There's not much else to say about this awesome shirt, except that it's baby blue. And has two sleeves and a neck, so it counts as a shirt.

And awesome.

Originally from Awesome! by S H reBlogged

Originally posted by S H from Awesome! , on December 23, 2006 3:22 PM

In his homage to Tiki Barber in today's NYT, Dave Anderson mentioned the books that were in Tiki's locker. They are:

A bible
The Rainmaker by John Grisham
The Third Option by Vince Flynn
Chef's Night Out - a guide to restaurant's around the US
Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden about the hunt for Pablo Escobar
Raising the Bar by Gary Erickson and Lois Lorentzen about building Cliff Bars as a business

And what do we learn by this deep insight into Tiki? Possibly, that waiting around between practice and sessions with the trainer is a lot like waiting at an airport and perfect for mass market paperbacks, that he likes to eat well when on the road, that he has a spiritual side, and that his aforementioned business acumen may one day grace us with food that will enable us all to have as blinding a smile as he has. I for one can't wait to see which locker library Anderson delves into next? What's Nate Robinson reading during his suspension? 

Originally from DefinitiveInk by joshua mack reBlogged on Dec 21, 2006, 9:48PM

Originally posted by joshua mack from DefinitiveInk, on December 23, 2006 12:51 PM

The People Speak is a London-based collection utilizing and 'updating' various communication techniques to facilitate exchange among residents of the city. They first gained widespread attention, online, for their radio show, 'Traffic-island disks: sounding out the city,' in which they stopped pedestrians wearing headphones to chat with them about what they were listening to. The project makes people aware of the protective social and personal spheres they build for themselves, within cities. More recently, 'Who Wants to Be?' is a spoof on the American game show 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,' in which the artists use a game-like system of polls to address questions of democracy within poor communities. TPS's 'dicshunary.com' site tracks the etymology of emergent, locally-used vocabularies, while 'Directionless Enquiries' establishes a peer-to-peer network of mobile phone users who can count on each other for help and random advice. The group now offers a downloadable toolkit for carrying out community-building DIY media projects in your own neighborhood. Check it out today and start doing good his weekend! - Elizabeth Johnston

http://theps.net/

Originally from Rhizome News reBlogged on Dec 22, 2006, 3:00AM

Originally from Rhizome News, on December 23, 2006 12:50 PM

After all of the hoopla about the SNL Digital Short “D*ck In a Box” that aired last Saturday night, we were driving around yesterday and saw this sign for a storage space in Brooklyn. Pretty funny how similar the graphic is to the SNL video. Makes me wonder how they got the idea for the video or which was first? hmm..

Originally from coin-operated by jonah reBlogged on Dec 22, 2006, 1:00AM

Originally posted by jonah from coin-operated, on December 23, 2006 12:50 PM

Even though a state board approved the Atlantic Yards Project earlier this week, Forest City Ratner still has a final hurdle to jump: lawsuits by residents and business owners on the building site. Daniel Goldstein, the spokesman for Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, is among the plaintiffs. He is the sole remaining owner of his apartment building, which would need to be torn down to make way for the arena. “We’re confident we will win this lawsuit,” he told the Times. “Our victory will force a reshaping of the project, while protecting owners and renters nationwide from abuses of eminent domain.” Construction is still slated to start in the next few weeks, but these lawsuits offer hope that the project can still be scaled down (a least a little bit).
AY Enters New Phase, and Faces Next Hurdle [NY Times]
PACB Gives Ratner What He Wants [Brownstoner]
Big Changes for Brooklyn: State Approves AY [Brooklyn Record]

Originally from Brooklyn Record by Brooklyn Record reBlogged on Dec 22, 2006, 10:13AM

Originally posted by Brooklyn Record from Brooklyn Record, on December 23, 2006 12:49 PM

You gotta be kidding
Originally uploaded by schickr.

At least they are honest about it

Originally from Cognections by charlie reBlogged

Originally posted by charlie from Cognections, on December 23, 2006 12:49 PM

Putting together Apperceptive's "Happy Holidays!" post, I was momentarily overwhelmed by my good fortune this year in that I feel great about my work, my friends and my home all at once. That's pretty rare, and I'm very grateful for everyone who has helped make my life better.

Originally from hello, typepad by David Jacobs reBlogged on Dec 22, 2006, 1:14PM

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on December 23, 2006 12:47 PM

"Backstage at the premiere, Nijinsky shouted at the dancers while Diaghilev tried to suppress a possible riot by flashing the house lights. Stravinsky himself fumed at the audience's response to his music. If nothing else, the ballet's premiere managed to instill in the audience the true spirit of the music"

Originally from tecznotes links by Michal Migurski reBlogged on Dec 22, 2006, 9:23PM

Originally posted by Michal Migurski from tecznotes links, on December 23, 2006 12:46 PM

A few moments ago I walked back into our flat after taking Hudson for a walk. Sara was just getting off the phone with John Fekner. John called her to tell her some news. She looked at me with a face that I didn't know if the news was good or bad. Finally she grabbed my shoulders and said...

"Marc. You are not going to fucking believe this. Roberta Smith just picked Wooster on Spring as one of her six "most memorable moments of 2006". It just hit the web."

I had to laugh because of the irony of the whole thing. On Friday, Roberta had come to the space on her own without letting us know in advance . Sara, trying to be as democratic as possible all weekend, had actually turned her away the first time knowing that people had waited hours and hours to get in. Sara respected her as a critic, but also knew that others had wanted to get in as well. She told her that she couldn't let her in today and that she should perhaps come back tomorrow if she wanted to.

And the next day Roberta did came back. I noticed that she was with Jerry Saltz and went over to them. Sara wanted to turn them away but I said no.

Knowing how important this was for the artists and their careers, I personally gave both Roberta and Jerry a quick tour of the building. It was a crazy moment because just as we walked into the foyer our security guard, who was absolutely exhausted, completely lost it as he tried to kick one of the guys who had cut in line out of the building. As I walked with Roberta and Jerry past this screaming match, I said to myself - "Oh fuck, this isn't going to be good."

But for the next 20 minutes or so I walked them past each piece and talked to them about what each one meant and the evolution that graffiti and urban art has taken since the early '80s when it was limited to the spray can. I told them the stories of each work and some information about the artists.

When we finished the short tour, we walked outside and over to the cars across the street to get some fresh air. As I said goodbye to them, Roberta looked at me and said....

"This is one of the best collections of work on walls that I've ever seen."

I smiled. It was one of many incredible moments that made the weekend so special for me.

Until now, I have only told this story to some of the artists.

So, here's the story that Roberta has written for her Year in Review for The New York Times. I'm assuming that it will be in tomorrow's paper....

The Met Got Up-to-Date, Grafitti Said Goodbye
By ROBERTA SMITH

SOME memorable moments from 2006: AUCTION HOUSE AS MUSEUM For five weeks last spring, Christie’s auction preview of Donald Judd’s work turned a stripped-down floor high up in Rockefeller Center into a breathtaking one-artist museum. The pristine display was a reminder of how much the city lost when the Dia Center for the Arts — a huge supporter of Mr. Judd — moved its collections to Beacon, N.Y. This was underscored in October when Dia canceled plans to build a museum along the High Line.

ARCHITECT TO THE RESCUE Amid a rash of museum expansions in 2006, Renzo Piano’s airy glass box at the Morgan Library stands out as a superior solution, doing away with a previous carbuncular effort to join its three buildings. Not so wonderful: the name change — to Morgan Library & Museum — and making a suggested $12 admission mandatory.

A REMINDER “Freeing the Line,” an exceptionally beautiful summer exhibition at the Marian Goodman Gallery organized by Catherine de Zegher, the director of the Drawing Center in SoHo, made one acutely aware of the center’s need for a larger, more gracious and more flexible space. Its trustees, who wisely abandoned an attempt to relocate to ground zero and unwisely forced Ms. de Zegher to resign, are believed to be weighing another ill-conceived site, at the South Street Seaport.

