Garrick van Buren

“Attention-seeking is something we often do when we’re uncomfortable, though – when we need to remind the world we’re still there. And the strongest feeling I get from my recently-acquired Kindle is that it’s comfortable in the world.'” – Tom Armitage

In the ‘machine shop’ in the basement – I don’t have many tools. Even fewer of any quality. Even so, there are 2 screwdrivers that I’ve had for decades . These 2 screwdrivers have never let me down – whatever I ask of them.

My accumulation of computer gadgets is similar. Despite the volume of technology in my house – only a small fraction of it is ready for service – day in and day out.

1. Leica Digilux 1
   
   
   Purchased in 2002 for ~$850
   All through high school & college, I had the same workhorse Pentax SLR. Photography class after photography class it never let me down. I loved that camera. Still do. When I saw the Digilux 1, I knew it’d be a worthy digital replacement. And it has been. Just used it again today. It goes from point-n-shoot to completely manual in seconds. The lens is fantastic and the shutter speed still astounds me a decade later. I still get great joy out of setting up the shot, holding down the button, and finding the best shot out of the 50 it takes in a few seconds.
2. Apple Airport Express
   
   Purchased ~2004 for ~$100
   This one Airport Express has extended the range of the (many times replaced) main router for 6 years and two houses. It does great work. It never complains (unlike the main router).
3. Amazon Kindle 2
   
   
   Received as a Gift ~2008
   The Kindle’s such an understated device. Quiet. Patient. Amazing battery life. While I only read on it a couple times a month. It’s always there. Read to server on a moment’s notice. Just like any one of my printed books.

   “…this is a device that always seems content with itself. Just sitting there, not caring if you pick it up or not. Like a book.” – Tom Armitage

4. Virgin Mobile MiFi
   
   
   Purchased in 2010 for $150
   It’s so comforting to know that a fast, reliable, 3-hour internet connection is always available – for whatever device I’m using at the time. I keep the MiFi in my bag – and don’t worry about its remaining battery (charges off USB) or if my $40/month has run out. Both can be resolved in seconds after I turn it on.

“But mainly I want them, and every other silo out there, to realize that the pendulum has now swung full distance in the silo’d direction — and that it’s going to swing back in the direction of open and distributed everything. And there’s plenty of money to be made there too.” – Doc Searls

“The risk to the ’Web is not so much that open standards become extinct, such as RSS, but that more and more creativity, energy, and money goes into developing stylish, easy-to-use, incompatible silos.” – via Kroc Camen, translated from Streit um Internet-Nutzung: Komfort schlägt Freiheit

Remember the May 6, 2010 Flash Crash – that caused the Dow to drop 1000 points in manner of seconds (and almost immediately completely rebound)?

It was caused by a high-frequency trading bot. The Atlantic has an enjoyable write-up on the these bots – turns out – we don’t know what the hell they’re trying to do.

The software engineer profiled in the article posts some of more bizarre trading behavior these bots on his Market Crop Circle of the Day blog.

Super fun stuff.

To summarize:

• The App Store terms apply to GPLed software in the App Store.
• Those terms force strict Usage Rules on customers that prohibit many
  activities that are allowed under the GPL.
• Those restrictions are not allowed under GPLv2 section 6.

Again, if any of you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer them. – Brett Smith, Licensing Compliance Engineer, Free Software Foundation

“These companies are being valued as if they will be our permanent means for identifying ourselves….Yet social media is itself as temporary as any social gathering, nightclub or party. It’s the people that matter, not the venue” – Douglas Rushkoff

“They call this ‘content’. But it’s not, really — it’s filler. And by a more common-sense definition, it’s spam.” – Marco Armet

“we are not seats or eyeballs or end users or consumers. we are human beings – and our reach exceeds your grasp. Deal with it.”

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.” – e.e. cummings

“There are a lot of people that don’t start making money until you briefly forget who you are.” – Merlin Mann

“My guiding principle in this project has been thrift. Without a publisher to capitalize the book, I’m doing my darndest to spend money only when it makes me money. Lucky for me, today’s world is one where that constraint is well accommodated. Obviously, the print-on-demand paperbacks don’t cost anything — the book doesn’t exist until you order and pay for it! And I’d doing the limited hardcovers in lots of 20, to minimize my expense there. The CDs of the audiobook are also produced on demand, of course.” – Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow’s With a Little Help is the closest model I’ve seen to my vision for the future of publishing.

• Premium Hardcover: $275 ( yes, $275!!)
• On-demand Paperback: $18 (via LuLu)
• eBook: $0 (6 formats including HTML & plain text)
• Audio Book: $0, $5.50, and $10 (5 formats)
• Monthly Financials out in the open.
• A clear, well-used ‘Report Typo‘ section
• A way to give the book to libraries & schools.
• Running on WordPress install under the author’s domain name.