A short film about one roboticist's obsessive quest for perfection
source: io9

Neat little Android, sci-fi short:

ScheduledCopy for Windows: Copy Files Between Directories At An Interval of Your Choosing
source: MakeUseOf.com

Hasbro Marvel Legends 2013 Wave 1 Hyperion and Red She-Hulk
source: ActionFigurePics.com

Looking forward to picking up these two upcoming figures. Both are based on new bucks.

Screenshoter: Take Screenshots With a Single Click
source: MakeUseOf.com

4 Reminder Apps to Keep Distractions at Bay
source: Mashable!

How a Key Works
source: Neatorama

The Future of Apartments Looks Like This
source: Gizmodo

Prince Returns With New Song "Screwdriver" and Lyric Video
source: Mashable!

Hmmm... Not a bad Prince song. Prince is 54 though by the way, I suppose being 40 myself that shouldn't matter much. Age and all that. But "I'm your driver, you're my screw" does sound differently with the context of age. To me anyway. 54 is a good age to buy a little red corvette I hear though, so um, what do I know.

Suit & Tie (Official Lyric Video) - YouTube
source:

Also just watched the New Justin Timberlake "Suit & Tie" video.

Laughed my head off at this Youtube comment:

This is the best Mens Wearhouse commercial EVER!

heh... heh...

Anyway... What's with the 2 verses of straight-up singing, then a 3rd rap verse stuff? Is that still a format thing?

Other than that, it was interesting to see someone "mainstream" trying to bringing the "smoking back".~

How to Draw the Head from Any Angle - YouTube
source:

Nice video and based on Andrew Loomis too. Nice.

Sandboxr Preps to Launch Super Cool Model Building, 3D Print App
source: SolidSmack.com

Cool. Video. 3D modeling software, sortof colorform/lego style put pieces together and make figures to print.

ScreenshotMonitor: Get Screenshots Of Employee Screens To Monitor Their Work
source: MakeUseOf.com

*sigh*

Movies Really Hate Math
source: Gizmodo

How Digital Comics Change the Way Comic Books are Drawn”And Imagined
source: Gizmodo

Interesting article.

Children of the 90s
source: Boing Boing

One hour and fourty-one minutes:

The Citadel: Doomsday Prepper Paradise
source: Neatorama

I'm guessing Fox News comes standard as channel 1 on your cable subscription there too.

Sculptris

After watching a few demo/tutorial videos on youtube, I took another crack at trying to sculpt something in Sculptris. Above is a rendition of the Red Lantern razer from Green Lantern the Animated Series.

It's not perfect by any means, but I'm pretty happy to have sculpted something vaguely recognizable.

I would like to get just good enough to justify buying a 3D printer at somepoint to print something like this.

The Creative Confessional
source:

Some good stuff.

Wee Nudge
source: swissmiss

Cool. Articles that explain things to non-designers.

Breakfast Bacon Burger
source: Neatorama

Photo Block Puzzle
source: Instructables: exploring - featured

Neat project idea.

MC Frontalot - NERD LIFE [OFFICIAL VIDEO]
source: YouTube

Leap Motion announces exclusive distribution deal with Best Buy
source: DVICE

This is probably the next neat gadget I'm looking forward too.

Why Printed Books Will Never Die
source: Mashable!

Silly argument. New media rarely replaces old media, and in this case, the printed book is pretty established effective old media. It's not going anywhere anytime likely ever.

Analysts Are Unimpressed With Facebook Graph Search
source: Mashable!

I think it will be a pretty useful creepy stalking tool, but it's a convenience and time saver, not a game changer-- yet.

Call Friends for Free With Facebook's Messenger App
source: Mashable!

Cellphone unlimited minutes, Skype, Google Hangouts and now Facebook messenger. Voice communication pretty well covered-- check.

Still Wondering What Adaptive Design is? This Website Will Help
source: Mashable!

Recycling Can Actually Be Fun With a Paper Towel Tube Building Set
source: Gizmodo

Neat.

Will 4K TV drive a content and broadband revolution?
source: The Verge

No.

Welcome to the doctor's office of the future: It's a kiosk
source: DVICE

With this sort of thing, a good diagnostic doctor could live on some carribean island somewhere and telecomute to work.

