Via Hotels.com. Infographics to put you in the mood. Permalink | Leave a comment »
Selected by tdh
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Most Topular Stories
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Romance survey [infographic]
Holy Kaw!9 Feb 2012 | 12:02 pm -
When Should You Start Selling from Your Blog?
Chris Garrett on New Media31 Jan 2012 | 3:18 pmHow do you know when your audience is ready to buy from you? Should you wait to “monetize”? How big does your audience need to be? These are common questions and the answers have been debated over the years. I am going to share an answer I gave George from the Man Up Blog during his blog critique. George spent some time in the dating world, sometimes called the “pick up artist” niche. This is shy dudes learning to pick up the ladies mostly, but obviously the market caters to all genders and tastes. It’s pretty obvious what people want from dating advice, but… -
Why your Internet Marketing Company Should Offer Conversion Analysis
Performancing29 Jan 2012 | 10:37 pmIf your internet marketing company is helping to drive traffic to your website, you may still be losing money. But how is that possible? Getting new visitors to your website is only the half the battle; ultimately, they need to become new — and preferably loyal and repeat — customers to benefit your business and help you grow revenue. The process of getting new visitors to become customers is called conversion, and if your internet marketing company isn’t offering conversion analysis as part of your internet marketing strategy, you need to start shopping around for a new marketing… -
Prove It: What Makes You Trust a Website?
Lorelle on WordPress6 Feb 2012 | 8:48 pmWhat makes you trust this site? What makes you trust me? What makes you trust any website you visit? What is it about the site that earns your trust? I’ve asked this question at most of the conferences and keynotes I’ve given over the past seven years. The answers are all over the map but [...] -
“Without comments, any news site gets a certain PDF feel”
Twingly Blog8 Feb 2012 | 5:23 amDagens Nyheter (DN), Sweden’s biggest morning newspaper, has been one the first Twingly partners to integrate our widget solution into its website, back in early 2007. Today, five years later, we spoke with Björn Hedensjö, Head of Digital at DN, about how Twingly worked out for them, his view on the importance of blogs and comments as well as about what’s next for DN regarding social media. DN was Twingly’s first client and integrated the widget in February 2007. What was the impact of that partnership and with what thoughts do you look back on 5 years of having incoming…
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Holy Kaw!
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Romance survey [infographic]
9 Feb 2012 | 12:02 pmVia Hotels.com. Infographics to put you in the mood. Permalink | Leave a comment » -
Do aliens go invisible by 'going green'?
9 Feb 2012 | 11:24 amAs we discover more and more planets around other stars, the Fermi Paradox is becoming, well, more paradoxical. The Fermi Paradox simply asks the question "where are they?" Our Milky Way galaxy is so big and so old -- and we are estimated to be accompanied by at least 100 billion planets -- that aliens should have visited us by now. Instead, when we peruse the heavens, we are faced with the Great Silence, which is one of the biggest challenges to modern astronomy. Full story at Discovery News. More news from Discovery Communications. Photo credit: Fotolia Permalink | Leave a… -
Mysterious sounds reported around the world
9 Feb 2012 | 11:23 amPeople around the world have reported hearing strange sounds from the skies over the past month. Sometimes they describe it as a hum or low rumble; other times it’s a whine, thump, or even a melody. Often the sounds have been recorded and posted online, fueling rumors and conspiracy theories. One blogger wrote, "either the world is ending, aliens are landing or everyone is getting hoaxed. Or, possibly, there’s an actual scientific explanation for the mass amount of YouTube videos capturing bizarre sounds that are being heard around the globe. Are we witnessing the beginning of a… -
Costa Concordia: an ecological time bomb
9 Feb 2012 | 11:21 amAs workers begin to extract the half-million gallons of fuel in the shipwrecked cruise liner, locals are worried that their pristine waters are in danger. Reporting by Rossella Lorenzi. Written and produced by Rossella Lorenzi and Martin Berman. Full story at Discovery News. More news from Discovery Communications. Permalink | Leave a comment » -
Inside Syria's capitol: nervously normal
9 Feb 2012 | 11:18 amAs the violence in Syria continues to escalate, Syrian citizens are arming themselves to resist their oppressive regime. For days, Homs, the third-largest city in Syria, has endured shelling, tanks and attacks by heavy weaponry. Syrian protestors react with more violence against forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, resulting in all-out war zones in some residential neighborhoods. Full story at Discovery News. More news from Discovery Communications. Permalink | Leave a comment »
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Chris Garrett on New Media
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When Should You Start Selling from Your Blog?
