[glob]

Zap.

2011-04-26T09:55:00.001-07:00

A. A low voltage stun gun. Apply directly to perpetrator's head.
Q. What is the best way to stop people from spelling like morons online?

The most profound thing I've learnt this last week.

2011-03-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

"Leaders must be editors*".

A simple, simple statement. And a very important lesson. That the primary job of leaders is to let the people around them ideate/think/dream/build/work on their own. To let them seek perfection, or die trying, if they so wish. To let them stumble, fall, and pick themselves up, all on their own. To let them write the story the way they see fit, the way they see it play out in their mind's eye.

The leader holds the line.
The leader keeps it all together.
But the leader doesn't write the stories.

Leaders must be editors.
That's one hell of a tough lesson to learn.

____
*Paraphrasing Jack Dorsey, at an internal meeting at Square. [Watch Video]

Just manic enough?

2010-09-20T03:37:00.001-07:00

Just Manic Enough: Seeking Perfect Entrepreneurs

David Segal
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/business/19entre.html?_r=2&hp=&pagewanted=all

________________________________________________________________________

Imagine you are a venture capitalist. One day a man comes to you and says, "I want to build the game layer on top of the world."

You don't know what "the game layer" is, let alone whether it should be built atop the world. But he has a passionate speech about a business plan, conceived when he was a college freshman, that he says will change the planet — making it more entertaining, more engaging, and giving humans a new way to interact with businesses and one another.

If you give him $750,000, he says, you can have a stake in what he believes will be a $1-billion-a-year company.

Interested? Before you answer, consider that the man displays many of the symptoms of a person having what psychologists call a hypomanic episode. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual — the occupation's bible of mental disorders — these symptoms include grandiosity, an elevated and expansive mood, racing thoughts and little need for sleep.

"Elevated" hardly describes this guy. To keep the pace of his thoughts and conversation at manageable levels, he runs on a track every morning until he literally collapses. He can work 96 hours in a row. He plans to live in his office, crashing in a sleeping bag. He describes anything that distracts him and his future colleagues, even for minutes, as "evil."

He is 21 years old.

So, what do you give this guy — a big check or the phone number of a really good shrink? If he is Seth Priebatsch and you are Highland Capital Partners, a venture capital firm in Lexington, Mass., the answer is a big check.

But this thought exercise hints at a truth: a thin line separates the temperament of a promising entrepreneur from a person who could use, as they say in psychiatry, a little help. Academics and hiring consultants say that many successful entrepreneurs have qualities and quirks that, if poured into their psyches in greater ratios, would qualify as full-on mental illness.

Which is not to suggest that entrepreneurs like Seth Priebatsch (pronounced PREE-batch) are crazy. It would be more accurate to describe them as just crazy enough.

"It's about degrees," says John D. Gartner, a psychologist and author of "The Hypomanic Edge." "If you're manic, you think you're Jesus. If you're hypomanic, you think you are God's gift to technology investing."

Continue reading.

[Funniness] Ahm English!

2010-07-31T07:45:00.000-07:00

Here's something hilarious.

From thefrogman.me

Famous Movie Quotes as if written by a proper Englishman.

_________________________________

"“We must acquire a larger vessel.”
- Jaws

“I’m growing impatient with these malevolent slithering reptiles on this bloody aircraft.”
- Snakes on a Plane

“Toodeloo you ghastly miscreant.”
- Die Hard 1,2,3,4

“Please remove your simian appendages from my person, you unwashed gorilla man-thing.”
- Planet of the Apes

“There is a herptile in my western footwear!”
- Toy Story

“I shall return.”
- Every Arnold Schwarzenegger movie

“I am now fully versed in the combat stylings of “Kung Fu.”
- The Matrix"

________________________________

[tech] What's the deal with 3D TV?

