jamtoday.org

Grim Fandango meets Kickstarter. Could it ever get better than...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:31:54 -0500

Grim Fandango meets Kickstarter. Could it ever get better than this?

"Emails, tweets, notifications, text and instant messages, Facebook status updates, Path moments —..."

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 03:30:07 -0500

“Emails, tweets, notifications, text and instant messages, Facebook status updates, Path moments — all these are new tools of communication when taken together are notification hell. These notifications prey on human desire for a dopamine fix. And just as we are over-caffenited, I think the 21st century is quickly making us over-notified.”

- Over Notified | Om Malik

(via tedr)

dbreunig: SolarFocus makes this solar powered case, which will...

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:35:51 -0500

dbreunig:

SolarFocus makes this solar powered case, which will keep your Kindle charged for three months.

If this didn’t have that wart on the top with a light attached, I’d buy this now.

This cover clarifies a few insights regarding solar power.

The greatest hindrance to solar power adoption is probably power consumption, not solar power output. SolarFocus isn’t making a breakthrough here; they’re just pairing solar panels with a device that barely sips from it’s battery. Perhaps solar will receive more usage not because of it’s own improvements, but because of improvements with digital power consumption.

I’d like to see e-ink and solar be paired more often. Together they inspire a design style that is wholly different from the current gadget aesthetic: a style that embraces light form, simple utility, and persistent function. This might allow designers to digitize tools which have never been within the economic reach of consumer technology. Think wall calendars, thermostats, traffic signs, menus outside of restaurants, etc.

Also, it’s a testament to the low price of the Kindle that at $80 this cover costs more than Amazon’s cheapest device.

new-aesthetic: “When you don the Ekso, you are essentially...

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:08:18 -0500

new-aesthetic:

“When you don the Ekso, you are essentially strapping yourself to a sophisticated robot. It supports its own 20-kilogram weight via the skeletal legs and footrests and takes care of the calculations needed for each step. Your job is to balance your upper body, shifting your weight as you plant a walking stick on the right; your physical therapist will then use a remote control to signal the left leg to step forward. In a later model the walking sticks will have motion sensors that communicate with the legs, allowing the user to take complete control.”

Good-bye, Wheelchair, Hello Exoskeleton - IEEE Spectrum, via mildlydiverting

"This is data’s great challenge. Becoming something more than just an unread email. Becoming useful..."

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:21:42 -0500

“This is data’s great challenge. Becoming something more than just an unread email. Becoming useful at the point it’s most needed.”

- Your Health Data Might Be Just Another Unread Inbox (via davidhoffman)

Shabazz Palaces is like the Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band...

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 01:46:00 -0500

Shabazz Palaces is like the Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band of hip-hop.

I guess that makes Butterfly the Don Van Vliet?

Wearable Computing And The Next Hub

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:34:37 -0500

Wearable Computing And The Next Hub:

parislemon:

Nick Bilton reports on Google’s and Apple’s efforts to push the envelope on “wearable” computing (think: iPod bracelets or Android watches).

Currently, most people still have a desktop or a laptop as their main hub for their computing lives. Mine is still my two year old iMac.

In five years, the smartphone will be the main hub for most people. Desktops and laptops will still exist, of course. But most computing will be relayed through the phones we have on or near us at all times that are always connected to the web.

Bustr Bensn: The interface to our subconscious

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 22:49:06 -0500

Bustr Bensn: The interface to our subconscious:

bustr:

You know how sometimes you’re hungry and you start wondering to yourself, “What am I in the mood for?” This process of one part of the brain asking another part of the brain a question is something we all do a lot, and it struck me the other day that there was actually something really interesting…

parislemon: Surely there’s an Apple ad in here somewhere. (via...

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:13:57 -0500

parislemon:

Surely there’s an Apple ad in here somewhere.

(via Webomatica via Mail Online)

jerrybrito: On the podcast this week I talk to danah boyd,...

