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Lessig on McCain’s technology policy (16:45), with plenty...

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:23:45 -0400

Lessig on McCain’s technology policy (16:45), with plenty of explanation of Net Neutrality and contrast of the plan with Obama’s tech policy.

Dell Denied: 'Cloud Computing' both desciptive and generic

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:36:00 -0400

Dell Denied: 'Cloud Computing' both desciptive and generic: Following up on Dell’s attempt to trademark “cloud computing” comes news that “USPTO have already denied Dell’s cloud computing trademark application” and “[f]urthermore, they have declared ‘cloud computing’ generic, in that it is ‘incapable of functioning as a source-identifier for applicant’s services’.” [via Daring Fireball]

Diners spend more if menu avoids $ sign

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:31:31 -0400

Diners spend more if menu avoids $ sign: “Restaurateurs can get diners to spend more on a meal if they drop the dollar symbol from their menus, new research shows.” [via http://tidbits.savorycities.com/posts/2008/08/im-not-going-to.html]

"The Internet is the greatest thing ever invented for inventiveness by small businesses, and this is..."

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:25:18 -0400

“The Internet is the greatest thing ever invented for inventiveness by small businesses, and this is a big-business policy platform. Invention is being choked by our intellectual policy apparatus, and this platform would strengthen it, not relax it.”

- Harry Lewis, John McCain’s Technology Policy

"And I understand that there can be a corporate culture that says, ‘Oh, we just hack in new features,..."

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:49:00 -0400

“And I understand that there can be a corporate culture that says, ‘Oh, we just hack in new features, and we should do things the right way, but we can’t because blah blah blah.’ But one day your project will fail. And no matter how many reasons you can give for that failure, it won’t change the fact that your project failed.”

- Max Kanat-Alexander, Design From The Start

Getting Thru [Olympic] Security with Water

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:11:14 -0400

Getting Thru [Olympic] Security with Water: “…at all the security check-points at the various Olympic venues, you can take a bottle of water through security, if you do one simple thing:
Take a swig.”

Lessig: huge and important news: free licenses upheld

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:26:00 -0400

Lessig: huge and important news: free licenses upheld: “In non-technical terms, the Court has held that free licenses such as the CC licenses set conditions (rather than covenants) on the use of copyrighted work. When you violate the condition, the license disappears, meaning you’re simply a copyright infringer.”

"A law requiring companies to secure personal data is good; a law specifying what technologies they..."

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 08:24:51 -0400

“A law requiring companies to secure personal data is good; a law specifying what technologies they should use to do so is not. Mandating software liabilities for software failures is good, detailing how is not. Legislate for the results you want and implement the appropriate penalties; let the market figure out how — that’s what markets are good at.”

- Bruce Schneier, Memo to the President

"When you deploy new tools for group coordination in a high-freedom environment, you often get things..."

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 13:10:30 -0400

“When you deploy new tools for group coordination in a high-freedom environment, you often get things things being done for entertainment or dating sites, whatever — you get flash mobs of the sort where everyone’s running around Central Park. When you deploy the same tools in low-freedom environments, where any ability to coordinate a group is a basically political act, the tools suddenly take on an importance that we never see in this country. And I think it makes us overlook sources of innovation that are outside our own experience.”

- Clay Shirky, Tech Nation interview (quote starts at 14:22)

"To use these words with a straight face is to assume the listener is an idiot. They are intellectual..."

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:19:41 -0400

“To use these words with a straight face is to assume the listener is an idiot. They are intellectual insults. They are shortcuts away from good marketing and strong thinking since they try to sneak by with claims they know they cannot prove or do not make any sense.”

- Scott Berkun, Why Jargon Feeds on Lazy Minds

"The longer and harder developers worked on the systems, the sooner they transferred their personal..."

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:42:54 -0400

“The longer and harder developers worked on the systems, the sooner they transferred their personal savings accounts to other banks.”

- Sampo Uh-Oh on The Daily WTF

Should you ignore the n00bs?

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 08:38:10 -0400

Should you ignore the n00bs?: “Great design is intuitive. Great design eliminates confusion. But not for everyone, not all the time.”

"Going ‘social’ online… means understanding the real value of creating a ‘transparent’ company;..."

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:47:00 -0400

“Going ‘social’ online… means understanding the real value of creating a ‘transparent’ company; it means understanding why sharing and collaborating beat hiding and competing; it means learning to work with unfamiliar measures of success….”

- Douglas Rushkoff, Real Social

M.T.A. Shortfall Renews Talk of Congestion Pricing

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:36:00 -0400

M.T.A. Shortfall Renews Talk of Congestion Pricing: Mayor Bloomberg: “Congestion pricing will come, in New York and lots of other cities, because it is the only way where you were going to do the two things that you need to do: reduce people driving and find money for mass transit.”

Amazon.com (US) says Neal Stephenson’s novel Anathem will...

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:18:00 -0400

Amazon.com (US) says Neal Stephenson’s novel Anathem will be released on September 9th (see the top of the composite image above), while Amazon.ca (Canada) reports that it will be released eleven days earlier, on August 29th (bottom).

I know long delays can be common for US vs. UK book releases, but I find the the fact that there’s a delay between the US and Canadian release dates, along with the relatively short duration of said delay, rather surprising.

(And, for what it’s worth, the novel will be released on Septemeber 1st in the UK according to Amazon.co.uk.)

Dell tries to trademark "cloud computing"

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:33:44 -0400

Dell tries to trademark "cloud computing": “Considering that cloud computing is a generic term that’s been used countless times in articles, papers, and books, it would seem obvious that the trademark application should be killed.”

ATM Available Only During Banking Hours: This seems to defeat...

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:59:00 -0400

ATM Available Only During Banking Hours: This seems to defeat one of the main benefits of an ATM — availablity when the bank itself is closed.

Google Maps walking directions to the closer of the two other branches listed indicate that it is 0.9 miles away.

"If those passengers could have torn up their virtual JetBlue frequent flyer cards to board a Virgin..."

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:13:02 -0400

“If those passengers could have torn up their virtual JetBlue frequent flyer cards to board a Virgin America flight right then to JFK, there would have been a long line at the Virgin America desk. The basics of the customer experience - on-time departure, on-time arrival - are so much more important than any marketing nonsense on a billboard or TV commercial.”

- Mark Hurst, The JetBlue customer experience, sliding

Astor Place Moves Closer to Becoming a Great Public Space

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:00:24 -0400

Astor Place Moves Closer to Becoming a Great Public Space: Plans to change traffic patterns and add green space around Cooper Square/Astor Place

"It’s simple: when data is gathered and used for the people as part of civic processes (voting..."

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 18:24:00 -0400

“It’s simple: when data is gathered and used for the people as part of civic processes (voting is a good example), processing it using secret software, especially if it’s a private-sector secret, should be totally out of bounds.”

- Tim Bray, discussing Christine Peterson’s OSCON talk (and undoubtedly helping to popularize the term “secret software” to refer to closed source software), in No Secret Software!