Ideapad

• In a Shift in Strategy, Apple Is Making Plans to Open Its First Stores - NYTimes.com
  Flashback: nine years ago next week Apple announced it was trying a retail model. How novel it was! "A computer industry analyst said the company might open as many as 10 stores as part of a strategy to extend the Apple brand."
• Updated: Facebook Further Reduces Your Control Over Personal Information | Electronic Frontier Foundation
  Missed this while I was on vacation. I'm not terribly conservative about my online transparency, but Facebook is designed for users to network and share based on personal interests. The assumption used to be that those interests were mine to keep close to the vest until I shared them with people I knew or wanted to know. Now, those details are going public, in order to better monetize the site. Good for Facebook, good for marketers, bad if your interests include touchy subjects that you hadn't thought were findable in a simple Google search. Divulge accordingly.
  (tags: privacy internet)

Posted by David Wertheimer at 8:02 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

• Vending Spree - Talkin' Snack
  Matthew Baldwin is going to consume and review every item in his office vending machine. Instantly my favorite new blog
  (tags: writing food humor)

Posted by David Wertheimer at 8:02 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The geeks have inherited the earth, originally uploaded by netwert.

Steve Jobs of Apple makes a public stand against Flash, which has become the lead story on wsj.com.

Think about that: the head of a mobile phone manufacturer (responsible for just 16% of the smartphone market, which in istelf is 18% of the mobile phone market--roughly 3% of all phones) put in writing the company's disinclination to use a piece of software from another company. And it's front-page news on the Wall Street Journal, America's final word on what matters in business.

Posted by David Wertheimer at 1:18 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

• Parka (Ftrain.com)
  "I wonder if when we look back at this month of iPad if we'll think what an amazing moment to have lived through, or if it will be like some guy with sideburns telling your dad about the reel-to-reel player in his carpeted van." It will be a nice side effect if Paul Ford's new freelance arc gets him posting on Ftrain more often
  (tags: writing friends)

Posted by David Wertheimer at 8:03 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I'll be in the Caribbean this week doing my best to stay off the grid. No out-of-office email autoresponders and voice mails, just this blog post and a much-anticipated week of nothingness. Back in a week.

Posted by David Wertheimer at 12:02 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

• Drag and drop attachments onto messages - Official Gmail Blog
  Google's making it very hard to use anything else for email
  (tags: html email)

Posted by David Wertheimer at 8:02 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

• More Truth About The iPad
  I feel like if I'd had an iPad in my hands the past three days I'd have written exactly what Henry Blodget writes here. Gorgeous, fun, a bit frivolous and unnecessary, and the first firm strike in a cultural shift to new computing models
  (tags: writing gadgets ipad)
• Thoughts on the iPad
  More amusement on the iPad hype. From Fred Wilson, who it seems wanted to like his: "I am excited to put two Velcro strips on the back of this thing and mount it to my elliptical trainer. It's perfect for that application and my blog reading and occasional posting from the elliptical will benefit mightily from the iPad." Now there's some fine ROI!
  (tags: writing ipad gadgets)
• The Awful iPad is the Middle of the Beginning of the End - The Awl
  iPad naysayer punditry is arguably as fun as anything on the iPad itself. Choire Sicha: "I don't need a $650 SCRABBLE MACHINE. I don't even need a ZERO DOLLAR Scrabble machine. If I wanted to play Scrabble, I'd spend more time on Facebook. And if I wanted to have a gigantic iPhone that doesn't make phone calls, and basically looks like a thumbprint and hand grease analyzer, well I'm sure that SAMSUNG makes a product that suits my needs."
  (tags: ipad gadgets writing)

Posted by David Wertheimer at 8:02 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I kid, mostly, and I still sort of want one, but I love this paragraph. From the New York Times' first-day coverage of the iPad launch:

"I have no idea what he'll do with it," said Jessica Panzica, 30, waiting in line at the Apple store in downtown San Francisco for her husband, who could not pick up his iPad because he had a ham-radio class. "I'm sure he'll use it a lot, whatever it is. He told me I'm not allowed to open it."

Posted by David Wertheimer at 5:26 PM | Permalink

• Costco : The Frontal Cortex
  "The insula, on the other hand, was most active when prices were higher than normal, suggesting that the function of this brain area when shopping is to keep us from getting ripped off. If we're used to see the George Foreman Grill priced at $49.95, the insula generates a stab of aversive emotion when we see it listed for $59.95. That unpleasant feeling is what keeps us from placing the overpriced object in our shopping cart." This is why I balked at paying $20 over MSRP for an accessory at my local bike shop, even though I'd have been happier just owning it already
  (tags: science interesting shopping)

Posted by David Wertheimer at 8:03 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)