Linked List: March 28, 2013

Thursday, 28 March 2013

Google Introduces Same-Day Shipping to Compete With eBay and Amazon ★

This, from the company that shitcanned Google Reader because they wanted to “focus”.

Galaxy S4 Starts at $249 on Contract at AT&T ★

The iPhone 5 starts at $199. Obviously, Apple needs to make a cheaper iPhone.

Daniel Victor, writing for Nieman Journalism Lab:

I’ve heard before: What’s the harm? Why not at least try to include #SuperBowl if every little bit helps? Somewhat of a fair point. Using a hashtag does no harm in the same way wood paneling does no harm to your station wagon, or a misspelled tattoo does no harm to your bicep.

Here’s where I’ll join the rest in unquantifiable hoodoo: I believe hashtags are aesthetically damaging. I believe a tweet free of hashtags is more pleasing to the eye, more easily consumed, and thus more likely to be retweeted (which is a proven way of growing your audience).

Hear, hear.

The Biggest Problem in Technology ★

Matt Buchanan, for The New Yorker:

Given the advantages of time, distance, and a rational mind, it is relatively easy to see that basically everybody involved erred (though some far more severely than others). No one emerges unscathed: Richards’ public tweet shaming the pair was disproportionate to the inherent offense in their comments; the pair should not have made an unfunny dick joke — one that has been made too many times already — at a tech conference that emphasizes its diversity and code of conduct; PlayHaven should not have immediately fired the developer for the “inappropriate comments” (even if there were other factors, the timing is poor); vigilantes should not have launched attacks against SendGrid; SendGrid should not have fired Richards (again, if only for timing, not to mention that it sends the message that speaking out is wrong); and most of all, horrible people should not have bombarded Richards with threats of death and rape.