Podcast Episode 4: Recalculating...your brain?

The guys offer smart suggestions, discuss the ever expanding role that technology plays in our day-to-day lives, and debate the motives of the hacktivist group "Anonymous."

Links from this podcast:

• How do Japanese multiply?
• Pat Paulsen for President
• WiFi QR Share
• The Tallest Man on Earth / Tiny Desk Concert
• The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption

Featuring the songs "Requiem for a Fish" (The Freak Fandango Orchestra) / (CC BY-SA 3.0) and "The Hug" (The Freak Fandango Orchestra) / (CC BY-SA 3.0).

SOPA and PIPA: the new terms of service

I started drafting a piece that would look at SOPA and PIPA and this whole wave of internet regulation that seems to be sweeping the halls of congress. But two things kept tripping me up. First off, there are already reporters and sites doing a far better job than a simple part-time blogger could do(I recommend The Verge and Nilay Patel for some of the best analysis). And secondly, that the news was coming so quickly in the past week that before I could get a solid thought down, something else had happened. But I still have to say my piece on this. In writing this piece it became a fruitless task to try and “out think” a lot of very good writers who have tackled this from every angle. But I think something that few people are really focusing on, at least for now, is that SOPA is merely one small piece of a grander attempt, both by the US government and corporations to corral the the internet into a more manageable form.

"Portable Cathedrals"

If you're plugged into your tablet or smartphone for much of the day, you might get a kick out of Dan Hill's essay on the design of the Nokia N9. He takes an almost obsessive look at  the N9- one of the staggering lost opportunities of the past year. As hardware, it went on to father the Lumia line of phones running Windows Phone 7. The N9's open source operating system, Meego, has little if any future.

I'll just add that I owned the predecessor to the N9, the N900. It was a great phone that slammed far too many great design ideas that weren't really ready for primetime when it was released in 2010. The N9 seems to have carried on the tradition of great ideas that just didn't catch on for one reason or another. And because the phone is now one-of-a-kind, and it is so well made in most regards, it should become something of a collectors item for design and technology geeks.

Anyway, I don't want to steal Dan's thunder. Its a very good holiday break read; full of insight, and great words to remember like "skeumorphic".

5 Smart Technologies of 2011

Its one thing to get hyped up on a new site or service (Schemer, anyone?). Its another to hit on new (at least to you) tools you find online that you actually incorporate into your regular life. Be it for work or play, here's a breakdown of sites and apps I've come across this year that I actually use. Some of these are not necessarily new this year, but are all new to me and deserve more users and supporters.

Ditch the shopping and update your parents' browser!

I scheduled this to post early, just in case you are reading it on a smartphone/iPad/tablet while waiting in a line to be trampled by the irony of rampant consumerism. Chances are, your parents aren't exactly tech savvy. And like it or not, you're going to spend some of your vacation bringing them into the modern age. Don't think of it as a chore, think of it as a challenge! Let's see if we can't reduce Internet Explorer's market share to single digits.

Hate Techno? Science has discovered why

As you probably already know, Techno music is generated electronically via computer. Computers lack the human capability for error and thus electronic music has perfect beats. Scientists have discovered that human beings can distinguish the computer generated beats from man made beats and that we generally prefer beats created the old fashioned way.

Seems to me the more important question is: "why does anyone like techno?"

I've always assumed it had something to do with being a glow stick aficionado...or ecstasy.

TED Tuesday: Thomas Suarez shares his thoughts on app development

Thomas Suarez is familiar with multiple progamming languages and is responsible for progamming apps such as Bustin Jeiber -- a "whack-a-mole" type game for Justin Bieber Haters. Oh yeah, and he's in 6th grade.


Sheesh. I turned 28 today and I am pretty sure that this kid will be my boss before I'm 40.

Seafaring Robots to Collect Data, Confuse Sharks

Imagine a world 75% covered in water; at a time when information is as precious as gold and industries spend vast amounts to gather as much as possible. One company will make it possible to send networked floating drones to do the work of expensive manned ships. From the man who brought you Java, the widely used programming language, comes Liquid Robotics. No data will go unfound.

(Source: NY Times)