Surely, this is the sign of maturity: we are finally admitting to ourselves that our appetites are not nearly as ravenous as we thought, our bellies not quite so deep. We’ve realized that the way to make sense of this meal may not be to stay seated at the table, but rather to step away for a while and come back. More than this, these anthologies finally make good on the purpose of all our automated archiving and collecting: that we would actually go back to the library, look at the stuff again, and, god forbid, do something with it.

—Frank Chimero

Awesome stop-motion video of a Triumph Spitfire engine rebuild.
via Laughing Squid

My friend Quigga first introduced to to John Gruber’s site, Daring Fireball around 2005 or 2006. I’ll always associate a 5-point star with his site, as it’s his way of providing links to individual posts on his site (a quick search on archive.org reveals he started DF in 2002, but only began using the 5-point star for post links in 2006). He also uses the star at the beginning of a post title to indicate long form entries, entries warranting more attention than his quick, day-to-day reactions to tech news.
The star derives directly from his logo, a circumscribed star. When I’m scanning through my RSS feeds, the star placement in the favicon, post titles and entry links tells me immediately it’s Daring Fireball.
So why then, all of a sudden, is Ben Brooks using the 5-point star to denote links to posts on his site in his RSS feed? I’ve been following Mr. Brooks loosely for a year or so and I’ve never seen him use the star before. Mr. Brooks started using the star on 28 June 2012. Prior to that, he used an infinity sign (it should be noted he seems to just be using the star on his RSS feed, not his site).
Gruber by no means ‘owns’ the star, but it’s a core part of his brand, and the fact that Ben Brooks also writes about Apple-related news and is a somewhat prominent blogger makes this move feel very douchey.
Below are screen grabs from my iPad Reeder application.
Influencer: Daring Fireball (RSS feed), introduced 2006

Influenced, Brooks Review (RSS feed), introduced 28 June 2012

Scathing review of Jonah Lehrer’s Imagine by Isaac Chotiner:

IMAGINE is really a pop-science book, which these days usually means that it is an exercise in laboratory-approved self-help. Like Malcolm Gladwell and David Brooks, Lehrer writes self-help for people who would be embarrassed to be seen reading it. For this reason, their chestnuts must be roasted in “studies” and given a scientific gloss. The surrender to brain science is particularly zeitgeisty. Their sponging off science is what gives these writers the authority that their readers impute to them, and makes their simplicities seem very weighty. Of course, Gladwell and Brooks and Lehrer rarely challenge the findings that they report, not least because they lack the expertise to make such a challenge.

I’m still reading Imagine, and it’s somewhat interesting, but isn’t grabbing me nearly as much as Steven Johnson’s Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation.

via Drewbot

Ever go to a ball game and forgot where you parked? Yeah, me too. Do you carry an iPhone? Want to know how to never lose your car again?

Here’s how:

1. Drive to destination – mall, sporting event, concert

2. Open Maps application on iPhone and tap bottom left button to locate yourself.

3. Tap bottom right button to reveal Map options and select Drop Pin and walk to your destination

4. When you’re ready to return to your car, open the Maps application again and click on the bottom left location button until the compass is enabled.

5. Walk in the direction of your Dropped Pin (your car) and never feel like a dumbass again

via Instagram

My flight back from Chicago was delayed this past Thursday because “the plane was too hot.” It was 100 degrees in Chicago and one of the cooling units in the plane broke and cabin was too hot to board.
Over an hour past the original boarding time we finally got to our seats, and not only was the plane still hot, but there were no little air nozzles above the seats. Upon realizing we had emergency oxygen units but no air vents, the guy next to me confessed, “I’ll take air over oxygen any day.”

Electronista: Apple drops iOS interface patent to speed Samsung trial

There are some new developments in the Apple versus Samsung “data tapping” patent battle. In a surprise move, Northern District of California Federal Appeals Court Judge Lucy Koh granted a preliminary sales injunction against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet late today. Additionally, Apple has dropped an iPhone user interface design patent claim to help expedite the patent trial, which is scheduled for July 30.

And:

Apple has also filed paperwork dismissing a claim concerning elements of the iPhone GUI. The filing is without prejudice, so Apple can continue to press the claim in the future in a different suit. Judge Koh has applied limits on the trial in regards to arguments and pieces of evidence, so this winnowing focuses the trial on fewer intellectual property rights.

When I read this article last week I was a little optimistic. Have we hit a tipping point with patents? Are we going to see more companies opting to drop patents in order to pursue the enforcement of others?
I can dream, can’t I?

Speaking of successful companies, if you want a good laugh, go view the source code to Berkshire Hathaway’s website.
Goes to show you don’t need a great site to be a billionaire.
Seriously, that code is straight from 1996.

I could quote Michael Lopp’s whole post, go and read the whole thing at his site:

If your goal is this solo win, if you have achieved everything that you want to achieve with this hit, here’s to you – the first round is on me. If you goal is growth, if you want to turn this win into more success, taking the time to catch your breath is the wrong strategy. Like, really wrong.

Your success is a battle plan for your competition. Your success is a public acknowledgement of a strategy that works, and while I appreciate that you and your team are tired, I’m going to be a buzz kill. Your success is your worst enemy. Your success, while hard earned, is a curse.

Reminds me of how some people say, “Man, if I accomplished [fill in accomplishment], I’d retire and relax.” What people who say that don’t understand is many (most?) of the successful people in the world continue to work long after they’ve ‘made it’. Larry Ellison, Rupert Murdoch, Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson – all these cats could have retired years ago and ‘coasted’, but the kind of mind that builds an empire doesn’t understand the word ‘coast’.

via Co.Design

Louis C.K. taking the power back by selling tickets for his new tour on his website:

All tickets will be $45, with C.K. reserving the right to cancel a ticket in exchange for a refund if the ticketholder attempts to sell the ticket for “anything above the original price.”

“Making my shows affordable has always been my goal but two things have always worked against that. High ticket charges and ticket re-sellers marking up the prices,” explained C.K. in the email. “Some ticketing services charge more than 40% over the ticket price and, ironically, the lower I’ve made my ticket prices, the more scalpers have bought them up, so the more fans have paid for a lot of my tickets.

As if there weren’t enough reasons to like this guy. Well done.

Randy Murray believes in waiting six months before buying new technology.
Good advice. I’ve been doing it since the first iPhone launched.