Linked List: December 7, 2009

Monday, 7 December 2009

Tweeteorites 

Twitter favorite tracking and ranking site. Much closer in spirit to Favrd than, say, Favstar. Neat that it offers a view showing tweets favorited by those you follow.

Mike Monteiro on Favrd 

Mike Monteiro:

It’s a cliché, sure, but in the year that Favrd existed I made some really great friends. Those are mine to keep. Favrd was Dean’s to kill.

Star.

Virgin Galactic Unveils Commercial Spaceship 

I love that the subsidiary is named “Virgin Galactic”.

Nokia Shuts London Retail Store 

The Times of London:

Nokia is to shut the doors on its high-tech store in London’s Regent Street after failing to tempt consumers out of the bustling Apple store across the road with interactive translucent walls and a glitzy lounge area. […]

Ben Wood, an analyst with CCS Insight, said: “There was no question that the store was trying to replicate what Apple had done and build up the brand rather than shift devices. The question in why that strategy has worked for one company and not for the other.”

The answer is easy: Apple makes great products. The success of Apple’s retail stores isn’t based on any sort of tricks or upon the design of the stores themselves. The stores are well-designed, and they do use clever tricks to make them even better, but the foundation is the products. No gadget company can duplicate the success of the Apple Stores without products of similar caliber. Duh.

More on Favrd’s Shuttering 

Good piece by Zeldman arguing that Dean Allen should have at least passed Favrd over to someone else rather than turn out the lights. I disagree, but as ever with Z., it’s a thoughtful argument. The comment thread is simply crackerjack, especially this one from Dean himself further explaining his decision.

(Count me in with Andy Baio on one thing, though: I do wish Dean had kept the archives up.)

Microsoft, EU Are Said to Modify Deal in Browser Case 

Bloomberg:

Under the modified settlement, computer users with Windows will see a “ballot screen” that randomly lists the top five Web browsers that compete with Internet Explorer, the people said. Users would then click on a browser’s icon and the program would be downloaded from the Internet.

There’ve been complaints about the proposed order of the browsers on this “ballot” screen ever since this proposal got underway, and understandably so. Everyone wants their browser listed first. I don’t know that this entire “default browser ballot” proposal is a good idea in the first place, but randomizing the order is the only fair way to do it.

LumaLoop — Killer New SLR Camera Strap 

$60 sling-style camera strap, by James Duncan Davidson and Greg Koenig. They sent me one a few weeks ago, and it is perfect. I’ve never been happy with either a regular around-the-neck strap or carrying my camera in a bag. The LumaLoop offers the best of both — you can use the camera while attached to the strap, but there’s a quick release clasp so you can take it off in (literally) a snap. It’s super convenient and very comfortable.

I love the whole mindset with something like this. Duncan is a full-time photographer, and rather than live with camera straps he didn’t like, he partnered with an industrial designer, got to work, and built his own. Gumption.

Halloween Droog 

Khorosho costume for a malchick.

(Thanks to DF reader David Sjödin.)

The Unbelievable World of Snowflakes 

Beautiful macro photography.

‘All That’ 

From the Dept. of Things I Won’t Be Able to Say Many More Times, If Ever: a new short story from David Foster Wallace.

Nilay Patel’s Liveblog Coverage of Fusion Garage’s JooJoo Video Conference 

The green tint on the screen is apparently the result of a color balance issue with the camera they used. Too bad — I thought maybe they were going for a retro Newton look.

Crunchpad Manufacturer Renames Product JooJoo, Promises Launch This Friday at $499 

Good luck.

Harry McCracken Reviews the Nook 

Meh.