randomwalks/dj

Maneuvers by those upset with the system are adding unpredictability to an already knotty campaign....

Originally posted by By JENNIFER STEINHAUER from NYT > Jennifer Steinhauer, on August 11, 2007 6:48 PM

On the CIA‘s “Black Sites”. “It’s one of the most sophisticated, refined programs of torture ever... At every stage, there was a rigid attention to detail. Procedure was adhered to almost to the letter. There was top-down quality control, and such a set routine that you get to the point where you know what each detainee is going to say, because you’ve heard it before. It was almost automated. People were utterly dehumanized. People fell apart. It was the intentional and systematic infliction of great suffering masquerading as a legal process. It is just chilling.”

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Social Design Notes, on August 11, 2007 3:16 PM

No, it’s not gone that far that I have pushed 944 icons so far. Perhaps I have, I don’t know, but that’s beside the point. What matters is the future. The time after 9:44 UTC.

Having gotten enthusiastic responses to the Iconizement plan I set forward in a few posts, I have been able to get ’sponsoring’ for at least two icon sets. I have a whole road ahead of me when it comes to the freeware icon sets I am producing.

This is, basically, the timeline for my upcoming icon sets. The three in the ‘hot zone’ above (the Designer Icons set 2, the War on Bad Design icons set 2 and the Designer Folders) are coming up very quickly, very possibly at the same time, when the brand new version of Icon Designer will be unveiled.

But there is more, a lot more. 944, the enigmatic number, stands for 512, 256, 128, 32, and 16; the new sizes that I will be releasing my icons in. You read that right, all new icon sets will feature super-hi res icons a month before Leopard. If anyone’s even been ready for Leopard, I am.

Apart from that, not only Mac users will rejoice. Icon Designer’s new releases come in all formats; for Windows in .ico, for Mac in ICNS, and for Linux users, PNG’s for all sizes. The growing popularity of this website has shown me that there is a righteous demand for these extra formats, and as such, you are getting them!

This wouldn’t be the Cocoia Blog if you would get out of this blog post without being peppered by desire-inducing preview images. The Designer Folders set, which will contain anodized metal, standard aqua and wooden folders with the following interesting motives;

Slight touches of reflection in the anodized steel folders (which are depicted here) are among the fine details in the new sets. The folder set is truly a showcase of new, unique ideas in folders and overflows with gimmicks and eye candy. Since there was a lot of ado going on at Macthemes over Susumu’s latest folder set release “Cats 2″ being ‘inspired’ by other sets, I set to inspire this set by cats as well. In fact, since they have always been so supportive in my life, I included a cat - he’s not so comfortable in folders, though, or so it seems.

I wanted to put a solid date on this release, and although it is highly dependent on my picky sense of perfectionism, I expect to launch Icon Designer v. 3 by the beginning of September - ideally, the last day of August. I will keep you up to date with the developments!

Originally posted by sebastiaan from Cocoia Blog, on August 11, 2007 10:43 AM

A summary of one of the several Chinese knockoffs of Harry Potter, courtesy of the NY Times:

Snape breaks into Hogwarts and rescues Lucius Malfoy from Azkaban Prison. Harry believes that he can defeat Snape and Voldemort only by strenuously practicing charms. Professor Slughorn, inspired by a book from the East provided by Cho Chang called "Thirty-Six Strategies," devises a plan enabling Harry to seize Snape in the Ministry of Magic. But Gryffindor's sword, which hung in the headmaster's office, assassinates Professor McGonagall.

When Harry confronts Voldemort at Azkaban, the Dark Lord tries to win Harry over as a fellow descendant of Slytherin. Harry refuses, and together with Ron and Hermione, kills Voldemort instead. Now what will Harry do about his two girlfriends?

In another of the books, Harry is assisted by Gandalf. No appearances by Han and Chewy, AFAIK.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from kottke.org, on August 11, 2007 6:38 AM

This just in: Scoble jumps ship as Podtech sinks. Im still trying to confirm that Chuck's tweet means what it says (no word back yet from Scoble or Chuck).

No surprise. I read an article where CEO John Furrier states an additional $2 million had been invested in the company in the middle of July which he expected to last only "a few months". Wow. What are they doing over there?

I don't know any of the details as to why the company is not making it except for the one I could always see myself and I believe it's the most important part of a network: quality of content.

The network has about 20 shows they list on their website. Have you heard of any of them? Aside from The Scoble Show, quick, name another show. . . Yea, I always have a hard time with that question too. I'd rather see the new networks making it but they are mostly missing that important role of creating compelling content that will resonate with enough people to sustain and grow.

Podtech is clearly a tech company. Pod. Tech. From what I can tell, they never had anyone in their company that was a professional and experienced video content producer. And not just someone but someone with good taste who can understand how the content will fit in with everything else that is out there.

First adopters are techies and the new networks have the DNA of Silicon Valley all over them. Where is Hollywood in this thinking? Content is business mostly driven by professional content creators, not the technology industry. The problem is biconditional. The traditional studio are not listening to the technologists very well on how to support the flow of their good content. There needs to be more of a collaboration.

When we take a moment to step out of the 2.0 bubble and have a look around, its easy to see that the power of the moving image is not going to burst. Online video, personal publishing, content - this type of stuff is not about today's shiny new gadgets and Ajax. When the iPhone becomes an archaic collectors item and Facebook and YouTube are only known by the old and stodgy, people will be still be creating content that will strike a chord in a big way and there will always be a big market for it.

I'd rather see the new networks making it but they are mostly missing that really important role of being able to identify compelling content that will strike a chord in enough people to sustain and grow.

Originally posted by Drew from Dembot, on August 11, 2007 4:52 AM

Taken during "Maps."

Originally posted by (author unknown) from kathryn yu dot com, on August 10, 2007 4:52 PM

Bob Keefe:

I’m the Jackass of the Week.

#

Originally posted by John Gruber from Daring Fireball, on August 10, 2007 1:41 PM

Unfortunately TextDrive is having problems with DDoS attacks which means that (at least some) license key emails are queued locally instead of being fully delivered.

As noted in my previous post I am presently attending C4 in Chicago (that is, registration starts in two hours) so hopefully people registering will be okay with some noticeable delay receiving the license key.

If your copy has expired, and you are affected by the delay, please write textmate (at) gmail dot com and state this (yes, use the gmail address, since the various @macromates.com addresses will also be affected by the DDoS attack).

And for the people affected, please accept my apology — I will look into a backup server solution when I return from vacation.

Originally posted by Allan Odgaard from TextMate Blog, on August 10, 2007 12:53 PM

Two MIT graduate students have found a way to harness the power of steppin'. They've developed technology that generates electricity when you walk over a special sub-floor that shifts slightly as you depress each square. This magic device then converts the movement into energy. While a small step from one person won't do much, if you install this in a train station or concert areana, you're suddenly generating enough electricity to make it worth while.

While I love any renewable energy resource, the idea of directly effecting the energy output is exciting. It could become a game. Maybe they put a huge sign in Yankee Stadium that shows how many joules have been created this month. They could then compete with Mets fans at Shea. In some ways, this reminds me of the Hong Kong gym that generates electricity from treadmills. The more you exercise the more you help the community.

Not nearly enough useful technology incorporates fun. It's depressing hearing about how global warming is going to kill us all, so give us a fun way to help out. Sure, I'll still do the boring things like unplugging gadget chargers, but isn't it more pleasing to think my spastic game of tag in Grand Central is actually helping the environment?

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Capn Design, on August 10, 2007 12:38 PM

Bob Fosse was a genius.

Originally posted by Michael Sippey from (un)filtered, on August 10, 2007 11:17 AM

"#2: If the graphic designer chooses Helvetica for a font, ask for Arial. If he chooses Arial, ask for Comic Sans. If he chooses Comic Sans, he's already half-insane, so your job's half done."

Originally posted by Michal Migurski from tecznotes links, on August 10, 2007 10:48 AM

For a while, Mr. Hoogestraat, sitting at his computer, stares at an image of his avatar sitting at his computer.

Is This Man Cheating on His Wife? - WSJ.com

Originally posted by Adam from randomWalks, on August 10, 2007 10:09 AM

First of all, THANKS to Six Apart and the community of users for the support. Creative Commons and WITNESS can really use the money and we appreciate it VERY much. A portion of the donations by users for permanent Live Journal accounts was donated to RAINN, EFF, Creative Commons and WITNESS during a recent campaign.

Unfortunately, we failed to disclose my involvement in Creative Commons and WITNESS when Six Apart was conducting the campaign. I'm the chairman of Creative Commons and a board member of WITNESS. I apologize to everyone for this oversight. I think that transparency is an essential part of everything we stand for and it really is unfortunate that we didn't handle this properly.

I would like to make it clear that while I donate time and money to WITNESS and Creative Commons, I pay all of my expenses and have never charged anything to either of these organizations... so while it doesn't make the lack of disclosure OK, I don't personally benefit financially from either of these donations from Six Apart.

Anyway, thanks again for everyone's support of Six Apart, Creative Commons, WITNESS and other organizations that I love.

