Blog
Writing helps me think more clearly. This archive is longer posts; quick updates now live in notes.
Topics: AI, blogging, photography, programming, projects, Signboard
Stan Schroeder for Mashable: Apple has launched an initiative called “Blue Sky,” which encourages employees to devote some of their time to personal pet projects. I hope this is true. And I have absolutely no inside dirt at Apple anymore so this could have always been the case. But if not, this could help out with the potential innovation…
Michael Lopp: In my years at Apple, the Caffe Macs chatter about Forstall was that he was the only legit successor to Jobs because he displayed a variety of Jobsian characteristics. Comparing anyone to Steve Jobs is a tall order but Lopp does a good job in his most recent piece about innovation being a product of disruption…
Wayne Barz: I spend a lot of time with start up companies. To be specific, I spend more time with start up companies than I spend with my wife. That is actually true and explains why despite 22 years of marriage, I think I understand start up companies better than I understand women. With that in mind,…
PDN: Steinmetz photographs from a motorized paraglider which he describes as a “flying lawn chair”. Using the slowest and quietest powered aircraft in the world, he is not only able to take off and land without an airfield or government permission but is also likely to land in someone’s yard and be invited in for tea, becoming the…
Instagram recently released web profiles for all users. Of course, your Twitter stream has probably been full of people linking to theirs recently*. Oh, here is mine. You may have seen so many people mention their Instagram web profile that you're sick of it. But don't underestimate the importance of this feature to Instagram's growth. Think about how…
Rohan Anderson: So after breakfast we all ventured out to the front yard to say hello and goodbye to the birds. The girls loved the soft feathers and the sounds they made, but when it came time to kill them they knew what needed to happen. I was rather proud of them, they saw my dispatch, a second…
Watercooler 1.0 is a Twitter and App.net client byTroy Gaul. It looks interesting but I might wait for 1.1 based on the reviews before I pick up a copy. /via John Gruber.
Gizmodo did a side-by-side comparison of Google's new Voice Search app on iPhone and Siri. Google wins every single time. I've been using Google a bit on my iPhone 5 over the last 24 hours or so and it is blazingly fast. Siri, obviously, is far more integrated into iOS and can open applications, set appointments, etc. but…
This Monday marks the 140th and final episode of No Reservations to air on Travel Channel. On the one hand, I'm sad to see what is easily one of my most favorite shows go off the air, but on the other I realize that after doing something for so long it is good to shake the bag. Bourdain…
When I first read the news that Disney was acquiring Lucasfilm, ILM, and Skywalker Sound all in one deal I tweeted that I didn't understand how all of these companies – along with the rights to Star Wars, partial rights to Indiana Jones, Lucas Arts and much, much more – were only worth $4 billion. But I may…
This time-lapse video of Hurricane Sandy over New York City starts getting interesting around the 1:00 mark. It starts gettingdevastatingaround the 2:00 mark. Pay close attention to the water level. /via Laughing Squid.
Richard Dunlop-Waters of The Brief: As of yesterday, 25 percent of the nation’s cell sites were not operational, across 158 counties in 10 states. And around 25 percent are also still without broadband access. Outages will only get worse and Sandy travels across the country. In case that quote doesn't make it obvious, that is a lot of…
Shawn Blanc: The iPad mini is the first iOS device (iPod touch not included) that I haven’t pre-ordered or waited in line for. Partly because I’m prejudice against that non-Retina display, but also because I just don’t see the iPad mini being worth it for me. As an additional device to use for reading and Web browsing around…
Turns out Shawn noticed the very same things that I did.
Heilemann, who has been writing about Star Wars for years and is a self-proclaimed Star Wars historian, jotted down his thoughts on the deal and he agrees with me: On second glance, it's a staggering deal. Remember, this isn't 'simply' Star Wars; it's all of Lucasfilm, including the Indiana Jones franchise, and films like Willow and of course…
John Gruber on the iPad mini: It’s really light and easy to hold one-handed. The hardware design — chamfered edges, less tapered back, metal rather than plastic buttons — strikes me as better, more elegant, than that of the full-size iPad 3/4. But it’s disappointing to go non-retina after using the retina iPad for the last seven months….
Though iOS 6.0.1 is a .x.x release it actually has a fair number of bug fixes. Fixes a bug that prevents iPhone 5 from installing software updates wirelessly over the air Fixes a bug where horizontal lines may be displayed across the keyboard Fixes an issue that could cause camera flash to not go off Improves reliability of…
My favorite iPhone application for shooting black and white photos, Hueless by Curious Satellite, just got a massive update. Even though the update would be worth paying for again it is available for free to current customers in the App Store. I'm looking forward to seeing what Curious Satellite does with the upcoming Huemore.
From space Sandy didn't look like much more than a few clouds. But, she was much more than that. /via Jason Kottke who still does not have power 4 days after Sandy made landfall.
WordPress.com recently published a new page dedicated to showcasing how bands and musicians can use the service to its full potential. I've always been surprised that WordPress.com didn'taggressivelygo after moretargetedverticals (besides VIP publishers) like music, movies, and so on. MySpace, Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter all make boatloads of cash off of these verticals and WordPress.com should be too….
The price? Four Instagrams. Dean J. Robinson: Lots of people I follow on twitter [sic] (pretty much all of them actually) are Star Wars fans of some description – and the general consensus is that while they are quite surprised by the announcement they don’t necessarily have negative feeling about it. In fact many seem enthused by the…
Instagram: "It can be cumbersome sharing a photo to Twitter and @mentioning someone whose Twitter username is different from their Instagram username. Today, we’ve rolled out a change that will make sharing to Twitter more seamless." Good feature, I suppose. It is an odd problem.
Speaking of Instagram… Instabar is a free app to view your Instagram feed on your Mac.
Mig Reyes writes about the redesign of the 37signal's blog: More often than not, company blogs are littered with pitches for their product. I don’t want to throw new job opportunities at you right away. I don’t want to ask you to subscribe to our RSS feed when you haven’t even read anything yet. These rules informed the layout: content…