America's real criminal element: Lead
In recent years, we’ve seen a pretty steady drop in serious crime in many American cities. There are several theories to explain the drop – better policing strategies, shifting demographics, economic ups and downs – but none of them seems to provide a full and consistent explanation. In Mojo, Kevin Drum thinks he may have found the villain behind crime (and lower IQs and ADHD): Lead. “When differences of atmospheric lead density between big and small cities largely went away, so did the difference in murder rates.”
Here is the Mojo article.
And that’s where a collision with Tumblr is most likely to occur: just like BuzzFeed, the blogging network has grown at a phenomenal rate over the past year or so — briefly entering the top 10 list of U.S. websites with over 200 million visitors per month and 18 billion pageviews — and it also has a fairly deep war-chest of cash that it has built up through a series of financing rounds. But just like BuzzFeed, the blog platform also has to find a way of generating enough revenue to justify its valuation, and native advertising is the most likely method of doing so, especially when Tumblr seems ideally suited to visual advertising.
Why Tumblr and BuzzFeed are on a collision course in 2013
Interesting read, especially since the term “Tumblr” became more popular than the term “blog” in the past few weeks.
And that’s where a collision with Tumblr is most likely to occur: just like BuzzFeed, the blogging network has grown at a phenomenal rate over the past year or so — briefly entering the top 10 list of U.S. websites with over 200 million visitors per month and 18 billion pageviews — and it also has a fairly deep war-chest of cash that it has built up through a series of financing rounds. But just like BuzzFeed, the blog platform also has to find a way of generating enough revenue to justify its valuation, and native advertising is the most likely method of doing so, especially when Tumblr seems ideally suited to visual advertising.
Why Tumblr and BuzzFeed are on a collision course in 2013
Interesting read, especially since the term “Tumblr” became more popular than the term “blog” in the past few weeks.
Amazing Facts to Blow Your Mind Pt. 2 (by AsapSCIENCE)
Incredible.
Amazing Facts to Blow Your Mind Pt. 2 (by AsapSCIENCE)
Incredible.
Scientists make quantum gas go below absolute zero
Scientists make quantum gas go below absolute zero
In the mid-1800s, Lord Kelvin concluded that nothing can be colder than the absolute zero, in the absolute temperature scale.
But in the 1950s, scientists discovered this was not necessarily true:
Technically, you read off the temperature of a system from a graph that plots the probabilities of its particles being found with certain energies. Normally, most particles have average or near-average energies, with only a few particles zipping around at higher energies. In theory, if the situation is reversed, with more particles having higher, rather than lower, energies, the plot would flip over and the sign of the temperature would change from a positive to a negative absolute temperature.
So researchers at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munch, Germany, decided to conduct an experiment:
Schneider and his colleagues reached such sub-absolute-zero temperatures with an ultracold quantum gas made up of potassium atoms. Using lasers and magnetic fields, they kept the individual atoms in a lattice arrangement. At positive temperatures, the atoms repel, making the configuration stable. The team then quickly adjusted the magnetic fields, causing the atoms to attract rather than repel each other. “This suddenly shifts the atoms from their most stable, lowest-energy state to the highest possible energy state, before they can react,” says Schneider. “It’s like walking through a valley, then instantly finding yourself on the mountain peak.”
Scientists make quantum gas go below absolute zero
In the mid-1800s, Lord Kelvin concluded that nothing can be colder than the absolute zero, in the absolute temperature scale.
But in the 1950s, scientists discovered this was not necessarily true:
Technically, you read off the temperature of a system from a graph that plots the probabilities of its particles being found with certain energies. Normally, most particles have average or near-average energies, with only a few particles zipping around at higher energies. In theory, if the situation is reversed, with more particles having higher, rather than lower, energies, the plot would flip over and the sign of the temperature would change from a positive to a negative absolute temperature.
So researchers at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munch, Germany, decided to conduct an experiment:
Schneider and his colleagues reached such sub-absolute-zero temperatures with an ultracold quantum gas made up of potassium atoms. Using lasers and magnetic fields, they kept the individual atoms in a lattice arrangement. At positive temperatures, the atoms repel, making the configuration stable. The team then quickly adjusted the magnetic fields, causing the atoms to attract rather than repel each other. “This suddenly shifts the atoms from their most stable, lowest-energy state to the highest possible energy state, before they can react,” says Schneider. “It’s like walking through a valley, then instantly finding yourself on the mountain peak.”
This is the Leap Motion.
Reporting by Stacey Higginbotham for GigaOm:
The company, which was founded in 2010 has built a peripheral device that you plug into a computer or laptop that can enable a gesture-based user interface that incorporates all directions — not just a flat perspective. Some have described it as a Kinect for computers. The device has a 150-degree field of view and can accurately track the movements of all 10 fingers down to the 1/100th of a millimeter, which is apparently pretty darn impressive according to reviewers.