BTW, Valleywag posted about the lack of disclosure.

UPDATE: BTW, my wiki profile probably is the best list of affiliations that I have if you're interested.

Comment - TrackBack

Originally posted by jito@kula.jp (Joi) from Joi Ito's Web, on August 10, 2007 8:50 AM

File under: whoa. The Standing Room turns three and gives a gift to its readers: the blogger's identity. (It's Sidney Chen, the artistic administrator of the Kronos Quartet!)

Originally posted by Michael Sippey from (un)filtered, on August 10, 2007 8:47 AM

Ladies and gentlemen, Paul Ford: "If we have a child and the rats do not eat it first I will teach her (or him) to fear Sting. 'Be good,' I will say, 'or Sting will come with his lute.'"

Originally posted by Michael Sippey from (un)filtered, on August 10, 2007 8:36 AM

Apple has just released a new version of Boot Camp, the company’s software for running Windows on your Mac. Boot Camp 1.4 features improved drivers for graphic cards and more.

Boot Camp is still an unsupported beta, but the Apple says the software will be included in the upcoming release of OS X 10.5 Leopard.

The new Boot Camp 1.4 includes:

• Support for keyboard backlighting (MacBook Pro only)
• Apple Remote pairing
• Updated graphics drivers
• Improved Boot Camp driver installer
• Improved international keyboard support
• Localization fixes
• Updated Windows Help for Boot Camp

You don’t need to repartition to upgrade though you will need to walk through the Boot Camp installer to burn the new drivers CD.

Originally posted by Scott Gilbertson from Compiler, on August 10, 2007 8:23 AM

i am heading to moscow for a week for vacation. i have some dining suggestions from my travel books, and will be staying with an ex-pat who can show me around a bit, but if anyone has any solid favorites or secret gems to share, it would be much appreciated!

Originally posted by j from Serious Eats: Main, on August 10, 2007 8:03 AM

OpenTable's site might be pretty sluggish today. Washingtonians are cramming in last-minute weekend reservations for the 167 spots participating in this year's record-breaking summer edition of Restaurant Week. While the prix-fixe menus are notorious for surcharges, limited selection and only cheap cuts of meat (hello, skirt steak; goodbye, prime rib), Restaurant Week lets anyone feel like a foodie for 30 bucks.

Pretty good deal? Not really, according to George Mason University economics professor Tyler Cowen. His popular blog, Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide, gives readers the straightforward scoop on foods from at least 75 regional categories mostly in his Maryland-Virginia-D.C. neighborhood. Even during Restaurant Week, Cowen prefers trekking out to Eden Center, a Virginia shopping center nicknamed "Little Vietnam," or Columbia Pike for warm Salvadorian pupusas. His hideways aren't hip or hyped. In fact, many sit behind faded signs in eyesore strip malls and treat Restaurant Week just like any other seven days.

This week's Washington Post profile on Cowen promotes his new book, Discover Your Inner Economist, released last week, and his two cents about Restaurant Week. "Choose an expensive restaurant that has a reputation to protect" or one "with a formula" that can't change for a week. More and more, Cowen is being spotlighted as a public intellectual for his street-smart strategies and cultural insight, in the same vein as Malcolm Gladwell, Steven Levitt, or Stephen Dubner. While his book isn't necessarily part of the burgeoning food-lit genre—just as he's not necessarily a trained food professional—a huge chunk of it is devoted to tips like avoiding restaurants in high-rent areas and, instead, zeroing in on immigrant neighborhoods.

When he turned in a draft of his book, his editor suggested—four days before deadline—that a chapter on how to use economic theory to eat well might make it stand apart. Because Cowen had long been chewing over a book on food, the new chapter was written "almost off the top of my head" and had "zero editing, while all other parts of the book went through six or seven drafts."

Cowen spends four of the chapter's 33 pages explaining why cheap food stalls in Singapore offer some of the most exciting food in the country, which is useful if you're in Singapore but less so in Washington, where the best you can hope for at a downtown street cart is a better-than-average hot dog or burrito.

Cowen treats eating like he does all aspects of life—economically. He considers neighborhood, the amount of diners sharing and even those iron bars in the windows. Does that mean good, authentic food? Most likely yes, in Cowen's perspective. Order his book on Amazon, check out his many blogs, or consider his Restaurant Week picks, which can, of course, apply to cities other than D.C.

Originally posted by Erin Zimmer from Serious Eats: Main, on August 10, 2007 8:00 AM

When I heard that f.bk had a new Data Store API was thinking “Wow! That’s actually hard!”.

But if you read it closer you’ll notice the operations map to what can de done in memcache (down to transactions are handled via atomic auto-increments) with a bit of cleverness, and some persistence. (pun intended) Still a nice step towards making developing f.bk apps a bit less eye-pokey-outty

Everyone is building the giant hash table in the clouds.

Originally posted by kellan from Laughing Meme, on August 10, 2007 7:45 AM

Am going up to Montreal in a couple of weeks--would love a bunch of restaurant recommendations. It's been a few years since I've been & there's such a buzz about the place now! Funky cheap international food and traditional good French food recs too (not too expensive). Don't like ze poutine..Thanks very much!

Originally posted by Lexie from Serious Eats: Main, on August 10, 2007 7:26 AM

Love a good celebrity feud here at the Blabber (hello you crazy The Hills stars), but I've never been so into a celebrity foodie feud.

Anyone here watch Top Chef? Okay... you can put your hands down. I know a ton of people watch it. Well, TC guest judges Rocco DiSpirito and Anthony Bourdain have been serving up some snarky comments to one another in their guest blogs over at BravoTV.com.

First, Anthony took a pot shot at Rocco, suggesting he had plastic surgery and comparing him to -- eek! -- creepy David Gest, then also snarked about his overcooked reality series. (Remember The Restaurant -- and Rocco's Mama's famous meatballs?). Rocco fired back, denying surgery, apologized for his reality TV divaness, etc.

The latest comes from Anthony, who posted his new blog Wednesday after the show and used phrases and words like "torrent of abuse," "jealous of Rocco," "bitch-goddess fame" and "snarkologists."

It's like: Step aside, Heidi and Lauren -- the big boys know how to really feud. And it's so tasty... they make you want to stick around for dessert.

Originally posted by sbyrne from Daily Blabber, on August 10, 2007 7:20 AM

Los Angeles Times | Discovery Channel cycling team to disband

Coming off a dominant Tour de France performance, the Discovery Channel pro cycling team will announce it has been unable to find a new title sponsor and is disbanding.

The announcement comes in the wake of a press conference today where Tour winner Alberto Contador reiterated that he's never used doping products and was not involved in the Operación Puerto ring.

The Discovery Channel team was the only US-based ProTour team, and grew out of the Subaru-Montgomery Sports team created by Thom Weisel in 1989. The announcement will free Contador, George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer, and the team's other riders to seek alternate teams next season. The team will still compete in the Vuelta a España and the Tour of Missouri as planned.

Jonathan Vaughters' Team Slipstream is racing more and more on the European circuit, and has signed a number of ProTour riders, including David Millar, Dave Zabriskie, Magnus Backstedt, Julian Dean, and Christian Vande Velde. Vaughters has said he hopes to win a ProTour license for 2009.

T-Mobile announced yesterday that they will continue sponsorship of the team at least through 2010, when its contract expires, despite continuing doping scandals, including T-Mobile's Patrik Sinkewitz, who tested too high for testosterone in June.

Also:

ThePaceline.com (free reg. req.) | Tailwind Ends Team Sponsor Search

Originally posted by Frank Steele from Tour de France 2007, on August 10, 2007 6:45 AM

“I remember those nights, planning technologies that didn’t exist yet, outsider science, futurist dreaming, half-magical. The things I could do outside the unversity setting, now that I didn’t have to wait for the pompous fools at the college! I was building another science, my science, wild science, robots and lasers and disembodied brains. A science that buzzed and glowed; it wanted to do things. It could get up and walk, fly, fight, sprout garish glowing creations in the remotest parts of the world, domes and towers and architectural fever dreams. And it was angry. It was mad science.”

The words of Doctor Impossible, from Austin Grossman’s excellent “Soon, I will be invincible”

Warren Ellis, on his creation of another mad scientist: Doktor Sleepless:

“I was ready to do another big piece of political sf, and I knew what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to talk about the subsumation of authenticity into fiction. I wanted to talk about liars, on a grand scale. I wanted to talk about the end of the world, in the major and the minor. And I wanted to talk about where I think we are today, and where we could end up in ten or fifteen years. The motor of innovation and novelty is really kind of cranked up right now, but, in contrast, the general culture is still in a sort of post-millennial shock, just laying there and drooling over its nipples.”

The just-announced Call-For-Papers for Etech 2008:

At the 2008 version of ETech, the O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, we’ll take a wide-eyed look at the tech that’s just arriving and cast a cynical one at some that have been emerging for too long. From robotics, health care, and space travel to gaming, finance, and art, we’ll explore promising technologies that are just that–still promises–and renew our sense of wonder at the way technology is influencing and altering our everyday lives.

A theme (ahem) emerging?