31 Jan 2012 | 3:18 pmHow do you know when your audience is ready to buy from you? Should you wait to “monetize”? How big does your audience need to be? These are common questions and the answers have been debated over the years. I am going to share an answer I gave George from the Man Up Blog during his blog critique. George spent some time in the dating world, sometimes called the “pick up artist” niche. This is shy dudes learning to pick up the ladies mostly, but obviously the market caters to all genders and tastes. It’s pretty obvious what people want from dating advice, but… -
Why You Shouldn’t Drive Traffic
16 Jan 2012 | 7:58 pmIn the first 7 days of this blogs life, 20,000 visitors checked it out. Sounds like a pretty nice result doesn’t it? I was super happy, but a little disappointed in one specific respect. Only 500 people subscribed. Now, don’t get me wrong, I loved and nurtured those 500 subscribers and 500 subscribers in any time frame is not to be sniffed at! My problem was, how can you have 20,000 visitors check out my blog and only 500 of them want to stick around? The cause? I was “Driving” traffic … Big Lessons Learned I had been involved with a couple of successful blogs at… -
How to know what your audience really wants
23 Dec 2011 | 11:53 amYour audience does not want your content. Your audience probably does not want to hear from you at all. If you think that because your website looks great that people will want to visit it … think again. What do they really want? Your audience and potential customers know who they are and probably have a very good idea of their goals. At the very least they know their immediate needs. They are looking for answers to questions, advice, and resources that help people like them get the stuff people like them want. When someone seeks out and clicks on your content it is only as a means to… -
Finding and Communicating Your Value
5 Dec 2011 | 11:06 amMany bloggers don’t have a value problem. They have a great deal to share. I am sure you do – I have never met someone who doesn’t. Why then do people struggle to find an audience. Never mind an audience who knows, likes and trusts them – ANY audience? It’s weird but a lot of the time it is because you have SO much to offer, it’s hard to know who you are for and what specific benefit you provide. A lot of my coaching clients have this problem and, thankfully, there is a solution. The solution is simple, but it isn’t always easy. Check out Ryan… -
How to REALLY make money from a website
23 Nov 2011 | 3:08 pmAs much as I tell people to seriously reconsider buying too much into the hardcore “Make Money Online” hype, I can not argue against its allure and the fact that, well, people DO make money online. The problem is, there are the usual caveats: It’s not fast. It’s not easy. You WILL encounter problems and tough challenges. You might not always enjoy it. These are challenges facing Roman who asked me for a blog critique. He has been building a site all about his experience of creating a website that makes money called “How this website makes money” (how meta).
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Performancing
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Why your Internet Marketing Company Should Offer Conversion Analysis
29 Jan 2012 | 10:37 pmIf your internet marketing company is helping to drive traffic to your website, you may still be losing money. But how is that possible? Getting new visitors to your website is only the half the battle; ultimately, they need to become new — and preferably loyal and repeat — customers to benefit your business and help you grow revenue. The process of getting new visitors to become customers is called conversion, and if your internet marketing company isn’t offering conversion analysis as part of your internet marketing strategy, you need to start shopping around for a new marketing… -
Buy Links for SEO or not
22 Jan 2012 | 11:43 pmLinks, and in particular one-way links, have always been thought to be one of the top metrics that search engine web sites look for when ranking websites. Although the spirit of linking to another website is to show a tacit recommendation for that website, there are many ways in which this metric can be exploited. One way is to simply buy links or pay a search engine optimization company to buy links for you. The temptation of saving the time and effort of having to build relationships and court the opinions of webmasters is quite a strong one, yet many people swear off buying links for their… -
InstaBG Delivers Instagram Backgrounds To Your Twitter Account Automagically
31 Dec 2011 | 12:59 pmWhile I take great pride in managing my Twitter account through user interaction, quick responses to questions and sparse sharing of my own personal posts I don’t care much for updating my background so it remains fresh upon user visits. It’s for that reason that I began using and highly recommend the program InstaBG. The InstaBG platform connects users to their Twitter account and the Instagram photo sharing platform in order to create backgrounds based on user preference. The program couldn’t be easier to use, simply click on the “Sign in with Twitter Account”… -
Newest Free Mac Apps for Better Productivity
24 Dec 2011 | 1:29 amWe all have trouble focusing from time to time. With the massive time waster that is the Internet tempting us with endless pages of Lolcats, YouTube videos, social-networking sites and Netflix, it is practically turning us all into creatures with the attention span of a goldfish. When was the last time you actually got through a task without checking Facebook? Or sending a text? I bet you can’t even remember. It is no surprise that an avalanche of free applications has been released by developers for the Mac that helps to combat the lack of productivity that sometimes occurs in our… -
Have You Selected The Right SEO Keywords?