The Science of the Friend Zone
source: YouTube

Interesting.

Laying The Foundation: iOS Prototyping With TAP And Adobe Fireworks (Part 1)
source: Smashing Magazine Feed

Jobs Will Come Back to Americať: Conservative Radio's Glenn Beck on 3D Printing
source: SolidSmack.com

Something I'm interested in next to a person I'm very much not interested in.

Filabot recycles everyday plastic into 3D printer 'ink'
source: DVICE

Very cool development, turn your milk jugs into the raw material for a 3D printer. They really just need to solve the 3D scanning/model creation issue and they'll have something with this space.

Behind the Magic: The Visual Effects of "The Avengers"
source: YouTube

Heads-on with the Oculus Rift immersive VR headset at CES
source: DVICE

So apparently virtual reality may finally be coming.

Toy Story Remade In Live Action. All Of It
source: Bleeding Cool

Surprise, Surprise
source: WriteJesseWrite

A fantasticly cute little short comic.

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Great Darth Vader or the Greatest Darth Vader?
source: io9

Scan to Email Using Raspberry Pi
source: the How-To Geek

Neat, but I'll be honest, unless you really really need high quality, using the camera on an iPad or a nice cellphone is going to way way faster.

Good Night Lamp: Lighting the way home for distant friends and family
source: Cool Hunting

I have no use for this, but I think it's neat. You have a house in your home and then a little house in a friend or relative's home and you touch the house to light it up and the small one at your friend's house also lights up. If you have someone that you talk to on the phone alot, I could see this being a great way to know when they are home and available. To that end I suppose it could be used within the same home as a sort of "do not disturb indicator" as well.

Pause Indoor Hut by Maurizio Prina
source: MoCo Loco

I think I'd be more interested in a modified version of this for outside than inside.

How to Make Wooden Cows
source: Neatorama

Neat.

How to Write with Style: Kurt Vonnegut's 8 Keys to the Power of the Written Word
source: Brain Pickings

Legendary Monsters Head to Kickstarter
source: thefwoosh.com

Neat looking toys. It's a Kickstarter though, and too bad at the moment it doesn't look anywhere near close to it's goal.

Tethercell lets you control mostly anything with Bluetooth (hands-on)
source: The Verge - All Posts

Neat.

7 minutes of super-creepy Star Trek: TNG test footage
source: io9

Belkin's wireless Wemo light switch can be controlled with your smartphone (hands-on)
source: The Verge

Neat.

Microsoft Wants to Turn Your Entire Wall into a TV Screen
source: Gizmodo

Interesting.

A Responsive Grid System for Fixed & Fluid Layouts
source: WebAppers

How Fast Could You Travel Across the United States in 1800?
source: Neatorama

Cool.

5 Reasons To Install XBMC On Your Android, Right Now
source: MakeUseOf.com

The Singularity: There's no There There. Bruce Sterling
source:

"The Singularity": There's No There There
Bruce Sterling

Since it's 2013, ten years have passed since Vernor Vinge wrote his remarkably interesting essay about "the Singularity."

This aging sci-fi notion has lost its conceptual teeth. Plus, its chief evangelist, visionary Ray Kurzweil, just got a straight engineering job with Google. Despite its weird fondness for AR goggles and self-driving cars, Google is not going to finance any eschatological cataclysm in which superhuman intelligence abruptly ends the human era. Google is a firmly commercial enterprise.

It's just not happening. All the symptoms are absent. Computer hardware is not accelerating on any exponential runway beyond all hope of control. We're no closer to "self-aware" machines than we were in the remote 1960s. Modern wireless devices in a modern Cloud are an entirely different cyber-paradigm than imaginary 1990s "minds on nonbiological substrates" that might allegedly have the "computational power of a human brain." A Singularity has no business model, no major power group in our society is interested in provoking one, nobody who matters sees any reason to create one, there's no there there.

So, as a Pope once remarked, "Be not afraid." We're getting what Vinge predicted would happen without a Singularity, which is "a glut of technical riches never properly absorbed." There's all kinds of mayhem in that junkyard, but the AI Rapture isn't lurking in there. It's no more to be fretted about than a landing of Martian tripods.

