June 26, 2004
June 24, 2004
Paging Stan Lee: Gene mutation makes tot super strong.
Holy crap, they canceled Comdex!
June 23, 2004
Just what I've been looking for: Current Electoral Vote Predictor 2004. I did this by hand in 2000.
June 22, 2004
Garrett's General Application of Schneier's Law
In Cory Doctorow's Microsoft Research DRM talk, he coins "Schneier's Law" (in reference to the cryptography theorist and security expert Bruce Schneier):
Any person can invent a security system so clever that she or he can't think of how to break it.
I realized this was a variant form of a phenomenon I've recognized for years -- usually when engineers try to do UI work:
Any person can design a user interface so intuitive that she or he can't think of why other people wouldn't be able to use it.
Which, in turn, led me to think there's a more general law at work here:
Any person can create a solution to a complex problem so clever that she or he can't think of how it could possibly fail.
June 20, 2004
The New York Times takes an in-depth look at how committees have chipped away at Daniel Libeskind's vision for the former World Trade Center site until almost none of his design remains.
June 18, 2004
June 17, 2004
Analysts talk about digital music players and downloadable music as a razors-and-blades type of business. The question is, which is the razor and which are the blades?
June 14, 2004
What does it mean that the first new Pixies song in 13 years is a Kim Deal song?
Creative Labs' Zen Touch portable digital music player is just different enough from the iPod to avert litigation, but only just ("See, it goes up and down, instead of in a circle! Totally different!"). Steve must be fuming.
