The Atlantic:
Over the past week, Norway has been witness to some jaw-dropping light shows, the result of an M8.7 class flare and a coronal mass ejection in a direction pointed toward Earth. Many Norwegians shared their photos of the northern lights — or “nordlys” in Norwegian — on Flickr.
Most people have never seen the Northern Lights in person but if you have, it’s sight you’ll never forget.
Mashable:
In terms of GIFs, we’ve seen everything from mainstream celebrities photobombing major award shows to familiar web trends like cats and Star Wars characters. But when it comes to animated GIFs, one thing is for certain: Humor always wins.
I’m sorry but the above Panda image had me laughing out loud.
Tom Krazit, PaidContent:
There’s nowhere else in the world you can build a modern smartphone or tablet as cheaply, easily, and reliably as the massive factories of companies like Foxconn, which operate on a scale that is difficult to comprehend. The price for doing business with companies like Foxconn is living with the knowledge that these products are being built by people who have signed up for a modern-day version of indentured servitude.So what can be done about that?
Network World:
No need to waste your time sitting through commercials during Super Bowl XLVI when you could be doing other things like eating and drinking and arguing, right? Here’s a sneak peek at some of the geekiest/techiest commercials on tap for the big New England Patriots vs. New York Giants matchup.
Ads from VW, Samsung, GoDaddy and Ferris Bueller is back!
Reuters:
Apple’s Steve Jobs directly asked former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt to stop trying to recruit an Apple engineer, a transgression that threatened one junior Google employee’s job, according to a court filing.The 2007 email from Jobs to Schmidt was disclosed on Friday in the course of civil litigation against Apple Inc, Google Inc and five other technology companies. The proposed class action, brought by five software engineers, accuses the companies of conspiring to keep employee compensation low by eliminating competition for skilled labor.
Who said Apple and Google couldn’t be cooperative?
Molly Wood at CNET: The company has been actively auditing its suppliers for labor, health, safety, and other concerns since 2007. Yet, as the Times points out, problems remain–the kinds of problems that kill people. It’s time for Apple to … Continued
Arik Hesseldahl:
Jon Rubinstein, the former Apple executive who took over handheld maker Palm and moved with it to Hewlett-Packard in a 2010 acquisition, has left HP effective today, AllThingsD has learned.Rubinstein is said to have no immediate plans, and had completed a 12-24 month commitment to stay with HP after the acquisition. “Jon has fulfilled his commitment and we wish him well,” HP spokeswoman Mylene Mangalindan said.
Unfortunate, but unexpected considering what’s happened with Palm and webOS.
Most of us are big fans of our iPhones but have you ever compared it to other smartphones? [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="470" caption="iPhone vs Lumia vs Galaxy"]
[/caption] The web site Phone Size helps you compare smartphones. Nnot features but the physical size of one phone to other. Amazing how gigantic the Samsung is!
[caption id="attachment_19218" align="alignnone" width="470" caption="Clark Little's "Sand Monster""]
[/caption]Have you ever stood at the water’s edge, watching waves lap at your feet?
Not Clark Little. He stands in two feet of water and lets fifteen foot waves pound him into the sand – all to get some amazing shots of the surf from a viewpoint few of us have ever seen.
Check out the gallery of pictures and videos on his web site.
Apparent has unveiled a new version of its portable paper scanner, the Doxie. The new Doxie Go + Wi-Fi costs $239. Doxio Go + Wi-Fi features a built-in battery and on-board memory storage, plus the ability to sync to your … Continued
The Verge: William Gibson famously coined the term “cyberspace,” and gave us a singular vision of the future in early cyberpunk novels Neuromancer, Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive. During his recent book tour, he took time to talk about … Continued
This is just amazing. Much respect to my friends at BAMM.tv for having this made up for me.
From NASA: A ‘Blue Marble’ image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA’s most recently launched Earth-observing satellite – Suomi NPP. This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on January 4, … Continued
Chris Ziegler for The Verge: Following up on its December announcement that it would open source the platform — a last-ditch effort to make it viable — HP has gone into detail today on exactly when and how developers will … Continued
Ken Segall’s Observatory: …it was a big blow to Apple when Ron left after 11 stellar years. And it was a big wow for JCPenney when Ron signed on as their new CEO. For many, Ron’s move was a disconnect. … Continued
CNNMoney: The Cupertino, Calif.-based company said its fiscal first quarter profit rose to $13 billion, or $13.87 per share, more than double the profit Apple booked a year earlier. It was one of the most profitable quarters ever for any … Continued
The Verge: There’s definitely a huge market for used lenses in great condition, at bargain prices. This guide will hopefully arm you with the knowledge and just the right amount of paranoia to separate the gems from the dogs. In … Continued
NetworkWorld: Adam Lashinsky’s upcoming book, Inside Apple, provides an intriguing look into the inner workings at Apple while examining the management and product development strategies they’ve implemented to create numerous game-changing devices. Now it’s no secret that Apple sweats every … Continued
Dasient Blog: The Dasient team is excited to announce that we have been acquired by Twitter! Effective immediately, we will be bringing our technology, tools, and team to the revenue engineering team at Twitter. Dasient has been focused on solving … Continued
Declan McCullagh for CNet: American citizens can be ordered to decrypt their PGP-scrambled hard drives for police to peruse for incriminating files, a federal judge in Colorado ruled today in what could become a precedent-setting case. Judge Robert Blackburn ordered … Continued
Jean-Louis Gassée’s Monday Note: What’s the use of offering more than 500,000 wares if customers can’t find their way through the gigantic bazaar? …the iPhone has sold in ever larger numbers (we’ll soon see if the December quarter number crossed … Continued
Greg Bensinger for the Wall Street Journal: T-Mobile USA and AT&T filed a request with the Federal Communications Commission for approval of the transfer of $1 billion in wireless airwaves AT&T promised as a result of the failure of its … Continued
Remember the story from earlier this month of the “iPhone that stopped the “New York Philharmonic”? It has happened again but with much more amusing results. Slovakian musician Lukáš Kmit was play a solo on his viola in a synagogue … Continued
The Pew Research Center: The share of adults in the United States who own tablet computers nearly doubled from 10% to 19% between mid-December and early January and the same surge in growth also applied to e-book readers, which also … Continued
Peter Kafka for AllThingsD: Research In Motion isn’t broken, so no need to break it up. But it needs better internal focus, and better external focus, too. That’s the takeaway from new RIM CEO Thorsten Heins, who told analysts this … Continued
Mashable: Kodak has finally formalized what had been expected for years — it’s gone bankrupt. In the past 15 years, digital technology changed photography dramatically, and Kodak, a former heavyweight in the analog film business, got left behind. In fact, … Continued
KQED’s interview with John Sipe, senior vice president, national sales manager at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Since last fall, 400 California middle school students have been using the iPad to learn Algebra with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Fuse program. This first app, … Continued
Star Wars Uncut: In 2009, Internet users were asked to remake “Star Wars: A New Hope” into a fan film, 15 seconds at a time. Contributors were allowed to recreate scenes from Star Wars however they wanted. SWU has been … Continued
International Space Station: This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 30 on board the International Space Station…The complete pass is over southern Africa to the ocean, focusing on the lightning flashes from local storms and the Milky Way … Continued
The “Matriarch of the Blues”, Etta James, died on Friday morning. She toured with Little Richard while still a minor and had her first hit at 15. She was a six time Grammy winner and one of the few artists … Continued