Ellis’ Tony Stark took a pop at Etech (and I joined in, embolded by the lead taken by a fictional alcoholic billionaire superhero) and the somewhat introverted web-centricity of it in his run on Iron Man a few years back.

Perhaps with Shellhead poised for mainstream glory, it’s time for science heroes again?

Perhaps, at last, some genuine outbreaks of the future…

Originally posted by Matt from Blackbeltjones/Work, on August 10, 2007 5:38 AM

they may be the new AOL, but their tech is undeniably cool  

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Waxy.org Links, on August 9, 2007 11:43 PM

The Sun is rising and setting on Apperceptive clients on three continents, so I'm sleeping less. With that in mind, I offer you the North Pole wikipedia page.

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on August 9, 2007 9:50 PM

If Will Smith, Don Cheadle and Denzel Washington were not big stars, black actresses would not get work. Playing the wife of any of these men seems to be the key to having any career in Hollywood. It is sort of depressing but true. Salli Richardson is Smith's wife in this flick. She was bigish in the 90s and is having a comeback.

Originally posted by Angela Tucker from tuckergurl, on August 9, 2007 8:41 PM

I'm giving away two copies of John Vanderslice's new album Emerald City, plus show reviews for St. Vincent and Rufus Wainwright and recommended shows this week in San Francisco.

http://sfist.com/2007/08/09/when_the_lights_11.php

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Originally posted by Krissy from david’s Neighbors, on August 9, 2007 5:16 PM

I hereby nominate Dan Moren for a Pulitzer prize. You must listen to the audio — Jobs really handled the question with aplomb, after taking a few seconds to get his bearings.

#

Originally posted by John Gruber from Daring Fireball, on August 9, 2007 2:44 PM

A recent continuation of a patent for a "wide touchpad" suggests that Apple is actively considering and patenting multi-touch interfaces, perhaps for the MacBook or MacBook Pro.

Read More...

Originally posted by justin.berka@gmail.com (Justin Berka) from Infinite Loop, on August 9, 2007 1:26 PM

From Strongbuzz [via Eater]:

Their new Hell’s Kitchen shop is located right next to Burgers and Cupcakes and serves a selection of ten hot and bubbly wood-burning oven pies. The Provençal gets topped with fresh mozzarella, gruyere cheese, tomato sauce, black olives and herbs de provence ($7.95/$13.95), while the Romana will score you hot sausage and roasted peppers on a gooey fresh mozzarella and tomato base ($9.95/$16.95).

London has been making pizza at the Fairway Cafe for a while now, so we'd imagine that his pies at Mitchel London Pizza won't be much different from those.

And, if you want to get an idea of what kinda pizza the Provençal pie will be like, here's a video from Serious Eats in which London and wine-shop owner Joshua Wesson pair wine with pizza—at Fairway Cafe:

Mitchel London Pizza
Address: 456 Ninth Avenue, New York NY 10018 (b/n 35th and 36th streets; map)
Phone: 212-563-7741

Originally posted by Adam Kuban from Serious Eats: Main, on August 9, 2007 12:45 PM

From http://xkcd.com/
(http://xkcd.com/298/)

Sigsy kindly pointed out this strip. Thank you!

Originally posted by Mie from Kokochi, on August 9, 2007 12:45 PM

It’s amazing how issues float to the top of multiple minds independently. I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how to sanitize to-be-published data. Then Rob Sayre wrote Interoperability and XSS Mitigation; XSS stands for “cross-site scripting”, the main threat that you sanitize to avoid. Sam Ruby noticed got active: Interoperability and XSS Mitigation announced the Sanitization rules wiki-space. Microsoft’s Joe Cheng is worrying, too.

mod_atom

As of now, mod_atom is, as a pure Atom Store, approaching 1.0 status. It’s interoperated with every credible client that’s tried. (Further evidence, were any needed, that the Atom protocol is Really Simple). Except for, it’s not finished, for one small and one large reason. The small reason is that it doesn’t yet generate HTML (but that’s not hard). The big reason is that it’s not safe; I can send it HTML loaded with horrible XSS exploits and it’ll stuff them into Web-space, ready to wreak havoc on the world.

Feedparser’s Whitelist Approach

What the Sanitization Wiki Page doesn’t spell out is that this logic, derived originally from Feedparser, is whitelist based. For HTML, it goes through the data, examines each element and attribute, and lets it survive if it appears on the “Approved Elements/Attributes” list.

The same approach is used with MathML and SVG markup; CSS is sanitized by removing the url() pattern and anything that looks like it might be hiding something bad.

I haven’t seen any pushback against the basic approach, which makes me happy because it seems very sound to me.

At Microsoft

Check out Joe Cheng’s AtomPub interop event notes. He writes “I’m thinking about implementing a web app that takes any AtomPub endpoint and makes a blog out of it, although I would love it if someone beat me to it.” So he’ll be looking at the same problems.

During the interop we were talking about sanitizing the payload, and I described the whitelist approach. Joe pointed out that that simply removing style, both element and attribute, wouldn’t work for his users, because authoring tools use this to produce nice visuals that there’s no other obvious way to get.

So I guess that you could look inside style elements and attributes and do your CSS-cleanup there in situ. Hmm.

Where to Sanitize?

mod_atom actually has some cleanup code right now. If you post an Atom entry with text marked type="xhtml", it applies a whitelist algorithm much as specified above. Which is easy, because the Apache server includes an XML parser that builds a DOM for you, and it’s straightforward to run around it checking against the whitelist. The still-unsolved problem is type="html", because that requires parsing the HTML. Blecch.

Right now, the mod_atom cleanup happens as the data comes in, so the version in the Atompub Collection feeds is sanitized. I’m beginning to think that’s wrong, that the Atom Store part of mod_atom should preserve the data as-is, as much as possible; presumably, those feeds and entries will be access-controlled, not world-readable. Then there should be a separate set of feeds offered to the world for subscription purposes. They, and the HTML pages, exist only in the sanitized state.

But at this stage we’re just making this up as we go along. It’s really nice, though, that everyone seems to have realized that the problem is real and important; and if we can develop a set of Best Common Practices, that’d be good for everyone.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from ongoing, on August 9, 2007 12:00 PM

Wow, our own democracies could learn from this, as found by Raph:

Erik Bethke’s LiveJournal has a recent post stating that he’s offering a $5000 bounty to those who can help him draft the legal form of an avatar rights document for GoPets. Among the clauses he intends the service to sign up to:

• Due process (including player-run tribunals)
• Habeas corpus
• Free expression
• Free assembly
• Property rights
• Non-discrimination
• Account transfer rights
• Right to keep some amount of the value generated by service errors (e.g., if there’s a bug and the player benefits, they keep some of the benefit)
• Compensation to players for service outages exceeding the maximum standard downtime
• Advance notice in the event of policy changes

Cory will like this a lot.

Originally posted by Alice from Wonderland, on August 9, 2007 9:33 AM

"When will the first interaction design CEO take the reins?" he already has, sucka, you're lookin' at him

 bookmark this on del.icio.us - posted by stamen to chrisheathcoate apple design migurski - more about this bookmark...

Originally posted by stamen from del.icio.us/stamen, on August 9, 2007 9:31 AM

This week The Observer plays the role of that guy at the movie theater by pointing out inaccuracies in a film. This time it's a New York location that's off in the new Bourne movie - which was filming here back in February of this year. (Skip the blockquote if you don't want to know any details about the movie.)

However, nothing is as it seems in the third installment of the Bourne saga, and the date, 4/15/71, proves to be code for a crucial rendezvous point: 415 East 71st Street... In an attempt to satiate a slightly unhealthy obsession with the new action flick, we did a little research and discovered that, alas, 415 East 71st Street is not the headquarters for Treadstone, the outfit that trained Bourne to be the ultimate spy/assassin. It is an apartment building over on First Avenue. The building used for the scene was actually the Family Court building down at 60 Lafayette.

Apparently their first choice for this location was NYU Hospital, but you know - the patients couldn't exactly take time off from being sick. This surely isn't the only time there's been an inaccuracy like this in a movie, so what have you noticed at the theater? We'd have to say the worst so far is when Sam Raimi put Chicago's El train in the middle of Manhattan in Spider-Man 2! Photo of 60 Lafayette with the number 415 on it during reshoots of The Bourne Ultimatum in May via Merodii's Flickr.

Originally posted by arts_jen from Gothamist Weekly Favorites, on August 9, 2007 8:33 AM

A no parking sign? A fire hydrant? Mere street dressing when it comes to drivers with a DOT-issued Department of City Planning placard. Streetsblog observes that a yellow Porsche convertible parked on Seventh Avenue belongs to City Planning Commissioner Dolly Williams. Hello, Dolly indeed. Streetsblog notes that Williams, Brooklyn's sole representative on the planning commission, "has been barred from participating in Kings County's most important recent land use processes." For instance, she can't attend Atlantic Yards project meeting because she has a $1 million investment in Bruce Ratner's Nets. And forget Gowanus Canal rezoning meeting, since she "owns land within the area that was to be rezoned." Question: Will the city consider taking a cue from Thailand and make public officials who do shameful things wear Hello Kitty armbands? And the Parks Department has canceled 90 parking placards for Central Park's East Drive in an effort to reduce the overall number of vehicles in the park.

