Dave’s “Decade of Ebook Arguments” post took me back a decade, to my first portable MP3 player – the Diamond Rio‘s 800 1 If memory serves, the 800 had 64Mb of storage2 – just enough audio for the walk from the apartment for the L ride into Loop. Not even enough for something new on …
Author Archives: Garrick van Buren
King of Kong: This is How Small You Are
Earlier this week, I watched The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters1 What I expected to be a light-hearted documentary about competitive video gamers took an unexpected turn into the dark, bizarre, lengths small people go to keep their name in the #1 spot, their clique tight, and outsiders out. Since you’ve lived through …
iPod Touch 2nd Generation 16GB: First Impressions
A couple weeks back, I picked up a 2nd Generation Apple iPod Touch – partially so I could start playing with web apps for it and partially cause my much beloved 3rd Gen 40gig iPod is starting to flake out. I’ve been primarily for programming-related movies (PeepCode, SDRuby, and Pragmatic Programers), a calendar & address …
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Kindle 2: 9 First Impressions
Amazon’s Kindle 2 arrived today. It’s the 3rd mobile internet device I’ve picked up this year, and a few hours in, I’m more pleased with it than the other two. My initial impressions: The monochrome screen is gorgeous, and looks almost textured – as if there were a digital compliment to letterpress. The slim, flat, …
The New Project Setup Checklist
As I mentioned earlier, one of my goals for this year is to launch 2 revenue-generating projects. I took a couple hours this morning and started the ball rolling on 2 of the potential candidates to fulfill that goal. Here’s the checklist I use to lay the foundation for a project: Declare a descriptive code …
Rule 1. Success Metrics are Things Robots Can’t Do.
The funny thing about metrics – the wrong one distracts more than it helps. And in this modern age, a technological hack can be built (if it doesn’t already exist) to give you the desired numbers. Bernard Madoff Click Fraud This is why I’m not a big fan of measuring the success of a website …
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“I’m so busy, where am I? I don’t know. I’m so busy”
Back in college we made this joke (usually around finals week) about being so busy you have no idea where you are. After fighting with technology all day – I noticed; It’s the third week of February. My inbox just passed 100 again. My current approach on resolving this: A good night’s sleep. Focus.
creating is always an option.
just thinking about the lyrics “here we are now, entertain us” makes me want to smash guitars as well. I don’t care if it’s Media Meaning Cake or Happiness Being neutral or destroying aren’t then only options. Nor are they the preferable ones. We all have the capacity to make. and not just martinis. Elsewhere: …
Twitter as Trusted CraigsList
A couples weeks ago or so, I made my first purchase off Twitter – a Nokia E71. I had been eyeing it on Amazon for weeks, but never had a reason to click purchase. Then late one Friday night Dino mentioned a friend of his was selling. Notice Dino isn’t selling the phone. A friend …
Trends to Watch: Landfill Mining
When I separate my trash, how do I know I’m putting the ‘recyclable’ bits in the right bucket? Without being an expert in waste handling, I don’t really know. Plus, if there’s an innovation in the waste processing – and something previously bound for the landfill can now be re-processed, the non-waste-handling experts among us …