(via newsweek)

danwmartin:

EPIC FU Interview

Since no one looks at this blog, I’ve decided to humor my ego and post this interview I gave to Epic FU last year.  On top of all the positive-affirmation cassettes I listen to of Whales telling me in their song language that I’m a pretty pony and not a loser anymore, sometimes I like to watch this video one or twenty times a day to help me make it to Happy Hour (which in my house starts at Noon).  So big thanks to Steve and Zadi at Epic FU for enabling me to remember what dreams sounded like coming out of my mouth.

Also, to the none of you reading this, here is the extended cut of the interview:

http://epicfu.com/blog/2009/01/dan-martin.html

Well, when you put it that way…

(QI discusses the American Prison System)

mikehudack:

stevewoolf:

zadi:

Zadi and Steve’s Infinite Playlist

We just moved into our new place and have two large boxes of music CDs that have been stored away for over ten years. We’re digitizing it all and uploading a favorite from each CD. We don’t know what we’ll find, but it’ll be interesting going down music memory lane. Some of it will be amazing, some of it will make us cringe, but all of it will be entertaining.

This is my new favorite Tumblr account. And I’m including mine in that assertion.

My blog is going to be a lot less active over the next two weeks as I hit NYC, Chicago, and New Orleans in short order. I know this probably leaves you all broken and crying, but just try to make it through the next 13 days and everything will be better afterwards - I promise.

ericmortensen:

ekstasis:

kingcrow:

thedailywhat:

xkcd.

…And now I feel like an idiot because I’m crying.

Reminds me of the Ikea lamp ad, except this one doesn’t scold me for feeling sad.

I remember feeling really sad when Phoenix shut down. They’d done such a good job anthropomorphizing that little guy that my heart really broke reading its “farewell transmission from Mars.”

“But for now, it’s time for me to hunker down and brave…”

I don’t know whether it’s my love of science, robots, or whether I’m just a big damn softie, but that line killed me - just slayed me alive.

I feel about the same with the above comic. Maybe it’s me examining the universe from the perspective of so much distance, maybe it’s a fear of ever feeling so lost and quite literally alone, and maybe I just have a romanticized outlook on exploration. Whatever it is, I want to hug that robot and tell it that everything will be alright.

evangotlib:

clutchcityreturns:

Vision for High-Speed Rail in America by the Obama Administration.

I really hope this happens.

My life would be vastly improved by this.

writer-a:

sickinlove:

writer-a:

hmwt:

I just want to take a minute out of my day today to say that Mr. Alan Sereboff is the nicest guy on the planet. I met him in person because he came to my work to pick me up and give me a ride to a shop he recommended when our car was broken. He had never met me before in his life and was still willing to take time out of his day to help me out of a pretty bad jam at a time when my finances were dire.

Anybody who treats this guy like anything other than the Nicest Man on Earth should be punched repeatedly in the face until dead. *cough cough

Have Motorcycle - Will Travel

Wire MacDonald, Los Angeles

Aw, man, don’t know what to say. It was my pleasure, and has been even more of a pleasure getting to know you and Gen.

+1111111111111111

Alan and I have had our ups and downs, it’s all been ups for the past few years though and I can say he’s on my top 5 list of people to call in an emergency. He will always sacrifice what he is doing to help a friend. From picking you up when your car breaks down to helping you write a paragraph about yourself because you don’t know how to write well enough. He will edit your marketing materials or help you rip out gross tiling off a 50 year old floor. He is RAD.

Oh Man, guys. Rachel, we did go through our thing, but like you said, we came out on top. You are by far one of the coolest people I have ever met and I’m grateful for you in my life.  I will always marvel at your accomplishments, your courage, at who you are; you mean the world to me, my friend. And hell yes, I will always, always, be there for you.

Alan once killed a guy for me. Not even that bad of a guy either. He just made a joke and Alan just looked at me with his serious face and said “This man is going to have to die,” and I knew it to be true.

We drove deep into the desert that night, the weight of our situation weighing heavily on our shoulders. Alan knew just what to say to make it a little better though.

Every once in a while I still wake up with nightmares but Alan always picks up his phone and calms me down just by repeating the phrase “this never happened, it’s all in your mind, we don’t talk about this over tappable lines” over and over and over. Somehow the repetition always helps calm me down so I can sleep again.

