nessatumbles

Looking for a way to add music to tumblr? Here’s how you do it.

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 09:01:41 -0400

Looking for a way to add music to tumblr? Here’s how you do it.

emergentfutures: The Next Time Someone Says the Internet Killed...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:36:27 -0400

The Next Time Someone Says the Internet Killed Reading Books, Show Them This Chart

“Remember the good old days when everyone read really good books, like, maybe in the post-war years when everyone appreciated a good use of the semi-colon? Everyone’s favorite book was by Faulkner or Woolf or Roth. We were a civilized civilization. This was before the Internet and cable television, and so people had these, like, wholly different desires and attention spans. They just craved, craved, craved the erudition and cultivation of our literary kings and queens.

Well, that time never existed. Check out these stats from Gallup surveys. In 1957, not even a quarter of Americans were reading a book or novel. By 2005, that number had shot up to 47 percent. I couldn’t find a more recent number, but I think it’s fair to say that reading probably hasn’t declined to the horrific levels of the 1950s.”

Full Story: Atlantic

thisistheverge: Philippe Starck allegedly working with Apple on...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:36:25 -0400

thisistheverge:

Philippe Starck allegedly working with Apple on ‘revolutionary’ project for later this year

Coming in 8 months.

fastcompany: Our Porsche Design Challenge fetched many...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:36:23 -0400

fastcompany:

Our Porsche Design Challenge fetched many impressive entries — more than 400 in total. Three examples here: an alpine ski helmet inspired by the 911, a blow dryer that mimics the sound of the engine, and an artificial knee that echoes the 911’s gear shifter.

There’s also an axe, backpack and modular home in the today’s gallery. See all the images->

mensjournal: Microsoft’s Would-Be iPhone — Circa 1991 In our...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:36:20 -0400

mensjournal:

Microsoft’s Would-Be iPhone — Circa 1991

In our May 2012 issue, contributing editor Joe Hagan profiled Microsoft veteran Nathan Myhrvold, who retired in 1999 after serving 14-years as Bill Gates’ personal tech visionary. Since leaving Microsoft, Myhrvold has lived a nerd fantasy, digging up T. rexes and producing a cookbook only a mad scientist could love.

During his years at the computing giant’s Redmond, Washington headquarters, Myhrvold described in precise terms what the future of computing would look like. More often that not, he was pretty damned accurate: In 1991, while serving as the company’s chief visionary, Myhrvold predicted the emergence of an iPhone-like device down to the smallest detail, describing a “digital wallet” that would consolidate personal communication — telephone, schedule manager, notepad, contacts, and a library of music and books — all in one.

Rarely seen outside of Myhrvold’s inner circle, this sketch of Microsoft’s would-be iPhone portrayed a gadget that could record and archive everything you asked it to, he surmised. “The cost will not be very high,” wrote Myhrvold. “It is pretty easy to imagine a $400 to $1,000 retail price.” Microsoft, however, was too cost conscious and risk averse to execute his vision. “Hey, it was better than predicting the wrong thing,” Myhrvold says now.

For more information about Myhrvold, his tenure at Microsoft, and his newfound passion for molecular gastronomy, read Joe Hagan’s “How a Geek Grills a Burger” here.

"Speaking to AdAge in an interview published today, Tumblr CEO David Karp made it abundantly clear..."

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:36:18 -0400

“Speaking to AdAge in an interview published today, Tumblr CEO David Karp made it abundantly clear that his company has no interest in placing ads on its service, saying that the microblogging tool is “selling our desks to avoid that, it’s a complete last resort.””

- Tumblr CEO says displaying ads ‘complete last resort’ (via cnet)

"General news is not relevant to young people because they don’t have context. It’s a lot of abstract..."

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:36:13 -0400

“General news is not relevant to young people because they don’t have context. It’s a lot of abstract storytelling and arguing among adults that makes no sense. So most young people end up consuming celebrity news. To top it off, news agencies, for obvious reasons, are trying to limit access to their content by making you pay for it. Well, guess what: Young people aren’t going out of their way to try to find this news, so you put up one little wall, and poof, done. They’re not even going to bother.”

