web

This is perhaps my favorite thing on the Internet right now. A Pinboard.in account turned into physical, dead-tree, indexed books. Complete with QR codes (I hate those) and beautiful typography.

If you know of Shawn Blanc, then you know he's been making great content at ShawnBlanc.net. You may not know that he is supported full time by his work at ShawnBlanc.net. I'm a member because he makes great stuff. The Shawn Today podcast is just one of the perks that comes with membership. $3 a month is a small price to pay to support the ideal that Shawn is working toward.

This cheat sheet helps me understand "news" about the internet, in humorous order. Venture Capitalists: A cabal that buys and sells start-ups for profit. Everything they do is to squeeze as much wealth from every investment. Bloggers Working for Venture Capitalists: Lackeys that write to support a cabal of Venture Capitalist's investments. Everything they do is to scrape a pittance from each article and help to increase the wealth of Venture Capitalists.

From ByGoneBureau.com: "It would probably be worth examining the underlying question here, which is why people like me continue to click through to these stories. But rather than do that, I’d prefer to sidestep that issue completely and instead appeal directly to the writers themselves." This trope is shallow and meaningless. It's a sign that a writer has given up on being interesting. By way of EverythingInTheSky.com

Ifttt is one of the best things I wish I could pay for. It's excellent at plugging holes in my various systems. For example, I now rely on Fever Reader for RSS. While it's comforting that I now own my favorited articles, I also wanted them in my Pinboard.in collection. IFTTT solves this by scraping the RSS feed of my Fever installation and adding the links to Pinboard. Bonus I also have an IFTTT rule for adding any links I post to Twitter.

Sometimes Fever Reader is good for telling me what not to share. I love all of these sites, but sometimes it is just too much to read about the same topic. I appreciate Fever more every day. It's a huge time saver.

BoingBoing links to a new chrome plugin that encrypts Facebook content so that not even Facebook can read it. I love this idea in general. Browser side encryption of content as it is posted and read from a webservice. This would obviously break a lot of bonuses that come with server-side processing, like search and suggestions but it sounds like a great option for sensitive data. I don't use Facebook so I have no idea how well this works.

This was the first KickStarter project I joined. I have little time or attention for most games but I am an avid game lover.1 I listen to the Weekend Confirmed podcast every week. I know more about video games than most 13 year olds.2 I just never play them. I would love a world where software was developed this way. Show me something about what you plan to make. Include details about your track record.

I’m not cool. Never have been. Don’t care to be. However, I do like music and try to branch out into new things. I recently caught wind of Lana Del Rey and enjoyed the album Born to Die. This New Yorker article discusses an unsavory side of Pop Music criticism and expectations.1 It also frames just how powerful and fickle the Internet is. It’s possible to go from prodigy to bum in just one performance.

1) Lists are for lazy writers A. Lists are not effective for communicating complex thoughts II. Lists are for sequences 3a. Lists are for instructions - Lists are for outlining * Lists are a breadcrumb trail, not a meal 10) Lists are a process, not a product Q) You are better than that