December 30, 2013
Written by Dave Mark
Interesting take on the economics behind Bitcoin. At the heart is a quote from this article:
Underpinning the value of gold is that if all else fails you can use it to make pretty things. Underpinning the value of the dollar is a combination of (a) the fact that you can use them to pay your taxes to the U.S. government, and (b) that the Federal Reserve is a potential dollar sink and has promised to buy them back and extinguish them if their real value starts to sink at (much) more than 2%/year (yes, I know).
Placing a ceiling on the value of gold is mining technology, and the prospect that if its price gets out of whack for long on the upside a great deal more of it will be created. Placing a ceiling on the value of the dollar is the Federal Reserve’s role as actual dollar source, and its commitment not to allow deflation to happen.
Placing a ceiling on the value of bitcoins is computer technology and the form of the hash function… until the limit of 21 million bitcoins is reached. Placing a floor on the value of bitcoins is… what, exactly?
If you are at all interested in Bitcoin, start at the Krugman piece, then dig in to the linked pieces. Thoughtful reads all.
Written by Dave Mark
This is so awesome!
Hidden among the racks of servers and disks in the CERN Computing Centre, you’ll find Hawaiian dancers, space aliens, gorillas… all LEGO® figurines! These characters were placed about the Centre for the arrival of Google’s Street View team for the world to discover.
We’re pleased to announce our first global scavenger hunt! Spot three LEGO® figurines using Google’s Street View and you’ll be entered to win a gift of your choice from our CERN Gift Guide.
Go. Enter. Find those Lego figures. Win a prize.
December 29, 2013
I want to go to Turkey just to watch this guy work.
Written by Dave Mark
Each question in the quiz presents some dialect options. You pick the option that feels most comfortable to you.
Most of the questions used in this quiz are based on those in the Harvard Dialect Survey, a linguistics project begun in 2002 by Bert Vaux and Scott Golder. The original questions and results for that survey can be found on Dr. Vaux’s current website.
The data for the quiz and maps shown here come from over 350,000 survey responses collected from August to October 2013 by Josh Katz, a graphics editor for the New York Times who developed this quiz. The colors on the large heat map correspond to the probability that a randomly selected person in that location would respond to a randomly selected survey question the same way that you did. The three smaller maps show which answer most contributed to those cities being named the most (or least) similar to you.
With each answer you provide, the quiz shows a map showing what your choice says about where you are from via a distribution map. I took the quiz and it did an excellent job picking up the place where I grew up.
Written by Dave Mark
Just watched The Fugitive with the fam, then saw this.
Chef Eduardo Garcia lost his left hand after being electrocuted in a hunting accident in 2011, but has since gotten a Bluetooth-activated bionic hand. Though he’s still getting used to its 25 different functions, Garcia says the prosthetic comes with a few benefits to his trade — he can now pick up hot things without getting burned, and doesn’t have to worry about accidentally slicing his fingers.
Interesting the way he smashes a garlic bulb with his prosthesis. He’s clearly lost a lot of dexterity, but if you have to lose a hand, glad that science is there to add in some new capabilities. Prosthetics has made some great strides, but there’s so much more we can do as our mastery of robotics becomes more refined.
Here’s a link to the prosthetic hand’s product page.
December 28, 2013
Written by Dave Mark
Fantastic news for anyone with a place in their heart for the Atari 2600, Atari 7800 Pro System, ColecoVision, Magnavox Odyssey², or the Astrocade. The Internet Archive has posted playable emulations of all five of these old consoles on their site.
To play a game, pick a console, then pick a game (there are hundreds), then click the “Run” link on the right side of the page. Finally, read the instructions, then press the space bar to start.
Some of the games work well, others not so much. Clearly, this is a work in progress. If you run into problems with one browser, try switching to another.
Big wave of nostalgia for me.
Other World Computing took a Mac Pro apart, stripped it to the very core, and shared the pics on their site.
It’s fascinating to see the machine in pieces like this. To me, this is a sign of a great design. I love the fact that the CPU is socketed and not built as a system on a chip. This, and the fact that the Mac Pro uses standard DDR3 memory modules, certainly opens the door to future upgradability.
Just for fun, OWC also posted this pic of their Mac Pro driving 6 Thunderbolt displays, each one 2500+ pixels wide. That’s really something.
