@hawx

GoogleFaces = Face detection + Google maps

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:27:47 +0100

GoogleFaces = Face detection + Google maps

Yahoo! to Acquire Tumblr

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:31:00 +0100

Per the agreement and our promise not to screw it up, Tumblr will be independently operated as a separate business. David Karp will remain CEO. The product, service and brand will continue to be defined and developed separately with the same Tumblr irreverence, wit, and commitment to empower creators.

This will be great. Everybody’s harping on about how Yahoo! killed Flickr ⇒ Yahoo! will kill Tumblr; but the thing is, Flickr is alive. Tumblr will keep going in the same direction but probably towards more of an “advertising platform” (whatever that is).

What would be interesting is if some kind of Pro account was launched, because I have no idea how that would work without putting arbitrary limits on existing accounts, that a Pro account then lifts. Which would never work because everyone would hate it.

So how about not giving people Pro accounts, but easy advertising. If there was a switch that let you easily insert adverts into your tumblog with some kind of profit share (70% to you, 30% to Yahoo!, or something). Maybe that would work. Maybe.

idontwantyourfuckingapp: Flickr, you fuckr. I want to view a...

Tue, 14 May 2013 09:38:41 +0100

idontwantyourfuckingapp:

Flickr, you fuckr. I want to view a fucking photograph, not wade through a fucking app install process. Ge the fuck out of my way. I don’t want your fucking app!

The thing that really annoys me — on top of the annoyance that is a model dialog taking over the whole screen. Which you have to close. And then the whole page has to reload! — is that I can’t even download the app anyway! I’m stuck in update limbo (4.2.1 land), and this requires at least 4.3.

Along with every other “modern” iPhone app.

Dashboard Reblog Hat-trick

Wed, 08 May 2013 11:08:34 +0100

Dashboard Reblog Hat-trick

cosmarxpolitan: Cosmarxpolitan, Issue 1 Is constant unceasing...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:18:59 +0100

cosmarxpolitan:

Cosmarxpolitan, Issue 1

Is constant unceasing class warfare ruining your skin?

Tama (cat)

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:07:25 +0100

Tama (cat):

Tama (たま?, born April 29, 1999) is a female calico cat who gained fame for being a station master and operating officer at Kishi Station on the Kishigawa Line in Kinokawa, Wakayama, Japan.

It gets better…

A study estimated that the publicity surrounding Tama has contributed 1.1 billion Yen to the local economy. In January 2008, Tama was promoted to “super station master” in a ceremony attended by the president of the company and the mayor; as a result of her promotion, she is “the only female in a managerial position” in the company. Her new position has an “office”—a converted ticket booth containing a litter box. In January 2010, railway officials promoted Tama to the post of “Operating Officer” in recognition of her contribution to expanding the customer base. Tama will maintain the station master’s job while taking over the new job, and is the first cat to become an executive of a railroad corporation.

Photo

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 19:06:49 +0100

The only map you’ll ever really need: Where to drop the...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 19:01:00 +0100

The only map you’ll ever really need: Where to drop the initial /h/ sounds in England.

Man Chased By Cow

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 13:51:50 +0100

Man Chased By Cow

Man in a stool

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 15:54:54 +0100

Man in a stool

laptopiniran: Sometimes she has a little man on her head

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 19:30:15 +0100

laptopiniran:

Sometimes she has a little man on her head

Emacs Redux

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 19:10:33 +0000

Emacs Redux:

While many people consider Emacs(and vim for that matter) a remnant of the Dark Ages of computing, we (the crazy Emacs devotees) know better! It’s time to bring Emacs under the spotlight once more and showcase its unique advantages over the more “traditional” (conventional) text editors and integrated development environments.

Welcome to Emacs Redux! In this blog dedicated to the One True Editor I’ll be sharing with you useful tips and tricks to make your experience with Emacs more productive and more enjoyable.

