Hello.

It may be a bit chilly, but it's the last day of January and the days are getting longer. I hope you're feeling good. Here's today's batch of Internet goodness:


"Meg Pickard just published a blog post about frictionless sharing and Facebook"
I wholeheartedly agree with her conclusion ("If you care enough to publicly moan, please care enough to fiddle with your settings, too"). I'm glad that Facebook's privacy controls are getting better, but the fact that they require this sort of explanation means there's still a lot of room for improvement.
http://www.megpickard.com/archive/meg-pickard-just-published-a-blog-post-about-frictionless-sharing-and-facebook/

Klaus Stadlmann at TEDx Vienna talking about his creation; the world's smallest 3D printer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2IQkKE7h9I

Alex Guest: "My hypothesis is that TV viewing has increased almost entirely due to the current economic climate; and that TV viewing has in large part fuelled the growth of Twitter, not the other way around."
http://blog.alexguest.me/2012/01/twitter-isnt-saving-tv.html?utm_source=alexguest.me&utm_medium=twitter

Reddit is interesting. I've been increasingly hooked in the past year and it's easily overtaken Facebook in the list of things I'd miss on the web if they went away tomorrow. Here's a good overview and background from Slate.
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/01/reddit_how_the_site_went_from_a_second_tier_aggregator_to_the_web_s_unstoppable_force_.single.html

And another editorial about Redditt from Wagner James Au, highlighting three key features of Reddit ('pseudonymous identity', 'expanded conversational context' and 'karmically-driven user-created content'.)
http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=1786&doc_id=238255

"Death in games is not death in the real world, but it was never meant to be. This is confusing because "death" in games shares a name with something bigger, stranger, both more and less meaningful. The purpose of death in games is to tell us about life. To remind us to try things we don't know."
The best bit of writing about death and computer games you'll read today.
http://www.hideandseek.net/2012/01/31/dying-and-living-to-tell-the-tale/

"The Health Bill enters the crucial report stage in the House of Lords next week amid huge controversy. To mark this, the BMJ, HSJ and Nursing Times have, for the first time, cooperated to publish the same editorial."
http://www.hsj.co.uk/5040868.article [via Ben Goldacre]

Some people at Twitter made a 'funny' recruitment video. I'm not especially fond of the ironic so-bad-it's-good approach. It's just... bad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vccZkELgEsU

On the other hand, there's this:
"Three human shaped RC planes were flown around New York City to create the illusion of people flying".
This is more like it. Yes, it's a 'viral' for a film, but blimey. I want a remote controlled plane that looks like a person. Or better yet, I want to actually fly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcDN409ZBv4


Fact of the day *

"Just how rich is Mitt Romney? Add up the wealth of the last eight presidents, from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama. Then double that number."
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/romney-would-rank-among-richest-presidents-ever/f32a40f95c804ae9aa429929abe65f51  [Thanks to @mykreeve for emailing me with today's fact]

* N.B. there may not be a fact every day.


Happy Tuesday. See you tomorrow.

Yours sincerely
Roo