grah.cc

topherchris: (Re: Police Seize Jason Chen’s Computers)

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:33:16 +1000

(Re: Police Seize Jason Chen’s Computers)

"Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the..."

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 07:40:43 +1000

“Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it. So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful. Everyone knows this, but no one can do it.””

- Lao Tzu (via kari-shma) (via quote-book)

"Poets and artists live on frontiers. They have no feedback, only feedforward. They have no..."

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:30:06 +1000

“Poets and artists live on frontiers. They have no feedback, only feedforward. They have no identities. They are probes.”

- Marshall McLuhan

Computational feat speeds finding of genes to milliseconds instead of years

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:21:05 +1000

Computational feat speeds finding of genes to milliseconds instead of years

"The idea that I can be presented with a problem, set out to logically solve it with the tools at..."

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 04:38:09 +1000

“The idea that I can be presented with a problem, set out to logically solve it with the tools at hand, and wind up with a program that could not be legally used because someone else followed the same logical steps some years ago and filed for a patent on it is horrifying.”

- John Carmack

The Emperor’s Castle originates from a mythical and ancient tale...

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 18:39:00 +1000

The Emperor’s Castle originates from a mythical and ancient tale hidden within a woodblock landscape scene created by Japanese Ukiyo-e printmaker, Ando Hiroshige. This tale charts the story of two star-crossed lovers, the weaving Princess and the Cowherd, who have been separated by the Princess’s father, the Emperor. These characters have been replaced by architectonic metaphors creating an urban theatre within the grounds of the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo.

— The Emperor’s Castle by Thomas Hillier

"Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution."

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 15:50:00 +1000

“Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.”

- Clay Shirky. The Technium: The Shirky Principle

Photo

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 15:48:00 +1000

"Between 1980 and 2005, virtually all net new jobs created in the U.S. were created by firms that..."

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 15:44:24 +1000

““Between 1980 and 2005, virtually all net new jobs created in the U.S. were created by firms that were 5 years old or less””

- Start-Ups, Not Bailouts - NYTimes.com

These featured places appear because a lot of Loopt users liked...

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 02:27:00 +1000

These featured places appear because a lot of Loopt users liked the place, or are currently there. Or maybe the place has positive reviews in the local paper. You can also sort by events and friends. On the friends tab, you only see places that your Facebook friends like (you connect via Facebook Connect). “To most users we’ve spoken to, that’s the recommendation they care about the most,” Altman says.

— Loopt Pulse bets that location on the iPad is about planning

"There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery. Ten years ago, the average household..."

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 01:47:00 +1000

“There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery. Ten years ago, the average household received five pieces of mail every day. Today, it receives four pieces and by 2020, that number will fall to three.”

- USPS files 5 day delivery plan

The invisible networks of past generations..

"The first five million will be sold in a heartbeat,” said Guy Kawasaki, a Silicon Valley..."

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 23:26:00 +1000

“The first five million will be sold in a heartbeat,” said Guy Kawasaki, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who was a marketing executive at Apple in the 1980s. “But let’s see: you can’t make a phone call with it, you can’t take a picture with it, and you have to buy content that before now you were not willing to pay for. That seems tough to me.”

- Cost and Redundancy Issues Confront iPad

I totally agree with the sentiment explained here. The price is a little high ($199 would get this device to mass adoption).

But, right now, there’s nothing really compelling about the iPad to get me or anyone i know (apart from gadget freaks) to buy one. My dad will get one - but thats only on my recommendation that it’ll be easier for him to browse the web and check his email (he doesn’t have a laptop).

Apple is in the experience business and although the iPad feels great, I’m not sure that many people will rush out to buy this device - simply because it doesn’t do the 20% of functions that a person wants. No matter that the other 80% of stuff feels great.

I think they’ll have to open up just a little bit more to go mainstream with this device.

Google Street View - in 3d :D It’s tacky as hell, but...

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 22:23:43 +1000

Google Street View - in 3d :D

It’s tacky as hell, but nonetheless interesting..

"About 15 years ago, the supply part of media’s supply-and-demand curve went parabolic, with a..."

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 16:10:00 +1000

“About 15 years ago, the supply part of media’s supply-and-demand curve went parabolic, with a predictably inverse effect on price. Since then, a battalion of media elites have lined up to declare that exactly the opposite thing will start happening any day now.”

- The Collapse of Complex Business Models - Clay Shirky

Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:47:54 +1000

Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine:

A classic - well worth reading again.

Helvetireader 2 released.

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 17:49:05 +1000

Helvetireader 2 released.

"I saw the same thing when I worked at the grocery store. From the types of labels people read to the..."

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 02:12:38 +1000

“

I saw the same thing when I worked at the grocery store. From the types of labels people read to the number of bags they wanted to take home. People would opt for clarity, comfort, and convenience. Yeah, spreading out groceries across 3 bags may have technically been better, but that meant they’d have to make another trip to their car when bringing their groceries in their house. They wanted simple. One trip, done.

It all reminds me of the software business. The industry is obsessed with touting features while the public is obsessed an entirely different set of criteria: Does it solve my basic problems and is it easy to use? Does it make sense? Do I understand it?

”

- Shoes and software - 37signals

"But I have this especially strong memory that until I was probably 10 or 11, every television we..."

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:23:46 +1000

“

But I have this especially strong memory that until I was probably 10 or 11, every television we bought would come in a kit, as a box full of parts, that Dad would put together — it was always a project for him. Now, as a kid, having a Heathkit television was basically mortifying. I mean, I just wanted us to go buy a “normal” television at Sears like everyone else did. Our TV didn’t look like other folks, and being different as a kid is always a tough feeling.

And, in fact, our first computer was a Sinclair Z-80 that, you guessed it, came in a kit. Then, since there was no prepackaged software to run on it, I typed in a bunch of BASIC programs from BYTE magazine. Good times.

The upside of that awkward feeling as a kid, though, has been significant and long lasting. The upside is that I’ve never really viewed technology as something that was magic. It always had components that added up to the whole, that you could replace, that you could mix in different ways. I’ve always felt like technology (and organizations, and laws, and most everything else) comes to us in a way that we should be poking at it, thinking about how things work, wondering how to make things better, wondering what would happen if you removed certain things.

”

- Kit by John Lilly

Just uploaded a bunch of photos from thailand and myanmar to...

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:04:01 +1000

Just uploaded a bunch of photos from thailand and myanmar to flickr.

and i’m officially on holidays in 15 hours..

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:22:08 +1000

and i’m officially on holidays in 15 hours..