You Don't Need Wi-Fi To Get Your Stuff From Seagate's New Mobile Storage System
source: Gizmodo

Interesting to see storage unbudle itself from the desktop or laptop computer. This external drive creates it's own wi-fi network.

Adorable vintage microcars
source: Boing Boing

Sometimes it really bugs me that as a society we could make such cheap and affortable cars, and as a society we just simply choose not to. You can't tell me that something like one of these old micro-cars couldn't be made for a couple grand.

Zeno Dice: A Dice App for Android Phones To Help You Play Board Games (20 Free Promo-codes)
source: MakeUseOf.com

Ford Adds Support For Glympse, Lets Friends Know When Youll Arrive
source: Mashable!

I haven 't seen a newish Ford Sync System. The newest I've seen is 2008 and that's pretty basic, but this type of software feature set seems weird to build into something with as long a lifespan as a car.

Acer announces Iconia B1-A71, a wallet-friendly 7-inch Jelly Bean slate
source: Engadget

With nice looking Jelly Bean tablets coming out this year from major manufacturers at sub $150 prices at retail, 2013 is going to be the year of tablets going completely wide-open and mainstream.

Belkin announces WeMo Smart, coming to your coffee pot later this year
source: Engadget

As someone who has already used a WeMo to turn on and off my crock-pot, I can say this is a very cool thing, indeed.

Web Safe Colors Reference Guide for Web Designers
source: WebAppers

Easily memorizeable hex codes.

Surfing with the Sand Between Your Toes at Home
source: Likecool

Seems like you'd also need a Roomba constantly in motion for something like this too.

BeeWis Smart Toys Put Your Smartphone in Control
source: Mashable!

Cute little bluetooth, smartphone controlled soccer robots.

Kitty Tower
source: IKEA Hackers

Simple execution, but it could use a couple box shelves for the cat to snuggle inside of.

TVs Sure Looked Dumb 10 Years Ago
source: Gizmodo

That really doesn't look bad at all to me. The frame is a bit bigger but I'd imagine the picture is perfectly fine. I'm sure for a lot of younger of people 2002 feels like a long time ago though.

Small Space Home Office Concepts by Michael Hilgers Unveiled at IMM Cologne
source: Unplggd

Nice design.

Sigma Designs' new EasyTV comes with Wireless Display
source: Engadget

Interesting.

Kerry Callen's Blog!: Super Antics #5
source:

Nice art style.

An unusually warm day

58 degrees Fahrenheit today. A pretty warm temperature for mid-January in Michigan.

I decided to take advantage of the warm weather and do a little work out in the garage. I've been wanting to put some shelves in the closet in our office since we moved in, and today seemed like an excellent day to work on that. Jennifer and I took a trip to Menards and picked up some wood. Then brought it back home and got to work. We added 3 extra full shelves to the closet. And another half shelf (not shown) that will go up on the top shelf (where alot of random GL statues and stuff are currently crammed together.

Within the next few weeks I'll paint the shelves and start transferring my action figures into them. Top will be Green Lantern, then DC, then Marvel and then misc, and finished off with storage boxes for overflow in the bottom.

I have a modest amount of diorama stepped up levels to display the figures that I'll use at first but eventually I plan to print full backgrounds for each shelf and put two glass doors in front to keep everything fairly dust free.

I was also able to finish up with enough light out side to take the car down to the hand wash and then bring it back home to clean and vacuum out the inside.

Later this evening, I'm looking forward, to watching the new Green Lantern animated episode as well as Young Justice too.

Pretty productive day so far, and while I wouldn't want 58° in January to be the norm. It was nice to have such a warm day land on a Saturday. According to the weather forecast, tomorrow is supposed to be 32°, so I imagine, we'll return to our winter indoor projects previously planned before the unseasonably high temperatures intervened.

Random Non-Sequiters

Reading alot of the CES coverage. Starring various things to comment on later in Google Reader for the 2 or 3 of you that read the link blogs on my site. I figure there isn't much rush.

Yeah, yeah, I know a few of you are still out there, and this isn't one of those blog posts that passive aggressively seeks validation for it's existence.

I'll keep doing the link blogging even if it's just for me. I often pick random months from this thing and look back at what I was looking at or commenting at. Often I rediscover things I forgot about, or for whatever reason didn't follow up on. I'm my own audience for this thing, if you will.

