this is fyf

RIP Steve Jobs

My dad bought a Mac not long after they first came out. I don't believe we had a computer prior to that...I recall going to my dad's office and playing Othello on this giant mainframe computer the size of two rooms while the screen I was playing on was maybe 5"x 5"...but - even if not the first "word processor" our family owned - we've never had anything other than Macs ever since that first. Dad loved (and still loves) his Apples.

The furthest thing from an extravagant man or a spendthrift, he'd wear his shoes until part of his foot was sticking out through the holes in the sole. He'd wear literal holes in his pants and patch them and then let those wear through before throwing the pants out. Mom would have to conduct a covert operation in order to successfullly throw out his worn out underwear, undershirts and socks: taking them to the dump when he was at work, lest he come back and find them gone and pull them from the garbage can (Side note: I worry sometimes that he's a hoarder who's only saved from his hoarding tendencies by living with Mom.).

Still? He never failed to splurge on the latest Mac. Maybe not the latest latest, but we've always had current models - multiple, in fact! - that he kept/keeps meticulously up-to-date.

It's too late to call him tonight, now that I've heard the news, but I wonder how he's taking it. He's not particularly sentimental or emotional...nor is he one to show adulation, but...if anyone?...I bet Steve Jobs' death is taking some toll on him tonight.

Via Mashable.

Attractive, young people text.

A new Pew Research Center poll suggests that 69% of U.S. adults prefer trying to activate, access and understand voicemail over the simplicity of text.

This - to me - is like preferring to use your iPad to iron your bedsheets.

(METHODOLOGICAL NOTE: It's very likely that the questions were asked in such a way as to confuse the respondents and make them think the question was asking whether they prefer to receive a call on their phone versus a text. This is - obviously - an asinine assumption on their part as well as an asinine question being that NO ONE actually answers their phone anymore?!)

A brief update about Manroulette, my cat, and lamps.

• Manroulette.com still exists.
• Since I last wrote about Manroulette, I've bought the matching floor lamp and the shop where the desk lamp was purchased has closed.
• Somebody just jerked off while my cat sat at the laptop.
• She's a sexy pussy.

Focus honed, honey? We'd hope so (Focus! The Finale)

In a world of distraction, I'm honing my focus.

A recent post on Behance on setting goals to get things done at the office includes some great methods for increasing your focus and we'll be presenting the best of them, one at a time, to allow you to...well, focus on each individually.

The final quote for you, to help with your foci, is truly an instance of saving the best for last. Cutting to the chase (but you BETTER still read Mister Newport's words below!), there is no greater method for honing your ability to focus in a flood of distractions than to practice. That said? It's fucking HARD!:

"From Cal Newport of Study Hacks:

What is your training regime for increasing your ability to focus hard on something without distraction? 

This "hard focus" is at the core of completing outstanding work in a compact amount of time - be it a book or problem set. Hard focus, however, is also a muscle that requires training to develop. (When helping students with this ability, for example, I have them start with 20-minute blocks of undistracted work, and then add 10 minutes every two weeks.)

To ignore this muscle, and continue to work with your email open and Facebook refreshing, thinking up excuse after excuse why this connection is "crucial" for your job, makes you like the wannabe athlete who refuses to hit the weight room. You're not a contender." (Emphasis added by me.)

Image via

FYF takes you "Behind-the-Scenes"!! (The "insider" look you've been WAITING for!)

I'm sure most of you wonder...in the words of Niecy Nash, "How do I do all that I do?", or - not to put too fine a point on it - how do WE do these consistently amazing, challenging and brilliant posts here at FYF? Well, here's an example of how the thoughts flowed from initial idea to final edit for one post (this one, in point of fact!!):

Yesterday, in the course of writing "Speaking of Grindr...let's eschew naivete...", I had thought of Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" as a potentially beneficial point-of-reference for how we might think about online profiles in comparison to the actual person. I couldn't recall the allegory specifically, however, and so left it out.

Last night, a Facebook friend posted a quote from Edgar Allen Poe that inspired another FB friend to comment, quoting a different Poe passage: "All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream.", which then sparked spontaneous thoughts of the late 80s docu-drama (Ha!) starring the Coreys (Feldmen and Haim) "Dream A Little Dream", which didn't really lead anywhere.

