August 2010
31 posts
Has CMJ Become the Monster That Ate College Radio? →
Paul hooks us into a fascinating article at the East Bay Press about slimy tactics on the part of CMJ, college radio’s most influential publication.
It seems that if a station plays music that’s too “indie”, CMJ fills in the slot with one of their own releases. Nice, huh?
I remember CMJ very well from my college radio days back in the late 80’s, and know how...
Why Technology Is So Addictive, and How You Can... →
Lifehacker talks about the addictive psychology behind a lot of our technology, and offers some strategies for managing it.
Just turning off an audible “ding” when new mail comes in does miracles for me…
Who writes pro-cable Internet legislation? Cable... →
That stuff like this happens isn’t a surprise to us by now.
The blatant admission that a law was written by an industry that it directly benefits, however, is stunning in its hubris.
All over the country, communities are attempting to band together to provide themselves with competitive services, and all over the country they’re getting shut down by monopoly cable and telephone...
RIP Breaking News Online App: You Were the Best... →
This was a fantastic service that I loved to point out as an example of what the Internet could do that big media couldn’t. Sigh.
From ReadWriteWeb:
BNO changed the media by proving that a tiny distributed team of talented young journalists could beat the world at breaking news around the clock. Then the world’s media began giving BNO money for a piece of the action. Now the media...
Game: Solipskier →
VSL finds another superb casual web game in Solipskier, a kind of Line Rider hybrid where you draw the snow for your skier, doing tricks and catching air.
[via VSL]
Call phones from Gmail →
Very nice indeed … call any phone in the U.S. and Canada for free, right within Gmail (it’s free “at least until the end of the year”, and you can call other countries for extremely low rates).
Just log into your Gmail account, and look for the “Call Phones” option in the Chat area. Keep in mind that you might need to install their voice chat plugin, and that...
When Future Historian Comes To 1910 →
When I see a truly brilliant idea for a blog, my own seems pretty pathetic in comparison. At least I can write about it, and glom onto the real deal in my own small way.
Each weekend David Freedman highlights articles published in Sunday Magazine exactly 100 years ago, posting them with insightful commentary. The article above, from August 7, 1910, is particularly awesome.
[via Waxy Links]
How You Think You Save Energy Is Not How You Save... →
The Infrastructurist comments on Columbia’s recent study finding that misinformation is often hampering our efforts to use less energy.
I sometimes need a reminder that common sense and a bit of research are still the way to go, even if it’s old fashioned.
[via Consumerist]
Vintage Tokyo subway manner posters →
Pink Tentacle shares this goldmine of vintage Japanese subway posters, reminding passengers of how they should act on the train.
The takes on popular American characters like Superman and Marilyn Monroe are hilarious, and some of the art is quite beautiful.
[via Slate]
The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet! →
Wired has a wonderfully thought-provoking article about the “death of the web” due to inexorable corporate influence and the rising dominance of apps over web browsing.
I say good riddance to the money-grabbing corporate technocrats and the info-elite. Give them their apps and closed platforms, let them file away the rough edges of the wooly Internet until it’s as bland and...
Kickstartup →
Craig Mod used social fundraising tool Kickstarter to produce a second run of his Art Space Tokyo book, and produced a wonderful online essay documenting the process.
It’s never been easier for independent artists, musicians, and filmmakers to create and distribute their work without being tied to a corporate machine.
I love it when people document their successes to inspire us all.
[via...
The best five books on everything →
FiveBooks gathers experts in a variety of fields, and asks them to pick the best five books that deal with their specialty.
There’s so much to put on my must-read list here, it could easily take up the rest of my life! Ah, well. This is not a bad thing, I guess. I just feel guilty for everything I can’t get to, somehow.
I’m still hoping the Durant’s Story of...
Canvas Cycle: True 8-bit Color Cycling with HTML5 →
Joe Huckaby has taken classic 8-bit fantasy scenes drawn by Mark J. Ferrari and updated them for the web using HTML5 techniques.
The result is beautiful, lush, and an extremely impressive programming feat. It brings us back to the days before “perfect” 3-D rendering, which the advent of portable gaming devices has brought to the forefront once again.
[via Waxy Links]
A paper trail of betrayal: Google's net neutrality... →
Just a quick update with more on Google’s recent about-face on Net Neutrality…
The above article is from Ars Technica, calling out specific statements Google made in the past and comparing them to their latest stance. Wow, what a difference.
It’s also worth reading Wired’s latest finger-pointing article, showing how this surprising news is rippling through the technology...
Late Summer Alternative Radio on Songza →
Songza is a cool new way to share and discover music, like a Pandora that you can control.
Create online radio stations with an impressive library of track choices, or add to existing stations to make them even better. There are the usual industry-mandated restrictions on a minimum quantity of tracks and the number of chosen artists (can’t have too many of the same group), but otherwise...
Here’s The Real Google/Verizon Story: A Tale of... →
Wired breaks the real story of what Google and Verizon were up to — they want to be free to create a separate network of their own where they can do what they want, keeping the existing Internet free and neutral.
It’s worth reading the details of their proposal, but after doing so I must admit I don’t like it one bit. As long as these telecom companies are exempt from true...
Can Uncle Sam track its $ billion broadband... →
Uh oh. Here we go again.
Back in the 90’s, telecom companies were given billions in tax breaks and other incentives to roll out broadband Internet to tens of millions of homes, and then failed to deliver on their promises. They got to keep the money, of course, and we’re still left in the dust of countries like Latvia.
This is old news that I’ve talked about before, so I...
The alleged Google-Verizon deal that's endangering... →
Tim Wu writes for Slate about the recent NY Times allegation that Google is negotiating deals for special treatment on Verizon’s network, effectively throwing out the concept of net neutrality.
When I first heard about this, I couldn’t believe it — Google has been one of the strongest advocates for net neutrality out there. There had to be some mistake!
After all, one of the...
HOW TO: Self-Publish Anything Online →
Mashable provides us with a great list of self-publishing resources beyond the usual books and music, including “publishing” (selling and distributing) food and clothing.
I often buy indie stuff online because it’s good, and because it’s cool to support talented individuals doing their thing.
What if TV Networks Aired All Their Pilots? →
What a fantastic idea! Freakonomics picks up on a comment left about an article on a New York Times blog…
Why won’t networks air all of the pilots they produce, and let the viewers vote on the ones they like best? So simple, so elegant.
Of course, they’d never do it. It just makes too much sense.
Consumer Spending Stalls, People Are Saving Their... →
The Consumerist mentions some great news — we’re finally starting to save our money in the US, instead of spending it all and taking on debt!
But wait! Is it really good news, or is all of this saving actually bad for the economy? Evidently this is what happened to Japan in the wake of similar circumstances 20 years ago, and it was a “disaster” for them to be fiscally...
WatchLawrence Lessig - Of/By/4
The best explanation yet of why I support citizen-funded elections. Why is it I can’t be this eloquent any time I try to explain to people how important this is, no matter what their political ideology is?
CSI Mars →
Phil Plait ponders a mystery from Mars over on his Bad Astronomy blog, and it’s way better than any television plot.
Can you figure out what happened here? I honestly have no idea, but it’s awesome reading what people smarter than me think…
And it’s equally awesome to live in a universe where mysteries like this exist.
Top Secret America →
If you have any doubt about the importance of trained journalists with the backing of a well-funded organization, here’s a perfect case in point.
The Washington Post took two years to compile and analyze data about the spread of top secret government organizations in the wake of 9/11, and has reported their results in this stunning project.
Not only is this a wonderful example of how to...
