"Eureqa is a software tool for detecting equations and hidden mathematical relationships in your data. Its primary goal is to identify the simplest mathematical formulas which could describe the underlying mechanisms that produced the data."
- Amit Patel
from Bookmarklet
"The game is also more than happy to bribe players for participating in its viral spread: cute lonely animals will show up on your farm periodically and as a player you face a dilemma in sentencing them to virtual abandonment and death unless you post on your Facebook wall that you need one of your friends to start playing Farmville and "adopt" the adorable little self-promoter. "
- bob
True - these things are popular and addictive, but hardly social and you don't learn anything. (And I would have said so as a comment on the blog post, but woo-wee that's a lot of information they want for a registration!)
- Ciaoenrico
I'd have not problem sentencing an IMAGINARY animal to the death chamber. It's make believe! Then again, I don't spend my time playing these silly time wasting games either....
- Jeff P. Henderson
Nice review. Now I don't have to figure out what Farmville is :)
- Peng-Toh
Sleeping driver caused 5 car accident. My car and another car were wedged between the barriers. Police cars tried to push the cars out of the way, but just crushed more of my car because of the wedge. Tow truck had to come from opposite direction to pull cars apart. 520 bridge W was blocked for a couple of hours during evening commute. 520 bridge E was down to one lane for most of that time.
- Gary Burd
“Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after two days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made me take it down. First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by. Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn’t realize that it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of the many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn’t take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard.”
- April Buchheit
from Bookmarklet
What is needed is something additional to make people think it's being handled. That way there wont be a perceived urgency to help. Just the morbid NASCAResque "crash..crash" anticipation. Maybe two 'friends' below pointing?? Though it is very good...as is.
- Roger Nang
The dummy could be suspended with fishing line or other hard to see cable, and a motion sensor could trigger the dummy's fall when people approach. A recorded scream would add to the effect.
- SuezanneC Baskerville
"There are two goddesses in your heart: the Goddess of Wisdom and the Goddess of Wealth. Everyone thinks that they need to get wealth first, and wisdom will come. So they concern themselves with chasing money. But they have it backwards. You have to give your heart to the Goddess of Wisdom, give her all your love and attention, and the Goddess of Wealth will become jealous, and follow you."
- Paul Buchheit
from Bookmarklet
"There is no doubt that politics and science make uncomfortable bedfellows. Politicians sell certainty. Science lives off doubt. The creation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to establish a consensus on the science [...] sits uncomfortably with a discipline that advances by disproving accepted theories and overturning orthodoxies."
- Simon
from Bookmarklet
"This newspaper believes that global warming is a serious threat, and that the world needs to take steps to try to avert it. That is the job of the politicians. But we do not believe that climate change is a certainty. There are no certainties in science. Prevailing theories must be constantly tested against evidence, and refined, and more evidence collected, and the theories tested...
more...
- Paul Buchheit
"Last year, researchers at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago showed that human cells in culture could synchronize their internal chemical processes even though they were mechanically, chemically, and electrically isolated from one another. The cells, it seemed, were communicating through the exchange of photons."
- Amit Patel
from Bookmarklet
"The fruit section of L. aegyptiaca may be allowed to mature and used as a bath or kitchen sponge after being processed to remove everything but the network of xylem. Marketed as luffa or loofah, the sponge is used like a body scrub."
- Simon
from Bookmarklet
I didn't realize that loofah sponges were fruit. I had previously thought they came from the sea.
- Simon
"Professor Morfill and his colleagues have worked out the precise details of the plasma production that effectively kills off such bugs without doing harm to skin, and demonstrated a number of prototype devices that do the job efficiently. "To produce plasmas efficiently at low cost so you can really mass produce these things for hospitals, that's the big breakthrough of the last year," Professor Morfill said. The team says that an exposure to the plasma of only about 12 seconds reduces the incidence of bacteria, viruses, and fungi on hands by a factor of a million - a number that stands in sharp contrast to the several minutes hospital staff can take to wash using traditional soap and water. Professor Morfill said that the approach can be used to kill the bacteria that lead to everything from gum disease to body odour. "The idea is scalable to any size, it can be produced in any shape; it's very flexible," he said. "You can even make it battery-operated so you can use small devices -...
more...
- Paul Buchheit
from Bookmarklet
Can we get a shower sized version?? Would be let sleep in an extra half hour in the mornings :)
- Roberto Bonini
"A US model measuring 205cm is set to feature on the cover of Australian men's magazine Zoo Weekly. The model — Eve — appears on the cover of the magazine's current issue alongside a 162cm-tall Australian model. "No other magazine has put a woman who's nearly 7ft tall on the cover," editor Paul Merrill said. "We had ... her bikini specially made, but it was worth it.""
- Paul Buchheit
from Bookmarklet
"These amazing pictures were taken by Anatoly Beloshchin in the cave Cenote Angelita, Mexico. Here’s his description: “We are 30 meters deep, fresh water, then 60 meters deep – salty water and under me I see a river, island and fallen leaves… Actually, the river, which you can see, is a layer of hydrogen sulphide.”"
