innonate

What’s fun about being simultaneously n00bish and seasoned with writing code, is I still find delight in some of its simplest of features. Played around with Ruby’s Range class this morning (working on adding some better SmartAlbums), and never having used Range for Strings, I was excited to find this:

1.9.3p125 > ("dad".."dog").to_a


 => ["dad", "dae", "daf", "dag", "dah", "dai", "daj", "dak", "dal", "dam", "dan", "dao", "dap", "daq", "dar", "das", "dat", "dau", "dav", "daw", "dax", "day", "daz", "dba", "dbb", "dbc", "dbd", "dbe", "dbf", "dbg", "dbh", "dbi", "dbj", "dbk", "dbl", "dbm", "dbn", "dbo", "dbp", "dbq", "dbr", "dbs", "dbt", "dbu", "dbv", "dbw", "dbx", "dby", "dbz", "dca", "dcb", "dcc", "dcd", "dce", "dcf", "dcg", "dch", "dci", "dcj", "dck", "dcl", "dcm", "dcn", "dco", "dcp", "dcq", "dcr", "dcs", "dct", "dcu", "dcv", "dcw", "dcx", "dcy", "dcz", "dda", "ddb", "ddc", "ddd", "dde", "ddf", "ddg", "ddh", "ddi", "ddj", "ddk", "ddl", "ddm", "ddn", "ddo", "ddp", "ddq", "ddr", "dds", "ddt", "ddu", "ddv", "ddw", "ddx", "ddy", "ddz", "dea", "deb", "dec", "ded", "dee", "def", "deg", "deh", "dei", "dej", "dek", "del", "dem", "den", "deo", "dep", "deq", "der", "des", "det", "deu", "dev", "dew", "dex", "dey", "dez", "dfa", "dfb", "dfc", "dfd", "dfe", "dff", "dfg", "dfh", "dfi", "dfj", "dfk", "dfl", "dfm", "dfn", "dfo", "dfp", "dfq", "dfr", "dfs", "dft", "dfu", "dfv", "dfw", "dfx", "dfy", "dfz", "dga", "dgb", "dgc", "dgd", "dge", "dgf", "dgg", "dgh", "dgi", "dgj", "dgk", "dgl", "dgm", "dgn", "dgo", "dgp", "dgq", "dgr", "dgs", "dgt", "dgu", "dgv", "dgw", "dgx", "dgy", "dgz", "dha", "dhb", "dhc", "dhd", "dhe", "dhf", "dhg", "dhh", "dhi", "dhj", "dhk", "dhl", "dhm", "dhn", "dho", "dhp", "dhq", "dhr", "dhs", "dht", "dhu", "dhv", "dhw", "dhx", "dhy", "dhz", "dia", "dib", "dic", "did", "die", "dif", "dig", "dih", "dii", "dij", "dik", "dil", "dim", "din", "dio", "dip", "diq", "dir", "dis", "dit", "diu", "div", "diw", "dix", "diy", "diz", "dja", "djb", "djc", "djd", "dje", "djf", "djg", "djh", "dji", "djj", "djk", "djl", "djm", "djn", "djo", "djp", "djq", "djr", "djs", "djt", "dju", "djv", "djw", "djx", "djy", "djz", "dka", "dkb", "dkc", "dkd", "dke", "dkf", "dkg", "dkh", "dki", "dkj", "dkk", "dkl", "dkm", "dkn", "dko", "dkp", "dkq", "dkr", "dks", "dkt", "dku", "dkv", "dkw", "dkx", "dky", "dkz", "dla", "dlb", "dlc", "dld", "dle", "dlf", "dlg", "dlh", "dli", "dlj", "dlk", "dll", "dlm", "dln", "dlo", "dlp", "dlq", "dlr", "dls", "dlt", "dlu", "dlv", "dlw", "dlx", "dly", "dlz", "dma", "dmb", "dmc", "dmd", "dme", "dmf", "dmg", "dmh", "dmi", "dmj", "dmk", "dml", "dmm", "dmn", "dmo", "dmp", "dmq", "dmr", "dms", "dmt", "dmu", "dmv", "dmw", "dmx", "dmy", "dmz", "dna", "dnb", "dnc", "dnd", "dne", "dnf", "dng", "dnh", "dni", "dnj", "dnk", "dnl", "dnm", "dnn", "dno", "dnp", "dnq", "dnr", "dns", "dnt", "dnu", "dnv", "dnw", "dnx", "dny", "dnz", "doa", "dob", "doc", "dod", "doe", "dof", "dog"] 

caterpillarcowboy:

nabeel:

