Great ideas trump killer features
Before implementing a killer feature for an application, be sure to consider whether it will support your company’s killer idea. Justin James offers additional insights about features vs. ideas.
A Look At Internet Censorship Around The World
Shocklee points us to some fantastic infographics about global internet censorship, including this first one highlighting levels of internet censorship around the globe. Frankly, it looks like in some of the areas where there’s “no censorship,” it might just be that there’s not much internet usage. Also, I do wonder how accurate or up-to-date some of it is. For example, it says there’s no internet censorship in Venezuela, but we were just discussing some content regulations there.
Then there’s a Venn diagram that tries to highlight exactly what the censorship “is about.” As this critique of the infographics suggests, it’s not the greatest, since the specific points are somewhat subjective.
There’s also this infographic explaining how the censorship generally works, which is interesting, but different countries use different methods, so I’m not quite sure how informative just this graphic is alone.
Either way, in combination, it suggests that there’s a fair bit of internet censorship that goes on around the world.
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Why the Arduino Won and Why It's Here To Stay
ptorrone writes "For years, students, journalists, makers and old-school engineers have asked why the Arduino open source microcontroller platform has taken off, with over 100k units 'in the wild' — it's the platform of choice for many. MAKE's new column discusses why the Arduino has become so popular and why it's here to stay. And for anyone wanting to build an 'Arduino killer' (there are many) — MAKE outlines what they'll need to do."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Phantom Flex camera slows down time, drops jaws with incredible 2,564fps slowmo footage (video)
Ever wanted to see flowing water slowed down to the point of transforming into a series of airborne droplets? This video has that. And more. A chap by the name of Tom Guilmette got to work with a Vision Research Phantom Flex camera recently, and, being the true geek that he is, he put together a video composition of staggering slow-motion footage. When pushed to its limit, the Phantom is capable of filling every second of 1080p recording with 2,800 frames, though Tom mercifully ran it at a lower 2,564fps speed. That’s still sufficient temporal resolution to let you track the wave of an impact’s vibration as it travels up a BlackBerry’s body — oh yeah, it’s as awesome as it sounds.
Phantom Flex camera slows down time, drops jaws with incredible 2,564fps slowmo footage (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Internet: 13,483,282 Newspaper: 0
A lot of people like to bitch and moan about how in the age of realtime information, the stream moves too quickly and as a result, there’s a decent chance of inaccurate news being spread. There’s no question it’s an issue, but with the situation in Egypt, we’re once again seeing the overwhelming upside of this realtime data spread that makes services like Twitter so powerful. And just look at the flip side.
The above image shows the frontpage of a newspaper that was delivered this morning. There are hundreds more like it around the country. Many, many people still get their news this way. They woke up this morning, opened the paper and got information that is so old that it’s now totally inaccurate. It’s ridiculous.
This has actually always been an issue — “In related news, DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN!,” quips Twitter’s Mark Trammell — but if radio hit the newspaper format over the head, the live, 24/7 television news channels drove a stake in its heart. And now the realtime web has pounded that stake deeper. With a sledgehammer. And then stuck a grenade in the mouth of the corpse.
I’m sorry, but there’s simply no role for the newspaper anymore. That’s not saying there’s no role for newspaper journalism, just the physical product itself. It’s a waste of paper, ink, and time. R.I.P.
@sarahlaneSarah Lane
Today's wine country news: printed on paper, delivered via overhand throw from moving bicycle at 5 am. http://instagr.am/p/Bh80Q/
[image via @sarahlane – yes, my girlfriend, yadda, yadda]
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