- April Buchheit
from Bookmarklet
too bad no video, would like to see it flowing
- bob
"We're at a critical juncture in the evolution of software. The web is still here and it is still strong. Anyone can still put any information or applications on a web server without asking for permission, and anyone in the world can still access it just by typing a URL. I don't think I appreciated how important that is until recently. Nobody designs new systems like that anymore, or at least few of them succeed. What an incredible stroke of luck the web was, and what a shame it would be to let that freedom slip away. I do not wish to fight any mobile device makers who want to create a software ecosystem and act as the gatekeepers for that ecosystem. What I do want to fight for is the viability of the mobile web. Developers are rushing to create native apps, meanwhile letting their mobile web apps atrophy (I have certainly been guilty of that myself). Web technology is still relatively weak, and improving slowly. At this pace, what will the mobile web look like in 10 years? Will we...
more...
- Paul Buchheit
from Bookmarklet
But will Facebook stop working on iPhone apps just because of this? No. Neither will Google. Unfortunately, the big companies that have the clout to do something will not stand up for developer's rights, as long as the consumer insists on buying the iPhone and other such locked down devices.
- Piaw Na
In fairness to Google they are fighting for openness in the one conduit they control which is Android. Its asking a lot to expect them to completely boycott iPhone which would be their only other leverage with Apple.
- Ed Millard
Well, then I should expect Facebook to support Android, as well as all the other companies that have the resources to do so. :-)
- Piaw Na
Piaw, are you saying that facebook isn't supporting android? last i checked there was a facebook android app -- plus, this is just one guy's opinions, he does not speak for facebook (as far as i can tell)
- Chris Heath
Piaw, I'd imagine that Apple's non-approval of several Google apps has prompted Google to devote more resources to making superb Android apps (and yes, apps for the Pre and Blackberry) than iPhone. Where it really hurts is apps that have a hardware component. I don't know many/any developers willing to make consumer apps for the iPhone that require a hardware component because the rist...
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- Kevin Fox
I imagine Facebook is putting their resources in the ports their user base is demanding. The number of users they have on iPhone demands attention, and shorting it for reasons that are somewhat political probably isn't wise. With the growing popularity of Android it will probably warrant increased resources. Kind of sounds like Joe would rather make the web app work better and that would be more platform agnostic though its pretty hard to do a really exceptional mobile experience through a browser.
- Ed Millard
Is there a FB ad on Android? I switched from Android back to Blackberry earlier this year, but I definitely remember that there was no Android app before I switched.
- Piaw Na
I guess he's got his heart in the right place, but I can't get too worked up about this issue, not coming from the console game work, where all the platforms are locked down and always have been.
- Andrew C
from Android
I've never seen a major-label game be blocked from publication on a major platform for ambiguous and arbitrary reasons. Imagine if Modern Warfare 2 requires a patch to fix a hack and Microsoft decided to disallow it because they've decided that they don't want warfare scenes that take place within the United States? That's a fairer comparison.
- Kevin Fox
I have heard a few horror stories of games being rejected, or at least delayed, because the console manufacturer in question had its own strategic reasons for doing so (because they had a similar in-house game coming out, or because they thought there were too many similar games coming out at once). Not quite the same thing, but still a pretty dangerous situation if you're the developer.
- Joel Webber
Console platforms have a limited life (try playing the PS games on the PS3). Phone OS, however, look like they'll be around for the long term.
- Piaw Na
Joel, those reasons aren't ambiguous nor are they arbitrary.
- Chris Heath
They may not be literally arbitrary, but they are still opaque to the developer, and not in the developer's best interest. Not precisely the same thing (and probably less common), but close enough to bear mentioning.
- Joel Webber
Piaw, dude, you switched from Android to Blackberry? You are a man who loves outdated tools :)
- j1m
The switch was entirely based on my need for international roaming data plans at $20/month flat fee (this is on top of the standard fee, but the only time I *really need* data is when I'm roaming!). If any other smart phone came with that feature, I'd switch.
- Piaw Na
Joel, when an app is rejected at the time of a bugfix for reasons that existed in the released product for months, or when an app is rejected for an issue which exists in dozens of other apps that have been approved and a developer is shunned when bringing up this inconstant application of rules, then yes, I would call it arbitrary.
- Kevin Fox
Sorry, Kevin, wasn't being clear -- I was just responding to the assertion that console approval processes weren't as arbitrary as Apple's. I agree.-- Aplle's is even worse, and that's saying something!
- Joel Webber
"In 2006, Michelle Khine arrived at the University of California's brand-new Merced campus eager to establish her first lab. She was experimenting with tiny liquid-filled channels in hopes of devising chip-based diagnostic tests, a discipline called microfluidics. The trouble was, the specialized equipment that she previously used to make microfluidic chips cost more than $100,000--money that wasn't immediately available. "I'm a very impatient person," says Khine, now an assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine. "I wanted to figure out how I could set things up really quickly." Racking her brain for a quick-and-dirty way to make microfluidic devices, Khine remembered her favorite childhood toy: Shrinky Dinks, large sheets of thin plastic that can be colored with paint or ink and then shrunk in a hot oven. "I thought if I could print out the [designs] at a certain resolution and then make them shrink, I could make channels the right size for microfluidics," she...
