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[+] Open the Meta Bar Huh? It’s like a bar for stats & organization nerds, but without beer. Try it.

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Interesting. If this little spat picks up some steam (i.e. more public exposure) it could get fun.

Above, Mr. Zucker says the original decision was made by Hulu’s management. That is correct, but as Jason Kilar (Hulu’s CEO) wrote in his post, the request came from NBC. “Our content providers requested that we turn off access to our content via the Boxee product, and we are respecting their wishes.”

Avner Ronen, Boxee responds to NBC’s Jeff Zucker

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I might be over-posting on these iPad-related quotes, but I kinda think this stuff will be of growing importance. If you’re “in the industry” and still “underwhelmed” by the iPad’s release, give this one a read.

As an industry, we need to understand that not wanting root access doesn’t make you stupid. It simply means you do not want root access. Failing to comprehend this is not only a failure of empathy, but a failure of service.

Mike Monteiro, The Failure of Empathy

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HTML5 Video Player

by SublimeVideo


This is a fantastic implementation showing just how things might work with HTML5 handling video in the near future instead of Flash. It also works on the iPhone too (of course).

NOTE: If you’re using the latest Webkit nightly build, alt-click the “expand” icon and it will go full-screen.

I can’t wait for Firefox to catch up a bit and between the modern 3 (Safari, Chrome, Firefox), it’ll make sense to start implementing entire sites this way.

(via Daring Fireball)

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All 3 of the articles linked in this quote are worth reading, in addition to the article the quote itself is taken from.

I’m not sure it’s all as cut and dry as these folks are making it sound, but I think this whole “personal computing” thing will definitely look different in a few years.

But tomorrow’s computing systems, heralded by the iPhone, are not for DIYers. You don’t add Default Folder or FontExplorer X Pro to your iPhone, you don’t choose your iPhone’s browser, and you don’t install plug-ins in your iPhone’s browser. This lack of extensibility may not please the Slashdot crowd but it’s the future of computing and browsing. The bulk of humanity doesn’t want a computing experience it can tinker with it wants a computing experience that works.

Jeffrey Zeldman, Flash, iPad, Standards

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Took the words right out of my mouth (and made them more articulate). Don’t let talking points fool you. Very little is being done to help small business, specifically, and a lot of things (even aspects of the current healthcare reform proposals) will make it harder for small businesses to hire.

Like the administration before it, the current administration seems to have no concept of what it takes to start, run and grow a small business. None.

Here is a hint. If you want to see more jobs created by Small Businesses and entrepreneurs REDUCE the amount of paperwork required. Dramatically simplify the tax code. In other words, if you REDUCE THE OVERHEAD of small business, you effectively create capital for them through reduced costs. Not only do you improve their financial position, but you reduce that great big time suck known as dealing with your accountants and lawyers. The more time wasted with “professional services”, the less time spent doing your job. This seems to be a concept lost on government.

Mark Cuban, The Simplicity Test: A Simple Policy Guide for Job Growth

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2010 Studio On Fire Letterpress Calendar


Gorgeous.

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As a geek we like features and power. Do not underestimate the general public’s disdain for all of our beloved “pointless preferences”.

And then I realize: you can’t resize it.

And a bright light did shine upon my liberated face and a voice did whisper a thunder: You’re free. Free of pointless preferences and finger-baiting adjustments.

Neven Mrgan, Free

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I was thinking about writing an iPad post today (I do really need to write more), but this post by Jeff Croft summed up my thoughts exactly. If you’re a computing geek, you’re a bit underwhelmed, but this thing is a game changer. My mom could use it today. I bet I’ll want one in one or two revisions and OS updates.

ps – the “holy shit” of the day? The Apple A4. Wow.

This is the new PC. Sure, there are some things missing, and it’s not as capable as your HP netbook, but it really doesn’t matter: it does everything you need it to do, and it’s sexy as hell. Don’t pretend you didn’t ever buy a Britney record for exactly those reasons.

Jeff Croft, iPad thoughts

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Yeah, something is getting introduced tomorrow, but whatever it is, I loved this synopsis of how/why Apple values hardware design by Mrgan. I think he’s right-on.

Apple loves hardware, but only insofar as it lets them develop awesome software which then does what they want it to do. Rest assured that they read this sequence the right way: from human need to idealized solution to actual implementation.

Neven Mrgan, One more before I go on radio silence

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I agree. I get tired of hearing the (somewhat new) argument that Apple ruined the music industry. Music sales in general were absolutely tanking before the iTunes store and Apple solved a problem that no one else had been able to solve to that point: how to get people to buy music online. Today, many people I talk to would rather buy online than steal online because purchasing is easier. The caveat? Apple did it their way. Tough cookies. Change it if you don’t like it.

