March 2010
47 posts
Not your father's PageRank →
Having years of algorithm development played back in one paragraph is breathtaking.
Steven Levy on how Google’s search algorithm has changed over the years.
Take, for instance, the way Google’s engine learns which words are synonyms. “We discovered a nifty thing very early on,” Singhal says. “People change words in their queries. So someone would say,...
February 2010
54 posts
Ahoy! Celebrity Cruise Lines welcomes an Apple... →
The Celebrity Cruise ship company has announced a new Internet Cafe on the new 2,850 passenger Celebrity Eclipse which sets sail in April. The iLounge, as Celebrity has named it, will include a mini Apple Store where passengers can buy MacBooks, iPods and other accessories.
Microsoft wants to give you a MacBook Pro →
Huh.
Microsoft is running a pretty cool giveaway right now called Mac Office Loves You. The prize is none other than a 2.53Ghz 15” MacBook Pro with custom PMS cover and a copy of Office 2008 for Mac.
Photoshop v1.0 recreated on iPhone →
Neat.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Photoshop, Adobe recently recreated Photoshop 1.0 — on the iPhone. Porting the venerable application over to the iPhone reportedly took Adobe a mere two weeks of development.
“Most people need less done well, not more done poorly.”
– Brian Christiansen (via marco) (via jingc)
Handheld 2.4 GHz Spectrum Analyzer →
The analyzer has become my best travel companion. It’s very discrete: everyone think you are playing with a mobile phone!. You can see in a moment what are the used frecuencies / channels at your location. One of the most interesting things if to carry it in the pocket in exposure mode and walk sometime in your neighborhood. In this way you can find easily what are the free frecuencies or...
Apple’s Buttons →
There’s an odd sentiment among nerds that Steve Jobs (and the fine people at Apple) hate buttons. I have a different theory: they absolutely love buttons.
Would you say to someone, “Wow, you must hate dogs. You only have one. You enjoy his company and playing with him, but seriously, only one? What do you have against dogs?”.
Niniane's Blog: but I am very fond of my alma... →
Azer and I were discussing the most unexpected changes in our lives over the past decade. Me: “I was so much geekier ten years ago.” Azer: “Oh?” Me: “Well, I wasn’t yet old enough to get into nightclubs. Plus I’d gone to Caltech, the geekiest college in the country.” Azer: “In the world.” Me: “Thanks.”
LukeW | Information Resolution on the Windows... →
Interesting comparison of iPhone and Windows Phone 7 interface philosophies:
In addition to seven ways of finding & filtering apps, Apple’s App Store displays four apps complete with icon, title, publishing, average rating, number of ratings, and price.
Marketplace on the Windows Phone features one application with an icon, title, and one-line description. One touch gesture (drag/flick)...
MicroSD →
MicroSD cards are wholly amazing devices (XKCD seems to share my sentiment on this), not simply because of their great storage to size ratio, but also because of their internal construction. I was a little surprised by two things: first, the use of stacked CSP (chip scale package) construction, and second, the sheer size of the FLASH die.
To do the CSP in such a thin package, both die (the...
A conversation I have every month or so
dwineman:
Me: (tries to visit a local restaurant’s website via iPhone) Restaurant website: I require Flash. Fuck off. Me: I just want to know how late you’re open. Website: Nope. Me: But I’m on my phone. Don’t you have a little “HTML Version” link up in the corner or something? Website: I’m ignoring you. Me: What if I’m on my phone because I’m out, looking for a place to eat? Didn’t that ever...
Watch
Very, very awesome tech demo (via TED)
Spray-on liquid glass →
The liquid glass spray produces a water-resistant coating only around 100 nanometers (15-30 molecules) thick. On this nanoscale the glass is highly flexible and breathable. The coating is environmentally harmless and non-toxic, and easy to clean using only water or a simple wipe with a damp cloth. It repels bacteria, water and dirt, and resists heat, UV light and even acids. UK project manager...
Rands In Repose: A Story Culture →
A nice article on what information is:
According to Ray R. Larson at Berkeley, information has a hierarchy that looks like this:
Data - The raw material of information
Information — Data organized and presented by someone
Knowledge — Information read, heard or seen and understood
Wisdom — Distilled and integrated knowledge and understanding.
“Google wasn’t the first indexing tool, but it’s certainly the best. Still,...”
– Rands In Repose: A Story Culture
Sharing Awe →
jingc:
In general, people who share [awe-inspiring articles] seem to have loftier motives than trying to impress their friends. They’re seeking emotional communion, Dr. Berger said.
“Emotion in general leads to transmission, and awe is quite a strong emotion,” he said. “If I’ve just read this story that changes the way I understand the world and myself, I want to talk to others about what it...
“Weekends don’t count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless.”
– Calvin (and Hobbes) (via hrrrthrrr)
“Libraries raised me. I don’t believe in colleges and universities. I believe in...”
– Ray Bradbury (via mrgan)
“The problem is, in hardware you can’t build a computer that’s twice as good as...”
– Steve Jobs in 1994 (via marco)
Brains and video games →
Prior cognitive, psychological, and neurological studies have shown that expert video game players are capable of outperforming novices in measures of attention and perception. They also have demonstrated that, when novices train on video games for 20-plus hours, they experienced no measurable increase in cognitive ability. These two pieces of information would seem to point to an innate...
BookBook: A classy way to protect and hide your... →
The rigid spine provides crush protection to the MacBook, the hardback covers protect the exterior of your laptop, and the unique look provides a level of stealth that could keep your MacBook from being stolen.
Realism in UI Design →
The trick is to figure out which details help users identify the UI element, and which details distract from its intended meaning. Some details help users figure out what they’re looking at and how they can interact with it; other details distract from the idea you’re trying to convey. They turn your interface element from a concept into a specific thing. Thus, if an interface element is too...