You would think the story of how Spark came to be investing in Picturelife would be simple enough. After all the Founder, Charles Forman, was also the founder of OMGPOP, another Spark portfolio company. But actually Charles had been keeping a low profile with his new gig, so it initially came to our attention in the best way possible, as a user. 

…

In Flickr’s place was Instagram and Facebook. They are wonderful experiences, but they are communication mediums for the 1% of photos worth sharing. What about the other 99%?  iCloud was great but I want more than the last 1,000 photos on my device, I want all of them, and shareable to the services I care about like Tumblr and Twitter without hurdles. Google, and Microsoft had solutions of course, but they seemed more obsessed with locking you into their platforms than creating new experiences.

Finally the team at Picturelife let us in on their project. I was hooked. Hooked on the product, on the vision for where it was headed, and hooked on the team. 

…  

“Instagram and Facebook. They are wonderful experiences, but they are communication mediums for the 1% of photos worth sharing. What about the other 99%?”

Why is the other 99% worth anything? In an era where film is free, you’d expect the ratio of “good” photos to “bad” photos to approach 1%:99%. 

I can only tell you my personal story:

A few years ago, I tragically lost my best friend.

Today, I have every single photo he and I ever took together. Some of them were “share” worthy… those were mostly shots at museums in Spain when we traveled there after high school.

Most, though, would have never been shared. They are the 99%. Photographically terrible photos. But today, they are how I relive the too-short time I spent with him. They’re the photos I cry to.

Those sloppy photos are where the real memories live. Our challenge at Picturelife is helping you live with all those photos. How to uncover old ones and good one. Help you deal with owning tens of thousands of photos that have the potential to make no one cry but you.

plfe:

Last night I caught about 5 minutes of Piers Morgan’s show with Newt Gingrich. I also watched The Newsroom.

This idea has everything to do with those two shows.

On Piers’ show, Newt Gingrich made an assertion that this is the “worst economic recovery in 75 years.” Now, you could see that the assertion made Piers’ think for a moment, and after a another exchange he asked if that was because it was the worst economic recession in 75 years. Good question.

The problem, though, is that Piers didn’t know the facts. He felt like he did, but he didn’t really know what he needed to know to push back on Newt Gingrich. And this is why I think the state of 24 hr news channels are the way they are: guests know the facts and pound the table, and hosts, timid about what they know — because they need to know equal amounts about the Casey Anthony trial AND about the recession — conceded points and move on rather than try and get the facts straight and actually inform the viewer.

I love HBO’s new show, The Newsroom. I love it because I’m a hopeless romantic and I believe in The News and I believe that we can return to a world where the news is talked about intelligently.

I’d like to propose a new news show format, and if you know a good producer at CNN, MSNBC or FOX, please pass this on:

The show is called “Fact Checking” or “Bullshit” or “Fact Checking Bullshit” — whatever — and it takes everything we the masses love about our cable news shows today — the competitive shouting match of hyperbole and talking points — and turns it into a competition. Remember the card game “bullshit”? Well, this show is that, but about the news.

Here’s the format:

During the show, each host and guest gets one “bullshit” card to play on another host or guest. If someone says something stupid (like this wasn’t the worst economic recession in 75 years) then you can use your card and call “bullshit.” When “bullshit” is called, the show’s non-partisan “fact checking” team on staff is tasked with doing the research live, while the show is going on, and uncovering as many facts as possible on the assertion that was called out.

The show then ends as a recap of the assertions and the facts and people are called out for the bullshit that they spewed and were factually incorrect.

I think this is an awesome idea because it lets people be as irresponsible as they want to be, but then it also holds them accountable for what they say. Over time, it will also give us an idea of who spews the most bullshit.

What do you think?