Venture Optimist: "

Brad Feld: ‘I think the next 20 years of innovation around software and the Internet will make the last 20 years look like child’s play... I don’t see an endpoint to the human animal’s desire to innovate.’

I love Brad’s optimism. It matches my own. We’re all just barely getting started here.

When I initially read the piece, I mis-read the line as ‘I don’t see an endpoint to the human animal’s desire to communicate.’ Which is also true, and it’s why the internet, that great communication machine, is still brand-new.

(Via Brent.)

At the end, Ze says to try this, it actually works. I think it's brilliant. Hard times or not, this can make time with a special someone even more special.

HardTimes :: Hole from ze frank on Vimeo.

HarperCollins has a page up for Mother's Day. It's a really nice video of Charles' artwork with Neil reading his poem. Please go to the page and read Neil's notes about the book too.

The book still makes me cry every time I read it.

I have to say, I'm really impressed with how well Wil thinks on his feet. He did a great job with the well metaphor, and segued from physics to tequila flawlessly. Not bad for just a geek.

(Via Wil Wheaton.)

How does Gruber find these geniuses?

So the problem with Apple’s iLife apps is that they’re too good, and kids never learn that they need to struggle with technical issues before using software to express themselves creatively.

(Via Daring Fireball.)

In case you weren't sure, this should clear it up for you: Does She Love You? by Pasha Malla - The Morning News

He's gone and done it again. Made something amazingly cool and then turned around and let the world have it.

JSTalk's goal can described like this: JSTalk is to AppleScript, what Cocoa is to Carbon.

...

And that's my favorite part about JSTalk. You have the option to write your script in a Objective-C like style if you want to. And if you're the type of person who is scared of ['s, you don't have to use them!

(Via Gus's blog, adventures in Flying Meat..)

Hospital CEO With A Heart Finds An Unusual Way to Avoid Layoffs | Crooks and Liars

But a lot of them realize that everybody's in the same boat and that their boat doesn't rise because someone else's sinks.

Finally got one of these made.

Mine looked like this:

OK, so I saw this story today, and it helped me remember that not all news has to be bad news. It also reminded me of this one from last spring. Hopefully they'll bring a smile to your day.

OK, I think I gotta agree with this: The Trilogy Meter

Update: Oh, and a nice update using the IMDB star ratings to chart the films.

More miscellaneous thoughts about the economic 'crisis.'

Don't bail out businesses. Use the money to shore up unemployment and small business loans. I guarantee that if the unemployment pool is big enough, plenty of entrepreneurs will rise from the ashes.

Miscellaneous thoughts about the economic 'crisis.'

Don't bail out homeowners being foreclosed. Instead shore up Section 8 housing. Let the banks foreclose and try to do something with the properties. In many cases, I expect the local housing markets to drop enough that many of the foreclosed could re-enter the market, albeit at a lower level. Let the market do its thing, and let people fail. Otherwise, they will never learn.

People have trouble when they first hear about Twitter. They can't get a handle on what it is. It's whatever you want it to be. Your usage patter will probably match mine. Heck, my usage pattern this week probably won't match mine next week. Not only is Twitter evolving, but it evolves at different times for different users. I think Rands has a really good handle on the important points of Twitter here.

Every couple of weeks, a meme stressing about 'an increase in Twitter spam' wanders the Internet. Each time I see this meme appear, I turn away from my keyboard and bang my head against my desk three times.

The American economy does have serious problems, but the recession is the fix for those problems, not the cause.

(Via possible/probable.)

The Invisible Interface: Stealing Prefs

In this installment of The Invisible Interface, we are going to look at stealing preferences. What is stealing preferences? Simply enough, it’s using the preferences of some other app instead of having your own for a particular feature. The point of this is to avoid having to provide a separate interface for settings when the user has already made their choices known somewhere else.