CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-24 15:06:24 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 16 +1s)

New Web series. "Actual conversations with my two-year-old daughter, as re-enacted by me and another full grown man."

2013-05-23 16:55:28 (2 comments, 8 reshares, 36 +1s)

How to get your child to brush their teeth without argument.
Who wants shit in their mouth?

2013-05-23 07:44:24 (13 comments, 2 reshares, 14 +1s)

Dear Government of Canada,

I know I am basically the only person who files their important paperwork with you at 3:38AM. I am well aware that this isn't a serious issue for everybody.

I also know that it is absolutely freakin' nuts that your website has HOURS OF OPERATION. The hell is going on with you? Are you trying to be inconvenient and out of touch? Is this some sort of game that I do not understand and that I am clearly losing? Why do you close an automated system because it is 3:38AM? Would it be too convenient to be able to access your services at the most ridiculous times of day?

Tomorrow morning between the hours of 9AM and 5PM I will return, my dear government. I will, you know. Because I just can't quit you. With all the health care and safety you provide and whatnot. But I am still not pleased, O Canada. My dear Canada. I am not pleased... more »

2013-05-23 03:19:52 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 18 +1s)

Classic!

2013-05-22 21:45:33 (19 comments, 5 reshares, 32 +1s)

#GameofThrones  

2013-05-22 21:02:37 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Google wants to be your friend

This big article on "conversational search" shows off where Google is headed. It soon won't require specific queries. It's going to end up going all Jarvis on us - just wanting us to chat a bit before giving us all the information we want (and some we didn't even know we wanted.)

This combined with real time location reporting could mean that we'll soon be living in our computers. tinfoilhat

Seriously though, it may not be the most impressive feature in the world right now. But Google hasn't even actually publicly announced it. This is just a start. And it's obviously the direction they're heading.

2013-05-22 13:44:19 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

On the origin of zombies

tldr; Zombies are vampires are people with rabies. Because mythology.

2013-05-22 00:27:12 (14 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

That new location sharing feature is super tempting. I find it extremely interesting that you could Google me and literally find me in the real world.

But the potential safety concerns, while obviously super unlikely and sort of silly, make me just a tiny fraction too uncomfortable.

Anyone have any opinion on the subject? Anyone going public with where they are? Anyone else think that the fact that you can share your location is one of those slippery slope situations?

2013-05-20 21:49:51 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

2013-05-20 17:25:05 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

YouTube comedy week is happening, even though I'm not sure what that means

It does mean that YouTube has a spotlight page on a ton of hilarious videos. It includes stuff I haven't seen such as a series where people from California don't know things (and are generally attractive, too.) The channel itself is pretty scattered in topic, but it's not bad: http://www.youtube.com/user/KassemG?feature=watch

+ze frank even has a feature on it. Ever since he started doing his True Facts videos he's some sort of internet sensation. He no longer really does orange videos in front of a bookshelf. People prefer a sortofimpression of Morgan Freeman talking about animals. Here's the big one: True Facts About The Angler Fish

Some of the videos being featured only have a few thousand views. It's basically a goldmine of good +YouTube content. I would atlea... more »

2013-05-20 07:33:53 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Shutterstock cashes in on the popularity of Game of Thrones

These good-looking but vaguely unimaginative pictures depict the houses of Game of Thrones as modern corporations. Put together by a stock photo site for some no apparent reason whatsoever, these images look great, but the conversions may be a little bit too literal.

House Greyjoy providing cruiseships for tourists seems sort of absurd to me. And House Stark is from the North. It's cold in the North. Winter is coming, and all that jazz.

But anyways, the whole album is available here: http://www.fastcocreate.com/1682989/see-the-game-of-thrones-houses-reimagined-as-modern-corporations

via +Fast Company 

2013-05-20 03:19:35 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 21 +1s)

Get in the car. Don't ask questions.

2013-05-19 05:09:46 (24 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

That was no way to end anything. I think I'm missing the point because I really don't care about John Hurt. But still.

