September 2010
Turn Any Webpage into Asteroids →
New favorite bookmarklet.
Wikipedia Is Using BitTorrent P2P for HTML5 Video →
You write it, you host it.
You can switch from right-handed to left-handed... →
When performing simple tasks like pushing elevator buttons or picking up a cup, the brain actually has a mini-debate as to which hand should do the jobs. Now magnetic stimulation will make sure the brain always chooses the left hand.
I wonder if this tech could cure phantom limb afflictions? (Via io9)
On Amazon Building an Android App Store: →
PaidContent nails it:
Amazon already has a huge billing platform, which has millions of credit cards on file around the world, much like iTunes. Android is the logical platform to experiment because it’s open and in need of third-party providers. Google has primarily integrated its own Checkout payment platform and credit-card billing in some countries. Developers are looking for another way to...
Sony, Warner, Disney Planning $30 Home... →
Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Co. are in talks with the largest cable TV systems to offer films for as much as $30 per showing soon after they run in theaters.
Deja-vu!
This is just like the time music executives realized digital downloads were here to stay and responded with deluxe packaging and higher prices for CDs!
The Google Blacklist: Words Google Instant won't... →
We had a similar list at my last agency, provided by a certain video game client, that had to be implemented in every execution.
My favorite Google blacklist entry? ‘Tentacle.’
* NSFW, or Google, apparently.
Time Likely To End Within Earth's Lifespan, Say... →
The only way out of this conundrum is to hypothesise some kind of catastrophe that brings an end to the universe. Then all the probabilities make sense again and the laws of physics regain their power.
“Julian Assange reacted to any criticism with the allegation that I was...”
– Former Wikileaks spokesman Daniel Schmitt, who left this week.
Expert: Stuxnet was built to sabotage Iran nuclear... →
(Via CNET)
“When the software firm then refused to rush the job, it’s claimed, Netezza...”
– CIA used ‘illegal, inaccurate code to target kill drones’.
(Via The Register)
On the "Super Angel Conspiracy":
If only it was as exciting as its name.
“Boring, but that’s what’s selling Peeks. It’s a totally...”
– Amol Sarva, Peek CEO.
Companies that develop cheap, durable, simple applications of what was once bleeding edge tech are the sharpest of the bunch.
“We’re also aware that some of those behaviors don’t necessarily involve a...”
– foursquare.
Does this mean the business model is shifting from location-based network to a badge API?
Facebook is not worth $33,000,000,000 →
The company has supposedly taken just under a billion dollars in venture capital and small secondary-market sales of stock. So the actual money that has changed hands is just 3% of the total valuation of the company!
In other words, the valuation is resting on the flawed assumption that Facebook could actually ever get 33 times as much money to change hands if they wanted to. There’s just no...
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“We’re hungry. I know I am, as much as anybody else is. And you know Kobe is....”
– Ron Artest
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Computer Servers Could Help Detect Earthquakes →
IBM researchers have patented a technique using vibration sensors inside server hard drives to analyze information about earthquakes and predict tsunamis. “Almost all hard drives have an accelerometer built into them, and all of that data is network-accessible,” says Bob Friedlander, master inventor at IBM. “If we can reach in, grab the data, clean it, network it and analyze it, we can provide...
The Beer Industry is Lobbying Against Legalized... →
With some notable exceptions:
Sierra Nevada
Stone Brewing
New Belgium
And great brewers to boot!
(Many smaller brands aren’t members of the California Beer & Beverage Distributors association, so they’re absent from the above list.)
Mark Bittman's Ode to the Food Processor →
Not enough good things can be said about the food processor. It makes rote tasks a snap and possesses untapped potential for culinary tricks.
In terms of value, I’ve never made a better purchase than the unused Cusinart (with all the extra blades) I found in a thrift store for $5.
There’s a new food trend emerging: a compromise between local/sustainable foodies and the realities of...
“Apple has entered into a multi-year licensing agreement with Rovi Corp, a tech...”
– Business Insider
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McDonald's Actual Foursquare Test Numbers: 2,865... →
Surprise! Normal people (non-geeks) don’t care about checking into most places.
Until it’s passive and perceived as safe, location won’t go mainstream.
“Male, female, gay, straight, legal, illegal, country of origin—who cares? You...”
– Anthony Bourdain
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Phoenix just released all the multitracks from...
