July 2007
149 posts
Annals of Technology: Damn Spam: Reporting &... →
The original Spam (a contraction of “spiced ham”) is made by the Hormel Corporation, which sent enough cans of it overseas during the Second World War to feed every G.I. In a celebrated 1970 Monty Python skit, a diner tries repeatedly and in vain to order a dish, any dish, without Spam. She is drowned out by a group of Vikings in horned helmets, who chant the word dozens of times—“Spam! Spam!...
Dana Milbank - More Bulldog Than Poodle -... →
The Briton was discreet enough to give nuance and subtlety to his policy differences with Bush. While Bush has placed blame for the violence in Iraq solely on al-Qaeda — he mentioned the terrorist group 95 times in a single speech about Iraq last week — Brown tried to put it in context: “In Iraq, you’re dealing with Sunni-Shia violence, you’re dealing with the...
NetworkLocation 2.0 goes official - The Unofficial... →
Gonzales's Truthfulness Long Disputed -... →
Whether Gonzales has deliberately told untruths or is merely hampered by his memory has been the subject of intense debate among members of Congress, legal scholars and others who have watched him over the years. Some regard his verbal difficulties as a strategic ploy on behalf of a president to whom he owes his career; others see a public official overwhelmed by the magnitude of his...
David Ignatius - It's How We Pull Back -... →
America has never won a war that lasted more than four years, … with the exception of the Revolutionary War, when we were the insurgents and it was Britain that tired of the faraway struggle. Future military planners will have to recognize that American democracy, in which political mandates must be renewed in two-year increments, makes us uniquely unsuited to fight protracted...
British Report Criticizes U.S. Treatment of Terror... →
On the eve of the first visit to Washington by the new British prime minister, Gordon Brown, a report by a high-level parliamentary committee sharply criticized the Bush administration’s practice of seizing terrorism suspects for interrogation in other countries, and found that in one case the Americans showed a lack of concern for the position of the British, their closest ally. The practice,...
Certain Degrees Now Cost More at Public... →
Should an undergraduate studying business pay more than one studying psychology? Should a journalism degree cost more than one in literature? More and more public universities, confronting rising costs and lagging state support, have decided that the answers may be yes and yes. … Such moves are being driven by the high salaries commanded by professors in certain fields, the expense of...
Bancrofts Said Divided as Journal Deadline Looms -... →
The boards of both Dow Jones and the News Corporation are bracing for the possibility that they will not have a definitive answer tomorrow, people close to both boards say, and are trying to determine their next moves, which for Dow Jones could include a general shareholder vote.
Massachusetts: Settlement in Big Dig Case - New... →
A concrete supplier for the Big Dig in Boston has agreed to pay $50 million to end civil and criminal investigations into whether it supplied inferior concrete used in the massive highway project, the authorities said. The company, Aggregate Industries NE Inc., also agreed to plead guilty to a criminal charge of conspiracy to defraud the federal government.
Trusted Opinion Adds Netflix Queuing →
Social networking startup Trusted Opinion has added Netflix Queuing to their recommendations focused offering. The feature allows Trusted Opinion members to read a review of a movie then instantly add it to their Netflix queue without leaving the page.
Profile Builder →
a consistent profile across the web but a different look to their page in every browser… :)
YouTube - Nike - A little less Hurt →
There are only 12 kinds of ads. Resist them all! -... →
After much research, Gunn determined that nearly all good ads fall into one of 12 categories—or “master formats,” in his words. At last year’s Clio Awards, I saw Gunn give a lecture about these formats (using ads mostly from the ’70s and ’80s as examples), and I was fascinated by his theory. I soon found myself categorizing every ad I saw on TV. It was a revelation:...
Dear Podtech: I’m Not Your VP Marketing →
I write stuff how I see it, which is not always what the companies involved want to see. Never confuse TechCrunch with your PR or marketing team. And if your messaging isn’t clear, don’t shoot the messenger. Clean up your own mess first.
SiliconValley.com - IBM spells out work rules for... →
IBM, whose 20th century employees were parodied as corporate cogs in matching navy suits, doesn’t have an avatar dress code. But guidelines suggest being “especially sensitive to the appropriateness of your avatar or persona’s appearance when you are meeting with IBM clients or conducting IBM business.”
Cleveland acquire well-traveled Lofton in trade... →
Kenny Lofton returned for his third stint with Cleveland — and another playoff run — on Friday as the Texas Rangers traded the 40-year-old outfielder to the Indians for minor league catcher Max Ramirez.
Featured Firefox Extension: Page Saver captures... →
Save the visible portion of a web page or the entire page to an image in one click with Page Saver, which is great for reporting web site bugs or just snapping a web page pic for posterity.