December 27, 2013
Written by Shawn King
Bored Panda:
When the weather forecast announced unexpected cold from -9°C to -12°C last week, photographer Angela Kelly decided to take an advantage of it in one truly creative way. Together with her 7-year-old son, Kelly combined the home-based remedies – dish soap, karo syrup, and water – and went out to blow bubbles and take pictures as they freeze and melt.
-9°C is 15+°F. Or as we Canadians call it, “The month of May”.
Written by Shawn King
BuzzFeed:
Like many casual fans, we assumed we could immediately pick it up and dominate. We were very wrong.
Check the article out if for no other reason that the GIFs.
And the “tip” at the end? Not gonna happen!
This move gives just the slightest appearance of legitimacy to BitCoin. Interesting move on the part of Overstock.com. But perhaps this is all just PR and signifies nothing. Personally, I won’t be trading in my ready cash for BitCoin anytime soon.
As a science geek, I couldn’t help but be delighted by this bit of tomfoolery (via Reddit). In a nutshell, the idea is to place a hot dog on the floor of your microwave (so it doesn’t rotate), then cook the hot dog until it starts to bubble. Use a ruler to measure the length of the burn marks, throw some math at it, and voilà, you have an approximation for the speed of light.
To get a better understanding of why this works, take a look at the video below (HT to Peter Hosey).
Because Science!
Great infographic (via BGR) on the HTC web site details the number of hoops an individual device manufacturer needs to jump through in order to clear an update for release.
Here’s the link to the infographic page. Look for the text “To see a diagram of the full process”, then “click here”.
The process is complex, as it needs to be, and as it is for Apple and iOS. The difference lies in the cost of communications between all the moving parts. Software development is done in cycles, with that cycle repeated any number of times until the new version is tested and certified as complete and correct. When Apple builds a new version of iOS, all the back and forth between developers and testers/certifiers is done in house. The loop is tightly controlled and, because all the communications are within a single company, that loop is brutally efficient.
When the development and testing cycle spans multiple companies, all with different priorities and agendas, there’s just no way to maintain that efficiency. Even with the best of intentions, parts of the process are out of a particular manufacturer’s control.
Take a look at the infographic. It shouldn’t be hard to see why it takes so long for a new Android release to make its way from the developer’s hands into the customer’s device. It’s also clear why the Android marketplace is so incredibly fractured. With so many moving pieces, there’s just no way to avoid that marketplace inefficiency.
December 26, 2013
Written by Shawn King
Bored Panda:
Nina and Gramps have been married for 61 years, however, all they’ve got from their wedding day is a single photograph. On one of the most important days of their life, the couple got stood up by their photographer. In order to fix this, their caring granddaughter, an event designer Lauren Wells, organized a beautiful anniversary photo session, inspired by the famous Pixar animation movie “Up“.
61 years of marriage. Most of us haven’t even been on the planet that long, let alone married. Congratulations to them!
Written by Shawn King
TIME:
King Wenceslas didn’t start Boxing Day, but the Church of England might have. During Advent, Anglican parishes displayed a box into which churchgoers put their monetary donations. On the day after Christmas, the boxes were broken open and their contents distributed among the poor, thus giving rise to the term Boxing Day.
Maybe.
Even though TIME doesn’t answer its own headline question, the article still might be instructive to our American friends who have heard about “this weird Canadian Holiday”.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
This is cool. What a lot of work though.
Written by Shawn King
BuzzFeed:
My advice to TV shoppers has evolved: Consider the off-brands. Are you building the ultimate home entertainment system to show off to your friends? Then sure, shell out for the Samsung. But if you’re not…perhaps it’s time to take a look at one of those sub-$350, 40-plus-inch TVs.
Purists will scoff but he’s not wrong. And with “good enough” TVs coming down in price, it makes it less and less likely Apple will be interested in trying to sell their own high margin sets.
Written by Dave Mark
As you buy and read eBooks, your eBook device collects data on your reading habits. Do you tend to buy lots of books and only finish a small percentage? Do you stick with a single author? Do you binge-read?
This family of data is useful to publishers and authors, but it sits in the virtual hands of the eReader software. Over time, the eBook companies will figure out a way to monetize that data, either by selling/renting the data itself, or by using the data to enrich the experience of their devices and to make it easier for their customers to spend more money.
Interesting article. I suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Written by Dave Mark
This is a great story, via MG Siegler, who was there when it happened.
Jonathan Mann is a pretty talented musician and publisher of the “Song a Day” YouTube channel. MG Siegler is, among other things, a writer for TechCrunch. This story takes place in the summer of 2010, in the midst of Antennagate.
