berkleebassist

So I read this article by Rob Foster, On iPads, Grandmas and Game-changing, and it really resonated. I’ve heard the same sort of things from the people in my life, and the folks who’ve asked me about the iPad I’ve given a similar answer: “This would be perfect for [relative/friend].”

My favorite quote from his article, in reference to his technophobic friend, talking about his iPhone:“I had never once seen him exhibit any excitement over technology but the next time I saw him, he could barely contain his enthusiasm for his new phone.”

Awesome.

It is! I’m playing a show tomorrow night with a band called Matrajah, at the Woodbine Club, located at 57 Blue Hill Ave, Boston MA.

Related show

• Artist: Matrajah
• Date: Sunday, February 7^th 2010
• City: Matrajah in Boston, MA
• Venue: Woodbine Association
• Address: 57 Blue Hill Ave
• Country: US
• Admission: $5
• Age restrictions: 21+
• Notes: Matrajah MySpace page
• Add to Google Calendar | Download iCal

(Via @diabola)

I just want to highlight the fact that it’s been 50 years since the Greensboro sit-ins, which helped spark the Civil Rights Movement, eventually leading to the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act, which outlawed segregation. The Awl has a great story on it: Very Recent History: The Greensboro Sit-Ins. It links further to an article by former NY Times executive editor Howell Raines, which“discuss[es] the role media coverage played in opening America’s eyes to the struggle, and speculates as to how it might differ today.”

Pretty cool stuff.

(Via The Awl)

This is why I love Penny Arcade.

So, The Oatmeal always has hilarious stuff. And now, he’s eviscerated my favorite piece of punctuation. And it’s hilarious. Go on, check out “How to use a semicolon”.

This comes by way of Jeff Croft:

In comparison to other devices

The Amazon Kindle DX (the current model with a 9.7” screen) is $480. FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY BUCKS. In other words, it’s a hopeless pile of shit that looks like joke next to an iPad.

Honestly, do I really need to go any further with comparisons? Love it or hate it, the iPad just made everything else that is even remotely similar look like an overpriced toy. Period.

Seriously, I laughed my ass off when I read that first paragraph.

In all seriousness though, this quote really nails it:

Multi-tasking is vastly overrated. But multi-user support is a killer app no one is talking about.

I think it really boils down to this: if it doesn't wow the geeks, you’ve got a killer device on your hands. Because it means everybody else will “get” it.

So I spotted this, and am just astounded. It's the opening crawl from Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, done only using HTML & CSS. Caveat, of course: being that it's bleeding edge CSS stuff, it only works in Safari 4.0.4 or WebKit nightly.

So, I collect desktop backgrounds (wallpaper, to you Windows folks). I have somewhere north of 800 desktop backgrounds, of all different subjects. But I really love the abstract, simple stuff. And then I found Simple Desktops. Just awesome. As they say on their about page“Do you want less, but not boring? Then you want Simple Desktops.” Go check 'em out, you won't be disappointed!

My friend Brian Christiansen posted this one at his tumblr, Off The Grid, but I wanted to feature it here as well. Check out our health care spending per person, as compared with other countries of the first world:

Another interesting read on the health care topic is this article, The Rest is Just Noise, at, of all places, The New Republic.