- Said (Microsoft researcher) Danah Boyd, addressing why young people aren’t following traditional, regular news.

FJP: Can’t help but think of this, for one thing. Also, if you’re interested: Jonathan Stray on making news immersive.

via Poynter.
(via futurejournalismproject)

wired: We’ve got our round-up of 13 badass gadgets of March!...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:36:10 -0400

wired:

We’ve got our round-up of 13 badass gadgets of March! Happy Friday the 13th!

*Disclaimer: you may end up blowing your next two paychecks (or more) to get all these awesome gadgets. We apologize; we did the same thing. BUT IT WAS SO WORTH IT.

thisistheverge: Sony Alpha SLT-A77 review $2,000 buys you a lot...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:36:08 -0400

thisistheverge:

Sony Alpha SLT-A77 review

$2,000 buys you a lot of camera

"Thanks to technology’s mass appeal and accessibility, on a daily basis we collectively produce 2.5..."

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:36:06 -0400

“

Thanks to technology’s mass appeal and accessibility, on a daily basis we collectively produce 2.5 quintillion bytes of data, and the growth rate is so high that 90% of all information ever created was produced in the last two years alone.

What we can do now has never been possible before: the next IT revolution is happening in the “I” - the information - not the “T”.

”

- BBC News - Data wars: Unlocking the information goldmine (via myserendipities)

thisistheverge: Twitter wanted to buy Instagram before...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:36:04 -0400

thisistheverge:

Twitter wanted to buy Instagram before Facebook’s purchase, says NYT

Instagram founder “not interested in selling” before Facebook called

8bitfuture: $10 million project aims to create ‘printable...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:36:02 -0400

8bitfuture:

$10 million project aims to create ‘printable robots’.

An MIT project aiming to reinvent how robots are designed has received a $10 million grant from the US National Science Foundation.

“This research envisions a whole new way of thinking about the design and manufacturing of robots, and could have a profound impact on society,” MIT professor Daniela Rus, leader of the project, said in a statement, adding that the project could help to “democratize access to robots.”

The team has already built several prototypes as shown in the video, including a robotic ‘insect’, a robotic fish, and a gripper to pick them up.

"Even well-meaning gatekeepers slow innovation. When a platform is self-service, even the improbable..."

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:36:01 -0400

“Even well-meaning gatekeepers slow innovation. When a platform is self-service, even the improbable ideas can get tried, because there’s no expert gatekeeper ready to say “that will never work!” And guess what – many of those improbable ideas do work, and society is the beneficiary of that diversity.”

- Jeff Bezos | Bezos Talks Innovation In The Publishing Space (via courtenaybird)

courtenaybird: Report: One In Five U.S. Adults Does Not Use The...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:35:55 -0400

courtenaybird:

Report: One In Five U.S. Adults Does Not Use The Internet

Internet adoption among U.S. adults increased rapidly from the mid-’90s to about 2005. Since then, though, the number of adult Internet users has remained almost stable at around 75 to 80%.

chartier: The ol’ days. Not the “good ol’” days. Just the ol’...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:35:49 -0400

chartier:

The ol’ days.

Not the “good ol’” days. Just the ol’ days.

Kids: you’re looking at a “floppy disk.” Back in the day, we could store an entire 1/5th of a single song on these. We had “record players” that could load up 30-50 floppies at a time so you could play an entire album!

But that was only after you downloaded the right “codec” compatible with the album. And only after you got through one half of the album, then pulled out every floppy, flipped them over to the “b-side,” and put them all back in to finish.

Good times. No, wait.

Times. Just… times.

thenextweb: WeHeartPics really focuses on the concept of...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:35:45 -0400

thenextweb:

WeHeartPics really focuses on the concept of sharing your life and your ‘daily stories’ using photos, and it does it well. The app’s interface is slick, and if Facebook had been paying attention when it designed its iPhone app – it might have looked and felt a little bit more like this. In all irony, the app feels a little bit like a combination of Facebook and Instagram. (via Create a Photographic Timeline of Your Life with WeHeartPics)

willhains: I wasted my day making this mockup of what the...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:35:43 -0400

willhains:

I wasted my day making this mockup of what the iPhone 5 might look like with a taller 960 x 1152 screen and a new design.

