Advertise here with Carbon Ads
This site is made possible by member support. 💞
Big thanks to Arcustech for hosting the site and offering amazing tech support.
When you buy through links on kottke.org, I may earn an affiliate commission. Thanks for supporting the site!
kottke.org. home of fine hypertext products since 1998.
Beloved by 86.47% of the web.
Entries for March 2005
Interview with Jason Fried about Basecamp
Interview with Jason Fried about Basecamp. “If you don’t trust your developer to choose the right environment, then how can you trust him to build the best application?”
Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridian
After ice skating with friends in Central Park the other day, we hit the Burger Joint in Le Parker Meridien hotel for some much needed sustenance. This is one of those classic New York juxtapositions, a burgers-only greasy spoon (dinner: $8) in a midtown four-star hotel (rooms start at $300/night)…kinda like discovering an In-N-Out Burger in a Four Seasons hotel. Duck behind the curtain in the lobby and you’ll find good burgers, beer (Sam Adams only), and an eclectic music mix (Bobby McFerrin, Edwin Starr’s War, and some opera).
After we ate, JCN inquired at the counter how such an odd arrangement came to be. A hip bar previously occupied the space, but the bartender left and took a bunch of his clientele with him. The space lay fallow for a time while they figured out what to do with it, but renovating the space and building up a new clientele was too daunting for them. Someone had the idea of putting a burger place in there, so they put walls on the space and gave it a try. Judging by the full house in there and the terrific lines at lunchtime on weekdays, it’s succeeded pretty well.
Game makers are designing games that are
Game makers are designing games that are less daunting for the new player. With the side effect that the games are not so addictive, meaning that you can have a full life in and out of these games.
Their design approach is a big reason for Apple’s success
Their design approach is a big reason for Apple’s success. Don Norman: “If you follow my [guidelines], it will guarantee good design. But Steve Jobs doesn’t want good design. He wants great design, and my method will never give you that.”
A lot of spam from Spamalot
A lot of spam from Spamalot. A rogue script gave spammers access to email addresses of people who signed up for info on Eric Idle’s Broadway play, Spamalot.
Steven Levy: “Since anyone can write a
Steven Levy: “Since anyone can write a Weblog, why is the blogosphere dominated by white males?”.
A blog reporting on the Second Life game
A blog reporting on the Second Life game. Discovered at the Journalism and Blogging About Online Worlds panel at SXSW.
The Long Tail of PayPal
While setting up the contribution mechanism at PayPal, I got to thinking about how PayPal is (or certainly has the potential to be) a Long Tail business. With lots of features, extensive documentation, tons of implementation examples, and no up-front fees, they make it so easy to sell anything to anyone worldwide that the cost of doing business for individuals and small businesses is almost nothing. My friends Tamara and Julie make soap in their apartment and sell it online for a few bucks a bar, with PayPal handling the checkout process and some of the order fulfillment stuff as well. And there are millions of little cottage industries like this scattered across the web, businesses enabled by PayPal each selling maybe a few items a week or month.
However, there are a couple of issues with PayPal’s attempt to harness the Long Tail of online retail. Shipping costs are proportionally more expensive for less expensive items…it’s roughly the same price to ship a $350 iPod as it is to ship a $20 book or tshirt. PayPal’s fees are a bigger percentage of the total sale for cheaper items as well; they take $0.30 right off the top. That doesn’t sound like a lot but for a merchant selling $3.00 items, that’s 10% less gross (and a more significant percentage of profit), which could be a bit of a deterrent in wanting to sell cheap items through PayPal. It’ll be interesting to see if PayPal sees a Long Tail effect benefiting their bottom line and tinkers with the fees to encourage more cheap offerings.
A day in the life of Darth Vader
A day in the life of Darth Vader. “What it would be like if Darth Vader spent a day in his shoes, speaking only in memorable quotes from the original Star Wars.”
“Under the Bush administration, the federal government
“Under the Bush administration, the federal government has aggressively used a well-established tool of public relations: the prepackaged, ready-to-serve news report that major corporations have long distributed to TV stations to pitch everything from hea. Suffice it to say, I don’t think this is a good use of the government’s time/money, no matter who the president is.
Babu, a new restaurant in the Village,
Babu, a new restaurant in the Village, opened without prices on the menu, allowing diners to pay what they thought the meal was worth. There’s a place in London that’s been doing this for years.
Kerron Clement, a 19 yo college student, broke
Kerron Clement, a 19 yo college student, broke Michael Johnson’s record in the 400 meters.
AOL changes the terms of service for AIM
AOL changes the terms of service for AIM. Update: IM conversations are still private, the TOS change was for public web forums.
Airplane hacks
Airplane hacks. Flight attendant fixes bad plane odor by wiping coffee scent everywhere.
Fantastic bunch of rants about the gaming industry
Fantastic bunch of rants about the gaming industry. Really, this is what all conferences should be like all the time.
Garry Kasparov announces retirement after 20 consecutive years
Garry Kasparov announces retirement after 20 consecutive years as the world’s #1 player.
Apple to start shipping OS X 10.4 in April
Apple to start shipping OS X 10.4 in April. Oboyoboyoboyoboyoboy…
The next Star Trek movie will contain
The next Star Trek movie will contain no character from any of the other movies or series. The film, due out in 2007, takes place 160 years BK (before Kirk).
Collection of photos and drawings of the
Collection of photos and drawings of the New York that might have been. See what Bryant Park would have looked like if they’d never removed the Croton Reservoir.
