March 12, 2010 (38)
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Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (updated daily) (230)
2 days, 5 hours
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Whee! I'm having fun doing more of these long form comics. My drawing hand is having less fun, but so far is holding up fairly well. However, if this trend keeps up, I'll be doing 40 panel comics every day in a few years. But don't worry - I'll just decrease the drawing quality accordingly.
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Jake said:
much more epic than their usual ones
New York Lawmakers Consider Outlawing Salt (14)
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Phil Villarreal (121)
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The Consumerist (1407)
2 days, 20 hours
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Determined to match Utah in sheer craziness, the New York state assembly has turned its ire toward salt, considering a bill that would prohibit its use in cooking in state restaurants, with a $1,000 fine to slap violators. The law may not have a great chance of passing once someone sane gets a look at it, and that's a shame, because as long as salt is legal, pepper and other dehumanizing spices will continue their ...
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ambience said:
...
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Natalie said:
"As long as salt is legal, pepper and other dehumanizing spices will continue their reign of delicious terror" haha!
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shadowstorm said:
What in the fuck is wrong with New York? Salt is required to live. Salt is needed for isotonic, hydrotonic, hypertonic (explodey!) soulutions in cells, it helps regulate homeostasis, essential for the operation of neurons and moving electrical impulses along nerve fibers, etc. etc. Fuck you, New York, you morons.Richard, you live there, take care of this shit.
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John said:
WTF?
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John said:
...aaaaand my faith in humanity drops another 10 points.
BoA Kills Overdraft Fees On Debit Purchase (13)
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Ben Popken (378)
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The Consumerist (1407)
3 days, 20 hours
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Bank of America announced they will stop charging overdraft fees on debit card purchases. If you don't have enough money to buy the item, the transaction will be declined. Reached for comment, JP Morgan Chase had none, and Wells Fargo said they're working on something. The move comes ahead of new federal regulations, and goes a step beyond. The new law only requires banks to get permission from customers before charging letting them overdraft and ...
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ambience said:
Let's hope this sticks around and the other banks follow suit. Three cheers for capitalism!
Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal « What I Couldn't Say… (73)
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Jonathan Schwartz (76)
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What I Couldn't Say... (76)
4 days, 16 hours
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I feel for Google – Steve Jobs threatened to sue me, too. In 2003, after I unveiled a prototype Linux desktop called Project Looking Glass*, Steve called my office to let me know the graphical effects were “stepping all over Apple’s IP.” (IP = Intellectual Property = patents, trademarks and copyrights.) If we moved forward to commercialize it, “I’ll just sue you.” My response was simple. “Steve, I was just watching your last presentation, and ...
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Ian said:
Worth reading the whole of Schwartz's encounter with Jobs.
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Chuck said:
"But for a technology company, going on offense with software patents seems like an act of desperation, relying on the courts instead of the marketplace."
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Roberto said:
So that's what happened to Project Looking Glass. I'd always wondered.Even though I'm not a Linux fan, their desktop has always put me off. Now I know who to thank.
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Amish said:
Fun little read... like Gossip Girl for geeks. Love how he closes it at the end.
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Kevin Gamble said:
I know this is being discussed everywhere, regardless it is darned interesting.
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Ihar said:
great write-up on software patents from ex-CEO of Sun
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Eddie said:
The title of this post refers to a quote from Pablo Picasso that Steve Jobs used in the 1996 PBS documentary "Triumph of the Nerds."
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ambience said:
Sweet article on software patents by Sun's, now former, CEO.
European Parliament Declaring War Against ACTA (14)
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Soulskill (530)
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Slashdot (2140)
4 days, 20 hours
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An anonymous reader writes "The European Parliament is preparing to take on ACTA. A joint resolution (DOC) has been tabled by the major EP parties that threatens to go to court unless things change. The EP is calling for public access to negotiation texts and rules out further confidential negotiations. Moreover, the EP wants a ban on imposing a three-strikes model, assurances that ACTA will not result in personal searches at the border, and an ...
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chbm said:
Lets just hope it's true.
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Akusasik said:
Woo Hoo, ballsy Europeans.
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ambience said:
Ah, the parties of the European Parliament. Fighting for what the American Congress should have long ago.
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Shane said:
Thank god.