I watched a Charlie Rose interview with Ev and Biz of Twitter fame this evening. Nothing really mindblowing in the interview, but it was interesting that they seem very occupied with trying to figure out how you bring meaning and knowledge to this whole internet blogging/communication stuff too. Refreshing to see such prominent figures in the medium pretty much admitting to not knowing how all this works either.

So what am I thinking about right now?

Home automation is a very interesting space. Stuff that Belkin and Philips are doing and how it all ties into our smartphones and browsers is pretty cool.

I just discovered this free 3D program Sculptris which I really would like to learn how to do a few things with. Mostly because I'm also very interested in where the 3D Printer space is going.

I've had alot of interest in simplified web pages and responsive design techniques lately too. Designing once for all the different sized screens in our lives now is a big topic of interest.

I'm bingeing just a bit on Action Figures via ebay right now, which I'm starting to get a crazy backlog of figures to photograph.

I think I probably have some wisdom teeth pushing their way into my mouth right now too. Not very tech or hobby of a topic, but those have on occasion over the past few weeks occupied alot of my thoughts as well. ;)

I won't turn this post into yet another muse about Social Media as I do too many of those. I am a little bummed on how my twitter experience feels like it's spiraling downward. But every now and then I do have a few genuine exchanges on there or serendipitous discoveries that make it one of the more interesting parts of the net still.

Thanks to Jennifer, my Android Tablet is now sporting Jelly Bean, so I've been intrigued by playing abit with that. There's lots of cheap 7" decently powered tablets being announced right now at CES. I think the smaller tablets will be quite ubiquitous and absolutely everywhere by the end of 2013.

Also at CES I've seen some cheapish secondary touch monitors for desktops that are making me rethink how my computer desk and desktop computing experience might change in the near future.

Lots of neat stuff, lots of potential new skills and interests to pursue, but also as I get a little older, I find myself wanting to focus a little more on the present and how I use the skills and abilities I already have in the here and now too. After years of being focused on the next and new, there's a little bit of yearning to apply more to the present. Old habits, learning new things, and scrolling through lots of RSS feeds dies slow though.

In anycase, if you've read this far, cool, share your thoughts on any of the above in the comments, twitter, facebook, google+, or any of dozens ways one can. And thanks for reading this ramble.

15 Ways to Reuse Detergent Bottles
source: Wise Bread

Some neat uses here: Ice Melt Shaker, Watering Can, Scoop or Funnel, Weights, Paint Storage, Piggy Bank, and more.

ELECTROSHOCK (HD) Brilliant Short animated Film from ESMA Students (sub titles) - YouTube
source:

French Cartoon short set in a Western US town.

Progressive Ruin presents: the End of Civilization.
source: Mike Sterling's Progressive Ruin

One does not simply place a hotel on Mordor!

Charge All Your iOS Gear From a Single Outlet With Griffin's PowerDock 5
source: Gizmodo

You can't help look at this device and think: "There's an opportunity for a better way needed for this charging stuff."

The Price

Video Animatic. Read by Neil Gaiman. Amazing story.

I Haven't Sat Down for Six Months Now
source: Daring Fireball

Really cool tour of the International Space Station.

The Office: An Unexpected Journey
source: Boing Boing

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

Modular Desktop Organizer Is a Pegboard For the Desk
source: Unplggd

Cool idea.

OYO Sportstoys launches official NFL mini-figures
source: Action Figure Insider - Best Toy News on the Web!

Cool.

A Tablet For Every Room, Every Task?
source: Unplggd

They are useful.

]First proposed Android OS mascots see the light of day, give you the crazy eye
source: Engadget

Trippy.

Soppy by Philippa Rice
source: Giancarlo Volpe

Quite sweet.

Sew a Hobo-Bag
source: Instructables: exploring - featured

Neat.

Favorite Family Finds of the Year Best of 2012
source: Apartment Therapy - Chicago

What a cute dual use design.

Weatherball Green... no change forseen.

1387/365 - Philips Hue Weather Lamp
source: Jennifer's 365 Project

Jennifer has a nice write up of the Philip Hue Weather Lamp (ball) project. She has one of the living room lights coded to turn on in the morning with color coded weather forcasts. Neat stuff.

