Paul Graham on news

August 24th, 2005

http://www.paulgraham.com/opensource.html

Most articles in the print media are boring. For example, the president notices that a majority of voters now think invading Iraq was a mistake, so he makes an address to the nation to drum up support. Where is the man bites dog in that? I didn’t hear the speech, but I could probably tell you exactly what he said. A speech like that is, in the most literal sense, not news: there is nothing new in it. [3]

Nor is there anything new, except the names and places, in most “news” about things going wrong. A child is abducted; there’s a tornado; a ferry sinks; someone gets bitten by a shark; a small plane crashes. And what do you learn about the world from these stories? Absolutely nothing. They’re outlying data points; what makes them gripping also makes them irrelevant.

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Happy Corp – Not 100% Sure, But I Like It

August 16th, 2005

I am not 100% sure what happy corp does. But I like it.
It seems to harness ideas, ventures and overall craziness.
You guys figure it out and tell me what they do.
Happy faces are always nice.

http://www.thehappycorp.com

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Carbon Nanotube Transistors

August 16th, 2005

Excuse my extremely nerdy moment, but this is highly interesting:

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7847

Tiny tubes of carbon, crafted into the shape of a Y, could revolutionise the computer industry, suggests new research.

The work has shown that Y-shaped carbon nanotubes are easily made and act as remarkably efficient electronic transistors – the toggles used to control the flow of electrons through computer circuits.

But the nanotransistors are just a few hundred millionths of a metre in size -roughly 100 times smaller than the components used in today’s microprocessors. They could, therefore, be used to create microchips several orders of magnitude more powerful than the ones used in computers today, with no increase in chip size.

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Alumni Weekend United States

August 16th, 2005

If you are an Art Center College of Design Alumni please join us this upcoming weekend for the “Alumni Weekend United States” .
A special 75th Anniversary celebration for global alumni.

Myself and my lovely partner in business and life Lorraine Molina will be on a panel on “Entrepreneurial Strategies” on Saturday, August 20th.

Also both Bank (http://www.bank-art.com) and THE_GROOP offices ((http://www.thespacela.com) will be open for a “Studio Open House” Friday the 19th all day.

We will be attending the many great events during the weekend.
Join Us!

http://www.artcenter.edu/accd/events/alumcalendar.jsp

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Software is Beautiful

August 15th, 2005

This is a show that you can’t miss. For all of our technology / art inclined friends. Bank will be showing artist Casey Reas.

“As an artist, Reas is employing ideas explored in conceptual and minimal artworks as focused through the contemporary lens of software. Reas’ software and images are derived from short text instructions explaining processes which define networks. The instructions are expressed in different media including natural language, machine code, computer simulations, and static images.”

Please check out http://www.reas.com/

Please check the Bank website in September for the date of the show.

http://www.bank-art.com

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Who Ever Said PHP Is Small Time?

August 15th, 2005

Some people tend to think that any Open Source software, such as PHP is inherently small-time compared to it’s corporate counterparts. not true! Check these following links:

a faster friendster:
http://troutgirl.com/blog/index.php?/archives/22_Friendster_goes_PHP.html

PHP is good enough for Yahoo!
http://talks.php.net/show/lt2004-lamp

Can you say “30,000 people online” – holy crap.
http://ian.gaiaonline.com/forum/index.php

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How About Some Massive Multiplayer Online Life

August 10th, 2005

I know we have all thought of “dropping out” from our day-to-day lives.
Well this is a great way of doing it.
Not unlike GTA3 it allows for any type of behavior.
It is aptly named “Second Life”. Here is the kicker; you can build your own life. Who your are, where you live, your house. You can fly, sail, drive etc.

“Travel on foot, or by planes, trains, and flying saucers; gondolas, fuel-injected muscle cars, mechanical unicorns, fearsome gun ships, giant snails, smog-belching mech robots, stardust-powered magic broomsticks—or on your own power, with the innate ability that all Residents have, to teleport and fly at will”

Its OPEN SOURCE!. Meaning that the residents have made RPG’s, puzzles, First Person Shooters all inside the world.

Why is this cool you might ask. Unlike the The Sims the players contribute to the world. Unlike The Sims you can do ANYTHING you want. Complete free will. Yes there are brothels.

Here is the site for it:
http://secondlife.com

Here is an article about it on CNET:
Article

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Must Read , Open Source + Business = Nice

August 10th, 2005

Great article about what Business can learn from the Open Source Movement.
Thanks to our good friend Mr. Himebrook at CPB. For the link.

http://www.paulgraham.com/opensource.html

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Great Site for Architecture Firm

August 8th, 2005

I found this in the ID 51st Annual Design Review.
I like it for some of the same reasonse they gave it an honorable mention.
It focuses on the “human” aspect of the firm’s practice. Highlighting actual employees on the homepage.
The overall information architecture is also tight and easy to understand.
Though the overall look and feel is fairly conservative, I do like the fact that its very very tight. From a stuctural and production perspective.

Let me know what YOU think about the site. What do you like about it?

http://www.hillier.com/

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Yikes, here is an example of strong positioning

August 7th, 2005

It is clear that they “exude” creativity.

Keep on hitting refresh and tell me what you think.

http://www.smashlab.com/home

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