I’m sure you know what Twitter is by now, if you don’t, it’s myspace on crack - instantly update everyone on everything you’re doing every moment of every day. Enter twittervision - it shows you on a global scale using Google Maps who’s doing what in real time. It’s strangely fascinating (okay, actually I’m completely and utterly bored by it already and waiting for the next version).
Tasks Jr. is a lightweight, freeware online to-do list. It’s written in PHP and uses a MySQL database. It even has a PDA accessible mode & calendar (though, I just use Google Calendar). Tasks, Tasks Pro and Use Tasks are the various pay versions.
I’ve searched long & hard for a good computer-based to-do list that’s portable, easy to use & not in some weird proprietary format that’ll become inaccessible if I switch computers (I.e. Outlook & Thunderbird’s formats). I always thought it would be something that sat in the system tray & let me save to a file that I could back up along with all my other important files, but it turns out a web-based to-do list did the trick.
Visit: Tasks Jr. : King Design
Full Disclosure: This is an unpaid & unsolicited endorsement.
Detailed instructions on how to get from New York to Dublin. Pay attention to Step 23.
Read: from: ny, ny to: dublin,ireland - Google Maps
Via: The Joel on Software Discussion Group
Check out this cool time lapse video of a Los Angeles to New York trip. Reminds me of how much cooler the geography is in the southwest.
In the new digital age, nerds are the new bullies. In the wake of Kathy Sierra’s death threats, this is an interesting study.
Preliminary results from the research show so-called computer geeks are becoming the new schoolyard bullies. Final results of the study, which will be completed in June, are expected to be published in the autumn.
“Traditional bullying is a power differential,” Mishna said in an interview.
“The power before could have been age, size, smartness, popularity, ability. Now it’s the perceived anonymous nature. We’d like to find out how anonymous it really is. The power now is you can put it all over (the place).”
The focus groups also revealed victims refuse to tell an adult about the abuse because they fear they will be punished in order to be protected.
“They’re scared that their parents will take away their computer privileges,” Mishna said.
Read: Schoolgirls bullied into stripping online - Yahoo! News
According to this study, 9 out of 10 mammals that mate for life are “unfaithful” to their partner.
The eastern bluebird was considered a prime example, with male and female partners working together to build nests, incubate eggs, then feed and raise their young.
But researchers have found that the bluebirds have a sex life that rivals a television soap opera.
Patricia Adair Gowarty, a behavioural ecologist at the University of Georgia, has found that 15% to 20% of chicks cared for by a pair of bluebirds were not fathered by the male.
She found that only 10% of 180 socially monogamous species are sexually faithful.
Netflix has an interesting vacation policy - there is no policy. As long as you’re getting your work done, they don’t care how much you’re in the office. This kind of self-directed work is rare. I’ve blogged poetic about how being forced to stay at the workplace when there is no work to be done is a punishment for doing your work. I never thought I’d see a workplace that understood this, but Netflix does.
American workers get a median of 10 vacation days after one year on the job and 15 days after five years of work, according to Hewitt. One in three Americans doesn’t use all their vacation, and barely one in 10 takes a break for two weeks straight, according to the non-profit research firm Families and Work Institute. But at Netflix, it’s estimated that most employees take off about 25 to 30 days per year, using the time to stay at home with the kids, travel to Cambodia, or visit relatives in India. It’s “estimated” because Netflix does not record vacation time, said McCord.
“I’ve never terminated a salaried employee for being tardy or being absent,” McCord said. “There have been issues when people didn’t come to work - but the issue is the work, it’s not the time off.”
Read: San Jose Mercury News - Vacation policy at Netflix: Take as much as you want
A number of recent studies show that people simply can’t multi-task well. The potential loss to productivity is huge. While some in the tech industry have known about this for a long time, (the 1987 book Peopleware warns of the dangers of task switching) the public at large is probably unaware of how much productivity is lost just by checking your email.
Several research reports, both recently published and not yet published, provide evidence of the limits of multitasking. The findings, according to neuroscientists, psychologists and management professors, suggest that many people would be wise to curb their multitasking behavior when working in an office, studying or driving a car.
Read: Slow Down, Brave Multitasker, and Don’t Read This in Traffic - New York Times
This is one of the coolest optical illusions I’ve seen. Cooler even than the Big Spanish Castle. Stare at the center of the screen for 20 seconds and then look away.
Watch: Neave Strobe
Read the explanation: Motion aftereffect
Via: Omni Brain
In direct contrast to the previous article, in what looks to be an entirely unscientific survey, women say that shopping makes them happy. I wonder what a study of women who spend “at least £2,000 on a single item of clothing or an accessory” vs. women who don’t wound find about overall levels of happiness in their lives - taking into account income & age bracket, of course.
One in 10 women have spent at least £2,000 on a single item of clothing or an accessory, according to a new survey.
Half the 3,792 women aged 20 to 40 quizzed about their shopping habits said they shopped to cheer themselves up.
Mark Wieczorek