—Bo Dahlbom

Talks At Google recently had Daniel Dennett come in to speak about some of the topics in his book, Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking (via The Verge).
It’s really interesting even though a good chunk of it was over my head. It’s about 35 minutes long with about 25 minutes of Q&A.
I love this quote by Dennett’s student Bo Dahlbom on thinking tools:

Just as you cannot do very much carpentry with your bare hands, there is not much thinking you can do with your bare brain.
Sounds eerily similar to the Steve Jobs quote that fueled my Kickstarter from last year:
A computer is like a bicycle for our minds.
Brains are cool.
Brains using tools are even cooler.

Like recipes being passed down through generations in a family, Microsoft is determined to continue to confuse the shit of out consumers:

Upcoming Windows 8 devices with small displays (under 10 inches) will come bundled with Office 2013 Home & Student, a version of Office that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. If you walk into a store later this month and purchase Acer’s 8-inch Windows 8 device you’ll get the free version of Office, but if you opt for a 10-inch Windows 8 Acer tablet you won’t. Alternatively, if you opt for a 10-inch Windows RT device, like the Surface RT, you will get a copy of Office that also includes Outlook RT. If you purchase a 7- or 8-inch Windows RT device when they’re available you’ll also get a free version of Office. If it all sounds confusing, that’s because it is.
I was naively optimistic to see Microsoft start fresh with Surface and Windows 8.
Oh well.

Interesting theorizing by Dustin Rowles on Mad Men:

Look, I’m not saying you should put much stock in this theory (unless it pans out), because I’ve clearly lost perspective. I’m officially giving Matthew Weiner way too much credit. But then again, in all the reading about Mad Men I do, I’ve also noticed that a lot of critics are coming around to the theory I had after the season’s opening episode that Don Draper may die at the end of this season, although I still maintain that it will be a death of the Draper identity, and not of the body; he’ll reclaim his Dick Whitman identity after Megan dies.

But what if Megan is already dead? Is it possible? Let’s examine the compelling evidence.
via Flavorwire

David Barboza, for the NYTimes on company, Xiaomi, the Apple Knock-off Extraordinaire of China:

China is notorious for its knockoffs. But now comes a knockoff of one of the gods of American ingenuity: Steven P. Jobs.
In a country where products like iPhones are made but rarely invented, Lei Jun — entrepreneur, billionaire and professed Jobs acolyte — is positioning himself and his company as figurative heirs of Mr. Jobs. The Chinese media have nicknamed his company, Xiaomi, the “Apple of the East.”

The title is a stretch, by almost any measure. But Mr. Lei nonetheless is carefully cultivating a Jobsian image here, right down to his jeans and dark shirts. He is also selling millions of mobile phones that look a lot like iPhones. Chinese consumers — and deep-pocketed investors overseas — seem to be believers.

And yet Mr. Lei’s biggest believer may be himself. He bounds onto podiums to introduce new cellphones. He proclaims things that may, to many, sound outlandish. For instance:

“We’re making the mobile phone like the PC, and this is a totally new idea,” Mr. Lei, Xiaomi’s chief executive, said during an interview at the company’s spacious, high-rise headquarters here. “We’re doing things other companies haven’t done before.”
It brings to mind a quote I love by fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto:
Start copying what you love. Copy copy copy copy. At the end of the copy you will find yourself.
Yamamoto is absolutely right. All creative people—artists, musicians, writers, designers, athletes—all start out by imitating their idols. This is how you learn. Copying is a meaning to an end with most creatives, true creatives.
For people like Lei Jun though, copying seems to be the end, not the means. There’s no desire to try and copy Apple with the intention to at some point leap-frog them and do something better.
At least with Android there’s are clear lines of departure between it and iOS. Android started life copying iOS very closely, but because the philosophies of Google and Apple differ so much, Android has charted it’s own hackable, “open”, ad-monetized course.
Imagine what Xiaomi is doing with aping Apple’s product and software design in any other industry. Imagine Kia copying the design of the 458 Italia by Ferrari. Or if Nickleback decided to clone the sound of Radiohead and call themselves TelevisionLegs. You can do these things, but it doesn’t make it right or admirable.
I can’t respect posers.

In her March 2013 TED Talk, Amanda Palmer asked not how we make people pay for music, but how we let them.
What a great talk.

I’m in the process of weeding through all my starred links in Google Reader before the service shuts down next month.
This meaning I’ll be posting a lot of links you might have already seen. Or haven’t seen.
The thing about great links is they usually have an solid shelf-life.

via The Dugan

@whoisgambles

Screen Junkies presents mechanics on the mechanics of Fast & Furious

I’m a documentary junkie, and this one looks good.

CNN reports a group of men who devoted their lives to hunting powerful storms died in the middle of the chase.
How can you feel bad about a story like this? These crazy motherfuckers died doing what they loved to do: chase tornadoes.

Last week everyone was talking about Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends Report which she presented at the D11 Conference on Monday.
A lot of the content in the report is information we nerds and geeks already know about the Internet and computers and mobile devices, but there’s also a lot of eye-opening information.
The slide that stood out the most to me was this one:

I’m 36-years-old so I remember the left side image. I’ve experienced the right-hand side too.
This isn’t a post to talk about how the future is doomed for the kids today. Every generation says that. The kids are going to be fine. Millenials are going to be fine. Hipsters are going to be fine. Everyone is going to figure shit out.
… but it is worth noting the differences between both scenes above.
In the 1990’s photo, the audience has a one-to-one connection with the musicians on stage. It’s direct, focused and visceral. It’s how I experienced every concert in high school and college.
In the 2010’s photo, the connection is no longer one-to-one between the audience and the performers. A middleman has been inserted between the two sides. What this means is the priority is to capture a great version of what’s happening, not to experience the performance. I know this because I’m guilty of pulling out my iPhone and recording bits at concerts in recent years. It’s a tempting and easy thing to do, but I’ve quickly found myself feeling like a cameraman doing a job and not a guy at a concert enjoying a great band with my friends, beer in hand.
Keep this in mind next time you’re at a event. I’m not saying ban yourself from recording anything (if it’s allowed), but limit it. Make sure you’re you’re taking in the experience with all your senses.
I don’t know about you, but I would much rather remember going to a great concert, than remember recording a great concert, ignoring the band and my friends (and my beer) in the process.

via