- On this day in 1996, Apple acquired NeXT – Fifteen years ago today Apple effectively started its upward trajectory.
- Why big companies can’t change – "At the polar opposite position from big industrial companies sit startups, nearly every one of which begins with an effortless expression of why? Big companies ask What? then How? but almost never Why?"
- Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011 – "I’m not going to say R.I.P. I don’t think Christopher Hitchens is at rest. I don’t think there is anything left of him to rest. I think he is dead. But tonight, I’ll be raising a glass of Scotch in his honor. The world is a better place because he was in it, and it is a sadder, less interesting place now that he’s not."
- The Rise and Fall of the Independent Developer – "My fear is that It’s only a matter of time before developers find the risks and expenses prohibitive and retreat to the safety of a larger organization. We’ll be going back to square one."
- The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s choice is beyond belief – "But what these cases illustrate is that in certain areas compromise is not possible because the rights of different minorities are mutually exclusive. When one group refuses to fulfil its job description because it disapproves of another group, there is no middle ground, no give and take."
- The religious excuse for barbarity – "No, we don’t respect your desire to needlessly torment animals because some hallucinating desert nomads did it centuries ago. We don’t respect it at all. You can cry that we are “persecuting” you if we stop you committing acts of cruelty if you want."
- Penn & Teller – Penn (of Penn and Teller fame) protests the new TSA rules.
- Protest The Pope – My images from todays "Protest the Pope" march and rally in London.
- Introducing: Yummy 2.5 – New version of Yummy, my iOS Delicious.com client, is now available on the App Store. Now includes iPad support, works better on iOS4 and has experimental pinboard.in support.
- Catholics, it’s you this Pope has abused – Why even Catholics should Protest The Pope.
- There’s more to colour than meets the eye – Nice discussion of colours and what they "mean."
- Compromising Twitter’s OAuth security system – " What it comes down to is that OAuth 1.0a is a horrible solution to a very difficult problem. It works acceptably well for server-to-server authentication, but there are far too many unresolved issues in the current specification for it to be used as-is on a widespread basis for desktop applications. It's simply not mature enough yet." This is pretty much what I found implementing OAuth for Yahoo! in Yummy.
- Pope merchandise – "The pope is visiting the UK soon, and the merchandise is already on sale, but it's rubbish. This week's challenge is to show the Vatican what they should be selling to mark the occasion. God will be delighted." (via @bengoldacre)
- The Creativity Crisis – "The age-old belief that the arts have a special claim to creativity is unfounded." It's always bugged me when people refer to 'the creatives' when talking about designers or artists. This is why! But back to the article… it's interesting that you can "teach" or at least encourage creativity.
- No sense of humour at all – "Personally, I'd love to see the Pope in a debate on abortion, where he would actually have to address difficult questions and defend his own ideas. Best idea yet would be a debate on various controversial topics, like birth control, abortion, the role of women in the church, and homosexuality…with the Pope on one side, and Stephen Fry on the other. It could be perfectly respectful, and it would be hilarious."
- Audio slideshow: Hubble’s first 20 years – Amazing. Beautiful.
- Do liberals read only liberal blogs? – The dangers of the "long tail…" I deliberately go read Daily Mail headlines on a regular basis just to check that I'm sane. The moment I start to agree, please shoot me.