This is the Leap Motion.
Reporting by Stacey Higginbotham for GigaOm:
The company, which was founded in 2010 has built a peripheral device that you plug into a computer or laptop that can enable a gesture-based user interface that incorporates all directions — not just a flat perspective. Some have described it as a Kinect for computers. The device has a 150-degree field of view and can accurately track the movements of all 10 fingers down to the 1/100th of a millimeter, which is apparently pretty darn impressive according to reviewers.
To both see and observe: Therein lies the secret. When I first heard the words as a child, I sat up with recognition. Like Watson, I didn’t have a clue. Some 20 years later, I read the passage a second time in an attempt to decipher the psychology behind its impact. I realized I was no better at observing than I had been at the tender age of 7. Worse, even. With my constant companion Sir Smartphone and my newfound love of Lady Twitter, my devotion to Count Facebook, and that itch my fingers got whenever I hadn’t checked my email for, what, 10 minutes already? OK, five—but it seemed a lifetime. Those Baker Street steps would always be a mystery.
To both see and observe: Therein lies the secret. When I first heard the words as a child, I sat up with recognition. Like Watson, I didn’t have a clue. Some 20 years later, I read the passage a second time in an attempt to decipher the psychology behind its impact. I realized I was no better at observing than I had been at the tender age of 7. Worse, even. With my constant companion Sir Smartphone and my newfound love of Lady Twitter, my devotion to Count Facebook, and that itch my fingers got whenever I hadn’t checked my email for, what, 10 minutes already? OK, five—but it seemed a lifetime. Those Baker Street steps would always be a mystery.
Every American gun death since Newtown Sandy Hook shooting
Every American gun death since Newtown Sandy Hook shooting
Currently 643, the data is crowdsourced.
Every American gun death since Newtown Sandy Hook shooting
Currently 643, the data is crowdsourced.
The 100 greatest sports photos of all time (no football – made by Sports Illustrated).
This is Muhammad Ali kocking out Cleveland Williams to defend his heavyweight title in November 1966.
[gallery]
The 100 greatest sports photos of all time (no football – made by Sports Illustrated).
This is Muhammad Ali kocking out Cleveland Williams to defend his heavyweight title in November 1966.
Where to be born in 2013, as calculated by the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Its quality-of-life index links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys—how happy people say they are—to objective determinants of the quality of life across countries. Being rich helps more than anything else, but it is not all that counts; things like crime, trust in public institutions and the health of family life matter too. In all, the index takes 11 statistically significant indicators into account. They are a mixed bunch: some are fixed factors, such as geography; others change only very slowly over time (demography, many social and cultural characteristics); and some factors depend on policies and the state of the world economy.
[gallery]
Where to be born in 2013, as calculated by the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Its quality-of-life index links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys—how happy people say they are—to objective determinants of the quality of life across countries. Being rich helps more than anything else, but it is not all that counts; things like crime, trust in public institutions and the health of family life matter too. In all, the index takes 11 statistically significant indicators into account. They are a mixed bunch: some are fixed factors, such as geography; others change only very slowly over time (demography, many social and cultural characteristics); and some factors depend on policies and the state of the world economy.
Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions with Bob Dylan. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Read more on Open Culture.
Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions with Bob Dylan. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Read more on Open Culture.
On the need to monetize mobile
Strong and insightful column by Keith Teare, on the slow demise of desktop Internet traffic and the rise of mobile traffic and how it is an important and urgent issue to monetize the latter:
There is a new law emerging in cyberspace. As desktop traffic growth declines, and mobile adoption explodes, predatory marketers need to monetize mobile traffic or die trying.
As this law takes hold, bad behavior is replacing smart long-term product thinking. The result is an explosion of unnatural acts of engagement. Facebook allows users to escape its filters (designed to give a good experience) by paying to force their Facebook posts in front of their friends — $7 a time and you’re golden. Twitter sends constant reminders about “what you missed” on its service. Google Plus has notification defaults set to a level that results in constant stream of inane emails.
And
7. Intimacy and long-term relationships are a forgotten goal.
The essence of good behavior is to start by helping the user achieve a goal. The essence of a mobile device is that it is intimate. Unlike a screen on the wall, where an ad can be irritating, but understandable; or a screen on your desk where a well placed and content-targeted ad can be even helpful; a mobile ad is almost always an intrusion due to the behavior it interrupts being mostly personal and intimate. Of course this is compounded by the real estate it steals from the small screen. The short-term revenue win from displaying an ad is offset by the long-term relationship damage done between the user and the publisher showing the ad. The sense of being a “target” rather than a person is a growing experience, as our sensibilities are increasingly offended.
Spot on.