15 Dec 2011 | 10:19 amThe first step in any successful search engine optimization campaign should be to consider your target market. What products and services do you sell? What sets you apart from your competitors? Why should people shop online with you? These questions help you to build up a picture of those who are likely to buy your products or services online. They also give you an immediate insight into the keywords (search terms) that will be used in order to find your website online. This is a great starting point when considering the keywords that you wish to target. Some would argue that keyword analysis…
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Lorelle on WordPress
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Prove It: What Makes You Trust a Website?
6 Feb 2012 | 8:48 pmWhat makes you trust this site? What makes you trust me? What makes you trust any website you visit? What is it about the site that earns your trust? I’ve asked this question at most of the conferences and keynotes I’ve given over the past seven years. The answers are all over the map but [...] -
This Site Will Blackout Against SOPA and PIPA
17 Jan 2012 | 12:09 pmI’m joining Wikipedia, Reddit, and millions of other concerned web users across the United States to blackout my site on January 18, 2012. WordPress is even against this. Traction is happening. SOPA appears to be dead in congress but PIPA is still alive and just as bad. When you land on Lorelle on WordPress on [...] -
Clark College WordPress Class in the News
16 Jan 2012 | 12:42 pmWow! I knew my Introduction to WordPress course at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, was getting a lot of attention around the world from those eager to get WordPress into their curriculum, I didn’t realize it would make so much noise so close to home. Check out “Blogging pioneer blazes trail for WordPress at Clark [...] -
Prove It: Kym Huynh Exposed
16 Jan 2012 | 12:08 pmAfter reading Prove It: It’s Starts With Defining Who You Are as part of my Prove It Campaign, one of my best friends volunteered himself for a bio tearing and ripping as he is now involved in several startups that are gaining the attention of investors, which means everything he does online is now subject [...] -
January 18: Join Reddit in a National Blackout Day of Protest Against SOPA
11 Jan 2012 | 9:25 pmOn January 18, join Reddit and the country in protesting SOPA. Reddit announced they will black out their site January 18 for 12 hours in protest of the US government’s pursuit of the horrible SOPA act: The freedom, innovation, and economic opportunity that the Internet enables is in jeopardy. Congress is considering legislation that will [...]
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Twingly Blog
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“Without comments, any news site gets a certain PDF feel”
8 Feb 2012 | 5:23 amDagens Nyheter (DN), Sweden’s biggest morning newspaper, has been one the first Twingly partners to integrate our widget solution into its website, back in early 2007. Today, five years later, we spoke with Björn Hedensjö, Head of Digital at DN, about how Twingly worked out for them, his view on the importance of blogs and comments as well as about what’s next for DN regarding social media. DN was Twingly’s first client and integrated the widget in February 2007. What was the impact of that partnership and with what thoughts do you look back on 5 years of having incoming… -
The most discussed news articles on Swedish blogs in 2011
2 Feb 2012 | 12:30 amSweden’s four biggest newspapers, Expressen, Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet, might be different in many aspects, but they have something in common: Their websites all use Twingly to connect readers with the blogosphere. So which articles did create the biggest buzz and engagement within the blogosphere in 2011? We had a look at the stats! Here is a list of the top 5 articles from each of the 4 newspapers which received the most incoming links from blogs. Note that on each article page you’ll find the Twingly widget where you can see what the blogosphere said. And… -
Redesign of Bloggportalen.se
31 Jan 2012 | 6:20 amNew design New design Old design New design -
Bloggportalen får ett nytt hem hos Twingly
31 Jan 2012 | 4:31 amNyligen berättade vi att vi köpt Bloggportalen av Aftonbladet. Nu kan vi stolt berätta att vi idag flyttat Bloggportalen till våra servrar och att vi gett sajten en uppfräschad design. Både serverflytten och det nya utseendet är första initiativen för att skapa Sveriges bästa mötesplats för bloggare och bloggläsare. Vad händer kring Bloggportalen under 2012? För att skapa den bästa ingången till den svenska bloggosfären, kommer vi ge mer plats åt bloggare på förstasidan och kategorisidorna. Det är väldigt bra att ha tillgång till listor på mest bloggade nyheter, men… -
Bloggportalen gets a new home
31 Jan 2012 | 4:27 amIn December we announced our acquisition of Bloggportalen from Aftonbladet. Today we’re proud to tell you that we’ve moved Bloggportalen to our own servers and that the site now has a new look and feel. The move to our servers and the redesign is the first step towards making Bloggportalen to the best meeting point for bloggers and blog readers in Sweden. What’s happening around Bloggportalen during 2012? To create the best entrance to the Swedish blogosphere, we’ll provide more space for bloggers on the frontpage and the category pages. An overview of the most blogged…
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Mashable!
