Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

I agree with most of Matt’s recent post, but one sentence struck me as noteworthy.  Matt writes:

I suppose I agree with Will Wilkinson about the importance of “an ethos of initiative, hard work, and individual responsibility” though I have no real idea why he thinks most progressives are against such an ethos.

I could write that sentence without the “I suppose”!  The final clause of the sentence I see as showing just how broad the perceptual gulf between progressives and conservatives/libertarians can be.

I would not quite say that progressives are “against such an ethos,” but where does it stand in their pecking order?  Look at fiction, such as famous left-wing or progressive novels, or for that matter famous left-wing and progressive movies.  How many of them celebrate “an ethos of initiative, hard work, and individual responsibility”?  Is there one?  Maybe as part of a broader struggle against a corrupt system or against “The Man,” but that tripartite of values is not celebrated in its own right.  Do any of these novels and films have business heroes?  To be sure, hard work from labor is celebrated, provided the workers are tough, exploited, but nonetheless hearty and worthy of respect.

I have no problem with praising these novels and movies for their celebrations of social justice, solidarity, or for their unveiling of corruption, but still it is a stretch to those values cited above.  Wanting to blame George Bush, or try Dick Cheney for war crimes, is a kind of individual responsibility, but in a very particular political context.  How often will a progressive stress that the poor should develop greater conscientiousness rather than looking to government support?  Many progressives are genuinely unaware of how unusual a moral code they often are communicating and celebrating, if only implicitly.  Matt in fact is one of the least guilty in this regard, and you can see this when you examine his writings on the Nordic countries.

"Nothing" is the most common response.

Do nothing until you do know the answer. Study and practice and wait for approval and then do something.

Which is fine (for a surgeon) but what happens most of the time? Most of the time there's something that needs to be done where the answer is unknowable until you do it...

That's what we're waiting for you to do.

Louis C.K. may have a deep appreciation for cell phones and what they're capable of, but that doesn't mean he has to like them. In fact, if this clip from Thursday night's Conan is any indication, he absolutely hates them. And he makes some damn good points as to why. More »

Last night, at the age of 92, writer, producer and commentator Andy Rooney passed away after complications from minor surgery. While his career spanned more than sixty years, Rooney is best known for his essays and commentaries at the end of CBS' 60 Minutes every week. More »

Everyone loves music, but if your collection's beginning to feel a little stale, take some time this weekend to overhaul your library. Here are some neat things you might want to check out. More »

Googler Daniel Russell knows how to find the answers to questions you can't get to with a simple Google query. In his weekly Search ReSearch column, Russell issues a search challenge, then follows up later in the week with his solution-using whatever search technology and methodology fits the bill. This week's challenge: How Much Did You Understand When You First Read Moby Dick? More »

I don't hide my love of stock photography. From the terrifying to the sublime, Shutterstock is a trove of crazy. Enter words, get pictures. Grandparent bacon. Angry prostitute. Let's enter the cave of stock wonder madness together. More »

brothke writes:"The book Digital Assassination: Protecting Your Reputation, Brand, or Business Against Online Attacks says businesses that take days to respond to social media issues are way behind the curve. Social media operates in real-time, and responses need to be almost as quick. In a valuable new book on the topic, Securing the Clicks Network Security in the Age of Social Media, Gary Bahadur, Jason Inasi and Alex de Carvalho provide the reader with a comprehensive overview on how not to be a victim of social media based security problems." Read on for the rest of Ben's review.


Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Ever since Amazon unveiled its 7-inch Kindle Fire tablet in September, a lingering phrase has been attached to the low-cost, high-profile device: "the iPad's first true Android competitor." But, no, Apple isn't fazed.

