James: I do too, but when I carry it around in my front pocket, I tend to look like a tool ;) - Steve Isaacs
I'm going to make half-hearted attempt to get one this week. But no tears will be shed if it doesn't happen. - Paul Reynolds
My macbook pro goes for a 10 day fix 4 hours after the iPhone hits the shops... and I go on holiday: I've gotta get up v.v. early, Q..., get it, synch it and go! - Tom Beardshaw
i have question. i going to go australia and i want know that can i buy iphone there because iphone doesnt realese in my country - DSaad69
@DSaad69 There seem to be 3 iPhone 3G distributors in AUS: Telestra, Optus and Vodaphone. I think Telestra is the only carrier that requires a 24 month contract to purchase the phone. It also appears the carriers are providing the phone at low or no cost if you commit to a monthly plan. - Paul Reynolds
I broke my iPhone last week and have been REALLY missing having one. I live near the Soho Apple Store so I figure I'll go around 6am and get in line. If I get one cool, if not, I'll find a way to deal if I don't. Or maybe just jump in front of an oncoming bus. - Steve Isaacs
The $64K question is: Will they stock enough this time? - Kirk Skodis
Considering Apple ordered 50 million chips from Samsung, I think they'll be covered. Too bad for all the other iPhone wannabe's. http://www.engadget.com/2008/0... - {Mf}
I am hoping that the lines will be shorter in Jersey City so I'm going to see if there are any AT&T stores that will carry it on my side of the river. - Christa Imbriale
she like most Yale Law School graduates, had to enter a training program on how to practice law. The Yale grads understood arcane and leftist legal theories but were clueless about what to do to prepare a case or succeed in the courtroom. - Ben Casnocha
*Sigh* I got nothin' she makes some great points and manages to do so with humor and without vitriol - I can respect that - Marco
What are the benefits and demerits of a President who effectively uses Internet tools? I pondered this question in my essay The Coming Digital Presidency: http://digitalpresidency.com - Ranjit Mathoda
This will be a photograph in the top 10 of many future lists. - Andrew Baron
Explanation: "In January 2007, people from Perth, Australia gathered on a local beach to watch a sky light up with delights near and far. Nearby, fireworks exploded as part of Australia Day celebrations. On the far right, lightning from a thunderstorm flashed in the distance. Near the image center, though, seen through clouds, was the most unusual sight of all: Comet McNaught. The photogenic comet was so bright that it even remained visible though the din of Earthly flashes. Comet McNaught has now returned to the outer Solar System and is now only visible with a large telescope. The above image is actually a three photograph panorama digitally processed to reduce red reflections from the exploding firework." - Andrew Baron
Wow, 153 people 'liked this" so far and almost 30 comments. - Andrew Baron
Absolutely incredible shot! Then again some of the best shots on the web come from NASA, National Geographic, Discovery and, of course, Hawk :) - Charlie Anzman
Not to be too cynical but that shot seems to good to be true -- I wonder if there is more processing going on than the text seems to admit. - Brian Sullivan
I'm going to side with Brian here. What is right: Comet McNaught was that bright in WA (I use to live there), but I checked my attempted pics, they predate this by over a week. I'm sure the comet was only that bright for less than a week. Second, the main Australia Day fireworks occur in Perth City...which isn't near a beach . Maybe it's Leighton Beach with Fremantle to the left...but it doesn't seem right. I did check the weather records though, there was a storm that night, and it's in the right direction - Duncan Riley
I do hope it is real though...and I forgot how wonderful the environment there is - Duncan Riley
Duncan, last year both Fremantle and I believe Hillarys held their own fireworks for Australia Day. I myself was trying to guess the location this morning. Being a regular on Leighton beach though it doesn't look familiar so I was thinking it may have been taken to the north of Hillarys. It also made me very nostalgic for Perth :) - Penny
At 257 likes, the #1 most liked post of all time on FriendFeed (at least #1 of the past 30 days of my friends, and more than any other I can remember...). Antti Kemppainen Photography - Here's Antti's original picture http://jkemppainen.com/antti/i... Antti's e-mail is kemppaisantti@gmail.com, and you can scroll through Antti's other photos. - Mitchell Tsai
