Life is what we make it.

We have been told time and time again of this truism. I can even recall a commencement exercise where the featured speaker mentioned this idea so many times it almost caused nausea; and if he had said it one more time, the graduates might have thrown up.

But this does not disprove the idea. For after all, we are the captains of our lives. We alone decide whether we would be happy or wallow in misery for the rest of our days. And we only have a limited number of those days. For the average male living on these islands that would be around 20,000, give or take a couple of thousands.

So, what are we waiting for? Let us make our lives happy, and I do not mean the hedonist way (though if you want it that way, who am I to argue). Would it not be a good idea to do things for a reason? Can we stop just going through the motion of life, and start living?

It’s your call, captain.

Second-Hand Photography

I do not mean taking pictures using pre-owned cameras. A team of researchers from MIT has developed a camera system that can take photos of scenes that are not directly on its path, or line of sight. Based on a femtosecond laser, the camera throws bursts of light “that can reflect off one object” before then hitting another object much like a conventional camera does. The light is reflected back and bounced off the first object, and back to the camera.

The laser-based camera, which is still in the early stages of development (meaning, it could still be another vaporware yet), and might require some more complex issues to be resolved before it finally sees fruition. But it offers some rather tantalizing ideas of possible applications; too many, in fact, and not all of them naughty.

RIM Raps Apps-Centric World

Jim Balsillie, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion CEO, asserted that smartphones do not need applications to be effective tools, or words to that effect. Balsillie said that smartphone users do not need apps for the Web during an interview at a Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco.

Of course, the conference attendees did not have to be told who or what Balsillie was referring to. That was a most direct shot at Apple’s tightly controlled and apps-centered ecosystem.

Balsillie also predicted that the “era of smartphone applications” would pass quickly. Time, of course, will tell us whether it is wishful thinking or not.

That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.