ebertx

This list is fantastic.

While I agree that #1 and #2 are the biggest drivers for acquiring Roomba, I find it hard to imagine Amazon executives not actively discussing in-home robotics as a vector for increased data collection. It might be a few years out, but it will happen.

There are a lot of strange spots in Russia. I was looking at a spot south of the Pechora Sea on the light pollution map, then comparing it with Google Maps/Earth. I can't see anything that would correlate with that much light.

https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=6.17&lat=67.1945&lo...

I thought the exact same thing about the web as being a library. It's nice hearing someone else say it, it's validating.

However, I feel like it's moved more in the direction of being like broadcast television: lots of content that's designed to be consumed once and then forgotten. Maybe the television analogy oversimplifies the matter. Still, I think the more that content creators view their content as going into a permanent library, the better the quality.

I disabled my Facebook account 4 years or so ago and didn't miss it. That said, I now have a daughter with an extremely rare genetic disorder. Although there are a number of databases out there specifically to help parents find other families with rare genetic disorders, we didn't find anyone until we resorted to Facebook. This is only one anecdote, but from my personal experience thus far, Facebook is still unfortunately the best place to find a needle in a haystack.

My theory is that every book written about the fall of the Roman Empire is more about the political climate of the time it was written and the political perspective of the author writing it.

In the mid- to late-00s when sentiment against the Iraq was its peak, I remember seeing the claim that Rome fell because of military overreach and being in a constant state of war. On the more right-leaning side, I remember seeing the claim that Rome fell because Rome became a weakened, welfare state.

Obviously there are real reasons why Rome fell, it just seems to me that more often than not the explanation for its fall is a reflection of the times in which it was written.

edit The word "every" in the first sentence is too strong. I stand by the general sentiment, though.

I've always thought of technology as being the sole driver behind the fragmentation of communities into small niche communities. It's interesting seeing that comments appear to be one aspect of technological change that drive people to seek niche communities (going off of another comment that it's better to frequent smaller subreddits rather than the larger, default ones).

Maybe they have the same PR/charisma coaches.

In loving memory of Leonard Nimoy's wackier side:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGF5ROpjRAU

Verify me.

The most fascinating part about this post is seeing how differently people react to it: nihilism, awe, wonder, etc. The story seems to be a rorschach test of sorts.

It's less about covering infrastructure and more about maximizing return for shareholders.

Yeah, this reminds of the initial launch of Steam back in 2003. At first it seemed like an annoying hoop to jump through. As the years went by and it got more dependable, more games, and more features, it became easier and easier to forget how annoying it was in the beginning.

I wonder if the same thing will happen with SteamOS. At best it will initially seem like a novelty, then 10 years from now a huge group of customers will have forgotten what it was like to never have had it.

Yep. I pay 60 bucks a month for 40 Mbps, and Google offers 1 Gbps for 70 bucks a month. I pay almost the same price for 4% the speed (not to mention horrible customer service).

I agree. Correct me if I'm wrong, but using Google Reader seems to cut down on the number of ads a user sees. And seeing as Google is at its heart an advertising company, why would they put effort into maintaining a tool that reduces the number of delivered ads?

Am I the only one who feels like the web is making a transition from being more like a library to being more like television?

The more content is sliced up into little digestible chunks and spread across multiple pages the less useful it is. There will always be great content online, it just seems like it might get harder and harder to find on sites whose layout is driven by pageviews.

It's another way of saying "ditto".

Good questions. I think they only promise to acknowledge the petition, not necessarily do anything about it. If they're raising the minimum number to 1 million signatures, I wish they would promise a bit more, though I don't know what.

Yeah, I agree. I like the aspect of curiosity, but I wish the author focused on it without the overpowering tone of bitterness and resentment. Hacking and making are positive things. It'd be easy for someone to miss that when reading this manifesto.

I have a friend who has a Master's in Entertainment Arts & Engineering (with and emphasis on the arts) and is going back to get a bachelor's in computer science for this very reason. Maybe it's overkill, but he's definitely tired of depending on other people to build his stuff for him.

I recently read The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg which from my perspective goes in line with some of the things you stated. It's changed how I view setting goals. I still will decide on some specific result I want, but I focus most of my energy on deciding on and trying to inculcate habits that will move me toward the desired result.

Anyway, the book is good. I think it covers an important aspect of goal-setting that can easily be overlooked.

I like using pomodoros periodically. I find that I don't always need them, but if a day or two goes by where I'm feeling unfocused, using them for a couple of days gets me back on track.

I agree, and I think that those who say they want realism really only want the illusion of realism.

Thank you for pointing out the numbers. I guess I should clarify: I wonder if the spike in the volume of Kickstarter projects has any impact on the percentage of successfully completed projects. My prediction would be that the percentage of finished projects declines a bit in 2013. Again, I hope I'm wrong.

There are a couple of sites that help for finding or at least verifying viable markets:

1) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov) 2) and FreeLunch.com - http://www.economy.com/freelunch/default.asp

I know Kickstarter has been around for awhile, but 2012 seems like the year it really took off. I'll be very curious to see what percentage of funded projects see completion. I genuinely hope it's high, because I would like to see Kickstarter be a permanent fixture in the world of project funding.

I'm excited to try it, but I'm a bit disappointed they're having such performance issues right now, regardless of the traffic. I would have expected a better launch from Wolfram Alpha.

If they say that's what they need to fund the site, then fine. From my own selfish consumer perspective, though, the amount of money they're asking for and what I would gain from it just aren't proportionate.

I think your statement is open to an interpretation you didn't intend.

Twinkies and Mt. Dew :(