Havard Makes Going to Undergrade School a Little Cheaper

Yesterday, Harvard announced that they have officially sweetened their financial aid package for middle and upper-class students. As I mentioned this time last year, they've been considering the program in response to the criticism that elite colleges have become unaffordable for typical American students.

Undergraduates whose families make under $180,000 would be asked to pay 10% or less of their total annual incomes for a Harvard education. For example, a family making $100,000 per year would only be expected to pay around $10,000 per year-- down from their current $19,000 policy-- and WAY down from their standard tuition rate of $34,000 per year.

Harvard is setting a wonderful standard and should be commended. Family income level should not be such a determining factor for attending college in the US. At my own undergraduate school, it cost approximately $20,000 per year in tuition when I enrolled years ago. Their tuition rate for this year has made it up to $34,900 per year.

I am so happy that Harvard has decided to set the example on this one. I hope that it won't be long that the other top universities, including the Ivies, will follow suit.

For more information, check out Google News.

New Year, New Goals

As I mentioned in my previous post, I had a birthday recently. Thanks to everyone who made it out or sent their well wishes. It was one of the best birthdays ever!



In all, around 30 people joined me in my celebration which snaked along the Downtown Memphis trolley from Harry's Detour to Circa to EP's Delta Kitchen to Earnestine & Hazel's. It was wonderful!


Because I'm getting older this year, I've been thinking about the goals I'd like to acheive this year. My biggest goal is to try new things and to devote a significant amount of time to being happy. That's fairly general, I know. But, I've spent the better part of the last 10 years trying to "achieve." I'm finally to a place where I'd like to "enjoy!"


Along those lines, I'd also like to take more time to get back into things I haven't done in a while like horseback riding. I'd like to take more time to travel. I'm considering even trading in my practical car for something sporty.


And, after having fun and enjoying, I'd also like to document! In other words, I'll try to blog more and take and share more photos.


Along those lines, I'm going to go ahead and post photos of my early years to Facebook, and maybe here. For starters, here's me enjoying my first birthday and doing what I do best, eating!

Birthday Wishes

Thanks Paul for mentioning me on your blog twice this week. Yes, it is in fact my birthday coming up-- and in preparation, here's a fun article from CNN.com:

Approaching 30 can cause angst for some twentysomethings. But for Jen MacNeil, it was a reason to celebrate her life and try some pretty cool things. MacNeil decided to give her 20s a big sendoff by doing one new thing every day from her 29th birthday until the day she turns 30.The things she says she has tried range from giving someone a haircut and learning to fold fancy napkins to castrating a calf (which she says isn't as gory as it sounds) and serenading an overworked customer service representative. Some of her favorite experiences include adopting an endangered species (a blue-footed booby), culturing organic honey by using a chainsaw and attending an Al-Anon meeting. Of course, being featured on CNN makes the list, too.MacNeil documents all of her adventures and misadventures on her blog: In the New. She gets hundreds of readers from all over the world, inspiring people to step outside their comfort zones. As she says on her blog, "Life is short, let's make it interesting."

Many parents now get domain names for kids too young to type

I found an article this morning that brings me back to a topic that I've been discussing for a while: the way in which our increased comfort level with sharing information on the Internet will shape future generations.

This goes back to the idea of publishing photos of a child's ultrasound, their birth, their first steps, first day of school, first haircut-- all the way up to the day they pack up and move off to college. I can't image what the world would be like if today, I could pull up an entire archived history of all of my friends online. But at some point that will be the case because, that's the direction that we're going in.

Here's a link to one of my previous posts on the same topic.

Below is part of the article that I found today on CNN.com. Apparently, some parents are selecting the names for their children according to whether or not the domain name is available. Since there are roughly 300 people in the US with my exact same name, I own all of the (most important-- .com, .net, .org) domain names that have my name in them. Clearly, the other 299 Angela's are out of luck.

At any rate, this is an interesting trend for two reasons: First, have we moved to the point of awareness of technology as a society that checking for a domain name is right up there with purchasing a baby car seat for the ride home from the hospital? Second, think of the creative names that will exist in the next ten years. As businesses have attempted to always own their domain names, new businesses have had to be more and more creative. No longer can you just be the only ABC Cleaner in town; now you want to be the only one-- period. If parents are buying domain names for their unborn children, it's only a matter of time before the same thing is happening with children's names.

To get your very own baby domain name, click here to go to GoDaddy.com.

Anyhow, here's the article:

NEW YORK (AP) -- Besides leaving the hospital with a birth certificate and a clean bill of health, baby Mila Belle Howells got something she won't likely use herself for several years: her very own Internet domain name.