New Star Wars trailer
Once every three years, the first trailer for yet another crappy George Lucas Star Wars movie is released somewhere to great fanfare. And each time, I watch said trailer and get all excited. It looks great, I’ll say. Maybe it’ll actually be good. My hopes start to rise. And then the movie comes out, Natalie Portman is transformed by Lucas’ awful direction into the worst actress ever, and I leave the theatre disappointed that a cherished childhood institution has been handled in such a piss-poor manner. With the impending release of Episode III and the trailer during last night’s episode of The OC, I have vowed not to get my hopes up. Never again, George Lucas, will you disappoint me.
However.
OMFG THE TRAILER FOR THE NEW STAR WARS MOVIE IS SOOO GREAT AND EXCITING AND THIS MOVIE IS GOING TO KICK SO MUCH ASS!!!
A torrent of the trailer is available here (smaller version here) and in QuickTime.
First the Kelly Clarkson thing and now this…I don’t know what’s going on here. I promise there’s an interesting scientific explanation for all this. I’ll write about it soon, honest. Malcolm, Steven, James, can you help me out here? Something about the Blinking Long Tail of a Mind Wide Open Tipping Point Wisdom of Crowds of a Nonzero Moral Animal visiting the Cathedral and the Bazaar on the Cluetrain Freakonomics Selfish Gene Emergence. Lollipop. hopscotch.
peenut butr samwitches,,,
Daisy, Daisy, give me your answerrrr ddddooooooooo….. Iiiiimmmm hhhhhaaaaallffffff craaaaaaa….
[Sorry about that. Jason’s been sent off to Austin for repairs. He’ll be back in a few days, right as rain. -ed [ps. STAR WARS FOREVER!!!! -ed]]
How do you decide who is a journalist?
How do you decide who is a journalist?. “Those who advocate a special legal privilege for journalists must accept that anyone who thinks he’s a journalist is a journalist, and figure out how to protect the activity rather than a defined group of people.”
Scientists may have discovered why I can’t
Scientists may have discovered why I can’t stop listening to that Since U Been Gone song. “When familiar tunes played, the cortex activity continued during the blanks - and the volunteers indeed said they still mentally ‘heard’ the tunes.”
Flickr is finally going to offer prints through the site
Flickr is finally going to offer prints through the site.
How to never miss an episode (of
How to never miss an episode (of a TV show) with BitTorrent and RSS.
Does Godel matter?
Does Godel matter?. “His work was revolutionary, yes, but it was a revolution of the most unusual kind: one that abolished the constitution while leaving the material circumstances of the citizens more or less unchanged.”
How to move an obelisk
How to move an obelisk. Includes an account of how Cleopatra’s Needle was moved from Egypt to NYC.
Groove Networks bought by Microsoft, Ray Ozzie
Groove Networks bought by Microsoft, Ray Ozzie to become CTO of Microsoft.
Earworm
I participate in a forum with a few friends where we discover new music together. A couple of weeks ago, someone posted about a song by Kelly Clarkson, former American Idol winner. I was busy so I didn’t pay it much mind…and also, American Idol!??…how good could the song really be?
But then over the next two weeks, these supposed indie rock fiends kept talking about this pop song, how it was the best thing ever, and I was just like, wtf? and all annoyed with them for being dumb. News broke that Ted Leo had covered the song at a recent show and you can imagine the excitement that generated in indie land. When a copy of the covered song was produced, I finally caved and listened to both versions of the song. After two listens of each, I still didn’t get it. What the hell is wrong with my friends?
This morning as I stumbled out of bed and into the shower, I’m humming a little tune. Couldn’t figure out exactly what it was though…I was still shaking the sleep from my body and wasn’t really paying attention. Still humming. Hmmm, catchy. Then. About halfway through my shower, in my best Ted Leo-esque falsetto:
“Since u been gone…”
Followed quickly by, in a very loud voice:
“Goddammit! That song!”
The neighbors probably think I’m crazy, and they’re right…my stupid brain is nuts for this song. I’m not saying Since U Been Gone is good, but it certainly is catchy and I can’t help but like the damn thing. Merlin, Matt, Lia, Anil, and Kathryn, I owe each of you a sock in the face for introducing me to this maddeningly infectious crap. A pox on your iPods! Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to concentrate on mustering up the necessary courage to unclick the “repeat one song” button on iTunes.
NY Times on Wil Wheaton, his blog,
NY Times on Wil Wheaton, his blog, and his post-Trek acting struggles.
The Lucky Beggar Purse “closely resembles the
The Lucky Beggar Purse “closely resembles the famous New York City coffee cup with the words ‘We are happy to serve you’ printed on it”. Some of the proceeds from sales go to help the homeless.
A Salon interview with Dave Eggers
A Salon interview with Dave Eggers. He’s working on a screenplay with Spike Jonze for a film adaptation of “Where the Wild Things Are”.
Interview with Adam Gopnik about Paris, writing,
Interview with Adam Gopnik about Paris, writing, and the New Yorker.
The marijuana connections of the Ocean’s 12 cast and crew
The marijuana connections of the Ocean’s 12 cast and crew. “Partying on the set in Amsterdam apparently got pretty stoney due to stars’ easy access to legal pot. According to insiders, Warner Bros got word that the toking was causing production delays, translating into increased costs to get the film made.”
Unphotographable: “a text account of pictures missed”
Unphotographable: “a text account of pictures missed”. “And this is a picture I did not take of the second man I saw standing on his head today on the sidewalk in-front of Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, under the gaze of a bored cop.”
BlogPulse has published a paper on the
BlogPulse has published a paper on the Political Blogosphere and the 2004 U.S. Election. “Liberal and conservative bloggers also had clear preferences for mainstream news sources that they cited. Fox News (89%) and the National Review, (92%) for example, received most of their links from conservative-leaning blogs. By contrast, 91% of Salon.com’s links came primarily from liberal-leaning blogs.”
Socials & More