Asides

What the News Feed is

Comment on Facebook Patents the News Feed

If I’m reading the summary correctly, it’s about building this kind of list:

– Alice became a fan of Wonderland. [Become a fan of Wonderland]
– Bob just won an apple in the Halloween tournament. [Play Halloween]
– Carol is attending the Yadayada concert [RSVP]
– Dave and Ellie are now friends
– Frances joined the group, “I Hate Software Patents” [Join “I Hate Software Patents”]
– Greg commented on Hayden’s status. [Read comment]

Probably a key element in it is trying to make the list relevant enough to the user that they’ll want to click on the “Become a fan of…” or “Play…” or “RSVP…” links.

On Slashdot

Today’s WTF: There’s ONE CENT left on the balance for my student loan. Monday’s auto-payment…

Today’s WTF: There’s ONE CENT left on the balance for my student loan. Monday’s auto-payment should have finished it off, but I guess there was a rounding error when they calculated the amount. I *could* wait another month for the next auto-pay cycle, but I figured I’d just send them the $0.01 now.

On Facebook

Compliance Rates & Hands-Free Use

Comment on Phone and Text Bans On Drivers Shown Ineffective

Just because a behavior is banned doesn’t mean people have actually stopped doing it. California’s ban has been in place for a year and a half now, and I still regularly see people driving while talking on their phones. So hand-held phone use has reduced in these areas. How much?

The other thing to consider is that at least the California law allows you to use your cell phone while driving as long as you use a hand-free system, like an earpiece or a car system that acts as a speakerphone. I seem to recall that other studies have shown that hands-free cell phone conversations are just as distracting as conversations carried out while holding the phone. (The article spends a whopping one sentence on this.)

On Slashdot

It’s about the streaming

Comment on Netflix Will Delay Renting New WB Releases

I’m sure that’s [a discount on DVDs] a big part of it…but the press release also mentioned that WB is giving them access to more of its catalog for their streaming service.

With physical DVDs, if WB refuses to sell directly to Netflix, they can always send someone to Costco, buy a bunch of DVDs, and rent them under the first sale doctrine. With streaming, they need an active contract with WB to do it (legally) at all. If WB decides not to renew that contract…well, there goes their streaming service. Or at least anything from Warner Bros.

On Slashdot