Not the last time you will see the cover of Wired’s September issue

Not the last time you will see the cover of Wired’s September issue

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2010-8-15)

  1. Sleigh Bells (8)
  2. Hans Zimmer (4)
  3. Broken Social Scene (3)
  4. Jane’s Addiction (3)
  5. Kool Moe Dee (2)

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

An Afternoon Well Spent

longshotmag:

We just spent four hours tromping around San Francisco trying to decide where we’re going to hide $750. We found a great spot, and came up with a way to reveal its location in a slow burn. It will be tough (but do-able) initially and gradually become easier. If you aren’t physically located in San Francisco, you may want to enlist a compatriot now. 

What did you do this weekend?

Oh. And by the way. We’ll be burying a stack of hundred dollar bills somewhere in San Francisco this week. It’s yours if you can find it.
We Want You • Longshot!

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2010-8-8)

  1. The Black Keys (15)
  2. Broken Bells (14)
  3. John Denver (14)
  4. Tokyo Police Club (11)
  5. Sleigh Bells (10)

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

Utterly epic post from Merlin. Click through and read the whole thing. merlin: But I guess I just feel like…what? I guess I just feel like why bother standinganywhere if programmatically notifying the API of a web server about it doesn’t inevitably lead to one of the computers eventually rewarding my careful standing-reportage by conferring the prestige, gratitude, and—yes—basic fucking human decency and respect that can only be accorded by triggering a ruby script that alters a small graphic on my phone. Candidly? It almost makes me question the value of bothering to report what I’m standing near at all. It really does.

Utterly epic post from Merlin. Click through and read the whole thing.

merlin:

But I guess I just feel like…what? I guess I just feel like why bother standinganywhere if programmatically notifying the API of a web server about it doesn’t inevitably lead to one of the computers eventually rewarding my careful standing-reportage by conferring the prestige, gratitude, and—yes—basic fucking human decency and respect that can only be accorded by triggering a ruby script that alters a small graphic on my phone.

Candidly? It almost makes me question the value of bothering to report what I’m standing near at all. It really does.

And the Apple executive responsible for the antenna on the new iPhone is leaving the company. It has a flaw that causes dropped calls when touched.

- MSNBC

This is exactly what I meant about Apple having a perception problem. 

All in all, Twitter’s WTF is a great case study on why a feature that works well on Facebook cannot simply be copied and placed into another social context.
Derek Powazek - Twitter’s “Who to follow” Feature, aka WTF

HTML5 for journalists - Martin Belam's currybetdotnet blog - August 5, 2010

Since I suspect this post may get a flame or two from some diehard New Yorkers, I’ll lay down this gauntlet in the face of regional jingoism I promise to wear one of those ridiculous ‘I NY’ shirts you buy for $3 from the Nigerians in Times Square for an entire month if the total amount of New York-based startup funding, as reported in Crunchbase, exceeds that of Bay Area-based startups in any financial quarter during the next five years.

New York will always be a tech backwater, I don’t care what Chris Dixon or Ron Conway or Paul Graham say | AdGrok

Mmmmmmm, that’s some tasty flamebait.

 (by Mike Monteiro)

 (by Mike Monteiro)

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2010-8-1)