All Your Apps Are Belong to Apple: The iPhone Developer Program License Agreement (47)
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Fred (293)
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EFF.org Updates (147)
5 days, 9 hours
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Legal Analysis by Fred von Lohmann The entire family of devices built on the iPhone OS (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) have been designed to run only software that is approved by Apple—a major shift from the norms of the personal computer market. Software developers who want Apple's approval must first agree to the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement. So today we're posting the "iPhone Developer Program License Agreement"—the contract that every developer who writes software ...
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Chuck said:
"In short, no competition among app stores means no competition for the license terms that apply to iPhone developers."Despite the relative openness of Android, this is why alternative Android markets need to be encouraged, too.
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Dave said:
Wow, this really syncs up with my post today on hobbyist computing and the iPads of tomorrow.
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Dan said:
Wheee!
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jettero said:
Haha, fuck I hate apple. I would never buy an apple product and I'm so fucking glad I feel that way.
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gRegor said:
Sharing this to remember to read it later.
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Blake said:
I love the EFF. Very clever, legal way to publicly post the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement. What an oppressive piece of garbage from Apple. Anyway, check how the EFF was able to do this:-----Though more than 100,000 app developers have clicked "I agree," public copies of the agreement are scarce, perhaps thanks to the prohibition on making any "public statements regarding this Agreement, its terms and conditions, or the relationship of the parties without Apple's express prior written approval." But when we saw the NASA App for iPhone, we used the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to ask NASA for a copy, so that the general public could see what rules conrolled the technology they could use with their phones.
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Marco said:
altri validi motivi per cui apple è definitivamente diventata LA MERDA
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bodzasfanta said:
brave new world, my friends!
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slobberchops said:
That is an absolutely excellent legal maneuver. Good job Electronic Frontier Foundation! Apple, you do, as always, stink. Except that I am writing this from one of your laptops.
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phillip said:
Don't be a slave. Android == freedom.
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jblackhall said:
Nice use of the Freedom of Information Act, EFF!
Scott and Scurvy (24)
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Waxy.org Links (165)
6 days, 4 hours
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It makes you wonder how many incurable ailments of the modern world - depression, autism, hypertension, obesity - will turn out to have equally simple solutions, once we are able to see them in the correct light
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shalinmangar said:
A fascinating account of how the cure for Scurvy was found, misunderstood and lost. Warning: it's a long article.
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C said:
Scurvy!
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Kevin said:
Deep and fascinating essay by Maciej on how hard it can be for science and truth to prevail.
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Ewout said:
"We tend to think that knowledge, once acquired, is something permanent. Instead, even holding on to it requires constant, careful effort."
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Jacob said:
Very interesting story about theories on cures for scurvy that had drastic results.
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ambience said:
"But the villain here is just good old human ignorance, that master of disguise. We tend to think that knowledge, once acquired, is something permanent. Instead, even holding on to it requires constant, careful effort."
Popular Science Frees Its 137-Year Archives (30)
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kdawson (835)
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Slashdot (2140)
1 week
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DesScorp writes "Popular Science magazine has scanned every issue they've ever produced, and posted the archives at their website, at no charge. 'We've partnered with Google to offer our entire 137-year archive for free browsing. Each issue appears just as it did at its original time of publication, complete with period advertisements. It's an amazing resource that beautifully encapsulates our ongoing fascination with the future, and science and technology's incredible potential to improve our lives. ...
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ambience said:
Sweet!
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Thomas said:
WOW, I'm going to try and find my first PopSci magazine!
Ubisoft's New DRM Cracked In One Day (28)
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timothy (380)
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Slashdot (2140)
1 week, 2 days
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Colonel Korn writes "Ubisoft's recent announcement that upcoming games would require a constant internet connection in order to play has been discussed at length on Slashdot ('The Awful Anti-Pirate System That Will Probably Work'). Many were of the opinion that this new, more demanding DRM would have effectiveness to match its inconvenience, at least financially justifying its use. Others assumed that it would be immediately cracked, as is usually the case, leaving the inconvenience for ...
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JulioHM said:
Sem comentários...
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Lucas said:
When will companies learn that we will pay for convenience and pirate or simply avoid the things that pass us off.
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vrillusions said:
Yeah, no one saw this coming It's why I've started to play more games on ps3. Aside from 50" tv I don't have to worry about mucking up my computer with drm that just hurts legit users.
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fhqwhgads said:
Are we REALLY surprised? I'm just happy I can unbreak my game.
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ambience said:
This should not be a surprise to anyone.
