Technology

It is Blue Beanie Day. Fellow makers of the web, let’s not forget to make it as good as we can. zeldman.com/2016/11/22/yea…

Barbara Crampton on Stuart Gordon, Chopping Mall, and the new wave of indie horror

For fans of 1980s B-horror, here’s a good AV Club interview with the delightful Barbara Crampton.

Anti-Christ in a custom van: The churchy cheap thrills of A Thief In The Night

It may seem impossible to not think of the end of the world in poetic terms, but never underestimate the premillennialists.

Why Punching Down Will Never Be Funny

Watters and… See more →

Also, Netflix, please do a better job of keeping this bullshit away from my eyeballs.

Apple’s Messages app now adds an iTunes Store link when an artist is mentioned. Our utopia of ad-saturated private conversations is nigh.

“The things Black Mirror uncovers about the nature of people and technology are […] remarkably absent of nuance.” vulture.com/2016/10/black-…

A lot of dudes who are not remotely good at photography sure do get hyped about having good cameras.

How the “garbage in, garbage out” principle applies to artificial intelligence: “How Machines Learn to Be Racist.” propublica.org/article/breaki…

“This is about bringing the sci-fi robots of our childhood to life.” thenib.com/the-league-of-…

Current status.

Just smashed my phone’s screen, and my contract is up, so I guess I’m upgrading. What are the best deals with good NYC coverage these days?

Hats off to the guy on 6th Ave talking on the giant 1980s cellphone. Or maybe hats on. I haven’t decided. Stand by.

Fear of a Female President

To understand this reaction, start with what social psychologists call “precarious manhood” theory. The theory posits that while womanhood is typically viewed as natural and permanent, manhood must be “earned and maintained.” Because it is won, it can also be lost. Scholars at the University of South Florida and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign reported that when asked how someone might lose his manhood, college students rattled off social… See more →

A thought-provoking, refreshingly non-Luddite take on mental and spiritual health in the “era of mass distraction.” nymag.com/selectall/2016…

“It’s more surprising that everyone in the Valley doesn’t support Trump than that Thiel and Luckey do.” theatlantic.com/technology/arc…

I had fun making animations for @JuliaAngwin’s story on Amazon’s questionable practices. propublica.org/article/amazon…

After upgrading my 🍎tv this weekend, it is my sworn duty as a citizen of the internet to express my disapproval of the new Netflix UI.

Could Women Be Trusted With Their Own Pregnancy Tests?

They had me sign my rights away for $1,” Ms. Crane told me. She never did get that dollar.

Meanwhile, in most areas of the United States, women still need permission from a doctor to buy birth control pills, even though they are arguably safer than a lot of other drugs now sold over the counter and there are very few health risks involved. It’s true… See more →

I miss @GetEditorially.

As RSS use becomes increasingly niche, how many publication redesign cycles until it disappears? Many newer feed-worthy sites omit them.

My follower demographics are a skewed sample, but I’m willing to bet that in general, RSS’s remaining devotees are mostly web geeks over 30.

Glad to hear from so many of my RSS family. I hereby dub us the Really Simple Syndicate.

I know I’m not the only one who still loves RSS. Let me hear you, RSS people.

After 20+ frustrating years, either I’m a perpetual Adobe edge case, or they’re actively trying to drive me insane. Not sure which is worse.

Using Animate (née Flash) for the first time in ages and simple shape hints aren’t working correctly and I’m definitely 100% extremely calm.

Buzzfeed’s @cwarzel digs into the causes of Twitter’s ongoing failure to meaningfully address harassment. buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/…

Also, new releases are by definition unfamiliar. The part most likely to be familiar is the artist name, yet it’s given the least emphasis.

Given how effective Discover Weekly is, why must @Spotify New Releases make me dig for music I might actually like?

Having been to a few karaoke events at tech conferences, I’m not sure if I’m relieved or disappointed no one has sung “Jolene” as “Boolean.”

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There’s nothing wrong with walled gardens. They’re safe spaces. They take care of your enjoyment and entertainment, so you don’t have to.

But there also a bit boring. I certainly don’t relish the idea of spending my days within the boundaries of someone else’s vision.

There’s a different kind of garden. It takes its name from another short story by Borges.

The Garden of Forking Paths. It is uncontrolled. It is full of possibilities. It’s… See more →

“[I]f Google offers to make us immortal, we should check first to make sure we’ll have someplace to live.” idlewords.com/talks/sase_pan…

Wonderful piece from @adactio digging through the generations of thought that produced the amazing World Wide Web. adactio.com/articles/10887

A Gunfight in Guatemala

Crazy story: Sebastian Rotella. Art direction: David Sleight. Animation: Christopher Park.

Police Building Apartments

Lately my favorite part of my commute is passing this building.

Here’s The Powerful Letter The Stanford Victim Read To Her Attacker

Having too much to drink was an amateur mistake that I admit to, but it is not criminal. Everyone in this room has had a night where they have regretted drinking too much, or knows someone… See more →

To many of the younger folks I talk to these days – even techies – the open web seems to be a foreign concept. 😕 theatlantic.com/technology/arc…

“If you bet against text, you will lose.” kottke.org/16/06/facebook…

“We are organisms, not computers. Get over it.” aeon.co/essays/your-br…

Every couple of years, I switch from Safari to Chrome (or vice versa) due to increasingly sluggish performance. Anyone else experience this?

A Final Visit With Prince: Rolling Stone’s Lost Cover Story

“All of us need to be able to reach out and just fix stuff. There's nothing that's unforgivable.”

The Contributions of Others: A Session with Jeremy Keith

“I’ve found that on the web, it’s best to assume nothing. That might sound like a scary prospect, but it’s actually quite liberating. Giving up on “pixel-perfect” control doesn’t mean giving up on quality. Quite the opposite: it… See more →

I just unearthed and opened an Illustrator file I created in 1997. The screen real estate game has changed.

Lest we forget, algorithms reflect human biases. This one wrongly predicts higher recidivism risk for black people. propublica.org/article/machin…

Interesting read on how the design of social media platforms is inadvertently proliferating the lunatic fringe. fastcoexist.com/3059742/social…

Are users of other third-party Twitter clients having this issue? Is it the Twitter API or is it @tweetbot? twitter.com/robweychert/st…

My @tweetbot Activity tab is omitting random likes that are otherwise visible in Twitter’s notifications. Any other users having this issue?

Lots of great takeaways from @mikeindustries’s ruminations on his time leading design at Twitter. mikeindustries.com/blog/archive/2…

“What these podcasters [want] is the same tool web publishers have used… to systematically ruin web content…” marco.org/2016/05/07/app…

Today I signed up for @Venmo. I’m stunned that it has a social component, a privacy nightmare turned on by default. Use @SquareCash, people!

Police Body Cameras: What Do You See?

“People are expecting more of body cameras than the technology will deliver,” Professor Stoughton said. “They expect it to be a broad solution for the problem of police-community relations, when in fact it’s just a tool, and like any tool, there’s a limited value to what it can do.”

Inside Operation Trump, the Most Unorthodox Campaign in Political History

Politics require some amount of cynicism and hubris. Trump… See more →

After 5 months with @swinsian, I’m switching back to iTunes. Many reasons, but the final straw is the need to have Prince songs on my phone.

The regrettable two-handed nature of the post-iPhone 6 landscape has infected the NYC subway with a wicked scourge of pole-huggers.