A thought

Once upon a time, people sat around a fire and told each other stories, sung and played songs. Millennials past, and the fire was superseded by musicians, stage shows, books, radio, movies and television.

At the beginning of each of these mediums, there were only amateurs, but ultimately people primarily focused on the professional storytellers and entertainers in each of these mediums.

Will social media be any different?

6 Easy Ways to Make Your Website Tablet-Friendly
source: Mashable!

"World's Smallest" 3D Sensor Is Ready to Go Anywhere
source: Mashable!

Interesting 3D sensing "future" video. Neat demostrations, even if their narative romance structure that they are placed in, is a bit cheesy.

20 Predictions for DESIGN, TECH, CAD & FAB in 2013
source: SolidSmack.com

Saul Bass Advice for Designers: Learn to Draw, and Create Beauty Even If Nobody Else Cares
source: Open Culture

MSI's Slider S20 Windows 8 convertible gets first quarter release, priced at $1,200
source: Engadget

Neat looking device, but it can't just be me that thinks $1,200 is a bit steep for this? Why wouldn't someone just buy an iPad plus a desktop for that price? I get that these companies are trying to reach for the brass ring, kill their cheap netbooks, and try to convince people that computers should cost a lot of money again. But I'm just not seeing how they are going to pull this off.

Can I Stream It? Helps You Find Where and What's Available Online
source: Unplggd

This is a service I use quite regularly to find out what movies and tv series are on which of the streaming services.

Belkin's New Receiver Grants Your Old Stereo Bluetooth Powers
source: Gizmodo

Belkin has been coming out with and or branding some interesting white lable hardware of late.

Baby Riding on a Roomba
source: Likecool

Amusing.

Jim Henson Teaches You How to Make Puppets in Vintage Footage From 1969
source: Open Culture

15min video on Jim Henson making puppets.

What Does 2013 Hold for a Gaming Industry in Flux?
source: Mashable!

Interesting interview snippets with a variety of industry types.

Concept: Tiny podcar swaps bodies to perform different tasks
source: DVICE

Someday perhaps we'll have tiny little cars.

Batmen, Batwomen And Robins
source: Bleeding Cool

Pretty epic drawing, see the full thing here

Where characters come from, and where they go
source: Boing Boing

Archos TV Connect
source: Daring Fireball

I don’t know what I like better, the remote control or the dingus you attach atop your TV screen.

Daring Fireball is just PAINFULLY Apple partisan most of the time. If Apple is the GOP, Daring Fireball is Fox News. This product by Archos, looks interesting. in function if not elegant in form, but it's Android so Daring Fireball would be remiss if they didn't slam it right off the bat.

The FunFort
source: Instructables: exploring - featured

Cute.

COBRA Naval Base Playset (made with upcycled plastic waste)
source: Instructables: exploring - featured

Very Very cool. Made from an old plastic radio case and other components.

Shelf Porn Special | Five-star shelves from 4-Star Studios
source: Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources - Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment

Report: Star Wars comics going to Marvel in 2015
source: THE BEAT

Interesting. And also, when you think about it, the entire Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy movie seems ill timed now. Why promote a bunch of D list Marvel Space Characters when you now own the Star Wars Universe.

How to Self Publish Comics, Not Just Create Them.
source: THE BEAT

Comic Chameleon is the app for webcomics
source: THE BEAT

Looks like some interesting launch titles. Supposed to be available in the App store in January.

Directr: Create Visually Appealing Movies Without Editing [iOS]
source: MakeUseOf.com

I thought this looked really cool until the only way to use it was to log in via Facebook. Bummer.

Should the Internet Be a Utility?
source: Gizmodo

I don't know that the internet should exactly be treated like a utility. But it should not be run be companies with large media and content interests. Unfortunately though, that is where we are now at for residential internet.

Mark Waid reflects on the first eight months of Thrillbent
source: Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources - Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment

Nice article for those interested in Digital Comics.

TVs That Spy on Us are the Best Hope for a Revolution in How We Watch TV
source: Modeled Behavior

I would hope not. The pieces for a revolution in tv are not only already in place, but are already happening. Internet video, Hangouts, streaming video, Hulu/Netflix. The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed yet.

