March 2011
“it would be very easy to get sucked into all of this because, you know, it makes...”
– Clair Fraser-Liggett, who lead the genetics team charge with ‘fingerprinting’ the anthrax used in 2001’s mailed anthrax attacks.
Noah Shachtman has an excellent piece in this month’s Wired chronicling the investigation, the holes left in the case, and the awkward tension...
Watchericmortensen:
I somehow managed to get Boxcar and Growl into an infinite loop.
“Probability does pervade the universe—and in this sense, the old chestnut about...”
– Stephen Jay Gould, The Streak of Streaks (August 18, 1988)
4 tags
The FTC puts Google on 20 Year Privacy Probation →
The FTC further solidifies its image as an overzealous dean.
David Eckstein to Donate A Kidney
oldtimefamilybaseball:
(Photo by SD Dirk)
Eckstein would have donated a heart except that it’s too big for a normal human to accept.
In all seriousness, this is an amazingly selfless act that will put an emphatic end to Eckstein’s playing days. For as much as people stats people liked to make fun of Eckstein, he was actually a pretty good player who was a lot of fun to watch. The 36-year-old...
“Google Inc. is teaming up with MasterCard Inc. and Citigroup Inc. to embed...”
– The WSJ.
Is there a pool going for when there’s an app to snatch accounts from the guy in front of you at the market? You know, the one that lets you listen to the scan and then immediately use the account afterwards?
“The new guidelines reportedly have some developers and employees nervous about...”
– VentureBeat, on Larry Page’s changes at Google. Managers will have to keep emails describing their current work to 60 words or less and top execs are being pulled into daily one-on-one status meetings.
If you really want to understand the difference between Apple and Google, pay attention to...
“Collectively, just eight of the 260 organizations accounted for more than half...”
– Nate Silver runs the numbers by looking at citation instances in articles indexed by Google News. (Via NYTimes.com, of course)
“Here’s what you will need: a bunch of video-game platforms; DVDs of “Shutter...”
– A. O. Scott’s recipe for making “Sucker Punch” yourself, in lieu of catching it this weekend. (Via NYTimes.com)
2 tags
“The record companies suing Limewire were asked to estimate the damages that...”
– CrunchGear
“To make our schedule to ship the tablet, we made some design tradeoffs. We...”
– Android head Andy Rubin on Honeycomb.
It’s looking like the Apple’s biggest advantage is that it caught everyone so unprepared. The pressure from the pundits, partners and Wall Street forced other companies to spend big and rush incomplete tablets to market to beat the iPad 2’s...
Pete Warden's Data Science Toolkit →
I’m very pleased to announce the launch of the Data Science Toolkit. It’s a collection of the most useful open source tools and data sets I’ve found, wrapped in an easy-to-use REST/JSON interface, and available for download as a turnkey virtual machine image.
This model is fantastic. Roll your own whatever.
“We were selling sugar water and fairy dust. And don’t forget the fairy...”
– Jeff Dunn, former Coca-Cola executive, current carrot company CEO. (Via Fast Company)
“Look for increased slugging this year as a direct result of offseason Chipotle...”
– The 5’9”, 155 lb Will Rhymes on his relationship with Chipotle. (via oldtimefamilybaseball)
The New York Times Is Delusional →
understatementblog:
Full sized chart
“Even though Apple may have the most wonderful future in the world, I’m not...”
– Warren Buffet.
I think a lot of pubs (the Atlantic, WSJ, NYT, …) have misinterpreted this quote. Buffet isn’t saying he’s pessimistic about Apple; just that he doesn’t understand it, and perhaps consumer technology in general. He gets manufacturing. He gets transit. He gets...
1 tag
“The name change will naturally get all the attention, but the real story here,...”
– Court Crandall, creative director for Seattle ad agency Wong Doody Crandall Wiener (née Wong Doody), proving once again that ad agencies are absolutely worthless when it comes to marketing themselves.