Searching instead for "dream within a dream" led to "through a glass, darkly" (The Bible!!) and then, what should pop up but Plato's "Allegory of the Cave"! We'd come full circle!

What did we learn, and why is this a post, you ask? 

(All up in my) Facebook

Ubiquity may not be all its cracked up to be, at least not in Facebook's case. More often than not of late I've felt unduly put upon and acutely irritated by all the jibber-jabber whenever I log-in to Facebook (I know this is rich, rich, RICH coming from me, but every goddamn person's got so much to say!? WTF people?! Just cuz you think it doesn't mean you need to broadcast it!). So this morning, Kerri's status pretty perfectly resonated with me when I happened upon it. And yes, I am that ultimate of hypocrites; a "big" user of Facebook using Facebook to explain my distaste for Facebook.

Facebook a "real" problem, though? Eh. Not so much. I'm with Rod on this one...just get off the damn thing. That said, it's a (sometimes) necessary tool and a massive, bottomless rabbit hole you can get lost in for days so, if you have trouble tearing your eyes away, switch to Google Chrome as your browser and try this extension for it: StayFocusd. Lifehacker has a rundown of how to use it to ensure you don't fall down the hole (but can still enjoy the "fun" aspects of it when you have time) here.

Chris Brown: No, he doesn't have a point (or a foot on which to stand) but now you can shut him up.

How's this for topical?

Questions:

1. When did a twelve year old get so many tattoos?
2. Is there any doubt left he doesn't know how to control his anger?
3. Is there any doubt he's unconvinced this is a problem?
4. Is there any reason for him to change?
5. Are we at all surprised a 14 year old rapper has this problem (if not others)? Treading lightly here but isn't being a rapper ALL ABOUT flying off the handle these days? Formula: Take a kid from the gritty streets whose self-worth is primarily defined by the quickness of his fists then demand he "keep it real", despite the millions of dollars he'll earn for you (and him), the sudden fame and the pervasive, minute coverage (testing) of his every act (which - more than likely - will catch him being that kid you found on the street still?) and then blithely wonder how he could be such "a monster" (no offense, Gaga-ites.).
6. Does this excuse him? (No.)
7. Are you sick of manufactured "news" like this about celebrities once deemed "above us", i.e. - "larger than life", making meteoric plunges to the depths? (Yes?)

Chrome has help. Get in!! "Silence of the Celebs" app available for install now! Create your Celebrity Gag List today!!

Chris Brown story via

Not a bad daily planner, Mr. Franklin! I am not a morning person at ALL and have only recently come to the realization I can't roll out of bed and in to work in 30 minutes' time. Having made that realization, and having felt the benefits of a more leisurely rising, Mr. Franklin's three-hour allotment to rise and start the day pretty much marks the opposite end of the spectrum from mine, yet it's making more and more sense to me as the days (mornings) go by.

His demarcation of "work" time as apart from the hours immediately preceding bedtime for "diversion" appeal to my sensibilities these days as well as I'm learning I can't be busy all the time, but must structure my time to include downtimes as much as I include time to "get things done". Without the breaks, I get run-down quickly and am far less productive - despite the increased time allotment for being productive - than I am when I limit my work to "work hours" and make sure to leave time for leisure.

Taking into account modern technological advancement, FYF recommends this, a more modern tool, for scheduling your day/to-dos. The companion book, Bit Literacy, is equally genius.

Image via

This weekend's reminder: Whose world is it? Oh, right. Nature's.

If there was any question about who has dominion over what, Mother Nature - or God, or the forces of evil who have fucked with the atmosphere and caused global warming (which, by the way, ultimately still means 'Nature' is the all-powerful one in that we've "goaded" her into lashing out at "us"),...or just whomever you blame for or however you make sense of the massive natural, or "natural" disasters in the Pacific this weekend - set the record straight in one short weekend via the explosive and catastrophic shows she put on over on the Asian side of the Pacific.

In an effort to personally acknowledge and process the events, FYF today presents a series of posts relating to the earthquake, the resulting tsunami and the incredible devastation left in their wake both specific to this one instance as well as more generally in terms of natural disasters and the current times.