Chrome: The web provides tons of great written content, but that can get a little overwhelming when you're not in the mood to read all day long. Announcify is a browser extension for those times when you'd rather just listen. All you have to do is browse to any article and click the Announcify button. More »

I love my parents. But damn, they send some annoying emails. Urban legends. Chain letters. Petitions. Peculiar font choices. Long rambling messages with no clear meaning or point... GAAAAAH! More »

Towing the line between keeping your private information secure and still conveniently accessible is always a challenge, but you can make it a little easier—and fun—by coming up with your own simple encryption schemes that you can decode easily in your head. Here's a look at how it's done and why you'd want to do it. More »

What does the Canon EOS C300 give you for 20 grand, beyond a Super 35 mm-equivalent 8.28 megapixel CMOS sensor capable of recording a Full HD 1920 x 1080 picture and other cinematic goodies? Digital movies like this. More »

We've always known Peter Jackson was our kind of nerd. But if there's every any doubt about his geek cred, we'll just rewatch this video blog from the set of The Hobbit, in which the director talks about all the tech feats he and his crew are attempting on the 3-D shoot.

While this hack is useful for everyone, "Mo's Mom's" idea gave her daughter a concrete way to help her family during a very scary time.

When my husband was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and was to be hospitalized for a month followed by six months of chemotherapy, I knew I needed to increase my four (now five) year-old daughter's independence so she could get her own breakfast in the morning. I needed the time to take care of other household duties and get myself ready for work.

My refrigerator has drawers at kid-height so I designated one of them as my daughter's Breakfast Drawer.

On Sunday, I fill the drawer with five individually-packed servings of each:

Yakult probiotic drinks. They come in little bottles she can open herself.
Grains such as cereal, bread, a muffin, Sunday-made pancakes, or a bread roll.
Proteins such as cheese, yogurt, hard-boiled egg, or sliced turkey or ham.
Fruit such as grapes, strawberries, blueberries, dried or canned fruit.

In the morning, I set out a plate and a glass of water before my daughter wakes up. She then chooses one item from each category, gets anything else she needs like a spoon or salt and takes it to the table. She usually eats her cereal dry so I don't often have to deal with the milk, and she likes her breads cold and untoasted without butter or jam, so that makes things easier, but for the pancakes, I sometimes put a little pitcher of maple syrup in the drawer and remind her not to drink from it. :)

On Saturday and Sunday, we usually eat all together.

The Breakfast Drawer has been a time saver for me and my daughter is proud of her independence.

Pride and self-confidence come from real accomplishments. I'm sure your daughter knows she's making a difference for both you and her dad. I speak for everyone here when I wish your family good health and strength.

A practical note: if your fridge doesn't have built-in bins at the proper height, you can do the same thing with a large, plastic container or open bin placed on the bottom shelf.

Related: Snack hack: Create single servings to teach portion control and increase independence

And: How do you gradually give your older child independence?

28 in fifty-two notes: a year’s worth of writing, lessons, and people: Really good stuff from Sarah.

Do you have a bunch of credit cards, bank accounts, brokerages, and other money-related accounts? Create a map of your accounts and bills to get a better picture of your financial world. More »

“Steve devoted his professional life to giving us (you, me and a billion other people) the most powerful device ever available to an ordinary person. Everything in our world is different because of the device you’re reading this on. What are we going to do with it?” - Seth’s Blog: A eulogy of action

An ounce of prevention is worth, what, a working version of your operating system? A few hours of a Windows reinstallation? All of your system's data? When it comes to dealing with issues with your PC, apps that help you prevent problems before they occur are worth their file size in gold. More »

Image: Lionsgate Home Entertainment
“There is something about our love for Star Wars that is different from our love for other things.” — one of the many fan comments in The People vs. George Lucas that addresses the visceral emotions regarding this beloved science fiction series. Perhaps we react so deeply to these films because they are some of the modern myths of our times. Or perhaps we are just moved to indignation at changes because we like the status quo ante, “the way it was before.” There’s a “reset button technique” in fiction writing that allows the writer to cause major changes to the protagonist of the story, and then return the story to its previous plotline. These are often introduced in dream sequences or parallel universes where the dramatic changes are dissolved back into the plot afterwards, and the story arc goes on. What happened to the status quo ante button for film revisions?