ATONEMENT? For an exhibition they designed at the Museum of Modern Art over the summer, the architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron filled galleries with artworks visible only through narrow slots — a kind of closed open storage. As a mirror of the crowding problem in the new MoMA building, the show made one sad that Herzog & de Meuron lost that commission to Yoshio Taniguchi. But now the firm is designing a new home for the Miami Museum of Art, where Terence Riley, formerly director of MoMA’s department of architecture and design, is the new director. Is Mr. Riley trying to say he’s sorry, or “I told you so”?

NEW GIRL ON THE BLOCK While crowds flocked to the Neue Galerie to see Gustav Klimt’s portrait of the aristocratic Adele Bloch-Bauer (bought for $134 million), viewers at the Met stopped in their tracks when encountering the season’s real portrait surprise: Otto Dix’s unkempt “Lady With Mink and Veil” (1920). His ferocious portrayal of an aging prostitute — part of the Met’s extraordinary “Glitter and Doom” show of early German modernists — was discovered in a private collection in 1992.

STAGING AN INTERVENTION A new extreme in self-reference was achieved when the four-day Frieze Art Fair in London commissioned the British artist Mike Nelson to create a large (and largely hidden) short-term installation amid a row of booths. He created a photographer’s labyrinthine darkroom/lair, strung with photographs of the Frieze fair site — an enormous tent in Regent’s Park — being built.

SIGN OF HOPE AT MOMA In addition to the informative Dada survey and Brice Marden’s stately retrospective, a small gallery was devoted to a dozen sculptures by the ceramic genius Ken Price in “Against the Grain: Contemporary Art From the Edward R. Broida Collection.” It’s gratifying that MoMA now owns this balanced selection of Mr. Price’s work; let’s hope it will be exhibited again soon.

SIGN OF HOPE AT THE MET If the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s forays into contemporary art are often uneasy, “Kara Walker at the Met: After the Deluge” — in which this always adventurous artist combined her own work with selections from the collection — orchestrated a riveting meditation on the history of American race relations. It gained unexpected resonance because of Hurricane Katrina.

GRAFFITI COMES IN FROM THE SEMI-COLD One of the best shows of the season flamed past just before Christmas: a weekendlong display of graffiti created by artists from around the world at, and in honor of, 11 Spring Street. The building, a five-story former stable on SoHo’s eastern reach, is slated for conversion to condominiums, but during years of standing empty its exterior had been the recipient of much attention from graffiti artists and aficionados. At the new owners’ invitation, artists covered the interior walls with their latest, most ambitious efforts, transforming a casual auld-lang-syne get-together into a state-of-the-art statement that ranged from classic tagging to new adventures in papering, printing, varnishing, installation and, in one impressive instance, crayon. There were lines around the block.

More importantly, listen to Roberta's audio tour on the New York Times website. Her last line is something to the effect of - "My hope is that more museum curators saw this show."

We hope so too.

(As a side note - Reading and listening to Roberta's report, it occurs to Sara and I that a better definition is needed for this movement - now more then ever. We never considered this exhibition to be about pure graffiti. Where Roberta calls the show about graffiti art- we view it as much broader than that. We're starting to like Blek Le Rat's term "urban art" a lot better than street art. The truth is that we've never been a fan of the phrase "street art". Its likely that over time, the phrase will turn more people away from the movement than towards it. Maybe we should change the site to read - "A Celebration of Urban Art" or "A Celebration of the Post-Graffiti Movement". Or as was suggested by Tim simply state- "A Celebration of Art" In the end, that's all it is - art.....)

Originally from Wooster Collective reBlogged on Dec 23, 2006, 11:43AM

Originally from Wooster Collective, on December 23, 2006 12:45 PM

In a stunt of pure hackery, Dave and pals cooked up a WordPress plug-in that automatically renders pages for the Wii browser.

It's a great example of how when sytems are open to pure and beautiful hackery, users will find clever new ways to bridge design issues the original designers had never thought of or would ever be able to cater to.

It's never really about tools, but about construction kits.

Link: About the Wordpress Nintendo Wii Edition Plugin

WordPress Wii Edition is a plugin that shows an interface designed for the Nintendo Wii when visitors come to your site on a Wii with the Opera browser. Wii’s are automatically detected, there is no configuration needed. Inspired by Alex King’s Mobile Plugin

Originally from Lifeblog by charlie reBlogged

Originally posted by charlie from Lifeblog, on December 23, 2006 12:45 PM

I'm off for a holiday break. Stay safe, enjoy the season, and thanks for reading all year. I'll see you in 2007.

Originally from Rebecca's Pocket reBlogged on Dec 21, 2006, 7:30AM

Originally from Rebecca's Pocket, on December 21, 2006 7:50 PM

Browsing the various Nintendo Wii forums around the web, I've noticed more and more people pratically bragging that they play the Wii sitting down, flicking their wrists instead of the beautiful and healthful full-body motion that nature intended. These couch potatoes shall not be suffered. For the Wii purist, I made this prototype for a tshirt:

A ladies version is also in the works, even though the pun doesn't work as well.

Originally from kottke.org reBlogged on Dec 21, 2006, 12:02PM

Originally from kottke.org, on December 21, 2006 7:47 PM

about the adoption

· nominee #1
· nominee #2
· nominee #3

running fool's trip

help make ray's video

upload sports racer intros

wiki transcript: 12-21-06

shirts | ringtones | gimmesomecandy

Originally from the show with zefrank reBlogged on Dec 21, 2006, 11:55AM

Originally from the show with zefrank, on December 21, 2006 7:47 PM

Portland has endured injuries to several key players: Brandon Roy's heel, Martell Webster's back, LaMarcus Aldridge's shoulder, Darius Miles' knee, Joel Przybilla's family jewels... last night was the first time everyone (minus Miles who is out for the season) was ready to go.

Nevertheless, the team that everyone except homer team commentator Mike Rice picked to finish dead last in the NBA is a half game out of the playoffs in one of the toughest conferences of the modern era. The press has, at various times in this young season, adored the likes of Miami, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Sacramento, New Orleans, and the Clippers--but this morning Portland has a better record than all of them. Portland has beaten Detroit, New Jersey, the Lakers, the Clippers, Houston, and New Orleans--back when New Orleans was at the top of the standings.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to tell you their time is now or anything. This isn't one of those "nobody wants to face them in the first round of the playoffs" rants.

But this team does not suck. They are not doormats. They are not "the lowly Blazers." Beating them is an accomplishment. Losing to them is not disgraceful. Sure, they don't have the star power of a lot of teams, but it's time to recognize they have some nice pieces, they play hard, there's some cohesion, and this is a ship that's clearly headed in the right direction.

If I sound a little defensive, here's why: they're twelve for twelve. By that I mean after every Blazer win this young season, I have poked around online to see what the opposing players and coaches have to say about my team. It started out as a search for insight. Now it has become something of a joke. Every single time the opponents go out of their way to make clear: the Blazers didn't beat us. We beat ourselves.

Jonathan Feigen reports:

This time, there was no Baron Davis heave to break their hearts, no Kobe Bryant magnificence to overcome.

This time, the Rockets pushed a game to its final seconds and then lamented the worst of could-have-beens. This time, they blamed themselves.

They took blame for everything from the way they started to the breakdown at the finish, when Portland rookie Brandon Roy was allowed to go all the way to the rim for the decisive late drive Wednesday night, lifting the Trail Blazers to an 89-87 victory that left the Rockets with three losses, all in the final seconds, in the first four games of the road trip.

"We killed ourselves,'' guard Rafer Alston said. "That's the bottom line."

UPDATE: Good line. Dwight Jaynes read this and e-mailed "liked 'we let brandon roy come down the lane...' yeah, pal -- a whole bunch of people are going to 'let brandon roy come down the lane' over the next several seasons..."

Look, I'm sure that, at times, the Blazers do benefit from being taken lightly. But every damn game? They'd have you believe that nothing anyone on the Blazer staff has made the slightest bit of difference. Like this is the worst team in the league, and that nearly half their schedule has, luckily, been against teams that for some reason decided to lose. All I can say is, if the Blazers are a crappy team, don't yap about it. Beat them. And you know why that's hard? One big reason is because they're buying what Nate McMillan is selling: that the team has to play hard. Jason Quick:

Juan Dixon first stripped the ball from Luther Head in the backcourt, converting the steal into a layup, then later dived two rows into the stands in pursuit of a loose ball. And Jarrett Jack sprawled onto the court after a ball, eventually tipping it off the toe of Rafer Alston, resulting in the Blazers getting the ball.

