Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

15 Sep 2010 23:19

tags

Tech: Here’s their hard work: The boys of Diaspora show their stuff

  • There it is guys. Diaspora. The Kickstarter project that led to many thousands of dollars in donations now has a code release. It’s now open-source. It’s not a real release yet (that’s coming in October), but it’s definitely off to a good start. Imagine it as Facebook without any of the ads and extra crap that makes Facebook Facebook. Too early to decide if it’s overhyped yet. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 4 Comments • Permalink

15 Sep 2010 20:39

tags

Tech: Google engineer fired for being really creepy and stuff

  • creepy A Google employee was fired for reportedly breaking the company’s internal privacy policy. Which is pretty darn creepy.
  • creepier According to Gawker, he was hacking into the Gmail and Google Voice accounts OF CHILDREN HE KNEW. Yikes. source
  • » One caveat: It appears the abuses weren’t sexual in nature (because we know that’s what you were thinking.) Rather, this was a 27-year-old guy hanging around with kids half his age, because that’s perfectly normal and won’t raise any eyebrows. It appears the abuses were him just showing off to the kids more than anything.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Sep 2010 12:11

tags

Tech: Ignore the haters: Netflix has a successful and awesome model

  • If you want to predict the demise of Netflix, go ahead—but somewhere there’s a hat for you, ready to be eaten.
  • Slate writer James Ledbetter • Reminding all you jerks not to count out Netflix, because they’ve actually been hugely successful over the years. Ledbetter suggests it might be because the model at launch seemed so simple – they did one thing (rent movies via mail) and did it really well. Despite the many naysayers, the company’s currently trading at $130 and has a very successful digital video platform that even Apple’s bowing to. As a wise man once said time and time again: Haters gonna hate. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Sep 2010 12:19

tags

Tech: Twitter’s all excited about today’s music-focused Apple keynote



Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Sep 2010 09:48

tags

Tech: For touch screen story, the NYT found woman who can’t use BlackBerry

  • I had to use my sister’s BlackBerry to make a call, and I just kept swiping and touching. It didn’t even occur to me to use the keyboard.
  • iPhone nut Susannah Wijsen • On being forced to use a BlackBerry at some point and not knowing what the heck to do. Uh, really? We don’t think that someone who works in advertising in San Francisco could make a mistake like that, but whatever it takes to push forward this NYT story about how people love touch screens. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Aug 2010 23:58

tags

World: Swedish nuclear bunker seems like a fitting home for Wikileaks

  • Their servers are going to live like kings. This lair, 98 feet down within the Pionen White Mountains in Sweden, will be holding some of the Wikileaks servers, which need a cool spot to hide from evil governments. You don’t get much cooler than a nuclear bunker that looks like it was designed by Ikea on the weekends. (By the way, they won’t be alone: The space also doubles as a home for colocation provider Banhof.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Aug 2010 13:30

tags

World: Thanks computers! Chinese, Japanese youths forget how to write

  • goodTechnology has made it easier than ever for Chinese and Japanese youths to use their language.
  • bad As a result though, many of them no longer know how to actually write it out by hand. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

27 Aug 2010 21:40

tags

Tech: Patent troll: Paul Allen is a jerk who hasn’t been relevant in 20 years

  • Why do patents exist? Apparently so a multi-billionaire can choose to be a jerk and sue the entire Internet over obvious ideas he isn’t even using. Paul Allen, who’s giving away most of his fortune to charity anyway, is the head of Interval Licensing, which appears to be a patent-trolling firm based around patents that an old company of his, Interval Research Corp., created in the ’90s but never used. Now he’s suing Google, Facebook, eBay, Apple, Yahoo, Netflix and Youtube over what seem to be obvious patents. Our patent system is pretty much the worst thing ever, it’s being used to screw people over on obvious technologies, and it’s getting worse. If you really thought these patents were so bad, Paul, why did you choose not to sue Microsoft, which you own a stake in, or Amazon? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

27 Aug 2010 18:12

tags

U.S.: Want to block the government from tracking your car? Use this

  • Why you need this You’re a mad hax0r and you think some government duders are trying to track you because they put a GPS on your rig. Which now they can legally do thanks to a decision by the 9th District Appeals Court.

    What this thang doesIt’s a signal jammer. It jams your GPS signal so said mad government jerks cannot attack you or your privacy. Or you’re a conspiracy theorist who thinks he’s being trailed by the government. Or you’re the Unabomber’s son. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Aug 2010 23:39

tags

Tech: Kevin Rose thinks Apple’s going to own the living room with iTV

  • With Apple’s iAds, content producers (eg. ABC/NBC/etc.) can directly monetize and distribute their content. This will eventually destroy the television side of the cable and satellite industry, as your only requirement to access these on-demand stations will be an internet connection. Say goodbye to your monthly cable bill.
  • Kevin “I founded Digg!” Rose • Making a bold prediction about the Apple TV … er, iTV. He claims that the device will disrupt a few industries, most notably cable, and that the iPad will work like a giant remote for the device. He’s got a spotty track record – while he nailed the iPod Nano’s first iteration, he embarrassingly got the iPhone really wrong (which he shouldn’t feel bad about, because a lot of people did). source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>