My initial reaction to seeing the first tweet was ‘wow, Salinger was still alive?’ then, ‘frak I need to download Catcher in the Rye!’. The convergence of the past and the future present in one thought, of course, made me think: with the birth of the iPad came the symbolic death of the page.

writer-a:

barelysarcasm:

davymac:icodeforlove:

… Apple …

Huge letdown.

Thank You

It literally pains me to agree with this. Edit: I could care less about the Widescreen, keyboard, video out (although that would be nice), removable battery , and yes for now, removable storage. That said, the absence of flash, open platform, a camera (we all know why it’s not there), and multi-tasking make this a big “no thanks” for me for now.

I’ve already made my views known, but I’d like to point out something very quickly on the above. We don’t know whether or not it will have flash, all we know is that a plugin wasn’t installed.

There are a number of reasons why this could be the case:

• It won’t run flash.
• Adobe has not made a plugin because they don’t plan to support it.
• Adobe has not made a plugin because the device isn’t finalized yet and they haven’t had their hands on a unit.
• It was a fresh install of the OS and no one bothered to get the plugin on before Steve took the stage.

All we’re doing with the above is repeating assumptions based on a single loaded webpage during a presentation. If it doesn’t support flash, I’ll join in the disappointment, but until we know one way or another, please don’t repeat guesswork and assumptions as fact.

lialia:

So earlier today I signed on Tumblr to do something fresh like like post a picture of a maxi pad and be like, “yo I already got my iPad, son!” until I realized that of course, the entire Internet had already beat me to it.

In any case, GC brought a tablet PC home not that long ago and I’ve been playing around on it ever since. From what I can tell, this computer does everything and more than what the iPad promises to do, minus the extra fees. The only major difference from what I can tell is the ability to type on the touch screen which would be nice to have on the PC. Am I missing something else major here? Why, exactly, is this a gamechanger?

Here’re my thoughts on why I’m absolutely floored (in the good way) by the iPad:

1. iPhone OS - The “desktop metaphor” for computing is two and a half decades old now. While it works, it’s clunky as all hell and incredibly limiting. There are better ways, the iPhone interface is one of them. It’s an incredibly elegant and intuitive interface. Touchscreen abilities mean the UI can be customized to fit the program instead of having to graft standardized UI elements on top of a desktop metaphor. Imagine using Final Cut Pro or photoshop with sliders and wheels customized for that program’s functionality. Imagine no more keyboard shortcuts to do what a simple slider could. This is the first step towards that; buttons that are only there when you need them and infinitely customizable for any and all given computing scenarios - but that only works when you begin to break away from the desktop/folders/tiered metaphor for computing.
2. It’s a better laptop for what I do, than a laptop. I use my laptop now for mobile computing. 99% of the time it’s email, Word, Calendar, Keynote, presentations, and the Web. This does all of that. The better part comes because A) it’s 1/3 the weight, and B) I don’t have to search for a wi-fi hotspot anymore.
3. It’s a better netbook without the sacrifices. Granted, storage is an issue, but it’s not meant to be your only computer (like a netbook.) Netbooks are small and cramped, in an effort to be lightweight. This has a larger screen, weighs less, and does more.
4. I don’t care about the ebooks bit (I have a Kindle) but would absolutely get the LA Times and WSJ newspapers on this. Books are better on e-ink. Newspapers could kill on this. The layout translates, and you interact with them in an incredibly familiar way: click on the article to read more/go to the page it continues on.
5. 3G is huge for me. I hate trying to find a wifi spot when I need to type a longer email. The add-on cards cost more than the 30 bucks offered here. Sometimes a lot more. Finally a true “anywhere” computing device.
6. 10 hours of HD video is astounding. I might use that, I might not, but if they’re getting 10 hours decoding H.264 video, I can only imagine that a day or two charge with the above normal computing is not out of the ordinary.
7. I don’t care about a camera, I guess some people do. I have a camera in my phone, a DSLR, and I don’t do a lot of videoconferencing. Some people do, that’s fine.

So essentially it’s everything my current laptop is, but more efficient, smaller, lighter, and faster. Throw in a bluetooth keyboard and it’s a portable office for me, since I was already planning on getting a larger workhorse machine for FCP/CS4/video/whatever else. Apple gave me the perfect machine for my lifestyle and exactly what I need and want in a portable - albeit secondary - computing device.