A few posts from the last week or so-- I plan on posting these weekly, let me know what you think!
JRJ:For centuries, historians, political theorists, anthropologists and the public have tended to think about the political process in seasonal, cyclical terms. From Polybius to Paul Kennedy, from ancient Rome to imperial Britain, we discern a rhythm to history. Great powers, like great men, are born, rise, reign and then gradually wane. No matter whether civilizations decline culturally, economically or ecologically, their downfalls are protracted. Read more…
Niall Ferguson is one of my favorite authors-- his book "The Ascent of Money" was a fascinating combination of history and economics. In this opinion piece, he asserts that drastic geopolitical change can occur much more quickly than one would intuit. Not sure I agree with his thesis here, but interesting none the less.
JRJ:Viacom will remove "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and other Comedy Central television shows from Hulu next week, in a move that represents the first major fracture between TV show owners and the popular video Web site. Read more…
Looks like Viacom is willing to give up some reach in exchange for a bigger piece of the ad/branding pie. I prefer the Comedy Central site for The Daily Show, since they often have extended versions of the show's interviews there.
JRJ:Kwizzcard: Welcome To The Card Of The Future. Loyalty cards, game cards, etc. go electronic. Read more…
Will be interesting to see how this kind of technology is used as costs come down. I can imagine a very BladeRunner-esque experience walking down the isles of a grocery store if packaging becomes more interactive.
JRJ:
I'm watching this closely to see how it evolves. I definitely recommend reading Scheier's commentary.
On Tuesday, the White House published an unclassified summary of its Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI). Howard Schmidt made the announcement at the RSA Conference. These are the 12 initiatives in the plan:
Read more…JRJ:Gadget nerds: Prepare to lose the rest of your day to awesomeness. PopSci, the web-wing of Popular Science magazine, has scanned its entire 137-year archive and put it online for you to read, absolutely free.
Excellent-- I loved Popular Science when I was a kid-- will be a lot of nostalgic reading this weekend.
Great combination of speed and efficiency... oh, and did I mention it's gorgeous? It's a good time to be a car guy.
JRJ:
This is incredible-- I can't believe this intro was done with practical effects. Nobody would even think to approach the problem this way today. Fascinating stuff.
During the time that we were brainstorming ideas internally for DIY Movie Making month, a link to this video gem got circulated. It brought back so many memories of the beginnings of HBO and this amazing opening sequence. I've always had a special soft spot in my heart for miniatures and model-making of all sorts. And this opening was sort of a model-maker's paradise, as this making-of video will attest. Who knew that the flying H-B-O where physical models? [Thanks, Lish Dorset!]
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It's been almost 5 years to the day since I joined the Digital Media Division (which no longer exists) at Microsoft. In that time, I've had the good fortune to work on projects including Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Media Center, Windows Media Player, Silverlight, Zune, XBox 360, and more. I've had the opportunity to work with people who are literally an order of magnitude smarter than me, which is a huge motivator. It's been a blast.
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