Originally posted by jen from Gothamist Weekly Favorites, on August 9, 2007 8:33 AM

Recipe for David Chang's Bo Ssam Not exactly the same dish as the one on the Momofuku Ssam Bar menu but still intriguing.

Originally posted by Alaina Browne from A Full Belly, on August 9, 2007 8:13 AM

We're going to a show at the Beacon Theater (74th/Bway) and this is one of the rare 'hoods NY we don't know as well for eats. I know there's a Ray's nearby, but beyond that, looking for suggestions. Thanks.

Originally posted by PAWriter from Serious Eats: Main, on August 9, 2007 7:52 AM

From Grub Streets:

The greatest hamburger mystery of our time has been solved: We have it from a high-level source near the situation that the location of the long-awaited sequel to Shake Shack is Citi Field, better known as the new Shea Stadium.

[Tip o' the hat to Feisty Foodie for the link.]

Originally posted by Adam Kuban from Serious Eats: Main, on August 9, 2007 7:12 AM

* Thanks for designing these, Sally Rumble!! LOLOLOL.

Originally posted by Andrea from Andrea Harner, on August 9, 2007 6:41 AM

Guess what, this week's Quickfire Challenge was sponsored! You really have to hand it to the Top Chef ad-sales crew. One can only imagine the high fives at the Bravo business offices as they force "synergies" on the production team week after week. Maybe next year they can spin that process off into its own reality show—Top Ad Sales Executive. I relish the thought of hearing those magical words: "Please turn off your Bluetooth headset and go..."

Ah, but I'm beating a dead horse on this one. Speaking of which, most people wouldn't want dead horse mixed into their Cold Stone Creamery ice cream. Or cauliflower espuma. Or Sriracha sauce. But, hey, that didn't stop some of the chefs from trying. The Quickfire Challenge was to prepare toppings to be folded into mall-goers' favorite high-calorie dessert. Tre, Howie, and Dale got high marks for preparing high-end fruit-based condiments for their dishes. Hung and Casey got hung out to dry for using the aforementioned cauliflower and Sriracha. In fact, Hung emptied the proverbial pantry on this challenge. That dude seriously needs to take it down a notch. He has gone from first episode front-runner to permanent disappointment. If he doesn't make some adjustments soon, methinks he will be heading back to Guy Savoy tout de suite. [Warning: Spoilers after the jump.]

On the other side of the kitchen, Dale's solid performances have given him some nice momentum. He won the Quickfire with his peach cobbler topping and was given immunity from elimination.

In fact, not only was Dale given immunity, he was given the night off and a dinner date with guest judge Govind Armstrong. That left eight competitors to duke it out in yet another team challenge. Two teams of four were told that they'd be using mobile kitchens to cook late-night snack food for hungry Miami clubgoers. Of course, they were told this after being led to believe that they themselves were going out to the club for a night of dancing and debauchery. Oops. And of course that meant that all our attractive chefs were dressed to the nines for their shopping, chopping, and hash-slinging stints at the griddle. You gotta hand it to the Top Chef producers on this one. Each of them can officially put "Evil Genius" on their business card.

So, while Dale and Govind canoodled at the guest judge's Table 8 restaurant, the two teams slaved away producing ceviche tacos, sliders, Cuban sandwiches, quesadillas, onion rings, bacon-wrapped shrimp, cheese grits, and other assorted greasy treats.

The first group, made up of Brian, Hung, Cheesemaker Sara, and Tre, worked as a confident, energetic, thoughtful team. Let's nickname them "The Winners." The other bunch, made up of CJ, Casey, Pouty Sara, and Howie, worked like a bickering, chaotic, dysfunctional family. Let's call them "The Losers," which is exactly the position they were destined for from the very start of this challenge. It was actually interesting to be so completely certain of which team was going to be sending someone home. It certainly upped the drama you felt while watching this crew implode over the course of the evening.

Each team member on the losing side seemed to play his or her role to perfection. CJ attempted to rise above the obvious problems they faced and bring everyone together. He failed miserably, but at least he knew what needed to be done. Casey made sure her quesadillas went well enough to keep her in the competition. Then she kept her head down. Howie acted like the self-absorbed egotist we've come to know and, um, love. And Pouty Sara acted as the brunt of Howie's abuse, seething and preparing her hamburgers and milkshakes as... slowly... as... humanly... possible.

The real victor of this episode was Tom Colicchio, whose criticism of each of these losing competitors at the judges' table was spot on.

In the end, Pouty Sara's lack of assertiveness and her inability to take a shitty situation and make something out of it doomed her to elimination. On the upside, she went out with some choice words for Howie, who has clearly cemented his position as this season's Marcel. I have to admit that Sara lasted a lot longer in this competition than I imagined her youth would carry her. During the premiere episode, she was my prediction for first to go home. A prediction that she managed to defy week after week.

On the winner's side, Tre took top honors for making a great dish of bacon-wrapped shrimp and cheese grits that satisfied both drunken Miami clubbers and the judges. He also transitioned seamlessly from limo to roach-coach by simply taking off his shirt and flashing his "guns" to the lucky patrons lined up for grub. You stay classy, Tre!

Finally, if you ignored my advice about checking out the Top Chef blogs, you are missing a delightful dust-up between guest blogger Rocco DiSpirito and now permanent commentator Anthony Bourdain.

Originally posted by Harold Check from Serious Eats: Main, on August 9, 2007 6:30 AM

Oh .. dear .. :o)

(Thanks Steph!)

Originally posted by Alice from Wonderland, on August 9, 2007 6:21 AM

Do you hate the new iMovie '08 and wish you could win back your lost love, iMovie HD 6? Apple has heard your cries and has now made the previous version of iMovie available for download.

Read More...

Originally posted by jacqui@arstechnica.com (Jacqui Cheng) from Infinite Loop, on August 9, 2007 6:09 AM

Before you commit to an Ikea home why not stay overnight at an Ikea store?

Check in to the Ikea bridal suite for a flat-pack honeymoon

"Whereas Brits may associate the Swedish furniture giant with screaming kids, traffic jams in the parking lot and an occassional riot when a new warehouse opens, it seems Norwegians see a trip to Ikea as the ultimate tourist attraction. 'Around 900,000 visitors come to visit Ikea during the summer holidays. It's more than one of the biggest attractions in Norway, the Holmenskollen ski jump, gets in one year,' claimed Mr Ullebust. 'We have five Ikea stores in Norway, all situated next to the four biggest cities, which are all in the south in the country. We found that people from the north of Norway include a visit to Ikea as part of their holidays,' said the spokesman. 'The Ikea Hostel will make the destination complete'."

It doesn't cost anything to stay, you get a free dinner, bath robes and slippers, and you get to take your sheets home as "souvenirs"! (via)

Originally posted by Anne from Space and Culture, on August 9, 2007 5:42 AM

Ok, this kind of nonsense, which I will share with you in a moment, makes me wonder if there is anyway to turn off a person's oxygen support. If we can pull food tubes then dammit we need a way to prevent scum sucking thieves from wasting any more of our precious supply of oxygen. Like those heart-plug thingies from Dune, but for a person's air supply.

Consider that theft and forgery are a form of devolution and as I do not have a deep desire to head back to the trees and start grooming the hairy back of the monkey sitting next to me, I think it's our duty to fight these infringements upon the law, common sense, and decency.

Someone who goes by the handle allig8torx (that's Alligator X apparently) took it upon themselves to go to File magazine, copy, paste, and publish other people's photographs as their own. For example: Paul Russell's "Charity" and Alligator X's "Charity". Another: Byron Barrett's very lovely piece, "Untitled" and then Alligamouthbreather's curious doppleganger "astica3".

Sadly there are more, many more.

Unfortunately there is no option in Flickr to request that this person's sexual reproduction organs be removed so as to prevent the blood line from continuing but there should be, this is web 2.0 after-all.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Airbag Industries, on August 8, 2007 10:24 PM

Poynter's E-Media Tidbits called foul on the Washington Post for display an ad before a slideshow from the bridge collapse. They're absolutely right, it's completely distasteful. A smart commenter points out that tragedy drives a lot of traffic. So what to do?

To me, the issue is the way the ad was deployed and not its right to exist. Anything that keeps me from viewing content is going to cause frustration and when I am already distraught, my patience is non-existent. Whether it was due to the blog post or some other factor, the ad is now down. There is still an ad above the slideshow, but no on seems up in arms about it.

What really matters is respecting the mood of your audience. My best example is my local Fox newscast. No, I'm not talking about the ads between the segments, I'm talking about the news itself. I remember one time just after 9/11 when there was a teaser for the 9pm news that went something like this:

News lady: We speak to a family of one of the THREE THOUSAND killed.
News man: Two men were found brutally murdered by a group of unruly teens
News lady: Here comes fall fashion!
News man: Is your house safe from lead poisoning? FIND OUT.
News lady: Indian summer just won't quit!