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David said:
Idiots. How many freaking times does this have to happen before they abandon these incredibly customer hostile solutions? NO LOCK EXISTS THAT WILL NOT/CANNOT BE PICKED!!! I wish I could engrave that on software executives' heads.
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Jardenberg said:
Pratade med Planeto-Martin om det här igår, och han har verkligen en TON med insyn här. Det kanske jag kan berätta mer om en annan dag. Anyway, han säger att det inte är knäckt, utan att det bara ser ut som det. Visst går det att spela, men det är ett helt annat spel. Typ, det kommer inga motståndare. Uppenbarligen är signalerna om att det inte är "rätt" spel, alldleles för svagt utformade - om nu Martin har rätt (vilket jag verkligen ha skäl att tro). Det borde riskera att slå tillbaka ganska rejält. Jag tycker som bekant hemskt illa om DRM, däremot har jag inget problem med att man konstruerar ett spel så att det löpande behöver individuella "instruktioner" från en server online. Det är ju bara smart. Det är att arbeta med tekniken, istället för mot den - som man gör med traditionell DRM
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dj said:
"Others assumed that it would be immediately cracked, as is usually the case, leaving the inconvenience for paying customers and resulting in a superior product for pirates."well put
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ORB said:
this was bound 2 happen. simple bypass softwares can be used to do these things... actually they made it simpler for the warez scene people, they dont hav 2 decompile or hexedit or resouce hack things, they can just add instructions on how 2 use some bypass software
The Mobile Patent Mexican Standoff [Mobile] (18)
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Brian Barrett (444)
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Gizmodo (4260)
1 week, 2 days
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Apple's patent theft accusations against HTC got a lot of press this week, as they should! But it's just the most recent case in a gun-slinging mobile landscape riddled with patent lawsuits. This'll end about as well as Reservoir Dogs. The NY Times breaks it down today with this handy chart of who's suing whom. Nokia has been particularly active, along with Kodak. The biggest target? Apple. Companies sue each other over intellectual property all ...
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Akusasik said:
A few years ago my boss was telling me how all big manufacturers are sitting on a lot of patents that are organized into "strategic defense portfolios". So SonyEricson would have a bunch of patents they can sue LG with, and LG has a 100 patterns they can sue SonyEricson with. And these portfolios served as deterrents against big lawsuits. He compared it to Cold War standoff at the time, and the patents to nuclear deterrents. I guess there`s a nuclear war going on in the mobile world now. Cool. It will be curious to see what the post-apocalyptic mobile landscape looks like.
You can’t make this stuff up, pt. 11,555 (21)
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Thomas E. Ricks (22)
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The Best Defense (22)
1 week, 3 days
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The Israeli military had to cancel a planned operation after a soldier posted the details of the upcoming mission on Facebook. "The soldier also disclosed the name of the combat unit, the place of the operation and the time it will take place," Haaretz reports. The soldier actually wrote, "On Wednesday we clean up Qatanah [a village near Ramallah], and on Thursday, god willing, we come home." Can you imagine being this guy's platoon leader?
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Jeremy said:
That is why the military is reluctant to allow social networks.
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Shahin said:
The Israeli military had to cancel a planned operation after a soldier posted the details of the upcoming mission on Facebook. "The soldier also disclosed the name of the combat unit, the place of the operation and the time it will take place," Haaretz reports. The soldier actually wrote, "On Wednesday we clean up Qatanah [a village near Ramallah], and on Thursday, god willing, we come home." Can you imagine being this guy's platoon leader?
Apple goes to war - Sues HTC for infringing 20 patents (36)
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Nilay Patel (573)
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Engadget (3357)
1 week, 4 days
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Looks like Apple's going on the warpath, kids. Just a few months after Cupertino got into it with Nokia over phone patents, Apple's filed suit against HTC, alleging that the company is infringing 20 patents "related to the iPhone's user interface, underlying architecture, and hardware." Steve, you have something to say? "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about ...
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Stephen said:
F*ck Apple
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DCFemella said:
Woah
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Terrence said:
awww snap! Go patents! They bring choice and innovation to consumers!
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rveguilla said:
This is really a bad sign for Apple...
