Drewbot

"iTunes is dead. But it’s still the big play. Microsoft became trapped in the Windows legacy and now,..."

Sat, 26 May 2012 12:38:01 -0400

“iTunes is dead. But it’s still the big play. Microsoft became trapped in the Windows legacy and now, it appears, that Apple is becoming trapped into the iTunes legacy.”

- Guy English

A private company is about to dock with the International Space...

Fri, 25 May 2012 09:23:14 -0400

A private company is about to dock with the International Space Station.

Circa Blog: The Right Package for the Right Information

Thu, 24 May 2012 13:32:23 -0400

Circa Blog: The Right Package for the Right Information:

There are some smart folks over at Circa:

The language change is minimal - from “content” to “information,” but the subtle shift alters how we think about a product and how users can engage with it.

Creating “content” implies a certain packaging. We are producing “video” content or “text” content. Even “multimedia” content denotes a packaging with a pretty bow for the consumers to appreciate. If information, as they say, wants to be free - then it can be packaged in unique ways that content cannot.

As I read it, Borthwick is suggesting that information has an inherent value. While content, as we traditionally think of it, is chock filled with information its value isn’t inherent but manufactured and mediated for the audience.

There will be much to discover at Circa but at the heart of it I believe Circa will value information over content.

I couldn’t agree more.

"The average web page is now more than 1 megabyte."

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:43:09 -0400

“The average web page is now more than 1 megabyte.”

- GigaOm

"By carrying around two iPads I can keep more windows open, without being confused."

Thu, 24 May 2012 09:19:49 -0400

“By carrying around two iPads I can keep more windows open, without being confused.”

- Tyler Cowen details his personal tech ecosystem

"We try to develop products that seem somehow inevitable. That leave you with the sense that that’s..."

Wed, 23 May 2012 15:16:53 -0400

“We try to develop products that seem somehow inevitable. That leave you with the sense that that’s the only possible solution that makes sense.”

- Jonathan Ive

Make Your Own Magazine

Tue, 22 May 2012 10:02:08 -0400

Make Your Own Magazine:

The Verge reports:

Arc90, the team behind Readability, is today introducing Readlists, a new website / web app that lets you create your own ebooks from your favorite articles online… The concept is simple: click “create Readlist,” paste in whichever URLs you’d like in your book, add a title and custom descriptions, and share.

You can export your book in either the near-universal ePub format, or send it directly to your Kindle. The option to send to iPhone/iPad does exactly the same thing as “Email e-book,” and seems to be there just to push Apple users in the right direction.

While I’ve been enjoying Instapaper’s similar feature for some time now, I worry about such an official, explicit, marketed product. It’s hard for the publishing industry, the people paying most of the writers whose pieces you include in your custom magazines, to view this as anything but a threat.

Watch: with a few editoral successes, sites will start attempting to lock down their content.

"Opinion polls show over 75 percent of Greeks want to stay in the euro, but two thirds oppose an..."

Tue, 22 May 2012 09:36:50 -0400

“Opinion polls show over 75 percent of Greeks want to stay in the euro, but two thirds oppose an international bailout, a lifeline which came with harsh salary, pension and job cuts.”

- Reuters

"ABC 4 confirmed through another independent source that the Apple deal is pretty sweet. Not only is..."

Mon, 21 May 2012 13:58:31 -0400

“ABC 4 confirmed through another independent source that the Apple deal is pretty sweet. Not only is Apple coming to City Creek [Salt Lake City], but Carlson’s sources tell him City Creek is giving Apple 5 years free rent.”

- ABC4.com

"In one tenderness test, researchers cooked muscles to medium, punched out half-inch plugs of meat..."

Sat, 19 May 2012 22:04:03 -0400

“

In one tenderness test, researchers cooked muscles to medium, punched out half-inch plugs of meat and set them in a machine that measures the force it takes to shear them in half. Promising cuts were given names like the Sierra, the Western Griller and the Petite Tender.

“If we can dig out a muscle and use it in a new way that hasn’t been done before, it seems to me we are obligated to give that muscle an identity so someone can understand what it is,” said Dr. Calkins, the Nebraska professor.

”

- NYTimes

This will never end up on a How It’s Made.

"In 2001, this is not a joke, we were in a meeting with Bill (Gates) and a bunch of the rest of the..."

Sat, 19 May 2012 12:03:31 -0400

“In 2001, this is not a joke, we were in a meeting with Bill (Gates) and a bunch of the rest of the senior staff, and we said, we made a decision to take the modem out of Xbox. Bill said to us, that’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. So we had a three-week email debate, and had to go back and have a meeting and convince Bill that taking the modem out was the right thing.”

- Robbie Bach on the decision to focus the original Xbox on the broadband market. (Via GeekWire)

Soon to Be: "Women: 0%"

Fri, 18 May 2012 16:20:03 -0400

Soon to Be: "Women: 0%":

I can’t believe anyone would think this would lead to sustainable business:

On Friday afternoon, about 20 bars around San Francisco are set to have special “facial detection” cameras turned on as part of a new smartphone app by Chicago-based startup SceneTap.