All of this happened without skipping a beat and I nearly vommitted. In the end, it comes down to common sense. WaPo is a huge national newspaper and I'm sure leaving the ad there was accidental. From the brief glimpse, it appears to be an ad featuring a car racing around tight corners and I don't think they're stupid enough to leave that running intentionally.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Capn Design, on August 8, 2007 8:52 PM

Nice video of how a copy and paste feature might work on the iPhone. There was a lengthy discussion about how to implement this on kottke.org last month. (link)

Originally posted by (author unknown) from kottke.org, on August 8, 2007 8:32 PM

The week of software updates continues today with Apple updating its Boot Camp beta to include a few small but important updates (such as backlit keyboards, and who doesn't like those?) and a Mac Pro SMC Firmware Update.

Read More...

Originally posted by jacqui@arstechnica.com (Jacqui Cheng) from Infinite Loop, on August 8, 2007 6:23 PM

Perhaps the best album we've heard this year comes from a Texan named Annie Clark, a.k.a. St. Vincent. She's a seasoned touring guitarist for Sufjan and the Polyphonic Spree, but at only 24 years old she just released a debut album that's sophisticated, brave and artistically mature enough to make you think that whatever you were doing when you were 24 was insufficient. St. Vincent has a rich, feminine croon and a penchant for stretching it over rugged and challenging soundscapes. The diversity on this album shows she's got a lot in store for us; we haven't been this excited about a new artist since we first heard Feist 2 1/2 years ago. Expect a long and vibrant musical career from St. Vincent. We've got a pair of tickets for one lucky winner to see her at Cafe Du Nord on Friday night, plus a copy of her outstanding debut album Marry Me. Watch her work her black patent mary janes over a stomp box in the video below, and then enter to win. (Contest ends Friday morning! Winner will be notified via email.)

http://sfist.com/2007/08/02/when_the_lights_10.php#more

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Originally posted by Krissy from david’s Neighbors, on August 8, 2007 3:28 PM

Tomorrow night's Silicon Valley CocoaHeads will feature a session on Cocoa scripting bridges. Bill Bumgarner of Apple will talk about scripting with Python, Ruby, AppleScript, and some parts of what's coming in Leopard...

Originally posted by scott from Theobroma Cacao, on August 8, 2007 1:59 PM

Today we have some Atomic Apple love, iPhone Web friendliness, RelaxNG praise, and JVM Language widening.

Apple and Atom

The cool new .mac Web Gallery offering comes with nicely-valid Atom 1.0 feeds; here’s Whump’s.

iPhone and the Web

Check out Dan Connolly’s iPhone Developer Guidelines Promote One Web, Open Standards. It’s amazing how well things work when you set things up that go with the way the Web wants to flow.

How to Schematize XML

Use RelaxNG, not XSD. Most people already know this, but Alex over at the Griffin Brown weblog offers 10 reasons to model XML with RELAX NG, not W3C XML Schema. Good stuff.

JVM Languages Group

You know, it’s remarkable, there’s all these Ruby implementations going on in parallel, and they all get along. Then there’s all these different JVM-language projects going on, and what do you know, they all pretty well get along, too (modulo some occasional Groovy grouchiness).

Our own Charles Nutter is trying to build some structure around all this good fellow-feeling and is making good progress; check out Widening the JVM Languages Group: We Need You! I’m subscribed to the JVM Languages Group and while I have to admit that quite a bit of it goes over my head, I can tell useful collegial discourse when I’m in the same room, and it’s happening here.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from ongoing, on August 8, 2007 12:00 PM

Microsoft is bipedal; its legs are Windows and Office. I’ve always thought that Office was the more important, and less open to attack. But there insurgents lurking out there in deep space; their attacks are just pinpricks. So far.

Windows, at the end of the day, is not a very good operating system. Some of the pieces of Office, though, are superb, and would probably have been very successful over the years even without the file-format lock-in and abusive competitive practices. In particular, I’d put Excel on my personal list of the five best pieces of software ever. I want to bust the file-format logjam not because I think it’ll sweep Office away, but competition will make Office cheaper and all the competitors better.

I hadn’t really paid much attention to the Google Docs thing; but then, a couple of times in recent weeks, I was in gmail and there was a message with a .doc attached. Normally I’d save it and open it with MacOffice; I have an elderly but still satisfactory version, but that’s all screwed up because my new Mac came with a trial version of the latest release, which I accidentally opened once and it’s bollixed up my fonts somehow.

Then I saw “Open as as a Google Document” and I tried and, you know, it’s Good Enough. And snappy. And free. And internationalized. And I’m not the only person having this experience.

Yow... thought-provoking.

Now I see that Apple is taking a run at the fortress with Numbers. Dunno yet whether it’s going to be a triumph like Keynote or a stinking piece of crap like iCal, but the fact that they’re trying is significant.

I’ll be honest, I’d thought that MS-Office on the desktop was going to be a central feature of the ecosystem for as far forward as I could see. But maybe not.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from ongoing, on August 8, 2007 12:00 PM

The blog Porkchop Express reports on the latest hurdle that the Red Hook soccer field food vendors have run up against. This time it's not the parks commission but the department of health, which has some issues with the set-up:

Foremost amongst these: no running water at the fields. So today (Tuesday) at 5:15 pm, Cesar was contacted about a “big” meeting Wednesday with the Deputy Commissioner of Health. Pressure has intensified, City Officials are again flexing muscle, and the implied bottom-line is rough. Worst-case scenario, the Vendors will have to shut down operations stat to comply with DOH mandates. But we wont know anything until [Wednesday] afternoon.

Earlier: Red Hook Soccer Tacos Safe for Whole Season

Originally posted by Adam Kuban from Serious Eats: Main, on August 8, 2007 10:30 AM

In which Chris Heathcote coins the term "web beachball", a reference to the ubiquitous safari-style AJAX rotofan loading progress indicators.

Originally posted by Michal Migurski from tecznotes links, on August 8, 2007 10:25 AM

A new primer from the Apple Developer Connection shows you how to put Python to work processing images on your Mac.

Read More...

Originally posted by ars@niload.com (Erik Kennedy) from Infinite Loop, on August 8, 2007 9:19 AM

The BBQ Forecast for Grimsby, England.

For folks living in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia, Metcheck.com has a BBQ Forecasts feature that gives you a heads-up on what the weather's going to do for your cookout. While it's not much more insightful than checking the basic forecast, I like its slightly motherly tone: "Bit too cold for a BBQ." [via 37signals]

Originally posted by Adam Kuban from Serious Eats: Main, on August 8, 2007 9:15 AM

George Vecsey in the New York Times (behind the Select paywall; isn't that going away?) on Barry Bonds hitting number 756.

It’s his record. What is baseball going to do, come up with some magic formula to pare down his home run totals? They are all his, every one of them. Victor Conte of notorious Balco didn’t hit them. Greg Anderson, the trainer guarding Bonds’s secrets in a California jail, didn’t hit them. The people who made money off Bonds and the union officials who blocked testing didn’t hit the home runs. Barry Bonds hit them, all 756 of them.

Originally posted by Michael Sippey from (un)filtered, on August 8, 2007 8:09 AM

Dwell, the beloved magazine about living with modern design, recently offered a short series on kitchen items that have rightfully achieved icon status. In the July/August issue, Heather Wagner rounded up nine classic tools and gave background on the origins and creators of each. From the Peugeot pepper mill to the Iwata rice cooker to the Starck lemon juicer, the list is a fascinating starting point for discussion about what kitchen objects we hold as timeless and which are simply commodities. I, for one, consider the KitchenAid stand mixer pretty close to synonymous with the actual idea of a mixer. I really can't see myself replacing it with anything else. Here is Wagner's honor roll:

• Peugeot pepper mill by Jean and Jean-Pierre Peugeot
• Sarpaneva cast-iron pot by Timo Sarpaneva
• Automatic rice cooker by Yoshiharu Iwata
• Pedal Bin by Brabantia Design Team
• Juicy Salid by Phillipe Starck
• Kitchen Scale by Marco Zanuso
• Minitimer by Richard Sapper
• Bialetti Moka Express by Alfonso Bialetti
• Dish Doctor by Marc Newson

For other occasional pieces on kitchen gear and kitchen design head to the newsstand and pick up a copy of Dwell. The magazine's website is making great strides (its blog even has an RSS feed now), but it still can't hold a candle to the print version.

Originally posted by Harold Check from Serious Eats: Main, on August 8, 2007 5:15 AM

Susan Kitchen's bouquet method and Mental Masala's mini-hydroponics method. Plus tips from Serious Eats readers, including several methods for freezing.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Rebecca's Pocket, on August 8, 2007 4:30 AM

First things first: Last night's game was very bad. Oliver Perez turned in his worst start since the seven walk debacle on April 11 as the Braves outplayed the Mets in every facet of the game. Except for a few...