When what many feel were drastic changes were introduced to the Star Wars films in the Blu-ray release, the Star Wars community rose up in arms. Masterful scenes from the trilogy such as Vader’s redemptive stride to protect his son against the Emperor were changed. What was a powerful silent meditative moment for Vader’s character became a dance of errors, crudely altered by the prosthetic addition of the “Noooo” exclamation. Now where, O George, is the damn reset button!

The People vs. George Lucas arrived on DVD October 25th, courtesy of Lionsgate Home Entertainment. It was written and directed by Alexandre O. Philippe. I had a chance to ask Philippe about the reactions of the Star Wars community, the impacts of the Changes and “film revisionism” and received some fittingly passionate responses.

GeekDad: There has been a lot of buzz in the fan community about the changes that George Lucas made to this release. What was your goal in doing this documentary and why is it important to you personally?

Alexandre O. Philippe: As a documentary filmmaker, I’ve always been fascinated by the uniquely dysfunctional relationship between George Lucas and his fans. There’s really nothing like it in popular culture, and I believed it needed to be explored in a detailed, feature-length format. Personally, I would consider myself a Star Wars fan in the sense that the original trilogy had a profound impact on me when I was a kid. So making this film turned out to be cathartic on some level. I’ve been fortunate to screen it at festivals around the world, and many Star Wars fans came up to me after each screening to tell me that watching The People vs. George Lucas felt like therapy, which is a tremendous compliment. As for the recent changes that George made to the Blu-ray release, I can certainly say that I’m not surprised, because you expect him to make controversial changes every time he re-releases the films. Surely, he must be in on the joke. Because if he’s serious about those changes, then I think he’s fundamentally lost touch with what made his films so popular in the first place. Some will argue that perhaps he never really understood why his films resonated with an entire generation so profoundly. At the end of the day, he’s a great mystery. Sometimes, I think his “film revisionism” is one big Andy Kaufman-esque prank. Or an extended middle finger to the many fans who have been so critical of him.

GD: What possible negative impact do you think will be caused by these controversial changes to the original films of the Star Wars saga?

AOF: Financially, I don’t foresee any negative impact. I think he’s proven this in the past. Star Wars, as Todd Hanson says in The People vs. George Lucas, “is a brand that you cannot break.” Personally, I don’t know if it’s possible to inflict more damage upon the original trilogy. Are the Blu-ray versions any worse than the “original” Special Editions? At the end of the day, none of them represent the original movies that so many of us fell in love with when we were kids. George certainly understands the importance of preserving those versions, as evidenced by his 1988 Congressional testimony against the colorization of black & white films. So the negative impact has been caused. But who believes the Lucasfilm Limited argument that the original negatives were permanently altered? We had an extensive interview about this with Anthony Slide (former Associate Archivist of the American Film Institute and Resident Film Historian of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), and even he doesn’t believe it. What bugs me, more than anything, is the long list of conflicting reports and arguments. Why would you lie to your loving fan base? And why not give them the one thing they’ve asked for repeatedly? Does it really cost too much money to properly restore those films, George? Seriously? You mean, you don’t think you’d make your money back? Should we speculate on the profits of a pristine Criterion Collection release of the original theatrical Star Wars trilogy?

GD: Did you make a conscious decision not to interview Lucas for this documentary? If you could speak about “film revisionism” with him, what major points would you make? Do you think Lucas would consider undoing the Blu-ray changes because of the outcry from the Star Wars fan base?

AOF: No, the original intent was to interview George; but I certainly didn’t count on it ever happening. I repeatedly contacted Steve Sansweet, and his response has always been the same: “We welcome the debate, but we don’t think it would be appropriate for us to participate.” By “us”, he meant George and anyone working at Lucasfilm Limited, of course. So making this film was an uphill battle for us, on so many levels– starting with the perception, in some circles, that The People vs. George Lucas was going to be a George Lucas bashing film. I think anyone who’s seen the film now realizes that it’s a very objective doc, and a respectful and loving portrait of “Uncle George.” As much as I would have enjoyed interviewing George, I’m glad things turned out the way they did. The archival footage brings an aura of mystery to his presence throughout the film.

