Portuguese media companies, struggling through the worst recession since the 1970s, are pressing Google to pay for content on its news search engine, echoing similar demands elsewhere in Europe.
I’m not sure I understand the demands by these media companies. Google links to the articles which should bring in traffic to the sites, enabling them to make money. I don’t see any ads on Google News, so it doesn’t appear they are making money from it.
“I went into my local store to return my Astro pants and Invert crops, both purchased this month. I was asked to BEND OVER in order to determine sheerness. The sales associate then perused my butt in the dim lighting of the change room and deemed them “not sheer”.
Wow Lululemon.
Very clever.
Another interesting article from Horace Dediu.
The only country where Google+ is top of the social networking category is Albania.
What the hell is going on in Albania?
Okay, a little bit of humor for you.
I am a huge fan of negative space in design.
One of the best songs ever.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Shaun Inman’s great Fever feed reader. With all the talk about finding a replacement for Google Reader, Fever should be high on your list.
A new weather service from the people behind the Dark Sky app. This is really nice.
Ellis Hamburger wrote a great piece about why we haven’t seen more app developers supporting iCloud.
Tabular is a brand new tablature editor that lets you read and write music for guitar, bass, drums and much more. It’s the best way to learn new songs, write your own songs and run through practice exercises for nearly any kind of stringed instrument or drum kit.
It’s a nice looking app. I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks well done.
MacUpdate’s promotion is ending soon.
T-Mobile USA Inc. will begin selling the iPhone 5 on April 12, letting customers buy the Apple Inc. (AAPL) device via an installment plan that dispenses with the industry’s typical long-term contracts.
Qualifying buyers can get the phone for $99.99 down, plus monthly payments, T-Mobile said today at an event in New York. Service for the phone starts at $50 per month for unlimited calls and 500 megabytes of data.
Manton Reece takes a look at Netbot, Felix, and Riposte for App.net.
Yes, I laughed.
In December, the council unveiled its customary annual list of new Swedish words. Among the words that Swedes had begun using in 2012 was “ogooglebar” (‘ungoogleable’).
The California-based multinational soon got into a huff, asking the council to amend its definition. But the language experts refused to bow down to the demands, instead choosing a third option – removing the term all together.
Now Google is trying to control the words a country and its population can use? Really Google.
MG Siegler:
I can’t help but get the feeling that the ramifications of Google killing off Reader are going to be far more wide-reaching than they may appear at first glance.
RSS is important to many sites and people in a variety of ways. MG looks at it from TechCrunch’s point of view and from his own site.
Definitely cool, but I wonder how they sound.
Ben Brooks explains how he kicked Google to the curb.
It makes my stomach queazy just looking at these pics.
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‘In theory the local police station would contact me and ask for Cameron to come in to be interviewed.
‘I could make it difficult of course and refuse to bring him in and they would have to come and arrest him.
‘Really I just want to embarrass Apple as much as possible. Morally, I just don’t understand where Apple gets off charging for a child’s game.’
So the father reported the kid to the cops. This isn’t Apple’s problem, it’s the father’s problem. Deal with it and stop blaming other people.
If you only read one gaming statistic this week, let it be this one: In a pre-conference survey, GDC 2013′s organizers found that 58 percent of gaming professionals attending either last year’s conference or this one plan to release their next game on smartphones or tablets. That’s a tad greater than commitments to the Xbox 360, Microsoft’s next console, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U and Wii, which combined garnered “next game” pledges from 56.5 percent of developers.
It will certainly be interesting to see how this week plays out.
First we’ll look at the relative popularity of different chords based on the frequency that they appear in the chord progressions of popular music. Then we’ll begin to look at the relationship that different chords have with one another. For example, if a chord is found in a song, what can we say about the probability for what the next chord will be that comes after it?
This is a three part series and is very interesting. I can’t imagine what must have gone into analyzing so many songs.
This was fascinating. Simon Thomas did a nice job with this article.
It’s great to see how businesses are using the iPad to make things better for its customers. I can’t see many iPads sticking around a restaurant in North America though.
Horace Dediu is getting set to publish a report on iTunes and how the business is doing. He put together an excerpt on his site.
Jake Savin:
Software should empower you, not distract you. It’s a tool, and like any good tool it should feel like a part of you. Once you know how to use it, the software itself should fade into your subconscious.
Jake makes some good points.
I observed design students who were acting mindlessly, simply doing their assignments as presented. No creativity, no imagination, no questioning. That’s not what design thinking is about. As a result, I have changed my mind: Design Thinking really is special. Alas, it isn’t embraced by all designers, but where it exists, it is powerful.