2010-07-25T23:44:00.001-07:00

Michael Gartenberg, "technology strategist" and author, writes "Entelligence", a column for Engadget. I don't agree with the man 9 out of 10 times, but this one, I say aye to. Read on.
________________________________________________________

It's generally a bad idea to extrapolate larger consumer behavior from personal experience and say "if I like it, surely everyone else will as well." It's a mistake that happens all the time, but there's is one case where I will use my personal behavior to at least start the foundation for analysis -- when I don't want a new gadget or technology. Granted, sometimes I'm just not the target audience, but even then I'm usually able to remove myself from the process and say it might not be for me but others will love this. In the case of 3D TV, however, I think my lack of interest doesn't bode well for the market.

I'm surprised by figures, forecasts, predictions and prophecies all showing a rosy outlook for 3D TV beginning as early as this year, because I've seen most of the 3D offerings available and I have no plans to buy -- not now and not anytime soon. I should be a part of the core demographic for 3D: I like TV, movies and video games. I'm am early adopter. I have reasonable disposable income. I'm not afraid of betting on the wrong standard. And yet, I'm not buying. Here's why.

Continue reading Entelligence: 3D TV falls flat for me

[g33kness] Last weekend's timepassing.

2010-07-25T11:32:00.000-07:00

This is what I did last weekend.

1. Taught myself PHP / yeah, all I needed to learn was #include stuff, so that was easy :p
2. Googled whatever I needed to know to setup mySQL, a simple database, and some tables
3. Got simpleviewer to work the way I wanted it to

I put these three things together, to finish what I'd promised a photographer friend a long time ago: his own photog website. Pop over to http://virag.in to check it out.

Do leave me a comment here :)

[Android] [Ads] Sucker punch!

2010-07-23T04:58:00.000-07:00

The iPhone4's AntennaGate is old hat right now, and junta has discussed the signal bars issue to death. What is novel though, is every other company's response to Apple's "self created debacle" (as RIM's CEO put it).

Here's a fun one.
Press ad for the Samsung Android superphone, the Galaxy S.
Two thumbs up! :D

(via twitter)

Random weblink of the day.

2010-07-18T00:11:00.001-07:00

http://1000awesomethings.com/

Try it. You'll like it.

Facebook, oh how I hate you.

2010-07-16T07:42:00.000-07:00

Honestly, who can argue with this graph?

I know Supergirl!

2010-07-16T02:51:00.001-07:00

Prem Panicker (@prempanicker) writes a column for Yahoo! India, and this week, he's featured someone he's titled "Supergirl". The crime fighting, food loving, super tweeter, @mumbaicentral. This last week, she foiled the Mumbai Police's attempt to harass a murder accused's family.

Read all about it here. http://ht.ly/2cj2J
Twitter as citizen-news comes home to roost.

PS: And yes, I know Supergirl! :D

Who's more annoying: Android or iPhone fanboys?

2010-07-16T02:04:00.000-07:00

From CNET. http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-18438_7-20010417-82.html

David Carnoy does a neat little article on the stereotypes that're emerging around this,
the platform war of the year.

___________________

Ah, there's nothing like a good platform war to stir up the emotions. We've seen plenty of battles over the years. Old stalwarts like Windows versus Mac and Xbox 360 versus PS3 always manage to light up the message boards. And I still miss all the personal attacks I got from HD DVD versus Blu-ray wars. But nothing seems to get people more worked up these days than Android versus iPhone.
Take a recent post I did on the 20 most-wanted features I'd like to see in the next-generation iPhone, which may be called the iPhone 5. The comments section immediately degenerated into a battle between iPhone versus Android backers. Here are some samples from the melee.

Stereotypical Android user.

