Thord D. Hedengren

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  • New Nintendo 3DS, and the want

    Sam Byford, writing for The Verge, on the New Nintendo 3DS:

    But let’s be real here: very little about the New 3DS feels new, or even much like a gadget released in late 2014. It’s still made of chunky plastic, the screen is still lower resolution than a standard-definition TV, and the internals are still wildly out of date compared to smartphones from even a few years ago.

    It’s just as well, then, that the 3DS’s biggest strength is that it isn’t a smartphone — and that the other changes Nintendo made are all major improvements to the main thing it’s designed to do. Which is play games.

    The score’s a respectable 8.2. I’ll probably pick up one of these when they launch in Europe next year (they’re Japan only for the time being), but it’s not a given. The problem isn’t the lack of games – there are plenty of great ones for the 3DS – but the fact that Apple and its App Store developers have utterly destroyed the need, if not the want, for a dedicated handheld games console.

    Byford does have a point regarding both the 3DS and the Wii U: If you enjoy, and want to play, traditional video games, and especially those from Nintendo, then these are the games devices to own. That’s the one point where the App Store and its namesakes are sorely lacking. They can’t deliver the traditional games experience, and although there are controllers, they’ve a way to go.

  • Thoughts on the new Mac mini

    Macminicolo is something as odd as a web host, or datacenter rather, that only uses Mac mini computers. That actually makes a lot of sense, because these things are affordable, durable, and has a small energy footprint. It’s always nice to see what these guys has to say about new Mac mini models, and the bump Apple did on the October event is no different. They list ten things about the new Mac mini here, and if you’re even the slightest interested in this computer, then at least glance through this one.

    Not everyone’s happy about this update. Much like most of Apple’s computers, the new Mac mini isn’t easy to upgrade yourself. The RAMs not accessible at all, and it you want to swap out the harddrive you’ll void the warranty. The baseplate on the previous model, where you easily could open up your Mac mini, now features nasty screws. This is not a computer you’re supposed to open up and upgrade.

    (more…)

  • Odd Alice släpper Daily Crowdfunder

    På Odd Alice har vi något som vi kallar satellitprojekt. Det är projekt som drivs av en eller flera anställda, med företaget som partner och investerare. En sorts intern inkubator, typ. Hittills har såväl BlankPage som Tech Troopers sprungit ur det här upplägget, om än på lite olika vis.

    Idag släpper vi ett satellitprojekt till: Daily Crowdfunder.

    (more…)

  • Daily Crowdfunder

    Daily Crowdfunder

    If there’s one thing to take away from this post, it’s that Daily Crowdfunder has launched. It’s your crowdfunding savior, making sure you don’t miss out on the best campaigns, by featuring one campaign every day. If that’s too much for you then there’s also a weekly newsletter. Can’t go wrong with that.

    Or, in the words of the site’s own description:

    We’ve all been there, noticing an exciting crowdfunding campaign way too late. Our friends are showing off their latest smartwatch, game fitness band, book, album, or whatever it is they were a part of thanks to a crowdfunding campaign, and we’re left out. Or rather, we’re left behind, because the deals aren’t as sweet when these remarkable products hits the shelves and become available for the rest of us.

    Our idea is simple. We find the best and most interesting crowdfunding campaigns, and feature one every day. That way you won’t miss out.

    That was the important parts. Now, let’s dig deeper, shall we?

    At Odd Alice, the agency where I’m the founder and CEO, we’ve got something called satellite programs. This is an incentive that helps our employees to launch projects, while Odd Alice has their backs. There’s an ownership split between the project owner(s) and Odd Alice, and a letter of intent that’s signed when the project begins. It’s all very friendly, very enabling.