Likewise newborn Bennett Pankow joined his four older siblings in getting his own Internet moniker. In fact, before naming his child, Mark Pankow checked to make sure "BennettPankow.com" hadn't already been claimed.

"One of the criteria was, if we liked the name, the domain had to be available," Pankow said. It was, and Pankow quickly grabbed Bennett's online identity.

A small but growing number of parents are getting domain names for their young kids, long before they can do more than peck aimlessly at a keyboard.

It's not known exactly how many, but the practice is no longer limited to parents in Web design or information technology.

They worry that the name of choice might not be available by the time their babies become teens or adults, just as someone claimed the ".com" for Britney Spears' 11-month-old son before she could.

The trend hints at the potential importance of domain names in establishing one's future digital identity.

Think of how much a typical teen's online life now revolves around Facebook or News Corp.'s MySpace. Imagine if one day the domain could take you directly to those social-networking profiles, blogs, photo albums and more.

"It is the starting point for your online identity," said Warren Adelman, president of registration company GoDaddy.com Inc., which sells basic domain name packages for about $9 a year. "We do believe the domain name is the foundation upon which all the other Internet services are based."

Hundreds of companies sell domain names with suffixes like ".com," ".org" and ".info," which individuals can then link to personal Web sites and e-mail accounts. Parents simply visit one of those companies' Web sites, search for the name they want and, if no one else has claimed it yet, buy it on the spot with a credit card.

There's no guarantee, though, that domain names will have as central a role in online identity. After all, with search engines getting smarter, Internet users can simply type the name of a person into Google.

"Given the pace of change on the Internet, it strikes me as a pretty impressive leap of faith that we're going to use exactly the same system and the same tools ... 15 to 20 years from today," said Peter Grunwald, whose Grunwald Associates firm specializes in researching kids and technology.

Still, even if the effort is for naught, $9 a year is cheap compared with the cost of diapers and college tuition.

Besides providing an easy-to-remember Web address, the domain name makes possible e-mail addresses without awkward numbers -- as in "JohnSmith24", because 23 other John Smiths had beaten your child to Google Inc.'s Gmail service.

Parents not ready to commit or knowledgeable enough on how to buy a domain, though, are at least trying their luck with Microsoft Corp.'s Hotmail or Gmail.

Melissa Coleman of Springfield, Massachusetts, grabbed Hotmail addresses for her two kids. She said the kids' grandparents occasionally send e-greeting cards to those accounts, and she sends thank you notes for gifts in her child's voice.

"I think it's great that it's so loud and that it came with an actual WORKING MICROPHONE ... and I'm not sure what `annoying' means, but I'm sure it means that Mommy loves it too!!!!," read one message to Grandpa.

She said she logs in at least once every month to keep the accounts active and plans to save all messages for when her children get older.

Tony Howells, a business consultant in Salt Lake City, Utah, got a Gmail address along with the domain name for his daughter, believing people would enjoy seeing "an e-mail address pop up for an 8-month-old who is obviously not equipped to use it."

Although some parents have yet to use the domain names they've bought, others are sending visitors to baby photos, blogs and other personal sites. Domain name owners have a variety of options to have their personal sites hosted, typically for free or less than $10 a month. They include baby-geared services like TotSites.com and BabyHomePages.net.

Theresa Pinder initially received a domain name as a Christmas gift from her son's godparents and gives it out to friends and family who want updates.

"People are like, `Wow. He already has his own Web site,"' said Pinder, a physician assistant in Phoenix.

There are downsides to all this, though: An easy-to-remember domain also makes a child easier for strangers to find. Chances are one only needs to know a child's name and add ".com."

Pankow, a database administrator in Phoenix, said that was one concern keeping him from using the domains he bought for his five children, including a 9-year-old daughter.

"I'd want to research and try to figure out how easy it is to find out what school she goes to and where she lives" based on the Web site and domain name, Pankow said.

GoDaddy and many other registration companies offer proxy services that let domain name buyers register anonymously. Otherwise, the person's name, address and other contact information are publicly searchable.

Notwithstanding the privacy concerns, Adelman said domain names for kids have become more and more popular as parents start to get domains for their business or family and realize how difficult it is to find ".com" names not yet claimed.

But the numbers are still relatively low. Our Baby Homepage, which lets parents set up personal baby pages with photos and greetings, says only 10 percent of its customers have bought their own domains. A similar service, Baby's First Site, considered selling domains for parents but didn't get much interest.