(Credit: CBS)

Android camp:
zizzybaloobah: "You can waste your time wishing for a phone w/these features, or get an Android phone that already has them."
javawebdeveloper: "@Bonesbautista, @slickuser No, you are giving the typical iPhone fanboy response: You are so convinced that the iPhone is the best thing since sliced bread that you cannot accept that a competing device has features that the iPhone does not have, so you denigrate them as being unimportant, hazardous, or only 'for geeks'. If they are implemented in iPhone 5, then they will magically transform into Apple innovations."
Ebraheem: "Anyone thinking that ports are a synonym for holes really shouldn't be talking about security. iOS has 65535 ports, Android has 65535 ports, Windows has 65535 ports, and pretty much anything that has a TCP/IP stack has 65535 ports! Typical non-geek mentality, thinking you understand technical details when you don't."
Sourdust: "So the author [David Carnoy] basically wishes the iPhone were more like an Android phone. As other have written, just buy an Android and be done with it. It seems the real wish here is for Android phones to run the iPhone OS. But that would have been a much shorter article (one sentence) and might not have been published."
Apple camp:
bonesbautista: "Typical response from Android fanboys. Too much kludge with stock Android, too many complaints of poor RF with most of the HTC smart phones. The new iOS is missing a Today screen and better notifications. Android? Meh."

Stereotypical iPhone user.

(Credit: NBC)

slickuser: "Typical geek (Android) mentality! By the time iPhone 5 is out, Flash would be on a lifeline."
MaLvaDo39: "Why do you want an Android? Just another fake iPhone...follow the leader is all Google and Microsoft could ever do."
NeonRazor4: "Since you seem so eager to write about missing features, why not write an article about the features you want from the Motorola Droid 2 or the Blackberry Storm 3? Why do you feel such a need to nitpick the iPhone? Sure it's missing a few features, but there are many other phones that are missing some features we wish it had. Yet, they don't get the same amount of vicious scrutiny as the iPhone does..."
Chandyyyyyy: "Alrighty. So I'm not a geek or a nerd, but I understand the argument and what each person is saying if that helps you understand where I am coming from. I have an iPhone along with thousands of other consumers. I'm not a fanboy. But I couldn't care less about which phone is better. I'm very happy with my iPhone, and I see many more iPhones than droids htc or whatever. What the iPhone has that other phones do not is an iPod. That's no better than any other mp3 player, but it's the top brand of mp3 player. It's convenient and easy to use, even older folks have one."
As you can see from these comments, some lines are being drawn and some stereotypes are being formed. Here's how I envision the two sides see each other based on some of the vitriol going around. (Yes, these are sexist descriptions, but 85 percent of our readers are male. If you're part of our female audience, feel free to comment with your views on all of this).
Android smartphone owner (as viewed by an iPhone fanboy):

Resembles Dr. Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory
Installed Linux on the PS3
Fashionably nerdy
Becomes aroused when seeing a DOS command field
Views the phone as a purely utilitarian device
Chooses his phone based on carrier

iPhone owner (as viewed by an Android fanboy):

Resembles Ross from Friends
Superficial, insecure douchebag with metrosexual tendencies
Drives a BMW or Prius
Enters a hypnotic state when seeing the Great Steve
Favorite phrase: "You still there? Hello?"
Doesn't actually know how to work a real phone

OK, I'm embellishing a little. But things are getting more heated as the smartphone space seems to be increasingly divided into two camps, though Blackberry certainly makes up the third piece of the pie; however, its fans are less vocal.As some of you already know, I own an iPhone. When I bought my 3GS, the Android phones just weren't as good as they are now (I didn't want the Droid, which was arguably the top Android phone at the time I made my purchase). However, my feeling of superiority comes from being comfortable with my purchase and not being tempted by the iPhone 4, the Evo 4G, or Incredible or whatever the next hot new phone will be. In my opinion, you're all just chasing your tails--or as one reader, bweston1a, puts it:
"Wow. Being a long-time Mac user, I think it's kind of ironic to listen to the Android Fanboys. Most of the arguments I read make sound very much like the longtime refrain of Mac users (We've got this feature or that feature--does Windows?). At the end of the day, it didn't really make much of a difference though."

____________________________________
Note: Fashionably nerdy? I can live with that! :D

Aw man!

2010-07-14T22:20:00.001-07:00

George Steinbrenner, legendary Yankees owner and the man who redefined the term "larger than life", dies at 80

To US baseball fans he was a saint, sinner and Beelzebub himself, the man who reinvented the New York Yankees. To the rest of the world, he will be remembered as George Constanza's bumbling boss in Seinfeld.