"That was my favorite play of the night," McMillan said. "That was a hustle play. . . . That's what we have to be about. That's the way we have to play."

OK, I'm taking off my Blazer fan cap now, and I'm putting down the rally towel.

On another note, last night's Portland/Houston game had a fascinating coaching decision. Blazers were up one when Zach Randolph was fouled with 0.8 seconds on the clock. Randolph made the first one. So now they're up two. What's the play?

• Make the second free throw: Houston--without any timeouts--can inbound and hope to get off a heavily guarded three-pointer which, at best, could send the game into overtime (or I guess there's a tiny shot at a four-point play).
  
• Miss the second free throw. Houston will have to grab the rebound and immediately fire a full-court Hail Mary. But if it goes in, it's the only scenario where you lose in regulation.

According to Mike Barrett, Randolph intentionally missed the second, and it worked. Blazers win by two, confetti falls from the ceiling. And I suspect it was the right call. But if Houston had made a miracle full-court three, everyone would have wondered: man, why not just make that friggin' free throw? What's so bad about overtime?

Originally from True Hoop by Henry Abbott reBlogged on Dec 21, 2006, 11:14AM

Originally posted by Henry Abbott from True Hoop, on December 21, 2006 7:47 PM

reBlogged from What I Learned Today…:

War on Blogs?

December 15th, 2006 by Nicole

Don’t our politicians have something better do with their time? 

John McCain has made clear that he doesn't like the blogosphere.

Now he has introduced legislation that would treat blogs like Internet service providers and hold them responsible for all activity in the comments sections and user profiles.

Found Via LISNews which found it via Think Progress.

Originally from NEWSgrist - where spin is art by joy garnett reBlogged

Originally posted by joy garnett from NEWSgrist - where spin is art, on December 21, 2006 7:47 PM

Interesting (and probably fake) photo of Apple's alleged iPhone, which phone has no buttons...only a screen and a mousepad.

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Dec 21, 2006, 2:37PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on December 21, 2006 7:45 PM

I was excited to hear about Cocoa Duel earlier this week, just as I was racing off to a hotel-based life of zero time for anything nerdy. But I got a moment of inspiration when I realized I could very cheaply adapt an existing project to suit the terms of the contest/charity.

Check out my blog at Cocoa Duel for more details and a link to the download. Then, whether you like my project or not, vote for it by donating cash to the American Cancer Society via the Cocoa Duel voting page. Or, vote for one of the other participants by donating to their worthy cause, instead!

I think the site itself is a pretty amazing act of instant development. Congrats and thanks to Jason Harris for putting it together. I think we can grant him a little lenience on the time limit, since he’s been busy hacking Ruby instead of Cocoa.

Originally from Red Sweater Blog by Daniel Jalkut reBlogged on Dec 21, 2006, 12:37PM

Originally posted by Daniel Jalkut from Red Sweater Blog, on December 21, 2006 7:45 PM

I no longer regret buying a subscription to cable tv this year.

Originally from braintag reBlogged on Dec 21, 2006, 10:32AM

Originally from braintag, on December 21, 2006 7:45 PM

I hear people saying “JSON is great, XML is over”, but I don’t hear XML partisans saying anything bad about JSON. There are two arguments that are over, though.

It seems to me that the great thing about JSON is that it exists for one purpose: to put structs on the wire. With XML, on the other hand, it’s assumed that you might want to stream it in by the gigabyte, or load it into one of a many different in-memory data structures, or run a full-text indexer over the contents, or render it for human consumption, or, well, anything.

Given JSON’s single-purpose design, generating and parsing it ought to be faster than with XML; but on the other hand, there aren’t that many apps where parsing and unparsing are a significant part of the workload.

XML’s internationalization is more thorough; it requires you to think about how you’re encoding the characters, and lets you use ISO-8859 or JIS or whatever if that’s your world. Also, while it’s not in the spec, every XML parser I’ve seen says “I’ll figure out the encoding in the incoming doc, and take care of it, and all you’ll ever see is UTF-X”, where “X” is 16 for Java and C#, 8 for almost everything else. I look at the Ruby JSON library, for example, and I see all these character encoding conversion routines; blecch.

Use JSON

Seems easy to me; if you want to serialize a data structure that’s not too text-heavy and all you want is for the receiver to get the same data structure with minimal effort, and you trust the other end to get the i18n right, JSON is hunky-dory.

Use XML

If you want to provide general-purpose data that the receiver might want to do unforeseen weird and crazy things with, or if you want to be really paranoid and picky about i18n, or if what you’re sending is more like a document than a struct, or if the order of the data matters, or if the data is potentially long-lived (as in, more than seconds) XML is the way to go.

It also seems to me that the combination of XML and XPath hits a sweet spot for data formats that need to be extensible; that is to say, it’s pretty easy to write XML-processing code that won’t fail in the presence of changes to the message format that don’t touch the piece you care about.

The Arguments Are Over

There used to be an argument about whether platform-neutral, language-neutral data formats were important, or whether distributed objects were the right answer. That’s over: HTML, XML, JSON.

There used to be people who argued that network interchange formats shouldn’t be text-based, but use binary where possible, for efficiency. That’s over: HTML, XML, JSON.

Originally from ongoing reBlogged

Originally from ongoing, on December 21, 2006 7:45 PM

The winter solstice is upon us. Let there be light again!

The entries for Cocoa Duel are up. I tried to do a really simple worms knockoff (worms is one of my favorite games of all time). At least, that was my intention. Now I want to redo it using some different technologies, and take it a lot farther.

Joe's latest project, TrenchMice is live. "It’s meant to provide a forum and rating mechanism to really tease out the soft data associated with employers - the good and the less than optimal."

Brent has tagged me. So I shall answer his call.

Five Things People Don’t Know About Me:

1) With a bit of a warm-up period, I can juggle 7 balls for about 20 tosses. (See- a bunch of you knew I could juggle 5 for some time- but ha! you didn't know about 7!)

2) I'm an eagle scout.

3) I have a thing for tents. Every time I walk into REI I have to hold myself back from purchasing another one. (Ohhh look at the Marmot Eos 1P! And I need to upgrade my Swallow!)

4) I'm a rock climber and I really enjoy it, but contrary to popular belief, I think ice climbing is about the stupidest thing you could ever do. (It's freezing cold out there, you're climbing a brittle sheet of ice, and you're swinging ice axes around. Take care not hit the rope that's keeping you from falling to your death!) And here's a movie of me redpointing "spankme", a very steep 10b sport climb.

5) I played through Diablo in a single weekend. Then a couple of months later (even as my butt was still sore from sitting down for 48 hours straight) I repeated the marathon session with Diablo 2. This is why I refuse to play World of Warcraft.

Originally from Gus's blog, adventures in Flying Meat. reBlogged

Originally from Gus's blog, adventures in Flying Meat., on December 21, 2006 7:45 PM

Hawk Wings: “On the Yojimbo mailing list, Dylan Damian shared two applescripts that help to integrate the new tagging feature of Yojimbo 1.3 with del.icio.us and NetNewsWire.”

Originally from ranchero.com by Brent Simmons reBlogged on Dec 31, 1969, 6:59PM

Originally posted by Brent Simmons from ranchero.com, on December 21, 2006 7:45 PM

I started working on this post quite some time ago. Sadly, it still needs to be written despite my hopes that Apple would get on the ball and do something in response to the massive growth of Flash video. Hell, even M$ is doing something..

By do something, I mean, look at why Flash video is being so heavily used, leverage the great points of QuickTime and get on the ball and start competing.

Many people agree, QuickTime is great. It is powerful, cross-platform (almost), able to be embedded in other apps, has support for a myriad of codecs and so on and so forth.

So, why why why, is Flash a relative newcomer to the space of online video kicking it’s ass? Simply put, it just works and works quickly on the client side. Beyond that, it is damn easy (for anyone with rudimentary Flash skills) to customize the player.

