Jay Rosen comments on the media and their political coverage, in the Economist. A recent study finds that people who drink, live longer than those who don’t. Rory Sutherland shares Life Lessons from and Ad Man, and tells us to Sweat the Small Stuff. Finally, Roger Ebert tells America to “Put up, or shut up“.
In the summer of 2005, I watched Steve Jobs demo the new version of iTunes on stage at Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference, and was quickly interested in the world of “Podcasts” that he introduced to me. Podcasts are audio or video shows that you can download on the internet, automatically, by subscribing to them in a podcast client (e.g. iTunes). Podcasts almost all free, so there’s no cost associated with them – other than your internet connection. So now, five years after being introduced to podcasts, and years of listening/watching later, I’m going to share a few of the ones that I have found interesting over the years…
Despite the cat and mouse game that’s been revolving around Google and the Chinese government, the Chinese have renewed Google’s “Internet License” (which allows them to operate in China). (via GigaOm)
The Swedish mega-furniture retailer IKEA, has announced that it plans to end the sale of incandescent lightbulbs in the US, by January of 2011. Instead, the retailer will begin offering a halogen lightbulb that fits into existing incandescent sockets, and provides a similar warm light. These new “retro-fit” bulbs will enter onto store shelves in the fall. (via Inhabitat)
A new method to access Hulu.com from outside the United States -without a proxy- is sure to be blocked soon, but it’s working for the moment. This clever work around requires Firefox, a Firefox extension, and a few blocked ports. The full writeup is available at Lifehacker.
YouTube has launched a new “Leanback” service. In short, Leanback will automatically play videos it thinks you’re interested it, based on your subscriptions, and what friends of yours have liked. The few videos I watched were rather “meh”, but I suspect the experience will vary widely for people, depending on who you have as friends, and what you’re subscribed to. (via Lifehacker)
MacroPlant’s “Phone Disk“, a program that mounts your iOS devices (iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches) as native volumes you can browse in the Finder, is being offered for free – until September 1st. Free copies will work and receive updates after the date passes, but you have to grab your copy and register it before that happens. (via Lifehacker)
A fairly basic hint, for those who might wish to hide text on their screens. Turn the colour of the text to match the background, and you can quickly select and deselect it to see what it says – reducing the chance that some nosy co-worker around you can walk by and steal all your passwords. Not perfect, not ideal, but something if you use a normal file/spreadsheet to manage your passwords. (via Mac OS X Hints)
A cool time lapse video of the TWiT (Leo Laporte’s podcasting network) studio having its lighting overhauled. The video is on Leo’s blog, here.
The nightly builds for FireFox -cleverly named “Minefield”, to remind people of just how bleeding edge they are in the dev. process- have entered into version 4. Among being generally more zippy and amazing, there’s now an option to have tabs on top, which I promptly turned off (it looks quite horrid in OS X). You can find the nightly builds here. (via Lifehacker).
The folks over at Brand New have another great writeup on an identity change by the Texan organic grower, Johnson’s Backyard Garden. Head over here to check it out.
The wonderful guys and gals of Smashing Magazine have written an interesting piece on integrating music into a workflow, to create mood. In brief, it talks about how music can create and set a mood, which is useful when you can link to something your doing (it’s especially relevant to designers and artists). The article is here.
Again from Smashing Magazine, Dan Redding has written an excellent argument on the logo and its relation to branding. It’s far too nuanced to quickly summarize, and is well worth the read. So, check it out.
The CityPages newspaper has an interesting look into the world of “third party” essay writers, the people who write essays for students, in return for monetary compensation. Definitely interesting, and definitely a bit shady. Article is here.
Tesla Announces Updates to “Roadster” Model
Alec Farmer’s Microhouse Replica – via Inhabitat
“Alec built it himself and is planning to live in it – off grid – for 1 year in Glasgow, Scotland to learn more about micro-architecture and sustainable living.”
11 Sangria Recipes – Stepcase Lifehack
“The idea behind sangria is simple: Take some wine and add nice things to it until you can’t resist pouring it all over ice and enjoying with friends. Of course, some recipes call for extra time in the fridge and most can be consumed by yourself.”
MapQuest comes Alive – Brand New
“Back in September of 2008 we reported on the evolution of the MapQuest logo and the feeling of the majority was that it was too little too late to make up ground against Google Maps — two years later, MapQuest is betting that it’s not too late with a complete overhaul of their identity and their mapping experience.”
PC Most Popular Format for Euro Gamers – Rock, Paper, Shotgun
“ELSPA and ISFE (Interactive Software Federation of Europe) have conducted a survey of British gamers that finds 33% of all sentient gaming humans are playing their chosen distractions on the big grey box.”
Jonathan Ive on iPhone 4 and Materials – Core77
“”A big part of the experience of a physical object has to do with the materials,” says Jonathan Ive, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Design, during a brief chat with Core77.”
How a broker spent $520 million, and shifted the global oil market – Telegraph.co.uk
“The FSA will consider re-approving him as a broker after the ban, if he has recovered from his alcohol problem, but noted “Mr Perkins poses an extreme risk to the market when drunk”.”
Add Websites to iTunes as PDF – MacOSXHints.Com
“all you need to do is to create an alias of iTunes and drag it to ~/Library/PDF Services. Now, when you’re browsing the web or viewing documents and you decide that you want to read them later on a portable Apple device just hit Print, click the PDF button on the bottom left corner of the window and choose iTunes. iTunes will launch and receive the PDF.”
The Anime Office – LifeHacker.Org
“Lifehacker reader Aiko, hailing from Shanghai, has a compact office with a lot of Anime-focused style packed into it. One of our favorite things about his workspace—unabashed commitment to working Anime figurines into every possible aspect […]”
Banana Republic: Gray Test Patience – PhotoshopDisasters
“The must-have accessory is the photographer’s gray card, which you can inexplicably hold above your head.”