Trivia: Steinbrenner's face was never shown on Seinfeld, but we did get to hear his voice. Voice acting for that part? Larry David.

[Funniness] Catatonically yours.

2010-07-09T04:23:00.000-07:00

I received this in the mail a couple of days ago from some design company feller.

Original credits for the funniness: 27b/6.com.
That there man is a God.

------------------------------------------------------------
Story goes :
Shannon (the secretary) has lost her cat and has asked David (the graphic designer) to help with a lost poster. This is their email correspondence...
Read from top to bottom….

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.15am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Poster

Hi
I opened the screen door yesterday and my cat got out and has been missing since then so I was wondering if you are not to busy you could make a poster for me. It has to be A4 and I will photocopy it and put it around my suburb this afternoon.

This is the only photo of her I have she answers to the name Missy and is black and white and about 8 months old. missing on Harper street and my phone number.
Thanks Shan.

From:David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.26am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,
That is shocking news.
Although I have two clients expecting completed work this afternoon, I will, of course, drop everything and do whatever it takes to facilitate the speedy return of Missy.
Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.37am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Poster

yeah ok thanks. I know you dont like cats but I am really worried about mine. I have to leave at 1pm today.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.17am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,
I never said I don't like cats. Attached poster as requested.
Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.24am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

yeah thats not what I was looking for at all. it looks like a movie and how come the photo of Missy is so small?

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.28am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,
It's a design thing. The cat is lost in the negative space.
Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.33am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Thats just stupid. Can you do it properly please? I am extremely emotional over this and was up all night in tears. you seem to think it is funny. Can you make the photo bigger please and fix the text and do it in colour please. Thanks.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.46am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,
Having worked with designers for a few years now, I would have assumed you understood, despite our vague suggestions otherwise, we do not welcome constructive criticism. I don't come downstairs and tell you how to send text messages, log onto Facebook and look out of the window. I have amended and attached the poster as per your instructions.
Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.59am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

This is worse than the other one. can you make it so it shows the whole photo of Missy and delete the stupid text that says missing missy off it? I just want it to say Lost.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.14am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.21am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

yeah can you do the poster or not? I just want a photo and the word lost and the telephone number and when and where she was lost and her name. Not like a movie poster or anything stupid. I have to leave early today. If it was your cat I would help you. Thanks.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.32am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Awww

Dear Shannon,
I don't have a cat. I once agreed to look after a friend's cat for a week but after he dropped it off at my apartment and explained the concept of kitty litter. I have attached the amended version of your poster as per your detailed instructions.
Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.47am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Awww

Thats not my cat. where did you get that picture from? That cat is orange. I gave you a photo of my cat.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.58am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Awww

I know, but that one is cute. As Missy has quite possibly met any one of several violent ends, it is possible you might get a better cat out of this. If anybody calls and says "I haven't seen your orange cat but I did find a black and white one with its hind legs run over by a car, do you want it?" you can politely decline and save yourself a costly veterinarian bill.
Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.07pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Please just use the photo I gave you.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.22pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.34pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

I didnt say there was a reward. I dont have $2000 dollars. What did you even put that there for? Apart from that it is perfect can you please remove the reward bit. Thanks Shan.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.42pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.51pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Can you just please take the reward bit off altogether? I have to leave in ten minutes and I still have to make photocopies of it.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.56pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 1.03pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Fine. That will have to do.

[Funniness] Comma.

2010-07-09T04:05:00.000-07:00

From http://twitpic.com/23748n

(via twitter)

The Inquiry into the IPCC: Report.

2010-07-06T10:35:00.001-07:00

NYTimes: Dutch Agency Seeks Clarity From Climate Panel

Interesting. Apparently, that whole "the Himalayas will melt" business in the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is just the tip of the iceberg (or glacier, in this case), when it comes to sloppy work.

Whatever the story though, the basic conclusions are still sound, and should sound a wake-up call to the governments of the day. I hope.