Of course, the quality of Flash video sucks (at least what most sites are using which is Flash Video 7, not 8) but the fact that it just works and that there is generally no wait for a large plugin to load totally overwhelms that.

Here is a quick list off the top of my head that Apple could do with QuickTime that might help:

1) Become the video player of choice for AJAX developers by offering JavaScript hooks into everything (a start would be mouse position and click detection. Also make sure the JavaScript support is fully functional in all browsers on all platforms at all times.)

2) Update and support QuickTime for Java. Make it fully OO, no more forcing Java developers to know how to program using QuickTime’s C API to do anything useful.

3) Leverage QuickTime’s great MPEG-4 support and start supporting MPEG-J.

4) Update and create hooks between the above (JavaScript/QT4J/MPEG-J) and Wired Sprites. Remember, QuickTime had interactive vector graphic capabilities long before Flash ever considered video.

5) Fix the problems with the playback DivX style files (MPEG-4 video, MP3 audio in an AVI container). People love it to use it, would be nice if QuickTime allowed us to play them with out a 3rd party component.

6) Update the QuickTime/Darwin Streaming Server to allow folks to start programming more server side streaming applications (like people are doing with Flash Media Server).

Thanks for listening…

Originally from unmediated by yatta reBlogged on Dec 21, 2006, 4:40PM

Originally posted by yatta from unmediated, on December 21, 2006 7:43 PM

Google buying a stake in AOL is year-old news... so why have people started talking about it?

Originally from Guardian Unlimited: Technology blog reBlogged on Dec 21, 2006, 4:22PM

Originally from Guardian Unlimited: Technology blog, on December 21, 2006 7:43 PM

A picture of a derelict building on 2nd Avenue east of Main in Vancouver, which is an interesting neighborhood.

No, it didn’t look like this, of course; I was PhotoShopping while waiting for a bunch of open-source software to compile.

Originally from ongoing reBlogged

Originally from ongoing, on December 21, 2006 7:43 PM

Perhaps someone who knows this subject can explain. Given some of the comments here (yeah, there are lots of morons, but some savvy-sounding hands-on PHPfolk too), and stories like this, I have a question: why isn’t this part of this?

Originally from ongoing reBlogged

Originally from ongoing, on December 21, 2006 7:35 AM

Posted by Lexi Baugher, Software Engineer

Blogger has always been the easiest-to-use blogging software around, but it just got way more powerful. We've added a bunch of new features, which you can check out in the new version:

• You can add stuff to your blog (cute cat photos, lists, feeds) without needing to know HTML.
• You can also make a completely unique template that has just the color scheme you want, without knowing any CSS.
  
• Don't want your mom to read your thoughts? Make a private blog.
• Label your posts, to group related ones together.
• Use one of our new templates.
• You can now sign in to Blogger using your Google Account.

Naturally, this is still a work in progress, and more exciting features are in the pipeline. Try it out and send your feedback!

Originally from Official Google Blog by A Googler reBlogged on Dec 20, 2006, 8:51PM

Originally posted by A Googler from Official Google Blog, on December 21, 2006 7:31 AM

For sale on ebay (current bid $25,100) one of only two surviving copies (the other copy said to be owned by David Bowie) of the acetate of the first velvet Underground recording (with alternate versions of what was later to be released as The Velvet Undergroung & Nico) The auction listing has a good history of the recording which was bought for 75cents in 2002

Posted to music

Originally from Stunned reBlogged on Dec 20, 2006, 8:18PM

Originally from Stunned, on December 21, 2006 7:31 AM

click here (via nowear )

Originally from Happy Famous Artists by happy famous artists reBlogged on Dec 21, 2006, 5:09AM

Originally posted by happy famous artists from Happy Famous Artists , on December 21, 2006 7:29 AM

Jan Chipchase's current report on future perferct, co-authored with Indri Tulusan, is on mobile phone sharing -- an important socio-technical practice, especially in the developing world. [via Smart Mobs]

"Much of the growth in the telecommunications industry is coming from emerging markets - places like India and Africa and for many new consumers their first mobile phone experience is a shared one.

This essay uses the term sharing in the sense of primary usage orientated around borrowing and lending rather than 'let me show you the photos I took at last night's party'.

Mobile phone sharing is not just limited to personal use - from the streets of Cairo to Kampala kiosks are springing up with little more than a mobile phone and a sign advertising call rates.

What happens when people share an object that is inherently designed for personal use? And based on how and why people share in what ways can devices and services be redesigned to optimise the shared user experiences? Indeed, should they be re-designed?

A summary of this essay appears here.

Originally from textually.org by emily reBlogged on Dec 21, 2006, 1:30AM

Originally posted by emily from textually.org, on December 21, 2006 7:29 AM

From the reader mail bag:

I was wondering if you have any experience trying to make a good General Tso's sauce for either chicken or tofu. I have done some searching of my own but feel that the recipes seem a little boring. Granted, it is a very generic (though popular) food item on a Chinese menu, but I was just hoping you might have come across a recipe or tried one yourself which made the food a little more exciting. I tend to prefer the sauce a little less sweet as well, but that's just me. Any feedback, advice, or creative thinking would be appreciated if you have the time.

I don't. Does anyone else? I don't do much Chinese cooking at home.

comments are open

Originally from Megnut by meg@megnut.com (Meg Hourihan) reBlogged on Dec 19, 2006, 2:48PM

Originally posted by meg@megnut.com (Meg Hourihan) from Megnut, on December 20, 2006 5:53 PM

What is Wrong with the Use of these Terms: "Deaf-mute", "Deaf and dumb", or "Hearing-impaired"? "Overwhelmingly, deaf and hard of hearing people prefer to be called 'deaf' or 'hard of hearing.'"

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Dec 19, 2006, 2:09PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on December 20, 2006 5:53 PM

Kathryn knows brunch.

Originally from hello, typepad by David Jacobs reBlogged on Dec 19, 2006, 1:28PM

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on December 20, 2006 5:53 PM

a small downloadable application to create & print your own unique, do-it-yourself wrapping paper.

[link: abstractmachine.net|via processingblogs.org]

Originally from information aesthetics reBlogged on Dec 19, 2006, 5:50AM

Originally from information aesthetics, on December 20, 2006 5:53 PM

A few months ago, Cameron Hayne told me about his nifty AppleScript Shell (ash), which offers an interactive command-line interface to AppleScript, and lets you do some nifty tricks like “tracing” a script’s execution, printing the resulting value for each executed statement.

But I just discovered something about ash that’s truly magical. Think “Remote Script Editor”! I’m in a hotel when I realize I need to access some information from an Address Book entry back home. So I ssh into my home computer, and start slogging through the Address Book data folder. Ugh! If only I could easily ask for the scripted information I need. Of course, there’s osascript, which is where I started heading. But ash makes this process so much easier, because of its interactive and forgiving interface:

iBook> ./ash
Welcome to ash (AppleScript Shell) version 0.60
Type: -help for help, type -exit to exit
ash> tell application “Address Book”
tell application “Address Book”
ash tell> set myPerson to first person whose name is “John Doe”
tell application “Address Book”
    set myPerson to first person whose name is “John Doe”
ash tell> value of phones of myPerson
tell application “Address Book”
    set myPerson to first person whose name is “John Doe”
    value of phones of myPerson
ash tell> end
tell application “Address Book”
    set myPerson to first person whose name is “John Doe”
    value of phones of myPerson
end tell
{”(415) 555-1384″, “(415) 555-4424″}
ash>

See how ash takes one line at a time, and then when I end the “tell” block, it shows me the results of my query. Now I can call my friend even though I’m nowhere near my Mac.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or I could run VNC, or ya know, put phone numbers on my iPod. But this is just one example of a scenario where interactive scripting could be handy through a remote ssh connection.

AppleScript Shell, check it out!

