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It is like it has been a race to the bottom in the last 48 hours in the blogosphere. Google puts out a simple announcement that now that android has achieved critical mass and is being sold by an increasing number of carriers (both in the US and around the world) that they will seek to sell their own Nexus One via carriers and stop selling it solely via a google web site. Simple, huh?
Not to read the blog and mainstream spin on the announcement. I can't count the number of hyperbolic headlines I have seen about 'Google hanging up on it's phone', 'Google abandoning their phone', 'Google forsakes...', 'Google runs away from...', etc, etc, etc ad nauseum. Really, folks, get a fracking grip and actually read the Google announcement. But I guess it gets dim wits to click on your site if you put a sensational spin on a very simple announcement, now, doesn't it.
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A thoughtful and insightful posting on the Tea Tantrum and their 'anger'. I have always regarded the 'Take Back America' rhetoric as coded language that belies a certain masked bigotry. It appears that I am not alone in that thought.
Tea Party supporters repeatedly assert that they are not racists and that their strong dislike of President Obama is not racially motivated. The Tea Party is clearly not a hate group like the Ku Klux Klan or the various militia movements on the fringes that openly advocate hate, hostility or violence toward those they do not like. Their income, education and political influence place the vast majority of Tea Party supporters much closer to the establishment than to any such fringe groups. And in 21st century America you cannot be a well respected member of the establishment and openly advocate racist positions.
But, while not overtly racist, their vision for America does not seem to include people who are not like them as full-fledged members of the same establishment of which they are a part. Tea Party supporters seem to strongly resent the educational, economic and political advances made by women, blacks, Hispanics and other minorities over the past few decades, so concretely symbolized by the election of Barack Obama.
The concluding paragraph pretty much knocks it out of the park:
Groups like the Tea Party will continue to rise, rally against these changes and try to Take America Back, egged on by the demagogues of their day looking to exploit their fears for their own power and riches. But the end is always the same. No one can Take America Back, because what they are really fighting is the fair, inclusive and democratic character of the country, a character that gets reaffirmed and strengthened generation after generation.
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I had to pass along this absolutely brilliant posting that should shine a bright light exposing the hypocrisy and idiocy of the (Fox sponsored) tea tantrum 'movement'.
Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protester — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans? Because, after all, that’s what happened recently when white gun enthusiasts descended upon the nation’s capital, arms in hand, and verbally announced their readiness to make war on the country’s political leaders if the need arose.
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Though I have been a Mac convert for over a decade, I have to admit, this is one cool looking PC from YoYoTech in the UK — a bit on the pricey side, but definitely all of the sci-fi, high tech, near-future vibe you could want.
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This is a somewhat detailed (and well illustrated) discussion on what it takes to design applications for the iPad — with an emphasis on design (not just slopping code onto the device). Definitely worth a read, especially if you are concerned about how your content looks and feels on the iPad.
Over the last two months we have been working on several iPad projects: Two news applications, a social network and a word processor. We worked on iPad projects without ever having touched an iPad. One client asked us to “start working on that tablet thing” even before we knew whether the iPad was real. The question Are we designing desktop programs, web sites or something entirely new? has been torturing us until that express package from New York finally crossed our door sill. A quick write up of design insights before and after the appearance of the iPad at our office.
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This OP-1 Synth looks like it would rock hard and be a load of fun to play/create with. Unfortunately, price and release date TBD, but it looks well worth the wait.
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Ever wonder what it would be like to be inside of a football stadium while it is being imploded (like some Die Hard-esque movie)? Here is a taste – they placed a 360 degree camera inside Texas Stadium as they took it down.
Fun to watch, but I am certainly glad I wasn't actually there (on the inside, anyway).