Trust me guys, when you append ‘Crandall Wiener’ to ‘Wong Doody’ no one...
The Impact of Food Trends →
wnyc:
theweekmagazine:
Quinoa, a grain-like superfood, has become so popular in Western markets that Bolivians can no longer afford to eat it. Instead, they’re turning to cheap, processed foods, raising concerns about malnutrition in a poor country where it has long been a problem.
For centuries Bolivians lived off quinoa, and it was “little more than a curiosity outside the Andes.” But it...
3 tags
“The most telling thing about the NYT’s digital subscription plans is that you...”
– John Gruber
Despite charging for bits, the NYT’s business model has been and continues to be charging premium prices for paper. Sure, they hire content creators to doll it up a bit. But when you look at the books, they make their money by efficiently selling cheap paper for high prices at a...
1 tag
Regular expression to search for Gadaffi →
Czechnology has the answer: \b(Kh?|Gh?|Qu?)[aeu](d[‘dt]?|t|zz|dhd)h?aff?[iy]\b (Via Stack Overflow)
AT&T to Acquire T-Mobile USA →
A few thoughts:
AT&T is making a cash-and-stock transaction worth $39 billion. Just think about that for a second.
With this move AT&T will leapfrog Verizon in total subs. Sprint remains the lone outsider. In this case, the ‘independent’ telco sports a mere 50 million subs. Our nation’s network is quickly reverting back to Ma Bell.
Speaking of Ma Bell, AT&T is...
Anti-war activists arrested near White House as... →
Peak QR Codes: SXSW 2011 →
joshuanguyen:
blech:
South By Southwest this year was plagued by QR codes. The two-dimensional pixel squares seemed to be anywhere that was even vaguely flat: on plenty of posters, but also on t-shirts and the sides of buildings. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were even temporarily tattooed on people’s arms.
I’m…
I can say that I’ve never scanned a QR code before. Anyone?
I have yet to...
Where are the bars or restaurants with outdoor seating in the East Village/LES?
“Reality television programs, which feature real people engaged in real...”
– One of this year’s SAT writing prompts. (Via The Washington Post)
“When Anne Hathaway makes headlines, the stock for Warren Buffett’s...”
– Dan Mirvish, who’s identified eight occasions going back to 2008 where positive Anne Hathaway news correlated with a Berkshire Hathaway bump.
2 tags
Latest Fukushima Updates →
The Atlantic Wire is maintaining a fantastic one-stop destination for the latest on the nuclear crisis in Japan.
“Netflix has given out some details that shows the average user streams Netflix...”
– GigaOm
2Mbps is nowhere near HD. Combine this stat with Netflix’s recent success and it’s the digital music wars all over again: extremely high quality loses out to ease of delivery and use. iTunes beat CDs and SuperCDs (remember them?) and on-demand, low-res video will beat BluRay.
3 tags
“This publishing template will create a familiar consistent user interface. It...”
– Gadget Daily News on a rumored magazine template in Xcode.
Great news, if it’s true. Consistent interfaces mean each title doesn’t have a learning curve and magazines get to spend more time on content, less time on dev. Plus, it could signal a revival of indie, homemade zines. (Get your...
It begins: Netflix branches out into original... →
Netflix has just made a surprising move into original programming by outbidding the likes of HBO and AMC for the rights to House Of Cards, David Fincher’s adaptation of the British book and miniseries of the same name. Acquiring the drama (which, as previously reported, stars Kevin Spacey as a ruthless politician) reportedly cost Netflix an estimated $100 million up front and a commitment to two...
“Mars Needs Moms,” about a 9-year-old boy whose mother is abducted by Martians,...”
– The NYTimes cites the saturated CG genre as potential cause of Mars Needs Moms’ magnificent flop.
I’m holding out hope that the deluge of CG films will lead to cheaper tools, so that in five years a team of 6 can set up in a garage and create something unique and exciting.