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- April Buchheit
from Bookmarklet
This is pretty cool... making PDMS microfluidic chips is like making jello mold devices. You can make your jello mold out of just about anything, just usually people use high grade silicon, because people already understand really well how to etch it precisely.
- Clare Dibble
Cool. I didn't know those were still around.
- Gabe
"After I wrote about eating a lot of pork fat and sleeping better, David Shackleford commented that he had a related experience: When he started eating much more animal fat and meat, he started to sleep better. He had posted about his sleep improvement before he read about mine. I asked him for details. He answered:"
- Paul Buchheit
from Bookmarklet
What causes nearsightedness? It doesn't appear to be genetic. Spending lots of time outdoors while growing up seems to greatly reduce the chances of being nearsighted.
- Amit Patel
"Near work, such as reading, had always seemed like an obvious contributor, since short-sightedness appears more common among highly educated people."
- Clare Dibble
"Playing indoor sports turned out to have no benefits for the eyes, whereas even physically inactive time spent outside was beneficial"
- Clare Dibble
"The result? On average the children in Sydney spent nearly 14 hours per week outside, and only 3 per cent developed myopia. In contrast, the children in Singapore spent just 3 hours outside, and 30 per cent developed myopia. Once again, close work had a minimal influence; the Australian children actually spent more time reading and in front of their computers than the Singaporeans...
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- bob
My optometrist was very impressed that my myopia is getting better. He thinks it's because I take off my glasses to read, but now I think it's because I spent a lot more time outside than others.
- Piaw Na
My myopia stopped getting worse when I started going out more, but there were so many other lifestyle changes at the time that it's hard for me to say whether it had an effect. For example, when outdoors I also exercise more :) (hiking, mostly)
- Amit Patel
Our 9 month old son loves being outside. Maybe this will mean that he won't be as near-sighted as I am.
- Robert Felty
FWIW, I've heard that sleeping with a night light can cause myopia...
- Andrew C
This peripheral blur theory sounds very interesting. I actually only need my glasses to drive or watch TV/movies... I should get back to what I used to do for years, which was go without the rest of the time. I've needed lenses for nearly 20 years now, but the progression (degradation) has been very very slow.
- Andrew C
"Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii was a chemist turned photographer ahead of his time who undertook an ambitious photographic survey of the Russian Empire for Tsar Nicholas II. Between 1909 and 1915, he completed tours of eleven regions, traveling in a specially equipped train carriage which had been provided by the Ministry of Transportation. What made this project remarkable was his use of an innovative technique for taking photographs in full and extremely vivid colour. He was able to capture colour by using a camera that exposed one oblong glass plate three times in rapid succession through three different colour filters: blue, green, and red. To view his images, he printed positive glass slides of his negatives and projected them through a triple lens magic lantern. The images were projected through the three lenses and, with the use of colour filters, superimposed in full colour on to a screen."
- April Buchheit
from Bookmarklet
I feel guilty that I feel this way, but color really helps me relate better to people of that period. I was just watching that link to color film footage of London in 1927 and felt the same way. There's something that makes it so much more real and empathizable even though other things you'd think would be barriers (strange hairstyles, clothing) are still there.
- Spidra Webster
It's surprising that he was able to take so many good photos of people. That's almost impossible to do with multiple exposures.
- Gabe
You can see the motion in the shot he took of the kids on the hillside.
- Spidra Webster
BTW, I had no idea the scams were this bad. I have friends who work at some of the "bad" gaming companies named here.
- Andrew C
Maybe this is part of the reason that Apple is so restrictive about iPhone apps.
- Robert Felty
Robert, Apple's review process can't discover apps that do this -- they can't tell whether the ad unit that shows a legitimate ad during the review process suddenly starts showing scammy lead-gen a week later. I'd look at it a different way: scammy lead-gen shows up everywhere that content providers don't attach value to having a satisfied user (email spam, search engine spam, etc.). The best way for FB to avoid this is to make their platform useful for nontrivial app authors. Looks like they're trying...
- Daniel Dulitz
Good point Daniel. It seems like it is a pretty difficult thing to police. Maybe they could create a blacklist of advertisers.
- Robert Felty
Its not always the advertisers, its how the offers are presented. Tatto Media suggested we block people from seeing more than 3 articles on our site without forcing the user to fill out an offer of their choice. Of course we didn't implement this and it wouldn't drive the user experience we are looking for.
- Matt Ellsworth
Dan ran into tourists outside the Facebook office today. They asked (in a foreign accent) "Is this where the Facebook company is?" They were excited that it was and ran into the lobby to take pictures. Apparently this isn't such a rare occurence.