I could talk about film revisionism for hours– and I have done just that with audiences. It’s an endlessly fascinating topic. But I’ll just say this: I think any filmmaker has the right to revisit and change his or her work. But when several versions of the same film can happily co-exist on a single Blu-ray disc, is there a good reason to deny those multiple versions to the fans– especially when you know that you’d make a profit? Just look at the Amazon listing of the Star Wars Blu-ray box. Why does it have a 2 1/2 star rating? People love those films with a passion. They’re just frustrated that George keeps tinkering with them, and still refuses to give them what they want. But what do they do? They purchase the box set anyway. They give it a one star rating, and they put it in their basket. So this is also a huge part of the problem. Why would George care, when the message that the fans send him is that they’ll buy anything he releases– even if they don’t like it? This is why I don’t believe George will ever consider undoing anything because of the outcry of his fanbase. I just think that restoring the original trilogy (or the Original Original Trilogy [OOT], as it’s now referred to) would send one strong message out there: that what his original fans want actually means something to him. And that’s the one thing, to coin one of his many iconic lines, that would “bring balance to The Force”– in this particular case, heal the wounds of this unnecessarily dysfunctional power play.

May the Force (unaltered version) be with you.

Today, 2houses launches in public beta, offering separated or divorced parents a set of digital tools to easily communicate about and make arrangements with regards to their children.

This is obviously a large – and, in my opinion, unfortunately a growing – market to tap, and what I like about 2houses is that the founder is a divorced parent himself and started the company to scratch his own itch.

I also dig the company name and logo, though that’s obviously personal.

Parents who are no longer married, living together or romantically involved, can use 2houses to organize child custody, share reports about school and medical information, and track expenses.

And let’s face it. Often, split families will avoid a lot of personal tension, stress, discussions and all-out fights when they can communicate online on a neutral platform rather than talking face-to-face or over the phone – or using the kids as messengers.

With a Web platform, 2houses aims to basically make things a lot smoother for everyone involved, including the children. You can find some screenshots below – mobile apps are the next step.

And if you’re still happily together with your significant other, you can use 2houses’ Facebook app to calculate when you’ll be separating.

While in beta, 2houses will remain free of charge to allow separated and divorced parents to test the service and share their feedback with the founders. When the full version is released – likely in February 2012 – the monthly fee will amount to 6 euros per month (with a free 2-month trial period).

2houses was founded in Belgium in May 2011, by CEO Gill Ruidant. The startup graduated from Brussels Founder Institute, and also won first place at the Spring 2011 Brussels Semester.

Full disclosure: I was a Founder Institute Brussels mentor that semester, which means I’m indirectly a minor shareholder of all graduates, including 2houses.






Crunchbase





2HOUSES






Company:
2houses


Website:
2houses.com



2houses.com is an online communication, scheduling and reporting tool for separated or divorced parents with respect to their children.

2houses.com offers:

a shared calendar with the parenting schedule and any special event or appointment
an expense module allowing for efficient tracking and balancing of the expenses
a journal in which parents can add quick notes like the feedback of a teacher
an information bank allowing to store every information about the children ranging from their shirt size to the vaccination record






Learn more

Ever have a brilliant idea and then walk into another room only to find your idea vanished (poof!)? A new study suggests it's not just you: Walking through a doorway makes it harder to remember thoughts from the previous room. More »

Just landed in our inbox: a link to this excellent documentary on connectivity, sponsored by Ericsson and entitled ‘On The Brink’.

Picked up earlier by GigaOm, the 21-minute documentary features folks like David Weinberger, Caterina Fake, Ola Ahlvarsson, SoundCloud co-founder Erik Wahlforss and Wired’s David Rowan, among others.