BBC shows all matchs live, in HD, on the internet. Often theres more than one through the interactive TV service. Who said the BBC wasn't good enough?? - Roberto Bonini
Wimbledon is a wild ride this year! They earned their spot, so don't take that away from them. Anyone know how they did in their doubles match? - Otto R. Radke
They're in the ladies' doubles semis... Play around 8 a.m. Eastern tomorrow.... Also, it's looking like a Federer/Nadal men's final that everyone was expecting anyway... - Chris Reed
My call: Serena in 3. She's won 2, Venus 4, and I've heard hints from her about not liking that particular stat, even though she's won 8 grand slams overall to Venus' 6. It's going to come down to who wants it more despite making the other sister lose. - Dean Terry
it's not like there haven't been all-Williams finals before! - Samuel Bostock
Looking forward to seeing some of this one. Most of their past Grand Slam finals matchups haven't exactly been beautiful tennis. Let's hope we do see that tomorrow. - Bryan Person
they keep on writing them off, they keep on silencing the doubters - john conroy
All that strength, power, and beauty in one final, and I have to work on Saturday morning. *curses* - Cecily Walker
@Bryan Person: I'm not sure I would call a Williams final "beautiful" tennis; powerful surely, but there is nothing beautiful about Serena's game...Venus is graceful at times...but hardly beautiful. - Snay Trivedi
too bad they didn't also have two brothers. - Ranjit Mathoda
If they did, only Williams would win tennis events.. Wimbledon would be renamed Williamsdon. - Chris Reed
Yeah ... Venus has some grace, Serena's game is ugly. Poetry shall be observed tomorrow morning, when Federer takes the court - Deepak
Cool! Environmentally, if made well, these bags impact the environment almost the same as regular bags (There's the ink issue. Are they using soy-based inks?). Money, well, that's not real, just an accounting fiction. My question would be "Do you want your money to go to Louis Vuitton employees/management/investors/suppliers"? - Mitchell Tsai
This actually makes a twisted sort of sense. A few years back, my town's mayor decided that we'd be switching from our old throw-your-bags-at-the-curb system of trash pickup to standardized Big Green Receptacles. His stated reason? Because those bags made our streets look ugly on garbage days. Now just extend that logic to the bags themselves. - Roger Benningfield
those are actually available on canal street in nyc already - Cee Bee
I'm a designer and I'm all for things looking nicer but unless these bags are sold for the same price as regular trash bags I've lost respect for Pooey Vuitton. - Michael Narciso
CeeBee-that figures-what isn't? Missing my Canal St shopping days. - Mark Forman
I don't even buy trash bags. Grocery bags from the supermarket are plentiful and usually just the right size for a day's worth of garbage. - Morton Fox
I buy my trash bags in bulk from Costco. - Alan Le
These will really dress up the landfill. - Michael Tefft
This has to be the funniest thing on FriendFeed today. - possible248
Tacky. Everyone know Versace garbage bags are what's in this year. - Chris Baskind
Beating a dead horse here, but... the only thing those bags are good for is to fill them full of Louis Vuitton crap and throw it all away. Neither I nor my wife find that nasty design good for anything else. So, next time someone asks, just say "Didn't you know, it's for packing your ugly LV bag and disposing of it safely." Sort of like poop bags for doggie walks. *The* thing to carry poop in. - Raoul Pop
"1. WALL-E records audio from his favorite movie, XXXXXXXXXXX, putting in onto his own digital recorder (bypassing the macrovision DRM on the tape). A COPYRIGHT CRIME UNDER C-61
2. WALL-E archives the audio, he doesn’t merely time-shift it. He listens repeatedly! A COPYRIGHT CRIME UNDER C-61
3. WALL-E shares his DRM-broken music with his friend, another robot named XXXXX. A COPYRIGHT CRIME UNDER C-61" - Benjamin Golub via Bookmarklet
I knew there was a reason I liked that little guy! - Nathan Henderson
actually, since it's hundreds of years later all of that stuff would be in the public domain :-) - mathew ingram
If history is any guide, Disney's copyrights will never expire. - Kevin Fox
+1 for Kevin. They don't call it the Mickey Mouse Protection Act for nothing. - Cyndy