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Live LOLCats: Cheezburger Plans Grammy Awards Memes in Real Time
9 Feb 2012 | 12:35 pmI Can Has Cheezburger plans to turn the 54th Grammy Awards into a laughing matter by giving viewers an outlet to write funny captions for red carpet and ceremony photos. The “Live LOLing” event starts Sunday at 4 p.m. PT when Cheezburger’s ROFLrazzi site, Twitter profile and Facebook page will begin publishing Grammy images with humorous captions — in lolcat meme format. People can click “Recaption This” to plop their own witty text on the photos. Participants can then share their creations on their social networks. Cheezburger editor in chief Emily Huh… -
Popularity of an Article Can Be Predicted Before It’s Tweeted [VIDEO]
9 Feb 2012 | 12:24 pmHP Labs says it’s possible to know if your tweet will be a dud before you type the 140 characters. Researchers have developed a formula that predicts the number of times a news “article will be tweeted with surprising accuracy.” The researchers predicted tweet popularity with 84% accuracy based on ranking news articles by four criteria. In the new study called “The Pulse of News in Social Media: Forecasting Popularity, HP Labs used a statistical model to rate the popularity of 40,000 news articles published during nine days in August 2011. The statistical model… -
Yahoo’s New Visualization Beautifully Shows What’s Happening on the Web
9 Feb 2012 | 12:00 pmYahoo has launched a new webpage that visualizes what’s happening on the web in near real time — and it’s totally beautiful. The Content Optimization Relevance Engine (C.O.R.E.) HTML5 site hopes to show users the “behind the scenes” process Yahoo uses to match readers with content on their personalized homepage, using technology developed in a Yahoo research lab a few years ago. While Yahoo’s homepage used to be arranged by editors, it now uses an algorithm to match individual user preferences. “We can provide users with insights through the lens of… -
Who Really Invented the Web? Texas Trial Questions Tim Berners-Lee [VIDEO]
9 Feb 2012 | 11:48 amTim Berners-Lee, who is credited with inventing the World Wide Web, testified this week in a Texas courtroom against a company that claims it has a patent on the same technology. The man who claims to have the patent on the “interactive web” is Michael Doyle. His company, Eolas Technologies, has filed suit against many of the world’s biggest Internet companies — including Google and Yahoo — over the case. Doyle’s lawyers say the companies owe him millions in royalty payments for using such common functions as watching online video or search suggestions pop… -
Mass Effect 3 Gets iPad Version with Action-Packed ‘Infiltrator’ [PREVIEW]
9 Feb 2012 | 11:35 amMass Effect 3 is coming to an iPad near you in the form of Mass Effect Infiltrator, an iOS game aimed at expanding the game’s narrative and give players some mobile combat. Infiltrator isn’t a direct port of the latest Mass Effect game. Unlike its big brother, a sci-fi role-playing game known for its first-person shooter gameplay and massive, branching story-lines, Infiltrator is all about fighting. Mashable got a demo of the game played on an iPad and hooked up to a television at an EA showcase. The story follows a soldier called Randall Ezno as he travels the universe tracking…
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ReadWriteWeb
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Hangout With the Scientists Looking for the God Particle
9 Feb 2012 | 11:57 amWant to hang out with the people who run the CMS? No, not the content management system. The Compact Muon Solenoid. It's one of the two big detectors at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the largest and highest-energy particle accelerator in the world. CERN physicist Dr. Albert De Roeck is hosting a Google+ Hangout tomorrow from inside the cavern where the experiment takes place, about 100 meters underneath Cessy, France. He'll explain the CMS experiment and take questions about the crazy frontiers of particle physics. Sponsor The CMS is one of the two general-purpose LHC experiments searching… -