The buttons, dock connector, etc. are missing not because I think it will happen, but because my SketchUp skills are not that advanced. ;)

simplifyyourlife: SIMPLIFY YOUR PHONE LIFE Now, through our...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:35:41 -0400

simplifyyourlife:

SIMPLIFY YOUR PHONE LIFE

Now, through our smartphones, we have access to almost any information, anytime, anywhere. But being connected 24/7 can be both a blessing and a curse. So, what should we do? Chen shares the following:

In a connected society, we can evaluate how to use our gadgets in a healthy and constructive way as well as how to combat behaviors that are affecting our health and our relationships.

While there were times that I also felt like throwing my phone into the ocean, I know we can gain control by setting limits. Here’s an example:

Set apart a room in their homes where technology is completely forbidden so they can rest or interact with each other without digital distraction. “No cell phones in this room” would be the new equivalent of “Please take of your shoes before entering.”

Our phones are just tools. It should help us live better lives. If our gadget is complicating or adding stress to our life (ex: by being connected to social networks or work all the time), then we should start redefining our use of it.

How about you? Do you have any good practices when it comes to using your phone? Feel free to share. Thanks! -Danny

The Man With the Google Glasses - Ross Douthat via NYTimes.com

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:35:39 -0400

The Man With the Google Glasses - Ross Douthat via NYTimes.com:

stoweboyd:

Ross Douthat watches the Google Glasses video a few hundred times, and finds a reflection of our society in it:

Ross Douthat via NYTimes.com

[…] the video also captures the sense of isolation that coexists with our technological mastery. The Man in the Google Glasses lives alone, in a drab, impersonal apartment. He meets a friend for coffee, but the video cuts away from this live interaction, leaping ahead to the moment when he snaps a photo of some “cool” graffiti and shares it online. He has a significant other, but she’s far enough away that when sunset arrives, he climbs up on a roof and shares it with her via video, while she grins from a window at the bottom of his field of vision.

He is, in other words, a characteristic 21st-century American, more electronically networked but more personally isolated than ever before. As the N.Y.U. sociologist Eric Klinenberg notes in “Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone,” there are now more Americans living by themselves than there are Americans in intact nuclear-family households. Children are much more likely to grow up with only a single parent in the home; adults marry less and divorce relatively frequently; seniors are more likely to face old age alone. And friendship, too, seems to be attenuating: a 2006 Duke University study found that Americans reported having, on average, three people with whom they discussed important issues in 1985, but just two by the mid-2000s.

The question hanging over the future of American social life, then, is whether all the possibilities of virtual community — the connections forged by Facebook and Twitter; the back alleys of the Internet where fans of “A Dance to the Music of Time” or “Ren & Stimpy” can find one another; the hum of virtual conversation that’s available any hour of the day — can make up for the weakening of flesh-and-blood ties and the decline of traditional communal institutions.

Douthat wants us to go back to the Cleaver’s ’50s, and as a result looks as the present as a fallen era.

First of all, having more weak ties does not lessen the strength of strong ones, but Douthat and others would rather that we don’t connect with many, but would rather that we get back into the nuclear family and commute to a soul-sucking job everyday out in the suburbs than flit around modern day hipster New York.

thisistheverge: Steve Jobs movie starring Ashton Kutcher to...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:35:36 -0400

thisistheverge:

Steve Jobs movie starring Ashton Kutcher to cover Apple from 1971 to 2000, filming starts next month

We’ve got a few more details on the recently-revealed Steve Jobs movie starring Ashton Kutcher, thanks to a Neowin interview with the producer, Mark Hulme. The independent film — which has the unfortunate working title of Jobs: Get Inspired — will cover the late CEO’s life from 1971 - 2000, putting it rather squarely into the time period that the TV movie Pirates of Silicon Valley explored.