Archive: June 22, 2014

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passwords considered harmful

Sunday,  06/22/14  08:54 PM

Here's a free killer business opportunity: eliminate passwordsIf anyone can do this, they will print money

How much do you hate trying to remember what password you used for each website and app, and going through password recovery just to use it?  I try to use the same passwords for just about everything (I know, I know), but I can't, because every site's rules are different.  Feels like half the time I end up going through password recovery, and half the time that doesn't work.  Blech.

Maybe someday my computer and phone will know I'm "me" (biometrics?) and be able to identify "me" to every website I visit (and every phone app I launch), and I won't have to do this anymore.  I can't wait.

 

Summer!

Sunday,  06/22/14  10:16 PM

Summer!  Yippee.  Onward...

Slacker vs iTunes Radio.  Slacker wins in an overwhelming landslide.  I've been testing them by entering various bands I like - Led Zeppelin, INXS, Daft Punk, etc - and then seeing how much I like the resulting channels.  Slacker Rocks.  (A key difference, Slacker actually includes music by the artist that defines the channel.)  I shall try Pandora too... 

Did you miss Apple's WWDC keynote?  Here you go.  Despite the prognostications of many, this just doesn't feel that groundbreaking to me.  What single thing stands out?  Swift, maybe. 

Amazon had a busy week, first they announced a streaming music service, and, then ... the Fire phone!  Wow.  Of course the Firefly visual search service is what caught my eye.  Most interesting. 

Yes, of course I ordered one :)  Stay tuned for a full report.

(Update: Jamie Zawinski doesn't think much of their music service :)
(Update: Dieter Bohn [the Verge] has a hands on report about the Fire phone.)
(Update: Sam Machkovech [Ars Technica] goes deep... and is not wowed)
(Update: Nick Statt [Cnet] thinks Firefly is the Fire phone's secret weapon.  Yes)

Here's the Jeff Bezos keynote video.  Not Steve Jobs but not bad.  He's clearly gotten more comfortable with Amazon as a tech provider; I can remember the early Kindle announcements, and while the product was cool, the introduction events were ... not. 

Remember Seth Godin's proven way to add valueDo extremely difficult work.  But ... now we have fast, easy, guaranteedPick none.  Sorry, have to disagree.  By W=UH, if you do it the right way, it will not be hard

People invested $1M in an app that sends "Yo".  Oy!  (Meh)  Meanwhile we are trying to do something a little harder...  (Update: Yo hacked :) 

One hour with the Ferrari 458 Speciale.  "The only time it gets good is when you're in danger of going to prison."  That's what is so great about the Tesla Model S, it is great at 0mph.  You almost wish for the traffic lights to turn red. 

Elon Musk has decided to open all Tesla's patents to everyone.  Interesting move. 

Jason Kottke: Beautiful Iceland.  Wow.   Reminds me that Iceland is green, and Greenland is icy.  

I think Iceland is in third place on my "must go see" list (behind Madagascar and New Zealand).



And finally, celebrating Summer! - an awesome photo gallery from the J Class Superyacht Cup.  Truly awesome: 

 

World Cup odds

Sunday,  06/22/14  11:14 PM

Have you been following the World Cup?  (Go Oranje!)  Then you will probably like this cool infographic, which shows the odds for each team of advancing to each round.  It's been constantly updated, too, so you can track your team's fortunes.

 
 

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