Idle Chatter

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

...snnxxxks! Huh? What month is this?

Yep - I’ve been busy, hence no writing.

…not even sure this counts.

Posted by admin on 12/28 at 11:49 AM
Posted in: Idle Chatter
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Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Who wants to be a millionaire?

The most predictable way to make money on the stock market? Buy Apple stock the days before the event…

It’s tradition.

1) The press wildly inflates speculation on the new Apple (insert your favorite device here) - eg, iPad with stereo speakers, card reader, dueling cameras, supre-hires screen…all kinds of stuff

b) Then the speculators and naysayers come out, and also odd bits of personal bad news - eg, standard ram, no card reader, Steve very sick, Jony Ive possibly leaving Apple. The stock take a significant dip. Larger stock groups buy in.

iii) The products come out, the bad news is debunked, and generally the reception to the (product) is good. The stock jumps back up in a few days. Big groups sell out.

Profit!
Cynical, repeatable profit.

Posted by admin on 03/02 at 08:00 PM
Posted in: Gadgetry Idle Chatter Malarkey
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

iPad 2 - News around the corner

Now that they’ve dropped the bombshell, I expect Apple to announce the new iPad very, very soon.

Their modus operandi is to take their medicine and then start serving the treacle.

I expect to see an announcement card for and event soon, then hear about earnings successes in this months’ conference call, and then the event where the next iPad is announced. Maybe a thinner, DVD-less MacBook Pro (I just got a current MacBook Pro so it’s time to reveal a new one, of course).

Boom - boom - boom.

With Cook still working behind the scenes as COO, Ive still designing, Shiller still shilling, Apple continues to fire on all cylinders.

Posted by admin on 01/18 at 08:52 AM
Posted in: Gadgetry Idle Chatter IT notes
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Thursday, November 11, 2010

What’s your Facebook Footprint?

Did you know you can now download every wall post, every response, every comment, every poke, every photo or video you’ve ever put on Facebook? What’s your Facebook Footprint?

Now you can back up every misstep, every faux pas, every whoopsie you’ve ever made in public.

On October 7th, Facebook announced it would begin to let people download all the personal information they’ve put on Facebook. All you need to do is:

Top Menu: Account

Choose Account Settings

At the bottom of the page is Download your Information

Fill in your password and click Continue

It will take a bit of time for Facebook to compile it, and once you get a note that it’s ready you’ll have to prove it’s your data, but boom - one nicely organized zip file with all your assets. You prove it’s your data by identifying friends in photos not in your account, so a hacker would have to know you fairly well to download the file.

Off you go!

Posted by admin on 11/11 at 11:51 PM
Posted in: Idle Chatter IT notes Personal
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Thursday, August 12, 2010

Everything you need to know about Fast Food

Some uncomfortable notes about our life with fast food.

This is just a bit of an interesting infographic, but as with anything on “teh interwebs”, take with some grains of NaCl. For instance, the caloric intake for an average US adult is very likely wrong. A thread on Reddit has noted that the CDC has established an average US adult male consumes “2475 calories and 1833 calories (per day) for females”, not 4000-calories per day as in the graphic. There’s a list of references in the graphic - check them out.

What this does show however is that while there’s often skewed information on the net, it can lead to good conversation and fact-checking, especially through sites like Reddit. You just have to learn which “reddits” are worth reading and which are snark-factories.

Ultimately, it seems that the goal of the Internet is actually working - that the demographic born to the Internet is smarter, more politically active and more willing to share America, but that’s another post…

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