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19 Jun 2010 17:54

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Culture: More blocks than points: A couple key Manute Bol statistics

  • 10 number of seasons Bol played in the NBA – he was the tallest player for most of it
  • 2,086 number of blocks Bol had in his career (3.3 per game – one of the best tallies ever)
  • 1,599 number of points Bol scored (2.6/game, though he had a decent  3-point shot) source

29 Apr 2010 10:17

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Tech: Quick analysis of Steve Jobs’ massive post on Adobe Flash

  • Key point: It’s not getting on the iPhone due to technology reasons. Steve Jobs’ 1,657-word manifesto on Flash is a really interesting document on the nature of one of Silicon Valley’s biggest fights. We don’t think Jobs has ever been this open. We’d like to see him keep this up in the future. It really makes his points seem reasonable. Here’s a summary that’s about a fifth of the size.

First: Let’s get this out of the way

  • no Steve doesn’t mention the
    kerfuffle between Apple and Gizmodo over the leaked iPhone
  • no Flash won’t be getting on the
    iPhone anytime soon, so lose
    those dreams now, guys

Cutting his six points to three

  • one Flash is a closed, proprietary standard, and Apple’s goals for the Web are to use open standards such as HTML5. And lots of sites use these already.
  • two Flash is another thing that has to run on a device that needs to be as lightweight as possible. This affects phone performance as well as battery life.
  • three Flash is a technology that’s designed for PCs, not touchscreens. Plus, Adobe has been bad about supporting our platforms in the past, and could repeat here.

Key quote from his Steveness

  • Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.
  • Steve Jobs • Sticking the dagger into the company’s technology. His main point? Flash isn’t a platform designed for mobile phones, and as he’s trying to push for the strongest app development on the platform he can, he wants to avoid putting a technology on his phones that adds one more thing to the load. But he’s clear that it’s not because of competitive reasons, like everyone thinks it is. We’re still not convinced. source

10 Mar 2010 23:18

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Offbeat: Airline rewards points during recessions a new kind of currency

This poor guy doesn’t have an address or a job, but he does have thousands of rewards points saved up, which means he can stay at hotels for (almost) free. source