Twitter has launched a new feature that I think is pretty annoying. Once a week, it delivers a digest of tweets you might find interesting to your inbox. I don’t want it, but it’s enabled by default. Here’s how to turn it off.
No more digest emails.
Cody Dehaan has written a nice response to episode 29 of 52 Pickup, in which I explored social media’s role in contemporary friendships. Cody wonders if we sacrifice mindfulness in exchange for ubiquitous connectivity:
“Our society encourages and enables us to always be focused on something other than what is in front of us. It manifests in all sorts of ways: we are constantly focused on the next big band and what movies are coming out soon. Despite many of us having more than enough material goods, we are always enticed to spend just a little more than we have to acquire goods that are just a bit better and will purportedly (but in actuality will not) make us happier. We drive our cars while we listen to the latest music and get advertised at while we text and eat breakfast on our way to work. And then, when we come home to our families, or spend time with our friends, we check our emails and communicate with everyone else instead of enjoying who we are with.”
Two years ago, I was in a grocery store checkout line with my then five-year-old. As I unloaded the cart, he said, “Look at the snowman.”
“What snowman?”
“The snowman,” he said.
“There’s no snowman, William. It’s summertime.”
“There’s a snowman.”
I followed his finger. It was pointing to a balloon in the floral section, about 30 yards from the checkout counter. A balloon shaped like a snowman. That was the day I started to wonder about what else I was missing 1. It was also the day I promised myself to spend less time staring at my phone and more time observing and enjoying the world around me.
Dehaan is right. We’re constantly told, “Look here.” It’s very difficult to resist.
Agile Tortoise has released Drafts 1.1.1. This update lets you send a note to Byword and features a new theme, Ultralight (above). It’s a nice update to a useful app.
Time:
“Located in a Dallas strip mall, the Anger Room is just as you’d hope it would be: filled with old furniture and electronics collected from junkyards and public donations, arranged to look like an office, bedroom or kitchen. But everything here is expendable: go ahead, grab a chair and chuck it across the room. Throw a plant at the computer screen. Stomp on the telephone. Grab a baseball bat and show that glass lamp who’s boss.”
I suspect I’d feel self-conscious for the first few minutes. Then it’d be game on.
Some nice thoughts on Facebook’s new App Center from TechHive.
By Frederic Tourrou. Very nice.
[Via Swiss Miss]
Nice post from my Internet friend David Chartier:
“There’s a difference between screaming about a complaint you have in your favorite-but-obscure corner of the web, and telling someone who has a much better chance of doing something about it.”
It goes on from there.
Photo credit: micgadget.com
M.I.C. Gadget (MICG) got a tour of the facility that assembles the popular Xiaomi MI-ONE in Nanjing, China. MICG calls Xiaomi “a legend,” and its brief history is impressive. Xiaomi Tech was founded by Lei Jun in 2010 and released the low-cost Xiaomi MI-ONE (often called the MI-ONE Plus or simply “Xiaomi Phone”) in September of 2011. The company has since sold 1.8 million units.
Both Inventec and Foxconn participate in production, but Inventec’s employees perform most of the work. Its Nanjing plant produces the Xiaomi MI-ONE. It covers an area of 65,000 square meters and employes 3,500 workers. The plant can produce 25,000 – 28,000 units per day, or up to 600,000-700,000 per month.
MICG notes that these Inventec factory workers log 10.5 working hours each day. However, they did not say how many days per week workers are on duty. The article contains many photos, including two of post-production testing facilities.
It’s interesting to see, especially after so much attention has been paid to the Foxconn employees who assemble products for Apple.
Mike Daisey was not glimpsed. Or was he?
Amazon has teased direct sales of Harry Potter books on its Kindle ebook store. AllThingsD reports that Amazon has posted a teaser image (above) to its Kindle ebook store, featuring an owl and the line “Wizardry is on the Way” in a font similar to that on the cover of paper Harry Potter books 1.
Potter author J. K. Rowling made electronic versions of her books available for the first time in April, but required customers to purchase them through her own Pottermore website. Amazon’s tease suggests that’s about to change, though representatives were elusive with AllThingsD when reached for comment, saying, “We’ll have to ask you to stay tuned for an upcoming announcement.”
As of this writing, there are no similar hints on the Nook store or Apple’s iBookstore.
Update: Amazon has confirmed that the Harry Potter books are coming to the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.
“‘[Zuckerberg is] actually showing investors he doesn’t care that much; he’s going to be him,’ [Michael Pachter, Wedbush Securities analyst] said. ‘I think that’s a mark of immaturity. I think that he has to realize he’s bringing investors in as a new constituency right now, and I think he’s got to show them the respect that they deserve because he’s asking them for their money.’”
I don’t know who Michael Pachter is, but he sounds like a pole-up-the-ass 1980′s movie stereotype of a Wall Street analyst. Incidentally, how often did Steve Jobs wear a suit? I guess he didn’t show investors the respect they deserve.
