Archive: January 23, 2014

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Thursday,  01/23/14  10:59 PM

Have you ever heard the expression: "if you have too much free time, just start a company?"  If you hadn't before, you have now :)  And I can assure you it is true...

Even so have done pretty well at keeping my resolutions.  It's interesting; these are all things I enjoy, I just have to remind myself to enjoy them.  There are zero times where I say, "I wish I hadn't spent all that time working out", or, "I wish I hadn't spent time with my family".

So, I like Apple's iTunes radio but dislike the ads.  Yeah, I know, there's no free lunch... 

Tesla: 一个公正的价格.  "今天我们在中国推出了 Model S在线设计室,同时也正式公布了该车型的市场零售价。Model S 85 kWh在中国的起售价为人民币734,000元。"  This is so cool!  (In English

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Mac (!): From Pre-PC to Post-PC.  While tablets like the iPad have filled a huge need at the low end - people who couldn't or didn't want to use personal computers - it will be a long time before tablets have replaced computers. 

But now this: LG's curved displays will let Apple's iWatch hug your wrist.  Cool! 

So have you used Uber?  I haven't, but Uber is everywhere, and is making a huge impact on personal transportation.  MG Siegler notes Incumbents Asleep at the Wheel.  One-third of all the tax drivers in San Francisco are now driving for Uber.  Wow. 

The other day I expressed a concern about Google buying Nest, and I'm not the only one; check out this cartoon from Joy of Tech.  Perfect! 

You can now 3D print directly from Adobe Photoshop.  Wow.  This is the first reason I've had in a long time to upgrade to the latest version of Photoshop.  It is a little weird because Photoshop is a 2D program... 

And so what would you print?  How about ... chocolate?  3D Systems teams with Hershey's.  So we can use Photoshop to design the chocolate we eat!  Once again truth trumps the Onion. 

This is just ... surreal.  Giant screens display fake sunrise in Beijing, while smog blots out the real sun.  Seems like a scene from a movie, right? 

Paramount first major studio to abandon film altogether.  And not the last. 

You can't make this up: Health Canada setting up unofficial libraries as national libraries fail.  "If you want to justify closing a library, you make access difficult and then you say it is hardly used."  Seems pretty short-sighted. 

Just in case you think you've seen it all: Sweden's Ice Orchestra.  Once again we that "it all" is always so much more than we thought :)

 

 

why bitcoin matters

Thursday,  01/23/14  11:42 PM

Great article by Marc Andreessen: Why Bitcoin matters.  Good, simple explanation:

"Bitcoin is an Internet-wide distributed ledger. You buy into the ledger by purchasing one of a fixed number of slots, either with cash or by selling a product and service for Bitcoin. You sell out of the ledger by trading your Bitcoin to someone else who wants to buy into the ledger.",

and good review of the implications:

"The practical consequence of solving this problem is that Bitcoin gives us, for the first time, a way for one Internet user to transfer a unique piece of digital property to another Internet user, such that the transfer is guaranteed to be safe and secure, everyone knows that the transfer has taken place, and nobody can challenge the legitimacy of the transfer. The consequences of this breakthrough are hard to overstate."

Marc is perhaps a bit hyperbolic in the parallels he draws to PCs and the Internet, but he makes a compelling case for Bitcoin's importance.

(graphic taken from John Patrick's blog :)

 
 

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