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:09:38 -0500

jerrybrito:

On the podcast this week I talk to danah boyd, Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research, and Assistant Professor in Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University, discusses her recent article in First Monday with Ester Hargitai, Jason Schultz, and John Palfrey. It’s entitled, “Why parents help their children lie to Facebook about age: Unintended consequences of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.” boyd discusses COPPA as it applies to Facebook, namely that children under 13 are not allowed to use the site. She then talks about her research, which looks at whether this restriction is helping parents protect their children’s privacy, and whether it is meeting COPPA’s ultimate goals. boyd discusses her findings, which indicate parents are allowing their children to lie about their age to obtain a Facebook account. According to boyd, parents want guidelines when it comes to data protection, but they do not necessarily want strict requirements. boyd feels that COPPA is not achieving its goal of privacy protection and should be evaluated with more transparency so parents and the public in general know how to protect their privacy.

"The whole idea of using the physical store to drive online traffic is pretty interesting,” said..."

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:31:14 -0500

““The whole idea of using the physical store to drive online traffic is pretty interesting,” said Keith Anderson, senior analyst at RetailNet Group, which first reported on the stores.”

- Walmart begins ‘pop-up’ store experiment - FT.com (via rafer)

"I predict that health monitoring will be the next substantial phase of cyborg evolution."

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 23:25:18 -0500

“I predict that health monitoring will be the next substantial phase of cyborg evolution.”

- Scott Adams Blog: Our Cyborg Evolution 11/08/2011

I agree. Sounds creepy taken out of context, but not in the context of the entire post. Also, the blog of Scott Adams should not be missed.

(via davidhoffman)

"The New Luddites are back, and they’re packing heat. The mighty Economist writes of “the disturbing..."

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 20:49:03 -0500

“The New Luddites are back, and they’re packing heat. The mighty Economist writes of “the disturbing thought” that “America’s current employment woes stem from a precipitous and permanent change caused by not too little technological progress, but too much … A tipping point seems to have been reached, at which AI-based automation threatens to supplant the brain-power of large swathes of middle-income employees.” The New York Times chimes in: “technology is quickly taking over service jobs, following the waves of automation of farm and factory work.” At which those of us lucky enough to be software engineers burst into derisive laughter, of course. We’ve heard all this before, more than a decade ago, when ‘outsourcing to India’ rather than ‘automation’ was the threat that would destroy our jobs. Obviously this is more of the same kind of nonsense. Right?”

- What If This Is No Accident? What If This Is The Future? | TechCrunch (via new-aesthetic)

Squared Away

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 01:43:27 -0500

parislemon:

While I was still at TechCrunch, I would often get asked what startup excited me the most. That’s a massive question. There are a ton. But for the past year and a half, one was always at the forefront of my mind: Square.

Now that I’m a VC, the question is flipped: terms aside, what company would I love to invest in? The answer is the same. Square.

Of course, they don’t exactly need my money — they’re now at the stage where behemoths like Visa are doing strategic investments. And they’re closing $100 million rounds at billion-plus valuations. But I think back to May 2009, when Mike and I were working together to break the news about Jack Dorsey’s new project, then codenamed Squirrel. If only we had the CrunchFund back then…

Of course, at that point, the idea was still more of an intriguing, but somewhat crazy-sounding dream. It wasn’t until Square launched seven months later that it became apparent that this could really be a massive disruptor. And they haven’t disappointed.

Read More

cwnl: “When my husband died, because he was so famous &...

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 03:23:52 -0400

cwnl:

“When my husband died, because he was so famous & known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me — it still sometimes happens — & ask me if Carl changed at the end & converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage & never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again. I don’t ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief & precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting.

Every single moment that we were alive & we were together was miraculous — not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance… That pure chance could be so generous & so kind… That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space & the immensity of time… That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me & it’s much more meaningful…

The way he treated me & the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other & our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday. I don’t think I’ll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful.“

- Ann Druyan, talking about her husband, Carl Sagan

Engagement x Value

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:34:00 -0400

Do you have a formula for figuring out how interested you are in a project?

Perhaps you do but haven’t thought about what exactly it is.

Of course, it’s never quite as simple as an exact formula, but I think this gets about as close as possible for me:

Engagement x Value

I like working on things that engage lots of people. The more the better. And judging from the recruiting notes I get from big companies these days that put the most emphasis on the number of people you’ll reach, I’m not the only developer or designer that cares about the ability to work on things that affect many people more than salary or perks.

But there’s also value in this formula. Except for the odd fun weekend project, I don’t see myself ever again working on social apps that are meant purely to spread and gain users, because there’s no value.

Without engagement or value, the result is zero. They’re both necessary. And as the amount of engagement and value increases for a project, the level of interest from the top developers and designers quickly multiplies. Literally, in this case.

