Links
When the Assholes Show Up
Doodled Dragons takes at least $30,000 after tweeting "our charity will instead now be... my bank account"
They announced on Twitter that they would be donating $30,000, "our first donation", to the World Wildlife Fund. Two hours later, they tweeted, "actually. fuck that. our charity will instead now
Links
Programming Should Not Be an Elite Practice
I wasn't going to link this this, but then I got to the last paragraph:
The entry barrier to programming needs to be high! Programming is engineering; it's not something where you throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks and just assume that programming languages, browsers, and operating systems
Links
When You Don't Show Up to Your Own Product Announcement
Samsung no-showed on its major Exynos 2200 launch and won’t say why | Ars Technica
Samsung pulled a no-call no-show for a major product launch. It's the end of the day now, and the company has yet to respond to what must be hundreds of press inquiries that are no-
Links
How Dead is RSS? I Looked Into it and Things Seem…Good, Actually
I Miss RSS, by Billy Wilcosky:
RSS is still around but I’m saying I miss it because it’s not everywhere like it once was. It used to be in every web browser, and all major websites, such as Twitter, provided feeds. Then you would install a feed reader on your computer or join
Links
People Were Skeptical About the Web Too, You Know
Eric Selfert on Twitter:
Calling out the fact that some other technology at a similar stage was (1) ridiculed and (2) ultimately succeeded has almost nothing to do with the fact that it was ridiculed. There's not a causal relationship there.
Listen, the world is going to be skeptical of all new technology.
Links
Gear Does Matter
Two Cameras: Two Uses, by Greg Morris:
My smartphone needs to have a good camera to capture all of life's moments. My kids doing things I want to let others know about, or record a memory I want to look back on.
And:
My camera on the other had is for expressing myself.
Links
The Erosion if the Common Good
Anita Sreedhar and Anand Gopal writing about vaccine hesitancy in the U.S.
Public health is no longer viewed as a collective endeavor, based on the principle of social solidarity and mutual obligation. People are conditioned to believe they’re on their own and responsible only for themselves. That means an important source of vaccine
Apple
Fitness+ is Adding the One Feature That Could Bring Me Back!
Apple Newsroom:
Time to Run on Fitness+ is a new audio running experience designed to help users become more consistent
Links
What It’s Like Working at a Large Company
Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do? | Hacker News
At this point I am in absolute shock. This should take no more than a few days to implement. So I reach out to the manager and ask what is going on. This is a simple task, I said.
Links
Dear God, I’m Writing About Star Wars
Spencer Kornhaber for The Atlantic, Why Star Wars Keeps Telling the Same Stories:
Mesmerizing fights and tasty twists will no doubt unfold satisfyingly in the coming episodes. But look to the margins, to the creatures who aren’t saying much, for the saga’s future, because they still hold the promise of stories that, just
Links
When it Works, it's Invisible
Katelyn Jetelina writing for her excellent Your Local Epidemiologist:
One of public health’s biggest challenges is that when it works, it’s largely invisible. This isn’t the case in other fields. For example, in medicine you can see the impact of a surgery. In the drug industry you can see the immediate effect
Links
Apple’s Biometrics Should be Multiple-Choice
Apple’s new iPad Mini is becoming a powerful healthcare tool, by Niel Smith
The Powerful A15 Bionic chip with support for super-fast 5G and the Apple pencil makes this iPad ideal for situations where you can carry it in your palm or your coat pocket and meet the rigorous requirements of the healthcare
Links
What Will Replace the Smartphone?
John Gruber in response to the sugestion VR headsets will replace smartphones:
VR headsets will never replace phones. I highly
Links
That Sounds Way More Creepy
Jesse Pujji in a Twitter thread on why Facebook isn’t “always listening” to you and why they don’t have to:
If me and @mrsharma get lunch, FBs systems can figure it out (still anonymously of course) How? Our devices were near each other for about an hour at neither of our houses around
Links
Why we Argue About Die Hard
Is [REDACTED] a Christmas Movie? - Kaitlyn Tiffany
Because of the dreaded incentives of social media, we force debate upon ourselves all the time, even at the most wonderful time of the year. And we do so even when our arguments hold no promise of a resolution.
“Arguments that hold no promise of a resolution,” is
Links
Sewing Doubt
Tim Harford on The New Bazaar podcast:
Cigarettes smokers are going to eagerly grab onto any evidence they can to doubt the scientific consensus that's emerging. And so the tobacco lobby would say, "oh well we need more research," which of course is a good idea. They would say, “oh it&
Links
Where do You Post Ephemeral Thoughts?
Finding the Right Place
There’s a type of content, that I can’t quite put my finger on what it is, but for quite a long time, I’ve itched for it to find a place. There might be a word or phrase for it already, but I can only describe it as informal,
Links
Let’s Pretend the Last 20 Years Never Happened
Ben Thompson writing for Stratechery:
Skeptics argued for years that “That’s fine for Ben”, the insinuation being that I was some sort of unicorn. In fact, one of the most exciting stories of 2021 has been the absolute explosion in subscription-based blogs, primarily thanks to Substack, very much a web2 company. Other mediums