  1. R.E.M. (18)
  2. Miniature Tigers (12)
  3. Menomena (11)
  4. JAILL (10)
  5. Elliott Smith (7)

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

UPDATE : Were you a victim of Rachael Smith? I’ve been in touch with one other, and we’re going to try to organize a meetup one evening next week. Leave your contact details in the comments below if you’d like to attend. There’s also a dedicated website: http://scammedbysmith.com for victims to come together. My New Nemesis Have you seen this ratfucker? She has my five thousand dollars. My $5,100 to be exact. We signed a lease with her, gave her a security deposit and August rent, and then she vanished and quit returning our calls or emails. After a week of trying to get in touch, we stopped by her apartment yesterday, where we found another “renter” also looking for her. And then we found out about the article in the paper, and called the cops. (Actually, we had already called the police earlier in the day, who told us to close our bank accounts, which we did. We stopped at the apartment after a doctor’s appointment, on the way to our local police station.) The investigating officer said we were the 20th case. Which means she’d raked in at least $100,000. And that was before the thing really blew up.  Our awesome DA let her out on bail and she was last seen on the 28th loading up a U-Haul. Now she’s fucking gone. With my money, and a lot of other people’s money. Her name is Rachael M. Smith—although she also used the name “Laughtner” as in “Rachael Laughtner-Smith.” (Here’s her Facebook profile.) Our only hope of getting our money back, apparently, is to take her to court. I’d guess she’s about 5’7” or so, and weighs about 300 or so. (It’s hard for me to gauge weight, but she’s heavyset.) She has a tiny gray dog, I’m not sure of the breed, but it’s more than 20 years old and essentially lame. It was bleeding from the rectum when I last saw it. If you see her, please drop a dime. Contact SFPD Inspector John Monroe at (415) 553-1936 Side note: in the three bedroom apartment she showed us (where I now suspect she was a renter) she had one bedroom that was nothing but shoes. All the walls were lined with six foot high shoe racks, and completely full of designer shoes. So, you know, she may also answer to Imelda.  Also: I should say I’m less concerned about getting the money back (though I want it) than I am about seeing her ass thrown in stony lonesome for a few years. If it helps, her email address (one of them, at least) is ratesheet94121@hotmail.com and her cell phone number is 415-286-8257. Please don’t call her. But if if helps you track her, use it!

UPDATE : Were you a victim of Rachael Smith? I’ve been in touch with one other, and we’re going to try to organize a meetup one evening next week. Leave your contact details in the comments below if you’d like to attend. There’s also a dedicated website: http://scammedbysmith.com for victims to come together.

My New Nemesis

Have you seen this ratfucker? She has my five thousand dollars. My $5,100 to be exact.

We signed a lease with her, gave her a security deposit and August rent, and then she vanished and quit returning our calls or emails. After a week of trying to get in touch, we stopped by her apartment yesterday, where we found another “renter” also looking for her. And then we found out about the article in the paper, and called the cops. (Actually, we had already called the police earlier in the day, who told us to close our bank accounts, which we did. We stopped at the apartment after a doctor’s appointment, on the way to our local police station.) The investigating officer said we were the 20th case. Which means she’d raked in at least $100,000. And that was before the thing really blew up. 

Our awesome DA let her out on bail and she was last seen on the 28th loading up a U-Haul. Now she’s fucking gone. With my money, and a lot of other people’s money. Her name is Rachael M. Smith—although she also used the name “Laughtner” as in “Rachael Laughtner-Smith.” (Here’s her Facebook profile.) Our only hope of getting our money back, apparently, is to take her to court.

I’d guess she’s about 5’7” or so, and weighs about 300 or so. (It’s hard for me to gauge weight, but she’s heavyset.) She has a tiny gray dog, I’m not sure of the breed, but it’s more than 20 years old and essentially lame. It was bleeding from the rectum when I last saw it. If you see her, please drop a dime. Contact SFPD Inspector John Monroe at (415) 553-1936

Side note: in the three bedroom apartment she showed us (where I now suspect she was a renter) she had one bedroom that was nothing but shoes. All the walls were lined with six foot high shoe racks, and completely full of designer shoes. So, you know, she may also answer to Imelda. 

Also: I should say I’m less concerned about getting the money back (though I want it) than I am about seeing her ass thrown in stony lonesome for a few years.

If it helps, her email address (one of them, at least) is ratesheet94121@hotmail.com and her cell phone number is 415-286-8257. Please don’t call her. But if if helps you track her, use it!


Now *this* is smart ad placement. 

Now *this* is smart ad placement.