My friend Brad Dowdy has a new business making (by hand!) high-end pen and stationery products. All of these products look simply amazing, and it’s always exciting to see someone launch something new. Be sure to check it out.
Category: General Tech
Supreme Court rules against Aereo⇢
Sigh.
Editorially team joins Vox⇢
Editorially was an excellent online collaboration tool for teams of writers. Until it closed, it was our primary tool for working together on The Sweet Setup.
Vox says that Editorially won’t re-open, and that the core team they’ve hired will be working on Chorus, the CMS that powers all of Vox’s site. While that makes a ton of sense for the company, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I am a little sad such a great service is going away.
John Legere claims T-Mobile’s competition are raping people⇢
While I think T-Mobile is doing some interesting things, this guy is out of control. Seriously, his comments are so outrageous I’m linking to Business Insider. Someone needs to take over for this guy on stage.
How to turn a G4 into a next-gen Amiga⇢
Benj Edwards:
Long ago, Mac fans and Commodore Amiga fans fought like mortal blood enemies. But we now live in a far more civilized age—one where Macs and Amigas can walk together, hand-in-hand, along the sandy shores of computerburg.
For that we can thank MorphOS 3.5, a free-to-try Amigalike operating system developed by Amiga and PowerPC aficionados. With a simple download and a CD-burn, you can turn an aging G4-era Macintosh into a modern day Amiga-compatible machine.
Project Xanadu released after 54 years⇢
Excuse me while I go pick my jaw up off the floor. This is crazy stuff.
House Republicans Look To Curb FCC’s Authority To Enforce Net Neutrality⇢
Alex Wilhelm:
A bill introduced late yesterday in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives would “limit” the Federal Communications Commission’s ability to regulate the Internet under Title II, according to its progenitor, Rep. Bob Latta.
Title II, of course, refers to part of the Communications Act. If the FCC did push for such a regulatory structure, it would have more authority over the Internet and its constituent players.
Is anyone suprised?
On home networks
If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve seen me talking about re-building my home network. I’ve gotten a few questions, so I thought I’d address them here.
I pay Comcast a bunch of money each month for a pretty nice Internet-only package. (As of this writing, I just clocked 56 Mbps down and 12 Mbps up.)
Instead of renting a cable modem, I use my own. Specifically, a Motorola SB6121 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem.
On Apple and Nike⇢
Ben Thompson:
What kind of company is Apple, anyway?
They certainly have great technology, but to call them a technology company doesn’t seem quite right. They have great marketing, but to call them a marketing company isn’t true either. They have an incredible retail chain, but to call them a retailer is clearly off base as well.
You could ask a similar question about Nike.
With lots of hubbub around Nike and its Fuelband this weekend, Ben’s article is well worth the read.
Fingerprint scanners are tricky⇢
Greg Kumparak:
Remember back in September when a couple of researchers figured out how to bypass the iPhone 5S’ fingerprint lock with a fancy fake rubber finger?
Turns out, the fingerprint sensor on Samsung’s new Galaxy S5 falls victim to the very same trick. They didn’t even have to make a new mold.
Vintage Computer Festival Southeast 2.0⇢
Last year, I got a preview of the Apple Pop-Up Museum, a show in Atlanta showcasing the best of Cupertino’s hardware over the years.
This year, some of the guys behind that project are back, with Vintage Computer Festival Southeast 2.0:
This year’s exhibit space will be greatly enlarged over last year, occupying the whole retail space of the store. About 2/3 of the space will be occupied by a museum display of personal computing artifacts from the Kenbak 1 forward. The remaining 1/3 of the retail space will contain hobbyist vintage computing exhibits. For those who missed last year or who would like to see it again, the Apple pop-up museum from last year’s festival will again be available.
Stuff I ran out of time to link to this week but you should read anyways
I’ve been incredibly busy and my Instapaper account is overflowing with things I’ve wanted to link to but haven’t. So, here’s a list of stuff you should check out:
- Chambers Daily: One iTunes Library To Rule Them All — If you’re going to smash two iTunes libraries together, this is the way to do it.
- AnandTech: Microsoft Announces Windows Phone 8.1 — While Windows Phone may have just a tiny sliver of the market, there are some interesting things happening here. I really hope Apple improves Siri to be more like Google Now or Microsoft’s new Cortana.
- The Verge: George Lucas explains how he invented lightsabers — I never know what to think about George Lucas’ unique gift to bullshit his way through something, but this is cool nonetheless.
- Egg Freckles: Broken By Design — More thoughts along these lines about how Apple’s software is really worrying these days.
- Vox: Why the government should provide internet access — The government really screwed up with the recent decay of net neutrality, but treating Internet access as a public utility could solve lots of problems.