(Posted from Blogaway / via the NYT app)

Fourth of July Funnies.

2010-07-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

There's nothing quite like a page full of stupidly funny facebook entries.

If you haven't already, do check out lamebook.com,

for giggle-and-guffaw-worthy lame status updates.

Here's the sampling from this fourth of July :))

[Android] App coder with no tech background. Six figure income.

2010-07-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

This beats the story I read about the makers of RedEye, the iPhone app, who made tons of money from uber-geeky coding (they cracked the problem of bar code scanning on the first generation iPhone, which had a camera without auto-focus). In stark contrast to that there story is that of Derek James of Polyclef Software. Ph.D. in Cognitive Science, undergrad in English / no coding background / has published word games and puzzles on the Android Market / has over 300,000 downloads of his apps / will exceed six figures in income this year.

Tim Bray does a neat little interview with the man here.
ongoing by Tim Bray � Indie Android Interview

For someone with zero real world coding experience, this sounds like the promised land.

I have but one question.

Do you have to type in #include c.h to get this Java thing going? :-s

The Total Perspective Vortex.

2010-07-06T04:57:00.000-07:00

Zaphod Beeblebrox was filled with apprehension as he was escorted to the Frog Star’s Total Perspective Vortex. As he drew closer to the dreaded machine, he could hear the screams escaping from its victims. Zaphod Beeblebrox knew that one second in this savage torture device would turn his mind to mush.

The Total Perspective Vortex gives a person a complete glimpse of the whole universe almost instantaneously. It compares the incredibly small size of the person to the enormous size of the universe. It shows him the size of the "entire unimaginable infinity of creation" along with a tiny little marker that says, "You are here."

To everyone's surprise and amazement... (for the rest of this story, read the damn book)
__________________________________________
Excerpt from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Ofcourse, I only bring this up coz I stumbled upon Nikon's Universcape,
a flash based somewhat-total perspective vortex. Be humbled.

(via Sam)

Today in history. Or the future. Or the past.

2010-07-05T13:37:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

As seen on twitter:

In 'Back to the Future' Doc Scott sets the time clock in the Delorean to a day 25 years in the future, today is that day.

Update:
Dammit. I hate fact checking!
Coz this one turns out to be false.
The year's 2010 alright. But the date, not so much.
(Doc and Marty are on October 26th, 1985, when the whole time travel thing begins).
That hasn't stopped this blog on BBC though.

I'll leave you with this. The Back to the Future trailer, on youtube.
"Where we're going, we won't need roads..."

We are what we choose.

2010-07-05T09:12:00.000-07:00

Jeff Bezos delivered the commencement speech to Princeton's Class of 2010 on graduation day, this May.

As a kid, [...] I'd take any excuse to make estimates and do minor arithmetic. I'd calculate our gas mileage -- figure out useless statistics on things like grocery spending. I'd been hearing an ad campaign about smoking. I can't remember the details, but basically the ad said, every puff of a cigarette takes some number of minutes off of your life: I think it might have been two minutes per puff. At any rate, I decided to do the math for my grandmother. I estimated the number of cigarettes per days, estimated the number of puffs per cigarette and so on. When I was satisfied that I'd come up with a reasonable number, I poked my head into the front of the car, tapped my grandmother on the shoulder, and proudly proclaimed, "At two minutes per puff, you've taken nine years off your life!"
I have a vivid memory of what happened, and it was not what I expected. I expected to be applauded for my cleverness and arithmetic skills. "Jeff, you're so smart. You had to have made some tricky estimates, figure out the number of minutes in a year and do some division." That's not what happened. Instead, my grandmother burst into tears. I sat in the backseat and did not know what to do. While my grandmother sat crying, my grandfather, who had been driving in silence, pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway. He got out of the car and came around and opened my door and waited for me to follow. Was I in trouble? My grandfather was a highly intelligent, quiet man. He had never said a harsh word to me, and maybe this was to be the first time? Or maybe he would ask that I get back in the car and apologize to my grandmother. I had no experience in this realm with my grandparents and no way to gauge what the consequences might be. We stopped beside the trailer. My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, "Jeff, one day you'll understand that it's harder to be kind than clever."

