Linked List: January 22, 2014

Wednesday, 22 January 2014

‘Did She Do a Billion Dollars Worth of Work?’ 

David de Jong, reporting for Bloomberg on the news that Sheryl Sandberg’s fortune surpassed $1 billion yesterday:

“Did she do a billion dollars-worth of work? I don’t know,” David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect, a history of the company, said in a telephone interview. “She had the good fortune to land in the right place where her talents could really be applauded.”

Would Kirkpatrick have asked this of a man? And if he had, would Bloomberg have run the quote?

I searched Google for the phrase “Did he do a billion dollars worth of work?” and the only hit was this tweet from Jezebel editor-in-chief Jessica Coen, retweeting this tweet from Alex Leo pointing out the absurd gender bias in this article.

Universal Orlando Hires Samsung’s Ad Agency? 

They realize that everyone who watches TV saw the original, right? I’d love to read the minutes from the meeting where they decided to go through with this. (Via Christina Warren.)

Photos of New York’s Graffiti-Covered Subway in the 1980s 

Time:

New York was a very different place in the 1980s. Throughout America, and the world, it had a reputation for being a crime-riddled, dirty metropolis — one much changed from its bustling, mid-twentieth century prime. And nowhere was this more evident than on the city’s subway trains and platforms. Once the pride of Manhattan and the boroughs, the network had become a virtual no-go area both at night and during the day.

Great photos by Christopher Morris.

Vulnerability 

Horace Dediu:

A brand dies not from hate but from apathy.

His piece is about Apple and Google, but does not the above line perfectly capture what ails Microsoft today?

Ukrainian Government Mass-Texts Cell Phones Near Protests 

Brian Merchant, writing for Vice:

“Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.”

That’s a text message that thousands of Ukrainian protesters spontaneously received on their cell phones today, as a new law prohibiting public demonstrations went into effect. It was the regime’s police force, sending protesters the perfectly dystopian text message to accompany the newly minted, perfectly dystopian legislation. In fact, it’s downright Orwellian (and I hate that adjective, and only use it when absolutely necessary, I swear).

But that’s what this is: it’s technology employed to detect noncompliance, to hone in on dissent. The NY Times reports that the “Ukrainian government used telephone technology to pinpoint the locations of cell phones in use near clashes between riot police officers and protesters early on Tuesday.” Near. Using a cell phone near a clash lands you on the regime’s hit list.

Bill Gates Demurs 

Nick Wingfield, writing for the NYT Bits blog:

The reality of Mr. Gates’s status at the company is a bit more nuanced. According to a person with knowledge of board discussions, who asked to remain anonymous because that dialog is private, Mr. Gates is willing to dial up or down his involvement with Microsoft based on the wishes of the new chief.

If the new chief executive wants Mr. Gates, a co-founder of Microsoft and one of the founding fathers of the tech industry, to chime in more often on company matters, Mr. Gates will do it, this person said. If the new chief executive wants Mr. Gates doing less around Microsoft, Mr. Gates will respect that, too.

Here’s the video interview with Bloomberg TV.

‘“Apple Must…”: A Brief History of People Giving Apple Advice’ 

Harry McCracken:

There are, however, a few problems with this approach to Apple commentary:

  1. The stuff Apple must do usually amounts to following an industry trend in much the same way that everybody else is doing it, right this very moment.
  2. Though Apple does frequently respond to industry trends, it’s not in the company’s nature to do so in precisely the way that everybody expects, and it often bides its time before doing anything at all.
  3. Time and time again, Apple doesn’t do what Apple must do… and yet the results aren’t calamitous.
  4. In some instances, the things people insist Apple must do — such as make a netbook — are not only not necessities, but terrible ideas.

Classic piece.

Sunlit 

New iPhone app from Manton Reece and Jonathan Hays that lets you collect photos and text into stories. Similar purpose to Storehouse, but very different execution. Sunlit has an interesting collaboration and sync model, based on App.net, and a clever integration of maps. You can publish stories on the web, but most of the features are geared toward private group sharing and collaboration through the app.

Free to try, with a $4.99 in-app purchase to unlock all features.

Yankees Sign Japanese Ace Masahiro Tanaka for $155M 

Andrew Marchand, reporting for ESPN:

The Yankees spent much of 2013 scouting right-hander Masahiro Tanaka in Japan. After seeing him go 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA, they came away convinced his stuff would translate to the major leagues.

On Wednesday, before Tanaka has thrown a major league pitch, they confirmed their conviction by signing the 25-year-old starter to a seven-year, $155 million contract, his agent, Casey Close, confirmed to ESPNNewYork.com.

He’s going to look great in pinstripes.