"A general rule in creating stories is that characters don’t want to change. They must be forced to..."

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:54:19 -0400

““A general rule in creating stories is that characters don’t want to change. They must be forced to change. Nobody wakes up and starts chasing a bad guy or dismantling a bomb unless something forces them to do so. The bad guys just robbed your house and are running off with your last roll of toilet paper, or the bomb is strapped to your favorite cat. It’s that sort of thing that gets a character moving.””

- – Donald Miller’s “A Million Miles in A Thousand Years” Change only happens when forced « Just Breathe (via rahmin)

Supressing the 'White Bears' (APA's Monitor on Psychology)

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 20:39:39 -0400

Supressing the 'White Bears' (APA's Monitor on Psychology):

psychotherapy:

Meditation, mindfulness and other tools can help us avoid unwanted thoughts, says social psychologist Daniel Wegner.

“Try to pose for yourself this task: not to think of a polar bear, and you will see that the cursed thing will come to mind every minute.”

That observation comes from “Winter Notes on Summer Impressions,” Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 1863 account of his travels in Western Europe. But the research that proved it true came more than a century later, from the lab of social psychologist Daniel Wegner, PhD.

Wegner, a psychology professor at Harvard University and the founding father of thought suppression research, first came across the quote more than 25 years ago.

“I was really taken with it,” he said in a talk at APA’s 2011 Annual Convention. “It seemed so true.”

He decided to test the quote’s assumption with a simple experiment: He asked participants to verbalize their stream of consciousness for five minutes, while trying not to think of a white bear. If a white bear came to mind, he told them, they should ring a bell. Despite the explicit instructions to avoid it, the participants thought of a white bear more than once per minute, on average.

Next, Wegner asked the participants to do the same exercise, but this time to try to think of a white bear. At that point, the participants thought of a white bear even more often than a different group of participants, who had been told from the beginning to think of white bears. The results suggested that suppressing the thought for the first five minutes caused it to “rebound” even more prominently into the participants’ minds later.

The research, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 1987 (Vol. 53, No. 1) initiated an entirely new field of study on thought suppression. Over the next decade, Wegner developed his theory of “ironic processes” to explain why it’s so hard to tamp down unwanted thoughts. He found evidence that when we try not to think of something, one part of our mind does avoid the forbidden thought, but another part “checks in” every so often to make sure the thought is not coming up—therefore, ironically, bringing it to mind.

After more than a quarter century of this research, Wegner said, he’s realized that when he explains his work, listeners usually follow up with one question: “OK, so what do I do about this? Is there any way to avoid unwanted thoughts?”

The topic rings true for many people, perhaps especially because the thoughts that we often want to avoid are not as innocuous as white bears—they might involve painful memories or other difficult distractions.

In his APA presentation, Wegner described several strategies that he and others have come across to help “suppress the white bears.” They include:

Pick an absorbing distractor and focus on that instead: In one study, Wegner and his colleagues asked participants to think of a red Volkswagen instead of a white bear. They found that giving the participants something else to focus on helped them to avoid the unwanted white bears.

Try to postpone the thought: Some research has found that asking people to simply set aside half an hour a day for worrying allows them to avoid worrying during the rest of their day, Wegner said. So next time an unwanted thought comes up, he suggested, just try to tell yourself, “I’m not going to think about that until next Wednesday.”

Cut back on multitasking: One study found that people under increased mental load show an increase in the availability of thoughts of death—one of the great unwanted thoughts for most people.

Exposure: “This is painful,” Wegner said, “but it can work.” If you allow yourself to think in controlled ways of the thing that you want to avoid, then it will be less likely to pop back into your thoughts at other times.

Meditation and mindfulness:

There’s evidence that these practices, which strengthen mental control, may help people avoid unwanted thoughts, Wegner said.

BRYCE DOT VC: You're Doing It All Wrong

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 01:02:21 -0400

BRYCE DOT VC: You're Doing It All Wrong:

brycedotvc:

Close your eyes.

Imagine, if you will, a startup that meets the following criteria:

Their recruiting process is fundamentally flawed

Their operations are a mess

They make engineers pretty much do everything, which leaves almost no time for coding

They don’t (care) about charity or…

merlin: Boom.

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 04:30:28 -0400

merlin:

Boom.