alarmados; e alguns, pelo arrependimento dos seus pecados, encontraram o favor de Deus e obtiveram poder moral para resistir às suas tentações. – No Deserto da Tentação, pp. 34 e 35.

Earth's Tilt is Changing

"The world is changed, I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost; for none now live who remember it."

A Briefer History of Time

Time. How do we measure it? Why do we measure it? Is time real? Or just an individual perspective? Is it a full dimension? Palpable? Or is it completely built by our own brain's analysis of what it perceives as real? Food for thought, i would say.

Apple, Book and Watch

Ok, time to recap the keynote: New Macbook - Awesome!!!



Now, about the Apple Watch...



“Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.”

Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Thank you Doctor. ;)

Google I/O 2015

Quando faltam 3 horas para o evento de primavera da Apple (Spring Forward), existe outra data que podemos, e na minha humilde opinião devemos, marcar na nossa agenda: 27, 28 e 29 de Maio. Google I/O 2015, Um evento que é dirigido especialmente a programadores e criadores de software, mas que acredito qualquer utilizador de dispositivos e produtos Google pode apreciar.

"Google I/O são dois dias de palestras inspiradoras, aprendizagem prática, e uma oportunidade de ouvir mais sobre os mais recentes produtos da Google para programadores." (fonte: Google I/O 2015)

Que podemos esperar do I/O deste ano? Apresentação do Glass 2? Nova versão do Android? Mais alguma excitante ideia, completamente "fora da caixa", do Google X?

Para terem uma ideia do que é um I/O, vejam este video resumo do I/O de 2014:

Marquem na vossa agenda, e, se quiserem, partilhem as vossas ideias nos comentários a este post.

Spring forward

Mais um evento da Apple quase a chegar. A Apple convidou todos para assistir, amanha, dia 9 de Março, pelas 9 da manha (PDT). Quem não tem a possibilidade de estar presente, no auditório do Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, em São Francisco, pode assistir em directo aqui.

Esperam-se algumas novidades, especialmente para o Apple Watch. Para a linha do Macbook Air, desde à varias semanas que circulam rumores de que haverá novidades.

Resta esperar, assistir, e descobrir. Como utilizador e admirador dos produtos Apple à muitos anos, posso dizer que um evento da marca da maça é muito melhor que os Oscares. :)

Se quiserem saber mais sobre o que podem esperar, entrem na página da Mac Rumors.

Another Apple event almost upon us. Apple has invited everyone to watch, tomorrow, March 9, at 9 am (PDT). Anyone who is unable to be present at the auditorium in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, in San Francisco, can watch live here.

Some updates are expected, especially for the Apple Watch. For the Macbook Air line, for several weeks now rumors circulate that there will be news.

Remains to wait, attend and find out. As a user and fan of Apple products for many years, i can say that an apple brand event is much better than the Oscars. :)

If you want to know more about what to expect, enter the Mac Rumors page.

Google Loon

Google is well known for its "moon shot" ideas. They seem to have a factory of "out of the box" thinkers. This idea is about having balloons up in the stratosphere to spread the internet. In their own words: "Many of us think of the Internet as a global community. But two-thirds of the world’s population does not yet have Internet access. Project Loon is a network of balloons traveling on the edge of space, designed to connect people in rural and remote areas, help fill coverage gaps, and bring people back online after disasters."

Great idea isn't it? Watch the video below and find out more here: Google Loon

A Google é bem conhecida pelas suas ideias "tiro na lua". Eles parecem ter uma fábrica de pensadores "fora da caixa". Esta ideia é sobre ter balões acima na estratosfera para espalhar a internet. Em suas próprias palavras: "Muitos de nós pensamos na Internet como uma comunidade global, mas dois terços da população mundial ainda não tem acesso à Internet. O Projecto Loon é uma rede de balões que viajam no limite do espaço, projectado para conectar pessoas em áreas rurais e remotas, ajudar a preencher lacunas de cobertura, e trazer as pessoas de volta on-line após desastres. "

Óptima ideia, não é? Veja o vídeo abaixo e saiba mais aqui: Google Loon

God of Nature

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. 

- Psalms 19:1-3

God has permitted a flood of light to be poured upon the world in discoveries in science and art; but when professedly scientific men lecture and write upon these subjects from a merely human standpoint, they will assuredly come to wrong conclusions. The greatest minds, if not guided by the word of God in their research, become bewildered in their attempts to investigate the relations of science and revelation. 

The Creator and his works are beyond their comprehension; and because they cannot explain these by natural laws, Bible history is considered unreliable. Those who doubt the reliability of the records of the Old and New Testaments will be led to go a step farther, and doubt the existence of God; and then, having let go their anchor, they are left to beat about upon the rocks of infidelity. Moses wrote under the guidance of the Spirit of God,and a correct theory of geology will never claim discoveries that cannot be reconciled with his statements. The idea that many stumble over, that God did not create matter when he brought the world into existence, limits the power of the Holy One of Israel. 

"By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." Psalm 33:6 

"The laws of science, as we know them at the present, contain many fundamental numbers, like the size of the electron charge of the electron and the ratio of the masses of the proton to the electron... The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development for life." 

- Stephen Hawking 

"A commonsense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super intellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question." 

- Fred Hoyle, astrophysicist 

“The more I examine the universe and the details of its architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must have known we were coming.” 

- Freeman Dyson, physicist 

“The exquisite order displayed by our scientific understanding of the physical world calls for the divine.”

- Vera Kistiakowsky, physicist MIT 

"The scientist is possessed by the sense of universal causation...His religious feeling takes the form of rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals the intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection." 

- Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist 

"I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts." Psalm 119:100

Source: Bible Universe daily devotional.

Arctic Trucks Experience

Natureza, verdes intensos. O branco da neve, ou o azul do céu. Vem, até onde tudo faz mais sentido, onde o relógio não dita o tempo. O chamado para voltar para junto da natureza fala dentro de cada um nós. Vais responder? Aqui, nesta página, vais encontrar produtos, serviços, ideias, pequenas e grandes coisas, para que te possas, de uma ou de outra forma, aproximar mais do que é natural. Não fomos feitos para viver rodeados de cimento e alcatrão. Pensa nisso.



Visita-nos e descobre mais: back2eden

"What is the easiest way to get stronger overall?"

Top Gear 2015

Stig's Gap Year Vacation - Top Gear Series 22 Teaser - BBC The Guys will be back soon. ;)