To begin, here is a dazzling visual representation of the devastation presented by the NY Times via composite satellite images that, by their innate properties (The views are from directly overhead and the vast distance of the camera from the subject inheres a sizable departure from human scale of the objects in the picture.) distance the viewer from the magnitude human and capital cost yet, given the viewer attains the right mindset, goes far towards conveying the full impact of this cataclysmic event to the extent a mere individual can grasp it.

The "Situationist"(s): now on iPhone

The Situationist International movement of the 1950s and 60s culminated philosophically in the publication of Guy Debord's "Society of the Spectacle" (Google Books has it here.) in 1967, and politically in the May '68 uprisings in France.

The ideas that informed the movement have never been more relevant (I mean, come ON! Society of the SPECTACLE!? Just the name alone...! How many "bold-faced" names flashed through your head when you read "spectacle"? ...EXACTLY!) and Benrik, a Situationist-styled performance art duo, aim to mass-market (ironically?) the construction of situations via a somewhat anarchistic app, available now.

Read more here (Please!).

Civilization Progress Report: Everybody grows up, even Zelda and Link

Y'all. It...has...been...a week. As we crash-landed back to New York City on Tuesday after a blissful getaway to a quaint New England town that involved marathon rounds of She-Hulking our way through Marvel vs. Capcom 3, we were greeted with news of epic unrest in Libya and natural disaster in New Zealand (and breathed a deep sigh of relief when we learned our brother, temporarily residing in a remote Kiwi 'burb, wasn't affected at all by the quake.) And frankly this, piled on top of everything else in the world was enough to make us want to crawl under a rock and listen to Adele's sweet singing until the madness ends. But if that were the case, we'd never leave the house. So instead, go into the weekend looking positively golden, with proper posture, and the knowledge that lovelier things are still happening around the world.

• Gordon Bunshaft is not a porn entrepreneur, but an architect. One of his works, "The Snow Queen" is currently on display at the Lever House on Park Avenue and you'd be a fool to miss it! [NYT Magazine]

• 30 Rock's Jenna Maroney made the internet yesterday. [Gawker TV]

• Google has again proven itself to be a tech giant of the times: Presenting Recipe View. [Google Recipe View]

Unicycle Segway: Just one more way to avoid getting in shape.

Or creating a whole NEW shape when you fall and break your head (Helmets, people!). I know...I'm being cynical (or unicyclical? Ha ha.) Kudos to you for being all Brave New World, inventor...and I hope this is the first step towards the personal jet packs/flying discs promised by Back to the Future 2 and all its sci-fi ilk.

But now I wanna see a demo of someone bringing their groceries home on this thing...or carrying any bag...or carrying any bag, a coffee and texting. You know, a real demo.

Also -- this is called a Solowheel and will be priced at $1500 when it's available in the U.S. later this year.

All of this via Coolhunting.

Sour..."Apple"s? Nerds be hatin'.

Scoopertino.com aims to take a bite out of Apple, but ends up serving sour grapes in my opinion.

In other news, punnery is fun!

Via

AccessNow's 5 ways to help the people of Egypt

Putting heavy emphasis on the role of the internet in this revolution (a subject of much debate regardless of sympathies), AccessNow's list of actions those of us not actually in Egypt can take is the only one of its kind I've seen. With the turn to violence that occurred during the protests today, taking any of these actions seems more vital than before.

-------------------

Dear Duane,

Today, millions of Egyptians took to the streets in the biggest day of protests yet. Their dictator’s response? “I’m not going anywhere.” The people of Egypt are surging towards political freedom, but with the internet blocked and the mobile networks deliberately throttled, they need us to stand with them more than ever. Almost 50,000 of us have taken an action in the last few hours. Here are 5 ways you can help wherever you are in the world:

1) HELP GET THE INTERNET BACK ON BY SIGNING THIS PETITION TO VODAFONE

The Egyptian government shut down of the Internet and mobile phone networks is an attempt to plunge the country into an information blackout. Sign this petition calling on the ISPs (including Vodafone) to open the internet and to the mobile operators (including Orange/France Telecom) to break the blackout and restore mobile service.
Sign here: https://www.accessnow.org/getegyptbackonline

2) TELL OBAMA TO MAKE AID CONDITIONAL

Sign Access’ petition calling on President Obama to make U.S. aid to Egypt conditional on Egyptian authorities reopening the channels of communication and honoring the Egyptian people’s demands for true democracy.
Sign here: https://www.accessnow.org/Democracy-NOT-Dictatorship

