January 2009
35 posts
Stimulus Watch: Keeping an Eye on Economic... →
This is the site I’ve developed with some fellow volunteers to help keep stimulus spending accountable. All the “shovel-ready” projects that cities want funded are on this site, and you get to tell us about the projects in your city, as well as vote on the importance of any project.
Know something about the bridge that needs repair in your city? Share it in the wiki....
WatchThis guy is so cool. The definition of passion.
“I am 30 years old and I still have to sleep in the bunky bed.”
– Fabio Viviani. (Bonus: “Fabio also works as William Shatner’s private chef.”
WatchI’m playing around with 12seconds.tv. It’s like a video twitter. You only get 12 seconds. I love constraints because they engender focus and creativity. But man, 12 seconds is really not a lot. I’m thinking about a play on “you learn something new every day.” Thoughts?
Most awesome headline read today: "More Americans... →
3 tags
This week on Tech Policy Weekly I discussed...
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall →
During the last week of the Bush administration, I asked the head photo editors of these news services — Vincent Amalvy (AFP), Santiago Lyon (AP) and Jim Bourg (Reuters) — to pick the photographs of the president that they believe captured the character of the man and of his administration. (Via Gruber.)
Georgetown A.N.C. won't let Apple build store →
Apple has owned 1229 Wisconsin Ave. for over two years and has permits to demolish it. However, the Georgetown powers that be keep shooting down the (no doubt) awesome building designs Apple submits. Reminds me of how D.C. officials kept rejecting the original design for the Cato Institute building. Update: According to Google, there’s a French Connection there now.
“Third, messages from the president will be designed so they cannot be forwarded.”
– NYT story on Obama keeping his Blackberry. Anyone know how this is technically possible? Unless recipients are required to use special software, I don’t see how you can prevent forwarding.
Startup plans to print blogs as newspapers, sell... →
The Printed Blog also expects to duck many of the major costs that make traditional newspapers expensive to produce. The company will put commercial printers in the homes of its distributors, avoiding the circulation costs of papers with large, central printing presses. Advertisers will eventually be able to buy ads on the Web site, so The Printed Blog will not need to employ many sales...
Cabel Sasser: On Wedding Design →
Holy shit. And I thought I was all cool for designing our site, invitation, programs, and table tents. Sasser was not playing around.
WaPo: Obama Staff Arrives to White House Stuck in... →
“The team members, accustomed to working on Macintoshes, found computers outfitted with six-year-old versions of Microsoft software.”
WatchGreat short film shot entirely with a cell phone. (Via lonelysandwich.)
NYPress: "Flat N All That" - Hilarious Critique of... →
I did a coffee spit-take all over my MacBook reading this.
WatchThe birth of a new America. With celebrities.
Kottke.org redesigns →
Black and red on white. Where have I seen that before?
WatchI don’t think I’ve mentioned this project here before, but I’m working with some other volunteers on a web app related to the stimulus package. The idea is to crowdsource the task of vetting the “shovel-ready” projects proposed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. It’s explained in depth here.
You can see the interface mock-up here, and if you’re a...
WatchLooking a bit more into the personal tracking idea it turns out it’s a big trend as cataloged in this WSJ article and the companion video (above). Another service I just signed up for that I think is brilliant is Memiary. I have a terrible memory and no patience to keep a proper diary in prose. Memiary makes remembering significant events easy as pie.
Watch“I think if you know what you believe, it makes is a lot easier to answer questions. I’m trying t— I can’t answer you’re question.” God that guy was terrible.
TIME: Sanjay Gupta: Why I Would Vote No On Pot →
Any enthusiasm I may have had for our hunky new medical overlord is gone. He opposes pot ballot measures because “like, it’s not good for you and stuff.”
C. Brian Smith on dining with Dubya →
College pal of W.’s daughter becomes a regular at the White House, spills the beans in Vanity Fair.
Feltron Eight →
The Feltron Annual Report came out this week. Long story short, it’s a dude who happens to be a designed who tracks everything about his life: miles walked, beers had, books read, dinners out, temperatures experienced, etc. He then makes a beautiful personal report visualizing the data. Here are Nicholas Felton’s reports for 2005, 2006 and 2007.
This is appealing to me and...
Estimating a train wreck
Last week, former FCC chairmen William Kennard and Michael Powell explained in the pages of The New York Times why Congress should postpone the digital TV transition or face a “train wreck.” If by “train wreck” you mean that some people will have to go without TV for days or even weeks, perhaps.
To ease the pain Congress created a $1.34 billion program that could be...
How Porsche hacked the financial system and made a... →
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“Dear AAPL, re offer to upgrade to iTunes+ at $0.30 a song: Go fuck yourselves. I...”
– Clay Shirky
WatchI don’t care if this pegs me as the biggest fanboy ever, but Merlin Mann is a genius. You have to watch this every day. So much better than anything on ‘real’ television today, for me at least, which is why TV is dead once everyone finds their Merlin.
WatchThe Four Horsemen: Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens. Here is the second hour. (Via Justin Blanton.)
