Om Malik is reporting that the deal is close to being done, and it all reminded me of a tweet from a while back from Kevin Rose talking about TechCrunch being sold. I can’t find the tweet now (email if you can), essential Rose @replied to Arrington (the founder of TechCrunch) saying that he got his email and asked if he was really selling TechCrunch.
[Updated: 9/28/10 at 10:29 AM] It’s official.
Hog Bay Software’s new Dropbox text file editor for the iPad is now available in the app store. It is free and ad supported an update will bring an ad-free version for a $4.99 in-app purchase price. I have been waiting for this little app for a while now – however it will be interesting to see how it stacks up to Writer for iA.
On first glance it feels a lot like Simplenote, but a little more classic – by that I mean it seems the background is off-white, which makes the experience in PlainText my subdued and calm feeling. One major advantage it has over most other apps like this is the ability to pick the folder name it is linked to in Dropbox (as well as a lot of syncing toggles).
Joshua Topolsky on RIM’s new tablet named ‘Playbook’:
The device will connect via Bluetooth to BlackBerry devices, though the content is cached only temporarily on the PlayBook. More info is coming our way as we type, and we’ve got a full feature list, press release, and video after the break!
What a dumb name. What a stupid name. Blackpad was/is such a great name. Wait, it only caches files, what the hell do I do on an airplane when I am not allowed to use bluetooth? OH man.
[Updated: 9/27/10 at 2:42 PM] Also on this name thing, they want it to be for serious business use, yet they have ‘play’ in the name. Dumbasses. (<=== I mean it)
They are making a 14-inch tablet aimed at students that they are hoping will be under $1000 to buy. I just don’t see a student wanting this over an iPad, but dumber things have happened.
Aza Raskin on a realization he had while behind China’s ‘great firewall’:
The idea is very simple: every time you access a site which is procrastinatory it gets randomly slower. The first time in the day it goes at full speed, but by the fourth time you’ve looked at it, the site crawls sporadically like it’s behind the great firewall of China. Let’s call it the productivity proxy.
Dave Girard:
If you work in 3D or want to play Windows game, this is an essential upgrade.
I have been using Parallels since it first came out for the Mac, I use it every work day to access our Windows only Property Management software. Parallels is for me a seamless solution, and with every update it gets faster and a lot better this update is no different.
Frank Chimero on happiness:
I don’t know how happiness is measured. It seems silly to ask “How happy are you?” On a scale of what to what? “Oh, you know, on a scale between Found Dime and Three-Day Weekend, I’d say I’m about an Ice Cream Cone of happy.”
Charlie Savage:
Essentially, officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications — including encrypted e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct “peer to peer” messaging like Skype — to be technically capable of complying if served with a wiretap order. The mandate would include being able to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages.
Now this is a good reason to call your congressman (or woman) to complain.
You can’t make this stuff up. On a serious note, my thoughts go out to his family and friends.
Some very neat concept sketches for Atari 1200 & A300.
David Rowan:
Some day you should take time to read those 5,830 words: it’s Facebook that owns the rights to do as it pleases with your data, and to sell access to it to whoever is willing to pay. Yes, it’s free to join — but with half a billion of us now using it to connect, it’s worth asking ourselves how far this “social utility” (its own term) is really acting in the best interests of society.
Yep.
This is amazing, a camera lens that captures infinite depth of field, meaning that you post production you can set where you want the focus to be. This is very, very cool.
These pictures show the possibility of Apple adding a dock connector port on the landscape side as well as keeping one where it is. I love the idea, and would love to have the extra port – what I don’t love is how, well how less than attractive this would be.
Stephen M. Hackett talking about his search for the best task management solution:
For me and my simple needs, Things and OmniFocus are overkill. With systems like this, I spend more time entering tasks than doing them. When I was using Things, by the time I was done going over the day’s to-do list, it was time for lunch. OmniFocus just gives me seizures.
I can say that without a doubt I have had these same problems at times – OmniFocus is amazingly difficult to just ‘use’ instead of tinker with and can be confusing at times. That said, and as I have said before, OmniFocus is killer on the iPad – it is everything I need and more. The perfect solution for me, OmniFocus on my Mac and iPhone for capture and reference, OmniFocus on my iPad for true task management in a way that doesn’t get in my way.
Facebook posted the linked note about their downtime that lasted 2.5 hours for some (gasp!) – the best part though are the comments (on Facebook I always find the comments to be the best part). Here are some choice ones:
Apparently people 814 liked that Facebook went down:
The zigging and zagging:
It really effected me:
The I didn’t read/understand the post guy:
He wants some free cash, and who can blame him?:
The sane one (kinda):
Sometimes (most of the time) I amuse myself.
Sendonaris lists a bunch of little things that he did not expect to annoy him upon getting a MacBook Pro, this tidbit though is by far the funniest (to me):
There is no equivalent of MS Paint. There is Paintbrush, which you can download for free, but it does not have all the features of MS Paint.
Wow, when was the last time you heard someone say “it does not have all the features of MS Paint”?
Sounds harmless, just throw these things out in the Arctic Ocean – no problem, afterall:
“We can guarantee the safety of our units one hundred per cent, all risks are absolutely ruled out,” says Mr Zavyalov.
Mathew Ingram on the Facebook valuation:
In reality, of course, every economist knows that things are only worth what people will pay for them, and since no one has actually paid $33 billion for Facebook, we shouldn’t really say that it is worth that much, or that Zuckerberg is worth $6.9 billion. But then, no one has paid $165 billion for Google either.
Very true, but what I really take issue with is saying that Zuckerberg is worth $7 billion because of it – you are only worth what you have in liquid assets (obviously a matter of opinion). Facebook is anything but liquid.
David Heinemeier Hansson:
Facebook has been around for seven years. It has 500 million users. If you can’t figure out how to make money off half a billion people in seven years, I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’re unlikely to ever do.
Now this was all fun and games until somebody promised the Newark schools $100 million in stock based on the fantasy valuation of his under-profiting company. But now it’s real. They’re selling the skin before they shot the bear or peeing their pants to get to the hut or whatever you want to call it. It’s just not good, alright?
In the end it’s the kids that get hurt.
[Updated: 9/23/10 at 2:44 PM] Just to be clear I don’t think Facebook is worth this much money. A business (or any other good really) is only worth what someone is willing to pay you for it. I don’t see people lining up to buy Facebook.