Originally posted by Ryan McConnell from NJ.com: Always Amazin', on August 8, 2007 12:24 AM

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Wooster Collective, on August 7, 2007 6:40 PM

So you start a web service with some friends. They do the programming. You do everything else. Suddenly the service takes off. You are thrilled and getting ready to pop open the bubbly. But then things start to sputter as your service can’t handle the load. You put the bubbly back in the fridge (unopened) and wonder what to do. The next day you hire a kick-ass VP of Engineering, the service starts humming again and everyone lives happily ever after. The End.

Except for the part in which you have no idea where to find a kick-ass VP of Engineering, or how to tell one apart from the hundreds of impostors at your door. So what to do in real life? Here are some do’s and don’ts (mostly learned the hard way) presented as (only slightly) exaggerated scenarios.

1. I just met this guy. He’s totally awesome. He can solve all our problems. I am going to make an offer right away.

Don’t. First, ask yourself, how many people have I met for this position? If your answer is less than five, stop right there. You need to see at least five candidates. And that’s an absolute minimum. If you are a first-time founder you most likely have no point of comparison and it’s too easy for tech candidates to look great when in fact they are not. Also, make sure to get as many experienced people involved in the process as you can. This is where you need to lean on investors, board members, advisors, fellow entrepreneurs, etc.

2. This woman is amazing. She spent the last 20 years at Monsterously Big Corporation in IT. She has soo much experience. I will hire her immediately.

Don’t. Most people who have been in IT at large corporations have either forgotten or never learned how to get things done on a budget of less than a gazillion dollars and a three year development cycle. Similarly, you should be wary of candidates coming from academia or a company’s research division. They tend to be too theoretical for building robust production systems. Look instead for candidates who have actually delivered at early stage, high growth companies, ideally already in a VP of Engineering / CTO role.

3. Met this candidate. Blew me away. Our approach is all wrong. We have to rewrite everything in [insert programming language / framework here]. That’s how they do it at [insert successful startup here].

Don’t. Your candidate is likely to be a technology fanatic. Advocating a complete rewrite without having seen the existing code is not a sign of pragmatism, which is a key trait for actually getting stuff done. In any case, almost anything can (and has been) built in any language and complete rewrites that never really complete have been the kiss of death for many companies.

4. This engineer was a major contributor to a . He wrote a really cool mash-up using our API. He has great experience in a high traffic environment. Should I hire him even though we don’t yet have the VP of Engineering?

Do. Great engineers will be sufficiently self-directed. Also, there is likely to be much to do if you are really growing, from making small changes to improve performance (those always exist, by the way) to adding new features or writing ancillary systems. Even if you do find a great engineer, you should, however, resist the temptation to make them the VP of Engineering or CTO. It takes a pretty different skill set to manage people and process than it does to build stuff. That is not to say that a great engineering hire can’t step up and fill that position, but it’s much better to let that happen than to force it (in the latter case if it doesn’t work, you have just lost a bunch of time finding the right person and most likely lost a great engineer in the process).

5. We have seen tons of candidates. It was an exhaustive and exhausting process. We all love but she has three different companies wooing her. I want to make an aggressive offer with more equity than we had originally planned for this position.

Do. This is a clear case where the right person will grow the pie by a lot for everyone (in fact, there may not be a pie without the right person), so giving a bit more away makes total sense. Also, you will still want to have a 1 year cliff for the equity vesting, in case things don’t turn out as hoped for after all. If you really have to, in order to land the candidate, you might go down to a 6-month cliff, since you will (or should) know after a couple of months whether you made the right hire.

P.S. If you are a VP of Engineering or CTO with the right stuff, please write to us at info@unionsquareventures.com – we love to develop relationships for when the right opportunity comes along.

Originally posted by albert from Union Square Ventures: A New York Venture Capital Fund Focused on Early Stage & Startup Investing, on August 7, 2007 5:43 PM

Bill Humphries:

The .Mac Web Gallery announced this morning was our team’s secret project these past few months. To build this, we used a JavaScript MVC framework, SproutCore, that Charles Jolley, another member of our team, started before coming to Apple.

[Link]

Originally posted by John Gruber from Daring Fireball, on August 7, 2007 3:50 PM

I think I'm in love with a notebook.

It's sad, but it's true...and you could be too.

Check out Start Here notebooks. Clean, basic, white cover notebooks are pure expressions of simplicity. The design duo of E & Tina encourage your unique taste, style, personality, and flavor by giving you the space to be yourself - in a nutshell Start Here is a line of linkable books, so when your imagination keeps going and the ideas keep flowing, there is always room to add to your little book of joy.

[Start Here].

p.s. check out their US section to check out visual timeplans at their best.

Originally posted by clairehyland from l-e-mental, on August 7, 2007 2:40 PM

Quick Post

Five Guys = D.C.-based burger chain. Metromix = Tribune company city-based sites (like Citysearch, but with a focus on editorial). There's a stupid picture of me, some text and big image slideshow.

http://newyork.metromix.com/restaurants/article/the-man-who-ate/132983/content

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Capn Design, on August 7, 2007 1:49 PM

The relatives filled up the 'ol email box today because they saw me on MSNBC Nightly News last night. The story was about email bankruptcy. You can watch it here (doesn't seem to work on Apple browsers). What's my advise on how to deal with email overload? "Eh, not sure yet."

Thanks to Apple for featuring Rocketboom on the front page of iTunes this week!! Ive been a quintessential Apple fan forever but for good reason, they have the best interface, best design and push innovation like nobody's business. Ive yet to review my iphone though to give you some idea, I finally stopped carrying my blackberry last week ('been using gmail and flipping the board sidewise for speedy thumb typing). A+++ I remember well when the idea was but a dream.

Originally posted by Drew from Dembot, on August 7, 2007 12:06 PM

The long-awaited version of iLife '08 has new features, but no truly new applications.

Read More...

Originally posted by cjade@arstechnica.com (Charles Jade) from Infinite Loop, on August 7, 2007 12:02 PM

Did the mini win a stay of execution, or is it really sticking around? We're not sure, but the Mac mini is still around as of today, and Apple finally bumped the little guy to Core 2 Duo processors.

Read More...

Originally posted by jacqui@arstechnica.com (Jacqui Cheng) from Infinite Loop, on August 7, 2007 11:09 AM

AHT founding editor "Hamburger Matty" Jacobs appears in an article on Metromix New York in which he visits the new Five Guys location in Brooklyn Heights:

“We'll start with the brass tacks, the burger's heart and soul—its ground beef. At Five Guys, they grind and hand-pack the meat every morning, guaranteeing a fresh patty. Unfortunately, they will only serve their burgers well-done, which is fantastic if you’re a fan of eating hockey pucks. While Five Guys locations in College Point, Queens, and Philly have defied the odds, burgers at the Brooklyn Heights location were both tough and dry. All is not lost though, as the location is new and a burger is more than just meat."

There's a nice photo slide show to go with it, which Matty shot ("The new lens I'm using is nice," he says).

Five Guys Rip-Off, But Better?

Photographs courtesy of Jason Perlow

In other Five Guys news, Jason Perlow of Off the Broiler alerts us to the fact that there's a Five Guys clone in Fairfiew, New Jersey. When he IMed me about this, I was like, "Yeah, yeah, Jason." But clicking through to his post, the similarities are striking. From the interior design scheme to the menus to the burgers, the place looks like a straight-up Five Guys rip-off. But ...

But ... Burger Boys does onion rings, and Perlow says they're actually good: "Good onion rings though — this is one deficiency at Five Guys that Burger Boys actually remedied."

The other major difference is that Burger Boys uses canola oil instead of peanut oil for its fries, resulting in a less crisp product, Perlow says. But at least the peanut-allergic can eat there.

Originally posted by Adam Kuban from Serious Eats: Main, on August 7, 2007 10:34 AM

Book Mules. In Venezuela, four-legged mobile libraries, bibliomulas, help distribute books in the foothills of the Andes. (thanks)

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Social Design Notes, on August 7, 2007 10:05 AM

Open source NES emulator for iPhones; very cool hack, but I can’t help but suspect the touch screen isn’t going to work well for the controls.

[Link]

Originally posted by John Gruber from Daring Fireball, on August 7, 2007 8:53 AM

A clip from KRS One's show this weekend at the Prospect Park Bandshell in Brooklyn. He tells the crowd how 25 years ago he was homeless and sleeping right in this very bandshell, and he told himself back then,...

Originally posted by jsmooth995 from hiphopmusic.com:, on August 7, 2007 8:09 AM

This past week, a dedicated reader of Serious Eats asked me for more Top Chef coverage. I suspect, despite appearing mostly lucid at the time of the request, he may have been working with strong kitchen cleansing products in an enclosed space. Specifically, he wanted me to wax philosophical over the relative merits of Marcel from Season Two and Hung from Season Three. While I steadfastly refuse to take requests, I'm happy to report that Entertainment Weekly has rushed in to address the issues that so many Top Chef fans desperately want to settle. Who would win an oven-mitts-off smackdown between, say Ilan and Tiffani? Or Dave and Tre? Or, yes, Hung and Marcel?

