Diversity [Citation Needed] Last week, the fact that a Google engineer now identified as James Damore published a memo critical of the company's approaches to diversity and what he called its "ideological echo chamber"
MLBAM ESPN NOW Joe Drape and Brooks Barnes from the New York Times: The “Worldwide Leader in Sports,” as ESPN brands itself, laid off scores of journalists and on-air talent on Wednesday, showing that even the
Spin the Cylinder? Matthew Panzarino: Federighi is careful to note that, while Apple set out do so something new and different with the Mac Pro, “we didn’t start with a shape and say, ‘well, here’
Apple Device as Sculpture Yesterday Apple announced, via a handful of tech reporters it trusts, that it is completely redesigning the Mac Pro. This is unusual for Apple, which typically "announces" products by releasing them,
Apple The Beginning of the End of "Apps" "App" is a funny word. An abbreviation of "application," it entered common parlance along with the present mobile revolution as a distinctive referrent for the sotftware programs that run
Tesla, Electric Vehicles, "Disruption" and Hype On Thursday, March 31, 2016, Tesla Motors unveiled its much awaited "more affordable" fully electric sedan, the Model 3. It began taking pre-orders, with a USD 1,000 deposit required, and
Skin Deep: Black Johnny Storm, White T'Challa and other Nerdery As I write this, the 2015 theatrical reboot of the Fantastic Four film adaptations is failing miserably at the box office. Naturally, in an environment where superhero films are the most reliable earners
I Kissed the Sky, and It Bit Back I was thirty-four years old the first time I got high. It wasn't the first time I'd tried marijuana, but it was the first time it had an effect on me—any effect.
Love in Stockholm Last week, the poor state of independent software sustainability on iOS moved noted developer Brent Simmons to write an essay urging indies to "do it for the love," a resignation of
Formula 1 Long Live Formula 1 You hear it almost everywhere in the Formula 1 community, from fans, from commentators, from bloggers, from former drivers: the rules are "ruining" Formula 1. You hear complaints about the lack
Oluseyi on Tech Tech is Dead There are no more tech companies, where by "tech" I mean information and computer technology. This statement is immediately, trivially disproven—except it is also essentially true. There are no more
Perspective Diversity In 2014 the US "tech" industry discovered a truth that I'd always known: it was staggeringly homogenous, basically a bunch of white dudes, a couple of South East Asians (also mostly
A Bowlful of Nostalgia: the "Death" of Saturday Morning Cartoons On October 11, 2014 I saw a couple of people on my social networking feeds lament the "fact" that it was the first time in decades that there were "no
animation design On Animation Design and Production Methods It's interesting how the production method of an animated show—traditionally hand-drawn, Flash-style "paper" marionette, stop motion, or 3D CGI—can so deeply affect design. I've noticed some long-running shows switching
Robot Byline: Software Sportscasters and Other Stories Several months ago I was reading a fun piece by Kontra on the subject of sports previews written by software. Prolific Internet commenter Walt French (you'll find him writing detailed comments on several
Release Release Therapy I've been a professional software developer for over a decade, all told: 2006 to present, plus an earlier stint in 2000 and 2001. I've written a ton of software and released or contributed
Feet of Clay Our heroes are often fallible. How, then, should we react when—not if—they falter? I admire Ed Catmull. Yes, present tense, even after learning of his role in the anti-poaching, wage-fixing arrangements
The Responsibility of Audience A while back I casually stumbled into a metaphor war over "rape." An individual had described what he considered an aggressively, eye-searingly ugly web page design (ironically for an essay entitled,
The Sanctity of Focus: A Notifications Primer I rarely write about my personal habits, in any area of life. I share them liberally when asked, and post about them intermittently on App.net (the only "social network" I
Value, Price and Explosive Growth First, the most heartfelt thing about App.net I've read all week. Thank you, Pete. :-) Continuing with my examination of viable business models for App.net, I think it's worthwhile to examine
App.net Time to get SNAASty Apologies to Jamie Smyth for failing to credit him for the catchy portmanteau "SNAASty"! Thought-provoking essays on ADN from Jason Irwin—Alpha Needs an Owner—and Brianna Wu—Social Media is
reboots Forever Anew: Genre Film and the Curse of the Reboot I love superheroes. Unabashedly, unreservedly, completely free of cynicism. Even as I recognize that they are corporate properties and merchandising cash cows, even as I am disappointed by both the comics and the
Vocational gravity; escape velocity I've thought a lot about work, career, vocation, calling over the last year. I've started a business, narrowly avoided taking a job, taken on contracts with most of the constraints of a job,
Netflix Animation as an Adult Medium in the USA Blame TV. Animation in the US began as an adult medium, interstitial films that ran between the A and B halves of double-feature presentations at theaters as far back as the 1920s. Suggestive
Broken Feeder: Down with the College Sports-Industrial Complex Grantland's Andrew Sharp turns a sober and measured eye to the case of Marcus Smart, a college basketball player who turned down the NBA draft to return to school, has struggled this year,