Adeo Ressi

It’s not a laptop replacement, but it’s a powerful and full screen iPhone. Imagine browsing the web and interacting with media on steroids.

Things are definitely going to change. For example, Flash is dead. Videos play great with HTML 5 only. Sites will optimize to be used on Safari.

While evolutionary compared to the iPhone, the iPad is an innovative media platform.

Today, I returned the Verizon Droid. Why?

• Keybaord is hard to use.
• Camera takes lower quality photos and video.
• Dropped calls.
• Ghetto app store.
• No Google Docs.
• Slow browser.
• No multitouch.
• Sluggish at times.
• Crackly speakerphone.
• Weak audio/video player experience.

There were a few PROS:

• Nicer Gmail.
• Removable battery!
• A flash.
• Clearer screen.
• Some UI niceties, like persistent status and system updates.
• Turn-by-turn navigation.
• The constant singing of “droid.”

OVERALL: INFERIOR PRODUCT to the iPhone.

Well, a surprisingly large number of people noticed that this site was hacked due to an exploit in WordPress. The site has been restored from back-up and everything should be working fine, again. Thanks!

An interesting article on biodegrading plastic is available here.

PhDs have been searching for a solution to the plastic waste problem, and this 16-year-old finds the answer.

The New York Times talks about a German town withut cars… Is it the city of the future?

My friend, Elon Musk, sent me this as a reminder:

In his later years, film-maker Walt Disney became obsessed with futurism, and in particular how cities should be designed.

He tried to bring his ideas to fruition in the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). His community was intended to be a carefully designed city, with a population of 20,000. The city would incorporate all the newest technologies, and would change constantly in a bid to test and discover the best way for a city to be.

Disney’s dream was never realised. He struggled to find financial backing, and his company’s board saw little profit in it. The Epcot theme park at Disney World that was eventually built is devoted to technology and world cultures, but bears little resemblance to Disney’s imagined utopia.

Associated Press

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland’s highest court has ruled in favor of Internet anonymity, saying Web sites involved in defamation suits don’t have to reveal the identity of readers who post comments on their site.

The ruling Friday by the Maryland Court of Appeals reversed a lower-court decision and said NewsZap.com, an online forum run by Independent Newspapers Inc., doesn’t have to disclose the identities of participants in a 2006 online exchange about the cleanliness of a Dunkin’ Donuts shop in Centreville, Md.

The company’s attorney argued that disclosing the names would have a “chilling effect” on the First Amendment right to speak anonymously. Businessman Zebulon Brodie argued that freedom of speech doesn’t extend to defamation.

Copyright © 2009 Associated Press

Admittedly, this is fairly biased video material, but it is very interesting and explanatory, especially in the current crisis. Part 1 and Part 2 are the best and most informative. At the bottom is a great video explanation of sub-prime.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

Explanation of Sub-prime:

“It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy”

The world has changed because it was broken. It could not continue. We spent money wrong. We ate wrong. We built wrong. We lived wrong. We have wreaked catastrophic environmental devastation that rivals multi-million year mega-events. A correction was overdue.

Everything that we took for granted just a few weeks and a few months ago has changed. Now, the world is in shock. We are still fighting to revive a failed system. Soon, it will change. Many are betting that lives will “return to normal.” They will not. Everything will be different. It will be better.

The real question is how difficult will the transition be.

Thankfully, the days of big spending and equally big tax cuts are gone. The hard line, lassie fare, faux religious, and ignorant qualities of Bush are also gone.