Keith Posehn @thekeith - Tumblr Blog

On Steve Jobs & The Internet

Interesting quote from Steve Jobs at 9to5Mac

We live in an information economy, but I don’t believe we live in an information society. People are thinking less than they used to. It’s primarily because of television. People are reading less and they’re certainly thinking less. So, I don’t see most people using the Web to get more information. We’re already in information overload. No matter how much information the Web can dish out, most people get far more information than they can assimilate anyway.

Steve was an interesting sort because while he had strong opinions, he also didn't hold many of them sacred. He was quite willing to take the aforementioned opinion and dump it the moment he was given information that contradicted it.

That was clearly the case when Google was a launch partner on the iPhone. By that point, Apple had realized that not only did people use the web for information, it had become a form of external memory. When was the last time you hopped to google for a little tidbit of information, such as how many kilometers in a mile? (2.64 btw) How many times have you done that?

We externalize parts of our memory store in the web and technology now, for good or ill.

On Forced Induction (Turbo/Supercharging)

The new Mercedes 4-cyl turbo is quite a masterpiece. I've been really impressed with what they have done in the range.

The recipe? Take a 2-liter engine, stick on a twin scroll turbo and have the engine block function as the headers, so you have little piping/kinks to block exhaust flow. Then run it all through an air-to-water intercooler (far better than air-to-air).

The result? An engine with little to no turbo lag, huge available power (CLA45 AMG anyone?) and the ability to make even an economy car a real hoot.

This recipe seems to be making its way across the range of all manufacturers, and for good reason. Better emissions, better power-per-liter, more smiles and lower cost.

What will be interesting is when we get better power density for batteries/capacitors and can augment these engines with electric power. Audi will be using an electric-based forced induction in the SQ7, which is probably one of the best uses of hybrid power imho. Power when you want it and not when you don't == even better.

What an exciting time for being a car fan!

On Mercedes

I've found the resurgence of Mercedes quite interesting to watch. Audi has pursued an ideal of subtlety and discretion, while bmw has seemed a bit lost/stuck on a history of design that they haven't shaken until the i8 arrived.

However, Mercedes has really redefined themselves again. The previous generation C-Class was rather underwhelming, so they made the CLA and new-gen C, both of which are stellar.

By splitting the lower end of their range to appeal to two now-distinct segments of buyers, they really nailed it. I expect the E-Class to move up a bit in response (the current E pales next to the C in my opinion) and the S has moved up past the A8 and 7-Series by a long ways.

In essence, they've moved all price points upwards for existing models and added a lower price point for entry-level buyers. CLA buyers will buy a C, C buyers will move to the next-gen E and so on.

Well played, mercedesbenz

#Mercedes

On Soylent 1.1

Now that I've gotten my 1.2, I'm glad they've fixed a few things - namely the thickness/consistency of it. However, the digestive enzymes might be missed.1.1 was notably easier to digest but also left me feeling hungry most of the time.

One interesting thing will be if the Algal Oil is a suitable replacement for the fish oil. Also would be nice if the out flour does not settle out as easily in 1.2.

#soylent

On Writing

The problem I face very often is I have concepts or thoughts I want to write out more, but I am awesomely bad at actually putting pen-to-paper, or thumbs-to-screen as the case may be.

It comes down to a period of silence I’ve had where a simple mental/emotional roadblock has kept me from doing more. My goal is to remove this block before 1/1/15.

We shall see how I do.

#writing

Ruby Case Silently Fails - Fix

This is a crazy bug:

when "x", method end

The above will fail silently as it will never evaluate properly. You won't get any error, it is just borked.

Remove the comma.

when "x" method end

That will work.

Owned.

So hard.

I know spending a long time writing something doesn’t guarantee success. But not giving up on a good idea almost always does.

Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Ben Kingsley, Dan Aykroyd: What it was like shooting the movie Sneakers. - Slate Magazine

I think we might have found Bill's heir.

This is oh-so-very-true.

Cute Girl Inception.

Humbling.

geekfeed

Vote for Leeloo! 画

thekeith

MULTIPASS

My Commentary on Grid (YC S12)

Their greatest strength - social collaboration - is also a potential weakness.

While I like the idea and the mechanic, the initial emphasis on social integration of a spreadsheet makes the assumption that others will be able to A: willing to download the app when invited & B: be able to use it with minimal instruction in a collaborative fashion.

This may be something that many more tech-savvy users will embrace, but despite the simplicity of the UX it does require a mental hurdle to cross in order to utilize it fully. I think many people will certainly overcome that, but the question is how many. Is the market of users large enough for this use case? Of course, I may also be simply reading too much into the video - there will be plenty of other uses for this sort of app.

I think this will become less and less of a problem as the next generation of tech users come of age and embrace technology like this. They're growing up with this sort of functionality and will use it in ways we can't yet anticipate. What Grid certainly has going for it is one of the most solid guesses at that sort of interaction I've seen so far.

Despite my initial misgivings, I definitely want to give it a try.

Sight has changed for TN from a conscious to a largely subconscious experience. He no longer has a definitive picture of his surroundings, but he has retained an innate awareness of his position in the world. He is, to some degree, able to see without being aware that he is seeing.

Seeing in the Dark § SEEDMAGAZINE.COM

Evolution of the F1 Car (by Ruf Blacklock)

Fascinating.

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Keith Posehn