Fabled Google Drive Won't Be Another Dropbox
9 Feb 2012 | 11:00 amThe Wall Street Journal has revived rumors about Google launching a cloud storage service called Drive. The comparison everybody wants to make is to Dropbox. The thinking is that Google will challenge everyone's favorite start-up by releasing a native desktop and mobile Drive app with the same syncing features Dropbox users know and love. Google Drive rumors have been around for many years, and they've always conformed to the understanding of "The Cloud" that has prevailed at the time. If it's not like Apple's iCloud, which is integrated into Apple's devices, then it must be like Dropbox,… -
[STUDY] 61% of Social Media Users Feel So Close To You
9 Feb 2012 | 10:30 amSometimes little things like a sweet comment on Facebook or a Twitter friend calling your tweet a "favorite" can really make a social networker bee's day. A new study from Pew finds that for the most part, adults are kind to each other on social media sites. In fact, 85% of adults say that most of the people they come across on social media are rather kind; only 5% say that people are "mostly unkind," which would imply rude or mean. An additional 5% say that it's all situational. On the whole, adults have positive experiences on social networking sites. A total 68% of SNS users had an… -
[Infographic] Mapping the Tools in the Mobile Development Ecosystem
9 Feb 2012 | 10:00 amThe mobile development ecosystem is a large, complicated space. There are innovative startups making tools for native and mobile Web apps along with large enterprise-grade companies that offer solutions from cloud support to frameworks and developer environments. For a mobile developer, it can be confusing to know where to turn and what to use to make the best app possible. Mobile "backend-as-a-service" startup Kinvey created a map for ReadWriteMobile to help developers understand the ecosystem. Kinvey brackets the mobile ecosystem between two primary pillars: the service providers and the… -
Harry Reid Wants a Bigger, Badder Version of SOPA/PIPA
9 Feb 2012 | 9:30 amSenate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., still licking wounds from last week's defeat of the Protect IP Act and its House counterpart the Stop Online Piracy Act, is reportedly working on an even more sinister, Internet-regulating bill. Few details have been publicly disclosed about the latest push by legislative Democrats to expand executive-branch authority over the Internet, but the Daily Caller has pieced together publicly-available clues suggesting that Reid's newest bill is even broader than President Barack Obama's cybersecurity proposal. Sponsor Released last May, Obama's proposal…
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The Jeff Pulver Blog
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Synchronicity happens
30 Jan 2012 | 7:48 pmAfter hearing the magical Rebecca Ferguson perform at #DLD12, first by accident during her pre-DLD opening sound check (I wasn't invited to it but somehow managed to be on-site and in the right place an hour before DLD started), and then during her scheduled spot in the conference, what were the odds we would also briefly chat on our flight to London from Munich three days later? There is synchronicity around all of us. Try to identify the moments when the improbable and the impossible start to sync up. Enjoy the magic of synchronicity. Enjoy every moment. :) Tags: Rebecca Ferguson, DLD12,… -
Event: Breakfast with Jeff Pulver (and friends) in Holon on February 14th
29 Jan 2012 | 8:00 pmOn Tuesday, February 14, 2012 I will be back in the greater Tel Aviv area and will be hosting my first Breakfast with Jeff Pulver (and Friends) in Holon, this time from 0830 to 1030. This breakfast will be taking place at the Holon Institute of Technology I am looking forward to catching up with my friends. To RSVP, please visit this event on Facebook. Tags: breakfast, Holon, social media, facebook, Social Media Breakfast, Jeff Keni Pulver -
#140conf Music Event: The Jessie Rose Trip in NYC