Originally from Red Sweater Blog by Daniel Jalkut reBlogged on Dec 19, 2006, 8:15PM

Originally posted by Daniel Jalkut from Red Sweater Blog, on December 20, 2006 5:51 PM

I'm mentoring an innocent man who I met at WWDC (we call him Dean Cain) in the finer points of programming Cocoa (he's an ex-Java guy), and he suggested that my mentoring might serve a larger audience. I thought about it, and realized (a) I like talking about how right I am, and (b) I like insulting people, so it seemed like a natural fit.

So, I thought I'd try an experiment. I don't know if this'll work, but, hey, nothing ventured, nothing chopped off and sold on the black market in New Guinea.

Send me a snippet of your code Objective-C Cocoa code -- from a single method to an entire file -- something that works, at least sort of, but maybe isn't as clean as you like. I will mercilessly tear it apart in my blog, and from this you will learn my style.

Obviously, if you don't have any faith in my style, this offer holds no allure for you, and I urge you to move on. I'm going to spend zero time justifying why you might want to listen to me, so if there's nobody out there that wants to learn things my way already, then this will be a very short experiment.

This isn't about me debugging your code, this is about me trying to teach the techniques of writing readable, beautiful, maintainable, minimal code, such as I've learned them.

I must warn you that it may seem like I'm kind of mean, because I don't say a lot of "this is interesting, but maybe..." It'll be more like, "NO! Don't do this! DO THIS! BECAUSE I AM THE MOMMY!" (Let me know if you want me to use your name or not. By default, I will not, but if you seek a perverse kind of fame, let me know.)

The e-mail address I'll use for this is my initials (William J Shipley) at Apple's mail destination -- mac.com.

Originally from Call Me Fishmeal. by Wil Shipley reBlogged

Originally posted by Wil Shipley from Call Me Fishmeal., on December 20, 2006 5:51 PM

Remember a few years ago I mentioned that I was moving to San Francisco?
Well, it's time for an update: I'm moving back to New York City!

There's a couple of reasons why, and they nicely mirror the reasons why I moved to California in the first place. At that time, I said:

So, I'm moving to San Francisco to be even more involved in Six Apart. We're doing all this work with developers and partners because there's still another 99.9% of people in the world who haven't heard what weblogs can do for them. I want to be part of spreading that message, and we're going to need help to do it. I'm also moving because I still honestly believe Six Apart makes the best weblog tools in the world, and we're going to be the the company that brings weblogs to a broad audience.

It's been less than three years since then, and literally millions of people have joined the community of bloggers. A lot of my reason for moving in 2004 had to do specifically with Movable Type: it's the product that started our company, and we'd made some first mistakes in communicating about who it was for, what our plan was, and how things were going to evolve. I wasn't sure if we'd be able to get everybody blogging, but I sure as hell wanted to try.

The first sign that things have changed radically is that the idea of people building entire careers on top of blogs went from a hopeful wish to an everyday reality. The best example? Serious Eats. My wife Alaina helped create and launch the site on Movable Type as its General Manager, and the main reason we're moving back to New York is because running this site every day is her job. That blows my mind.

More importantly, Serious Eats a fucking fantastic community, already. I'm just amazed at the breadth of knowledge that the hosts and members on the site have about almost every kind of food. And I could watch Jeffrey Steingarten's insanity every day of the week.

Serious Eats represents the success of the professional blogging community in other ways, too. Back in 2004 when I wrote my post about moving to San Francisco, companies like Apperceptive didn't even exist. Today, they've got a whole staff of smart folks creating blog-powered sites for a living. I love that other people are getting to do something they love for a living, instead of as just a hobby.

But of course, there's still a lot to do. In explaining what I do for a living, or describing all the chances I get to talk about blogging, I'm frankly amazed at the number of people who don't have the faintest idea how blogging can be a great thing. I'm almost equally surprised that after years of talking about this all day every day, it's still exciting to me.

And I've got a lot of things that I feel are my personal obligation to address. There's the basics, like how a blog can make your life better, or make your job easier. But also, people don't know how deeply all of us at Six Apart care about getting new people to blog, to help them connect with people through blogging. Sometimes I think the strangers who attend the random conferences with me have more of an idea what's going on with Six Apart and Movable Type than the "experts" who spend all day reading blogs. That's something I intend to fix -- we haven't forgotten about our original community or taken them for granted, we just needed to talk to these new audiences because nobody else could do it.

There are other challenges: these days, we've got broadcast TV networks producing shows every week that are scaring the shit out of people, thinking that blogging is just "that thing on Dateline where my daughter puts her home address on the web". I think I can help dispel that fear, too. Perhaps more than anything, being outside of San Francisco means I can work on getting a more diverse crowd of people using these tools to make their jobs or their lives better.

That's where I started with this whole thing, trying to find a way to make real connections using my blog. Some of that is habit for me; I told my Vox neighborhood about my move before I posted it here. So I should mention that there was something of an easter egg in my post on leaving New York. I had said:

That's the part I struggle to remember, that I'll be glad to see how the city's evolved in my absence, and that I've already had a wealth of experiences that would last me a lifetime even if I could never return. This is closing a chapter, certainly, but not closing a book, and in the meantime I have what I've had. I worked at the top of the Empire State Building. I got to shake Rudy Giuliani's hand and say thanks. I got to buy the last mango I bought in Manhattan, and all that it entails. I got to watch the hot dog contest and the fireworks on the Fourth of July. I got stuck on the wrong side of the Macy's Parade on Thanksgiving. I walked through a silent Times Square in the middle of a snowstorm and pushed my way past the crowds in the Square on New Year's Eve. I stayed at home a hundred Saturday nights, knowing that there were tons of people having the time of their life out on the town, and didn't regret it for a minute.

The easter egg is that mention of "the last mango I bought in Manhattan". That mango was what I bought in lieu of an engagement ring when I proposed to my wife. A year later (and now, over a year ago!), we got married. And now that commitment is part of what brings me back home. Pretty cool.

Originally from Anil Dash by Anil reBlogged

Originally posted by Anil from Anil Dash, on December 20, 2006 5:51 PM

In case you missed it (I posted to ranchero.com)—NetNewsWire and other NewsGator apps are $10 off during the month of December. For the holidays, you know. ;)

And totally don’t miss MacSanta, with 20% off on dozens of very cool Mac apps.

Originally from inessential.com reBlogged on Dec 20, 2006, 12:59AM

Originally from inessential.com, on December 20, 2006 5:49 PM

Awesome. Director Michel Gondry recently posted a YouTube video where he is pictured solving a Rubik's Cube with his feet. A few days later, this response debunks Gondry's effort as a stunt. When I read the title, I half-expected the person to claim that Gondry had used CGI to fake the solving, but that wasn't likely because Gondry doesn't like to use special effects in his films. The actual answer is decided low-tech and clever, just like his movies. BTW, here's someone solving the Cube with one hand in 20 seconds. (via cf)
Update: Regarding the CGI, then again.... (thx, oscar)

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Dec 20, 2006, 12:32AM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on December 20, 2006 5:49 PM

Red Sweater Blog: “But I just discovered something about ash that’s truly magical. Think ‘Remote Script Editor’!”

Originally from ranchero.com by Brent Simmons reBlogged on Dec 20, 2006, 10:59AM

Originally posted by Brent Simmons from ranchero.com, on December 20, 2006 5:47 PM

At the northeast corner of the Japanese garden pond in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, one cherry tree is in full bloom. We owe this "blossom riot" to temperatures that are almost five degrees above normal. But don't worry — according to Patrick J. Cullina, the garden's vice president for horticulture, this early bloom isn't a sign of a global warming-induced apocalypse. “This isn’t of any concern to us,” Cullina told the NY Times. “This is serendipitous. We have hundreds of other cherry trees that will flower in the spring. It’s just a nice surprise for people who happen to be here today.” The Times also reports that Brooklynites can still look forward to "a magic carpet of pink petals in the garden come April."
Winter Looms, but One Tree Dresses for Spring [NY Times]
Photo by Daniel Barry for The New York Times

Originally from Brooklyn Record by Brooklyn Record reBlogged on Dec 20, 2006, 10:45AM

Originally posted by Brooklyn Record from Brooklyn Record, on December 20, 2006 5:47 PM

People have been sending me their photos of very small things and I am loving this phenomenon. I feel like I'm a cult leader with disciples. Finally. Here's a great little salad by Kottke. Can you top it??