It’s a great documentary to watch if you have some time to spare today or over the weekend. It’s going to be even more fun re-watching the mini film in about 10 years. Enjoy.






Crunchbase





ERICSSON






Company:
Ericsson


Website:
ericsson.com


Launch Date:
November 4, 1876



Ericsson is the world’s leading provider of technology and services to telecom operators. Ericsson is the leader in 2G, 3G and 4G mobile technologies, and provides support for networks with over 2 billion subscribers and has the leading position in managed services.

The company’s portfolio comprises mobile and fixed network infrastructure, telecom services, software, broadband and multimedia solutions for operators, enterprises and the media industry.

The Sony Ericsson and ST-Ericsson joint ventures provide consumers with feature-rich personal mobile devices....






Learn more

Li-Fi n. Wireless data transmission using LEDs. By varying the intensity of the light faster than the eye can see, the tech transfers data more quickly than broadband. It is also safe in hospitals where radio waves are banned. Li-Fi will make its way into commercial products next year.

Pitstops n. pl. Molecules that block ...

The Long Beach Comic Con happened October 29-30, 2011 in Long Beach, CA. Photographer Kevin Knight set up his camera to take pictures of all the great cosplayers who showed up.

For more than three years, upstart camera maker RED has been teasing the Scarlet, a compact camera in the same class as their more powerful, but bulkier, RED One and Epic cameras. We actually saw one at CES this year, but they’ve completely redone the design and capabilities. They were going to publish all this information on their website, but they’re apparently under attack so we’re doing this live.

It used to do 3K and have a fixed 8x zoom. Now it’s essentially the same type of camera as the Epic (that is to say, a sort of chunky “brain” onto which you can fix lenses and so on), just for a much lower price.

The brain:

Fully accoutred:

The Scarlet X, as it’s now called, will sell for $9750 and will be shipping as early as November 17th – the date they said they’d ship earlier, at least after they revised the shipping estimate a dozen times or so. So what can it do?

Well, it does 4K, for one thing. That’s 4096×2160, at up to 25FPS, or quad HD at 30. This is at compression rates that are superior to what they’ve been shooting movies on for years, yet at a data rate that’s still eight times what Canon’s new C300 system shoots at. That’s 50 megabytes per second, or 400mbit/s for those keeping track. The full sensor size is 5120×2700 for stills.

It’ll also do 3K at 48fps, 2K at 60fps, and 1K at 120fps, which is fairly low-resolution but retains the color depth and so on. It’s a Super 35-sized sensor and they’re using leftover chips from Epic brains, which cost almost three times as much. In fact, if you shoot the same type of footage with the same lenses using the Scarlet and the Epic, the images should be “identical.” Here are some datarate specs for those who like that sort of thing:

Aesthetically, it’s similar to the rest, since it’s compatible with all the accessories, but it’s “battleship grey,” as RED founder Jim Jannard described it, and it doesn’t have “ribs,” because “she’s a girl, she’s smooth.”

It’s shipping November 17th, but only if you’re willing to shell out an extra $1500 for the titanium PL mount. The new aluminum Canon mount they’re putting on it will be available starting on December 1st. That $9750 price gets you the brain and an SSD; Jannard said that a fully-functional camera, with LCD, lens, rails, and handles will set you back around $13k.

Louis C.K. Will Sell His New Special Through PayPal For Five Bucks

Google flipped virtual tables with its changes to Google Reader this week. Some of you like it, many of you hate it, and some people have even gone to the length of starting a petition demanding Google change it back. All of this got us wondering, now that Google Reader is different, will you keep using it? Or do you have another RSS newsreader that you either already prefer or plan to migrate to? More »

It's November. Welcome to the most stressful part of the year. The weather is getting crappy, the holidays are approaching, and the relaxed pace of the summer months is quickly fading into the drudgery of actually doing work. Here are a few tools to keep you from snapping and strangling the Whole Foods cashier. More »

If you're the kind of superfan who acts out Buffy the Vampire Slayer in your living room, it might be time to get out your credit card: An eBay auction is under way for a role in an upcoming Joss Whedon film, and it could be yours!