2013-05-19 01:50:27 (7 comments, 7 reshares, 21 +1s)

I almost forgot all about Sad Keanu

2013-05-18 19:33:45 (10 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

Dropbox catching wind of the popularity of Copy?

I just got an e-mail from +Dropbox offering me 50gb free cloud storage for the next two years. I have no idea why or how they have decided I have earned this.

I fully intended to switch to Copy, but they didn't know that yet. The process hadn't even been started.

But anyways, it looks like my company will continue using what it's always used, and I now have a personal cloud storage account on Copy. 

I'm gonna share that referral link again, you guys. If you click this link to sign up to Copy you get 20gb free cloud storage. (I get 5gb  more too.)  And it's free forever, probably.

https://copy.com?r=DznwAR

2013-05-18 06:23:47 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Reddit's ad pitch is amazing and exactly what you'd expect of a much smaller company than reddit is

Seriously, you guys. Grumpy cat is in this thing. Whatever this thing is with the face on it is in it. There's a lady eating what appears to be pickles with a fork. In a package that they use to sell advertising on one of the biggest websites on the Internet.

And yes, everybody's favorite "not a huge corporate whore, it's a community" website boasts an affordable cpm of 0.75 cents, even when targeting your ads into specific demos. Which is actually reasonable and affordable enough that pandering to their user base may actually be a smart move in this case.

You can see the rest of it here:
http://www.businessinsider.com/reddits-ad-sales-pitch-deck-2013-5#

Or if you prefer you can get some info about the man who put it... more »

2013-05-18 01:16:17 (20 comments, 1 reshares, 14 +1s)

I didn't do any of these things just to prove +BuzzFeed wrong.

So what if I had to get all up in a Gattaca style scrubber-furnace thing first and then hold my breath for a while. Shut up +BuzzFeed, you're not the boss of me.

2013-05-18 01:01:23 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

My expectations for Doctor Who tomorrow

I have not seen any of the supposed spoilers that are available. This is all just some nonsense.

The fields of Trenzalore are on Gallifrey and whatever he does to get Clara out of the Time Lock (cause he can't take Clara there - what are you doing Doctor stop it) is what causes her to get scattered all over the goddamn place.

Maybe?! MAYBE!

2013-05-17 19:59:54 (22 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Okay, you guys. I'm sharing the link to Copy like everybody else is. But with good reason.

Everybody who signs up gets 20GB free cloud storage. I've been using +Dropbox for a while now and they make me feel like a criminal every time I try to push the limit up a couple hundred megs for free.

Copy is giving me something that Dropbox charges a small fortune for.

So sign the hell up or I'll cut you.

2013-05-17 18:33:33 (4 comments, 12 reshares, 44 +1s)

Summer is coming

via +reddit 

#GameofThrones  

2013-05-17 01:06:21 (5 comments, 4 reshares, 11 +1s)

This video may or may not be an excuse for a compilation of popular songs from the 90s, but to be fair, it's basically impossible to ever tell what Radiohead or Pearl Jam lyrics are.

I've also recently discovered that you can categorize your YouTube subscriptions into folders. Which should be more obvious, guys. You should be told that every goddamn time you look at your subscriptions page. YouTube should be all, "hey, you subscribe to like 100 things why don't you categorize them so you can actually see what's going on, you shit." 

I imagine that an anthropomorphic +YouTube would be a bit of an asshole.

+Pleated-Jeans is amazing, by the way. Watch all the things.

2013-05-16 20:26:43 (14 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Feminists ruin misogynists day

So apparently there's pages on Facebook dedicated to objectifying women. And there is also feminist groups who are actively fighting it.

It's as though there's some absurd war going on between the genders that only seems to exist online.

(Am I the only one who thinks people on both sides of this are assholes?)

2013-05-16 18:02:42 (15 comments, 2 reshares, 28 +1s)

Good morning, folks.

2013-05-16 05:25:57 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 5 +1s)

I'm not 100% sure that this counts as zombie related, so if I've put it in the wrong place, let me know.

