Why is this not all over the interwebs already?

Once again, internets, you have let me down and I've gotta pick up your slack.

Well hopefully now I'll find something when I google "international exit signs Portal"

Compare:

with

Yes, I was snickering to myself the whole Europe trip.

(prompted by Boing Boing)

UPDATE: Apple swings +6 mace of multitouch at enemies

(followup to my previous note that "Apple can now swing +6 mace of multitouch at enemies")

UPDATE to the UPDATE!
Apparently multitouch is not one of the patents Apple is suing over! Very strange, though one theory I've seen is that they aren't confident enough that the multitouch patent will stand in court. Because of the obvious prior art. So that's cool. But my ranting about them patenting it in the first place still stands, so on with the show:
(via This Week In Google via Engadget)

Well, Apple has now officially used its controversial patents on multitouch to sue HTC, manufacturer of Android phones. Apparently Google has, since my first post, added the pinch-to-zoom gesture to its Nexus One phone (joining Palm which went ahead with that early last year).

And, of course, I gotta re-outline my opinion that it's a little ridiculous to patent something like the pinch-to-zoom gesture from the iPhone. It kind of seems like patenting the "shift-to-capitalize gesture" after inventing the typewriter. Plus, there's loads of prior art:

The following demo was made in 2006 and presented in a TED talk.
(jump to 0:44 for the money shot)

Let's talk about "Ke$ha" for just a second.

Only because I just realized why the "rebellion" she's gotten herself famous for seems so familiar (if you need to rebrief yourself, recall this brief moment in the Tik Tok video and this recent.. thing).

Here's the point. Compare all that to this classic scene from a Twisted Sister video. i.e. "Screw you teacher! Your homework's way lame! Now we're gonna have a rad pizza pool party with Hulk Hogan! Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the president?"

Ok, sorry, got carried away there. But you get the point. It all seems like the same level of throwaway pandering to really young, aimlessly-rebellious kids.

Why I actually care about the iPad, aka "Zittrain Was Right"

Yes, there's various critiques one can launch into about the design of the iPad. But there's one problem that matters a bit more than how hot-or-not this new device is. It's that this is one of the biggest confirmations that tech companies envision a future where they decide what you can or can't do with your electronic life.

Let me step back from hyperbole for a moment to explain myself. With the iPad, Apple has tried to expand the iPhone model into personal computer territory. The crucial difference between the iPhone and PC models is that you can make or download a program to a PC and run it, no matter what it is or what it does. You can make your PC do anything. The iPhone will only do what Apple lets it.

I'm really just summarizing Jonathan Zittrain, so for further understanding of what I'm talking about I'll just refer to his explanation:

If you actually want to get the whole picture, I'd highly recommend him in this talk.

Since I'm not saying anything new here and also because I don't have time for a full post, I'll just refer to the best quotes and posts I've seen that get at what I'm talking about. First, a great summary of the big distinction between an iPad and a real computer:

"Interactivity on the iPad consists of touching icons on the screen to change which application you're using.. ..Unlike a computer, the iPad is simply not reconfigurable."
- io9: Why the iPad is Crap Futurism

And here they spot the greater movement the iPad signals:

"This is Apple's big push of its top-down control over applications into the general-purpose computing world. The only applications that will work with the iPad are those approved by Apple, under very opaque conditions. On a phone, that's borderline acceptable, but it's not for something that is positioned to overlap with regular computers."

And then this great reaction from a disillusioned Apple fan, aghast at the fact that they haven't even included multitasking:

"I feel like a person who just un-jacked from the Matrix. I am taking a step back from being “content” in using Apple’s closed products. I’m scared. I am writing this on my Macbook Pro. Is Apple going to take all of my computing freedom on this thing too one day?"
- The Modern Geek: Apple Has Already Redefined Multitasking

Update: Zittrain has now written his official reaction to the iPad, published in the Financial Times: A Fight Over Freedom at Apple's Core"
It's not as "Look! Look! I was right! They're trying to push out conventional computers!" as I'd hoped, though others have now discussed Zittrain's future with the iPad included: iPad to Test Zittrain's "Future of the Internet" Thesis.

RAWK Sign

Apparently this doesn't show up on Google Images yet, so that's gotta change:

Happy Belated Boston Molasses Flood Day!

Boston Molasses Disaster

My favorite remembrance so far:

"NEVER FORGET. 91 years ago today, Boston was attacked by molasses."
by this guy on twitter.

Sorta evokes the "Nevar 4get" meme exemplified by this touching collage:

Opening today: Burj Dubai - world's tallest everything

In case you haven't heard of the Burj Dubai [wiki], it's the next world's tallest skyscraper which they've been building in Dubai for the last few years.  What makes it so notable is that it's way taller than any previous record holder.  It's 2,717 feet tall, whereas the previous "world's tallest building" is over 1,000 feet shorter (Taipei 101 [wiki] at 1,670 feet).

I'll go on about that soon, but first here's a video with a really cool view from the top.  Like, the top top.  The guy's on top of the highest spire.  It looks more like a view from a plane than a building:



The reason I say "world's tallest everything" is because I always remember people having to make distinctions about, say, whether the Petronas Towers or the Sears Tower was the "world's tallest building" because of rules like measuring to the highest occupied floor or the "architectural top."  And beyond that they had to distinguish between saying "world's tallest building" (Taipei 101 [wiki], 1,670ft), "world's tallest freestanding structure" (Guangzhou TV Tower [wiki], 2,001ft), and "world's tallest structure" (KVLY-TV antenna [wiki], 2,063 ft) because of more distinctions like having occupiable floors (building category) or not being stabilized by guy wires (freestanding structure category).  All that stuff made the buildings' records a lot less cool.  Also, the "tallest building" changed like every few years for a while with the Petronas Towers [wiki] being built, then Taipei 101, then the Shanghai World Financial Center [wiki].  Each time it'd go up by like a few dozen feet.

So I'm glad they finally made one that's indisputably the best at everything, period.  And it will be for a while.

This chart shows how hard it'll be to top:

Update: I came across a blog post that describes very well the confusion and nitpicking about tallest structures. The Burj Dubai: The Biggest God Damn Building In The World by Everything Everywhere

Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon?

At least I'm not the only one thinking it.

UPDATE:  James Cameron's first draft of "Pocahontar" revealed!

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAANS!!!!

(hadn't even typed anything yet)

I mean when your computer suggests that to you, how can you say no?

Dan Deacon is in a commercial (for Google Chrome)

So I was just watching something on Hulu when I was treated to a commercial for Google Chrome.  The fact that Google has commercials in the first place is something I'm still getting used to.  But this one was a double-whammy because it featured the Dan Deacon song "Build Voice":



Just 2 years ago Dan Deacon was just this weird guy with some silly songs on a myspace page.  Then he put out an album that wasn't so silly and the indie kids fell all over themselves to praise him.  Then followed a few tours, another album, and more praise.  And now he's making commercials?  Crazy.

For what it's worth, I think the song was well used and the commercial was quite good.  Mainly because of the excellent point Google's trying to make, connecting the fight against software bloat to the feeling of a new computer.  Oh, and apparently Dan Deacon only accepts commercial deals for products he actually thinks are positive.