29 Jan 2012 | 7:34 pmMembers of the State of NOW / #140conf Community are invited to join #140conf Alumn, Steve Greenberg, and S-Curve Records recording artist: The Jessie Rose Trip when they perform at 6:45 PM on Tuesday, Jan 31, 2012 at Pianos. Pianos is located at: 158 Ludlow @ Stanton St in Manhattan. (Please try to get to Pianos by 6:30 pm) The Jessie Road Trip are visiting NYC from Manchester, UK and will be one of the artists at State of NOW / #140conf in June. To get a feel of their sound, you can listen here. If you are going to be in Manhattan on Tuesday evening, I hope you can join us. This is a free… -
Being Fired Can Save your Life
29 Jan 2012 | 12:36 pmLast Monday night, while attending the DLD 12 party in Munich I ran into Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald Securities. He was greeted with a bear hug from me. From 1993 to 1996 I worked for Cantor Fitzerald whose offices were at One World Trade Center. It was Howard's decision to fire me in July 1996 that saved my life. Cantor Fitzgerald Securities lost 700+ people on 9/11. And I had the kind of job that would have had me at my desk at the time Tower 1 was hit on 9/11. I enjoyed listening to Howard tell my friend Yossi Matias tell the story of how my appearance in a May, 1996 Sunday… -
The State of Now's (#140conf) Call For Speakers
19 Jan 2012 | 5:46 amSince June 2009, it has been my honor to offer the chance for people from many different walks of life, from all over the world to come to New York City and share their stories on our stage. In addition to our live in-house viewing audience, our speakers have had an online audience of over 100,000 via our UStream broadcasts. If you take into account the amplification from the social web, moments from these events have touched million(s) of people. The State of NOW Experience Though seemingly viewed as random connections, there are no accidents in the State of Now, but rather an underlying and…
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kottke.org
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The scale of the Universe
9 Feb 2012 | 9:48 amThe Scale of the Universe 2 is an interactive Powers of Ten that takes you from the Planck length all the way up to the size of the observable Universe. That's more than 60 orders of magnitude! Also interesting that the smallest things (Planck length, strings, branes) are millions of times smaller compared to human scale than the observable Universe is larger. Plenty of room at the bottom indeed. Tags: long zoom science -
Banksy + Tom Hanks = Hanksy
9 Feb 2012 | 7:58 amThe Awl has an interview with a street artist named Hanksy, who takes images from Banksy and incorporates Tom Hanks into the mix. WIIIILLLSONNNN!! I've come across comments or stories written about Hanksy saying I'm directly ripping off Banksy's style. Like, "Where does this guy get off, stealing Banksy's work?" They are completely missing the point. It's a satire. My goal was never to make a profit. It came about and there was a genuine excitement around the people at the gallery and the community in general. I'm pretty sure the interviewer, EA Hanks, is Tom's daughter and she got her dad on… -
Updates on previous entries for Feb 8, 2012*
8 Feb 2012 | 10:11 pmMore on iPhone address book privacy orig. from Feb 08, 2012 One athlete plays for your soul orig. from Feb 07, 2012 * Q: Wha? A: These previously published entries have been updated with new information in the last 24 hours. You can find past updates here. Tags: post updates -
More on iPhone address book privacy
8 Feb 2012 | 7:13 pmYesterday, developer Arun Thampi noticed that the Path iPhone app uploads a user's address book to their server without asking the user first. And by address book, I mean all the phone numbers and addresses and email addresses of everyone in your phone's address book just gets sent off to Path. And not only that, Path stored that information on its server. To their credit, Path apologized and deleted the data from their server. But this is a larger problem than just Path. In a post from earlier today, Dustin Curtis reveals the dirty little secret of iPhone developers everywhere. It's not… -
Where's the social networking on Star Trek?
