Archiving my Twitter, Facebook and other social network activity
Anyone who’s used some sort of traffic analytics knows how high bounce rates are on the web, but what’s interesting here is that the longer someone stays on a website, the more likely they are to stick around – and that the behavior fits a standard statistical model.
How Long Do Users Stay on Web Pages?
Users often leave Web pages in 10-20 seconds, but pages with a clear value proposition can hold people’s attention for much longer because visit-durations follow a negative Weibull distribution.
Interesting timeline.
Consolidation in the Telecommunications Industry – Graphic
AT&T’s proposed $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile USA would cap two decades of deal making that has left the U.S. telecom industry with just a handful of major players. Today’s AT&T…
The US government broke up the AT&T monopoly in the early 1980s, leaving the original AT&T doing little more than long-distance service. NYNEX, US West, Pac Bell and the rest were all separate companies until they started buying each other up again.
Looking back at it, what I find weird is that while Pacific Telesis ended up as part of AT&T, and MCI ended up as Verizon, their wireless divisions ended up owned by the opposite companies.
That’s disturbing: Under Gingerbread, someone plugging your phone into a computer with a USB cable doesn’t have to unlock your screen to get at your files. Though I suppose if they have physical access to your phone, they can just pull out the SD card anyway, so it wasn’t really much of a safeguard.
Not that I was planning to go this year (with Long Beach just a month later, and Comikaze just a week after that), but it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the WW cons. The next time I do plan on going to a Wizard show, I’m definitely not getting advance tickets.
It’s tough to step out for some fresh air when you’re across the street from an airport.
Discussion on Google+:
Wayne: All hogged by the airplanes. sheesh ;>
Stacy: Don’t you just love that smell? Evenings in Manhattan Beach in July…
Me: Yeah, you were close to the refinery, weren’t you? It’s actually pretty nice where we are (closer to Artesia Blvd), but my office is literally across the street from LAX. I can look out the window and watch planes on the runway.
Me: And hear them when they take off, even from inside the building.
Stacy: Redondo we got the airline fuel smell twice a year, when the wind seriously died down. Manhattan Beach it was the month of July, the breeze stopped blowing the airline fuel smell out to Dockweiler and it found us.
Me: Yecch.
I have given up on GNOME 3.0. Never have I before encountered a computer desktop environment that seemed so dedicated to getting in my way of actually accomplishing anything.
On the plus side, KDE 4 seems a lot snappier than I expected.
Some thoughts I had about when it’s better to post something online immediately, and when it’s better to hold off for a bit.
https://hyperborea.org/journal/2011/08/is-now-better/
Wayne: Good point. I’m a more later kind of poster mainly because I want to live in the moment. Posting as you experience an event can leave one distracted and I want to get my full “money’s worth” before I go talk about it otherwise I may not have much to talk about. ;p
Though I’ve always wanted to try a live twitter feed of a big presentation like the E3 press conferences with a laptop just for the fun of having the event flow from my fingertips. But that’s mainly because I wouldn’t need to move and I can type without looking at the keyboard. ;>
Me: Great point about actually experiencing an event rather than reporting on it.
I’ve liveblogged a couple of Comic-Con panels, which was kind of neat – but they were all annoucement/Q&A, like a press conference, so they were kind of built for that to begin with. It was neat interacting with people who weren’t there, though, as they offered comments and questions during the event.
Wayne: hehe exactly, I’ve been part of some live tweet sessions giving those comments myself which makes me want to try hosting one. As you said for news bytes they’re short blurts already. (Made for the ADD generation! ;p) So might as well blurt more on it and share. :>
Yes, someone dressed up as the Death Star at Comic-Con!
The Official Star Wars Blog » Death Star Cosplay Dress!
Jennifer Landa, photo by Bonnie Burton, alternate link at Bit Rebels.
I was looking for articles on computer virtualization (specifically: memory overcommit) and found this. It certainly explains the way my personal to-do list works. (That, and I keep underestimating how long it’ll take to get things done. It’s a one-two punch.)
Why Do We Overcommit? Study Suggests We Think We’ll Have More Time In The Future Than We Have Today
If your appointment book runneth over, it could mean one of two things: Either you are enviably popular or you make the same faulty assumptions about the future as everyone else. Psychological research…
Cool! I hadn’t realized that Psykitten Pow’s Flash was the inspiration for the Rule 63 Justice League.
San Diego Comic-Con Cosplay Spotlight: Gender Bent Justice League – Los Angeles Art – Style Council
LFMF: Before pressing play on the classic “Conan the Barbarian” soundtrack, make sure you check the volume. A small person may have turned it to maximum while playing with the remote. This goes double if you’re standing next to the speaker.
Comments on Google+:
Irredeemable Shag: Ahhh… the joys of parenting!
Me: As it turns out, it wasn’t his fault. We realized that the last time we’d used the stereo, it was to play the iPod through good speakers, and had to turn it way up for that.
Irredeemable Shag: Ahhh… the joys of parenting and blaming our kids for everything. A common occurrence in our household, that’s for sure! 🙂
Things to consider before a redesign: Istanbul (Not Constantinople) Will Confuse Your Users. (via ma.tt)
Also applies to logos, branding, fictional reboots, etc.
Today’s baby milestone: J has deleted a blog post I was working on. Hooray for autosave and undo trash.
Wayne comments: Careful with the hacking tools, he may get you yet! ;p
J loves to climb. He started climbing my computer. As I was trying to make sure he didn’t hit the power button, he leaned forward and pressed the button to open the DVD drive with his forehead.
Comments from Google+:
Wayne: Was he thinking there would be something inside?
Brion: Sippy cup holder.
Wayne: /facepalm you’re right, it can be
It feels so weird to be in the office at this hour instead of driving down to San Diego for Comic-Con.
Looked at the detailed battery use on my phone. I know reception in this building is awful, but apparently it’s spent 55% of its time since I unplugged it this morning with no signal. No wonder the battery drains even when I don’t use it!
Dreamed it was possible to create ball lightning using a milkshake, in a simple experiment that anyone could do at home. Well, anyone who owned a rail gun, that is. You just had to launch the milkshake with the rail gun…
Nice bit of perspective on software usability. I particularly like the comment, “No one feels passionate about SharePoint. But they do about WordPress.”
The Software is Wrong, Not the People | Joe Flood
It was a small moment at the WordPress DC Meetup. One of the creators of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, was in town.
Comments on Google+:
Wayne: I’d love to buck the trend of saying “The computer is always right.” I like how having something open source allows us to act on and resolve our gripes so we don’t have to resign ourselves to the technology we depend on. After all, we are supposed to be the creators and therefore the masters, right? ;p (No matter how situations may actually play out. lol)
Regan: Definitely a refreshing perspective. After hearing David curse for about 5-7 hours straight trying to muddle through the quirks of the HTC software (he’d had a Pre for a couple years), I can definitely appreciate someone admitting that a program is wrong, not the user.
Tonight, Katie and I sang J to sleep with Frank’s 2000″ TV, Achy Breaky Song, and Jurassic Park. Why, yes, we did recently go see a Weird Al concert. Why do you ask?