“The internet is for humans… We are always saying that, but the only file we generate is one full of additional information for the searchbots: robots.txt. Then why not doing one for ourselves?”
Author Archives: Garrick van Buren
“Your Mind Mistakes the Talking for the Doing” – Derek Sivers
More good stuff from Derek Sivers
Pinecone Passions: A Star Tribune Community eBook
I’ve been working with the Star Tribune on a number of very exciting new projects. The first of these project is an ebook version of Pinecone Passions -the short romance story written by the Star Tribune community for Valentines day, 2011. It’s now available in the Amazon Kindle store for $2.99 – with other ebook …
Continue reading “Pinecone Passions: A Star Tribune Community eBook”
Unusability
Users insights can’t predict future demand… User-centered processes stifles creativity… User focus makes companies miss out on disruptive innovations… User-led design leads to sameness…. – Jens Martin Skibsted and Rasmus Bech Hansen.
Plain Text Persists
“Relying on these application files for our precious words is a mistake. Standards and preferences change. What your computer can understand today, it may not tomorrow.” I’ve got a shelf full of backed-up work that is essentially useless because the applications, file formats, and technologies I used to create the work no longer exists. What …
Free as in Air. Free as in Dirt.
RepRap a GPL’d home factory.from Adrian Bowyer’s. The RepRap is to physical objects as WordPress is to ideas.
Fermenting: “Marley was Dead” Barleywine
“Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead …
Less than Beautiful
“OK, a microhelen is the unit of BEAUTY sufficient to launch one ship. Helen had ‘a face that launched one thousand ships’….” – TimKeck
Poke
“What does Facebook tell China when they ask if Facebook can be used to overthrow governments?” – Dave Winer This question – on its face – is good. Load in all the U.S. media stories about Facebook being used to organize government revolts, the value of China to the U.S. economy, Wikileaks, and Dave’s work …
Babãr
Even before the Abbey Cyser experiment I’ve been intrigued with the idea of a bragot/bracket/bragawd/bragaut [1] – a mead with a beer base. Over the weekend, I tried a bottle of Brasserie Lefebvre’s Babãr. Amazing and balanced. The honey had a presence, the ale had a presence. And despite their distinctive flavors – neither overpowered …