This is real. If you’ve got kids, there’s a chance they might learn a completely different way of doing math than the way you were taught. Love it or hate it, there’s no question this is an interesting and logical way to solve a subtraction problem.

If you are struggling to wrap your head around this, think about handing someone a $20 to pay for something that costs $3.27 and watching them give you change. 3 cents to bring it up to $3.30, than 70 cents to bring it up to $4, then $1 to bring it up to $5, then another $15 to bring it up to $20. 3 cents plus 70 cents, plus $1 + $15 = $16.73.

So 20 – 3.27 = 16.73, All done without borrowing.

UPDATE: To clarify, it’s certainly easy enough to use this “common core” approach when making change, but how would you solve the problem 96003.0023 – 9996.782? I can only do this using standard borrowing. For you folks who grew up with common core, how do you solve this problem?

AT&T on Sunday will reduce the price of their 2 GB “Mobile Share Value” plan from $80 to $65 per month, with one smartphone and no annual contract. Two smartphones cost $90, down from $105.

The 2 GB plan includes unlimited talk and text, 50 GB of cloud storage using AT&T’s Locker service, and unlimited international messaging. AT&T (coverage map here) is directing customers who need more than two lines to its 10 GB Mobile Share Value plan, which starts at $145 for three phones.

AT&T already had a price edge over competitor Verizon, whose 2 GB More Everything plan costs $90 for one phone and $130 for two (unless you participate in Verizon’s “Edge” upgrade program, which makes you eligible for discounts). The news comes on the heels of T-Mobile’s recent improvements to its Simple Choice plan, which keeps prices pretty much where they are but increases data allowances. Sprint’s pushing their Framily Plan, which scales its savings depending on how many people sign up with you – at two lines, it’s $100 a month, with 1 GB of data for each phone.

A smartphone pricing move that benefits the consumer. Huzzah! Wonder if this will happen automatically or if I’m going to have to make a call to customer service (shudder) to get that discount.

The Incredibles is one of my favorite Pixar movies. If you liked it even a tiny bit, follow the headline link for some fun background. I didn’t know any of this. Be sure to read the comments, too.

Please, Pixar, make a sequel sometime soon.

With surprising speed, Samsung has now officially filed a notice of appeal over the final judgement in the first Apple vs. Samsung patent trial from 2012. The last ruling in the case was handed down yesterday, when Judge Lucy Koh ruled in Samsung’s favor that sales injunctions on the products it was found guilty of infringing Apple patents with were not warranted in the interests of competition. Apple is likely to appeal that portion of Judge Koh’s rulings.

In the original trial (and the limited damages retrial), none of Samsung’s original counter-claims against Apple were given the time of day by the two juries in the case; all were dismissed due to prior art, while Apple won judgements against Samsung to the tune of nearly $1 billion in penalties against the Korean electronics firm (originally Apple was awarded just over $1.05 billion, but a portion of the damages was re-calculated in a juried damages retrial, with the result being $929 million instead).

Will this never end?

As you might have guessed, the answer depends on things like gender and age. Lots to consume here.

I don’t tend to run into this problem a lot, but if you’ve ever wondered how to tell the difference between a real diamond and a chunk of cubic zirconium, give this a read. A nice combination of history and science.

Also, keep in mind that advice about engagement rings being a scam we passed along last Valentine’s Day.

One unfortunate New Zealander found out the hard way after losing a bet which involved his friends choosing him a new name if he lost.

His new name:

Full Metal Havok More Sexy N Intelligent Than Spock And All The Superheroes Combined With Frostnova

If this is true, I can’t imagine the hell he’ll have to go through now. Wow. Nice friends.

With each new type of deal between content creator and carrier, the future of TV as we know it gets murkier and murkier. Earlier this week, Walt Disney signed a long term, groundbreaking deal directly with DISH Network.

At $20 to $30—less than half of what most American households pay for TV—Dish’s internet TV service will target young adults who balk at the cost of most TV subscriptions. They are more likely to cancel their cable service or never sign up for it at all. ”We think there is a group of individuals, 18-to-34-year-olds, who would love to have a lower-cost product with some of the top content out there,” Dave Shull, Dish’s chief commercial officer, told Bloomberg.

This deal ties TV ever closer to the internet. Fascinating article.

This concept was by creative firm Chaotic Moon. This would be enough to get me in the door of a restaurant. The food has to get me in for a second try.

Watch the video. Really love this implementation.

Last week we shared the new Cosmos from a fan’s perspective. Now we get to hear from the makers themselves.

Host Neil deGrasse Tyson and executive producers Ann Druyan and Brannon Braga discuss how their ambitious remake of the seminal ’80s science series channels the spirit of Carl Sagan while introducing the universe to a new generation of viewers.

Speaking about Carl Sagan, the astronomer who created the original series:

“Here was a man who not only pioneered science, but ways that science reached the public,” says astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who’d met Sagan several times before the latter’s passing in 1996. “What Carl did was connect the science to humanity, to your mind, body, and soul. Before him, science was just something to learn, whereas Cosmos told us why it matters and how it affects us in today’s world.”

So when Tyson joined Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, science fiction showrunner Brannon Braga, film producer Mitchell Cannold, and Ann Druyan, Sagan’s widow and co-creator of the original Cosmos, to remake the series for a new generation, it was quite a legacy to follow. They faced the daunting task of maintaining the original’s core values, while advancing the science and presentation. The resulting 13-episode resurrection of that iconic series–Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, premiering March 9 on 10 Fox and National Geographic channels–is both a continuation and updating of that message.

