Even the access to paying customers is hard to justify. The terms of the deal mean that for each Skype customer, Microsoft is paying about $1,000. And on average, those customers are worth a profit of about $30, presuming most of Skype’s income comes from subscriptions and call charges. That’s a huge disparity. Windows Live…
This is one of those “duh” studies, like “doctors who are totally stoned more mistakes in the operating room than doctors who are not,” but I do understand the value of conducing formal research to quantify cultural information. “A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more…
I’d love the retro goodness of a MOO event with smart and innovative colleagues. I don’t think I’ll be near a WiFi connection at that time, though. We’d like to invite all in the Techrhet community to the online collaborvention event, “Through the Looking Glass and Back: A MOO Rhetrospective,” to celebrate our MOO past as it…
Take a look at the photo published above, famously snapped in the Situation Room as the U.S. raided Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan. The astute viewer will notice that, like some sort of sexist version of Highlights magazine, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been Photoshopped out of the picture (not to mention Counterterrorism Director Audrey…
The whole “reality is an illusion” idea has been kicked around by everyone from Siddhartha to the existentialists. It is Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom who is most often associated with the idea that we are living in a computer simulation. His premise is based on a series of assumptions: 1). A technological society could eventually…
The Art of Video Games is one of the first exhibitions to explore the forty-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects and the creative use of new technologies. The exhibition will feature some of the most influential artists and designers during five eras of game technology,…
Comments on: A vane Osama bin Laden shown in new videos – CBS News. Similar:Gingerbread USS EnterpriseMr. Sulu, set phasers to delicious! Whic…AestheticsShe was the PTA mom everyone knew. Who would want to harm her?Great reporting from Christopher Goffard…EthicsAvoiding Spoilers Gives You a Superficial Appreciation of ArtI very much appreciate that nobody spoil…ArtThe magic of…
Disappointed because I haven’t found a news writing textbook available for Kindle or iBooks. There are some textbooks about broadcasting, and some out-of-copyright classics. This journalist blogger reports on a recent study involving the Kindle DX: College textbooks are a holy grail for the electronic book industry, but apparently they still have a ways to…
Today, I realized I’m not unique in this conundrum: having contributed assets to an interactive project on levels I can’t easily access. I was chatting with a voiceover artist who’d done a fair amount of video game work but, again, wasn’t a good enough gamer to make it to his own cut scenes. He was…
Posting this to share with students interested in The Hunger Games, which features birds genetically engineered to act as spies. Many birds can mimic sounds but lyrebirds are the masters. They are nature’s living tape recorders, and sometimes their songs can be troubling. For example, when the BBC’s David Attenborough ran into a lyrebird deep…
When the Berlin Wall fell, I soaked up the optimism. Soon after, the reporters who had been covering the Cold War began filing reports from the Middle East. I remember asking my dad, “Is it always this way? The good news story gets stale, and the bad news happening somewhere else catches the world’s attention?”…
Photographers are kept out of the room during live presidential telecasts, because the sounds of their cameras distracts from the audio. This is standard practice. As President Obama continued his nine-minute address in front of just one main network camera, the photographers were held outside the room by staff and asked to remain completely silent.…
I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate,…
Dear internet, It’s not a “motherload of intelligence,” it’s a “mother lode of intelligence.” Dictionaries are fun! That is all. Similar:Seven reasons why blogging can make you a better academic writerI’ve been doing this since 1999. Why do…AcademiaThe press lobby is going feral—ignore it Given that they need to write multiple…CultureChoice of the Journo: A…
“Arrogant” doesn’t begin to describe this pompous drivel. Be forewarned that the following email you’re about to read from this lifeguard-cum-BMW intern will make you angry. Meet the workplace prototype for the next 10 years: welcome to Generation “I.” — An Incredibly Arrogant Email From A Young Neighborhood Pool Lifeguard To His Former Boss (Deadspin link…
With his tweets, 33-year-old Sohaib Athar, who moved to the sleepy town of Abbottabad to escape the big city, became in his own words “the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it.” —Man unknowingly liveblogs Bin Laden operation – Boston.com. Similar:In February, 2001, I was blogging about computer nostalgia, Napster, a horror typing…
No friggin’ Felon like Facebook Can filch our Time away; No Bother bugs us like a Blog Of pompous Pedantry. No Wooters w00t like YouTubers At newbie-baiting Trolls; How hungry are the hectic Tweets That twist and task our Souls! Emily Dickinson likes this. Similar:The daughter is in “Very Berry Dead,” a new play which…
Come Monday, AT&T will begin restricting more than 16 million broadband users based on the amount of data they use in a month. The No. 2 carrier’s entry into the broadband-cap club means that a majority of U.S. broadband users will now be subject to limits on how much they can do online or risk extra…
Great analysis of a media-savvy joke embedded into the tutorial of Portal 2. Now, if you’re anything like me, you laughed harder at this moment than nearly any other in Portal 2. Obviously, people with brain damage who jump when asked to speak are funny, so there’s definitely that level of comedy. But there’s also…
From a “realistic” standpoint it makes sense; it would indeed be impossible for a nigh-omnipotent being ideologically aligned with America to intercede against injustice beyond American borders without creating enormous political fallout for the U.S. government.While this wouldnt be this first time a profoundly American comic book icon disassociated himself from his national identity —…