How To #Tag

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:24:00 +0000

I saw this quote on Daring Fireball yesterday:

I’ve heard before: What’s the harm? Why not at least try to include #SuperBowl if every little bit helps? Somewhat of a fair point. Using a hashtag does no harm in the same way wood paneling does no harm to your station wagon, or a misspelled tattoo does no harm to your bicep.

Here’s where I’ll join the rest in unquantifiable hoodoo: I believe hashtags are aesthetically damaging. I believe a tweet free of hashtags is more pleasing to the eye, more easily consumed, and thus more likely to be retweeted (which is a proven way of growing your audience). I believe for every person who stumbles upon your tweet via hashtag, you’re likely turning off many more who are put off by hashtag overuse. We need not banish the hashtag, but let’s start putting more thought into when we’re using it.

It’s from an article called Hashtags cosidered #harmful, and I totally agree. Hashtags are aesthetically damaging.

But that’s not to say they aren’t useful. They are less useful, now that Twitter tracks non-hashtag terms, but like tags they still provide data, context. Hashtags can be used to link the tweet to a set of conversations, or give context to a tweet, without which the tweet would be ambiguous.

The problem is that people don’t use them properly (and that isn’t their fault; and yes, there isn’t a right way to use hashtags, but maybe there should be). The thing people get “wrong” is using a hashtag in the middle of a tweet. Or worse, for every “keyword”. A real world example (this was just the latest that I remember seeing, not trying to pick on anyone):

I LOVE what @davewiner & @smallpict teach us about the possibilities of #html5 at the “edge” & #cloud storage #s3 at the core: #serverless!

— @gregarnette

All of those hashtags are superfluous, and destroy the flow when reading the tweet.

So, a rule: hashtags should only come at the end of a tweet. Why? Because hashtags are metadata. That is, data about the tweet. You don’t put the title of a novel in the middle, it goes on the front cover; likewise with tweets, there should be a separation between the “content” and the “data”.

map.baidu.com is amazing. It has this Sims City -esque mode....

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 19:02:24 +0000

map.baidu.com is amazing. It has this Sims City -esque mode. Though it seems to be only available in central Beijing, plus a few points of interest (the Olympic Park for instance).

Also: note the lack of high zoom non-China mapping, never realised.

Majestic. zmanrwks: “Gotta Cage ‘em...

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 19:30:45 +0000

Majestic.

zmanrwks: “Gotta Cage ‘em all?”

pokemonxniccage: “Precisely, my friend!” [link]

Photo

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 14:34:44 +0000

They should update this message to “No Updates...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:47:00 +0000

They should update this message to “No Updates Possible”. But I wouldn’t be able to upgrade to the new iOS version with that fix.

The great thing about having a 2nd Gen iPod Touch (iOS 4) is that you cannot possibly download any new apps.

"The Internet is a surveillance state. Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, and whether we like..."

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:52:43 +0000

“

The Internet is a surveillance state. Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, and whether we like it or not, we’re being tracked all the time. Google tracks us, both on its pages and on other pages it has access to. Facebook does the same; it even tracks non-Facebook users. Apple tracks us on our iPhones and iPads. One reporter used a tool called Collusion to track who was tracking him; 105 companies tracked his Internet use during one 36-hour period.

This is ubiquitous surveillance: All of us being watched, all the time, and that data being stored forever. This is what a surveillance state looks like, and it’s efficient beyond the wildest dreams of George Orwell.

”

- Opinion: The Internet is a surveillance state - CNN.com

Dimuendo and Crescendo in Blue — Duke Ellington & His...

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 09:49:11 +0000

Dimuendo and Crescendo in Blue — Duke Ellington & His Orchestra

Tell me, please, how people can claim not to like jazz.

I’ve had my spam filters disabled for a couple of months...

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 13:06:20 +0000

I’ve had my spam filters disabled for a couple of months now, and this is the first piece I get. I was expecting your usual, cliché spam mail.