Joakim Nygård Archive Linked About

A World of HTML5

6 Aug 2009 -

This brilliant demo of HTML5 shows some of the things possible with the next markup standard, without any plugins.

No Entries Found

5 Aug 2009 -

John Gruber reports on the trouble of getting Ninjawords in the App Store:

Apple censored an English dictionary.

A dictionary. A reference book. For words contained in all reasonable dictionaries. For words contained in dictionaries that are used every day in elementary school libraries and classrooms.

I think that a reasonable (as in open and clear) review process might be a fast way to improve the quality of what is offered. That being said, completely open systems like the software on regular computers have worked out just fine (malware is mostly a problem of inadequate security measures). Censorship, questionable explanations and random rejections is, however, not a path to anything but eventual failure.

Apple had a phenomenal chance to create an new platform with the iPhone, on which an entire ecosystem of software and hardware could arise. Right now, it appears as if the review process is being dictated by schizophrenic lawyers.

Creative Video

4 Aug 2009 -

I found the site yay!everyday on twitter and discovered a few amazing videos, including Makoto Yabuki’s wonderful video called “White Box”:

The 555 KUBIK facade projection creates a truly remarkable optical illusion and a very interesting play with geometry - would have loved to see it in person:

Making The Web Faster

4 Aug 2009 -

A collection of articles on how to speed up the web by Google. Yahoo also has a list of best practices for making websites fast

It Never Stops

3 Aug 2009 -

Maria Kalman muses on Benjamin Franklin and invention:

Don’t mope in your room. Go invent something. That is the American message.

Electricity. Flight. The telephone. Television. Computers. Walking on the moon. It never stops.

Beautiful. (via John Gruber)

Microsoft’s Long, Slow Decline

31 Jul 2009 -

John Gruber on the decline of Microsoft:

People who love computers overwhelmingly prefer to use a Mac today. Microsoft’s core problem is that they have lost the hearts of computer enthusiasts. Regular people don’t think about their choice of computer platform in detail and with passion like nerds do because, duh, they are not nerds. But nerds are leading indicators.

Cocksure

29 Jul 2009 -

Malcolm Gladwell, always interesting to read, on the psychology of overconfidence:

“In conflicts involving mutual assessment, an exaggerated assessment of the probability of winning increases the probability of winning,” Richard Wrangham, a biological anthropologist at Harvard, writes. “Selection therefore favors this form of overconfidence.” Winners know how to bluff. And who bluffs the best? The person who, instead of pretending to be stronger than he is, actually believes himself to be stronger than he is.

Palin's Resignation, The Edited Version

28 Jul 2009 -

Vanity Fair asked its editor along with representatives from the research and copy departments to read through Sarah Palin’s resignation speech and it’s not pretty.

The Matrix, But With Money

28 Jul 2009 -

Experts guess that between 60 and 75 percent of the NYSE’s daily trading volume is just computers trading against one another using a variety of strategies. Recent HFT investigations by Donefer, Themis Trading, and sites like Zero Hedge have brought to light a lively ecosystem of algorithms, or “algos” in the parlance, that use ECNs in different ways to make money.

What the vast majority of these algos have in common is that they are not long-term, buy-and-hold “investors” in the classic sense. Rather, they focus on executing as many trades per second as possible and on turning a small profit (often pennies or fractions of a penny) on each trade. This combination of high speed, massive volume, and razor-thin per-trade profits adds up over the course of a day, week, or year to some very large numbers.

How the hell is this legal?

Apparently proprietary trading code was stolen from Goldman Sachs earlier this month. US Attorney Facciponti says

there is a danger that somebody who knew how to use this program could use it to manipulate markets in unfair ways.

How is it any different from what Goldman – or any other trading company with similar software – could do?

Apple Has 91 Percent of Market for $1,000+ PCs

24 Jul 2009 -

Joe Wilcox:

Move over Microsoft. Apple can claim big, big market share numbers, too. According to NPD, in June, nine out of 10 dollars spent on computers costing $1,000 or more went to Apple. Mac revenue market share in the “premium” price segment was 91 percent, up from 88 percent in May.

Interesting what happens when you break down the market like this.

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