The Walking Thread

2013-05-15 23:37:52 (5 comments, 2 reshares, 8 +1s)

In preparation for Arrested Development Season 4, get caught up on all the recurring jokes

The new season comes to +Netflix on May 26th which doesn't leave much room for a complete re-watch. So you can check out this site that details every major recurring joke on an easy to read map. 

Research was apparently performed by one person, Chris Doty of Beutler Ink (https://www.facebook.com/beutlerink)

In this case, the research process probably involved laying around in sweatpants, eating Cheetos and watching Netflix, but whatever. It's still pretty cool.

If you haven't watched the first three seasons yet you are tragically un-hip and better not click this link until you rectify the situation.

2013-05-15 21:47:34 (24 comments, 1 reshares, 19 +1s)

In an effort to confuse you, Google refuses to keep a design for longer than a few months.

Seriously though, this new one seems even more drastic than the last few. 

The multi-column stream is really working for me. All the other minor changes are confusing me. Overall, do whatever and I'll keep using your shit, Google.

2013-05-15 13:58:11 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

Apparently game developers think they're more popular than anyone else does

A large-scale analysis of BItTorrent file-sharing of videogames has shown that the number of illicit digital copies is not as high as reported by industry trade organisations.

Basically, when questioning why their efforts haven't been more profitable, it's easy to say "well we'd be so rich if it wasn't for all those pirates. I bet like a trillion people downloaded our game illegally."

Apparently the issue is that developers are taking a snapshot of the first few days (when a new torrent legitimately can be super popular) and then assuming that it maintains that popularity indefinitely. 

You can skip the Wired article and just read the big fancy MIT study here: http://www.mit.edu/~ke23793/papers/Drahchenetal_paperID16.pdf

2013-05-15 04:39:03 (19 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

NO YOU DIDN'T

I'm browsing along minding my own business when all of a sudden in the middle of my G+ stream I get a post from a page I don't follow sharing itself with me. 

In a language I don't speak.

How do you even

2013-05-15 03:28:45 (16 comments, 9 reshares, 27 +1s)

How we Canadians view the world

#OhCanada  

2013-05-15 00:12:48 (14 comments, 2 reshares, 27 +1s)

My posts are a bit different now. And less popular too. What do you think so far?

it's a fridge, guys, get it? get it!

2013-05-14 23:02:17 (21 comments, 5 reshares, 13 +1s)

Amy's Baking Company just lost their domain to one of the reddits

Amy's Baking Company recently appeared on Kitchen Nightmares. Gordon Ramsay walked off because these people were too crazy. They recently went completely nuts on their Facebook page. And then they were targeted by the Internet Hate Machine. (Deservedly so, but it was still pretty brutal.)

And THEN it gets even more absurd. They somehow let their domain get bought out by a redditor: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1ec2j0/i_just_bought_amys_baking_company_domain_name/

I didn't share this earlier because I assumed it was everywhere (The article linked below is currently the number one trending article on +BuzzFeed.) But the addition of the ridiculous +reddit thread made it too great to not show people.

So let's all have a laugh at the insane couple who lett... more »

2013-05-14 22:10:21 (2 comments, 4 reshares, 5 +1s)

App helps you boycott crappy companies

Buycott is quite possibly the best free app available on Android and iPhone. You can trace the "corporate family tree" of a product by simply scanning the barcode.

In theory, this allows you to actually vote with your wallet. There is the small problem that the same 10 or 20 companies (or billionaires) are going to have their hands in almost everything at a grocery store - food or otherwise. Hopefully you don't hate them all.

If you're willing to try anyways, the app also has built in campaigns. Essentially a social feature that lets you group up with other Buycott users to boycott specific companies. The two most popular currently are "Avoid Koch Industries" and "Demand GMO Labeling." 

As a concept Buycott is amazing. As a tool, it's mostly novelty, until it is able to build... more »

2013-05-14 14:25:52 (8 comments, 14 reshares, 22 +1s)

Anonymous researcher maps the Internet

Okay, so it's not a complete map. He hacked into 420,000 unsecured Linux devices to be able to create a report (and this fancy map) of Internet activity across a day. 

