What Google TV needs is a makeover, and a splashy re-launch. It needs to shows us why it’s different now, why it’s better. Google needs to convince users, developers, and manufacturers that the Android they love on cell phones can work on the big screen in their living room as well. Then Google needs to prove it, fast.
David Pierce: “Google TV: Silent But No Forgotten at I/O 2013”
Foot-dragging on Google TV seems like such a wasted opportunity, but I’m afraid it will take Apple’s long-rumored big TV move for Google to make any real effort.
U.S. Sports Are Anything But a Free Market
American pro sports leagues would be the stuff of Marxists’ wet dreams — MLS is a single entity owning all the player contracts fer chrissakes — except when we redistribute wealth, we do it exactly backward.
We have even turned our institutions of higher education (many of them public) into a farm system so that the player development costs for the likes of the NFL are essentially nothing (although the NCAA building a billion-dollar business on what’s essentially free labor is something that would give the corpse of Milton Friedman a priapism).
But then again, we’ve got a lot more parity.
…like the transitional H Street NE neighborhood near Dupont Circle…
As usual, The New York Times nails DC geography.
Earth from space: Dune 45
The Namib is the oldest desert in the world, stretching over 2000 km along Africa’s southwestern coast from Angola, through Namibia to South Africa. Sand dunes dominate the desert – some reaching over 300 m in height.
The blue and white area is the dry river bed of the Tsauchab – which only sees water following rare rainfall in the Naukluft Mountains to the east. Black dots of vegetation are concentrated close to the river’s main route, while salt deposits appear bright white.
Running through the river valley, a road connects Sossusvlei to the Sesriem settlement. At the road’s 45th kilometre, seen at the lower-central part of the image, a white path shoots off and ends at a circular parking area at the base of a dune. This is Dune 45, a popular tourist stop on the way to and from Sossusvlei.
Image credit: KARI/ESA
Reblogged from uranivm with 926 notes / #photography #Namibia
Google I/O Master Speculation Post (Updated)
This year’s Google I/O is shaping up to be a monster. With Android, Chrome, Google TV, Google Glass, Motorola, YouTube, Music, and all of Google’s various apps, there’s a ton of potential for significant updates and changes come mid-May. Here’s a list of all the I/O rumors I’ve heard so far, and a few extra, roughly by certainty:
If the moves Kelly has made over recent weeks are any indication, then I’m not so sure Chip Kelly is trying to bring Oregon to Philadelphia. Instead, he might be trying to bring New England.
Chris Brown: “What Matt Barkley and the Eagles’ Offseason Say About Chip Kelly’s Plans”
Mr. Karzai’s willingness to defy the United States — and the Iranians, for that matter — on an array of issues seems to have only grown as the cash has piled up.
Matthew Rosenberg: “With Bags of Cash, CIA Seeks Influence in Afghanistan”
Saw Manufactured Landscapes last night on the incredible photos of Ed Burtynsky
(Source: grinnell.edu)
Switzerland by Lorana Gallery
Reblogged from uranivm with 1,824 notes / #photography #switzerland #art