Read the rest of this awesome speech here: http://www.businessinsider.com/we-are-what-we-choose-2010-6#ixzz0spBhEliH

(via vasantv on twitter)

Support Open-Source.

2010-07-05T04:32:00.000-07:00

Do you have
A) a lot of free time
B) a wifi network at home
C) people around you who're jobless?

Support Open-Source.
Play a lot of poker.

Poker TH, the Open-Source Texas Hold'em Engine.
Downloaded over a million times.
Get it here.

[Android] A new full QWERTY phone from HTC!

2010-07-05T01:15:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

HTC has made some darned great QWERTY phones in the past, for WinMo, and famously for Android with the T-Mobile G1.

The G1 was my first Android phone, and Android aside, the hard keyboard was definitely a thing of beauty. Key depth was shallow, yes, but once you got the hang of it, there was nothing better out there for text input. I have been waiting for a worthy successor to the G1, but there have been far too few Android QWERTY sliders on the market

Since the G1, the only with-hard-keyboard phone worth talking about has been the Moto Droid/Milestone. But this just in: HTC's back! With the HTC Vision.

Looks promising. Very promising.

As seen on engadget:

Do not do this at home.

2010-07-05T00:47:00.001-07:00

When in doubt, err on the side of caution. Do not park a trimmer in your shoes.

#wtf

Things to do at 3 AM.

2010-07-04T14:51:00.000-07:00

#1. Get whooped at Jeopardy by a freaking supercomputer.

Gizmodo put this up a few weeks ago:

A computer that can have a conversation with you in real, human language is a hallmark of science fiction films, but has always seemed ludicrously unrealistic. Here's the thing: IBM just built one.

It's called the IBM Watson.
And at 3 in the morning (or at any other time of your choosing), it will pwn you.

Go on. You know you want to.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/06/16/magazine/watson-trivia-game.html

#2. Or you could play Pac-man.
Your choice. No pressure.

In the "Unfortunate Names" section of the day.

2010-07-04T13:45:00.000-07:00

I was going to tell you what "Piles for Windows" does, but does it matter, really?

#wtf

If you build it...

2010-07-04T04:54:00.000-07:00

...they will come?

101 hits within 24 hours, for [blog].
Thanks, folks :)

Follow the white rabbit.

2010-07-04T03:13:00.000-07:00

From the "Special Projects" portfolio collection at James and Karla Murray's photography website. Brilliant.

There is a market for everything. Damn!

2010-07-04T02:31:00.000-07:00

Despairwear (at despair.com) makes funnywear.
But this t-shirt actually made me sad.

Strangely enough, even the model isn't that amused.
Available now for $15.95, for men and women of a certain type.

Found: Jeep Grand Cherokee Ad | Verra nice tagline.

2010-07-04T02:20:00.000-07:00

Simple, yet profound, in a fortune cookie sort of way.
Click through, and you're taken to the Jeep - 2011 Grand Cherokee site.
If you've got the bandwidth to spare, take a look. Very, very neat.

Sneak peek:

Slam dunk, we have a winner!

2010-07-03T15:25:00.000-07:00

I thought that Allie Brosh'd lost the gift.
Her latest post begs to differ.

This is Why I'll Never be an Adult.

funniness + some insane kinda truthiness = HyperboleAndAHalf.blogspot.com

I <3 hyperboleandahalf, all over again.

TIME's incredibly rude article on Indians in America.

2010-07-03T14:43:00.000-07:00

Coming close on the heels of Andrea Miller's Huffington Post article titled "How to Date an Indian" (an admittedly funny-in-parts, but thoroughly insensitive piece), is this gem of an article in Time magazine: "My Own Private India", by Joel Stein.

