Another interesting article from Horace Dediu.

I was a guest on the the latest MacVoices podcast, #1399. I joined host Chuck Joiner, author and developer Dori Smith and coder/writer/web developer Brett Terpstra to discuss Dropbox’s acquisition of Mailbox, Google Reader and the future of RSS, and Apple’s hiring of Kevin Lynch, former CTO of Adobe. It’s available both as an audio-only stream and video if you’d like to see our pretty faces.

The only country where Google+ is top of the social networking category is Albania.

What the hell is going on in Albania?

I am a huge fan of negative space in design.

Well, for one thing, it doesn’t help that it’s been opposed for years by the company behind the most popular consumer tax software — Intuit, maker of TurboTax. Conservative tax activist Grover Norquist and an influential computer industry group also have fought return-free filing.

Intuit has spent about $11.5 million on federal lobbying in the past five years — more than Apple or Amazon. Although the lobbying spans a range of issues, Intuit’s disclosures pointedly note that the company “opposes IRS government tax preparation.”

Well, of course they’re going to oppose anything that takes their customers away.

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.

RocketNews24:

Sometimes the hustle and bustle of big city life in Tokyo makes you forget your manners. With most people commuting by train and working very long hours, sometimes there’s no time to do things at home. And sometimes, you’re just so tired and stressed that you don’t care that you are behaving badly.

As a result, back in 2008, the Tokyo Metro system launched a three-year-long campaign aimed at reminding subway passengers to mind their manners while riding the trains.

Some of these are hilarious.

A new weather service from the people behind the Dark Sky app. This is really nice.

Are you a fan of the Alien movies? Are you a fan of William Gibson, SciFi author? Then you’re in luck.

Gibson just tweeted a link to a site that has the script of his first ever screenplay – Alien 3. This version was never made but it’s an interesting look into what might have been.

Grab it before some tight-assed Hollywood type makes the script disappear.

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.

That’s right, my foul-mouthed podcast with John Welch and Darby Lines hit a milestone this week with our 200th episode. Special guest included author, programmer and speaker Dori Smith.

Topics include Shandroidfreude, more smartwatch unicorn chasing, and farewell (again) to Fake Steve Jobs.

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.

FedEx:

On March 25, 2013 the Toronto Zoo welcomes two giant pandas. This will be the first time since 1985 that pandas have visited the Toronto Zoo.They will spend five years in the Toronto Zoo before residing in the Calgary Zoo for an additional five years.

You really can ship anything via FedEx. And, unlike those of us forced to ride in coach on most airlines, the pandas will have In-flight catering that will include 220lbs of bamboo, 330lbs of bamboo shoots, 110lbs of apples and 33lbs of fresh water.

New York Times:

Last week, scientists sequenced the genome of cells taken without consent from a woman named Henrietta Lacks. She was a black tobacco farmer and mother of five, and though she died in 1951, her cells, code-named HeLa, live on. They were used to help develop our most important vaccines and cancer medications, in vitro fertilization, gene mapping, cloning. Now they may finally help create laws to protect her family’s privacy — and yours.

I read the original book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” (Amazon referral) and it tells a fascinating story of medicine and ethics.

BBC Radio 4:

Every Friday we bring you a new drama from Radio 4 or Radio 3. This week begins Neil Gaiman’s classic, “Neverwhere”, voiced by X-Men’s James McAvoy, Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer and soon to be Star Trek bad guy and present BBC Sherlock Holmes, Benedict Cumberbatch.

The first episode is available for download from the iTunes Store and other episodes are streamed from the BBC’s web site.

Ben Brooks explains how he kicked Google to the curb.

It makes my stomach queazy just looking at these pics.

Feral Interactive says its Mac conversion of XCOM: Enemy Unknown – Elite Edition will be out on April 25, 2013. It’ll be available for download from the Mac App Store and other services including Feral’s own online store.

XCOM was originally developed by Firaxis Games and published for the PC by 2K Games; an iPad version is in the works too (though Feral isn’t involved in that one). It’s a turn-based tactical role=playing strategy game that’s a “reimagining” of the classic 90’s game X-COM: UFO Defense.

As the Elite Edition, this release includes the Slingshot and Elite Soldier Pack add-on content, as well as the Second Wave update.