notes.variogr.am – Why music ID resolution matters to every music fan on Facebook A bit techy, but a good read, and an insight into the problems that Spotify and last.fm have to work hard to solve. I'm not posting this because it's hard on Facebook – they've stepped into a difficult arena, and have some catching up to do, but that's not a crime – but because it's an insight in how complex technical problems have very simple, very direct real-world impacts.
Facebook: Brutal Dishonesty « UNCRUNCHED Just in case you were in any doubt about facebook's intentions with regards to to tracking your web browsing while you aren't on their site.
the average font – a set on Flickr This guy has created the "average font" by layering the low-opacity version of ever version of each letter on top of one another. I am struck by two things, firstly that it looks like the sort of thing an old, knackered typewriter would produce, and secondly, that I rather like it, and would probably use it.
How To Back Up Your Life Automatically with Ifttt If you're the sort of person that worries about a server crash taking out any of the digital ephemera you generate, then this should be useful. I would particularly note the WordPress one as being a useful thing to have, if you've got a WordPress blog that's not running off wordpress.com, and you don't have it backed up by any other means. Although if you do have that, I really do recommend paying for Vaultpress. It's superb.
Visible Cities – Ludocity This sounds like it was a brilliant game. I wish I'd been there and been able to play.
The Transformers at dConstruct 2011 – Hubbub The City and The City, Baarle-Nassau, the recent riots in London, overlapping worlds, social stratification, and the role of (different aspects of) games. I wish I was this smart. Go and read it.
Check against Delivery This is an absolutely brilliant talk about, essentially, how those in power are trying to get to grips with the world we have today, instead of the wordl we have tomorrow, and how this is a mistake. Key quote "a two term Prime Minister today would end his term of office with an iPhone 64 times as powerful as the one he won the election with. (Or the same thing, but 1/64th of the price.) His policies, therefore, need to written with that future in mind, not the present. "
Mastergram Instagram is an absolutely brilliant thing – I'd be using it for my photoblogging, if it hadn't launched about three weeks after I started 365bullets, but it's going to be the tool I use for the next photo project after that. But, as this project shows, it's not the filters that make the photo (and they're not why I think instagram is great). Sure, sometimes they enhance what's there, but they'll destroy a great shot more often than they'll rescue a mediocre one.