apple juice

Ok, I’ll admit it. I bought some PowerBall tickets.

I did not win.

At the lunch table we were discussing whether or not the lottery was an economic stimulus of sorts. This post sheds a little light on to that topic…

Why Powerball Is A Terrible Way For States To Raise Money

“About 35 percent of the money dedicated to lotteries eventually winds up back in state coffers.”

(Via ThinkProgress.)

iTunes 11 is out! Not following my own advice against waiting a day to install new software, I went right ahead and installed it.

I like it. The interface is intuitive. There are a few places where I was expecting something to happen as I hovered my mouse over an object, and I realized it’s waiting for me to click on everything. (They’re not really menus, more like iOS-style sheets).

The Up Next feature is cool, though more limited (at least at first glance) than the iTunes DJ feature which seems to be gone.

Time will tell if I like the new Artist and Album cover layout, or if I find myself back in the traditional column view, but on the whole – a nice upgrade. I’m glad they waited to release the new version and tweak whatever wasn’t finished!

My “magic” trackpad has been weird for the past week or so…

Portables and Magic Trackpad: Jumpy or erratic trackpad operation

“If you have sweaty hands or if moisture collects on the pad, this may also confuse the trackpad. Wiping off the trackpad with a cloth or tissue usually fixes this issue.”

Yep.. that seems to be the problem! This is my favorite pointing device ever, so I was a little bummed that it seemed to be losing its mind. I guess I just have greasy fingers or something.

Starting with some sick kids last Friday, we’ve spent way more time than usual in the house. As result, everything is out on the floor. Every large appliance is running. All of the dishes (except those in the dishwasher) are dirty. We’re starting to get a little stir-crazy. Time to go out for a walk.

This is pretty amazing. Can you imagine what everyone was thinking the first time this thing booted up? According to Wired, this is the oldest working digital computer in existence.

I’m cautiously optimistic that the new Star Wars will be awesome.

We need to use the Internet itself as social media. Then you won’t have to worry about Facebook putting their finger on the scale.: “Last night I was watching football on one of the big networks. It was a boring game so my mind drifted. I noticed that when they show the name of someone speaking on camera they also show their Twitter handle. I wondered if their lawyers had reviewed this decision. Had they read Twitter’s user agreement? Had they advised their client on how one-sided it is? That made me wonder if Twitter does special deals with big media conglomerates? I wonder what they look like? I follow Twitter pretty closely and I have no idea.”

(Via Scripting News.)

This is what I was talking about a few posts ago where I mentioned that having a personal blog is the only way to own your own words on the internet. You can take your data somewhere else. You’re in control.

You’re not in control of the experience you get on twitter or Facebook, and Dave Winer is exactly right in highlighting this. It is a little weird the twitter handle has become the de facto method of connecting with someone you see on TV.

I don’t know if app.net is going to be any better, (probably not — it’s not “free”) or if we simply need some sort of distributed system abstracted from an individuals’ blog or twitter-like feed that one can view from the web.