Prognosticators rejoice! EW has just unveiled the Top Chef Bracket Game. The fantasy tourney is made up of 16 chefs from entire run of the show, Seasons One through Three. You log into the site, pick the chefs that you suppose the rest of the world will similarly anoint, and whoever comes closest to predicting the exact Top Chef pecking order wins bragging rights as the, um, well, most entirely average Top Chef viewer? I'm not sure if there's a trophy. Perhaps first prize is getting to cohost Rocco DiSpirito's online cooking show, brought to you by the fine folks at Bertolli. ("It's good stuff.")

Here are my picks in the first round. Take them for what they're worth. (Precious little.)

• Dave (Season One) vs. Sam (Season Two) Sam. Less crying.
• Ilan (Season Two) vs. Tre (Season Three)
  Ilan. His glasses are rad.
• Stephen (Season One) vs. Dale (Season Three)
  Dale. Less patronizing.
• Elia (Season Two) vs. Marcel (Season Two)
  Elia. Less looking like Wolverine from The X-Men.
• Michael (Season Two) vs. Tiffani (Season One)
  Tiffani. This is like Duke vs. Oswego State.
• Hung (Season Three) vs. Harold (Season One)
  Harold. The dude is named Harold and he still won the first season. Unbeatable.
• Cliff (Season Two) vs. Betty (Season Two)
  Cliff. Both went after Marcel with a vengeance. This one's a pick'em.
• Howie/Joey (Season Three) vs. Lee Anne (Season One)
  Lee Anne. Even with the double team, HoJo heads home.

Get your own picks in by 4 p.m., August 16. Winners will be announced that very evening.

Originally posted by Harold Check from Serious Eats: Main, on August 7, 2007 6:45 AM

I am going to spend the next three weeks in the United States.

The first few days will be spent in New York City and then off to Chicago where I am going to the C4 conference (and have even been persuaded to give a talk there). I will go back to NYC for the last week of my stay.

In this period, I won’t respond to much email. But the mailing list and IRC channel will, as usual, serve as outlets for potential support questions — just a FYI, when I reply to a list letter, as opposed to a private letter, I generally spend a little more time on the reply. So if you think sending me support questions in private is better (for you) then you are wrong :)

Originally posted by Allan Odgaard from TextMate Blog, on August 7, 2007 3:47 AM

Do you know anything about [lemurs]? They’re just fabulous. They’re the most wonderful primates imaginable. They’re only in Madagascar and they’re endangered like most things, you know. The people cut down forests, killing them because they have superstitions about them because they have these long fingers that they point and the natives think that means [you’re] going to die, if they point at you. But [they’re] very, very gentle creatures. They constantly hug each other. They have these long, long tails. Anyway, no, I don’t want to make a big deal out of this. I’m a normal person who happens to like animals a lot. I don’t want to get too self-conscious about how they get in my poems because that’ll, you know, stop me.

Interview with James Tate, by Mike Magee.

Some poems by James Tate:

• “Goodtime Jesus” (re Jesus’s donkey: 1, 2, 3)
• “The List of Famous Hats”. I drank a lot of wine one night and called James Tate’s home number (through 411; this was before Google was integral to my life) and left a message on his answering machine telling him how funny this poem is.
• “The Lost Pilot”

Originally posted by Mike from randomWalks, on August 6, 2007 7:04 PM

With Tesla in town, the following has become true:

• The kitchen door and baricade must be closed at all times.


• The cats are now allowed to eat on the dining table so they can eat without their food being taken by Tesla as they try to eat, and thrown across the floor. She loves getting both their bowls, emptying out the wet food contents on the carpet, and clinking the bowls together.


• Tesla knows that the laptop power cord is important and delights in pulling it out over and over and over.


• Either way, I must use the laptop out of her reach as she has already broken 2 keys.


• Cell phones must be kept out of her reach; she actually called my brother early one morning (although it is touching that she got my brother of all the people in my contact list). Ian can testify that this really happened.


• We have not found a remote to a TV that only turns on with a remote in almost a month now.


• I have no idea how, but I found my eye shadow in the hallway the other day.


• She now distributes our pillows (as in the kind that are as big as she is) all over the house.


• She knows the garbage/recycle cans contain interesting stuff that if pulled out, immediately get our attention, such as: used diapers, food scraps, and beer bottles (which she tries to drink from). Now we have to put a book on top of the cans.


• If we give her cut up avocado bits that are a bit too soft, she will relish smearing it on the table, her chair, her face, and her hair, even the back-of-her-head hair.


• She can sign "milk" but mostly chooses to pull at my shirt, reaching down for the boob, even in public.


• But she loves goat and cow milk too, and will gladly throw to the side (literally) whatever important thing she is trying to hide, such as keys, to have a little.


• You might find spit-up (small blobs of whatever was in her tummy regurgitated up) randomly on a chair, and you don't notice until you are about to sit down


• Sometimes it's so hard to put a diaper on her that I just let her walk around naked for a bit.


• Best of all, when I say, "where's daddy?" Tesla will wander off and indeed look for daddy. It's a nice trick when I need a break. : )

p.s. Her shirt aptly says, "Wild One." It's perfect. Thanks, Mena!!

Originally posted by Mie from Kokochi, on August 6, 2007 6:20 PM

Today, the New York Times finally made its move to a 12 inch-width format with today's paper. The paper will stay the same price ($1.25 on weekdays and Saturday, $4.00 on Sunday) and will charge the same amount to advertisers, but can/may add more pages. Headlines and columns are narrowed, but the body copy type is the same (the spacing between letters, though, is more closed up). Interestingly, the crossword itself looks generally the same size, though the clues columns are narrower. Originally, the NY Times was going to change its size next year, but spokeswoman Diane McNulty explained that the Times was able to get its press configured sooner. The Times expects to save $7-10 million a year with the change. Other newspapers in the 12-inch width format: The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. Recently, the Observer went to a tabloid format, which makes us think the NY Sun might be the only NYC daily that publishes in the 13" six-column broadsheet format. The Sun's ad rates specify a 13-inch width format, but our wooden ruler says the paper is just 12.5 inches wide, or just a half-inch broader than most major dailies. Above, yesterday's NY Times under today's edition.

Originally posted by jen from Gothamist Weekly Favorites, on August 6, 2007 2:29 PM

Analysts pontificating on the iMac, .Mac down for "maintenance," baseless speculation on the "true" video iPod again... it must be the day before an Apple Event!

Read More...

Originally posted by cjade@arstechnica.com (Charles Jade) from Infinite Loop, on August 6, 2007 12:25 PM

Collaborative Gmail video: "Help us imagine how an email message travels around the world." I'm waiting for the contribution that includes an overdose of SMTP humor ("EHLO again, HELO.").

Originally posted by Michael Sippey from (un)filtered, on August 6, 2007 12:07 PM

Recreating Fundrace for the 2008 U.S. Presidential election.

 bookmark this on del.icio.us - posted by yatta to politics - more about this bookmark...

Originally posted by yatta from del.icio.us/yatta, on August 6, 2007 12:01 PM

We had a little online Atom Protocol interop session today, via IRC and servers scattered here and there about the globe. I got mod_atom to work with Apache Abdera and Windows Live Writer. With a couple of little glitches in each case, fixed on the spot (that’s what the session is for), we had 100% squeaky-clean interop. Earth to client toolmakers: pay attention, or you’re gonna be eating WLW’s dust.

Here’s an out-take from the IRC, jcheng is Joe Cheng of Microsoft, who works on WLW.

twbray: boy, if a few more internet protocols got this kind of interop testing before they product shipped, we'd all be in immensely less pain.

jcheng: +1

In other news, WordPress might really be finally learning APP. See Pete Lacey and Matt Mullenweg and Sam Ruby.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from ongoing, on August 6, 2007 12:00 PM

Dear Lazyweb,

I want Firefox to never, ever use tabs.

Really, I want to never use Firefox, but sometimes I have to. So when I do, I want it to never use tabs.

It used to be that searching for "tab" in "about:config" and setting a whole bunch of shit to "false" would make Firefox never, ever create tabs, but that seems to have broken some time between 1.x and 2.0.0.5. How do I do it now?

(I am not interested in what you think of tabs.)

Originally posted by jwz@jwz.org from jwz, on August 6, 2007 11:47 AM

Encounter Point to screen on Al Arabiya

Encounter Point will screen on Al Arabiya, one of the most important Arabic satellite networks in the world, as part of the Mashahed wa Araa'" [Scenes and Views] programme. It will be shown in two parts: on Wednesday August 8th, 2007 at 21:00 GMT and on Thursday August 9th 2007 at 20:00 GMT. Film subject Ali Abu Awwad will participate in a roundtable discussion following Thursday's screening.

Originally posted by ronit from Just Vision News, on August 6, 2007 10:32 AM

Christopher Hitchens writes about Oakland for Slate Magazine: "If this isn't softness on crime, then the term is meaningless. Residents have been complaining for a long time about the atmosphere of hatred and violence.... What were the police doing all this time, and why did Chauncey Bailey have to be murdered before they could be moved to act? Perhaps they were doing what they do best: confiscating marijuana and rousting whores so as to painlessly improve the crime statistics."

