Fascinating. First part (1/5) of an absolutely incredible video of Daniel Tammet -- a British man who "sees" numbers. He visualizes them (love his descriptions of the different numbers in part two). A shift, of sorts, something, that enables him to recite Pi to over 20,000 digits, and to learn Icelandic in seven days. Other incredible stories in the subsequent parts of the documentary.
Source.
November 2007 Archives
Hmm... interesting.
Cute little article in the Seattle PI that talks about relative market share of "the big three" gaming consoles.
Only one of these consoles continues to be consistently sold-out as soon as it hits the shelves, and for good reason. Nintendo hasn't needed to drop the price of the Wii, also for good reason. How many more clues do you need to know that sales of the Wii will continue to far outstrip the competition?
In the battle for supremacy in the video-game world, Nintendo Co.'s Wii has now matched the Xbox 360 in total market share, despite the Microsoft Corp. console's one-year head start.Wow. You think it would be pretty big news that the much less hyped (and supposedly less "technically advanced") third place, old school, goofy-named Wii would have sold as many units in only twelve months as the Xbox 360 sold in twenty-four. Or that it more than doubled the sales of the PS3 since they were both released. It's reasonably affordable, innovative, and fun to play. That's a compelling angle, not some pithy statement about "the holiday season [providing] clues to how the market will shake out in the long run, now that the Xbox 360 and PS3 are in better supply, and prices have come down somewhat."
But the Xbox 360 is still maintaining a sizable lead over the console that might be considered its more direct competitor, Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3.
Only one of these consoles continues to be consistently sold-out as soon as it hits the shelves, and for good reason. Nintendo hasn't needed to drop the price of the Wii, also for good reason. How many more clues do you need to know that sales of the Wii will continue to far outstrip the competition?
37 Signals sez "don't hate on the Kindle," while the comments thread talks about how much the DRM suxorz. Too early for me to form much of an opinion -- I'm not about to drop $300 on a book, for starters -- but it looks like it actually has some solid potential. At the very least, it's an innovative way to keep reading material handy. And every book I own already has built-in DRM, anyway -- if I want to read something, I bring it with me, unlike my music collection, which I can listen to at home, at work, in the car, while out for a run, whatever. If I want to share a book with a friend, I loan it to them for a week or more, instead of making a copy of it and giving them the copy to keep.
Consider it a prototype for next-gen laptops -- kick-ass screen display, wireless anywhere, lightweight and very portable -- and maybe it doesn't have as much suckitude.
Update: Mark Pilgrim makes more than a few good arguments.
Consider it a prototype for next-gen laptops -- kick-ass screen display, wireless anywhere, lightweight and very portable -- and maybe it doesn't have as much suckitude.
Update: Mark Pilgrim makes more than a few good arguments.
Some links:
Paper laptops, as created by a group of second and third graders. Love these. Especially heading into the holiday season, not only are these a great reminder of the creative minds that many of us lose over the years, but also how something as simple as a piece of paper (or a cardboard box) can be more enjoyable than a shiny bauble. (via kottke)
What Does Iraq Cost? Even More Than You Think. More than a simple count of dollars and budgets, the point of this op/ed is "opportunity cost." In other words, "the cost of seeing a movie is not just the dollars you plunked down for the ticket, but also the subtler cost of missing a dinner at home or a cocktail party at work. This idea sounds simple, but if applied consistently, it requires us to rethink and, yes, raise the costs of the Iraq war." (also via kottke)
Point: Americans are reading less. Americans are reading less well. The declines in reading have civic, social, and economic implications.
Counter-Point.
Counter-Counter-Point.
Paper laptops, as created by a group of second and third graders. Love these. Especially heading into the holiday season, not only are these a great reminder of the creative minds that many of us lose over the years, but also how something as simple as a piece of paper (or a cardboard box) can be more enjoyable than a shiny bauble. (via kottke)
What Does Iraq Cost? Even More Than You Think. More than a simple count of dollars and budgets, the point of this op/ed is "opportunity cost." In other words, "the cost of seeing a movie is not just the dollars you plunked down for the ticket, but also the subtler cost of missing a dinner at home or a cocktail party at work. This idea sounds simple, but if applied consistently, it requires us to rethink and, yes, raise the costs of the Iraq war." (also via kottke)
Point: Americans are reading less. Americans are reading less well. The declines in reading have civic, social, and economic implications.
Counter-Point.
Counter-Counter-Point.
One of the things I love about the struggles of the home team this fall -- at least the collegiate one -- is the fact that however many years ago The Powers That Be decided to allow Penn State to become the eleventh school in the Big Ten conference, it suddenly meant that the worst team in the conference would finish in a Spinal Tap-esque 11th out of 10 teams.
So until they decide to rename the conference to the Big Eleven, I'll continue to get a chuckle out of standings that read like this.
For when the Tivo isn't working, it's nice to be able to head out to NBC's website to watch full episodes of a dissapointing (but still entertaining) show.
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