North America doesn't ever really stop. Europe chills out for a bit overnight, but the US and (the populated parts of) Canada are mostly just active all the time.

He only targeted unsecured devices, and tried to ensure that his hack wouldn't interfere with users' access to their machine.

To minimize interference with normal system operation, our binary was set to run with a watchdog and on the lowest possible system priority. Furthermore, it was not permanently installed and stopped itself after a few days. We also deployed a readme file containing a description of the project as well as a contact email address.

When asked why... more »

2013-05-14 02:20:45 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

Anonymous-sponsored fundraiser helps donate socks to the homeless

Groups that give socks to the homeless aren't exactly swimming in funding. Not enough of a "hot ticket" item. Everyone wants to support the big issues (if they support anything at all.)

We take socks for granted, you know. You know that feeling of putting on a brand new fresh pair of clean socks in the morning? Or that feeling of having warm, comfortable feet.

There's something great about a fundraiser giving socks to the homeless. It costs next to nothing to actually help and it makes a world of difference for at least a few people in the world. 

The only thing I can say that may disagree with the article I've linked below is that if you want to join in with this sort of thing, find an organization in your area that performs similar services. Give socks to them.B... more »

2013-05-14 00:50:30 (5 comments, 4 reshares, 23 +1s)

2013-05-13 17:26:21 (23 comments, 3 reshares, 16 +1s)

Woman kicked off plane because she can't stop singing Whitney Houston songs poorly

After being subdued by a federal air marshall (and handcuffed even!) some poor lady caused a cross country flight to take an emergency landing in Kansas City. Because she wouldn't stop singing "I will always love you."

Her punishment? Nothing severe. She just wasn't allowed back on a plane. As far as public disturbances go, this is probably one of my favorites.

source: http://gawker.com/plane-passenger-ejected-for-non-stop-singing-of-whitney-504543996

2013-05-16 06:43:01 (3 comments, 3 reshares, 10 +1s)

Make YouTube better by opting in for their HTML5 trial

Dear everyone who doesn't already know about +YouTube's opt-in trial for their HTML5 player, go here immediately:

http://www.youtube.com/html5

It allows you to almost entirely get rid of Flash on YouTube. The HTML5 player takes less resources and has features that the Flash player doesn't have. And if you're on a laptop it'll even generate less heat while you're watching video. 

My favorite feature is the ability to watch video in double time. The only downside is that it's not 100%. Some videos (mostly videos with commercials preceding them, it seems) still load in the flash player.

#YouTube  

2013-05-12 15:18:27 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Happy Mother's Day everybody. But you're probably going to screw it up.

There is almost definitely no "right answer" to what you're going to buy the Moms in your life today. You can get some flowers and a card, but that stinks of "I HAD TO DO THIS FOR YOU."

It's probably a good idea just to buy her something she'd actually want, instead. Or maybe spend some time with her. Because she will be reporting to all the other Moms what you did today. And it's really more important that your Mom can win the "we're not actually bragging" conversation with her friends over the next week or two.

Or you can just pretend you forgot. 

#MothersDay  

2013-05-11 13:58:37 (22 comments, 14 reshares, 116 +1s)

Great photobombs of history!

Tesla photobombing Mark Twain in Tesla's lab sometime around 1894.

#GoodMorningFolks  

2013-05-11 01:39:20 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Reddit co-founder +Alexis Ohanian is releasing a book

He's a bit of an authority on how random nobodies can become successful through the power the Internet has to make everybody equal. I mean, +reddit is more than a little bit huge at this point, and it wasn't originally backed by any major funding or corporations. 

So he's written a book that he describes as "a bit of a blueprint and a little bit inspirational." Which I will be reading. And telling people about. 

Even though he starts the video by awkwardly turning to the camera and saying "oh, hello there." Seriously. Watch at least the first few seconds. It's hilarious.