Since Disney owns Wall•E and Wall•E is violating Disney's copyrights (which never expire as Kevin points out), I'm hoping Disney would end up in some sort of lawsuit infinite loop and implode, leaving Pixar to make good movies. - Scott Johnston
As long as Pixar continues to produce hits, Disney will leave Pixar alone. Even better, Pixar's influence will be felt stronger in Burbank and animation will improve there too. BOLT! this fall is the first to have Pixar's Story Method imposed upon it. Look for much better results than recent Disney animation. - John Frost
Someone censor that movie before it becomes a threat to the MPAA et al!!!! - Roberto Bonini
Wouldn't some sort of reverse Statute of Limitations apply since he doesn't do any of this until the year 2815? - Ken Sheppardson
A must have awesome firefox addon! I just love it! - Jigar Mehta via Mento
Its [NOT ONLY] firefox, they have one for IE as well. - Jigar Mehta
I tried PicLens with Flickr and didn't like it at all. It lacked any integration with the web site. If I wanted to fave a picture or leave a comment, I had to leave PicLens (fair enough) and when I reactivated it I did not get back to the detail view I left but back to the overview. K.O. - Ole Begemann
I've had PicLens for a while, use it seldom but it's fun - Julian Baldwin
Ole, I agree with you, there are painpoints related to integration.. But remember, this is first version and piclens is a unique product with lot of potential.. I think as a version 1 product, I support it and like it much..! - Jigar Mehta
Really great news, though I really hope that McCain, who is in Colombia, doesn't somehow take credit.... "Colombia's military announced Wednesday it rescued French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans who were held hostage for years" - Chris Reed via Bookmarklet
I even put ???? on my tweet, because it was like I nearly didn't believe it! Oh, such good news! - Erin Kotecki Vest
And sure enough, official government news agency (for now) Fox News gave McCain credit.... - Chris Reed
McCain link: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/... In other news, Fox claimed they would be more than willing to give Obama credit if his name had one less 'a' in it, noting that "nearly every letter in Obama's name comes from the name 'Colombia'. If not for the extra 'a' it would be clear that he played a pivotal role in Betancourt's rescue. So close." - Kevin Fox
Awesome. I would suggest more books by Frank Herbert, he was an absolute genious. Especially – since it is almost no longer sci-fi – I would suggest "The white plague". And also the last books in the Dune saga (by Brain Herbert and Kevin J Anderson) are nice, but not necessary. - dekay
I'd recommend Samuel R. Delany - "Dhalgren", "Babel 17", or "Stars In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sand" are three of my favourites. - Bob Kingsley
One I'd recommend is "The Mote in Gods Eye" by Niven and Pournelle - about the best book on first contact I've ever read. - Colin Walker
Colin - but stay away from "Footfall" that book stank. - J. Phil
I would recommend "Blood Music" by Greg Bear, and "The 5th Column" by Robert Heinlein. And how about some Larry Niven love.. ah you have ringworld. Yes, good choice. - J. Phil
Agree with Colin on "The Mote In God's Eye" - I'd forgotten about that one! I recall now that it was, indeed, a terrific read. - Bob Kingsley via twhirl
Most of the books on the list cant find it on my mother tongue - George The Writer
Yea I put in Ringworld. Thanks for all the suggestions folks. You've given me a ton of new books to read. - Steve Spalding
It's amazing the way that most probably know the majority of these stories by watching the films but NOT by reading the book. Occasionally a film will do the book justice (Animal Farm was a great adaptation and had a huge effect on me as a kid watching it at school) but not often. - Colin Walker via fftogo
One other book that I've always liked: "Wave without a shore" by C.J. Cherryh - an interesting look at perception and willpower and how they shape our "reality". - Colin Walker via fftogo
Yeah, you should really check out Jeff Noon, he's buzzing :) - HollowMarkeD
"Tests showed that after six weeks, the T-cells of the 15 worm recipients began to produce lower levels of chemicals associated with inflammatory response, indicating that their immune systems were more suppressed than those of the 15 placebo recipients. Despite playing host to small numbers of parasites, worm recipients reported little discomfort.
