June 2010
30 posts
Nudge →
I always dig online music toys, and this one is among the finest (and funnest) I’ve seen.
Use pattern-based sequencing to trigger various electronic instruments and drums to create and share your own compositions…
Or just noodle around and have a blast.
[via VSL]
How The World Spends Its Time Online →
Great infographics reveal insights that raw data simply can’t match. An excellent example of this is Visual Economics’ representation of Nielsen’s global Internet usage data.
I must be on the extreme end of the usage spectrum — I probably spend 120+ hours online each month, considering work and home!
[via Digg]
The 1888 Crystal Palace recordings →
It boggles the mind to think that we have recorded voices from so long ago, and from such a famous exhibition. Evidently it’s also the first field recording ever.
This is a pinnacle of Victorian ingenuity, and rather eerie sounding to me.
[via MeFi]
ALT/1977: WE ARE NOT TIME TRAVELERS →
Alex Varanese imagined what it would be like if he could go back in time.
To strike it rich, he’d take 2010 consumer tech and make it blend in with the era of bell bottoms and AM Gold.
The result, Alt/1977, is brilliant.
[via Josh Spear]
Google Voice for everyone →
The service I’ve been raving about for years is finally available to anyone in the United States, free!
Have one phone number ring your home, cell, and work numbers. Feel free to ditch that lousy phone company and try someone else without changing numbers or going through the hassle of porting your old number. Get free and ultra-cheap long distance calling. Enjoy call screening,...
The NYPL Menu Collection →
It’s been fascinating looking at the menus collected at the New York Public Library.
The range of dishes and astonishing prices are a lot of fun to browse through, but I’m very glad I’m a vegetarian in this era.
Also check out this menu from The Boston Bakery and Lunch Room, Denver 1892.
[both links via Kottke]
PolitiFact | Fact-checking the oil spill →
Thank goodness for journalism and the Internet … here’s the truth about a lot of the claims being made about the tragic oil spill in the Gulf, courtesy of PolitiFact.com.
[via BoingBoing]
Hidden posters of Notting Hill Gate Tube station →
A sealed corridor in the London Underground has been opened, and a treasure trove of 50’s posters uncovered.
The quality of these posters is amazing for being so old, and I love the kitchy style from the Golden Age of advertising.
[via Waxy Links]
A year of digital TV: who won the transition? →
Remember analog TV? That’s so 2009. Believe it or not, it’s been a year since the cutoff, and the predictions of massive problems seem to have been false.
Ars Technica asks a great question though — who did it the switch benefit, in the end? It might not surprise you to find that it wasn’t necessary the television consumer.
$11.7m judgment against Spamhaus slashed to... →
The Register reports on a drastically reduced judgment for British anti-Spam heroes Spamhaus, who were sued in the U.S. by e360.
While it may seem like a victory (and in a big way it is), the fact that this case wasn’t dismissed is extremely troublesome to me.
e360 has sent out an estimated 6.6 billion unsolicited email messages, and Spamhaus allows us to prevent them from clogging our...
Lifehacker Pack for Mac: Our List of the Best Free... →
I can personally vouch for most of these recommended free Mac applications, each of which does as good a job (or better) than paid alternatives.
Of these awesome apps, here are the ones that get the most regular use in the tomgrom macverse: Quicksilver, Textwrangler, Adium, Cyberduck, Fluid, The Unarchiver, Growl, Dropbox, VLC, iTunes, Picasa, and Handbrake.
Kayak Explore →
I love this new flight price explorer from Kayak — enter in your home airport, how much you’re willing to pay, and when you want to go, and it’ll show you the best prices to destinations around the world.
It’s definitely got me thinking about my next excursion…
Copyright: The Elephant in the Middle of the Glee... →
Christina Mulligan talks about the fact that in the real world, the way kids and adults freely use music on Glee would get them sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The mashups, reversioning, copying, and distribution of popular music that is so essential to the hit show is currently completely illegal — and something is very wrong about this.
[via The Slatest]
The Wrong Stuff : On Air and On Error: This... →
Slate has a wonderful interview with my favorite storyteller, Ira Glass. Kathryn Schultz talks with him about being wrong, and how the best stories are often the ones where wrongness is central.
Speaking of wrong, I can’t believe how long it took me to give This American Life a shot. It’s now one of the highlights of my week.
Does the Internet Make You Smarter? →
Clay Shirky writes with his usual clarity and humor about how the myriad inane corners of the Internet are, in fact, not indicators that our civilization is devolving into oafdom.
While I strongly believe the evidence that multitasking is not best for us, I do not agree with the New York Times story that suggests it’s technology’s fault.
It’s our fault if we use technology in a...
Criticism of new net neutrality plan "simply... →
Ars Technica reports on FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn’s response to industry criticism of the agency’s plan to ensure net neutrality.
From the article:
How, Clyburn noted, can these companies “praise the regulatory regime governing wireless, and on the other hand sound the alarm of ‘uncertainty’ for a nearly identical framework proposed for broadband ...
What your email address says about your computer... →
The Oatmeal brings us some perceptive observations about our email addresses…
I rarely LOL, and dislike the way the acronym is used (as opposed to ROTFL, which is clear hyperbole and therefore just fine).
On this one, however I actually did LOL.
[via Digg]
The Wikipedia Game →
Find the shortest route between two completely unrelated Wikipedia entries in this extremely entertaining online game…
Can you believe it’s only 4 clicks from Metallica to the Federal Reserve System?
[via MeFi]
Caring for Your Online Introvert →
Joanne McNeil talks about introversion on the Internet in this perceptive article.
One of the things I like best about going online is that it can be exactly what you want it to be — you can be hyper-social which seems to get all of the press these days, but you can also tone it down and explore, create, and contribute without being “out there” all of the time.
It might...