Originally from Andrea Harner by Andrea reBlogged on Dec 20, 2006, 9:50AM

Originally posted by Andrea from Andrea Harner, on December 20, 2006 5:47 PM

http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/12/google_depreciates_SOAP_API.html [This means the end of most published "Google Hacks" and, most importantly, countless Google-based net art works. Another example why relying on proprietary software and services will bite back developers eventually.] -F

Originally from gmane.culture.internet.nettime by Florian Cramer reBlogged on Dec 20, 2006, 7:28AM

Originally posted by Florian Cramer from gmane.culture.internet.nettime, on December 20, 2006 5:47 PM

"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so to have the life that is waiting for us."
Joseph Campbell

It never quite works out as planned, does it?
So, put down the pen and paper.
Lose the list.
Stop jumping ahead of yourself.
Live in the moment.
And smile.

Originally from l-e-mental by clairehyland reBlogged

Originally posted by clairehyland from l-e-mental, on December 20, 2006 5:47 PM

I was just listening to a podcast of a Blazer radio talk show in Portland. They had Steve Kerr on, and he had an amazing point right at the end about the new ball: the whole thing that pissed off the players was that they were not consulted. It wasn't necessarily that they didn't like the new ball. It was that they weren't asked to play a part in the decision to switch. It's about power, not balls. So, what does the league do? They just switch back. Unilaterally. Without asking the players if that's what they want.

Some players are really not happy about it. How many? Who knows? It's possible that a majority would have voted to keep the new ball. The league made a big fuss about how it was a priority to keep the players happy. If they really meant it, they surely would have learned from their mistake and asked the players what they wanted to do.

Originally from True Hoop by Henry Abbott reBlogged on Dec 20, 2006, 5:23PM

Originally posted by Henry Abbott from True Hoop, on December 20, 2006 5:41 PM

31 writers pick their favorite songs of the year, then interview each artist about them [via] 

Originally from Waxy.org Links reBlogged on Dec 20, 2006, 1:22PM

Originally from Waxy.org Links, on December 20, 2006 5:41 PM

A look at Saks Fifth Avenue's new logo and identity. The identity system consists of cutting up the logo into patterns....98,137,610,226,945,526,221,323,127,451,938,506, 431,029,735,326,490,840,972,261,848,186,538, 906,070,058,088,365,083,852,800,000,000,000 possible patterns.

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Dec 20, 2006, 1:10PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on December 20, 2006 5:41 PM

Activists Animal Rights Militia have alerted east coast supermarkets that they've contaminated bottles of Pom Wonderful will some nasty bug that will make those who drink it suffer "diarrhea, vomiting and headaches." Pom allegedly kills mice and rabbits in trials that test some of its health benefits claims.

Friends of Animals claims that Pom Wonderful has supported tests of its juice on brain injuries in mice, and, even better, on erectile dysfunction in rabbits. Those poor rabbits, being force-fed that refreshingly not-too-sweet pomegranate juice and then hippity-hopping it up with some sexy bunny slut-clinicians? Doesn't quite pull the heartstrings like the toilet bowl cleaner in the eye animal testing stories, does it?

Health officials think the contimination threat is a hoax, of the kind Animal Rights Militia has done many times before, but Food Emporium says they're checking their bottles of Pom. If you're concerned about animal testing, the erotic lives of rabbits, or getting butt-sick, you might want to avoid drinking it.

written by Amy

Originally from Amy's Robot reBlogged on Dec 20, 2006, 11:56AM

Originally from Amy's Robot, on December 20, 2006 5:41 PM

The next version of every blogging platform should support this out of the box

Originally from unmediated by yatta reBlogged on Dec 20, 2006, 11:02AM

Originally posted by yatta from unmediated, on December 20, 2006 5:41 PM

On extrinsic motivation vs. intrinsic motivation and management

Originally from unmediated by yatta reBlogged on Dec 20, 2006, 11:02AM

Originally posted by yatta from unmediated, on December 20, 2006 5:41 PM

Deb-a-Day is a website that seeks to introduce its reader to one new debian package(.deb) a day. There was a deb-a-day website earlier at livejournal which has been dormant since November 2004. The current deb-a-day is a reincarnation of the old, at a new url.

You can read Lucas’ posts describing the resurrection - post 1, post 2.

The most recent package covered in Deb-a-day is Qalculate. Seems like a very interesting little app. I wonder why someone doesn’t build in all of its functionality in the deskbar applet. That ould be way too cool!

I look forward to deb-a-day posts, and thought that most of you might want to add it to your feedreaders/bookmarks too. Oh, and yes, you can contribute to deb-a-day, too.

Originally from Ubuntu Blog by ubuntonista reBlogged on Dec 20, 2006, 4:03PM

Originally posted by ubuntonista from Ubuntu Blog, on December 20, 2006 5:35 PM

People with low self-esteem don't like surprise endings in mystery novels while the self-confident did. (via mr)

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Dec 20, 2006, 3:36PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on December 20, 2006 5:35 PM

Quick Post

Ed provides my favorite holiday gift roundup of the season

http://edlevineeats.seriouseats.com/2006/12/give_the_gift_of_noshing.html

Originally from Capn Design reBlogged on Dec 20, 2006, 3:35PM

Originally from Capn Design, on December 20, 2006 5:35 PM

Last night I saw a bad movie, The Good Shepherd.  I did not pay for it so I am not too upset about it.  It was just really, really boring.  It was disappointing and really sort of flat.  2 hours and 45 minutes without previews!  Plus, Angelina Jolie and no steamy sex scene.  Come on!  It was beautifully shot and had an all star cast but not much else.  It just seemed like a strange choice for a film directed by Robert DeNiro.  Well, there is one black girl in it.  (For all of you who do not know this, DeNiro has a thing for the black girls.  Oh yes he does!)  And a few random people from Good Fellas were randomly in the film although they had no reason to be at all.

Come to think of it, a lot of people were miscast in this movie!   I really think that a bunch of celebrities pulled out their planners (or got their assistants together) and found a few months they were all free and said, "Hey, why not make a film with DeNiro?  It will be fun.  Who cares if the script is too long and there are multiple loose ends that are never resolved.  It will all work out." 

Anyway, when movies are this boring, Beeber and I are really bad.  We are those people that make fun of the movie the whole time.  It just makes time pass much faster.  It's not nice or considerate but we can't help it.  We've got to get something out of the experience.

So to that women who was really pissed at us, I guess I'm sorry.  But were you really enjoying that movie anyway?

Originally from tuckergurl by Angela Tucker reBlogged on Dec 20, 2006, 2:05PM

Originally posted by Angela Tucker from tuckergurl, on December 20, 2006 5:35 PM

Originally from hustler of culture by souris reBlogged

Originally posted by souris from hustler of culture, on December 20, 2006 5:35 PM

This just in: social networks are awesome. But.

If it isn’t here already, we are, in all likelihood, counting down to the end of the first phase of social networking, that stage in the Internet’s maturation that will be remembered for its behemoth social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, etc. Thirteen days from today, the end of the year, would be as good a time as any to mark the official closing of the era.

These networks will continue to thrive, no doubt, and continue to be influential. But it seems to me that next year what we’ll see is the emergence of the post-social Internet, in which the tools of social networking take on the qualities of ubiquitous givens, and in which the previous style of expansive, cross-demographic digital hubs like those mentioned above are going to be joined by a score of smaller, more focused niche networks catering to narrower tastes.

A Thousand Points of Socializing

These are already here. Two of them made The New York Times today: Charles Saatchi’s art playground at Stuart, and a new startup called OurChart.com, which is an improbable spin-off of the Showtime Network’s series “The L Word.” Before these, even, there was Musicmobs.com for devotees of popular music, Ning.com, whose primary purpose is in fact to allow users to create brand new social networks of their own, and the groaningly named MyBlogLog, which allows you to attach a buddy list to just about any Web page. Alert readers will doubtless be able to name a dozen more.

