The Digital Era: Information Is Worth More Than The Paper It’s Printed On
On Interstate 70 west of Saint Louis (a dull stretch), there used to be something called "The Elvis is Alive Museum." It was founded at some point in the late '80s or early '90s by Bill Beeny, an accountant and Elvis impersonator. Its simple premise: Elvis is still alive and we have the evidence...
Every Television Show That Has Aired Fewer Episodes Than There Have Been GOP Debates
Thursday's debate was the 19th of the primary season. There have been over 5,800 shows produced for British and American television.
Why Did Hollywood Earn Less in 2011 Than 2010? Hint: The Movies
Slate’s Dave Weigel noted that 2011′s box office earnings are on pace to be $1 billion below 2010′s. True to (snarky) form, he tweeted: Man, box office down roughly $1 billion from last year. bit.ly/fv9G81 Time for more shitty sequels, guys! — daveweigel (@daveweigel) December 17, 2011 Which made me wonder: is there a correlation...
International Domains: The Brave New World Map Of URL Shorteners
When the revolution in Libya began, many Americans, savvy to the ways of international diplomacy, raised an important point: what would happen to bit.ly? The .ly in bit.ly, after all, is the top-level domain (TLD) reflecting the country code for Libya. The country controls the TLD (though not all access to the domain); any...
Some Context: Solyndra Investment Versus Military Boondoggles
Science writer Chris Mims this morning wondered how the Solyndra investment of $535 million compared to some of the military's biggest investments that didn't pan out.So I looked it up. Using this chart from the New York Times for reference, I created the chart below.
Why Democrats Should Offer Rick Perry A Warm Welcome To The Presidential Race
For all of the drama and tension and tumult of the Presidential primary process, there's only one thing that matters: 270. Of course, that's the number of electoral votes a candidate needs to assume the Presidency.And it's also exactly why Rick Perry entering the race is good news for anyone cheering the re-election of Barack...
Debt Default, Prison Revolts, And Dog Day Afternoon: New York In The 1970s
It wasn't clear that New York City would survive the 1970s. I mean, physically it would, of course - it wasn't going to sink, grimy and graffiti-ridden, into New York Harbor. But in late 1975, the city was broke. The budget deficit, reported at $600 million, was in reality nearly four times higher - and...
In Last Push Before Economy Collapses, The Smurfs Ring NYSE Bell
The Smurfs cartoon was dumb and not terribly interesting. Sorry, those of you who are my age, but you know it's true. Here's what's dumber: a movie about the Smurfs, starring three-dimensional Smurfs that require the most advanced computers in the history of the universe to make. I mean, the machines that added little Smurfs...
The New Yorker Goes Digital – But Leaves Its Iconic Covers Behind
An issue of the New Yorker may be long and densely packed, but at least one only comes every seven days. It's possible that the incarcerated manage to read every issue. I am skeptical of anyone else who makes that claim.What happens, subscribers know, is that you build a pile of New Yorkers that you...
Judging Conde Nast’s iPad Strategy Through The Prism Of Its Adobe Partnership
Earlier this week, the New York Observer blasted Conde Nast - and, in particular, Scott Dadich, the company's executive editor of digital magazine development - for the "stalling out" of the company's much-touted strategy to transition its properties from print to the iPad. When that strategy was first proposed, though, Dadich was seen as...
The Geeky Reason Including Links In AP Stories Is Harder Than It Seems
The AP has adopted a policy that will include links to source articles in its feed. This is trickier than it seems, as the article notes. The problem is that AP stories are built to be aggregated, shared and disseminated. It’s important, then, for them to uphold a core design principle: separating form from content....
Is Google +1 Going To Help You Take Back The Internet From Google?
Eli Pariser, one of the co-founders of MoveOn, would like you to know that Google is hiding things from you. Not intentionally. It's just that the algorithms Google uses to sort through search results (and the suggestions it hopefully displays as you type in the search box) are inherent limits. They're the end result of...
