I really like the package management options in emacs. Between Package.el (baked into emacs 24) and el-get I can include almost anything I need by configuring my dotfile. Packages from marmalade, elpa, git repo, hg, emacs wiki, etc...
I can blow away my .emacs.d and, when I restart, all of my configured packages are retrieved and installed. Bliss!
For me, this whole situation comes down to personal responsibility. It was EJ's decision to let a stranger stay in her home. No one made her do this. While it is unfortunate that this happened to her, she should have realized the risk. If others don't like the risk/reward they should not use the service.
If AirBnb were to bail her out, it would send signal that any future/past cases like this would be met with a similar reaction (hello US GOV!). I don't think this is a road they want to go down.
EJ's problem is her own. AirBnb's problem existed long before EJ.
While reading this, I kept thinking of the excellent Twilight Zone episode "Time Enough at Last."
In it, The book loving protagonist survives the "end of the world" and, after being all alone, is ready to kill himself. But once he stumbles upon the library, he realizes he has the rest of his life to read whatever he wants. Of course, things don't go as planned.
"The answer to long term to unemployment is... We need to add to the Constitution the right to a decent education for every America. (including providing every student with an iPOD and a Laptop!)"
These ribbons look to be the same thing that exists in MS outlook. I must say that I think the outlook UI is messy. Way too much going on. If I used it more I would spend more time to learn the shortcuts. Since I don't know them I have to hunt through the numerous icons/options in the 'ribbon' like header which can be very frustrating.
"It's not a surprise that we know we have crises every five or ten years. My daughter came home from school one day and said, 'daddy, what's a financial crisis?' And without trying to be funny, I said, 'it's the type of thing that happens every five, ten, seven, years.' And she said: 'why is everybody so surprised?' So we shouldn't be surprised..." - Jamie Dimon (Chairman & CEO @ JP Morgan; Dir of the NY Federal Reserve)
If you agree with Mr. Dimon, the party will come to an end sooner or later - bubble or no bubble. Your best bet is to relax, enjoy yourself, have some drinks and ensure you have a driver to take you home when the party is over. As John Wooden said, "Failure to prepare is preparing to fail."
Personally, I don't know if there is a bubble. But, I see plenty of cracks in the system that are cause for concern.
Are we moving towards a world where people walk around with video cameras strapped to their heads to broadcast for all? While elements of such a world might be cool, it seems a little too 1984 for my likes.
I find it interesting that people would choose to forgo organic real life experiences in favor of these augmented tech mash-ups. If I'm on the beach, I want to breath in the crisp air, feel the warmth of the sun, touch grains of sand, hear birds singing, and see the ocean waves wash ashore. I don't want to have my face stuck to the god damned igadget to see a pic someone else took of the same damn thing I can see with my own eyes.
Attn MEAPs: I was notified this morning of the following:
"We are pleased to announce that The Joy of Clojure is now complete! As a MEAP subscriber you can download your copy of the finished ebook right now! "
I was starting to wonder if I was going to ever get a final copy.
I wish to hell I had learned the Soroban growing up. Now it's on my unending todo list. I'll probably make a go at it when my kid is ready for it. We can learn together :)
I'm using sound manager on http://hackernewsradio.com as well. Right now I am just forcing flash. I had too many problems with html5 audio.
I really wanted speex encoded audio but that is not an option. If I remember correctly Opera handled streaming speex/ogg like a champ. Firefox may have worked... I can't remember. Everything else sucked.
>>is it just reading /newcomments? If it read out the on: <topic> that would give it more context.
It is currently reading comments for only one submission at a time. Each submission's comments are read from top to bottom so each thread's context should be retained.
A year ago I wrote up some notes for an idea that has elements of this. Funny enough, I sent it to Google and Amazon. I don't know why I bothered. I just wanted to tell someone, I suppose. I did not have a blog then... well I barely have one now. Also, The plan was not exactly something I could do on my own.
The idea was called Travel Packs. You're going to travel? Send your itinerary to Google and it will decide what you need/want to go into your luggage. Google will do all of this by using your itinerary, profile, body dimensions, weather, etc... The Travel Pack will then magically appear at your destination. When your done with your trip, just leave it behind.
Great things about this:
1) You no longer have to pack or bring luggage with you when traveling.
2) Companies have a new way to target consumers. Imagine all of the companies who will compete to have their products placed in these packs.
3) Consumers get to try out new things without having to buy them. How about letting consumers purchase items from the Travel Pack at discounts.
To make this work, the clothes will have to fit. To do that we probably need 3D scans, although that may not be necessary for first iterations. Google has shown the initiative to map the world, why not drive around and start mapping the people. Just think of what you could do with these data! Of course many people would be uncomfortable with these scans and discussion probably needs to happen about who would own these data.
Anyway, I was once pretty stoked about this. Now I don't really care. But I think it's something that someone will do. Actually, I think there is already a company trying to make a go at pre-packaged luggage though I don't know how intelligent it is.
I can blow away my .emacs.d and, when I restart, all of my configured packages are retrieved and installed. Bliss!