The question I’ve always asked is: how many of these networks can a single user remain faithful to? In this coming world where everything will include some form of social networking, I have to scratch my head and wonder if I’ll be able to remain current on anything more than two or three of them. Who has the time for more, if even that many? (Though part of the new ubiquity, I’m guessing, will be the idea that social networking tools will in many ways become more transparent, there will still need to be some maintenance required for most.)

If You Network Someone, Set them Free

This fretting about the overhead of social networks seems especially important if, as some suggest, the path to success for these networks will be exclusivity, the idea that “these networks are only as strong as their members” and that the gatekeepers would do well to “keep the riff-faff out.” It seems like a small leap though from strategically exclusive to enduringly proprietary; if you’re looking to keep unwanted users out, it follows that you’ll also want to lock ‘good’ users in.

Which just fills me with greater discouragement about the prospects for a decentralized social networking framework that can ensure a moderate level of inter-operability. I call the idea, “Network Once, Socialize Anywhere.” Why should I have to connect to my best friend, say, once on Flickr, once on LinkedIn, once on Twitter and again for as many new cool networks as will arise in 2007?

It’s true that the prospects for such a standardized way of collecting and maintaining social network data seem dim. As an imperative in a marketplace that’s emphasizing the acquisition of huge audiences above all else, it would seem to have low priority, and these things tend to gravitate towards de facto standards defined by the big players, anyway.

Speaking only for myself, though: what I want out of the Web, as in most things, is simplicity. And the current mode of continually reflecting my personal information and buddy lists across multiple networks ad infinitum seems sadly complex, frustrating even. Here, at the onset of the new year, I have to take a slightly broader view and ask myself, how many more social networks will I join in 2007 alone? At least a dozen, I imagine, and unless something changes, each time it’ll be like starting over from scratch.

Originally from Subtraction by Khoi Vinh reBlogged on Dec 19, 2006, 12:21AM

Originally posted by Khoi Vinh from Subtraction, on December 19, 2006 12:06 PM

OpenID authenticator in a single file, mostly easy to get up and running. Upload this to your server and you can log in to any OpenID-enabled site! (not sure why it's named "My" if one of your features is *not* needing a database)

Originally from unmediated by yatta reBlogged on Dec 19, 2006, 12:21AM

Originally posted by yatta from unmediated, on December 19, 2006 12:06 PM

Lonelygirl tops AP's top 10 YouTube videos of 2006.

This is a very interesting list with a good explanation of each video and it's importance to online video.

I joined YouTube 8 months ago and have watched 906 videos. I've posted 10 videos and have a channel called YouTube Soup, where I post my favorite YouTube videos.

The YouTube Soup Channel has had 476 views and has 16 subscribers.

Originally from unmediated by yatta reBlogged on Dec 19, 2006, 12:21AM

Originally posted by yatta from unmediated, on December 19, 2006 12:06 PM

Limor and Phil Torrone's laser etching service is up and running.

When I asked Limor if I could buy their services she said no. "Dude, you have your own laser cutter [at the Eyebeam OpenLab]!"

Yeah, Limor, that doesn't mean I've taken the time to actually use it yet.

Originally from braintag reBlogged on Dec 18, 2006, 10:54PM

Originally from braintag, on December 18, 2006 11:37 PM

From over 220 entries in the Celebrity Mii Contest, the judges have selected their favorite celebrity avatar created with the Nintendo Wii. And the winner is Dave Curry with his Zach Braff Mii:

Judge Spencer Sloan of Goldenfiddle said of this entry: "What's beautiful about this one is the truth in this piece. Yes, Braff, you're a nose and some lip. Bravo to the artist for taking a risk." Judge Jen Bekman of the Jen Bekman gallery said of the Braff: "There is this eerily human quality - I mean it really looks like him, as a person, in a weird way." The Braff Mii was not the most faithfully rendered celebrity Mii but with a few broad strokes, Curry created something more than the sum of its parts and ventured close to art. Well done. As the winner, Dave will receive the Wii game of his choice and a 3-D statuette of the Zach Braff Mii provided by Fabjectory.

Here are some other entries the judges felt strongly about (i.e. the runners-up) with commentary:

Jack Black by both Brandon Erickson and Shane Walsh
Jen: "Faithfully rendered."
Spencer: "The artist really captured Black's unsettling feline qualities with confidence and skill, and for that he/she must be congratulated."

Condoleezza Rice by Alex Chang
Jen: "The Condi one looks like her and also is a caricature at the same time, embodying the devil-essence that surely corrupts her soul."

Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Stephanie Goins
Spencer: "This one is like the Mona Lisa. I cannot escape her glazy stare, try as I may. She's perfect in every way."

Woody Allen by Adam Preble
Jen: "Great, immediately recognizable, somewhat of an easy target though."

Frida Kahlo by Adriana Tatum

Vito Corleone by Benjamin Lim
Jen: "Don Corleone came close to being my top pick before I decided that he too, was a bit too easy."

Steve Zissou by Mark Husson
Spencer: "Nice work on the hat, I guess, but the moustache is weird. Plus, no pock marks. And Stevie definitely needs him a frown."

Admiral Ackbar by Eric Eberhardt and Mike Boccieri
Spencer: "Admiral Ackbar is fantastic, obviously, because I immediately knew who he was, and maybe you didn't. I'm interested to find out whether the artist went in with Ackbar in mind or saw him in some of the available features. Very well done, indeed."

Klaus Nomi by D.J. Ross' girlfriend
Spencer: "The Klaus Nomi is a strong work but possesses little confidence. This Klaus is all fear.
More timid mime than weirdo alien swagger."

And here are the rest of the finalists that the judges had to choose from. You may notice a few excellent cartoon entries...the judges felt that while they were worthy finalists, they did not merit the top spots because of a lower degree of difficulty involved in their construction (i.e. making a cartoon character with what is essentially a cartoon editor).

From top to bottom, left to right: Velma from Scooby Doo, Hannibal Lecter, Jack Skellington from A Nightmare Before Christmas, Dick Cheney, Tom Cruise, Hulk Hogan, Jennifer Wilbanks (aka The Runaway Bride), George Costanza, Charlie Brown, and V from V for Vendetta.

Missing from the finalists are the multiple Michael Jacksons, Hitlers, Satans, Walter Sobchaks, Beatles, and Kim Jong Ils. So many Mii versions of all these people exist online that it didn't feel right including them in the final round because they were both too easy and too easily copied from elsewhere.

Finally, a personal favorite that didn't make it into the final round:

David Foster Wallace by Nick Maniatis

I get the feeling that in the Maniatis household, there are a lot of Wii Tennis matches pitting Wallace and Hal Incandenza against Tracy Austin and Michael Joyce. Awesome.

Thanks to everyone who entered and to the judges for deciding amongst such a strong field of entrants.

Originally from kottke.org reBlogged on Dec 18, 2006, 1:53PM

Originally from kottke.org, on December 18, 2006 11:37 PM

During David Stern's teleconference with reporters, Chris Tomasson of the Rocky Mountain News delivered the news that today George Karl expressed disgust at the fallout of the fight, saying (I paraphrase) that he was bitter that Isiah Thomas hadn't been punished. Tomasson told the commish that Karl had called Thomas "a jackass."

David Stern sounded pretty annoyed (that's nothing special, new, or noteworthy) and said it was an issue he'd talk about with Nugget owner Stan Kroenke, who was responsible for "the public actions of his employees."

Alan Hahn of Newsday seems to have noticed the same thing.

UPDATE: Denver Post reports:

In Denver, Nuggets coach George Karl was irate with Thomas, who said today that Karl put his players in danger by leaving them on the floor too long. Karl accused Thomas of a "premediated" act, underscoring his disgust with the New York coach with expletives.

"It was directed by Isiah," he said during a shootaround. "I think his actions after the game were despicable. He made a bad situation worse. I'll swear on my children's life that I never thought about running up the score. I wanted to get a big win on the road." "My team has had trouble holding leads at the end of games," he added. "I didn't want the score to get under 10 points because if it would've gotten under 10 points it would've had a negative feeling on my team."

