by Christopher Paul on April 20, 2013 Dan Frommer wrote about something I noticed after downloading the new Facebook app for iOS: floating buttons is becoming a thing. The chat bubbles or whatever they’re called hover and so does the “new story” indicator. And like Dan, I first noticed it with the new Foursquare app.
Oddly enough, I like how Foursquare applies the floating button but loath how Facebook does it. First, the chat bubbles are annoying since they get in the way and clutter up my screen. Plus, I have to drag and drop them to an ’X’ to close them which is a waste of effort. Foursquare’s button is fixed and clearly conveys its purpose.
If used well, it could be a great way to clean up an app’s interface. If it isn’t, it’s going to look ugly.
by Christopher Paul on April 20, 2013 
I’ve been searching for a more responsible toothbrush for at least two years. My local organic market has some that are made from recycled plastic and offer recycling programs for the ones they make. But they are still plastic. Now, it seems like I found as close to a natural toothbrush as I can get.
Smiles for the People makes toothbrush where the handle is made out of bamboo. Bamboo, if you didn’t know, grows like a weed and and is highly sustainable. Of course, it’s biodegradable so it won’t last longer than you.
Making Smiles for the People even more awesome, they’ll set you up with a subscription to get a new brush every three months and for every brush you buy, they’ll give one away to someone who needs it.
It does look like they use plastic bristles which isn’t ideal. There are companies that toothbrushes with boar hair but it’s hard to find one with without a plastic handle and they don’t always last very long. I’m going to give this one a change, though. The subscription thing is almost enough to support them but the philanthropy certainly helps.
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by Christopher Paul on April 20, 2013 The Man of Steel is coming out June 14. It has an impressive list of producers, directors, and actors. Superman is probably my favorite comic superhero and the trailers put out so far seem to do it justice (no pun intended).
I can’t wait to see this.
by Christopher Paul on April 16, 2013 Anthropologists believe the discovery of fermented drinks – beer in particular – allowed civilization flourish.
Five core social instincts, I have argued, gave structure and strength to our primeval herds. They kept us safely codependent with our fellow clan members, assigned us a rank in the pecking order, made sure we all did our chores, discouraged us from offending others, and removed us from this social coil when we became a drag on shared resources.
Thus could our ancient forebears cooperate, prosper, multiply — and pass along their DNA to later generations.
But then, these same lifesaving social instincts didn’t readily lend themselves to exploration, artistic expression, romance, inventiveness and experimentation — the other human drives that make for a vibrant civilization.
To free up those, we needed something that would suppress the rigid social codes that kept our clans safe and alive. We needed something that, on occasion, would let us break free from our biological herd imperative — or at least let us suppress our angst when we did.
We needed beer.
via DF
by Christopher Paul on April 15, 2013 
If you’re a home brewer like my younger brother, you might want to read this review of HopScheduler that Dave Caolo did.