inFORM - Interacting With a Dynamic Shape Display, an invention by the MIT Tangible Media Group.

Global population of people using the Internet against people not using the Internet.

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Global population of people using the Internet against people not using the Internet.

The people who challenged my atheism most weren't priests, but homeless addicts and prostitutes

The people who challenged my atheism most weren’t priests, but homeless addicts and prostitutes

The people who challenged my atheism most weren’t priests, but homeless addicts and prostitutes

www.theguardian.com/commentis…

I eventually left my Wall Street job and started working with and photographing homeless addicts in the South Bronx. When I first walked into the Bronx I assumed I would find the same cynicism I had towards faith. If anyone seemed the perfect candidate for atheism it was the addicts who see daily how unfair, unjust, and evil the world can be.

None of them are. Rather they are some of the strongest believers I have met, steeped in a combination of Bible, superstition, and folklore.

An interesting perspective.

We’d all be better off with our health records on Facebook

We’d all be better off with our health records on Facebook

We’d all be better off with our health records on Facebook

qz.com/161727/we…

There is no unified, single patient record—every doctor I’ve ever visited has his or her own separate copy of my records. And in an age where we can conduct banking transactions on my smartphone, many patients still can’t access or contribute to the medical records their doctors keep for them.$

Controversial but not baseless. Should a private company solve this problem?

Brainlike Computers, Learning From Experience

Brainlike Computers, Learning From Experience

Brainlike Computers, Learning From Experience

www.nytimes.com/2013/12/2…

The new computing approach, already in use by some large technology companies, is based on the biological nervous system, specifically on how neurons react to stimuli and connect with other neurons to interpret information. It allows computers to absorb new information while carrying out a task, and adjust what they do based on the changing signals.

Really an interesting piece on the NYT by John Markoff. Fascinating to see how quickly things will be changing. 

The world's best footballers in 2013

The world’s best footballers in 2013

The world’s best footballers in 2013

www.theguardian.com/news/data…

According to the Guardian. 

Messi is first, followed by Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic and Ribéry. 

Taken together, the revelations have brought to light a global surveillance system that cast off many of its historical restraints after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Secret legal authorities empowered the NSA to sweep in the telephone, Internet and location records of whole populations. One of the leaked presentation slides described the agency’s “collection philosophy” as “Order one of everything off the menu.”

It’s an interesting thing to imagine that we are being watched even more intently than we could have ever imagined in fiction. 

Source: Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished

Taken together, the revelations have brought to light a global surveillance system that cast off many of its historical restraints after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Secret legal authorities empowered the NSA to sweep in the telephone, Internet and location records of whole populations. One of the leaked presentation slides described the agency’s “collection philosophy” as “Order one of everything off the menu.”

It’s an interesting thing to imagine that we are being watched even more intently than we could have ever imagined in fiction. 

Source: Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished

Michelangelo’s Handwritten 16th-Century Grocery List, courtesy of Open Culture.

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Michelangelo’s Handwritten 16th-Century Grocery List, courtesy of Open Culture.

Solving the App Store Discovery Problem with App Playlists and Good Taste

Solving the App Store Discovery Problem with App Playlists and Good Taste

Solving the App Store Discovery Problem with App Playlists and Good Taste

http://blog.jaredsinclair.com/post/70498658794/solving-the-app-store-discovery-problem-with-app

jaredsinclair:

Most of the attempts to solve the problem lean on shoddy software algorithms. They’re blunt tools at best, and games for crooks at worst. 

I do agree. 

What would Christmas morning be like if Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick or Woody Allen filmed it? 

Merry Christmas! 

What would Christmas morning be like if Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick or Woody Allen filmed it? 

Merry Christmas! 

We paid for every part of the evening on my smartphone.

Fred Wilson foresees the smartphone-as-a-wallet era.