by Christopher Paul on September 5, 2012 Interesting possible news coming from Amazon as early as tomorrow:
“Multiple sources have confirmed to The Verge that Amazon is working on a smartphone that runs a variant of the Kindle Fire’s Android-based operating system, and we’re now hearing that the device will be shown to the press tomorrow.
The phone itself is said to be currently unfinished, so if Amazon does announce it we wouldn’t expect too many details. But at this point we would expect it to run a forked version of Android 4.0 as the leaked Kindle Fires seem to do, and to include Nokia Maps as the location solution — forking Android means Amazon can’t use Google Maps, and Nokia spoke today of adding a “major” mapping partner at its own Windows Phone event.”
I say this phone will be the most successful Android phone ever. If there is anyone who can compete against Apple, it’s Amazon. They have the hardware, software, and – most importantly – they have the content to deliver a complete package that’s transferable between a computer, tablet, and phone. Using Fire’s OS should allow Amazon to deliver a consistent experience across their devices; they’re paying homage to Apple’s methods without ripping off the product.
by Christopher Paul on September 5, 2012 Not so much how they work but how they keep you from winning:
“…most crane games are designed so the claw is randomly (and only once in many games) strong enough to let players win. Some even weaken in strength after a short time so players get close to victory only to see it slip from their grasp!
There are settings for making the claw use its strong setting on most games, one game in a few, or almost never. There are further controls for the claw to grab in strong mode and then switch to weak mode anywhere from 2-9 seconds after grabbing. Finally, it can even be set to switch to weak mode 10-25 seconds from the start of the game, to put slowpokes at a disadvantage!”
Some machines can be set to “strong” mode once every 800 tries.
via Kottke
by Christopher Paul on September 4, 2012 Science Debate asked President Obama and Mitt Romney to answer 14 questions on public policy, innovation, education, the environment, and the internet. Romney’s staff likes to write – and point to their website for more information… just like a disclosure form.
Read the answers for yourselves but in the meantime, take a look at this word cloud I generated from the results.
First, President Obama:
Now Mitt Romney:
via Boing Boing
by Christopher Paul on September 3, 2012 I don’t know if using canned cinnamon rolls as a pie crust is genius or disgusting but I’m willing to find out.
Taste for Adventure has this paired with sweet potato pie but I think it could be awesome with pumpkin or apple pie.
Mmmm…. pie…
via Lifehacker
by Christopher Paul on September 3, 2012 Just a quick announcement… I’ve recently updated the site’s look and feel.
I’m calling this So It’s Come To This 4.0 though I don’t really know now many versions I’ve actually had. Way back in 2004, I started with Blogger and a pretty nasty color scheme. All Blogger themes sucked, then, so it was a big jump to WordPress a few years later. Since moving to WP, I’ve probably had three or four themes in use at any given time so I’ve sort of lost track to what version I’m on.
There are a few bugs to be worked out so let me know if there something other than what I already know which is:
Categories are missing from the nav menu. This is because the Thesis filters I use for the linked lists aren’t working correctly when searching for non-linked list articles.Site search is disabled while I figure out a better way to integrate DuckDuckGo within the footer of the site. Plus, the default search button on Thesis is ugly and until I can figure out how to change it, it goes.The Contact page is blank. Before, I had links to my Twitter and Facebook feeds but since I’ve done away with them, I need to write something.The colors for the current page in the nag menu are off. I need to revisit the CSS but my browser/cloud cache is making site changes difficult right now.Linked articles and my own posts share the same font styles. Right now, they’re only distinguished by the permalink symbol.The font and basic color scheme are the same for now. I’m going to keep my colors but I really want to find a retina-compatible font that will look sharp on the iPad and new MacBook Pro. Until I can find one, though, Helvetica will have to do. Oh… and for articles I write, I have a new glyph to note my writings vs linked lists. Let me know if the old, infinity symbol, is better or if there is something else that works better.
In a bit, I’ll explain the thought process behind the redesign and the direction I want to take my little soapbox. But until then, thanks for reading, following, and tweeting with me while I work the kinks out!