3) DONATE

In preparation for Egypt coming back online (and to help those who still have access), we’re setting up Tor-enabled servers that will help people reach blocked sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Gmail. The more money we have, the more people we can help to anonymously jump the firewall.
Donate here: https://www.accessnow.org/page/contribute/Help-Egypt-With-Tor

4) JOIN THE CLOUD BY ADDING YOUR COMPUTER TO THE TOR NETWORK

If you’re a little more technically minded, join the Global Proxy Cloud by downloading Tor, a free anti-censorship program developed by the Tor Project. The more people that donate their extra bandwidth to Tor, the easier and faster it will be for people to access blocked sites.
Download here: https://www.accessnow.org/proxy-cloud/page/join-the-cloud

5) WATCH ACCESS’ LIVE STREAMED SYMPOSIUM (this Thursday at 12PM EST at www.accessnow.org/live)

With so much going on across the region, many questions are being asked about the internet, revolution, and the Middle East. We'd like to you invite you to an online symposium that we’ll be live streaming on Thursday at noon EST featuring: Frank La Rue (UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression); Tarek Amr (Egyptian Blogger), Jillian York (from Harvard's Berkman Centre), Marietje Schaake (Member European Parliament), and others.
Watch here on Thursday: https://www.accessnow.org/live

With hope,
Brett, Jochai, Daniel, Joe, Aasil, and the Access Team

*Welcome to those of you who came to us through MoveOn! You can learn more about the Access global movement for digital freedom at https://www.accessnow.org/about

Ah-ah-AH! Not so fast Verizon iPhone!

I imagine this goes without saying, but...before you jump on that Verizon iPhone bandwagon (Oop! Too late?) know what you're getting into, hear?

As Tai Chi (my sister-in-crime) pointed out, Verizon's iPhones won't be usable in Europe, currently. For the rest, Lifehacker gives you the whole rundown of what you are and aren't getting with Verizon here.

Me? I think I'll wait until next year (so long as my aged 3G holds out!) for the iPhone 5 with its CDMA/GSM/UTMS chipset (I'm spouting words whose meanings I can only guess at! Thanks, NYT & ReadWriteWeb!) and - likely - the lower cost/wider options available data plans resulting from the fallout of the Verizon/AT&T competition between now and then (Right? RIGHT!? That is how this'll all play out - in favor of us consumers, I mean - isn't it??)

How does this video have almost 4 million views on YouTube?

Watch, then engage in conjecture with me about how this video has racked up 3,843,318 views since it's posting in 2006. Is it the subject matter? Is it the shirtless-ness? Is it the homophobic spewing in the comments? Is it how long it's been up? What is it?

Also, what's the story? What happened to Matt? Was Colin beating on him because he came out of the closet? Is Colin now his boyfriend or do they not speak any longer (or worse, have met some violent end, perhaps as a result of tensions escalating from this early outburst!)?

Engadget is liveblogging the Verizon iPhone (?) news conference.

Check it here.

See, today (and this news conference) allegedly heralds the launch of the iPhone's availability from Verizon. Regardless of what the news conference reveals, AT&T and Verizon have already started duking it out with Verizon reportedly planning to offer unlimited data plans for $29.99?

Watch this...

(Click the pic, then...be patient. It's worth it!)

Hat tip, Mr. Zennaro.

Trending: "Damn You, Auto Correct!" (now with reactions!?)

Still laughing until I cry at "Damn You, Auto Correct!". Apparently this is pretty common? Now people are recording themselves reading the site and their reactions (yes, that says only 4 views, but just wait!)...all nearly as hysterical as my own.  I'm not following suit (yet), but the result would be pretty damn hilarious were I to do so, I have little doubt.

Also, is this how you capitalize on your sudden popularity and drive even more traffic to your site? Pretty savvy, DYAC! Pretty savvy.

"DAMN YOU, AUTO CORRECT!" (for giving me giggle fits)

Every time I've been back to this site today (and there've been numerous times since the first time I followed the link from today's Manhattan Users Guide (MUG) this morning, so these findings are pretty thoroughly tested), I have to close the window to stop giggling uncontrollably. ...I'm not exaggerating.

The above is only a SEMI-funny (comparatively) (and rather explicit?) example of the hilarity to be found.