The presidential race is over, and now we can get to the best part of electing a president: data visualization, particularly maps. Every four years, Mark Newman of the University of Michigan makes a set of maps and cartograms detailing the election results. They are available here. My favorite of his is the map on how counties nationwide voted, applying percentages to red and blue to show how Republican or Democratic leaning the county was:
Ars Technica: Steven Sinofsky, Windows President, leaving Microsoft effective immediately
Steven Sinofsky, President of Windows and Windows Live Division, is leaving Microsoft effective immediately, reports All Things D.
The move is claimed to be a result of growing discontent within the software giant, with a number of executives reportedly unhappy when working with him due to his failure to be a “team player.” Such a move has striking parallels with Scott Forstall’s recent exit from Apple.
I thought it was enough that Microsoft copied Apple’s integrated approach to hardware and software and their retail store design.
Now they’re copying how they fire senior executives?
After reading about the horrible retail experiences like those of MG Siegler at a Microsoft kiosk and Marco Arment at a Microsoft Store, I don’t feel so bad about my very short experience at a pop-up Samsung kiosk at a mall here in LA.
I was at the mall over the weekend with my brother, and I spotted a Samsung pop-up kiosk in the middle of the mall. I love Apple products, but I love playing with any new, fun gadgets I can get my hands on so I decided to check out Samung’s latest phones and tablets.
Before I could even get my hands on a shiny, new Android-powered phone, a sales girl jumped in front of me and asked me if I had any questions. I said no, and told her I just wanted to check out their new products.
After a minute she interrupted my brother and I again to hand me a ticket, explaining that if I collected tickets from every station at their kiosk I could win a new Samsung smartphone or tablet.
This pattern of interruption repeated when my brother and I moved over to another station to check out the Samsung tablets.
At this point I put the tablet down that was in my hands, and my brother and I walked away.
When are companies like Samsung and Microsoft going to learn how interact with people in ways that don’t drive them nuts?
Part of the fun of using a new device is the process of discovery. Pressing buttons and icons to see what happens. Samsung and Microsoft don’t seem to understand this. If Samsung and Microsoft were parents, they’d be the type to take a toy or puzzle from their child to show them how to solve it, and then hand it back to them.
Leave people alone. When they’ve hit a wall or are ready to buy something, they’ll tell you.
Herman Miller has launched a site around their collection:
The Herman Miller Collection draws on George Nelson’s vision of “a permanent collection designed to meet fully the requirements for modern living.” This comprehensive portfolio offers a breadth and depth of products to furnish complete environments in a myriad of settings, both residential and contract, elegant and casual, across a range of prices.
There’s some beautiful photography on the site. Check it out.
via PSFK
I saw Skyfall over the weekend and I thought it was great.
The action was intense, the Bond girl was hot and, most importantly, Bond briefly drives as Aston Martin DB5 like Sean Connery did in Goldfinger.
via FBU
Ars Technica: Microsoft to kill off the Messenger client and regroup under the Skype brand
Microsoft’s instant messaging and video chat are set for a major shake-up, with Microsoft announcing today that the Windows Live Messenger brand and client will be retired in the first quarter of 2013. They’ll be replaced by the Skype client and Skype name everywhere, except for China, which will retain the Messenger naming.
I like seeing Microsoft take steps to trim fat from the their product line.
Of course, this is Microsoft, so they’re as likely to botch this as they are to make it a success.
via The Atlantic
While my brother was in town visiting me this past week in Los Angeles, he requested we hit the Museum of Jurassic Technology on Santa Monica Boulevard. We both loved it.
A poor description would be to say it’s odd.
Here’s a bit from their introduction:
Like a coat of two colors, the Museum serves dual functions. On the one hand the Museum provides the academic community with a specialized repository of relics and artifacts from the Lower Jurassic, with an emphasis on those that demonstrate unusual or curious technological qualities. On the other hand the Museum serves the general public by providing the visitor a hands-on experience of “life in the Jurassic”
And:
The Museum of Jurassic Technology traces its origins to this period when many of the important collections of today were beginning to take form. Many exhibits which we today have come to know as part of the Museum were, in fact, formally part of other less well known collections and were subsequently consolidated into the single collection which we have come to know as The Museum of Jurassic Technology and thus configured, received great public acclaim as well as much discussion in scholastic circles.
The Museum, however, not content to rest on its laurels, kept pace with the changes in sensibility over the years. Except for the periods of the great wars in this century (when twice portions of the collection were nearly lost) the Museum engaged in a program of controlled expansion. Walking through the Museum, the visitor experiences, as it were, a walk back in time. The first exhibits encountered are the contemporary displays and reaching the far end of the Museum, the visitor is surrounded by the earliest exhibits.
It’s a small museum and will take you around an hour to see everything. If you’re into overlooked scientists obsessed with magnetism, pseudo-science home remedies and a brief history of the mobile home (complete with little dioramas) then you’ll love this place.
Bones Brigade: An Autobiography is now available on iTunes (via The Loop).
It’s directed by Stacy Peralta, former professional skateboarder from the 1970’s and creator of one of my favorite documentaries, Dogtown and Z-Boys.
Here’s a great quote from Skip Engblom I posted back in 2008.
The Court of Appeal of England and Wales has ordered Apple to pay the legal fees of competitor Samsung on an ‘indemnity basis’ after the company published a “false and misleading” notice in the wake of a patent lawsuit over the iPad. The judgement, intended to humiliate Apple, will require the company to pay for all expenses associated with Samsung’s legal defense, with any disputes over the exact amount likely to be resolved in the latter firm’s favor.
These UK judges are being a bunch of dicks with this legal disclaimer issue. They’re acting like a bunch of drama queens.
I think it all gets back to bitterness over the Revolutionary War.
It’s same reason George Lucas filled the Death Star with British actors.
(I’m only half kidding)
A little note on The New York Times’ coverage of the U.S. Presidential Election from this past week.
First: I love that they took down their paywall until it was over. I think that was a thoughtful gesture by an organization wanting an informed public.
Second: They continue to bust out solid data visualizations.
Sometimes a visualization (when done right) can communication things words cannot, or at least communication things more concisely.
Below are some screenshots I took the night of the election.