Music industry executives may well not like what’s happened to their industry, but is it really bullying from Apple? Or isn’t it simply that Apple does not do what the music executives wish? That Apple runs its music store its own way? What the music industry really doesn’t like is the whole idea of downloads. They want to go back to selling $18 discs. Pre-iTunes, “music downloads” were pretty much all free bootlegs.

John Gruber, NYT on The Tablet and Apple’s Relationship With Content Publishers

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Digitally Fabricated Bookshelf

by dbd Studio


I’m fascinated by this custom bookshelf. It takes over and provides character for the room. If it was mine, I would probably glue some books into the slots on the ceiling just to mess with people. Be sure to check out the making of video on the Contemporist site.

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It took a pretty big fiasco, but as the Ars Technica notes, this is the first time Microsoft has very clearly suggested users move away from IE6 because of a specific flaw. Now if they would all just heed that advice…

It’s a step forward, but then: two steps back. “I’m not aware that the vulnerability exists in other [non-IE browsers]… But those products may have other vulnerabilities.” Sigh.

That’s like saying: “I know smoking can cause cancer, but you might get cancer from something else, so you might as well smoke.”

(via @elliothere)

As you can see, the client configuration currently at risk is Windows XP running IE6,” the blog post reads. “We recommend users of IE6 on Windows XP upgrade to a new version of Internet Explorer and/or enable DEP. Users of other platforms are at reduced risk. We also recommend users of Windows XP upgrade to newer versions of Windows.

Microsoft, After Google hack, Microsoft asks users to abandon IE6, XP

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PUSH PULL

by Landis Fields


This short film is gorgeous. It follows Pete Billington, friend of filmmaker Landis Fields. The whole thing was shot on Canon SLR cameras: “The entire film was shot on 2 canon 7D’s (mostly at 60p for “slow-mo” flexibility later on while editing) and 1 Canon 5D at 30p which was conformed to a 24 frame timeline.” Crazy awesome.

(via Matt Gist)

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Alex Bogusky responds to an anonymous passive-aggressive note left at his house, quite eloquently, in the form of 11×17 sheets taped to telephone polls in his neighborhood (which is also basically my neighborhood – crazy). I wish I’d seen one in person.

p.s. – the folks who take it upon themselves to write notes like this are a big part of what sometimes gives Boulder a bad name. Ahh, the crazies. We have them.

(via @penguin)

As far as your suggestion that me and my family “go back east,” I can only surmise that you belong to one of the indigenous tribes of this area. And while I am sorry about the encroachment of Europeans into these lands, I firmly believe that if I were to return, another person of European descent would take my place.

Alex Bogusky, Blogging on telephone poles

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There is a unique and interesting balance in this town between hard, intense work, and a lot of relaxing, fun things to do. The always-connectedness actually makes it easier I think, not harder to find that balance because you can work from so many different locations. It’s not binary: in the office working, or out of the office, not working.

Thing two that I think is special is that there’s very little friction here. There’s no commutes; we’re living in a world where it doesn’t matter whether you’re sitting at your desk in your office, you’re sitting in your home, you’re sitting in a coffee shop, you can get work done. Especially with software and Internet-related things, you’re always connected, and as a result, the integration and probably the ability to sustain a level of intensity that’s required is higher.

Brad Feld, Why You Should Start a Company in… Boulder

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To me, it seems that just about anyone under 30 has already embraced this concept.

One of the things [Toffler] said was that we should move from the idea of a career as a linear progression up the ranks in a single organization to that of a career as a portfolio of jobs that you hold over time in a series of different organizations.

Thomas Malone, The end of the office… and the future of work

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Explosion

by Ryan Behner


Explosion

I think Ryan experiments more than any other photographer I know, to great results. A shot like this makes you simply say: “wow”. For the record, I’m pretty sure that’s a self-portrait. Correction: it’s not him. He was lying down in the snow to take the shot.

Be sure to check out his long-running photo-blog: Ghostman on Third.

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Mouse pointer track

by Anatoly Zenkov


The image above is a crop of what 3 hours of Photoshop use looks like from the point of view of your mouse. Anatoly Zenkov created it using mouse-tracking software. Be sure to click through for the full view.

(via @digitalmash)

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Helping Carbonmade keep their finger on the Pulse

by Sam Brown


An interesting case study by Sam Brown about his work on Carbonmade’s internal reporting system, Pulse.

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Whoa. That’s big news.

(emphasis mine)

These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered—combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web—have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn… We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

Google, A new approach to China

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