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ambience said:
PATENT WAR 2010Seriously though, abuse of software patents combined with Apple's closed platform just make me hate this company all the more. The patents include ones concerning simple manipulation of objects on a touch screen and "Conserving Power By Reducing Voltage Supplied To An Instruction-Processing Portion Of A Processor."Software patents are total bullshit and prevent innovation in software by preventing a market segment that has a low barrier-to-entry and insanely fast turnover rates of software features from achieving its full potential. They kill creativity on the part of software writers and are genuinely bad for consumers that actually want options in the devices they own.Fuck Apple.
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taknom said:
アンドロイド機だけじゃなくて、ウインドウズモバイル機も対象のようですね
Another Village Unvanishes (16)
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2 weeks
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(Underwater since the 80s, the Andean town of Potosi, Venezuela, has reemerged after a severe drought has reduced water levels in a reservoir feeding a hydroelectric dam. Normally, the church spire is used as a depth gauge, but now it's calling attention to some of the most challenging global issues, specifically, climate change, water scarcity, environmental justice and alternative energy. Photo via Reuters. See also The Village Unvanishes.)
Do A Total Background Check On Yourself (34)
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Ben Popken (378)
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The Consumerist (1407)
2 weeks, 2 days
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Now you can know what Big Brother knows about you and get access to the same dirt everyone from your boss, landlord, insurance agent, to your favorite casino has on you. Here is a comprehenisve list of websites and phone numbers for most of the "specialty" consumer reports, like your employment, rental, and check writing history. Be sure to check them out and correct any errors, before a crisis hits. Employment History Reports The Work ...
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sean said:
A great list of services to validate.
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Caly said:
Handy
Quake 3 ported to Android, shows off Droid's graphical prowess (video) (13)
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Vladislav Savov (598)
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Engadget (3357)
2 weeks, 2 days
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You should by now be well aware that there's no shortage of games one can play on one's beloved Droid, but just for the FPS old schoolers out there, how's about a nice Quake 3 port to pass the time with? Yup, the game that defined the term multiplayer before World of Warcraft came around has been enabled on the Android OS, finally finding another mobile home after residing on Nokia handsets for so long. ...
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sean said:
it is useless, for you can not control it by mobile keyboard.
NPR News Android App Now Streams Local Stations Live [Updates] (20)
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Kevin Purdy (1201)
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Lifehacker (5054)
3 weeks, 3 days
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Android: NPR News' Android app has quickly upgraded its nice but not quite necessary app to something far more useful: a portal for streaming nearly an NPR station's content live to your phone, including your local favorites.Fire up the application, choose the Stations menu item, and you're asked if you want to find your stations based on location, or enter a ZIP code or city name to find one. Assuming your local station is one ...
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ambience said:
Hell yes. Now I can finally listen to my South Florida NPR station for Morning Edition and other shows while WABE continues playing classical music.
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FirstAidKit said:
#envy
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ubernerd83 said:
For my fellow Android users.
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Niranjan said:
I love this app. It is really polished and well designed and sets a good example for other apps on Android.
Angry Norwegians in scuba gear chase after Google Street View car (72)
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Xeni Jardin (769)
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Boing Boing (4092)
1 month
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News story, auto-translated to English in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten. More on Google Maps. (thanks, BB reader Kjetil Rydland in Norway!)
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Jake said:
I don't want to know the explanation.
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Sage said:
I can't explain why this had me laughing until my stomach hurt, but it did.
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B said:
Megalol! :D
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mbower said:
HAHAHA, don't piss these guys off!
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Jeremy said:
Is that Neptune?
Chatroulette (37)
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Jason Kottke (412)
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kottke.org (412)
1 month
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I spent about 30 minutes on Friday night on Chatroulette (very NSFW). You push the start button and you're instantly in a video chat with some random person. During my session, the average "chat" lasted about 5 seconds and I observed several people drinking malt liquor, two girls making out, many many guys who disconnected as soon as they saw I wasn't female, several girls who disconnected after seeing my face (but not before I ...
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Richard said:
Omegle with video.
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Jake said:
Glad this didn't exist when I was in college.
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Derek said:
I didn't have the guts to try it, did you?
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Josh said:
This is so trippy.
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Scott said:
"In short, Chatroulette is pretty much the best site going on the internet right now."
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Udi said:
This is wild, fascinating idea.
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dare said:
extreme speed dating (NSFW)
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Coolbox said:
lol
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Andrew said:
Someone else showed me this site the other day, and I tweeted about it http://bit.ly/9dAmD3. It's a dangerous game indeed, but can also be entertaining...especially if you put just your cat in front of the camera.