China's state broadcaster isn't saying why the station ran the music to "America the Beautiful" during the gala live broadcast of the country's latest space launch.(via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Twitter Can't Keep a Straight Face About Siri →
See also: http://twitter.com/#!/AshleyEsqueda/status/121296944869023744 http://twitter.com/#!/ncroal/status/121288356016558080 http://twitter.com/#!/webby2001/status/121347446495395840 http://twitter.com/#!/davezatz/status/121289499866169344 http://twitter.com/#!/cschweitz/status/121416149358485504
Apple Introduces Siri, Web Freaks Out a Little →
When Apple introduced Siri, the talking, voice-activated "personal assistant" that will come with its new iPhone 4S, the Web leaped to the obvious, rational conclusion: That it's a sinister, potentially alien artificial intelligence that's bound to kill us all.
Just a "a humble personal assistant", huh? Isn't that what they all say?
Facebook Re-Enables Controversial Tracking Cookie →
Kinda sorta. From a Facebook engineer in the comments:
We have been made aware of 2 instances in the past 2 weeks related to cookies which needed to be addressed. What you describe in this post is not a re-enabling of anything, but a separate issue involving a limited number of sites, including CBSSports.
It's starting to sound like either Facebook doesn't know where their cookies go and how they'e used, or their whole cookie management system is riddled with bugs. Both ignorance and incompetence are confidence-inspiring.
Xbox 360 Teams Up With Entertainment Leaders to Transform TV →
Today, Microsoft Corp. announced plans to roll out the next generation of TV entertainment on Xbox LIVE, the online entertainment service for Xbox 360. Nearly 40 world-leading TV and entertainment providers, including Bravo, Comcast, HBO GO, Verizon FiOS and Syfy in the U.S.; BBC in the U.K., Telefónica in Spain; Rogers On Demand in Canada; Televisa in Mexico; ZDF in Germany; and MediaSet in Italy, will begin rolling out entertainment services to the console this holiday, in more than 20 countries.
What a coup for XBox. They might have just ended the living room set-top box wars before they began. I don't see Apple or Google announcing this level of partnership any time soon. This really solidifies the opinion I wrote here:
Microsoft has shown that its entertainment business has a cohesive strategy, supported by broad and diverse efforts within the company and partners without.
The fall release just keeps getting more and more interesting. Hopefully it's coming to my beta soon...
Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
— "Think Different" ad, Apple Computer, Inc., 1997
Always worth a re-posting. Thanks for thinking differently, Steve.
Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.
(via WhiteHouse.gov, Apple, Inc.)
JHU's Newest Nobel Laureate →
In a day chock-full of metaphors used to explain universe-sized science, Adam Riess employed a simple image to convey to his 7-year-old daughter the life-altering award he had just won. It's like getting a "great big gold sticker" on your school folder, he told her.
That and $1.49 million dollars. But well-deserved for one of the greatest discoveries of astrophysics.
Facebook Fixes and Explains Logout Issue →
Facebook has fixed a "bug" where a cookie containing your account ID persisted after logout. But the remaining cookies...
...by the very purpose they serve, uniquely identify the browser being used - even after logout. As a user, you have to take Facebook at their word that the purpose of these cookies is only for what is being described.
At a press event today in New York and San Francisco, we announced and previewed a selection of new Windows Live Hotmail features that will be rolling out to users in the coming month, including better tools for managing newsletters like unsubscribe and scheduled inbox cleanup, improvements to flagging, custom categories for filters and quickviews, a new Android app with full email, contact, and calendar syncing, and my favorite, instant actions that appear when hovering over messages. The official blog post has details a few of these, WinRumors has a writeup with some other details and screenshots, and http://anotherlookathotmail.com has video of the new features in action along with facts and stats, performance numbers, info on security, and why you should give Hotmail another look.