Breakfast Links: Wire, Apple & Sand
Do you watch The Wire? I don’t, but the folks I know who do love it. More than that Freakonomics has been publishing a series of posts wherein they’ve got a Columbia sociologist sitting down in a room with a few gang members (young and old) who watch the show and then comment on it. They are already on part five (which I guess corresponds to how many shows have aired this season) and I find it really interesting, totally makes me want to watch the show. I like it when the Thugs challenge the readers to explain what they think is going to happen and why.
Completely unrelatedly, the MacBook Air is out and the reviews are mixed. Battery life is lower than expected although results are varying pretty widely. It’s also a touch slower than I expected. Sigh. Personally, I think it is still a perfectly awesome laptop for many, many people - but y’know. Still if you want to grab one, here’s a way to get $200 bucks off! In other Apple news, 10.5.2 is seeding to develoeprs, Safari 3.1 is also - the interesting news there is embeddable web fonts (something I would love to see more widespread adoption of). Oh and the rumor that Apple’s going to have an event the last week of February. New MacBook Pro’s??
And even more unrelatedly, check out the Falling Sand Game. Well, it isn’t really a game think of it more like a time sink for the obsessive. It’s a java applet (!!) that has sand falling and you get to draw walls, make fire, water and oil and watch stuff accumulate. It sounds silly, and it is, but if you play around with it a little, it’s kinda obsession making, y’know, if you tend that way.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:17 am
apple event in the last week of feb? iPhone SDK anyone?
Also, good job on the and-now-for-something-completely-different transition. I wouldn’t want to see you try and make that one work. The Wire -> wireless -> MacBook Air -> apple event?
February 8th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Wow, I totally missed that one…. nice work! Y’know… it was early, I was tired, I had to rush to get to my yoga class, the sun was in my eyes… what can I say? The odds were stacked!
Yeah, I’m guessing the ol’ SDK, too. Can’t freaking wait. Hopefully it’s all good news. :)
February 8th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
The Wire - like most of HBO’s series shows like Deadwood and Rome - is *fantastic*. They somehow managed to find the special sauce of tight writing, excellent storytelling and a knack for finding (mostly) unknown or underexposed actors who are PERFECT for their roles.
It gives me hope for George RR Martin’s “A Song of Ice & Fire”, which HBO optioned a year or two ago.
February 8th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Really? HBO optioned that? That’s pretty sweet - although I admit that I haven’t read it, it would sure be interesting to see a straight up fantasy brought to the screen HBO style. Do you know if wheels are in motion? Or are they sitting on the option?