Originally from True Hoop by Henry Abbott reBlogged on Dec 18, 2006, 4:25PM

Originally posted by Henry Abbott from True Hoop, on December 18, 2006 11:36 PM

Rebecca Blood passes along this interesting challenge: If all knowledge about your field were about to wink out of existence, and you could offer up one sentence that would survive, what would it be? What’s the one most essential and useful thing you could say about experience design? Leave your suggestions in the comments.

Originally from Adaptive Path by jjg reBlogged on Dec 18, 2006, 2:52PM

Originally posted by jjg from Adaptive Path, on December 18, 2006 11:36 PM

he's owned the domain since 1998  

Originally from Waxy.org Links reBlogged on Dec 18, 2006, 10:39PM

Originally from Waxy.org Links, on December 18, 2006 11:34 PM

It's official (at least as far as we're concerned): Kottke.org's Celebrity Mii Contest is the most awesomest blog meme of 2006. (Pictured: David Foster Wallace, apparently playing doubles with himself, which is twice the awesome).

Originally from shey.net reblog reBlogged on Dec 18, 2006, 10:23PM

Originally from shey.net reblog, on December 18, 2006 11:34 PM

How do motion-sensing video game controllers (like the Wii remote) work? "The accelerometers used in the Nintendo controller are thinner than a penny, small enough to fit twelve on a postage stamp, and sell for under $6 a piece. They can accurately measure forces more than three times stronger than the pull of gravity in three directions - up and down, side to side, and forward and back."

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Dec 18, 2006, 6:46PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on December 18, 2006 11:34 PM

If you made it into 11 Spring St. this weekend, then chances are you are still trying to get your breath back.

The building, acting as a gigantic brick canvas, currently showcases the greatest collection of contemporary art this city has ever seen. What makes the entire event so heart-renderingly beautiful is knowing that the artistic masterpieces on show are a product of pure and unadultered passion. Having been lucky enough to meet many of the artists over the last few days, I'm blown over not just by their collective talent, but their hunger to participate in a project that was not about the "me", but the "we". As for the organizing team made up of Marc, Sarah and Malcolm, the city of New York has engraved your names deep into its heart.

No payment, no sponsorship, no nothing - just passion.

A passion for art.

A Love for New York City.

A desire to connect with soulmates.

A need to give back.

An appetitie to make a collective statement.

A wish come through....for all of us.

[Contemporary Cave Drawings] has a wonderful collection of photos, as does [Flickr]. [Jake's video] above captures the buzzy tension of waiting in line to see New York's best ever authentic art show, aleady been refered as the Woodstock of street art.

History is the making...wow....and wow again.

Originally from l-e-mental by clairehyland reBlogged

Originally posted by clairehyland from l-e-mental, on December 18, 2006 11:34 PM

Paul Kedrosky has put forth a terrific one-sentence challenge.

Physicist Richard Feynman once said that if all knowledge about physics was about to expire the one sentence he would tell the future is that "Everything is made of atoms". What one sentence would you tell the future about your own area, whether it's entrepreneurship, hedge funds, venture capital, or something else?

Examples: An economist might say that "People respond to incentives". I had an engineering professor years ago who said all of that field could be reduced to "F=MA and you can't push on a rope".

Off the top of my head, speaking about the intersection between media, technology, and culture, I would say "People power culture with the tools they have at hand".

Rafe answers the challenge with a sentence about programming.

Update: There are a few people whose sentences I'd especially like to read, so I'm going to tag them here in the hope they will respond.

- Security expert Bruce Schneier
- Storyteller-about-ideas Malcolm Gladwell
- Futurist Jamais Cascio. [Jamais responds and tags seven more interesting people

.]
- Founder Alex Steffen and every single one of the contributors at World Changing
- Communications expert Alan Nelson
- Nanotechnologist George Elvin
- Storyteller Neil Gaiman

What would you say to the future?

Originally from Rebecca's Pocket reBlogged on Dec 18, 2006, 1:17PM

Originally from Rebecca's Pocket, on December 18, 2006 1:51 PM

using the microformats support we pushed in Upcoming and Y! Local as examples, too  

Originally from Waxy.org Links reBlogged on Dec 18, 2006, 5:26AM

Originally from Waxy.org Links, on December 18, 2006 1:37 PM

Phil teases out some interesting data from a Nokia World presentation.

I've been following it since its inception, and this 360 study keeps amazing me.

Link: See into S60.

All the presentations from Nokia World are now online. There's one in particular you should check out - Head of Software Platforms Consumer Marketing at Nokia, Esa Eerola, discussed results from the latest Smartphone 360 study. The study is something funded by S60 and is done two or three times per year.

Originally from Lifeblog by charlie reBlogged

Originally posted by charlie from Lifeblog, on December 18, 2006 1:37 PM

What an amazing weekend! At this point everyone who's been a part of this project is absolutely fried and spent and to even try to understand all of the shit that went down this weekend would be too crazy for us.

It's now 7:46 in the morning and we're still buzzing off the incredible heart and energy that finally returned to the streets of Lower Manhattan.

For us, this weekend was about what New York once was. It was about showing people what New York should be. It's what people want in New York - and other cities but don't usually have the ability to express it.

At this point all we can say is thank you, thank you, thank you! to everyone who showed up with open minds and open hearts and contributed to what will go down as one of the most amazing weekends in most of our lives. For a while there it felt like some sort of mini Woostock for urban art.

All weekend people asked Sara and I - "Did you know that Wooster on Spring would be this fucking huge? They expect our answer to be something like -

"How can you ever anticipate that kind of madness? Of course not"

But in truth, we knew all along that it was going to be this big. Because for years there has been this pent up demand for a weekend like this, not only in New York, but in other cities all around the world. If you are a part of the contemporaty urban art scene, then you know that the crazyness of this weekend is only the tip of the iceberg.

We've known all along that people need to create art not because they are allowed to, but because in their heart, all they need is to be recognized for being a human being on this planet just like everyone else.

The artists who created and donated their heart, talent and vision inside the building share a common view of the world with the people who painted outside on the building.

Was it hard to get all of the artists to participate?

No.

Because we are all part of the same family and share the same vision of the world.

Cleaning up late last night, we saw what will definately be our favorite tag of the weekend on the building. It was placed just a few feet from the door to get in. Someone had written very small with a pen...

"hour 5. amost in"

Off to bed.

Originally from Wooster Collective reBlogged on Dec 18, 2006, 7:44AM

Originally from Wooster Collective, on December 18, 2006 1:30 PM

A male cardinal lights in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Photo courtesy Elliotte Rusty Harold.

The borough's birders were out in force yesterday for the Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count, an annual census that takes place across the Western Hemisphere. Bird populations are good indicators of environmental health, and early reports from parts of Brooklyn don't look too good. The numbers of Eastern Meadowlarks and Ring-necked Pheasants have plummeted from what they were in decades past, reports The City Birder, while the total species count for Kings County (122) seemed low to Prospect Heights Count participant Elliotte Rusty Harold. "We didn’t find any species that had not been seen on previous counts, and no Western or European vagrants," he writes.

Did anyone here participate in the count? What were the highlights?

Brooklyn Bird Count [Mokka mit Schlag]
Christmas Bird Count at Floyd Bennett Field [The City Birder]

Originally from Brooklyn Record by Brooklyn Record reBlogged on Dec 18, 2006, 10:43AM

Originally posted by Brooklyn Record from Brooklyn Record, on December 18, 2006 1:29 PM

Photos by Matt Armendariz

Matt Armendariz explains how he creates beautiful food photos like those seen above. Of course he's got great gear, but he says natural light is best. This is my downfall: lighting. I never have enough good natural light when I need to shoot food -- usually because it's dinner time and I'm just about to eat it! His good tips will certainly help me.

Originally from Megnut by meg@megnut.com (Meg Hourihan) reBlogged on Dec 18, 2006, 10:28AM

Originally posted by meg@megnut.com (Meg Hourihan) from Megnut, on December 18, 2006 1:29 PM

Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg rock another SNL "Digital Short," Color Me Badd style, with their new slow jam "Dick in a Box."

Originally from Tuberaider Video by Jay Smooth reBlogged

Originally posted by Jay Smooth from Tuberaider Video, on December 18, 2006 1:29 PM