Trial participants raved about their allergy symptoms disappearing. Word about the study soon appeared online among chronic allergy sufferers, and a Yahoo group on “helminthic therapy” sprung up.
“Many of the people who were given a placebo have requested worms, and many of the people with worms have elected to keep them,” Dr. Pritchard said." - Paul Buchheit via Bookmarklet
I saw this yesterday. As a sufferer from allergies, my current reaction is: no no no! Un-like! Especially when he says “The itch when they cross through your skin is indescribable.” My allergies aren't bad enough to sign up for an experiment :) - Jennie Lin
it seems to be a good news day for beneficial medical discoveries and innovations. - edythe
Reshared from Chris (give credit where credit is due they say), but this, Brian, is just to prove that you don't have the monopoly on bear stories! :) - Ana via Bookmarklet
“Evidence based law: Should there be a requirement that health or "public safety" type laws must be supported by credible scientific evidence? (to avoid "feel good" but ineffective or counter-productive laws)”
Think about how long it would have taken to get the anti-smoking laws passed. Quite frankly, I quite enjoy the non-smoking environments in restaurants. But given such a requirement, the tobacco companies would have kept restaurants smoky places for years. - Piaw Na
Evidence can be faked. Just squash or stretch the graph a bit and there you have it: evidence. - Stephan Miller
@Amit Morson: Laws, as any other rule for future behaviour, cannot be only based on facts. They need to have a judgment of value behind. Paul, your point is fair, to me the biggest issue is: who decides if the "credible scientific evidence" is there? - Simone
It would be great if law had sound basis, when it applied. But how would that work? Maybe the best you could hope for would be that it was Congress's policy that law should be based on evidence, and something like the OMB would somehow try to make that happen? - j1m
It would be great if lawmakers understood the scientific method. Heck, it would be great if voters understood the scientific method. - Jason Wehmhoener
Is hands-free actually safer, or just less obvious? If people are holding their phones, at least I can see that they are on the phone and be extra wary. - Bhasker Chari via Alert Thingy
Paul, who would validate whether they're backed by science or not? Remember a lot of the politicians in the US think "intelligent design" is perfectly good science. I'd rather not mix my science with politics... - Tad Donaghe
"all laws based on scientific facts" is most probably unfeasible model in any country in world, as there is no country where religion is not given a (un)written rights, and majority usually religious enough. I wish there was completely secular country in world, i.e. where churches of any kind were prohibited (but not beliefs) - I would consider emigration there RIGHT NOW. - silpol
just driving with a phone in your hand is not that unsafe, add a stick shift and a cup of coffee and i can see how it might make sense - Bryan Power
Is there any credible scientific evidence that that kind of law would work? - Jim Norris
This is coming at it from the wrong direction. We need to de-politicize *science* so that there *is* such a thing as "credible scientific evidence." What we have today is people waving around a single study "proving" that X causes/doesn't cause global warming, or Y is/isn't carcinogenic, or Z is/isn't a safe & effective drug, and these studies are funded by groups with political axes to grind. Once you have evidence that is truly credible, the laws automatically follow. - Karim
The problem isn't the evidence, the problem is the lack of understanding of the meaning of "credible". Science education is so poor in this country that far too many people have no basis for evaluating so called "evidence". The basic differences between "hypothesis", "theory" and "law" are widely misunderstood. - Jason Wehmhoener
@Simone: Thats obvious, we do want our laws to be reasonable. - Amit Morson
whatever happened to natural law...we try to govern chaos far too much already... - Julian Baldwin
How about for laws in general? I'm sure Bruce Schneier woud have something to say about this in regard to security as much as public safety. E.g. the assault on photography in public places based on the idea that you might be a terrorist. - Robin Barooah
