Daily Links
Daily Links
Flight of the Conchords Reunite
Greatest benefit song EVER!Kodiak PHP
Allows developers to code and run PHP on their iPad offline. Circling August 31st on my app-buying calendar.Daily Links
Book Reviews For Sale
A New York Times article looks into the business of manipulating online book reviews.Rebuilding Facebook for iOS
An article straight from Facebook on where the app came from, how it evolved, why it started with HTML5, and why it finally switched to a faster native Object-C application.Doctor Who Prequel: Pond Life
If you're like us and can't wait for the next season of Doctor Who, here's something to keep you going. Pond Life - a 5-part mini-adventure with one installment released each day.'Bic for Her' Pens Deluged With Sarcastic Reviews on Amazon
Many of them are more truthy than sarcastic. Still awesome all the same!
Daily Links
One Giant Loss for Mankind
Neil Armstrong has died, at the age of 82. He walked on the moon July 20th, 1969, but at the time of his death no one had been back since December 1972. For my entire life, it hasn't even been possible for someone to return. When we remember the great accomplishments of this man, and others like him, we should also remember to strive for greater things. Let their work form the foundation, and not the pinnacle, of human achievement.Daily Links
Lance Armstrong Wants To Tell Nation Something But Nation Has To Promise Not To Get Mad
Yet again the Onion foretold the future.Lance Armstrong
Not really a surprise to say that in a dirty sport, like cycling, you have to cheat to compete and cheat the best to be the best, but a LOT of people are not going to take this very well.Armstrong, Best of His Time, Now With an Asterisk
Some perspective on all the cycling news today from George Vecsey.Movies, Money, and Metadata: visualized.
A nifty visualization of movie data including profitability, production budget, rating, and more!Daily Links
Electronic Fare-Collection and Winnipeg Transit
This should make life easier for our bus-going friends. Being able to go online and reload a card rather than picking up weekly or monthly passes in person is very convenient!Fresco Restored
"The once-dignified portrait now resembles a crayon sketch of a very hairy monkey in an ill-fitting tunic, he says."Uncertain Rainbow
Twitter without the ego, it replaces names and avatars with simple colors.Daily Links
The Second 90%
Matt Gemmell talks about working on his recently released "Sticky Notifications" app, and all the things that went into it after he actually built the thing but before you release it. Its all the "extra stuff we do to make the user'€s life just a little bit easier".Leaked iPhone 5 Video
This is a very well done parody video. I laughed! But only after my online friends told me to ;(On My Feet All Day
There's a growing trend of people switching over to standing desks. I've noticed it in my Twitter feed, with fellow internet and creative professional raving about it. Here in the office, a couple co-workers alternate during the day, using boxes to raise their laptops. Last week, I decided to do the same.
Since I didn't know if a standing desk would be right for me, I cobbled something together to try it out first. I used a piece of wood left over from our move last year, propping it up at wrist level with boxes of stationary. The wood piece is big enough to provide space for a wireless keyboard, mouse, coffee cup, papers, pens, etc. Our work-bench office layout has a half-wall which is at the perfect height for me to put a monitor. It keeps the screen at eye-level when I'm standing, as opposed to looking downward at my laptop screen.
Now, keep in mind, standing all day is no cure-all. Bryan Walsh wrote an article for Time magazine that talked about the health effects of both sitting and standing all day. He cites sources that link problems to prolong sitting... but also notes potential issues for those who stand all day. As in most things, moderation and variety is key. If you're sitting, make sure to walk around every twenty minutes.
Over the course of the week, I could feel the change in my feet and legs. My calves had the good exercized feeling in them, my knees ached on and off, and I could feel the weight on my feet. I had to change my stance once in a while to give my arches a rest. I was feeling tired at the end of the day.
I kept my chair nearby so I could sit down once in a while. As the days went by, it was less necessary. I got used to standing. I tried different adjustments, including keyboard heights and a vertical monitor, until I settled into something comfortable. I switched to sneakers and my feet thanked me for it. I sit down for lunch and if I need to consult a co-worker, I'll sit at their desk.
I'm going to give my make-shift solution a couple weeks before I decide whether or not to make it a permanant workspace. Standing desks can be expensive but there are several low-cost solutions out there that build on existing setups. I'm leaning toward something that I can put up and take down fairly easily, maybe foldable, something that gives me ongoing flexibility.
If you're interested in trying it, I recommend reading this Forbes article by Steve Mullis. It covers many things I looked into before and discovered as I went along. Also, I recommend you try it out first; giving the amount of stationary and miscellaneous supplies around the average office, it shouldn't be difficult to throw together something temporary.
Daily Links
Amazon Glacier
New cloud service from Amazon. Extremely low cost for infrequently accessed information, designed for data archiving and backups.Printers are spontaneously printing odd "SQL" strings
Interesting discussion on Hacker News about printers and the fact that no one bothers to secure them. The thread links to a discussion on apple.com about printers spontaneously printing information. Following with interest.