Chrome/Firefox (Greasemonkey): If you're not a fan of the Google+ integration in Google Reader or you simply wish you could still use the old sharing system, ReaderSharer is an extension that restores those functions. More »

According to Robert Levine, the author of the just published Free Ride: How Digital Parasites Are Destroying the Culture Business, and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back, the Internet is destroying the market for high quality culture. Blaming both the ideology of free culture and online piracy, Levine argues that the digital world is making it increasingly hard for professional writers, journalists, musicians and film makers to make a living selling their content.

Levine, the former executive editor of Billboard magazine, isn’t necessarily the first to make this argument – but Free Ride is probably the most credible and coherent book to date on the impact of the Internet on our culture.

Free Ride has already ignited controversy for its portrayal of Google’s central role in the free culture movement. “Follow the money,” Levine told me, when he came into our New York City studio last week to talk about Free Ride, and you’ll find Google bankrolling organizations like Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society and The Stanford Center for Internet and Society which pursue extremely permissive positions on copyright reform. So is Levine right – could Google really be killing our culture?






Crunchbase





ROBERT LEVINE






Person:
Robert Levine


Website:


Companies:



ROBERT LEVINE was most recently executive editor of Billboard magazine. His articles on technology, business, and culture have appeared in the New York Times, Fortune, Condé Nast Portfolio, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, and Travel & Leisure. He lives in New York.






Learn more

What else is new, right? But seriously, if like many of us you sit on your ass all day, your chances of cancer are higher than if you peppered your workday with, say, a Nerf war or a few push-ups. More »

The iPhone 4S was released a few weeks ago and its hallmark feature, Siri, has been poked, prodded, played with and patronized by everyone. Hell, even us. We made Siri talk to herself. We talked dirty to her. And you know what, everybody has a Siri story! Which are the best? More »

(via Made by Hand)

This has nothing to do with Macs but in so many, many, ways, everything to do with what we believe in.

(Thanks Garrick)

When the rich do something to deserve their riches, nobody complains. But when those at the bottom don't understand the unequal distribution of wealth, they get furious. Neuroscience blogger Jonah Lehrer examines the psychological roots of the occupy movement.

Kina Grannis' In Your Arms videoclip was animated using 288,000 jelly beans. The effect is great, but the behind-the-scenes how-to video really gives an idea of the gigantic dimension of this project. More »

Let’s face it: For every honest, reputable website, shopping portal or social network out there worth putting your trust into, there’s another thousand internet destinations hellbent on getting their dirty rat claws on your personal information, or slinging shady deals. Mitigate the damage with Web of Trust, our Browser Extension of the Week.

Designed for use with Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari (if you must), Web of Trust provides a safer browsing experience by indexing websites based on a number of attributes: Trustworthiness, Vendor Reliability, Privacy and Child Safety. After creating an account or connecting to WOT through your Facebook profile, using the extension couldn’t be easier: Simply browse to a website, click on the extension icon, and you’ll be provided with the site’s WOT rating.  

What’s more, WOT allows its users to have their say as well. WOT users are encouraged to provide their own ratings for the sites they visit and can even express why they voted for a site in the manner they have through WOT’s comment system. The generated commentary can then be perused by other WOT users.

This combination of user generated ratings and commentary means that Web of Trust is able to provide both a quantitative and qualitative view of a website’s content, making it easier for everyone to ascertain whether or not they can rely on what the interwebz have to offer. 

Be sure to check back every Thursday for another edition of Maximum PC’s Browser Extension of the Week. 

