[Technologizer. See Original]
Serendipity is wonderful, but it doesn’t happen often. For every enriching coincidence – meeting someone who becomes a lifelong friend or lifelong partner, finding that fantastic hidden restaurant – we miss how many? Dozens, maybe hundreds of other lucky opportunities?
Now several tech startups are trying to increase the odds of connection.
A colleague just asked me for advice about cameras – specifically how to get pictures and videos of fast-moving kids. I figured I’d share with the rest of you.
The best you can do for an all-in-one is this hard-to-name new breed of camera called alternatively hybrid or micro four thirds (same thing, essentially).
They work almost as well as SLRs, but they don’t have the internal mirror that allows you to look through the viewfinder and right through the lens. That makes them skinnier. You compose instead on the LCD (like with a pocket camera) or in some cases with an electronic viewfinder (like on a high-end videocamera).
Marketers’ plans to track you may not be nefarious. But they sure can feel that way.
[PC World, May 20, 2011. See Orignal]
When Apple sneezes, the world takes interest in ear-nose-throat medicine. So upon learning that their iPhones have been building a bloated file of location data, consumers started wondering if mobile service also means mobile surveillance.
The U.S. government’s call for restraint by Mideast autocrats and its support for democratic movements is quite ironic, since this government would never be as tolerant if a similar movement swept across America.
No, thats not a tiyp-o. At leest, not an aksidental wun.
Stik with mee on this for a wiyl.
Iyv bin thingking laytly about how langwage evolvs and reeliyzing that we hav ay krayzy amount ov speling deetriytus that haz akyumyulayted over the sentyurees.
(WARNING: mild spoilers ahead)
Well, I finally made it to the Green Hornet. Surprisingly good 3D – especially for a “converted” film. But unlike the production technology, the in-story tech made me a bit uncomfortable.
[Technologizer. Read Original]
Recently, I drove a Mini Cooper for the first time. (Rented from Zipcar for $13/hour. Not bad.)
That’s not news, obviously. They’ve been around forever. But it taught me something very important about product design: It’s really hard–and aggravating–for us consumers if you mess with our way of doing things.
I’m clearly not alone in my new guilty addiction, AMC’s The Walking Dead. (I gotta do something while waiting for the next season of True Blood.)
But I must admit, my first thought was – ugh, more zombies. Despite the apparent fascination of the entertainment press, this is a very well-worn genre. I Am Legend, Resident Evil, Zombieland, 28 Days, Weeks (and Years?) later – to name just a few of many.
But here’s what really fascinates me about The Walking Dead: It has so-so looking people. Not the Zombies. They are spectacularly ugly. I mean the un-undead – the stars.
Fear and rebutting at the Future of TV conference in New York City
[Technologizer. Read Original]
Cord cutting–getting rid of cable or satellite TV–is the buzzword du jour in the TV and electronics industries. Pundits have proclaimed TV dead, or at least dying00going the way of the recording industry, which went from pricey CDs to cheaper downloads and now to mostly-free streaming.
In his November 18th essay “Weakness and Endurance,” New York Times columnist David Brooks uses the example of Newsweek’s shaky revival as an opportunity to praise the intellectual value of old general-interest magazines. He also bemoans that “general” has since devolved into banal.
While I can easily agree with Mr. Brooks’s valuing of intellectual curiosity and high-minded dialog, I can scarcely comprehend the particular justification that he provides for them, except perhaps as an advanced case of old white man’s myopia.
