January 2012
“There’s no ‘i’ in queeet, ese.”
– Señor Clay Loveless (via claylo)
Google has no choice #spyw →
I certainly sympathize with people’s angst about Google’s more explicit search partiality. However, its the only thing they can do. Otherwise, we’d instead be complaining in 2017 how they missed the boat back in 2012.
“33Across plans on raising more money soon, pitching itself as “the largest...”
– 33Across Buys Tynt - Peter Kafka - Media - AllThingsD
Rafer sez: Meanie!
“For the reasons my parents generation and I moved to U.S., for those exact...”
– rafat.org: The Future of the World is Brown: A Globalist’s Reading List
“At over $400 billion, Apple is now worth more than Greece, CNN Tech says.”
– Apple’s Massive Numbers And Some Context | TechCrunch
“But the message Dodd most seemed to want to get across was that “the white...”
– Sundance 2012: MPAA’s Chris Dodd Calls Piracy Defeat a ‘Watershed Event’ - Hollywood Reporter
Rafer sez: If you start the negotiation at a reasonable place, it may well end at a reasonable place. If you start by proposing to end Free Speech as we know it, you are asking for an out...
“There was some back and forth about how best to combat piracy, with some in the...”
– Sundance 2012: MPAA’s Chris Dodd Calls Piracy Defeat a ‘Watershed Event’ - Hollywood Reporter
Rafer sez: It’s def a bad business model if you are CEO of the National Association of Theater Owners. Sorry, pal.
“This worry isn’t about psychology; I’m not concerned that women don’t engage in...”
– A Rant About Women « Clay Shirky
“This is a general problem — there is a reasonable conversation to be had about...”
– Pick up the pitchforks: David Pogue underestimates Hollywood « Clay Shirky
“And don’t think it gets any different when you hop over to the...”
– Monster Cable Claims EBay, Craigslist, Costco & Sears Are ‘Rogue Sites’ | Techdirt (via pukomuko)
Rafer sez: @DiFi here’s why your PIPA-support form letter is worse than bullshit.
“Every really good, really experienced CEO that I know shares one important...”
– Ben (via brycedotvc)
DiFi documenting her corporatist priorties
Rafer sez: Here’s the form letter back from DiFi in/re my opposition to PIPA. Even in the form letter, the right of private companies to use the government as their guilty-until-proven-innocent hammer is prioritized over the DOJ’s potential ‘independent’ actions. I’d feel just a little bit better if she were at least ashamed of her astonishingly corrupt cronyism....
“At this point, I, and I believe everyone else in the room, was agog. I could...”
– How (not) to communicate new scientific information: a memoir of the famous brindley lecture - Klotz - 2005 - BJU International - Wiley Online Library
OUCH
thisistheverge:
Twitter zinger.
To protest #sopa we’re stopping all product development on @flickr, effective five years ago. #yahoo4eva
— Yahoo Board (@YahooBoard) January 17, 2012
“Copying will only ever get easier. Right now is as hard as copying will get.”
– Lockdown: The coming war on general-purpose computing - Boing Boing
“The outer structure of the futuristic building is, of course, structurally...”
– Melting buildings could help solve the energy crisis | Technology News Blog - Yahoo! News
“The mismatch between Silicon Valley and Congress isn’t just that Silicon Valley...”
– Tim O’Reilly (via bijan)
“The possibility of the privatisation of the general intellect was something Marx...”
– Slavoj Žižek · The Revolt of the Salaried Bourgeoisie · LRB 11 January 2012
The best Zizek piece in a while (probably since the height of Occupy). He handily explains the becoming-rent of profit, performs a hat-tip and drive-by criticism of Hardt & Negri, and does an eloquent job of making the...
“The 3 Biggest New/New Things In This Report – 1) In the wake of TripAdvisor...”
– From Mahaney’s email on Internet Stocks Q4:11 Preview: Previewing Results for the Large-Cap Internet Stocks
Rafer sez: #2 is a big deal. It implies AMZN at 238 vs. today’s 178.
“Google — or people working on its behalf, with its knowledge and...”
– The Google-Kenya ripoff - Boing Boing
“Social networks could one day revolutionize how we get shopping recommendations,...”
– Study: 80% Say Social Networks Had No Influence On Holiday Shopping Decisions | TechCrunch
Rafer sez: Jackass headline. How about 20% of consumers used SocNets for some purchase info?!?!? 20% is huge at this early stage. Wow.
“The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the Californian...”
– It’s time to place the web in safer hands – David Rowan – The Kernel
parislemon: Skinny Dip →
parislemon:
On Saturday, I wrote a post entitled: Just A Friendly Reminder: If You Sold Your Apple Stock In October, You Were, In Fact, An Idiot
A few hours later, my TechCrunch colleague Robin Wauters took a shot at it with: Selling Apple In October Wasn’t The Best Move, But Not Buying Google Was Worse
Rafer sez: If you trade your own individual stocks, you are largely an idiot. To avoid...
“Technicalities aside, though, the ultimate goal of Boycott SOPA is to change...”
– Boycott SOPA: An Android app that terrifies publishers and politicians | ExtremeTech
Brilliant development. Taking the friction out of voting with your wallet makes all kinds of sense — but it’s easier said than done and probably needs other, more social or reward kinds of elements, to get...
“The total life expectancy of Russia is #161 in the world, which places it behind...”
– Russia: Demographic Crisis Means “No One Left To Draft” · Global Voices
This year the movie industry made $30 billion (1/3 in the U.S.) from box-office revenue.
But the total movie industry revenue was $87 billion. Where did the other $57 billion come from?
From sources that the studios at one time claimed would put them out of business: Pay-per view TV, cable and satellite channels, video rentals, DVD sales, online subscriptions and digital downloads
“Since 2010 a group of self-confessed pirates have tried to get their beliefs...”
– File-Sharing Recognized as Official Religion in Sweden | TorrentFreak
December 2011
8 tags
“The myth that small-town moviegoers don’t like “art movies” is...”
– I’ll tell you why movie revenue is dropping… :: rogerebert.com :: News & comment
“I’ve been doing location and mobile stuff for a while - for more than 10 years...”
– Dennis (via brycedotvc)
People that do research reports are like that friend you have that bets on sports and never wins. You have no fucking idea how or why they continue to do the same losing thing over and over again but they do. And the best part is they are always confident that at sometime in...
“Marx is not only selling well, he has also been praised most recently by German...”
– Image via Wikipedia
High praise for Marxism (via crowdsourced)