 

EEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRNDguzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzdungahdungahdungahhhhhhh. That sound you hear isn't a 56k modem, it's the sound of my brain collapsing upon itself as I read AOL not only has 3.5 million dialup users, but added 200,000 since last year. How can this be? More »

Modern society has seemingly decided that barefoot runners, including runners that don the weird/gross looking Vibram FiveFingers shoes, may know the secret to injury-free running, but nobody will listen to them because they're such extremists. But the injury statistics show that out of all current runners, 79% of them are injured every year. That's insane. We're obviously doing something wrong. More »

"Koyaanisqatsi for a generation raised on late night television and B-movie VHS tapes"  

Legendary sci-fi and horror writer Stephen King takes on time travel in his new book, 11/22/63. What if somebody could try to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy? King talks with Wired senior editor Sarah Fallon about the book.

Eric Scott (a.k.a. Rocketman) is probably the best Jet Pack pilot the world has. He's flown over canyons, performed in airshows and holds the record for fastest speed on a Jet Pack. So with that gift, e's now teaching people how to fly in his Jet Pack school.

wjousts writes "A interesting take on the birth of the Xbox from Technology Review: 'When the original Xbox video-game console went on sale in 2001, it wasn't clear why Microsoft, known for staid workplace software, was branching out into fast-paced action games. But Microsoft decided that capitalizing on the popularity of gaming could help the company position itself for the coming wave of home digital entertainment. "Microsoft saw the writing on the wall," says David Dennis, a spokesman for Xbox. "It wanted to have a beachhead in the living room." ... Now Microsoft is linking Xbox 360, its most successful consumer-focused brand, with others that have not been as well received. It is integrating Bing, its search engine, into Xbox and Xbox Live to enable people to search for multimedia content. By the end of the year, Microsoft is expected to unveil an updated Xbox Live design that is more in line with the look of Windows phones and the forthcoming Windows 8.'"


Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google is shipping more Google+ features today designed to increase user engagement and sharing. These include a YouTube slider that lets you watch and share YouTube videos with your Google+ friends and two new Google Chrome extensions for sharing webpages and tracking your Google+ notifications.

The YouTube slider is a button that appears on the right-side of the Google+ homepage, that, when clicked, slides out to reveal a YouTube search box asking you “What do you want to play?”

When you type in a search and hit enter, a pop-up window appears which is somewhat like a scaled-down version of the YouTube website featuring the video and a playlist of videos matching your search term. As you watch the videos, a “+1 button” at the top of the video lets you perform the Google equivalent of the Facebook “like,” while a prominent green “Share” button lets you post the video to your Google+ profile.

Pop-up windows aren’t the most elegant integration for this new functionality, but it gets the job done.

The new YouTube feature also lets your Google+ friends open a related playlist directly from the video post you shared on the network (via a blue button beneath the update). This is actually kind of great for things like music videos, as indicated by the example below.

YouTube is now being indexed in Google+ search results, too.

The other new additions today are two Google Chrome extensions, whose functionality has been provided by third-parties for some time. The “+1″ extension lets you click a browser toolbar button to like page and share it on Google+. Meanwhile, the Notifications extension displays the Google+ red notifications box indicating new activity (new followers, pluses and comments) on the social network.

Heavy Google+ users probably already had something similar installed, but now there are official versions.

Given Google’s overwhelming obsession with getting into social this year, it’s sort of surprising that it didn’t just bundle these extensions with an update to the Google Chrome browser in order to force Google+ down Google users’ throats the way it did with Google Reader’s latest update (yes, I’m still bitter about that). Maybe that integration is still to come.

Chrome: Google has released two official Google+ extensions for Chrome allowing you to quickly share links and get notifications while browsing, as well as new YouTube integration for your Google+ profile. More »

Perhaps the “something nicer” which should replace capitalism is a more nuanced – and more accurate – account of capitalism itself.

That is from John Kay, here is more.

Have a Kindle? Amazon will now loan you free books, as long as you're a Prime member. Add in the free shipping and video streaming and you've got a really compelling reason to join Amazon Prime. More »