Bullet Points: Social Media Blahs; the Dangers of Pretty; Patent Trolling

on August 12, 2011

Gunsworthy5
  • It’s hard to be pretty. Despite what you might think, being attractive might actually hurt you when you’re being interviewed by someone of the same sex, says a psychological study cited in Business Insider.
  • Andy Baio looks at the “Twitter clone” Heello, which is evolving into a looking-glass version of real social media. For instance, the fake Heello version of CNN Breaking News REALLY LOVES CAPITALS, and its “Mark Zuckerberg” asks “Did this many people have birthdays before Facebook?” and “What’s your Facebook account so that I can ban you?”
  • In related news, some overly plugged-in people are getting a little fed up with all this social media nonsense. [NYT]
  • NPR looks at so-called “patent trolls,” whose business model isn’t looking so slick these day, in light of a recent hefty court fine.
  • M. Kenneth Oshman, a founder of one of the earliest Silicon Valley startups and a major influence behind the work hard/play hard culture that’s still part of the Valley today, has passed away at age 71.
  • Cheesy music. Glacial loading times. No menus (or at least no prices), but lots of big photos of flowers and the chef. It’s hardly news that most restaurant websites are awful. Over at Slate, Farhad Manjoo gets to the bottom of why they’re so bad, and why they’re unlikely to improve anytime soon.
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