It's a Pretty Good Headline Alright

 

Monkeys hate flying squirrels, report monkey-annoyance experts

Japanese macaques will completely flip out when presented with flying squirrels, a new study in monkey-antagonism has found. The research could pave the way for advanced methods of enraging monkeys.

There is video here.

This is a great response to the current movement towards making headlines search-engine friendly but rather homogenous

Newspapers still have headlines, of course, but they don’t seem to strive for greatness or to risk flopping anymore, because editors know that when the stories arrive on the Web, even the best headlines will be changed to something dull but utilitarian.

One of my personal favourites below, from the New York Post 

More of this kind of thing please!

(story via Metafilter, image from weheartit.com)

Flipboard – but is it legal?

I only caught the last part of last night’s TWiT (#259, Next Stop, Gilbert Arizona) but did come across an interesting snippet of information about iPad darling app du jour, Flipboard.

According to Baratunde Thurston of the Onion, the app goes beyond aggregating RSS feeds and “de-uglifying” them and seems to be using machine and/or human based scraping to pull in third party content from publishers. In doing this, ads placed on the third-party sites are removed. Flipboard has stated that it will enter into revenue sharing arrangements with the content publishers as it will be including it’s own ads, which will allegedly deliver ten times the amount of advertising revenue that publishers currently receive. Further details of these arrangements have yet to be revealed.

Whilst the app itself looks pretty and their team have done a masterful job of seeding it through the early adopter community, this (if true) is a step backwards into an issue that seemed to already been resolved. It also means that publisher’s shaky online advertising revenues may be squeezed even more.

Audio via twit.tv (1:51:28, iPad and Flipboard segment starts at around 1:23)

http://er7radio.net/wp-content/plugins/audio-player/player.swf

Jesse Schell: Visions of the Gamepocalypse


This talk is long (90 minutes, with another 20ish minutes for questions and answers with Kevin Kelly) but very worthwhile, and in no way solely related to games. Anyone interested in a particular vision of the future based on technology should give it a listen. Put your feet up, although as the player is a Flash player you won’t be able to listen to it on your iPad whilst lounging on your couch …

Message 1: people like shiny things such as filling progress bars and unlocking achievements.

Message 2: the prediction threshold is creeping in so much that many people are abandoning the idea of crystal-ball gazing.

Message 3: the explosion in Facebook gaming is in large part because people can now play games at work. No arguments from me there. 

Message 4: every technology will experience a trough of disillusionment followed by a slope of enlightenment.

Message 5: virtual economies are powerful, and advertisers will be more than happy to trade virtual currency for attention and association.

Message 6: stereoscopy was invented in 1849. 3D is a novelty best reserved for certain places.

Message 7: you could be eating your face right now.

Message 8: incurious people may be left behind, as curiosity will deliver significant advantages due to the massive availability of information to the curious people.

Message 9: things are really going to change when games can listen to people.

 

Audio via the Longnow Foundation

http://er7radio.net/wp-content/plugins/audio-player/player.swf


Slides

 

 

"Topnotch Stuff as a General Rule"

I missed this news at the time. Iceland’s Best Party won six of the fifteen available council seats on Reykjavik’s City Council. Party leader Jón Gnarr is now the mayor of Reykjavik. 

“We stand for an honest approach and participation when it comes to governing the city. [Our support] is a reaction to politics and politicians who have been unwilling to stand up and admit they are responsible. [The elections] were a democratic protest against negligence.”

Some aspects of their platform are explained in the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/v/xxBW4mPzv6E&hl=en_US&fs=1

 

A profile of Jón Gnarr, from the New York Times.

Weekend reading

A Review of the Droid X, Wr item Written on the D rod Droid X

“I am an Old and the Droid X makes me uneasy. Somehow I hVe have switched it to another typing mode in which it thrums gently each time I touch thw screen. It offered me a tutorial in this input method. Learn from your Droid. Learn the new ways.”

Warning: Your reality is out of date

“We recognize rapid change, whether it’s as simple as a fast-moving object or living with the knowledge that humans have walked on the moon. But anything short of large-scale rapid change is often ignored. This is the reason we continue to write the wrong year during the first days of January.”

Europeans Cast Critical Eye on Homeopathy

 “Homeopathy is a speculative, refuted concept,” he says — no one has yet proven that it has any medical benefit. “And there isn’t any need for any further research,” he says. “The issue is settled.”

Using Spin To Control Social Media

“to censor effectively has become prohibitively expensive. So governments turned to spin, building what I call the “Spinternet,” as a way of maintaining control over what is being discussed.”

Gene Weingarten column mentions Lady Gaga

“Fortunately, this new system enjoys the services of tens of thousands of fact-checking “citizen journalists” who write “comments.” They will read the Uzbekistan story and instantly alert everyone that BARACK OBAMA IS A LIEING PIECE OF CRAP.”

The Machine

“The good consumer never learns.”

Global Impositioning Systems

“neuroscientists are starting to uncover a two-way street: our brains determine how we navigate, but our navigational efforts also shape our brains. The experts are picking up some worrying signs about the changes that will occur as we grow accustomed to the brain-free navigation of the GPS era.” 

Real Bear Rescues Stuffed Bear From Humans