Originally posted by Michal Migurski from tecznotes links, on August 6, 2007 10:15 AM

Our sources on the Manhattan Bridge report that at 11:40am, Judith Supine dropped a massive 50' piece over the side facing south. This might be the biggest development in NYC bridge graffiti since Sane/Smith tagged the outside of the Brooklyn Bridge in the late-1980s! The best place to view the piece is from Empire State Park in DUMBO. Anyone care to wager how long this will stay up?

Originally posted by jake from Gothamist Weekly Favorites, on August 6, 2007 7:36 AM

The marshlands in Jamaica Bay that make up a portion of the Gateway National Recreation area and includes the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge are disappearing so quickly that some estimate all of the marshes could disappear in as few as five years. The New York Times reports that recent satellite images indicate that about 33 acres of tidal wetlands in the bay are disappearing annually, almost double the prior estimate of 18 acres per year based on a 2001 study. The cause of disappearing marshes is disputed and recommendations for their preservation involve a lot of money. Some scientists believe that it is the large amount of nitrogen being discharged into Jamaica Bay by wastewater treatment plants that are killing delicate marsh plants. Once these plants die and their roots lose hold of the sediment that give the marshlands shape, the ecosystem is vulnerable to being just washed away by the tides and currents. Currently, wastewater treatment plants pump 35,000 pounds of nitrogen into the bay's waters daily. A member of an advisory committee at the National Resources Defense Coalition claims that cutting that figure in half could substantially slow the rate of marshland erosion. Outfitting East River wastewater treatment plants with the technology to achieve the same reduction is costing $700 million. No plans are in store to do the same for the Jamaica Bay facilities. Angela Licata, the deputy commissioner of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (which operates the city's wastewater treatment plants), says that the link between nitrogen and the disappearance of marshlands is weak. She also points out that the level of nitrogen pumped into the bay has decreased by a third over the last decade, just as the rate of marshland erosion was increasing. The DEP will offer a final plan on marshland protection this October, but nitrogen reduction is not likely to be a component. The city may work with the Army Corps. of Engineers to undertake a wetlands restoration effort.

Originally posted by nyc_daveh from Gothamist Weekly Favorites, on August 6, 2007 7:32 AM

Re-launch of FundRace

 bookmark this on del.icio.us - posted by amanda_mc to fundrace eyebeam huffingtonpost eyebeam-reblog eyebeam_reblog - more about this bookmark...

Originally posted by amanda_mc from del.icio.us/subscriptions/djacobs, on August 6, 2007 6:24 AM

Anil Dash, on the fact that it was Daniel Lyons who wrote Forbes’s much-maligned 2005 cover story, “Attack of the Blogs”, which slammed bloggers for being anonymous and unaccountable:

My initial temptation was to mark Lyons as a hypocrite. Upon reflection, it seems there’s a more profound lesson: The benefits of blogging for one’s career or business are so profound that they were even able to persuade a dedicated detractor.

[Link]

Originally posted by John Gruber from Daring Fireball, on August 6, 2007 6:21 AM

Back from where I've been.

If you haven't already heard it on the radio or seen it on the TV show, it's B to the O., and you'll start seeing the interview this week on newsstands.

As Ms. Smith says in her letter from the editor, "Music and all amusements are important to you and important to us, but it's time to turn down the speakers and pull out the ear buds - at least for right now. Music is great; it inspires us. Films can change minds. Fashion makes us feel more alive. But, really - check the clock. Do you want to feel alive? Or actually be alive?"

Next week, Vibe.com will also be featuring a transcript of the interview, and a podcast with your boy.

Here's another preview:

“Rap is reflective of the culture of the inner city, with its problems, but also its potential, its energy, its challenges to the status quo. And I absolutely agree my priority as a US senator is dealing with poverty and educational opportunity and adequate health care. If I’m ignoring those issues and spending all my time worrying about rap lyrics then I’m wasting my time.”

“On the other hand, I think that there’s no doubt that hip hop culture moves our young people powerfully. And some of it is not just a reflection of reality. It also creates reality. I think that if all our kids see is a glorification of materialism and bling and casual sex and kids are never seeing themselves reflected as hitting the books and being responsible and delaying gratification, then they are getting an unrealistic picture of what the world is like.”

Originally posted by Zentronix from zentronix: dubwise & hiphopcentric, on August 6, 2007 6:10 AM

"Food miles," how far food has traveled before we buy it, has become the latest hot button for environmental food activists. And just when you thought the notion of food miles would be another compelling reason to buy local comes a study that suggests that computing real food miles leads to sometimes counterintuitive conclusions, namely that some locally sourced and grown food can leave a far heavier carbon footprint than foods shipped thousands of miles.

In a thoughtful piece on the New York Times Op-Ed page this morning James E. McWilliams draws this remarkably level-headed conclusion:

"We must also be prepared to accept that buying local is not necessarily beneficial for the environment. As much as this claim violates one of our most sacred assumptions, life cycle assessments offer far more valuable measurements to gauge the environmental impact of eating. While there will always be good reasons to encourage the growth of sustainable local food systems, we must also allow them to develop in tandem with what could be their equally sustainable global counterparts. We must accept the fact, in short, that distance is not the enemy of awareness."

Originally posted by Ed Levine from Serious Eats: Main, on August 6, 2007 5:00 AM

I moved back to New York City at the end of last year because of my wife's work, and despite my love for my coworkers and the work they do. But the decision was made really easy by the fact that I was spending too much time with other people in the Bay Area and especially in Silicon Valley who apparently have different motivations from my friends and peers.

The New York Times gives us a depressingly close view of the emptiness of their world. I struggle to find a nice way to say this, but if your motivation isn't to make something meaningful, if you don't understand what it is to yearn for the creative impetus that is the core driver of interesting, meaningful, innovative work, or if your motivation is a big pile of money that won't ever make your children happy, then I implore you, I beseech you: Get out now. Clear room again for those of us that do it because we love it, that did it when there was no money in it, that can't not do it. Life's too short to work on something so insufficiently world-changing. And you're just getting in the way of those of us with work to do.

Originally posted by Anil from Anil Dash, on August 6, 2007 12:47 AM

Slick Rick & DJ Red Alert Thursday, August 09, 2007 From 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM Marcus Garvey Park Slick Rick & DJ Red Alert, hosted by Ralph McDaniels - Marcus Garvey Park, Manhattan With his beret, his eye-patch and...

Originally posted by souris from hustler of culture, on August 5, 2007 6:55 PM

Lots of scathing critiques and mockery of Fortune and BusinessWeek (and their writers — see here and here). E.g. this piece on BusinessWeek (with bonus digs at Business 2.0):

Dude, if I wanted to be told the obvious, I’d subscribe to BusinessWeek. (You’ve heard their new slogan? BusinessWeek: In case you missed the Journal last week.)

Not as much about Forbes, and nothing personally mocking any particular Forbes writers. But there is this piece where Bono tells Fake Steve about his stint as “guest editor” of Vanity Fair:

“Yeah, first I was gonna try and edit an edition of Forbes, seeing that I own the fookin place and all, but you know what? I tried to read some of their stories and I fookin fell asleep! No shite, Steve. I mean I really tried. No matter what, I’d fall asleep. Coffee, electrodes, toothpicks to hold up my eyelids — fookin asleep in like five minutes. […] I told dose guys you need more fookin celebrities or sumfin. Spark it up a bit. Guy tells me, Oh, no, we actually go out of our way to make it less exciting. Our average reader is like seventy-eight years old and we don’t want to scare them.

[Link]

Originally posted by John Gruber from Daring Fireball, on August 5, 2007 6:33 PM

• If you’re looking to share a room, folks are offering their up their second beds here (old standby) and here (new hotness).

• Jeff Czerniak is doing his C4[1] Detonator pre-party. He’s planning on hitting Volare on Thursday Aug 9 at 6:30pm, following it up with a jaunt to Fado Irish Pub. There’s also talk about meeting up for Chicago-style hotdogs the Friday afternoon. Email Jeff if you want to join the fun. Sadly I can’t go — I’ll be folding your shirts that evening.

• Brian Ray put together a special Chicago Python (ChiPy) meeting about developing Python on the Mac called Snakes on Apples. It’s Thursday Aug 9 @ 7pm.

• Buzz Andersen is looking for Alinea dinner partners. I haven’t been there myself, but I hear it’s great.

• If you’re flying in, it’s easy to take the L to the Chicago City Centre hotel — the Red Line is about six blocks away. Here’s a map from the Red Line’s Grand station to the hotel. Here’s directions to get from the airports to the hotel:

  From ORD (O’Hare):

  • Blue Line to Jackson (towards Forest Park+54th/Cermak)
  • Transfer to Red Line
  • Red Line to Grand (towards Howard)

  From MDW (Midway):

  • Orange Line to Roosevelt/Wabash (towards Loop)
  • Transfer to Red Line
  • Red Line to Grand (towards Howard)

• I hope you’re working on your Iron Coder Live hacks. I’ve been working on mine.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from rentzsch.com: Tales from the Red Shed, on August 5, 2007 8:37 AM