Excerpt:

"when I was a kid, a few engineers and doctors from Gujarat moved to Edison because of its proximity to AT&T, good schools and reasonably priced, if slightly deteriorating, post–WW II housing. For a while, we assumed all Indians were geniuses. Then, in the 1980s, the doctors and engineers brought over their merchant cousins, and we were no longer so sure about the genius thing. In the 1990s, the not-as-brilliant merchants brought their even-less-bright cousins, and we started to understand why India is so damn poor."

[Full article]

To round out his incredible performance, this is what Stein had to say on twitter:

Didn't meant to insult Indians with my column this week. Also stupidly assumed their emails would follow that Gandhi non-violence thing

Slow-clap. Bravo.

[via Joshua Topolsky]

Apple got its math wrong?

2010-07-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

What. Absolute. Rot.

As Engadget reports, Apple has just put out a press release regarding the reception issues on the iPhone4. Call me a cynic if you will, but the text (presented below) of this release looks like a whole lot of spin around one simple fact: Apple has been lying to its consumers, about the signal reception on their iPhones.

Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don't know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.

To fix this, we are adopting AT&T's recently recommended formula for calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength. The real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhone's bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area. We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see.

We will issue a free software update within a few weeks that incorporates the corrected formula. Since this mistake has been present since the original iPhone, this software update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.

"Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength". Wow.

GOOG vs AAPL.

2010-07-03T12:25:00.000-07:00

Over a month old, but hands down, still the best "in Google's court" article I've read, on Google, its place in the Mobile Wars, and its competition with Apple. Gizmodo, thank you for not being another Engadget :)

What started off as just a rumour in Dec09 has finally come of age.
GOOG vs AAPL. The battle royale of this decade.

Google Is Leapfrogging Apple

Google is done playing catch-up. Today they're setting the agenda: With Android Froyo, Google TV, mobile ads and streaming media, Google isn't just matching Apple—they're taking the lead.

(via Gizmodo)

How far we've come.

2010-07-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

Back in the day, in 1998, my first computer had a 166Mhz Intel Pentium Processor, with 32GB of RAM. Windows 95 OSR2 was in its heyday, and the future looked oh so promising for Moore's Law.

What follows are screenshots taken earlier today, of my phone.
Running Windows 95 OSR2.
How far we've come, indeed.

How and where.
Phone: Nexus One / Android 2.2
Install: Install APK. Copy system image to your SD card.
From: Spotted this on XDA (where else?) | crazyknallchopf's thread on XDA
Difficulty level: Novice.

Woot! Best CEO letter ever.

2010-07-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

Woot.com just got bought out by Amazon, for the low low price of 110mil USD.
And this is the letter the irreverent Matt Rutledge (CEO, Woot) wrote to his employees.

Date: Weds, 30 June 2010
From: Matt Rutledge (CEO – Woot.com)
To: All Woot Employees
Subject: Woot and Amazon