    (more…)

  • Handwriting requires exercise

    Quartz has a piece with tips on handwriting, where exercising your hand and lower arm is mentioned:

    Typing doesn’t build the hand and finger strength necessary to hand-write for long periods, Blain points out. Squeezing a stress ball can help with that. So can stretching out your writing hand to avoid arm injuries. An 80,000 word hand-writing binge last November landed Blain at a physical therapist for an elbow injury, because she hadn’t stretched out her arms or taken enough breaks.

    Useful advice if you’ve a mind to write a longer piece, a book perhaps, by hand.

  • Alice Cooper guitar incoming

    ASG’s got an Alice Cooper guitar coming on October 21. I’m hoping to get one because it looks marvelous.

    Telltale crimson drops bespatter a snow-white palette, and from deep within a piercing gaze of savage intensity lashes out, an aphotic visage taking in an unholy landscape. There’s something brooding and transcendent in his aspect, an ominous man, pugnacious and sanguineous. Who is this man behind the ferocious Cimmerian stare? Who’s responsible for this truculent view of the World that’s black and white and spotted with blood? It could only be one man. It could only be the groundbreaking artist behind the seminal hits, “Killer,” “School’s Out,” ”Billion Dollar Babies,” and “Muscle of Love.” It could only be Alice Cooper.

  • Where does the t-shirt come from?

    The origins of the t-shirt.

    Shortly after WWI ended in 1920, the author F.Scott Fitzgerald became the first known person to use the word “t-shirt” in print when he included it in his novel, This Side of Paradise as one of the items the main character takes with him to university. And, in fact, a very slight tweak on the design of early t-shirts came about at university, the invention of the “crew-neck t-shirt”. These were made in 1932 by Jockey International Inc at the bequest of the University of South California, who wanted a lightweight, absorbent garment its football players could wear underneath their jerseys to prevent their pads from rubbing and chafing. The resulting style t-shirt was a huge hit with the team and it wasn’t long before students began popularly wearing them.

    Worth a read.

  • Which is heavier: A brand new iPad, or one jampacked with apps?

    I love stuff like this. An iPad (or other device with flash based storage) full of apps weighs more than an iPad fresh out of the box.

    The extra weight comes from flash storage storing more data in memory. The transistors in flash memory distinguish between a 1 and a 0 by trapping electrons.

    It’s obviously nothing you can weigh or feel at home. Read the full piece on Cult of Mac.

  • Hur bra förutspådde jag Apples oktoberevent?

    Det är alltid kul att se hur bortgjord man blir efter en förutsägelse. Jag postade mina tankar inför Apples oktoberevent, vilket gick av stapeln igår kväll, och det blev väl… Ja, hur blev det egentligen?

    • Ny iMac blev det, vilket jag trodde, men inte i flera olika färger dessvärre.
    • Det blev ingen bump av någon MacBook-modell, inte helt oväntat men jag trodde ändå det skulle bli något litet i samband med eventet. Förvisso inte för sent än, men Intel verkar vara ganska långt borta med sina nya processorer, och såväl Air som Pro har fått uppdateringar hyfsat nyligen.
    • På tal om det, ingen MacBook Air med retina-skärm, och ingen tolvtums-Air, som jag trodde.
    • Mac mini fick en bump, med smärre förändringar i portarna, vilket jag förutspådde.
    • Mac Pro nämndes inte alls. Jag trodde på en mindre bump här, inte för att det finns några nya processorer att stoppa in, men den börjar bli lite gammal.
    • Inga Thunderbolt-skärmar, som jag trodde.
    • Apple släppte OS X Yosemite, som väntat och förutspått.
    • Inga nya iPod touch-modeller, som jag trodde.
    • Apple pratade inte om HomeKit, vilket jag trodde. Däremot hade jag rätt i att det inte blev någon ball App Store-version av Apple TV. Tyvärr.
    • Nya iPad Air, kallad iPad Air 2, är tunnare och bättre, med Touch ID, som väntat.
    • Nya iPad mini heter iPad mini 3 och är en mindre uppdatering än jag trodde. Den fick Touch ID, och inte så mycket mer än det.
    • Prissänkningen på iPad-modellerna var förvånande.
    • Slutligen, ingen ny stor iPad-modell, som jag trodde.