I had just learned that I lost a big video contest, and I was feeling pretty down. It also happened to be the eve of Apple’s “Antenna-Gate” press conference. The anti-Apple hype was at a fever pitch, and I thought the whole non-story was ridiculous. I decided to write a song defending Apple. I hoped that MG would post it, and maybe I’d get some decent traffic. I wrote the song in about 2 hours and spent another hour on the video. I posted the song, sent it to MG and went to bed.
Wonderful read (follow the headline link). Here’s the video. Enjoy.
December 25, 2013
Written by Peter Cohen
Rolling Stone’s roundup of the twelve best metal Christmas tunes include a couple of my favorites, like Rob Halford’s “We Three Kings” and Dio’s “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” (with Tommy Iommi on guitar).
December 24, 2013
Written by Dave Mark
Steve Martin told a joke. It got mangled and misconstrued. Twitter exploded. Here’s the center of the kerfuffle, from Steve’s blog:
I was riffing on Twitter, inviting people to ask me grammar questions. I replied with what I hoped were funny answers. For example, a person might write “What’s the difference between “then” and “than?” I would say, “then” is a conjunctive preposition, and “than” is a misspelling of “thank.” I have done similar things to this on other occasions, and there is a great spirit of fun between me and the Twitters followers.
I was going along fine when someone wrote, “How do you spell “lasonia?” I wrote: “It depends if you are in an African American neighborhood or an Italian restaurant.” I knew of the name Lasonia. I did not make it up, nor do I find it funny. So to me the answer was either Lasonia (with a capital), or Lasagna, depending on what you meant. That they sounded alike in this rare and particular context struck me as funny. That was the joke. When the tweet went out, I saw some negative comments and immediately deleted the tweet and apologized. I gathered the perception was that I was making fun of African American names. Later, thinking it over, I realized the tweet was irresponsible, and made a fuller apology on Twitter.
Was he wrong? Was that apology owed? Follow the headline link and read the whole story. As Steve says, comedy is treacherous.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Jake is an incredible guitar player and one of the reasons I came to love Charvel guitars so much.
Yet another reason I so love hockey. To set the stage, the Sabres were hosting the Coyotes. The Coyotes scored first and held that lead all the way to the last bit of the game. The Sabres scored a nice little goal to send the game to overtime. Next goal wins.
Queue the video. Hilarious!
When I first got into computer science (lo those many years ago), Alan Turing‘s name was one held in reverence. Turing’s big giant brain hatched many of the abstract ideas at the root of the computing tree. The idea of a computer moving through its varied states, driven by algorithms, owes a lot to Turing’s fertile imagination.
Tragically, Turing’s bright light was snuffed out by incredible injustice. From his Wikipedia page:
Turing’s homosexuality resulted in a criminal prosecution in 1952, when homosexual acts were still criminalized in the United Kingdom. He accepted treatment with female hormones (chemical castration) as an alternative to prison. Turing died in 1954, just over two weeks before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning. An inquest determined that his death was suicide; his mother and some others believed his death was accidental. On 10 September 2009, following an Internet campaign, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for “the appalling way he was treated.” In May 2012, a private member’s bill was put before the House of Lords to grant Turing a statutory pardon. In July 2013 it gained government support and the royal prerogative of mercy was granted on 23 December 2013.
Here’s a link to the pardon itself. About fucking time.
December 23, 2013
Written by Shawn King
BBC News:
Erwin Perzy III knows a thing or two about making it snow – it’s the family business. The 57-year-old Austrian is the grandson of the man widely acknowledged as the inventor of the snow globe. His grandfather, the first Erwin Perzy, came up with the idea by accident in 1900.
Mass production started in Vienna in 1905, and 108 years later, the company – Original Vienna Snow Globes – is still going strong.
There’s something a little bit magical about a well done, well made snow globe.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Every year, thousands of people resolve to get organized in the new year. If you’re one of them, let Benjamin help. Benjamin is a task manager for iOS based on the FranklinCovey system of time management. Built specifically for those who love the Franklin Planner, Benjamin stores all your tasks, projects, and notes so they’re always at your fingertips. Best of all, Benjamin lets you sync your information between iPhone and iPad so that it’s conveniently available whether you’re at your desk or on the go.
Give yourself the tools you need to succeed in 2014. Give yourself Benjamin on the iPhone and iPad.
