8.29
Heather Champ’s California Academy of Sciences Set
Earlier this month, WIRED had it’s set. Now, Heather Champ, of Flickr, has a photo set of the new California Academy of Sciences building. How in the hell did she get in there, that’s what I want to know. So jealous.
8.5
WIRED’s California Academy of Sciences Photo Gallery
WIRED has a gallery of photos of the interior of the new California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The Academy’s new building opens September 27th.
As excited as I am that this amazing structure will finally be open to the public, I wonder how long after the opening it is going to be until one can expect not to be buried under the inevitable throngs of people it is going to attract.
6.25
Our Handheld Future
Two articles from WIRED — one on the acquisition and open-sourcing of Symbian, the other on the (continuing) story of Google’s Android — centered on the inevitable “mobilization” of the computing experience.
A Lighter Future
Ferrari gets itself ready for a lighter future:
Millechili is Italian for 1,000 kilos, and thats just what the car will weigh. Not only is that 660 pounds lighter than the Enzo, its 200 pounds lighter than a Mazda MX-5 Miata and only 216 pounds heavier than the Lotus Elise.
1.12
David Byrne and Thom Yorke on the Real Value of Music
You lookin’ at me?. From a photo by James Day for Wired
I should have posted this earlier. Oh well.
A good read at Wired. Thom and David chew the fat on the economics of Radiohead’s initial, novel marketing approach to In Rainbows in addition to the wider issues associated with making money from your music in the digital age. Says Mr. Yorke:
In terms of digital income, we’ve made more money out of this record [In Rainbows] than out of all the other Radiohead albums put together, forever [...]
There are audio snippets of their conversation as well as a video of Radiohead performing “Bodysnatchers” live, in (home) studio. Love the opening photograph featuring Thom Yorke’s lazy eye.
By this time In Rainbows is now in wide release and is on both Amazon and iTunes. It’s exceptional, beautiful music…if I do say so myself.
12.27
Courriel
France Bids Adieu to ‘E-Mail’ @Wired
Yes, the French take the preservation of their language verrry seriously.
Makes me think of the linguistic hypothesis of Edward Sapir & Benjamin Whorf. Roughly (if I am getting this right): language directly corresponds to cognition i.e. the language we speak is connected to the way we think. I believe, by and large, that the French would agree. I also think that we Americans would disagree. That’s why, when the majority of Americans hear about something like this there is a lot of eye rolling. Of course we have less at stake, culturally, than they do. American culture – and therefore language – is everywhere.