The most epic rap battle of Middle-Earth is between Gollum and Smeagol, obviously
source: io9

Is there a word for this stuff yet? Every time we have a major genre movie we also get all this orbiting hanger on stuff. Not complaining really, just wondering if there is a word for them. If not may I suggest that they be called "remoras"? Seems fitting. If the genre movie is the shark than clearly these little things are hooked on for the ride.

Millionaire's Shortbread Bars
source: Instructables: exploring - featured

Looks tasty.

Marvel Select's Rhino Charges Towards Stores This Month!
source: Action Figure Insider - Best Toy News on the Web!

Asus and Acer: The Netbook Is Dead
source: Gizmodo

Sort of sad. I can't say I've used mine very much at all since I got my iPad, but it's a bummer this low cost general purpose computer form factor is receding from mainstream sellers.

Art roundup
source: Super Punch

Storm Troopers vs Aliens. Cool.

StickNFind Bluetooth stickers let you tag and locate your goods with a smartphone (hands-on video)
source: Engadget

I like the idea, but I'm not sure what I'd need to track. I think I'd be more interested in a proximity trigger.

Why do so many villains get caught on purpose?
source: io9

From a story standpoint, it give you an opportunity for the hero and villain to talk face to face.

Ultra-Thin Magnetic Keyboard and Controller Won't Fatten Up Your iPhone 5
source: Gizmodo

Neat.

Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek - Multimedia Feature
source: NYTimes.com

This is some incrediby beautiful HTML. View it in Chrome. Incredible use of Multimedia.

Coming Soon to a Smartphone Near You: Ubuntu
source: Mashable!

Seems a little late to the party.

Internet-Connected LED Bulbs Are in Our Near Future
source: Mashable!

Or like, the totally "now present" if you buy Philips Hue system.

Hue Disco for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad on the iTunes App Store
source: itunes

How cool, there is a 3rd party disco app for Philips Hue Light Bulbs in the App Store. 99˘. Neat.

Rock Solid Skateboard Hanger from PVC Pipe
source: Instructables: exploring - featured

Neat idea.

Bottle Cap Zipper Pull, in 15 minutes or less!
source: Instructables: exploring - featured

Neat idea.

The attention paradox
source: Seth\'s Blog

This is hard for mass marketers, marketers who are used to making average stuff for average people and promoting heavily in media where they can buy guaranteed attention. And so, we see organizations buying likes and pageviews, pushing for popovers and popunders and all sorts of new ways to interrupt online.

Smart advertisers, though, are realizing that they have to make content that people decide is worth watching. Some have become very good indeed at making media that's so entertaining that we not only want to watch it, but spread it.

1385/365 - Wonderful Wednesday
source: Jennifer's 365 Project




A picture I took of Jennifer and Leki yesterday, and processed with an app called Etchings.



An unplanned shot Jennifer took of Leki yesterday in front of one of the Hue Lightbulbs set to a purple shade.

The Process Myth
source: Rands In Repose

I really enjoy most of the posts this guy does on his blog.

It pains me to type that heading because of the 70% out there who are giving process a bad reputation with their blind enforcement. But if we explore where process might come from, you'll understand three things: the circumstances that lead to the necessity of process, how it could be awesome, and most importantly, your role in maintaining the awesome.

With a small team, mostly you don't need process because everyone knows everything and everyone. You don't have to document how things occur because folks know how to get it done, and if they don't they know exactly the right person to ask. If something looks broken, you don't hesitate to stand up and say, "That's broken. Let's fix it." You do this because, as a small team, you feel equally responsible for the company because everyone is doing everything.

Hidden among all this work are essential parts of your company that everyone knows, but no one sees: your values and your culture. If you're a small team, you likely don't have a mission statement, you have the daily impossible amount of work you must do to survive and the way you do that work is an embodiment of your culture and your values.

Now, if you stopped someone in the hallway of this hypothetical company and asked them to explain the values, they'd look at you like a crazy person and give you exactly the same damning answer as the program manager above: "Well, this is how we've always done it." Double standard? No. The difference here is that if you could actually get the attention of the hallway person, if you pressed them, they'd be able to explain themselves. When you asked them, "Why must we debate every decision?" they'd say, "We encourage debate because we want to make the most informed possible decision."