Brian Vannoy, founder of TotSites, said parents might need more lessons on safety measures such as how to password-protect sites. But he believes the hurdles can be overcome once parents who are less-savvy about technology see the benefits.

"It's easy to remember," Vannoy said. "Everybody knows the new baby's name."

Apple iTunes Sells DRM Free Songs, Music

Starting yesterday, Apple began selling songs in its iTunes store without copyright protection.

Purchasing songs without DRM (digital rights management) protection software will mean that you will be able to play these songs anywhere, on different types of players.

Apple is starting first with songs from music company EMI Group. The music available includes songs from Frank Sinatra, Norah Jones, Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, Coldplay, and the Rolling Stones.

The DRM-free songs are higher quality than past songs Apple has offered for download. They also cost 30 cents more than the normal 99 cent iTunes songs.

I urge you to support Apple's trend-setting move and help to make this the new standard!

(To check it out, click the banner below.)

My Thoughts on the Future

I've been thinking about this for a while, so here it goes...

Do you remember the first time that you posted a photo of yourself online?

I can't remember just how old I was, but I'd guess I was probably about 14. The Internet was still brand new and AOL was charging by the minute.

Actually, after a little digging online, I found it. I believe that this is very possibly the first photo ever put on the Internet of me. It was over 10 years ago and I posted it myself.

Do you remember the first time you allowed your height to be published somewhere?

What about your last name?

The city where you live?

And your job title?

Your resume?

All of your friends names?

Photos of your family?

I can remember all of these moments in my life. They were all very deliberate choices; many of them directly tied to my age and stage of my life. I was careful not to reveal too much too quickly or at too young of an age.

I am completely aware that a potential employer, friend, or colleague can learn all about me at anytime. Heck, I do it myself when I want to learn about someone new.

This is a reasonable thing to think about, because once something is posted online, it doesn't go away.

What about nowadays though? Do we think before we post?

I've started to notice a trend...

More and more people are tracking their pregnancies online. There are photos of new moms' big bellies each month, growing larger by the frame.

Dads are posting photos of their newborns, still all red and just delivered at the hospital.

Parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents are posting photos of a child's first steps, first haircut, first, first, first...

Some parents even write restaurant reviews about their experiences eating out online.

With online papers, you can track a child's grades and accomplishments who live in another city. (This comes in handy for me with my brothers that live in Oklahoma.)

What happens in another 10 to 20 years when an adult persons entire life has been traced online, from conception to present?

How will this further impact us when we apply to school, for a job, or even when we ask someone on a date? What about children who are making friends, applying to high school, or looking for a first job?

Hmmm......................................

Clean Commuting Gets Creative

Molly Lavik (my MBA-school professor) and Jeff Rozic have come up with an exciting idea and they need your help!

They've created a new web site, StartUpTime.com, where you'll find an animated story about the "Commuter Pod." The Commuted Pod is a creative concept by Mentorography. It's the environmentally friendly car of the future and I hear that they're looking to actually manufacture it here in the US!

The way that you can help them is to submit your ideas for the next Commuter Pod webisode video. So, go to StartUpTime.com and check it out!

Quick Thought on Memorization in the Age of Technology

I may be showing my age more than normal, but here goes nothing...

I was thinking today-- Remember when you were a kid and it was vitally important to your social life that you memorize each and every phone number of all of your friends and family? If you forgot one or two, you could be completely cut out of your middle school social circle.

You had to be able to act fast when returning calls from call waiting-- or when conferencing a 3rd friend into a call.

Nowadays, kids (and me too) barely know their home phone number, much less the phone numbers of their friends and family. They've got all the numbers safely stored away in their cell phones, on Facebook, and in their address books on Outlook.

The most important thing to look for when buying a new cell phone is whether or not the new phone can accept a memory card from the old one. Gawd forbid that we actually have to type in a phone number more than once, if ever.

I've found often times that if someone wants me to have their phone number, they'll call me and I will just save the number under their name. So, it's possible I may never type in a phone number!

What I do memorize however is WEB SITES. Since I consistently work on 3 different computers (not to mention friends or co-workers computers), I can't count on always having my bookmarks. Besides, those or the history in my web browser could easily become erased and leave me completely cut off from my existing social circle.

I mean, what would life be like if I couldn't read what restaurant Paul has tried lately? And how's Shelain doing these days with her photography business?

One way I help this situation is by putting links along the right hand side bar of my site. But with all the sites that I stay on top of, I just can't help but memorize them with the same passion that I was memorizing phone numbers with just 20 years ago!

...Just my thoughts...