    Hyfsat ändå, tycker jag. Klarade du dig bättre?

  • Twitpic's shutting down, again

    Twitpic’s shutting down again. I would just go ahead and export my images, had I been a Twitpic user, because it’s never a good sign when a service is fiddling about like this.

  • Don't hold your breath for Apple to release Thunderbolt displays

    Marco Arment explains why there’s no Thunderbolt displays on the horizon.

    Pushing this many pixels requires more bandwidth than DisplayPort 1.2 offers, which is what Thunderbolt 2 ports use for outputting video signals. (I wrote about this a few times.) Doing it right will require waiting until DisplayPort 1.3 in Thunderbolt 3 on Broadwell’s successor, Skylake, which isn’t supposed to come out for at least another year — and Intel is even worse at estimating ship dates than I am, so it’s likely to be longer.

    It may be possible to use two Thunderbolt 2 cables to power a 5K display, but only if the GPU could treat each port as its own full-bandwidth DisplayPort 1.2 channel, the sum of which represented one logical display, and had the panel using something like MST to combine the two at the other end. But the only Mac with more than one Thunderbolt bus (not port) is the current Mac Pro, and I can’t see today’s Apple shipping an external display that none of their laptops can use.

    There is no way Apple will launch proper 5K retina Thunderbolt displays, on par with the new retina iMac, anytime soon. I based my predictions on the matter on the same basis.

  • Netflix 24% drop proves that Wall Street is mad

    Netflix stock is down 24% due to the company missing its subscriber forecast. From Recode:

    The company missed on both its US and international numbers: It ended the quarter with 37.2 million domestic subscribers, and it had predicted 37.6 million; it also had 15.84 million subscribers outside the U.S., and it had told Wall Street to expect 16.16 million.

    24% down because of that? 24% is a lot, to put things mildly. Now’s probably a good idea to buy Netflix stocks…

  • Will.i.am's smartwatch isn't a watch

    Will.i.am’s smartwatch isn’t a watch, he says. Most people’ll disagree. Anyway, it’s happening and it’s not just an extension of your phone. The Puls, as it’s called, is a mobile device on its own, with impressive specs and its own 3G connection. This kills it for me, because there’s no way I’ll have a 3G transmitter strapped on my wrist at all times, that doesn’t sound healthy at all.

    The following quote is from The Verge:

    There was no word on the Puls’ battery life. At the end of the event, Will.i.am brought models out on stage who were wearing clothing that contained battery packs capable of transferring battery power to the Puls as long as part of it remained in contact with the sleeve. A jacket worn by one model is capable of powering the watch for two and a half days, he said. Technology should be part of more of the things we wear, Will.i.am. said. “Pardon me for dreaming, but fuck it — let’s dream,” he said.

    Make of that what you will, but if you have to make clothing to power your devices, I think you’re in trouble. No word on pricing or real release date yet.

  • Facebook launches emergency check-ins

    Recode, describing Facebook’s new emergency check-in feature:

    Safety Check works by sending users a push notification asking them if they are safe whenever a natural disaster strikes the area they list as their current location. User’s can then see a list of their Facebook friends in the area, and see which users have checked-in as safe, and which have not.

    What constitutes as a disaster is determined with local authorities. There’s no cross-reference of data at this, but that can’t be far off.

  • Email isn't broken

    Robert Nyman, of Mozilla fame, shares his thoughts on email. I don’t share his method these days, but stay on top of email without much effort nonetheless. This part struck me as true:

    Many people complain that e-mail is broken, but I think it’s a great communication form. I can deal with it when I feel I have the time and can get back to people when it suits me. If I need to concentrate on something else, I won’t let it interrupt my flow – just have notifications off/e-mail closed/don’t read it, and then get to it while you can.