It’s kind of scary how many data sets you can pull together with some basic ruby or python knowledge and an AWS account.
“Playing baseball is like playing with house money, almost. If it works out and I...”
– Drew Storen on his blessed, blessed life. (via oldtimefamilybaseball)
How Your Nielsen Ratings Sausage Is Made →
kateoplis:
sectionfive:
According to this article, 25,000 people are being polled for the ratings. That’s 1/4 of 1% of the 100,000,000 TV Households.
That’s not an accurate sampling. It sounds like a joke. (via NewTeeVee)
So is the MPAA rating system. How many board members does it have now? 10? 12?
Listen, TV/Movie market research has always been smoke and mirrors; there’s really no such...
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My theory that the search business will eventually...
Search Engine Land's Danny Sullivan: You say that you have like these 200 factors [that determine search rank], why not at least just list them?
Eric Schmidt: Because we change them. What would happen is, you’ve asked me this question for the eight years I’ve worked with you, so it’s the same question. Why don’t we publish these things. And the fundamental answer is we’re always changing. We’re always changing, and if we started saying here’s how the black box works, then all of a sudden huge incumbencies would come out about this change and that change, and we just don’t want that pressure.
Sullivan: I’m not saying this is how the factors are actually measured up or weighted.
Schmidt: But even the list.
Sullivan: But 50 of those factors have never changed.
Schmidt: Let’s just be honest and say you and I disagree.
Sullivan: OK...
Schmidt: It’s a business secret of Google.
Brian Womack of Bloomberg: But that’s not very open.
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“Shea Houdmann runs SeekFind, a Colorado Springs-based Christian search engine...”
– NPR.
Religious search engines are gaining traction, including Jewogle and I’mHalal.
While I’m not running to use any of these, I’m happy they exist. They challenge the single-viewpoint of major search engines. I’d especially like to see similar twists on Wikipedia. Rather...
Study Shows How the Innocent Confess to Crimes →
Professor Garrett said he was surprised by the complexity of the confessions he studied. “I expected, and think people intuitively think, that a false confession would look flimsy,” like someone saying simply, “I did it,” he said.
Instead, he said, “almost all of these confessions looked uncannily reliable,” rich in telling detail that almost inevitably had to come from the police. “I had known...
Florida's Cat Village: Not A Dream →
“Caboodle Ranch, located smack in the middle of a wildlife preserve, is 30 acres of land devoted to providing otherwise-homeless cats some sanctuary and companionship. Lots of companionship, actually; there are currently six hundred and sixty cats living in the village”
Click through for the video. (Via The Awl)
“They are — they are doing that here in the United States. American scientific...”
– Christine O’Donnell (via ericmortensen)
I, for one, welcome our human-mouse overlords.
May 2011: Science Researchers Predict Discovery of... →
The first Earth-like planet orbiting another star will be announced in May next year, if the discovery of extrasolar planets continues at its present rate, say researchers Samuel Arbesman from Harvard Medical School in Boston and Gregory Laughlin at the University of California, Santa Cruz. They point out that astronomers have been discovering extrasolar planets at an increasing rate since...
iPhone Dev Recommendation: SCListener
iPhone devs: anytime you want to use the microphone’s audio levels as input (without recording any audio) like Ocarina, check out Stephen Celis’s SCListener. So much easier than fooling around with AVFoundation.
Meg Whitman is now the biggest self-funding... →
Pretty sure you could spend $119 million in Sacramento over the course of several years and effectively be Governor.
Also: isn’t this news even more odd since her major issue is job creation?
* Also, also: Why does this headline not have a “buy it now” joke???
“So why the lawsuit? Skyhook CEO Ted Morgan tells us that Motorola — one of...”
– Business Insider.
Compliance tests? I thought Android was ‘Open’?
GQ Profiles 'Bin Laden Hunter' Gary Faulkner →
Faulkner first decided to hunt down bin Laden because of a dream he had in 2004.
His father used to whip him, until the abused Faulkner told him, “If you ever touch me again, I’m going to cut your throat in your sleep.” Faulkner says their relationship improved tremendously after that.
Faulkner: “I’ve done crack, I’ve done crank, I’ve done coke,...
“We believe that the decision to invite the band fit our rubric of engaging...”
– Calvin College explains why they felt they had to cancel their New Pornographers show.
Local Merchants, It’s Time To Ditch The Sidewalk... →
TechCrunch needs to get out more.