The 10 Commandments of Mac Optimization... →
All Macs are ready out of the box, but what happens after they’re removed from the cardboard cocoon? Lethargy. Torpor. They get slower, too. Like all computers, you’ll find gunk is gradually—and quite literally—accumulating inside your Mac. It needn’t be that way. For the sake of your Mac’s soul, I present the 15… oy… 10 commandments of keeping your...
Judge Blocks City's Ordinances Against Illegal... →
A federal judge issued a permanent injunction yesterday against restrictive anti-illegal-immigration ordinances in Hazleton, Pa., a city described by its mayor as “the toughest place on illegal immigrants in America.” In a strongly worded opinion handed down at the U.S. District Court in Scranton, Pa., Judge James M. Munley ruled that federal law “prohibits Hazleton from...
YOUTUBE, TAKE TWO Few GOP Candidates Commit to... →
Romney said he’s not a fan of the CNN/YouTube format. Referring to the video of a snowman asking the Democratic candidates about global warming, Romney quipped, “I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman.”
Democrats shift approach on abortion - Los Angeles... →
Sensing an opportunity to impress religious voters — and tip elections — Democrats in Congress and on the campaign trail have begun to adopt some of the language and policy goals of the antiabortion movement. For years, the liberal response to abortion has been to promote more accessible and affordable birth control as well as detailed sex education in public schools. That’s still the...
Deep packet inspection meets 'Net neutrality,... →
Procera, for instance, claims to detect more than 300 application protocol signatures, including BitTorrent, HTTP, FTP, SMTP, and SSH. Ellacoya reps tell Ars that their boxes can look deeper than the protocol, identifying particular HTTP traffic generated by YouTube and Flickr, for instance. Of course, the identification of these protocols can be used to generate traffic shaping rules or...
The Municipal Art Society of New York →
Ridding our streets of these nasty newsracks is a dirty job, but somebody has to do it, and the Municipal Art Society needs your help. Submit your best photographs of the dirtiest, most unkempt, most repulsive newsracks in New York City to our OUTRAGE! contest and help persuade elected officials that filthy newsracks are rotting the Big Apple and that they must commit to regulating them
F.B.I. Chief Challenges Gonzales’s Testimony - New... →
There have been repeated instances in which lawmakers have questioned Mr. Gonzales’s competence and his recollection of events. But today’s developments seemed to mark a shift toward suggestions that he actually committed crimes in testifying before Congress.
RFID at the beach in Jersey →
Ocean City, NJ plans to deliver a variety of public services and Internet access using radio-frequency identification chips and Wi-Fi wireless technology. The $3 million project is expected to be finished by next summer.
SmartMoney Portfolio →
That? Oh, that’s the collapsing infrastructure... →
LiveJournal and Second Life went dead, AdBrite dimmed, Craigslist became unlisted, the 1Up gaming network went down, Facebook turned blank, Six Apart couldn’t get it together, and Yelp was rendered silent. Unable to work, Web 2.0 programmers slathered themselves with sunscreen and stumbled into the unfamiliar daylight. Families were reunited as thousands of idled bloggers pushed away from the...
LA Observed: Goldstein's killed column →
Here’s how it might work. The Times would start a free-music series, offering music (either on a CD or via downloads) from respected artists willing to think outside the box — meaning anyone from Elvis Costello, Beck and Ryan Addams to Ry Cooder, Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams. Instead of paying the artist a fat fee, we’d recruit advertising sponsors who’d be delighted to be associated with...
Hide the Button: Steve Jobs Has His Finger on It -... →
Buttons have long been a hot-button issue for Apple’s CEO.
data visualization & visual design - information... →
information aesthetics - form follows data - data visualization & visual communication
Optimize and scale web widget performance →
In this post I’ll provide tips and tricks for widget developers interested in serving fast, reliable widget content to as many people as possible. I’ll highlight some of the best practices for serving web content and their specific application towards widget development. Your milage may vary. Please consult your operations professional before taking any magic pills.
Reason Magazine - A Wrong Turn on Saving Fuel →
Economists almost unanimously agree that if you want to cut greenhouse gas emissions by curbing gasoline consumption, the sensible way to do it is not by dictating the design of cars but by influencing the behavior of drivers. If you want less of something, such as pollution from cars, the surest way is to charge people more for it. A carbon tax or a higher gasoline tax would encourage every...
Dispatches From the Hyperlocal Future →
“But Mr. Feldspar, suppose this international criminal doesn’t carry a mobile?” demanded representative Chuck Kingston (R-Alabama). It would have been rude to point out the obvious. So I didn’t. But look, just between you and me: Anybody without a mobile is not any kind of danger to society. He’s a pitiful derelict. Because he’s got no phone. Duh.