I'm with Julian....natural law...personal responsibility....not Nanny State. - Chris Rossini
That won't help; you can get statistics to say anything you want. - Gabe Schaffer
Why is everyone assuming Paul's question was related to driving with a cellphone in hand? I thought it was the ban on cigarette smoking in Amsterdam coffee houses. :) http://rinf.com/alt-news/break... - Chris White
You would implement this as a Constitutional amendment, to be enforced by the judiciary? I'm pretty sure the legislature would route around that, but I'm not sure I've seen any examples where a Constitution limits the *rationale* for a law rather than its *effect*. - ⓞnor
What about morality laws? The definition of 'harm' differs between the individual and societal level, and how can we empirically determine what constitutes 'harm'? I'm all for keeping abortion legal and protecting gay marriage, but depending on your definition of harm it would be easy to produce numbers saying that abortion is not in the interests of 'public safety'. - Kevin Fox
Also, if we normalized laws based on harm, cigarettes would be instantly banned, and cars would be soon to follow, not that I would mind if federal spending followed the same pattern, and we spent a trillion dollars on the War on Cancer. - Kevin Fox
How about preventing harm to the economy? - Chris White
And what about harm to the environment, or to people outside our own country? - Kevin Fox
I think this is heading in the direction of the "Futarchy" concept, a proposed system of government where the electorate (indirectly) creates metrics which represent their values, but actual policies are set according to whatever prediction markets say will maximize those metrics. The futarchy motto is "vote on values, bet on beliefs", but critics point out that values and beliefs are hard to separate. - ⓞnor
It's a noble sentiment in theory, but an unworkable one in practice for the many reasons already enumerated here. All laws *should* be grounded in facts and reason and reality, but that's a lot to ask for - Eric
If laws had to have some sort of evidence to back them, at least there would be some sort of operational definition of their intent that could be reviewed later, rather than an opinion that has one meaning when it is framed, and a different one when it is interpreted years later. Science is wrong about almost everything, but it at least has a mechanism for relating purported facts to behavior to enable iterative improvement. - Robin Barooah
Count me in as well. Our 2005 Hybrid is serving us well and I'm hypermiling to get about 15% higher than EPA estimates, but I'm all for alternatives like this. - Kevin C. Tofel
Dude. If you can afford it, then I want a job working for FastCompany, too. :) - l0ckergn0me
Robert -- Is there a pre-order site up yet for Tesla S? I sent them an RFI on how to get on the wait list, but I have not yet heard back. - Jerry Chacon
Chris: you shouldn't talk. You and Ponzi always have the coolest cars. :-) - Robert Scoble
I fear that by supporting Tesla we're only contributing to the West's endless dependence on electricity. - Dan Kaplan
Awesome car. I'd buy one if I could afford $60K. Wonder how much your home electric bill will go up? - Josh Bancroft
Are you planning to generate your own electricity with small scale wind/solar/etc? Otherwise the savings you'll make on gas prices won't be great (as oil goes, energy follows). But electric cars are a step in the right direction, Congrats - Cains
"I like keeping my money in the state" ? Come on Robert... :-) - directeur via NoiseRiver
Does anyone know how the Tesla cars handle heating? My dad is really interested in electric cars, but he always worries about how they will generate heat. - Tracy Hurley
Tracy - I believe the battery pack has a giant aluminum heat sink attached to it, and luckily since the car drives around, there's lots of air cooling ;) - J. Phil
We'll be in the market for a new car in about 2 years as well. I hope these things materialize. - Jeremy Brooks
It is a shame the price is so high. They have probably priced out the people who would most like to get one. - Rob Diana
Josh: Elon Musk, chairman of the board of Tesla, told me you can go about 225 miles for about $3 worth of electricity in California (at today's rates). Compare to nearly $5 gas for our BMW, which goes 24 miles on just $5. Rob: if these are successful, they say there will be a $30,000 model out within four years. - Robert Scoble