I know I say this every time I find a picture of an adorable kitten, but please set aside 20 minutes to carefully read this entire email. Today is a big day in Woot history. This morning, I woke up to find Jeff Bezos the Mighty had seized our magic sword. Using the Arthurian model as a corporate structure was something our CFO had warned against from the very beginning, but now that’s water under the bridge. What is important is that our company is on the verge of becoming a part of the Amazon.com dynasty. And our plans for Grail.Woot are on indefinite hold.
Over the next few days, you will probably read headlines that say “Matt Rutledge revealed to be monstrous pseudo-human creation of Jeff Bezos.” You might even see this photo making the rounds. Rest assured that these rumors have nothing to do with our final decision. We think now is the right time to join with Amazon because, quite simply, every company that becomes a subsidiary gets two free downloads until the end of July, and we very much need that new thing with Trent Reznor’s wife on our iPods.
Other than that, we plan to continue to run Woot the way we have always run Woot – with a wall of ideas and a dartboard. From a practical point of view, it will be as if we are simply adding one person to the organizational hierarchy, except that one person will just happen to be a billion-dollar company that could buy and sell each and every one of you like you were office furniture. Nevertheless, don’t worry that our culture will suddenly take a leap forward and become cutting-edge. We’re still going to be the same old bottom-feeders our customers and readers have come to know and love, and each and every one of their pre-written insult macros will still be just as valid in a week, two weeks, or even next year. For Woot, our vision remains the same: somehow earning a living on snarky commentary and junk.
We are excited about doing this for all sorts of reasons. One, our business model is so vague that there’s no way Amazon can possibly change what it is we’re truly doing: preparing the way for the rise of the Lava Men in 2012. Also, our deal means that Jason Toon will finally be released from that Mexican jail owned by Zappos honcho Tony Hsieh. No, don’t lie, Tony, we’ve seen the paperwork. And we need a powerful ally in case Steve Jobs finally breaks down and comes after us for all our Apple jokes over the years. Don’t think of it as a buyout; think of it as NATO!
I will go through each of the above points in more detail later, but first, let me get to the top 5 burning questions that I’m guessing many of you will have.
TOP 5 BURNING QUESTIONS:
Q: F1RST!!!!
A: Okay, that’s not a question, but it is a good place to mention that our forums will still be policed by a team of moderators, as before. And also, Woot’s previous and always-in-effect privacy policy will still be just as always-in-effect, so don’t worry, there are no plans to suddenly give up or merge your forum data.
Q: Is Snapster leaving?
A: Are you kidding? He’s out the door about ten seconds after that check clea- that is to say, Snapster will continue as Woot.com CEO, just like before, and the rest of our staff’s not going anywhere either. Woot and all our various sites will continue to be an independently operated company full of horrible, useless products and an untalented jerkface writing staff, same as it ever was.
Q: Will the Woot culture change?
A: Amazon is interested in us because they recognize the value of our people, our brand, and our unique style of deep-tissue, toxin-releasing massage. And they don’t want to start changing things now. Amazon’s hoping our nutty Woot steez continues to grow and develop (and perhaps even rubs off on them a little). They’re not looking to have their folks come in and run Woot unless we ask them to, which incidentally you can do by turning off the bathroom lights and saying the word “Kindle” three times; a helpful Amazon employee will appear in the mirror. That said, Amazon clearly knows what they’re doing in a lot of areas, so we’re geeked about the opportunities to tap into that knowledge and those resources, especially on the technology side. This is about making the Woot brand, culture, and business even stronger than it is today, and we expect that any changes will be for the better or we wouldn’t bother with this endless paperwork.
Q: Where can I get one of those vuvuzelas?
A: Are you even paying attention?
Several months ago, when we were all sitting on Jeff Bezos’s bumper drinking orange Mad Dog and trying not to be noticed, we heard a voice in the distance yelling “You kids better not scratch my Mercedes or I’m calling the cops!” We ran. It was later that night when Amazon came by the house and said they liked our style and also wanted to get that money we owed them for messing up the chrome. We like to think that our relationship with Amazon will continue at this level for many, many, many years to come.
But we here at Woot are still a thoughtful company, so, at the end of the day, I watched the sunset, and its golden-hued glory made me think about two questions:
1) Is there really a universal deity?
2) Does such a thing preclude free will or are we humans in control of our own destiny?
After spending a lot of time falling asleep at the library while facing the philosophy books, I determined that the concept of destiny is a construct that allows man a gentle release from facing the terror of his existence, and that a Hyundai full of twenties would pretty much offer the same benefits. And so, I ultimately said YES!
This is definitely an emotional day for me. The feelings I’m experiencing are similar to what I felt in college on graduation day: excitement about getting a check from my folks combined with nausea from a hellacious bender the night before. I remember fondly that time when an RA turned on the lights and yelled “WHO OWNS THESE PANTS?” Except this time, the pants are a company, and the RA is you, and the sixty five hours of community service is a deal that will ensure the Woot.com experience can continue to grow for years and years and years, like a black mold behind the Gold Box. Join us, because together, we can rule the galaxy as father and son. Also, there will be six muffins waiting in the company break room, courtesy of the nice folks at Amazon.com. Welcome to the family!
Matt Rutledge
CEO, Woot