8 Feb 2012 | 1:25 pmCat Valente remarks on the old-fashionedness on display in Star Trek DS9, particularly in regard to what the characters do and don't do with their free time, infinite bandwidth, extreme connectedness, and lack of scarcity. Nobody sits around and plays Farmville. Nobody gets embroiled in a flame war concerning the portrayal of Klingons in human vids or just sits and watches vids with their feet up. Nope. The brave men and women of the future read (super old) books, talk to each other face to face, and even in their VR fantasies practice for things they will have to do in real life or,…
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Daring Fireball
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Detox
9 Feb 2012 | 11:53 amNifty Safari extension by Shaun Inman: Ever wonder why links you find via Twitter don’t show up in your browser history and aren’t suggested by autocomplete in the url bar? The t.co link shortener serves known browser user agents an HTML page containing a JavaScript or meta refresh redirect (instead of the standard Location header) so that Twitter can stake itself out as the referrer when coming from third-party clients. This confuses Safari. Keeps your history from filling up with indistinguishable untitled t.co URLs. ★ -
Twittelator Neue
9 Feb 2012 | 11:46 amI sing the praises of Tweetbot every few weeks, but I still believe what I wrote almost three years ago: “Twitter Clients Are a UI Design Playground”. Another new iOS Twitter client that deserves attention is Twittelator Neue, from Stone Design. In a sense it’s a rather opposite design approach from Tweetbot — light vs. heavy. ★ -
Stealing Your Address Book
9 Feb 2012 | 11:37 amDustin Curtis: Usually, when I am curious about something Apple has done, I try to understand the design thinking that went into the decision. In this case, I can’t think of a rational reason for why Apple has not placed any protections on Address Book in iOS. It makes no sense. It is a breach of my privacy, and it has allowed every app I’ve installed to steal my address book. I understand that Apple doesn’t want us to be badgered by too many permission-granting alerts, but address book data is sensitive enough to warrant it, in my opinion. Why not treat it like they do… -
John Williams Turns 80
9 Feb 2012 | 11:27 amFive of his classic scores, with a bit of his own commentary. You could argue that Williams is the most successful artist in the history of film. (Via Jim Coudal.) ★ -
John Paczkowski: Apple to Announce iPad 3 First Week in March
9 Feb 2012 | 9:14 amJohn Paczkowski: Sources say the company has chosen the first week in March to debut the successor to the iPad 2, and will do so at one of its trademark special events. The event will be held in San Francisco, presumably at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Apple’s preferred location for big announcements like these. I believe it. ★
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Signal vs. Noise
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All or something
9 Feb 2012 | 8:37 amOne of the most pervasive myths of startup life is that it has to be all consuming. That unless you can give your business all your thoughts and hours, you don’t deserve success. You are unworthy of the startup call. This myth neatly identifies those fit for mission: Young, without obligations, and few if any extra-curricular interests. The perfect cannon fodder for 10:1 VC long shots. They’re also easier to rile up with tales of milk and honey at the end of the rainbow, or the modern equivalents, “compressing your working life into a few years” and “billon… -
Behind the scenes: Reinventing our Default Profile Pictures
8 Feb 2012 | 9:34 amMister Default Here he is: our default profile picture. You may know him as “Generic Avatar”. He’s the picture you get when you create a new account and profile on Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack, and Campfire. Mr. Default is a standard guy. He’s found everywhere on the web (in variations): message boards, comments, activity streams. He forces everyone to look like him regardless of gender, race, and physicality. He’s also very boring. Time for a change People don’t usually have a picture on hand to change the default avatar. What happens is none of the… -
What's your answer?
8 Feb 2012 | 9:00 am“If a customer asked you why, how would you answer?” This is a question I’ve been asking a lot lately. Why could be “why does it work this way?” or “why can’t I do that?” or some variation on that theme. I think your answer to those questions is a great way to measure your product. Are you happy with your answers? Are they fair answers? Are they clear answers? Would you be happy with the answer if you were the one asking the question? The goal isn’t to get to “Yes” on every answer. The goal is to listen to your answer and ask… -
No framework needed
8 Feb 2012 | 7:42 amIt goes without saying that we use Rails a lot here at 37signals. Often times, when we look at a problem, we turn to Rails or something similar, because when you have a high-performance precision screwdriver, everything starts to look like a finely engineered screw. Sometimes, what you really need is a big hammer, because what you’re looking at is a nail. Our public sites – sites like 37signals.com and basecamphq.com – are a perfect example of this. Let me tell you about our journey with these sites over the years, and how we’ve landed on a simple solution that boosted… -
SaaS: Change starts easy and then gets really hard
7 Feb 2012 | 12:58 pmBasecamp just turned 8 years old. Here’s the launch announcement right here on this blog back on February 5, 2004. That’s a long time ago. We’ve learned a ton since then. One of the most interesting lessons has been the increasing degree to which time influences change. When we first launched Basecamp, we could iterate rapidly. We were incredibly prolific those first few months. We launched a bunch of new stuff and made rapid improvement every few weeks. Eventually it plateaued and slowed down. Why is that? Part of it is because many of the improvements we wanted to make…