I always find Americans talking about motoring hilarious. In America, 30 MPG is some sort of impossible Holy Grail. If you're not doing that in Europe, and I mean ina big vehicle, then either you're driving a Bentley or you've got a hole in your petrol tank. Far as I'm concerned, car technology begins with the Japs and ends with the Germans. I wouldn't spend $50 on a car from any other nation. - john conroy
For electric cars to truly take off we need to find ways to lower the prices sooner, whether by subsidies or whatever. Lower income families are the ones most affected by energy costs and are more likely the ones driving energy inefficient vehicles. - m.0
If I were old enough to drive, I would want one. Then I wouldn't have to pay those outrageous gas prices - Grant
John: I have a two-year-old BMW and it only gets 25 mpg average. And it's the smallest BMW they sell (with the least power possible). - Robert Scoble
[Warning! European High-Horse alert in my comment above] - john conroy
John: US uses a lower RON rated petrol making MPG comparisons difficult - Cains
I just came back from a short spin with a friend of mine (in Ireland). He drives a 1.4l, 2008 Honda Civic. A modest but beautiful car. His display shows the MPG, and we were talking about MPG in general. It was doing 44.5, and he reckons he gets 46 as the norm. Over here, 1.4l is the typical engine displacement for family saloon/hatchback. 1.1 - 1.3l for a small town car. - john conroy
They also announced a 30k model coming in 4(I think) years today. - Jason Massie
apologies-- no more noise from me -- but @Cains -- this I did not know (about the RON rating). This changes things... - john conroy
John: also, most cars in Europe are diesels which supposedly pollute more, but get much better mileage. California, for instance, has much stricter smog laws than most places (just head to China to see how bad it can get). - Robert Scoble
Robert: John's pretty accurate on the average engine size. While diesels are popular here I don't think they're over 30% market share. The main reason for the Us Vs Euro discrepancies is the differing octane rating and problems associated with that (larger fuel tank/etc). For example, BMW's start at 2.8L in the US Vs 1.8L in Europe - Cains
Robert: I'm not sure if modern diesels do pollute more. They are more efficient but, in the recent crisis (in the UK at least) the price of diesel has risen more than that of unleaded so the efficiency advantage has been eroded. - Fraser Smith
John: it's not just the RON ratings that affect the mileage - the engines are dreadfully inefficient too. In Europe 45mpg is the norm, I really notice it in hire cars when I go back home. Americans should demand the fuel efficient engines too, they make a huge difference to consumption. - Sally Church
Sally: good point. Americans have not cared about gas efficiency until now. They like their powerful engines and big SUVs. Marketing of cars is often about how fast they can go, not how fuel efficient they are (Prius and gas prices are changing that). - Robert Scoble
ok, call me an 'old guy' (cue will smith), but the tesla is listing at more than i paid for my first house! [sheesh]. i think i'll keep riding the bus to work. - MikeAmundsen
The whole concept of a $60k automobile being a "no brainer" purchase puts you all in a very different tax bracket than many of us. The payback on this kind of purchase will take a long time and no one can predict the maintenance costs. - Dave Ploch
110k for a car that I don't really like that much, I don't think so. It's like buying a Prius: it makes a statement, but that's about it. Until I can drive it cross-country I really couldn't care. But someone has to buy them to get the idea started, so good for your Robert! - xero
xero: the sedan is $60,000. Expensive for most people, but not unusual in Silicon Valley. - Robert Scoble
Robert: they are paying you too much. ;) - ron k jeffries
Italian architect David Fisher is building his first skyscraper, the Dynamic Tower, and it happens to be one of the most ambitious construction plans since the Pyramid of Khufu. Every floor of the 80-stor
![Dynamic Tower Skyscraper: Every Floor Self-Rotates, Powered by Wind and Sun [Gizmodo - 6/24/08]](http://friendfeed.s3.amazonaws.com/0f9c873f434e9f85c805dedbbdd597862cc8fed3 "Dynamic Tower Skyscraper: Every Floor Self-Rotates, Powered by Wind and Sun [Gizmodo - 6/24/08]")
