December 2009
55 posts
RT @tactphil: Best Charities for Last Minute Giving: http://bit.ly/61sTXb Please Retweet!
Signal vs. Noise: What's the suckage to usage... →
Here’s a great way to consider many things in life, not least of which are consumer electronics:
Reading and flipping pages on the Kindle is a wonderful experience. On the other hand, using the keyboard is painful. The keys are hard to press. The modifier keys are confusing. Mistakes are easy to make, slow to spot and hard to correct. Yet despite all these problems, I still love the...
2020 Science: Ten emerging technology trends to... →
Here’s a top ten list that looks forward rather than backward. I think these are all spot-on, and while many were familiar (smart grids, geoengineering, personal genomics) this one was new to me:
“Radical materials
Good as they are, most of the materials we use these days are flawed – they don’t work as well as they could. And usually, the fault lies in how the materials are...
Treehugger: National Geographic Offers 120 Years... →
This is pretty neat: for $200 you can buy a 160 GB hard drive with 60 GB of National Geographic back issues, 1888-2008. The drive apparently includes “every photo and map in high resolution.” Can you imagine the wealth of material on this drive? Incredible.
RT @big_picture: “Documenting the Decade” from the NYT, reader-submitted photos of events over the past 10 years. http://bit.ly/4xBP8m
“The fact is, for every major way in which the technology of the last decade has...”
– Paul Carr: The Physical Impossibility of The Future in the Mind of Someone Trapped In Chicago
I’ve really enjoyed Paul Carr’s TechCrunch columns, and this one is a gem. It brings to mind the “everything is amazing and nobody is happy” Louis CK bit. Click through to read...
RT @jayrosen_nyu: A blogging mayor is one thing. (Yes, he writes them himself.) http://jr.ly/qtvh A blogging mayor with comments and lin …
“When a blogger disagrees with a piece of writing, the usual approach is to...”
– The American Scene: The Case for Unauthorized Edits
NYTimes: Earth-Friendly Elements, Mined... →
Here’s an important and difficult truth for champions of alternative energy and technological solutions to ecological challenges. From the NY Times:
“Some of the greenest technologies of the age, from electric cars to efficient light bulbs to very large wind turbines, are made possible by an unusual group of elements called rare earths. The world’s dependence on these substances is...
Trying to get the most out of Lala before Apple assimilation begins ♫ A New Tide - Gomez http://lala.com/z66L
Gizmodo: The Physics of Space Battles →
Thanks to Jeff for passing this along. He thought I’d like it, and he was right.
RT @timoreilly: “We continue to teach our kids French but we don’t teach them Ruby On Rails.” - @fredwilson http://bit.ly/4Tj5ez
“I’ll keep blogging, of course. Frankly, I consider it an unavoidable...”
– Dot Earth: My Second Half
Andrew Revkin, one of the best specialized reporters in the business, explains his next step after he leaves the environment, climate, and energy beat he’s covered so ably for the NY Times. I’m thrilled that he’ll still be blogging and I look forward to...
WatchA Day in the Life of NYTimes.com
The data geek in me is swooning over this visualization of mobile (orange) and desktop (yellow) traffic to nytimes.com on the day Michael Jackson died. Very cool.
Ideas About Ideas →
The New York Times recently issued the ninth edition of its annual Ideas feature for its magazine. I’ve read through most of the entries and found several really fascinating; others were…
Holiday lunch with the team (@ The Cove) http://4sq.com/4yodAH
Reconsidering Personal Branding as a Concept and a... →
A thought on personal branding from my friend Luis Sandoval, from his latest newsletter:
All of us have a level of personal value that in today’s connected community driven…
Still developing the new site; just added comments and reactions to tayloransley.com
WOAI: Company fires 4 workers for playing fantasy... →
Here’s a perfect example of what seems like such an outdated management philosophy. If all of these employees’ working hours were spent managing their fantasy teams, fine—I understand the decision to fire them. But absent performance issues, I for one wouldn’t care if you’re periodically checking in on non-work related sites so long as you’re delivering the...
Smells good in here (@ Ciao Lavanderia) http://4sq.com/4DCon4
The house blend beckons (@ Olmos Perk) http://4sq.com/5tRMjr
Lifehacker: Google Contacts Can Kill Duplicates in... →
It has always seemed weird that, for all its strengths, Gmail did such a poor job managing contacts. This seems like a long-awaited fix.
“Who are you trying to please?
What are you promising?
How much money are you...”
– Seth Godin: 8 questions and a why
Great questions to kick off the day.
RT @jarredt: RT @loic: Ho.ly Sh.it th.is sh.ort u.rl w.ar is get.ing ug.ly
NY Times: The Ninth Annual Year in Ideas →
I always look forward to this feature. As always, much to chew on.
Excited to unleash something I’ve been cooking up for a while: tayloransley.com Hope to connect with you there!
Lifehacker: NASA App Is a Must-Have Tool for... →
What a great, free iPhone app.
TreeHugger: IMBY Online Tool Estimates How Much... →
This is a neat tool. Most people are likely to find that their literal backyard is not too conducive to alternative energy production, but that’s not to say you shouldn’t support larger (more efficient) implementation of these tools near your house! Scroll around in the map and find some flat commercial or industrial roofs near you (a grocery store in my case) and compare the...
Jay Rosen: This is a mock-up for a news site that... →
This is a mock-up for a news site that I think should exist: explainthis.org
Users go to the site and find a prompt similar to Twitter’s what’s happening? or Facebook’s what’s on…
Wow. Too much even for me RT @mySA: Tweet your friends in Klingon: http://twurl.nl/y1ywuf
