Linked List: January 12, 2010

Tuesday, 12 January 2010

Priori Acute 

If M.C. Escher had been a type designer.

Google to Cease Censoring Search Results in China 

Google senior vice president David Drummond:

We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

He also revealed that Google was the victim of a large-scale security attack last month, aimed at getting access to the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights advocates. The implication is clearly that the attack was the work of the Chinese government.

Good for Google.

Ketchup 

Simple, stylish web app for shared meeting notes. Read more here.

Logic Pro 9.1 Release Notes 

Imagine if more Apple updates came with splendid release notes like this.

Conan O’Brien Says He Won’t Do ‘Tonight Show’ Following Leno 

Funny and eloquent statement, addressed to “People of Earth”. Don’t miss the dig he slips in at Leno’s abysmal 10pm ratings:

It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule.

David Letterman’s Advice to NBC 

Dave at his best, including his Leno impression. (Via Dan Benjamin.)

See also (via Rod Begbie): this graph of the current late night landscape from the Chicago Tribune. Not much to argue with.

A Week With Chrome for Mac 

Nice overview of Chrome for Mac by Rob Friesel:

That said, I’ve tried out more than a few browsers over the years and almost always wind up “switching back” after a day or two (or at most: a week or two). With that in mind, I was more than expecting to go “Meh, back to Safari…” by the end of the week.

But at the end of that week, I’m beginning to think that Chrome might stick around for quite some time as my day-to-day browsing browser.

This seems to be a common experience. Mac users try Chrome, nothing blows them away right out of the gate, but then after a week or so it starts to stick. (Part of the not-blown-away-at-the-start factor is that Safari is a good browser.)

‘I Told the Guards Just What I Was Going to Do to Them When the Russians Came’ 

Kurt Vonnegut’s letter home upon getting out of a German POW camp in World War II.

Is the United States Senate Filibuster Rule Unconstitutional? 

Thomas Geoghegan:

But the Senate, as it now operates, really has become unconstitutional: as we saw during the recent health care debacle, a 60-vote majority is required to overcome a filibuster and pass any contested bill. The founders, though, were dead set against supermajorities as a general rule, and the ever-present filibuster threat has made the Senate a more extreme check on the popular will than they ever intended.

‘Does My Company Need an iPhone App?’ Is the New ‘Does My Company Need a Web Site?’ 

The shakeout in the next few years is going to be whether you just need an iPhone app, or whether you need a lineup of mobile apps.

How Pinboard Works 

Maciej Ceglowski:

Our technical goals are to never lose data, be very fast, and favor boring and faded technologies where possible. A rule of thumb that has worked well for me is that if I’m excited to play around with something, it probably doesn’t belong in production.

Update: Now a 404, alas. Here’s a version from the Internet Archive.

MG Siegler on the Nexus One 

MG Siegler:

Perhaps the single biggest reason that I like Apple products, and their software, in particular, is the attention to detail the company puts in. In my mind, that’s exactly what still separates the iPhone from all the Android phones. It’s the little things. The things that are almost too small for you to even notice, but which make the experience subtly better.

Avie Tevanian Joins Elevation Partners as Managing Director 

Elevation Partners’s managing director is former Apple CFO Fred Anderson, and they’re a big investor in Palm. It’s a regular club for former Apple executives.

The Killer App That Busted Ski-Resort Snow Jobs 

iPhone app for reporting snow levels at ski resorts busted the resorts’ practice of claiming exaggerated snow levels.

That’s ‘Confirmation’? Really, TechCrunch? 

I know, I should be slapped for being surprised at a link-bait headline from TechCrunch’s Robin Wauters. But, man, this one is just horrendous. Carriers do not get to see Apple products in advance. Remember Stan Sigman, CEO of Cingular? He admitted it flatly when the iPhone debuted: Cingular agreed to carry the iPhone without having seen it.

And, for what it’s worth, I’m hearing there is no camera, webcam or otherwise, on The Tablet.

The Third & The Seventh 

Wonderful, gorgeous short film by Alex Roman. Hard to believe, but it’s almost entirely CG.

Small Caps 

Aegir Hallmundur:

Making a typographic decision based on some political or class motivation is fine if it’s appropriate for the text, but beyond that vanishingly rare case it’s a mere affectation. Don’t be swayed by trash-talking and accusations of ‘snobbery’, please.