Looking forward to it.

Ever wonder what TED stands for? Who decides what TED Talks to accept? Well wonder no more.

What began somewhat modestly in 1984 when the architect and designer Richard Saul Wurman summoned 300 friends and colleagues to Monterey, Calif., to discuss Technology, Entertainment and Design, now has more angles to it than a Mandelbrot set. Part of Mr. Anderson’s nonprofit Sapling Foundation, the organization has two annual conferences (this month’s includes 1,200 attendees from 42 countries), the free online collection of more than 1,600 TED Talks viewed nearly two billion times, a $100,000 TED Prize, a TED Fellows program and global education initiative, TED digital books, the TED Radio Hour and thousands of TEDx events in more than 150 countries (talks are translated into more than 104 languages).

Great article.

He’s just an odd fellow.

An easy to use new “Remote Administration Tool” malware package for Android offers to infect users, steal their photos and text messages, secretly capture audio or video, record their calls, download their web browser history and steal their email, Facebook and VPN account information.

I’m shocked.

This case has been made before, but this article does a good job of analyzing all the moving pieces.

In my view, access to the Nintendo game catalog on iOS would strike a major blow to Samsung. Having Pokemon, Mario, Zelda, and their many friends exclusively tied to iOS would likely provide the most significant point of software differentiation between the two rivals.

Why an acquisition though as opposed to an exclusive deal? Well, I imagine Apple (or Google or Samsung) would certainly be willing to pay a vast sum for exclusive smartphone rights to the Nintendo catalog. The problem is that as long as Nintendo is unwilling to give up on their own hardware business, they will likely refuse to risk cannibalizing their own sales. Maybe management (perhaps activist shareholder driven) will one day consider that software only business model is right for Nintendo, but until then an acquisition may be the only way for Apple to lock down Mario.

[Via a free reg-wall]

Not skipping a beat, Chen was quick to throw a few jabs in Apple’s direction, answering that iPhone users are constantly searching for power outlets because battery life on the iPhone can’t even last a full day.

“I call you guys wall huggers”, Chen remarked in jest.

You make shit and can barely give your devices away.

This is great.

Apple’s OEM share of US smartphone subscribers, age 13+, grew from 40.6% to 41.6% from October, 2013 to January 2014. Follow the link for the complete set of numbers.

Stan Sakai needs your help. His wife is ill and the bills are piling up. You might know him from his days lettering Groo the Wanderer or as the creator of Usagi Yojimbo. If you are a fan, follow the headline link to see how you can help.

To help the Sakais, Stan’s many friends have rallied in support with donations of cash and artwork. There are two major fund-raising efforts. One is a book that Dark Horse is publishing — a collection of cartoons by an incredible array of cartoonists. The drawings are so amazing, you’ll probably never get around to reading the foreword by me in it. Watch for this book. Buy it. And yes, it’s a contribution to the Sakais’ well-being but it’s also a terrific book which you should purchase just because it’s a terrific book.

The other effort is something you can get in on right now…and again, it’s to your benefit as much as it is to the Sakais’. A “Who’s Who” of great artists has donated drawings — some pre-existing, some done for the occasion — for a big online art auction that’s being run by the Comic Art Professional Society, aka CAPS. The first batch of many wonderful pieces can be bid upon right this minute over on this page. The proceeds go to two good people who need aid…and you can get a terrific, to-be-treasured art piece out of it. I’d call that a Win/Win…so go win/win and get one. Or two. Or more.

SBNation:

I got up there on a Saturday, and caught up with them a little bit, and then they said, “Well, let’s go look at the bird.” They were all in small hangars, all closed. We unlocked the back doors, turned on the lights, and I thought “Oh lord, there’s a spaceship.”

It’s still the most amazing aircraft. I remember seeing it at the Vancouver Air Show. They had it do a flyover of the city and watching it bank around the buildings of English Bay was incredible.

NPR:

A Canadian beverage company has concocted a low-alcohol, protein-packed “fit beer” that is expected to be marketed as a sports drink later this year.

I prefer skipping the workout part and going straight to the beer part.

This is funny as hell.

Mac OS X Hints:

Here is a way to disable sleeping when pressing the power button on 10.9.2.

Great tip. That action is incredibly annoying.

There are some interesting designs here, but more than anything I think this shows how companies are recognizing the importance of packaging. Apple led the way with this a decade or more ago.

Atlee Clark talking about the effect hosting the Olympic Games had on Canada:

However, there are less obvious but equally powerful outcomes from hosting the games. The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver had a deep impact on the Canadian psyche, creating a brazen, publicly demonstrated drive to win. That ambition rippled into the entrepreneurial community and has influenced much of the current crop of business leaders who are dedicated to keeping Canada on the proverbial podium.

So sorry.

This is a brilliant app idea, assuming it works. Put an iBeacon in your luggage, get notified as your luggage arrives at baggage claim. Genius! [Via iOS Dev Weekly]

Embedded in the long linked blog post about Kangbashi, China’s so-called Ghost City that was built for a population of one million people but is largely uninhabited, is a monument to Steve Jobs.

The sculpture, a hexagon containing the outline of an apple and Jobs’ face, is not that strange in itself. What’s strange is that it is located behind an apparently unused school, in the middle of hundreds of thousands of vacant apartments in the Kangbashi New Area of Ordos, a shining metropolis built by China in Inner Mongolia that has been called the world’s biggest ghost city.

Here’s a link to the picture of the monument, to save you a bit of scrolling.

[Via Business Insider]