February 2012
41 posts
Hype Tax
Someone used the phrase “hype tax” to describe the cost of Apple’s products. That’s a cop-out argument that I’ve only ever seen gainfully employed nerds use to be publicly right about their own preferences. Here’s the context, implying that Apple’s products are entirely marketing and novelty, with no quality or substance:
If you do the research, you will normally...
Last Minute Flow Chart
Do you want something from me? → [Yes] → Is it the last minute? → [Yes]
→ The answer is no.
Steven Pressfield on Ambition →
Do you hate being ordinary and normal? Do you refuse to accept that?
I do. I hate that shit. I don’t believe anyone’s ordinary or normal anyway. An oak litters the earth with ten thousand acorns, and inside every one is the drive to grow to be as mighty as its daddy. Every lion cub, every fledging eagle carries in its DNA the will to be king of beasts and lord of the air. That’s nature’s...
Your Mom Wants…
The genius of the iPad is that it cannot get things like viruses. It is a closed platform. You can’t put apps on it. You can’t write and distribute software for it without Apple’s permission. This is why geeks hate it and normal people will love it.
Your Mom wants a computer she doesn’t have to ask you to fix. She is willing to trade power and flexibility to get...
Honestly
“Honestly, we’re not doing very well in the tablet market,” Hankil Yoon, a product strategy executive for Samsung, said today during a media roundtable here.
At Best Buy, had a chance to play with Samsung Galaxy Note—shittiest construction I’ve ever seen; the back plate fell off in my hand.— Pablo Defendini (@pablod) February 25, 2012
McGriddle Fan Fiction →
This exists:
I’d stockpiled a dozen McGriddles in the cooler next to my bed. This was definitely the right occasion to pull out one and munch down. Heck, any occasion is right for a McGriddle. Sometimes I walk out of my bathroom, spy my cooler, and am like, dang I’m totally gonna get down with a McGriddle right now. And I do, and it’s great.
Too Many Buttons
When they tried to make me use a computer (one of the early pizza-box shaped Power Macintosh models) for the first time in kindergarten, I cried a lot and told them I didn’t even know how to use the buttons on the TV remote.
When my mom pointed at a Super Nintendo some kids were playing and asked if I wanted one, I said, “No, it’s too hard. It has too many buttons.” I got one for...
Behind the Scenes of Harmy's Star Wars... →
Fed up with CG insertions but desperate for a better picture than the letterboxed Laserdisc rips included on the 2004 DVDs? Harmy’s Despecialized Editions are the closest you’re going to get.
And here’s the crazy part: Harmy didn’t spend seven months undoing Lucas’ damage with state-of-the-art editing software or a beastly octo-core desktop workstation. As he...
Three arguments against using Pinterest →
Pinterest is simply another website with a business model which expects to profit from the use of others content.
This article raises some valid points that have me reconsidering how I use Pinterest.
Now, who’s going to make an exporter and a self-hosted alternative, for the people who want to organize content this way privately without the monetization (and who don’t mind...
A Pixel Identity Crisis →
Scott Kellum:
The pixel has long been the atomic particle of screen based design: a knowable, concrete unit of measurement. But layouts based on the hardware pixel are fast becoming an endangered species.
Home Screen Interviews on MacSparky →
David Sparks interviews iOS users about how they use their iPhones day-to-day. I picked up a couple of new tricks and helpful apps from these.
The Modern Lego Brick: →
The modern Lego brick was patented at 1:58 P.M. on 28 January 1958; bricks from that year are still compatible with current bricks.
Pesto is…
Just learned that pesto refers to the method of making the sauce, not to its ingredients:
When you think of pesto, you probably think of a basil-heavy green sauce made with pine nuts and garlic. This is indeed a pesto, and it is probably the most common type of pesto out there. What you might not know is that these ingredients do not define “pesto.” The name “pesto” means “to crush” and it...
1 tag
Copyright is a legal fiction representing a narrow compromise: we give up some of our natural right to exchange information in exchange for creating an economic incentive to author, so that we may all enjoy more works. When publishers abuse the system to prop up their existence, when they misrepresent the extent of copyright coverage, when they use threats of frivolous litigation to suppress...
A Xanatos Gambit is a plan whose multiple foreseen outcomes all benefit its creator. It’s a win-win situation for whoever plots it.
At its most basic, the Xanatos Gambit assumes two possible outcomes for the one manipulated — success or failure. The plan is designed in such a way that either outcome will ultimately further the plotter’s goals.
WatchThe human voice is more powerful than a tsunami.
Yoshi’s Blend (by Mackenzie Sheppard)
January 2012
3 posts
December 2011
34 posts
Thiel Foundation To New Crop Of College-Bound... →
Your parents won’t tell you this, guidance counselors won’t tell you this, and university administrators, test prep companies, politicians, a nearly $1 trillion student loan industry, and other unscrupulous profiteers won’t tell you that you don’t have to go. They want you to believe that college is a guaranteed gateway to a successful career and that they’ll help you get there. But you already...
10 Awful Pokémon Episode Titles
Showdown at the Po-Ké Corral
To Master the Onix-pected
Got Miltank?
For Ho-Oh The Bells Toll!
Xatu the Future
Talkin’ ‘Bout an Evolution
Here’s Lookin’ At You Elekid!
Stairway to Devon
Let Bagons Be Bagons
Take This House and Shuppet
Here’s all of em.
Facebook Timeline Designers on Creating an... →
Interesting insights about designing for a lifetime of data, which is a very new problem in consumer technology, in a format that is universally understandable:
Facebook wants any user to be able to drop in to any other user’s Timeline and immediately understand the visual language and know how to navigate the Timeline. The more control over visual elements they gave to users, the greater the...
The Future Of The Internet's Here. And It's Creepy →
For the first time ever, it will become technologically and financially feasible for authoritarian governments to record nearly everything that is said or done within their borders—every phone conversation, electronic message, social media interaction, the movements of nearly every person and vehicle, and video from every street corner.