I love hockey!
AHL referee David Banfield wears a GoPro helmet cam, giving an up close and personal look at what happens on the ice during a game. The video was shot during the annual Teddy Bear Toss game on Dec. 7, 2013, with the help of microphones on both Banfield and linesman Paul Carnathan, and was produced by the Checkers.
It’s been an incredible year for The Loop—we launched The Loop Magazine this year and the Web site is doing better than ever. I really couldn’t ask for anything more.
It would be hard for me to pick one thing that has made 2013 so great for The Loop, but the launch of The Loop Magazine is certainly one of the high-points. I wanted to publish interesting articles in a format that changed how magazine publishing was done. With the help of Chris Harris and Mateusz Stawecki, we did just that.
I think The Loop Magazine has the most advanced, interesting interface of any magazine on Newsstand. More importantly, the focus is still on the words—it’s the stories that matter. We’ve had great writers contributing some very interesting stories, which led to The Loop Magazine being honored as one of the best Newsstand apps of 2013 by Apple.
At its heart, The Loop is still about the Web site. I was happy for my longtime friend Peter Cohen when he took a job at iMore earlier this year, but it did leave a void on the site.
I couldn’t be happier to have Dave Mark come in and fill that spot. Dave posts some really interesting items to the site, that people love to read. With his technical background, Dave is able to comment on developer and technical issues that I’m not, which gives the site even more to offer the readers. To top it all off, Dave is a great guy. I’m thrilled to have Dave’s name on The Loop.
Sponsorships for The Loop were sold out for all of 2013 and we have a great start on 2014 already. Thank you to all of the companies that trust and put their money with The Loop.
Memberships are still going too. Members to The Loop don’t get a lot of frills—besides a full text RSS feed—but you help keep this site running. It’s about supporting independent writers and you do. Your contribution of $3 a month goes a long way to paying the bills at The Loop and making this site successful. Thank you.
Most of all, I want to thank the readers. Whether reading the site or visiting our sponsors and buying their products, you are making a difference. Your continued support for The Loop and our mission to post interesting topics and stamp out the stupid around the Internet is overwhelming. I appreciate everything you do to make The Loop the success that it is.
Cheers people,
Jim
Written by Dave Mark
Here’s the text of the email. It’s been a great year for Apple.
Team,
This holiday season, tens of millions of people around the world, from all walks of life, are experiencing Apple products for the first time. Those moments of surprise and delight are magical, and they’re all made possible by your hard work. As many of us prepare to celebrate the holidays with our loved ones, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on what we’ve achieved together over the past year.
First and foremost, we introduced industry-leading products in each of our major categories in 2013, showing the breadth and depth of innovation at Apple. We extended our lead in the smartphone market with iPhone 5s; launched iOS 7, an extraordinarily ambitious project; released OS X Mavericks for free to our customers; introduced the iPad Air and the iPad mini with Retina display; and this week began shipping the Mac Pro from a manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas. We also marked our 50 billionth download on the App Store – a milestone no one could have predicted we would reach so quickly.
Together we’ve shown the world that innovation at Apple goes beyond our products to the way we do business and how we give back to our community. This year, Apple raised and donated tens of millions of dollars for important charities and relief efforts like Red Cross aid to typhoon victims in the Philippines, and we continue to be the largest contributor to (PRODUCT)RED, supporting the Global Fund in its fight against the spread of AIDS in Africa. Just a few weeks ago, Jony Ive led an unprecedented effort that brought money and awareness to eliminating the transmission of AIDS from mother to child.
And finally, Apple is standing up for what we believe is right. We know that equality and diversity make our company and our society stronger, so we’ve urged the U.S. Congress to support workplace protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. We are also laser focused on our contribution to several environmental initiatives and we will increase our efforts even more in this area in the future.
We have a lot to look forward to in 2014, including some big plans that we think customers are going to love. I am extremely proud to stand alongside you as we put innovation to work serving humankind’s deepest values and highest aspirations. I consider myself the luckiest person in the world for the opportunity to work at this amazing company with all of you.
Happy Holidays,
Tim
Written by Dave Mark
Marcus “The Magnificant” Malone was a member of the original Santana lineup and played percussion on the first Santana album, released in 1969. Marcus fell on hard times, doing three years in San Quentin prison and ending up homeless on the streets of Oakland, California.
Watch the video. I hope Marcus gets back on his feet.