Strangely enough, the guy who started one of the biggest websites on the Internet only has 940 views on his book announcement video for some reason.

2013-05-11 00:19:00 (12 comments, 8 reshares, 11 +1s)

Look at what we have, you guys. A disgusting but amazing thing!

http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/05/07/the-verdict-on-poutine-soda/

#OhCanada  

2013-05-10 17:20:19 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Today's +TED Talk is another essay on education by Sir Ken Robinson.

He discusses three principles that human life flourishes under. And how our education system tends to disregard them completely. 

He makes jokes too, if you need entertainment to keep your attention for longer than four minutes. 

And when you're done watching this one you should probably check out RSA Animates entertaining animation of Ken Robinson's last talk on education here: RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms It's had millions of views so it has to be good.

2013-05-10 16:07:43 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 19 +1s)

You guys see the US state department wants the 3D printable gun designs deleted from the Internet?

So what do you guys wanna do about this printable gun thing?

Just have them delete it.

Okay, next on the agenda

Old people need to get someone with a hoodie in these meetings.

2013-05-10 00:29:13 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 5 +1s)

A real time map of edits on Wikipedia

This silly little thing lets you see what is being edited on +Wikipedia in real time and from what part of the world. Blips on a map, guys. We're all just blips on a map.

only unregistered users appear on the map, so it's actually a tiny fraction of what is actually happening on Wikipedia, but it's still completely awesome so shut your facehole

2013-05-09 22:51:00 (0 comments, 5 reshares, 10 +1s)

+ze frank as a sad cat

2013-05-09 21:06:10 (28 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

YouTube launches paid subscription channels

In an upsetting and possibly terrible move, +YouTube is launching a pilot program where they will allow content creators to charge viewers directly for the ability to watch things. 

Subscription fees start at 99 cents per month and will be controlled by the content creator.

Currently the pilot program includes a weird mix of nonsense and sports stuff, but as this rolls out to the general public you can expect some changeups and "specialty channels" to arise from basically every content creator you already enjoy. Because why not have an ad supported channel AND a premium channel with special content for your subscribers? 

For a complete list of paid channels for the pilot program, you can skip the blog post below and just click here: http://www.youtube.com/channels/paid_channels

Get thecre... more »

2013-05-09 16:02:09 (13 comments, 1 reshares, 13 +1s)

Apparently The Great Gatsby used to be considered a terrible novel

When F. Scott first published the novel it was met with a lot of terrible reviews. The folks at
+BuzzFeed have been kind enough to put a bunch on images so they're not boring like normal words: http://www.buzzfeed.com/arianelange/8-meanest-things-1920s-critics-said-about-the-great-gatsby

But if it was bad then and it's a classic now, what the hell changed in between?

Kathryn Schulz goes into quite a bit of detail on +Vulture on why she's pretty sure Gatsby is an awful novel. But she also goes into why it's so damned popular today. After Fitzgerald's death, the book was handed out to military servicemen for some reason or another, and basically "went viral." But in 1945 terms. Go read her thing, cause it's good even though it'slo... more »

2013-05-09 15:39:32 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Morning, folks.

This is a community +Danial Hallock has put together to study and discuss the philosophy of the world's major religions. It's an interesting idea and I look forward to taking part.

2013-05-09 03:40:55 (4 comments, 5 reshares, 11 +1s)

Another awesome Tumblr blog

Textastrophe is a blog where some rude sum'bitch takes ads where people post their phone number and has a trolly mctrollerson text conversation with them. Usually about whatever is in the ad.

It's funnier when you read them than when you read them being described.

If you only read one make it this one: http://textastrophe.com/post/49189269018/the-tanning-bed 

edited to spell the name of the blog properly

2013-05-09 01:33:48 (15 comments, 1 reshares, 24 +1s)

I thought I'd hate this guy's comedy after seeing him in small roles in a few movies. But +Netflix  has been insisting I give him a chance for a while.

It turns out he's pretty great.

Ladies and gentlemen, +Jim Gaffigan