Then, at some magical Dunbar number, you pass two interrelated inflection points. First, the number of new hires arriving exceeds your population's ability to organically infect culture and values. Second, because of the vast swath of preexisting people, the arriving individual erroneously believes that they as a single person can no longer influence the cultural course of the company. The team is fractured into two different groups that want exactly the same thing:

#1 The Old Guard. These are the folks who have been there for what seems like forever. They understand the culture and the values because they've been living and breathing them. They have a well-defined internal map of the different parts of the company that consist of the rest of the Old Guard. Whether they like it or not, they are the exemplars of what the company values.

#2 The New Guard. These folks have arrived in the last year and while they understand that there is culture and there are values out there, they spend a lot of time confused about these topics because no one has taken the time to sit them down and explain them and the folks who are qualified to do so are busy keeping the ship pointed in the right direction. This situation is exacerbated by the fact they don't have an internal map of the company in their head and they don't know who to ask what, so once their honeymoon period is over, they get angry because they don't know why they're doing what they're doing.

Raspberry Pi Hack Turns The Ultra-Affordable Computer Into An AirPlay Receiver
source: TechCrunch

Neat.

Got a new Roku? Here are five tips to get the most out of your gift
source: NewTeeVee

The Twonky Beam app in this review turned out to be very cool. "Beam" videos from Youtube on iPad to your Roku.

Review: Mara #1 From Massive To Massachusetts
source: Bleeding Cool

Interesting. Seems to be a A Brian Wood take on a Hunger Games type tale. It's got a little bit of that America's got Powers vibe to it to. Not a bad first issue, but it does feel like it's trolling to get a film deal.

The Inspector Stamp: Make a Business Card Out of a Beer Coaster (or a Hand)
source: SolidSmack.com

Neat idea, especially since all you really need to leave someone with now is your name and website. A little stamp like this makes any scrap of paper a business card.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies Stuffed with Peppermint Patties
source: Neatorama

Monthly Measure
source: Likecool

Malls are dying
source: Boing Boing

6" Ultimate Spider-Man Figures
source: Marvelous News - Daily News, Reviews, Action Figures and more

one of the few recent Legends figures I didn't get. Looking forward to this new version in 6".

Cardboard Neon Genesis Evangelion That Actually Transforms
source: Neatorama

Brilliant.

Self Stirring Mug
source: Likecool

I got Jenn something similiar from Thinkgeek. It's quite neat.

Aged Map of Middle Earth
source: Instructables: exploring - featured

Neat.

Better than human

Better Than Human
source: Wired.com

Interesting Kevin Kelly article. Some of my thoughts on the topic follow.

The problem with this and others of it's type is that it assumes as in the industrial revolution, the job of people will be to ever move up the working chain and tend to the machines. There is a coming generation of machines that will need tending to, but that tending will be accomplished by very few people. So what then? What do you do with all the people who are not capable of tending to machines that are more capable then them, who do not need their tending?

We're still largely a feudal system. Instead of Kingdoms, we have corporations. Instead of Kings and Lords, we have CEOs and VPs etc. Yes, the analogy is not perfect, and yes, the power of a CEO is not the power of a King, but the general structure of organization is unchanged. The question is: When our modern kings and lords can choose robotic and computer servants over human ones, what do we do with the humans? And if the machines are chosen, can the kings and lords "take a cut" of the machines transactions in the same way they do humans?

A robot collects no wages. It spends nothing at the mall. It builds and it processes information. But the owner of such productivity machines can not benefit from the thousand widgets the machine can trivially make. The owner of the machine making the widgets needs to trade his widgets with others, to then have the money to acquire the things his robots cannot make.

There is no value in being able to make a million iPhones, if there are not a million people who wish to own iPhones who ultimately you can sell those phones to.

This is the crux. Our society is built on specialization and trade. I will trade my goods and labor for cash with which I will buy other's goods and services. Above that system is a strata of "lords" who receive a tribute from/take a cut of the transactions below them. But if it's the robots that are doing all the work, and robots do not engage in trade, then through what system will people receive money to keep an economy based on trade continuing and who will the elite strata get their tribute from?