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Super Bowl sniper nest

Shawn King — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:55:40 +0000

Sniper nest

Business Insider:

While the Lucas Oil Stadium was crammed with fans watching the biggest sporting event of the year on Sunday, there was also at least one well-equipped sniper in attendance.

These pictures started circulating Tuesday night, and though speculation about their authenticity lingers, the original source has confirmed with me they are genuine.

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How Pinterest is quietly generating revenue

Shawn King — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:27:58 +0000

Josh Davis:

If you post a pin to Pinterest, and it links to an ecommerce site that happens to have an affiliate program, Pinterest modifies the link to add their own affiliate tracking code. If someone clicks through the picture from Pinterest and makes a purchase, Pinterest gets paid. They don’t have any disclosure of this link modification on their site, and so far, while it has been written about, no major news outlet has picked up on the practice or its implications.

I use Pinterest and this is troubling. Yes, they need to make money but doing it behind the users back is a bit off putting.

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If men wrote Valentine’s cards

Shawn King — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:12:10 +0000

Cool Material:

No guy looks forward to Valentine’s Day. Here’s what it would look like if guys wrote Valentine’s Day cards.

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GigaOM buys paidContent.org

Jim Dalrymple — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:58:35 +0000

Om Malik:

First the news: Yes, the rumors are true. We are indeed buying the assets of ContentNext Media from Guardian News & Media Limited. And no, we are not disclosing the terms of the deal, except that we are buying the entire group of properties — paidContent.org, mocoNews.net, contentSutra and paidContent:UK and that a representative of Guardian News & Media will join our board of directors as an observer.

I have a tremendous amount of respect for Om and what he’s done. Good luck with this.

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Tweetbot 2.0

Jim Dalrymple — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:36:44 +0000

This is a great update.

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∞ Marketing Missteps: Pawngo, the Pats and Butterfingers

Peter Cohen — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:33:03 +0000

Online pawn shop Pawngo really stuck its foot in it this week when it tried to make fun of the New England Patriots’ performance in the Super Bowl, and is paying for it – literally and figuratively.

The wrong specs

Jim Dalrymple — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:47:04 +0000

Ben Brooks talking about an article written by Tim Moynihan:

I don’t give a damn about this camera, but I think it offers an interesting glimpse at the market. That is: consumers are looking at the wrong specs. Traditionally in this segment it was all about megapixels, but now it seems to be all about: optical zoom and Wi-Fi. Both are horrible features to care about, let alone to base a decision on.

Ben’s right. Consumers tend to focus on specs far too often when making a decision, but when you focus on the wrong specs, you can’t possibly make an informed choice. Things like Wi-Fi are just part of what you expect to be there — those are features you say “oh, and it has Wi-Fi, right?” when you are ready to buy. That’s after you’ve already investigated all of the important things.

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∞ David Lee Roth interviews Alex and Eddie Van Halen

Jim Dalrymple — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:50:31 +0000

Great stuff. [...]

In lockup, man couldn’t remember phone numbers

Shawn King — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:36:50 +0000

LA Weekly:

Like many people, Petrick had come to rely on his cellphone. He wasn’t as good as he used to be about memorizing phone numbers. Excitedly, he recalled one person’s cell number and dialed it.

His elation, however, quickly turned to anxious frustration as the automated voice told Petrick that he could not place a collect call to a cellular phone. He could only call out to a land line. Trouble was, he hadn’t memorized any land-line numbers.

“I realized right away that

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∞ Picture: Samsung’s secret design weapon

Jim Dalrymple — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:41:12 +0000

No wonder they can copy Apple’s products so fast.

Apple claimed 80% of mobile profit in Q4

Jim Dalrymple — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:31:07 +0000

BGR:

Impressive data points from Apple’s record-setting holiday quarter continue to trickle out, and new estimates suggest that the company accounted for a staggering share of mobile profits in the fourth quarter of 2011. Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt wrote in a research note on Tuesday that Apple took in approximately 50% of all mobile industry revenues last quarter. Even more impressive, the analyst says Apple’s high-margin iPhone lineup accounted for more than 80% of all mobile phone profits. Read on for more.

How can this be if Android is winning?

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Honeywell vs. Nest: ‘this is about killing the competition’

Peter Cohen — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:13:04 +0000

Matt Burns at TechCrunch examine’s Honeywell’s patents, which it says Nest Labs is infringing upon with its learning thermostat.

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Remember, when it comes to Facebook, you’re the product

Peter Cohen — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:50:04 +0000

New York Times:

But unlike other big-ticket corporations, it doesn’t have an inventory of widgets or gadgets, cars or phones. Facebook’s inventory consists of personal data — yours and mine.

Facebook makes money by selling ad space to companies that want to reach us. Advertisers choose key words or details — like relationship status, location, activities, favorite books and employment — and then Facebook runs the ads for the targeted subset of its 845 million

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An interview with Jim Dalrymple

Jim Dalrymple — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:24:36 +0000

Ryan Cash interviewed me about The Loop and posted it today.

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A Swarm of Nano Quadrotors

Shawn King — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:50:11 +0000

A Swarm of Nano Quadrotors

Pennsylvania’s General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (Grasp) laboratory shows how a massive groups of quadrocopters can work together in large formations. In the video, 20 of the whirring drones fly in unison, transitioning between formations and avoiding collisions.

I, for one, welcome our new nano robotic overlords.

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Queen Elizabeth II 60th anniversary milestone

Shawn King — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:58:09 +0000

Queen Elizabeth II

Huffington Post:

Queen Elizabeth II marked her Diamond Jubilee on Monday with a message thanking all those who had supported her over her 60-year reign and reaffirming her dedication to serving the British people.

The 85-year-old monarch ascended the throne when her father, George VI, died on Feb. 6, 1952. She is the longest-serving monarch after Queen Victoria, who reigned for more than 63 years.

It’s remarkable to be in any job for that long let alone one with as much pressure as this one. Congratulations, Mum!

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Best Buy leaks Apple iTV details

Jim Dalrymple — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:54:53 +0000

BGR:

42-inch 1080 LED display; Runs iOS; App Store functionality; iCloud for access to all your music, TV shows, movies, photos, and videos; iPhone and iPad as a remote control with AirPlay to push content from your devices to the TV; Built-in FaceTime camera and microphone (we’d imagine Siri, as well); Netflix, YouTube, Flickr support; and $1,499 price.

I have a hard time buying this, unless Apple is a lot further along than we thought it was.

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Honeywell sues Nest Labs for patent infringement

Peter Cohen — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:03:41 +0000

TechCrunch:

Conglomerate Honeywell, which develops thermostats, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Nest Labs, the developer of the innovative smart thermostat. The lawsuit, which was filed United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, alleges infringement of seven Honeywell patents related to its thermostat technology.

Nest Labs makes the “learning thermostat.” You may remember them as the brainchild of Tony Fadell, who was formerly

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Six dazzling Super Bowl meat stadiums

Shawn King — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:18:28 +0000

Super Deli Bowl

Westword:

Holy Super Bowl! Someone in the football universe obviously takes his deli platter damn seriously, as evidenced by this snap, a dazzling stadium display of cold cuts, crudites, chips and cheese squares.

Some of the “stadiums” are insanely complex looking. Thanks to Lessien for the heads up via Twitter.

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The best Super Bowl ad you (Canadians) will see

Shawn King — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 23:01:57 +0000

CBS Sports:

This is your regular beer-league hockey game and the small rink gets filled with a rabid fan base complete with body paint, thundersticks and banners. The looks on the players’ faces is priceless.

This video will touch the hearts of every beer league player out there. It’s a shame it will only be shown in Canada during the game.

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