L.A.-area Web firms getting more funding - Los... →
Information services companies in Greater L.A. reaped $167 million in venture capital investment during the second quarter, according to a report scheduled for release today by Ernst & Young and Dow Jones VentureOne. The region, which includes Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, trailed only the high-tech hub to the north, which pulled in $262 million. Los Angeles has emerged as a...
area/code →
Big Games are large-scale, real-world games. A Big Game might involve transforming an entire city into the world’s largest board game, or hundreds of players scouring the streets looking for invisible treasure, etc
Yuan.CC Flickr Experiments →
The unedited voice of a person →
Do comments make it a blog? Do the lack of comments make it not a blog? Well actually, my opinion is different from many, but it still is my opinion that it does not follow that a blog must have comments, in fact, to the extent that comments interfere with the natural expression of the unedited voice of an individual, comments may act to make something not a blog. … Comments wouldn’t...
C.E.O. Libraries Reveal Keys to Success - New York... →
C.E.O. libraries typically lack a Dewey Decimal or even org-chart order. “My books are organized by topic and interest but in a manner that would make a librarian weep,” Mr. Moritz said. Is there something “Da Vinci Code”-like about mixing books up in an otherwise ordered life?
Airlines and Airplanes - Flying - Children and... →
“It really isn’t the kids’ faults, though,” she said. “It’s the parents from hell who don’t have control of their kids.” … Maritz Research recently surveyed 1,000 people online who had flown in the last six months for feedback on how airlines could improve customer service. Nearly three-quarters suggested that airlines segregate families in their own section, away from other passengers.
Plush Pets Facing Identity Theft - Bits -... →
Someone is taking the Web from the Webkinz. … But some merchants say they are noticing an alarming phenomenon. People are stealing the tags that carry the secret codes and leaving the toys forever marooned in the real world. That’s right. Shoppers are snatching tiny squares of paper for their digits and, in effect, chucking the actual toy for the animated, digital one. It may well be the...
When Mobile Phones Aren’t Truly Mobile - New York... →
The younger generation — Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and the namesake child AT&T — would make their hallowed matriarch proud. They do everything they can to keep power firmly in their own hands. It is entirely at the carriers’ discretion to permit, or disable, the features that a factory loads into the newest phones. They also decide which software can be installed and how it may...
U.S. Will Allow Most Types of Lighters on Planes -... →
Federal aviation authorities have decided to stop enforcing a two-year-old rule against taking cigarette lighters on airplanes, concluding that it was a waste of time to search for them before passengers boarded.
House Retains Public Broadcasting Funds --... →
The House Wednesday evening overwhelmingly rejected President Bush’s plan to eliminate the $420 million federal subsidy for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The 357-72 vote demonstrated the enduring political strength of public broadcasting. The outcome was never in doubt, unlike a fight two years ago when Republicans tried but failed to slash public broadcasting subsidies.
MediaShift . Digging Deeper::Your Guide to Widgets... →
With the stories of dynamic growth for widget makers such as iLike, RockYou and Slide , a kind of widget mania seems to be gripping Silicon Valley and online marketers. But the problem is that many widget hawkers are simply tallying the number of users wi
RED HERRING | Working with Widgets →
Industry giants and widget-makers scramble to find pot of gold at end of widget rainbow.
The Duck of Minerva: The Politics of the DH →
Zorn and Gill report evidence that baseball fans are far more likely to embrace the designated hitter (DH) if they are Democrats … As Zorn and Gill explain, the DH is arguably the greatest rules change in the history of baseball — and Democrats are more accepting of “socio-political” changes.
A List Apart: Articles: Never Use a Warning When... →
Because we form habits, we’ll never be able to guarantee that we won’t have an “oops!” moment. Instead, designers must accept that it will happen and design for it. Whenever we have the opportunity to throw away work, the computer must allow us to undo our actions. This leads to one of the most basic and important mantras of interface design: Never use a warning when you mean undo.
From Some Cabbies, a New In-Taxi Video System Gets... →
Ms. Acey is one of the many taxi drivers frustrated by a high-tech video-and-fare system that must be installed by the end of this year in all of the city’s 13,000 yellow cabs. Besides watching TV, customers can follow the taxi’s route on a map on the screen. One drivers’ group, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, is threatening to organize a strike, saying the new equipment provides no real...
New York Ban on Texting While Driving Proposed -... →
it’s really hard to legislate against stupidity —- This week, Sen. Carl Marcellino, a Republican from Syosset, announced a bill that would make it illegal to type, send or read text messages while behind the wheel. The ban would be an amendment to the current state law that prohibits talking on hand-held cell phones while driving, a practice that according to some studies can make a...
Economists puzzled by irrational eBay buyers -... →
In the 12 years since eBay’s launch, the online auction house has established itself as a one-stop shop for all things rare, kitschy, and collectible. But recently, a small group of economists have mined the site for a different prize: clues on how people spend their money. Behind the millions of online auctions lies a virtual mini-economy flush with raw data. Harvesting this information has...