links for 2009-11-21

"To help address this challenge, we've combined Google's automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology with the YouTube caption system to offer automatic captions, or auto-caps for short. Auto-caps use the same voice recognition algorithms in Google Voice to automatically generate captions for video. The captions will not always be perfect (check out the video below for an amusing example), but even when they're off, they can still be helpful—and the technology will continue to improve with time." Very nice.

Logic vs. pithy sayings.

"The problem with being an amateur scientist is precisely the reason that marketers relish the opportunity to sell to us, the amateurs: we make stupid decisions, easily manipulated by those who might choose to do the manipulation (on their behalf or on ours). The news here is not that people are irrational, giving too much credence to the dramatic and the local and the short-term (that's not news), but that people have added a veneer of scientific rationality to their irrational decisions. Armed with Zagats or internet data or some rumor off Snopes, we act as though now we're supremely rational choicemakers."

"If you can count on the drive being solid state, you can make all sorts of performance optimizations. They’re building for the future."

"I suspect that we’re crossing that point now, and the decision is about to be made (or recently has been made) to abolish what we know of today as app review. I have no idea what would replace it, or whether its replacement would be significantly better. But it’s not like Apple to sit on their hands with such a high-profile part of their product line and do nothing to improve it. Maybe this is just blind hope. It’s certainly not based on any information. It’s a hunch at best. But I can hope."

"You could almost forget that for well over a year, Republicans have ridiculed Barack Obama as lighter than a souffle, an inexperienced upstart who owes everything to arrogant presumption and a carefully crafted image. But Obama wrote a 375-page book, The Audacity of Hope, that shows a solid, and occasionally tedious, grasp of issues. It is hard to imagine Palin (as opposed to a ghost writer) producing anything comparable. Almost as hard as it is to imagine that modern conservatives would expect it. Leaders who can think? That's so 20th century."

"But that's a lot of work. Really freaking hard work! Wouldn't it be nice if you could do something a bit simpler and easier to, just … say … offset the bad code you're producing?"

"Do you remember how people insisted that the gays were trying to ruin marriage? Well, they succeeded in Texas. When the people of Texas passed a 2005 constitutional amendment to “protect” marriage, those clever, clever gays somehow forced them to word it poorly enough that it might prohibit ALL marriage in the state, same-sex or otherwise:"

"What’s making the difference is just how much mindshare Apple is building as a result of these types of tales of support love. There’s a great urban legend about Nordstrom’s that they actually took a return on snow tires. Years ago, I did a presentation for Nordstrom’s in Seattle and had a chance to chat with some of the family members who still are active in running things. Of course, I had to ask the question: is the story about the snow tires really true? There was a pause in the room and folks looked at each other and smiled. Finally, one of the family responded. I won’t tell you if it’s true or not, but here’s the thing, they’re not telling that story about Macy’s."

"The United States should ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is supported by nearly every other nation in the world, Human Rights Watch said today. The United States and Somalia are the only countries that have failed to ratify the Convention, which was adopted 20 years ago, on November 20, 1989."

"How should city transit authorities treat independent software developers who make use of public schedule data? What approach results in the best experience for their passengers and customers? Two models appear to be emerging to answer this question. One, typified by New York City's MTA and Washington, DC's WMATA, sees schedule and related data as valuable intellectual property, to be zealously protected, licensed and monetized. So far, the results of this approach appear to have been bad press, irate passengers, wasted money and stymied innovation. The other model, typified by San Francisco's SFMTA and Portland's TriMet, holds that encouraging independent developers to make free use of schedule information can both save the city money and foster innovative applications."

Prudence is a great option.

"Since 2008, the Citizens for Decency have promoted legislation requiring all public libraries and schools in Idaho to have pornography filters installed on their computers. Their attempts to get the bill discussed during the 2009 session were unsuccessful due to the heavy emphasis placed on state’s budget. Officials close to the bill believe this session could be different."