The cameras, which are mounted above the door of their client bars, scan patrons’ faces as they enter and exit the bar. The company’s software then immediately determines whether the person is male or female, and counts how many of each are in the bar, divides that by the known capacity of the bar, and then outputs something like: “Crowd: >90% full | Women: 58% | Men: 42%.”

Thankfully I don’t see any good bars on their participation list. (Via Ars Technica)

"Funny enough, I started my first meetings on the Blade Runner sequel last week. We have a very good..."

Fri, 18 May 2012 09:00:27 -0400

“Funny enough, I started my first meetings on the Blade Runner sequel last week. We have a very good take on it. And we’ll definitely be featuring a female protagonist.”

- Ridley Scott

Hampton Fancher to write.

Ignore the IPO noise for a moment: the criticisms, the estimates of earnings, and other buzz. These...

Thu, 17 May 2012 17:57:18 -0400

Ignore the IPO noise for a moment: the criticisms, the estimates of earnings, and other buzz. These pale in comparison to Facebook’s largest achievement, which is worth putting into context.

Facebook has organized roughly 1 in 7 people on earth, or 900 million people.

They’ve built a design and interaction system used across the world by a massive amount of cultures. Mandarin, with its 1.1 billion speakers, is the only language or medium with more native participants than Facebook. Other companies certainly fill out this club: Ikea, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung, and Apple come to mind. But none of these live so closely to their participants, acting and reacting with them.

You may be over Facebook, but Facebook’s cultural impact has yet to peak. Facebook itself is a tremendous feat of design and engineering, no matter what network is on top in 5 years.

Facebook now worth 104 Instagrams

Thu, 17 May 2012 17:43:05 -0400

Facebook now worth 104 Instagrams

With every Kickstarter, your initial purchase is a story and club membership. Eventually you get the...

Thu, 17 May 2012 13:31:00 -0400

With every Kickstarter, your initial purchase is a story and club membership. Eventually you get the thing you thought you bought.

Networks like Facebook and Tumblr have helped drive demand for stories. With more opportunities to tell stories, we need more fodder. Kickstart sells us these. The watches, iPod docks, comics, and games are secondary.

Everyone who sells anything should take heed. Even NASA.

Buffet's Media Moves

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:00:00 -0400

Buffet is sitting out the Facebook IPO:

“The idea that something coming out … that’s being offered with significant commissions, all kinds of publicity, the seller electing the time to sell, is going to be the best single investment that I can make in the world among thousands of choices is mathematically impossible.”

But Berkshire Hathaway just bought 63 newspapers for $142 million, their second newspaper deal in 6 months.

“In towns and cities where there is a strong sense of community, there is no more important institution than the local paper,” Mr. Buffett said in a statement. “The many locales served by the newspapers we are acquiring fall firmly in this mold and we are delighted they have found a permanent home with Berkshire Hathaway” Mr. Buffett had hinted of future newspaper deals at his company’s annual shareholders convention this month, telling investors, “We may buy more.”

As for challenges and changes:

“I don’t know of any business plan that has sustained itself that charges in one version and offers the same version free to people,” he said.

This isn’t presented to slam Facebook, as Buffet’s comments regard the system of IPOs more than Facebook as a company. Rather, Buffet’s moves are important as he’s clearly operating with a horizon in mind that’s further out than most in media.

"Real estate agent Jeff Appenrodt said a client of his recently was among 51 bidders on a..."

Thu, 17 May 2012 09:13:53 -0400

“Real estate agent Jeff Appenrodt said a client of his recently was among 51 bidders on a three-bedroom, one-bath Edwardian-style home built in 1903 that was showing its age. The client, a tech entrepreneur, made an all-cash offer 50% over the $849,000 asking price — and got thumped. The house sold for $1.4 million to a rival bidder.”

- This’ll go well. (Via latimes.com)

"Because of this population distribution, the half of the U.S. living in the largest nine states is..."

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:15:36 -0400

“Because of this population distribution, the half of the U.S. living in the largest nine states is represented by 18 Senators. The other half of the country living in the other 41 states has 82 Senators, more than four times as many.”

- Another reason to reform the Senate, says Leslie Ogden of Tufts Daily (Via SimonWDC)

"As opposed to Obama’s years of public tiptoeing around the idea that gay people are deserving..."

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:14:35 -0400

“As opposed to Obama’s years of public tiptoeing around the idea that gay people are deserving of marriage equality, Jigga comes from a world where “faggot” is still said as if it’s any other word. Jay’s no stranger to it, either. In 1999’s “Nigga What, Nigga Who (Originator 99),” he says, “Faggots wanna talk to Po-Po’s, smoke em like cocoa.” Meanwhile, in a response to Nas’ implication that Jay himself is gay, Jay shot back in “Takeover” with, “You’s the fag model for Karl Kani Esco ads.” He’s referenced Buju Banton’s murder music and has repeatedly used the “no homo” stand-in “pause.””

- Rich Juzwiak explains why Jay-Z’s support for gay marriage is so important.

Here’s what Jay-Z said:

It’s no different than discriminating against blacks. It’s discrimination plain and simple…I think [announcing support of gay marriage is] the right thing to do, so whether it costs [Obama] votes or not — again, it’s not about votes. It’s about people. It’s the right thing to do as a human being.

Huge. (Via Gawker)